Thursday, 3/29/18 - Ephesians 6:14 

The Armor of God, Pt. 2.  The Belt of Truth, Pt. 2.  

Lesson # 18-035
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DJMkk6eYOU

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

Stand in Warfare – Eph 6:10-20.

3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17.  

In vs. 14-17, the “full armor” includes 6 pieces of equipment: The first piece of armor – Truth.

The thing we are to gird around our loins is, “the truth,” ALETHEIA, ἀλήθεια, “Truth, dependability, freedom from error, and integrity.”

Truth is said to be, “The reality behind all apparent reality.”

Truth came by Jesus Christ, John 1:17, who is Himself, “The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” John 14:6.

It is also used for the Word of God, and with the girding of the loins it means, Bible Doctrine resident within the soul.

2 Peter 1:12, “Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.”

The person who operates in the realm of the truth of God’s Word will not be defeated in battle.

Principles of Truth

As we have noted, truth is a part of the Christian’s armor of God. To have the armor of God, we must have the truth within us. Therefore, it is imperative that we learn and know the truth.

First of all, God is absolute truth or as we also call it, veracity, Ex 34:6; Psa 31:5; 89:14; Isa 65:16.

Psa 89:14, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; lovingkindness and truth go before You.”

It is one of His main attributes:

The 10 Major Attributes of God are:

 S               -           Sovereignty

+R            -           Righteous

 J                -           Justice

 L              -           Love

EL             -           Eternal Life

OS            -           Omniscience (All Knowing)

OPt            -           Omnipotence (All Powerful)

Opr            -           Omnipresence (Everywhere)

  I               -           Immutability (Unchanging)

 V              -           Veracity (Absolute Truth)

God’s attributes have three major characteristics; they are Eternal, Functional, and Directional.

Truth is both an “absolute attribute” of God as part of His perfection, and a “relative attribute” being His Veracity.

“Absolute Attributes” mean, they are inherent and intransitive to His being, (i.e., it does not require an object to complete its meaning). The “absolute attributes” /are primary and incommunicable, (they cannot be related to something we understand). We do not come into contact with these. These attributes are most important in God’s relationship to God; they are not related to man.

“Relative Attributes” mean they are related to mankind and communicable, (we can define and understand them). They are also transitive, that means they express an action which is carried from the subject to an object, and they are anthropopathic, meaning that God often reveals Himself in terms of man’s experience and activities. Therefore, God reveals Himself to man only in terms of truth or veracity.

John 4:24, “God is a spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

Spirit and truth are both immaterial, yet we need both in order to know and walk with God, which He provides.

Heb 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Truth is defined as, “Conformity to knowledge, fact, actuality, or logic; fidelity to an original or standard; reality and actuality. It is a statement proven to be or accepted as true. It is sincerity; integrity; honesty. Truth is most commonly used to mean correspondence with facts or with what actually occurred.”

Truth is:

  a. That which is real, as compared to the fictional or imaginary. (The God of the Bible is the true God, while the gods of the heathen are vanity and nothing, mere imaginary beings, having neither existence nor attributes.)

  b. That which completely comes up to its idea, or to what it claims to be. (A true man is a man in whom the idea of manhood is fully realized. The true God is He in whom is found all that deity implies.)

  c. That in which the reality exactly corresponds to the manifestation. What you see is what you get. (God is true, because He really is what He declares Himself to be; because He is what He commands us to believe Him to be; and because all His declarations correspond to what really is.)

  d. That which can be depended upon, which does not fail, or change, or disappoint. (In this sense also God is true as He is immutable and faithful. His promises cannot fail; His Word never disappoints.)

Veracity is defined as, “Habitual adherence to the truth; conformity to truth or fact; accuracy; precision. Veracity implies factual accuracy and honesty, principally with respect to spoken or written expression.”

Veracity is that perfection of God, which makes all His actions and words conform to the truth. God is truth means He cannot lie because He is absolute truth, Num 23:19; Titus 1:2; Heb 6:18.

Titus 1:1-2, “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, ²in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.”

Heb 6:18, “So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”

Veracity (a transitive word) is the truth of God in relationship to His creatures in general, and to His people in particular, Psa 138:2; John 3:33; Rom 3:4.

Psa 138:2, “I will bow down toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name.”

John 3:33, “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true.”

His veracity provides truth in His Word for us, 1 Kings 17:24.

1 Kings 17:24, “Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth’.”

God means what He says in all His revelation, including; mandates, promises, judgments, and warnings, Psa 19:9; 119:142, 151; Rev 16:7.

Psa 119:142, “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.”

Psa 119:151, “You are near, O LORD, And all Your commandments are truth.”

Rev 16:7, “And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments’.”