NOTES AND QUOTES FOR TODAY:
THE RUTH – II
Truth will not remain silent when people
are being led into error !
Truth is not what the culture say, or what opinion polls dictate, or even what the majority say about the truth. So important to know the truth, to stand for the truth, and to live by the truth. If anything we have to learn about the truth- the Bible, is that we need to have reverence for the revealed word of God. What importance (significance) has God given to His Word is clearly delinted by the Psalmist in Psalm 138:2, “……I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”
The basis of all Christian service is the truth. The role of the church is clearly defined in 1st Timothy 3:15 which reads, “…….in the house of God, which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth.” If and when the church abandons the truth, there and then it ceases to be a true church. Failing to uphold and live by the truth we would cease to be a church that would be pleasing to our Lord. Israel in the Old Testament failed to uphold the Bible and live the truth. By that they cease to be a witnessing nation
Every person on the face of the earth is walking either in the realm of truth, or in the realm of lies! The believer desires the truth, hears the truth, manifests the truth, and obey the truth! Believers need to conduct themselves in the realm of the truth. Yes, as light and salt of the world, believers need to walk in the truth. Yes, it is so important to the God of Heaven that we heed the truth. We may ask, “ Why is the truth so important?” The truth is so important because:
1.We can not be saved apart from the truth: We read in John 8:32, “… And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Again, we read in 1st Peter 1:23, “…being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.” Thank God for those who preached to us the truth. Though few and far apart are faithful men who stand and proclaim the truth. Yes, so very few are in the world today who are willing to defend the truth at any cost.
2.The believer could not walk right, in this world apart from the truth: We read in Ephesians 5:8, “For we were sometimes darkness, but now are we light in the Lord: Walk as children of light.” The light here refers to the Word of God. We read in Colossians 2:6, “ As ye therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him….” Yes, walking in Christ is walking in the truth!
3.We can not worship God apart from the truth: We read in John 4:24, “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Bear in mind that , the worship of God is not based on mood but on truth. The Word of God must be the touchstone for our worship.
4.We can not serve God without the knowledge of the truth: We read in Colossians 3:23-24, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”
5.We can not stand against temptation without the truth: In Psalms 119:11 we read, “ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” And in 1st John 5:4, “ For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith.”
6.We can not wage battle in spiritual warfare apart from the truth: We read in Ephesians 6:14, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast plate of righteousness.”
Beloved, there is no substitute for the truth, no negotiation on the truth, and we need to cling on to the truth, in all walks of life! As an old time preacher of yesteryears once said, “Everything we have or ever will have, will be found in the Bible. All that God does for us, in us, with us and through us must come by the way of the Bible. The only material that God uses to produce life and to promote it, it has to be in this book.” And we say to that Amen! This being the foundational truth, one can understand why the arch-enemy of God and man would want to do something to destroy this book. The enemy will always look for a way to attack and to destroy the truth. He knows that he can not destroy the Living Word ( the incarnate Son of God) though He tried it all the way to the Cross. The night Jesus was born the devil was there in that stable with one third of the fallen angles whom he had dragged down. For what purpose? To devour the man-child as soon as he was born – Revelation 12:5. He couldn’t do it
So, failing to abort the Savior-hood of Jesus Christ both at the manger and at the cross – when he said, ‘ come down from the Cross’, that is before, your work is finished come down.” Now, he is going to do what he knows is the next most effective thing, that is try to destroy the Written Word. Right from the beginning in the garden of Eden he sow the seed of doubt in the minds of Adam and Eve, saying, “ ….yea hath God said that....”? He comes with different forms of lies, but his goal is one to deceive, to distract and to make the word of God without effect!
Now, the Devil is too wise to try to destroy the Word of God. But he can do a lot of things to try to supplant it, or to corrupt it, in the minds and heart of even God’s people. He can only do it in one of two ways: either by adding to the Scripture or by subtracting from the Scripture. Surely he is too wise to add to, because those who have been in the Word for a long time would say, “ Wait a minute; this is not in the Bible.” So he subtracts from it. Dearly beloved, the deletions are absolutely frightening! The subtraction is done so subtly that very few would discover it!
Thousands of believers down the ages have paid the price ( so many of them with their lives) for the preservation of the truth. They have stood for the truth with out compromise, and left us with the truth and we are expected to remain faithful to the truth delivered unto us! The Apostle John the last of the Apostles living was burdened, and so inspired by the Holy Spirit about the people who would be corrupted and deceived by others; so in 2nd John he is calling believers to protect Bible truths. Believers are called to live for the truth. Bearing in mind that the Epistles of John is written to individual believers and not to a particular local church, as to the church of Galatia, or Corinth or Philippi and so forth
We read, “The elder unto the elect lady, and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only but also they that have known the truth: For the truth’s sake which dewelleth in us, and shall be with us forever……. I rejoiced greatly that I found thy children walking in truth….”
If truth is optional, then error is justifiable !
To be continued……………………….
The Peoples Gospel Hour Staff
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The Bible reveals two ways which people are following to get into heaven. One way, the true way, is God’s way. God’s way into heaven is the way of peace and truth and righteousness. It is the only way approved of God. This way centers in the Lord Jesus Christ who said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). The Bible declares that there is another way. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12).
There are so many popular ways today filled with lost multitudes all over the land, such as the way of morality, the way of respectability, the way of religion, the way of churchianity, the way of baptism, the way of christening, the way of confirmation, the way of penance, the way of confession, the way of “doing the best I can”, the way of self, the way of education, the way of philosophy, the way of false isms and cults that crowd the street. Little wonder then when we speak to people about the way of salvation, that so many have asked, “How can I know which is the true way? There are so many different ideas and so many religions.”
But there is ONE difference between God’s way of salvation and man’s way, and that difference is found in a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. You will notice that man leaves Christ out of the center of his way. You will discover that the modern false cults and isms demote Christ to a mere man and add something to what He has already done for your salvation and mine. We become children of God through a supernatural birth. Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Jesus also said, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:7)
“May the Lord bless you, and make you a blessing!” – The PGH Staff.
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