Do you know and serve the true God?

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9

God commanded His people to listen carefully and hold fast to this truth. The God of Israel was different than the many false gods of the peoples around them. "Jehovah (or Yahweh) our God, Jehovah is one!" The God of Israel -- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (cf. Psalm 2; Isa. 48:16ff.; Matt. 28:19; John 1) -- is one God. He is the Triune (three/one) God.

Though any who reject the truth that Jehovah God -- the Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- is one Jehovah do not know and worship the true God, we (by the grace of God) know Him -- the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is, in part, through the answer of believers like Athanasius and the early creeds of the Church (the Creed of Nicea and the Nicene Creed, as well as the later Athanasian Creed) to the errors of Origen, Arius and others who denied the full deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit or confused the two natures in Christ or misunderstood His person. And, of course, some of those same ancient heresies still trouble the Church today due to false teachers who have fallen into similar errors.

But to just know and profess that God is one comes far short of what God requires of us. It is not enough to just profess to believe that the true God is the Triune God. In James 2:19, we read: "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -- and tremble!"

God would have us trust in Him for our salvation. Jesus said in His high priestly prayer: "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). He told his Jewish hearers, "If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins"; and He then told them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:24, 58) -- identifying Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God who appeared to Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3). Jesus called upon all to trust in Him and His atoning sacrifice upon the cross for salvation and pointed out that apart from Him there is no salvation (John 3:16-18; 14:6).

Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah God in the flesh (cf. Isa. 9:6-7; Luke 1:30ff.; 2:10-11; John 8:58; Heb. 1; etc.), so loved us that He went to the cross and died for our sins (cf. Rom. 5:8; Rev. 1:5). He paid in full that we might have pardon and forgiveness, and He rose again in victory!

To worship and believe in the Triune God, Jehovah God of the Bible, is to trust in Him for our life and salvation. And then, as a fruit of our faith, it is to love Him with all our heart, soul and strength. It is to treasure His Word in our hearts and to keep His Word continually before our eyes. It is to speak of Him to our children when we sit in the house, when we walk (or drive) down the road, when we lie down and when we rise up (vv. 5-9; cf. Matt. 22:37; Col. 3:16; Psalm 119:11; Eph. 6:4).

The Bible tells us that "He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2 Cor. 5:15).

Jesus redeemed us with His holy and precious blood that we might now trust in Him, love Him and serve Him with all our heart, soul and might. And, He also dwells in us by His Spirit and strengthens us that we might truly worship and serve Jehovah God -- the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

O God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the one Jehovah, forgive us for our failures to love You, keep Your Word before our eyes continually, and teach our children of You and the salvation You have provided for us in the Son. For the sake of Jesus' holy life and innocent sufferings and death in our stead, pardon our iniquity and sin, and strengthen us that we might live our lives for You. Amen.

Religion on 06/19/2019