Unavoidable
Truth
Truth is unavoidable. Love it or hate it - truth governs our lives. From engineering to finances, something is either true or false. However, what is the foundational truth? Not the political, social, scientific, or economic realities, but the ultimate truth which upholds every other reality. If truth did not exist, then nothing would exist. This truth must answer the following questions: “Why do you exist?”, “What will happen to you when you die?” and “How should you live?”
From where does truth come? We humans cannot make ultimate truth since we are all born into a world of truth. Nor does it come from nature since nature is physical and truth is not. Instead, God defines truth. There is only one truth: His Truth.
The following is what the Bible says is true. Because there is an uncomfortable reality before the good news is given, please continue reading to the end of this explanation.
The Bible begins by saying, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). There is one God. His name is Yahweh; His name refers to the fact that He is fully sufficient. God is totally pure, and cannot be near that which is evil or defiled (Psalm 18:30). He is infinite in knowledge (Psalm 147:5), power (Matthew 19:26), and love (1 John 4:8). God desires to be sought by us (Jeremiah 29:13). He does not have a physical body; rather, He is spirit (John 4:24). God is eternal (Psalm 90:2), having neither been created nor will cease to exist.
God created everything visible and invisible, whether it be stars, laughter, angels, music or animals (Colossians 1:16-17). The pinnacle of God’s creation is humans beings (Genesis 1:26). The first man and woman, named Adam and Eve, were uniquely created, distinct from the animals. They were given reason, emotion and a soul (Genesis 2:7). It is from this man and woman that every person has descended today (Acts 17:26).
At first everything that God created was good – very good. Humans and animals did not die, nor was there disease or suffering (Genesis 1:31). Obviously things have changed, but that is the way it was in the beginning.
Since God created us, He owns us and has the right to make our moral laws (Ezekiel 18:4). To those who keep His commandments He shows grace (Exodus 20:6). God cannot look approvingly at anything that is not pure (Habakkuk 1:13). Only perfect people – those who keep His laws – can be with God (Matthew 5:8). The following are a few of His commands: do not have other gods but Almighty God alone (Exodus 20:3); respect your father and mother (Exodus 20:12); do not steal (Exodus 20:15) or even covet what someone else has (Exodus 20:17); do not lie, regardless of how small the lie might seem (Exodus 20:16); do not murder (Exodus 20:13); do not use His name as a curse (Exodus 20:7); and do not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14), which includes lusting (Matthew 5:28).
Have you kept God’s law perfectly? Of course not. All of us have broken the law of God; that is, we have all sinned (Ecclesiastes 7:20). It does not matter how many times we have rebelled against His laws. Even one rebellious act renders us morally imperfect and unacceptable to God (James 2:10). There is nothing secret from God and He will not overlook any sins (Proverbs 15:3). God loves righteousness because of His perfection; hence, He hates sin (Psalm 7:11). In order for God to be just, He must judge and punish each one of us what is due us (Revelation 20:12). The punishment of sinning against an infinite holy God cannot be anything less than an infinite just punishment (Mark 9:48).
The payment for sin is death (Romans 6:23), which is why we die. It is our rebellion against God’s law that has earned us the death penalty – not only physical death, but also eternal conscious torment in the Lake of Fire, called the second death (Revelation 21:8). We should not fear that which kills the body, but instead fear God who will destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28). To put it succinctly, God's standard is perfection, but every one of us has broken God's law, become morally imperfect (Isaiah 64:6), and will individually be judged and sentenced to hell (Ezekiel 18:20). There is nothing, be it ever so good, that we can do that will change this fact (Romans 3:10,12), because evil must always be punished by God. But...
Although God had no obligation, He has shown us love and grace (1 John 4:9). God Almighty came to earth two thousand years ago (John 1:14) as the person of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1) to save sinners from the punishment that we have justly incurred (Luke 19:10). The Lord Jesus, fully God (John 10:30) and fully man (Philippians 2:6-7), was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:23), lived completely without sin (1 John 3:5), taught people with authority (Matthew 7:28-29), and performed miracles to authenticate that He is God (John 14:11). He rebuked the religious leaders of the day for their hypocrisy (Matthew 23:13), but they spurned, tortured, and crucified Him (John 5:18).
As the Scriptures foretold centuries earlier (Luke 24:26-27), Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross and died there for our sins (Philippians 2:8), taking the infinite punishment that we deserve so that we would not perish (Galatians 3:13). Jesus Christ never sinned, so He did not need to die for Himself, but He willingly died for us (1 Peter 3:18). He was buried in a tomb (Isaiah 53:9), but three days later He rose from the dead (Mark 16:6), and showed Himself alive to more than five hundred people at one time (1 Corinthians 15:4-6) before visibly, physically ascending into heaven (Acts 1:9). Jesus came to save us from sin and hell (1 Timothy 1:15). There is no other way to be saved (Acts 4:12).
Now, God commands all people everywhere to repent – turn to Jesus from your sin and trust Him alone for salvation – because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world perfectly (Acts 17:30-31). There are no works that you can do to earn the gift of salvation that God offers you (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is a gift that cannot be bought; none of us can earn it in any way. You must come to Jesus for forgiveness, surrendering your life to Him and trusting that He alone will save you (Romans 10:9).
I pose this question to you. Will you surrender yourself to God, admitting your sin, believing that Jesus is God, that He took all the punishment you deserve on the cross, died, and rose from the dead? Or, will you continue in your life of wickedness, temporally enjoying your sins, and pay the consequence forever in the Lake of Fire? I beg you, please don’t wait to receive the salvation that Jesus alone gives (2 Corinthians 5:20).
What will it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul (Matthew 16:26)?
This is the unavoidable truth.
