Hal Chaffee Ministries

(Watch the corresponding sermon here: https://www.youtube.com/live/EFqjA7Q7leI?si=9P0lInqUqowsBjDr)

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth… – Ephesians 6:14

Truth is foundational, that which everything else stands on. If we do not have truth as a foundation, we have no proper structure, like a building poorly constructed. Life may seem fine without the foundation of truth for a time, but when the inevitable storms of life come, that which is founded upon anything but truth will fall to ruin.

This is why Paul (the writer of Ephesians) presents truth as a belt or girdle. In modern times, a belt keeps our pants tight around our waist, but in ancient times, men wore tunics, which were pulled over the head and hung loosely on the body. The belt would rein in the loose cloth, making it manageable. Without the belt, the tunic would flail about, making it difficult to do anything productive, especially in battle. If a soldier’s tunic was flailing about, he certainly could not focus on the battle.

Many people flail about in life because they have no foundation of truth. If one does not build one’s life on the truth of God’s word, they either build upon a faulty foundation or bounce around to whatever the latest fad might be. Truth gives order to our lives so that we might be useful and productive members of the kingdom of God.

Truth, like a belt, is the foundation of our usefulness. If a soldier does not have a belt, how can he carry his sword? And how can his armor be properly fitted? Without the foundation of truth, we can never be truly powerful in our purpose as Christians. The devil easily defeats those who do not have truth firmly gird about their waists. The devil’s greatest weapon is lies, but the Christians’ greatest weapon is truth. The devil cannot bind the man that is bound with truth, for Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). In all our getting, we must get the truth, bind it to our being, and never let it go.

Truth has fallen in the streets

Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter. – Isaiah 59:14

In Isaiah’s day, both the world and the people of God departed from the truth of God’s word. They didn’t depart from the truth because the truth was too difficult to come by. But they went after their own worldly lusts, preferring it over truth. If a man chooses his own desires over truth, no amount of evidence or persuasion can pry him away. It’s not a matter of evidence but of preference. He prefers his own ways and will only accept that which correlates with his own desires. This is the reason so many rejected Jesus, even in the midst of His many signs and wonders. The religious leaders of His day loved pride and power too much to humble themselves and receive the truth. Instead, they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, loving darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (Romans 1:25, John 3:19).

A terrible thing happens when people begin to choose their sinful desires over what is true: truth falls in the street. In other words, the more a society departs from the truth, the more truth fails like a man struck in battle. And when truth falls, lies and falsehood take its place, and darkness reigns supreme. When darkness reigns, people are plunged into every hurtful and vile thing.

The Western world, which once laid its head on the solid rock of truth, is dangerously close to being a society like the society of Isaiah’s day. We are dangerously close to truth falling in the streets because so many have turned from the truth of God’s word to fairy tales. I can tell you with assurance that the more we abandon truth, the more we will be abandoned. And if God abandons us, who can help us?

Thy Word is Truth

Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. – John 17:17

God’s word is truth because God is true, and no lie can come from the truth (1 John 2:21). God has immortalized His Word in the scriptures so that we can have access to that truth.

But this is often challenged by skeptics. They might say, “How do we know it is the word of God? And if it was the Word of God, how do we know it has not been changed?”

The trustworthiness of the Bible is found in the trustworthiness of Jesus. If we can establish that Jesus is who He claimed to be, the Son of God who rose from the dead, then we can believe the rest of the Bible, for He affirms it.

There are two ways to confirm the veracity of Jesus’ life. These two ways are found in John 15:26-27:

But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. – Jesus (John 15:26-27).

