The Love of the Truth*

When I attended the U.S Air Force Academy, we had an honor code that meant so much to me that it became a part of my life to this day. The honor code was the following: "We do not lie, steal, or cheat, and we do not tolerate those that do." The Air Force was looking for officers of character, and placed an emphasis on character by incorporating "a whole man" approach with their cadets. Today, we are seeing the relativism of truth, depending upon whom we are listening to. Truth is now being defined according to politics, ethnicity, culture, personal agendas and other passing influences. This relativism of truth is even rampant in the Church, as they compromise God's Word in order to reflect trends and demands of society. However, God's Word stands forever as the truth. God's prophet wrote: "And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying, 'Thus saith the LORD of hosts; the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace." (Zech. 8:18-19). The LORD's feasts, even with fasting, were meant to be observed with joy, rather than what might have been traditionally taught as being a heavy religious obligation. The truth of God's Word, and the peace that resulted from it, proved to be much different than traditional understanding. The Word of the LORD of hosts was to love the truth. Psalm 119 is all about the Word of God, so much so that it is broken down into sections based upon each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Verses 25-32 are written under the letter Daleth, meaning "door, way of life". This section begins: "My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word." The power of the truth of God's Word will raise a soul up from the dust. Because of this, the Psalmist continues to express the importance of God's Word to his life. He writes: "teach me thy statutes"; "Make me understand the way of thy precepts". As the writer felt his soul melting from heaviness, he asked the LORD: "...strengthen thou me according unto thy word". He asked the LORD: "Remove from me the way of lying...I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me. I have stuck unto thy testimonies...I will run the way of thy commandments...thou shalt enlarge my heart." Truth is a facet of real character. Who is speaking "truth" to you? This country is on the verge of destruction, because the truth of God's Word has been rejected. Isaiah 61 will be forever associated with Jesus, as He read it in the synagogue, and declared the first verse and a half fulfilled, which proclaimed "...the acceptable year of the LORD." In this same chapter, Isaiah again wrote the Word of the LORD: "For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them." (v. 8). The everlasting covenant that the LORD promises to make with men does not end, and it is based upon truth, the truth of God. It is a truth that does not change. Paul wrote prophesying that men would fall away from the truth of God: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (referring to the day of Christ's return) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped...And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 2:1-12, excerpt). They choose to believe a lie instead of the truth, and that wicked figure, the antichrist will establish himself based upon that lie, until the return of Christ destroys him. It is not "a" lie that is chosen, according to the Greek used in this verse. It is THE lie in Greek. THE lie, is the lie of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, which was: "Hath God said...?" Paul wrote that God had chosen us for salvation from the beginning, "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" for the purpose of our obtaining the glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ (v. 13-14). Not loving the truth leads to destruction and damnation. The truth, however, led us to salvation, sanctification and the glory of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote that we were to "stand fast" to this Word of truth, as the Father and the Son, Jesus, establishes us in every good word and work. (v. 15-17). Jesus told His disciples to "believe" in God and in Himself. Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for them in His Father's house. Not only would He prepare that assured place, but He would "come again" to receive them and bring them to where He was, so they would be with Him: "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know." (Jn. 14:1-4). His disciple Thomas did not understand where Jesus was going, or how they could know the way there. Jesus answered him: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (v. 5-6). The life that Jesus promised to His disciples and to us is, in Greek, zoe, which means "the God-kind of life", or as Jesus said in another place, "abundant life". We must acknowledge, accept and love the truth, which is Jesus. Jesus prayed to His Father, not only on behalf of His disciples then, but for those who would come to Him later, which includes us. He prayed: "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." (Jn. 17:14). Romans 12:1-3 tells us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed (by the Word of God), by the renewing of our minds. We are not to be held by the cares and lusts of this world, which choke out the truth, but be separated from them. Jesus prayed that the Father not take His disciples out of the world, but to keep them from the evil: "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." (v. 15-17). The truth, which is the Word of God, sanctifies or separates us from the world. John wrote in his epistles to the believers in Christ about how important it was to him for the believers to keep the truth in their lives: "...unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever." (2 Jn. 1-2). The Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of truth, dwells in us. John wrote a blessing as a greeting "in truth and love" from the Father and the Son to these believers . He wrote, "I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father." He wrote of a commandment that they had from the beginning from God - to love one another. Walking in the commandment of God IS love, John said (v. 3-6). Jesus also taught that this was the basis of all the law and the prophets - to love God, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is the same love by which God so loved the world that He gave His Son to save it. We teach in truth, His Word is truth, and we correct in love, showing Christ on the cross, that all may come to repentance and find the salvation of God, and everlasting life. We are not only to talk the talk, but to walk the walk. Peter wrote to the believers about truth and love also: "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." (1 Pet. 1:22). In another epistle from John, he wrote to a believer named Gaius, whom John said that he loved in the truth: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 Jn. 1-4). The Church has become caught up in the teachings of prosperity, but as John wrote, the prosperity of the believer must begin with the truth in us. Then John continued in his epistle to Gaius commending another believer named Demetrius, saying: "Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true." (v. 12). Truth testifies of truth. Is your record true? A delusion is coming, even deceiving the elect if it is possible. It will not be a relativism of truth as told by the world, and men with agendas and biases, that will keep us from this coming powerful delusion. It is the Word of Truth, God's Word, that will continue to testify to the eternal saving truth that does not change. "Father I pray that we would know the truth of Your Word, and that we might walk according to it, and being sanctified in it, that we might show forth the salvation of the new birth. In Jesus' name. AMEN." *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 6/11/23 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. 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