Listen:  92 Question 4

It is vital that you establish with others that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and it is authoritative.  We look to the Bible to teach us what is right and what is wrong.  We look to the Bible to teach us about God.  In the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus, chapter 20, the very first commandment to the Lord’s people was that they acknowledge only Him as God.  Exodus 20:3-6 says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

The Lord gave this stern warning to His people in Deuteronomy 8:19-20, “And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.”  While the world calls for tolerance of different religions and deities, the Lord has zero tolerance for those that go after other gods, which are only false gods.

Now let’s consider the words of the Lord in Isaiah 42:8 where He says, “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”  We read later in Isaiah 45:5-7, “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”  The Hebrew word for Lord is Jehovah, so we read that there is no other Jehovah and no other God.

In the New Testament, we have more testimonies to the fact that there is only one God, the God of the Bible.  Let’s read Romans 3:30 which says, “Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.”  Ephesians 4:6 tells us there is, “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”   Now let’s read 1 Timothy 2:3-5, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”  This one God is a god who wants everyone to be saved.  In order to accomplish that, He sent His only begotten Son into the world to give His life for the sins of people like you and me.  The Lord Jesus tells us in John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

No other so-called god provides salvation for sinners.  It is only the true God that loves us so much that He provides salvation to us through the death of His Son.  These other gods always point to us to create our own salvation; something that just cannot be done.  The Lord Jesus said in John 17:3, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”  As we read in 1 Timothy 1:17, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”  (92.4)