Loving Truth

Why would anyone leave our awesome God and trade priceless truth for false doctrine? Is it a lack of intellectual brain power? A lack of access to a Bible? Because God predestined such to happen? Absolutely not. To the contrary, note that God explains that the lost are ultimately responsible for their own lost condition because “...they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10). Paul in this context is discussing those people who are lead astray by the apostasy that was predicted (2:3). Jesus notes that even though often the fallen are very zealous in supporting error or may often seem sincere in their convictions (Matthew 7:22-23), even still, those who leave God will perish. Why? “They received not the love of the truth”: They heard the truth or could have easily heard it, but they did not love it. “Still there are people who have known the truth, but are restless and desire to know things that God has not revealed. They are always looking for something novel and spectacular”(Fields, p. 208). To love the truth is to embrace what the Bible teaches (John 17:17; Proverbs 23:23). The following passages describe in more detail what “the love of the truth” looks like in practical application (Psalm 19:7-14; Psalm 119). “That they might be saved”: One cannot be saved, unless one embraces the truth found in God’s word (Romans 10:17). The world claims that it really does not make any difference what you believe, as long as you are sincere, but this verse clearly teaches that people who do not believe, love, and obey the truth, will not be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 “For this reason”: In other words, because they did not develop a love for God’s truth, obviously they did not truly love God with their whole heart. Sadly, in the end, they loved something more than God and His truth. It could be that they loved themselves, that is, immediate pleasure, personal comfort, the praise of men, fame, money, or simply what was most convenient, as Jesus said, “...the desires for other things” (Mark 4:19); “No man can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). “God will send”: We know from other passages that give us insight into understanding the very character of God, that He does not entice anyone to sin (James 1:13) and neither is He the instigator of false doctrine (James 1:17; 1 John 1:5; Titus 1:2 “God, who cannot lie”). The word send , therefore, must mean that God permits or allows error or deception to come their way, and He allows them to be deceived. If a person wants to believe a lie, then God will not stop them (Romans 1:28). “A deluding influence”: This is simply a natural consequence of not believing the truth. Our allegiance to God’s truth will be tested. Guaranteed. If we sell the truth, the only thing left to buy is some sort of error. “Believe what is false”: Various conclusions must be drawn at this point: God will not prevent one from being tempted or believing what is false. The only prevention against error is a complete dedication to the truth. Not loving the truth has some unavoidable and serious consequences. God will determine our eternal destiny, not only the basis of what we did and said, but also on the basis of what we believed (2 John 9). Jesus stated the same truth: “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). “Every one who is on the side of truth” (TCNT), “Who is a friend of the truth” (Wey). “Who loves truth” (Phi). “Lives on truth” (Ber).

“What is truth?” (John 18:38)

Pilate seems to do what many people do today when someone says the Bible is the truth (John 17:17). He seeks to change the subject. Rather than facing his own need to obey the truth, he turns to a philosophical discussion concerning the question of whether any actual and final absolute truth exists. This strategy is like that of many: The continual posing of questions in an attempt to avoid the need to obey God by removing one’s sin. In contrast, the person who wants the truth, who wants it more than anything else, will spend his time not only learning the truth, but doing it. Jesus had reminded Pilate that the question “What is truth?” has already been answered – Jesus is the truth! (John 14:6) And anyone who really wants the truth will hear it in Jesus’ teachings. The only real question left is, “Will you listen?”

