God’s Telling the Truth

1 John 5

Some people are skeptical of everything, and it’s probably because people aren’t trustworthy nowadays. But we still take people’s words on things. When the guy at Burger King says our order’s ready, we trust that it really is, that there’s not a lizard inside. When a teacher says something, often we just take it at face value and then move on. This is the point John makes in his book.

“If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.” 1 John 5:9-10.

Whatever experiences you’ve had with trusting people, we can have confidence that God is telling the truth. Someone might say, “Wait a sec, this is John writing! Isn’t that the word of a man?” Remember what Peter says: “No prophecy was every produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

This is God telling the truth. Numbers 23:19 says that God cannot lie. This is his authority. But guess what? If we believe in Christ as our Lord and Savior, we share this testimony. We share in the experiences of God’s works. How has God worked in your own life? Perhaps scientific evidence and philosophical arguments can be brought up for the existence of God, but often the best proof of God is his work in you.

Moreover, absolute truth is an interesting thing. If God is telling the truth, then that’s the truth, and if we don’t believe in it, we basically call God a liar. Very few people would admit they’ve actually called God a “liar,” but many have. Let’s say there’s a kid who always tries to pull pranks. He makes up stories about ridiculous stuff, and no one believes him. What would happen if he truthfully saw and knows the identity of a bank robber, but no one listens to him? Even though no one believes him, he’s still telling the truth. If people don’t listen to him, it’s to their own hurt.

It’s the same case with the gospel. Even if someone says they don’t believe in God, while God himself says he is (Exodus 3:14), they call God a liar. Yet unlike the goofy kid, God has proved himself throughout the entire Old and New testaments. Do we really have any grounds to reject his salvation? John wrote this book so that we would know we would have salvation. It’s guaranteed through Christ’s sacrifice and God’s faithfulness.