Not Everything in Life is Too Good to be True

In a world filled with false advertising and infomercials that promise my abs are going to look amazing with just five minutes a day and my eggs will never stick in the pan again. (Are you sure?) What’s the phrase we’ve come to believe? If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

At least that’s the motto I resigned myself too after the stellar deal I thought I’d scored on transformer toys last Christmas. Thinking I’d just rocked some serious bargain hunting, I was more than a little stunned when those transformer toys showed up the size of a happy meal toy. No wonder they were so cheap!

Add to that how many times we think something is free only to realize it’s free with a subscription, or free if you buy something else, or free as long as you give away every jot and tittle of your personal information, and it’s no wonder we’re all a little skeptical.

If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. (Am I right?)

The problem is, because we’ve found this mantra to be true in advertising, we’ve allowed it to permeate our thinking in other areas as well. A marriage that lasts? Too good to be true. Peace that surpasses understanding? Too good to be true. A God who is willing to forgive me for my past, present, and future sin? Too good to be true.

Except it isn’t.

God Is Both Good and True

Not only is God good and perfect and loving and holy but He is also true. Psalm 119:160 says all the words of the LORD are true. Everything God says is true. Every promise, every statement, every commandment, every declaration.

In fact, nothing about God is false. “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19). Yes, He absolutely will, but how do we know God is faithful and true? Well, I could give you a pile of personal examples, but then we’d be here all day. So, for the sake of time (along with the fact you’re probably squeezing this in an already tight corner of your day) I’ll give you one huge, gigantic reason: fulfilled prophecy.

The Bible was written over a period of approximately fifteen hundred years by over forty different authors, but there is no doubt it’s God’s word. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us it was “breathed out by God.” And 2 Peter 1:21 clarifies this by saying, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Men like Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah (the list goes on) may have had pen in hand, but it was God writing the truth we have in our hands today.

The Truth of God’s Word Has Already Been Proven

Only a sovereign God could have stated over three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament books—all written at least four hundred years (or more) before the coming of Christ—and yet perfectly fulfill every single one in and through Jesus Christ. The odds of that happening? I can’t even count that high.

Ranging from the prediction of the messiah’s birthplace to his purpose and sovereignty, the type of death he would experience, down to the fact that he would be thirsty as he hung on the cross, and buried in a wealthy man’s tomb, there’s a wide avenue of prophecies we could talk about.

For example, Isaiah 53:12 predicts the messiah would be “numbered with the transgressors,” proven in Luke 23:32 where it says, “Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.”

But Christ was no criminal. Though sinless Isaiah 53:5 prophecies, “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.” And yet, “he opened not his mouth” (Is. 53:7).

“By oppression and judgment he was taken away” (Is. 53:8). “Yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Is. 53:12).

All of this was predicted of the coming Messiah and all of it came to be just as God said. “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). All of it—every bit of Christ’s death and life—is in full accordance with the Scriptures!

The Gospel Is Not Only Good It is True

And when I say good, I mean good. Like the kind of thing you might classify as too good to be true, except every day it’s still true that God so loved the world He sent his only Son to pay the penalty for our sins. Not only did God plan for it, He fulfilled it, so that we could have a relationship with Him.

Because in Christ our sins are forgiven. And not only that, but in Christ we are declared holy and righteous and given access to the presence of God forever. Um, that’s amazing. (I can’t even wrap my mind around it.) In Christ, I am a child of God and precious always in His sight. It’s almost as though it’s too good to be true—except it isn’t.

God said it would happen, and it did. God said he would send a Savior and He did. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Giving us one thing that will never, not ever, be too good to be true – eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Gained not by works that we do or trying to live a sinless life of our own (because we can’t) or doing better tomorrow, but gifted to us through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

Not Everything Is too Good to be True

We’re all sinners but there’s only one Savior. We’re all in need of a savior but there’s only One who came to save. And the good news of Jesus Christ is not too good to be true. It was absolutely true the day Christ showed himself to Mary who was weeping outside his empty tomb (John 20:15). It was absolutely true later that same day when the resurrected Christ showed himself to the disciples (John 20:19). And it’s absolutely true today because the Savior still lives my friend.

“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Those toy transformers may have been smaller than I’d hoped. That frying pan may not do everything promised and my abs will probably still look the same tomorrow, but the promise of God will never fall short. He is good and He is true. And the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ will never, not ever, be too good to be true.[optin-cat id=”2151″]