When God sends... 1 Kings 22:5-23

1 Kings 22:6 Ahab’s 400 court prophets were all too eager to tell Ahab anything that he wanted to hear. 22:7 Yet Jehoshaphat is unimpressed. He evidently saw through the charade produced by these false prophets, and sought for some or even just one who would appear to proclaim God’s message, at whatever cost to themselves. 22:8 Ahab knew of such of prophet, but whined and complained that such a man never had told him what he wanted to hear (I wonder why?). Ahab’s self-consumed temperament emerges again. Observe Ahab’s view of prophets: He thought that a prophet existed to give him encouragement in what he had already decided to do. Many people today have the same attitude. They believe it to be the work of religious leaders to preach sermons that only confirm their own determined preconceptions. 22:13-14 Micaiah is immediately pressured to go along with what all the other prophets have said. The King’s message urged Micaiah to “go along with the crowd, and don’t upset the boat”, but like any faithful servant of God, this man realizes that he can only speak what the Lord says to him regardless of what people want to hear and regardless of whether or not it spoils the entire mood. 22:15 Evidently Ahab sensed sarcasm in Micaiah’s first reply. “Even Ahab recognized that Micaiah was mocking them all with biting irony and sarcasm. He was mimicking the baseless optimism of the smooth-talking court preachers of Samaria” (Dilday, p. 244). 22:16 Ahab demands to hear the truth, which makes him look good before the king of Judah, but Ahab had never wanted to hear the truth prior to this. “Before he realized what he was saying, Ahab blurted out that what he wanted was the word of Yahweh. This was a tacit admission that what he had heard from the four hundred was not the word of the Lord” (Smith, p. 531). 22:19-23 In his second vision, Micaiah described a heavenly scene in which the Lord and His hosts discussed the best way to get Ahab to Ramoth Gilead so that he might fall in battle. It was decided that false prophets, possessed by a lying spirit, would feed Ahab’s ego by assuring him of victory in the projected battle. God does plot against those who refuse to repent.Ahab wished to be guided by false prophets and the justice of God permitted him to be so guided. There is some question concerning the “spirit” in this section. God does have communication with the devil (Job 1:6-12), and does allow the devil and his messengers to test His servants (Job 1:6-12; 2 Corinthians 12:1-5). “God only allowed lying spirits to bolster what was already his (Ahab’s) hearts’ firm intent” (Winters, p. 163). We cannot link God with falsehood in this section, for God is warning Ahab in advance that this is exactly what is presently happening. He had announced before Ahab even goes into battle that a lying spirit has been placed in the mouths of his prophets! How generous of God to give Ahab one more chance to break from idolatry, dismiss the false prophets, and turn to Him.

2 Thessalonians 2:12 “In order that they may be judged”: The word judged here is being used in the sense of condemned. Ending up deceived and perishing by a lie is a just recompense for those who rejected God’s gracious message of salvation (Mark 16:16). Paul equally noted that when people reject the gospel, they are actually judging themselves as being unworthy of even hearing such a gracious offer (Acts 13:46 “since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles”). “Who did not”: Note the wording, these people did notbelieve the truth, the text does not say that they “could not”. They heard the truth, they were given a chance to be saved, and they rejected it. “Believe the truth”: A person really does not believe the truth until they love it and thus refuse to compromise it. “But took pleasure in wickedness”: “Delight in wickedness” (TCNT). “Have made evil their playfellow” (Phi). “It is of great importance to observe that the opposite of ‘believing the truth’ is ‘delighting in wickedness’. This is because truth has moral implications and makes moral demands. Evil, not error, is the root problem. It tells us that the downward slippery path begins with a love for evil. The only way to be protected from being deceived is to love goodness and truth”(Stott, p. 173). “The stark contrast reminds us that ultimately we must belong to one or other of two classes, namely, those who welcome and love God’s truth, and those who take their pleasure in wickedness” (Morris, p. 235). Which class do I fall into? Which class do you? “These men are not described as sinning through force of circumstances or any form of compulsion. They now find their pleasure in sin. They delight in wrong. For them evil has become good” (pp. 235-236).

Why love truth?

• One need only to be concerned with pleasing one Person in the universe.
• God’s truth does not change, so one need not be constantly changing one’s beliefs.
• We can, without hesitation, share this life-improving truth to all my loved ones, including my children and grandchildren.
• Loving the truth involves loving goodness, righteousness, honestly, and kindness. The world is filled with too many nasty people whose greatest skill is to win an argument on a particular subject. Loving the truth involves so much more than that. It means a thorough and complete rejection of any and all wickedness and selfishness. In fact, loving the truth is the only way that you and I can truly become “good”.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net