The first way we can verify and understand that Jesus is who He claims to be is a bit subjective but nevertheless powerful to those who experience it. In fact, I think this is the best way to verify the veracity of Jesus, and that is by the direct witness of the Holy Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit conveys to us the truth in a way that is very real to us (John 16:13). The reason I believe in Jesus today is not because I was convinced by a book or by a compelling argument from a human mind but because it was revealed to me by the Holy Spirit through a powerful encounter with Him. I wasn’t even thinking about Jesus, nor did I have an interest in learning about Jesus. I had an unexpected encounter with the Holy Spirit, and He impressed upon my heart and mind the truth of Christ. This is very good evidence to my mind regarding the truth of Christ. Someone would have to persuade me that I was delusional or else deceived by an evil spirit to wrest this powerful experience from my mind. And the fact that I have had many such experiences throughout the course of my life makes it all the harder for someone to do that.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. – 1 John 4:13 (NIV)

The second way that the veracity of the biblical Christ is made clear is by the testimony of His disciples. Jesus said to them, “You will also bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” In other words, the disciples were eyewitnesses of the life of Christ, and they recorded His words and deeds for us to examine.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. – John 1:1–5

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. – 2 Peter 1:16

We can examine the words of the disciples and judge whether or not their words have the ring of truth, whether they are logically coherent, whether they contradict or not, whether they could have been deceived, or whether they had reason to lie. I think the honest mind will come away from these words with the persuasion that the Jesus they speak of is true, and thus, His words can be taken as truth. In other words, the Bible is the Word of God.

But some might say, how do we know if the Bible has been corrupted over the years? How do we know it has not been changed?

These are good questions and should be asked. Just recently, a college student told me that the Bible could not be trusted because it is a translation of a translation of a translation. She was under the impression that the Bible was no different than the telephone game, where the message was lost and changed in transmission.

But this is only ignorance. First, we have the Bible in its original language, some in Hebrew (Old Testament) and some in Greek (New Testament). As far as the Old Testament is concerned, one of the most remarkable finds was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. Scrolls of the Old Testament were found in the caves of Qumran that dated as much as 250 years before Christ. The remarkable thing about this discovery is that the documents there, which were frozen in time for 2000 years, are virtually the same as the text we have now, with only slight variations in spelling and word order, with no change that affects any doctrine of the Bible. In other words, the Bible has not changed over time, and these discoveries are proof of it.

Regarding the New Testament, we have over 5,800 manuscripts or fragments of manuscripts from antiquity, some dating within decades of the original text. We also have the writings of the early church fathers, who quoted almost the entire New Testament in their books. The Bible is the best-attested book from antiquity by far and can be trusted to accurately portray the intentions of the original authors.

We have firm footing to stand on when we declare the truth of God’s word. And anyone who cares to honestly put time into researching these things will come away with even greater confidence. I invite the reader to do just that.

Wearing the Truth

I must give a warning: truth is a great liability to those who do not practice it. Truth is meant to be worn, not left in the closet. Girding oneself with the truth implies more than just knowledge of the truth but a use of the truth.

There are many warnings in the Bible against those who know the truth but do not put it into practice. The Bible refers to these people as deceived. They are deceived, not because they do not know the truth, but because they think they are safe simply knowing the truth without doing it—but they are not.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. – James 1:21

I fear there are many like this in the Church. Many know their Bibles and go to church on a regular basis, yet they do not do what their Bible says or what their preacher preaches. They are like those in the prophet Ezekiel’s day, who loved to hear Ezekiel speak, listening to his words as if he were singing a lovely song or playing skillfully on an instrument, but they had no intention of doing anything. God pronounced fearful judgments upon these people (Ezekiel 33:30-32).

I fear for those who hear the word to be holy yet give no evidence of it in their lives. I fear for those who hear the command to make disciples yet make no effort to go or give to those who do. I fear for those who hear to love their neighbor yet focus almost exclusively on themselves alone. I do not think people like this will enter the kingdom of God, no matter what they might believe. They are hearers of the word and not doers, and Jesus said only those who DO the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 7:21).

But those who hear the truth and do the truth will be blessed.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. – James 1:25

Conclusion

Truth is our greatest weapon against Satan, whose greatest weapon is lies. He seeks to bind us up, but truth is what makes us free (John 8:32). This is why we must wear it as a belt, taking it with us wherever we go. It is the foundation of our spiritual armor. The Bible says that we should buy truth and never sell it (Proverbs 23:23). It is worth every investment, for what price can be put on that which protects our very lives?

Thank God that we have the truth. We have the very words of God. We know this by the testimony of the Spirit and of those who lived and walked with Christ. We have great reason to be confident in the Bible that has been given to us. We must read it, meditate on it, believe it, and do it. When we do, we set ourselves up to be victorious and blessed.