Loving the Truth

Good morning and welcome in everyone.  Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from 2 Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 2 ¹⁰ And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

¹² That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

To believe means to accept that something is true, correct or real. To truly love Jesus from your heart is to love the teachings of scripture. In order to be saved, we must possess genuine faith which will result in becoming a doer of His will. 

James 1 ²¹ Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. ²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ²³ For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: ²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ²⁵ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

To love Christ Jesus is to love His teachings, insomuch that you wholeheartedly submit to them. 

John 14 ²³ Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. ²⁴ He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

Many people know a lot of the Bible, but just knowing the scriptures isn’t enough to save us. It is genuine faith that will activate our obedience to the will of God. Sincere faith will possess a great desire to please God in everything. 

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

Even having good intentions is not enough to save us. We must actively turn away from our own will to the will of God.

Matthew 21 ²⁸ But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. ²⁹ He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. ³⁰ And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. ³¹ Whether of them twain did the will of his father?  They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

God’s love shines down upon those who love Him, and our love towards Him is proven by keeping His Word. To keep His Word means to do His will rather than your own. 

“I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.” Proverbs 8:17

“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”  John 15:10

1 John 2 ³ And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴ He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. ⁶ He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

To love the truth of scripture, is to love God’s correction and discipline because it corrects our path when we are going the wrong way. 

2 Timothy 3 ¹⁶ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ¹⁷ That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

God can and will inflict and punish people in an effort to correct them. It may not feel good, but in the end it serves a purpose. It is done so we can become faithful and obedient children and an example to this world of everything that He is.

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

Hebrews 12:11

Just as you discipline your own children growing up, God disciplines His children in the church. Sometimes it only takes a gentle admonishment but at other times it requires strong rebukes.

“This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;” Titus 1:13

To eventually be saved we must love the truth, which will result in complete submission to the will of God.  When people do not love the truth, God causes them to believe a lie instead, which will ultimately result in damnation. There will be many people who won’t be able to enter Heaven. We have the promise of eternal life, and God will certainly save us, but it requires turning away from sin. If you don’t love Jesus enough to do that, any hope of salvation will ultimately be lost. 

Luke 13 ²³ Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, ²⁴ Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

The reason why many people are not going to enter heaven is because of a lack of repentance. They will eventually be turned away because they didn’t love and fear God enough to turn away from their own sinful living. We need to love God’s Word because it convicts our hearts and our conscience of what’s right and wrong in the eyes of God. Timothy was commanded to keep preaching scripture, and correcting the church through biblical truth. Just because people go to church, doesn’t mean they are automatically going to heaven. They must submit themselves to the will of God. Timothy was commanded to continue preaching God’s Word, because some in the church were eventually going to abandon the faith.

2 Timothy 4 ¹ I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

² Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; ⁴ And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

God loves this world so much that He sent His son Jesus to save it, but if people are going to reject the things that Jesus taught, then they will find themselves at enmity with God the Father. Anyone who names the name of Christ must turn away from sin. Jesus and the disciples warned to repent or perish, and the only way that genuine repentance will happen is by……

 ……. Loving The Truth

Let’s think about these things for right now.  We can be found on your web browser by searching tlkjbc, where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms, or by getting our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com, or I suppose, you can find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods.  Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️

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