Acknowledging God’s Truth leads to changed hearts and lives. This daily devotional looks at how disciples of Christ should react to God’s Truth.
Nuggets
- It is our duty to expand His kingdom by instructing those who have not ABCDed in the Truth.
- If others don’t believe, they will be condemned.
- Those who continue to disobey God and deny the Truth will experience God’s wrath.
- God is the Judge.
- God’s Truth has His expectations all spelled out.
Devotions in the What Is Truth? series
Our lives are much better when we accept God’s Truth. Let’s see how that can be.
Let's Put It into Context
God’s Truth is the gospel or a collection of facts regarding God. It is the doctrine that produces faithfulness that leads to godliness. Godliness is an attitude of reverence that is promoted by walking in His Spirit.
God’s Truth Should be Acknowledged
“Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth” (II Tim. 2: 25 NLT)
We each have as our mission the charge to “… go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mk. 16: 15 ESV). It is our duty to expand His kingdom by instructing those who have not ABCDed in the Truth.
Our instructions have to be done in a gentle manner. We cannot alienate those to whom we are witnessing.
We cannot, though, change the gospel to make it conform to something they can accept. We must teach that we have to admit that we are separated from God, believe Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so that we could be made pure, and confess and submit to God as our Sovereign Lord. Then we have to demonstrate that commitment by following God’s laws and commandments and doing what God has called us to do.
God wants us to show others how He has changed our lives and our hearts. In that way, they will learn of Him and His love.
Others must learn that they are in need of redemption. They must learn the Truth.
Is everyone going to accept God’s Truth? Unfortunately not.
Years ago when I was teaching a couple’s class, one of the ladies was despairing that a family member would be saved. She was going on about all the things she had done to convince this person that salvation was needed.
I reminded her that our call is to share the gospel. God is the one who works on hearts so salvation is accepted.
Clarke listed reasons why others don’t accept salvation.
- Ignorance
- Carelessness
- Prejudice
- Wickedness and corruption
Resource
Unfortunately, there will be many who do not accept the call of salvation. “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Mt. 7: 14 NIV).
Barlow put it this way. He wrote, “Repentance is hopeful and yet doubtful.”
Resource
That is sad. Few will find eternal life. Instead, they have chosen eternal torment.
God’s Truth Should be Believed
“Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth. As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord” (II Thess. 2: 12 NLT)
If others don’t believe, they will be condemned. It is as plain and simple as that.
Yes, God is a loving God. Yes, He is a forgiving God.
But there is one sin that He will not forgive. I believe that sin is unbelief.
Glossary
Barrett brought up a good point. He wrote, “God does not damn anybody; but many damn themselves. Damnation is sin and suffering producing and perpetuating each other.”
Resource
God doesn’t want to condemn non-believers to hell — but He will. He gave His Son to die so that we would not have to be condemned.
We choose whether to believe God or not because we have free will. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
Glossary
There is no way God is going to go up to Jesus on judgment day and say, “I know I’ve told You since before I made mankind that You would be their Savior. You did everything I asked You to, even dying for them.
“I can’t do it. I can’t condemn them to an eternity of torment. I love them to much to do that.
So, I am just going to forgive everyone’s sins — regardless of whether they believe in Us or not.”
Not. Going. To. Happen. People.
Look at what it says their crimes are. “… condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth” (II Thess. 2: 12 NLT).
When we enjoy lying, stealing, being sexually promiscuous, and sowing discontent, we are living opposite of God’s Truth.
When we refuse to believe that we were separated from God because of disobedience, that Jesus’ death and resurrection provided the only way for us to be saved, and that God is Creator and Sustainer of all things, we are living opposite of God’s Truth.
We can’t put our own interests above God’s Truth and expect Him to reward us. We have to follow God in all that He says and does.
God’s Truth Should be Obeyed
“But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness” (Rom. 2: 8 CSB)
Those who continue to disobey God and deny the Truth will experience God’s wrath. Morison wrote, “The truth is disobeyed when there is a wilful (sic) refusal to have the life, at once in its inner thoughts and feelings, and in its outer acts, conformed to the rule which it embodies.”
Glossary
Resource
God is the Judge. “For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us” (Isa. 33: 22 ESV).
God’s Truth Should be Loved
“He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them” (II Thess. 2: 10 NLT)
Dangling pronoun again.
The he is referring to the man of lawlessness. “This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles” (II Thess. 2: 9 NLT).
The passage is talking about the events leading up to the second coming of Christ. It shows how Satan creates chaos rather than peace.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
What does that have to do with love? God loves us so much that He provided the plan to reconcile us to Him.
We need to accept God’s love and Truth.
God’s Truth Should be Clear
“We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this” (II Cor. 4: 2 CSB)
God’s Truth has His expectations all spelled out. It tells us very clearly what we should do and not do.
As disciples, we are to reject everything that goes against God’s laws and commandments. This means not only the shameful deed but also the underhanded methods.
Melvill talked about “… not handling the Word of God deceitfully …” What he meant by that was not misrepresenting the promises or threats contained in the Scriptures.
Resource
God’s Truth has many promises. We should not discount them.
God’s Truth has many warnings. We should not ignore them or discount them.
We should look at trying not to sin just so we can escape the punishment. We have to change our character so the sin is no longer attractive to us in order to follow God’s Will.
Disciples are to tell the Truth before God.
- Man became separated from God after the original sin.
- Jesus completed the Plan of Salvation so that our relationships may be restored to God.
- One day, Jesus is coming again to judge the world on whether they ABCDed or not.
Bradford had an excellent nugget. He wrote, “No change in religious thought is more remarkable than that which recognises (sic) that the ultimate appeal is not to authority outside of man, but to the authority inside.”
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Resource
What Paul was also doing here was contrasting his ministry with that of the false teachers. The false teachers twisted God’s Word to suit their purposes.
We have to watch and make sure that we are not in the clutches of a false teacher. We have to diligently examine what we are told to make sure it mirrors what is in Scriptures.
God's Truth Should be Rightly Divided
“Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth” (II Tim. 2: 15 CSB)
Oh, yes. Following God’s Truth is going to take work. We have to have the character change, which isn’t going to be easy.
We are going to need to start doing things and stop doing others. We are going to have to submit.
Plummer said that the word Paul is using here is zeal. He wrote, “It indicates that ceaseless, serious, earnest zeal, which was one of his chief characteristics.”
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Oh, yeah. My Ladies and I call Paul the Energizer Bunny for a reason! Paul did have that unending fire to spread God’s Truth.
We need to have that fire, too. It duty of kingdom expansion has now fallen to us.
Moore wrote that there are four ways that we show our ministry is approved of God.
1. Quality
2. Quantity
3. Sincerity
4. Compassion and kindness
Resource
We have to be diligently performing the work God has us to do. Even when the trials come — and they will — we have to be doing the work to which God has called us.
We should not be ashamed of the gospel. Nor should we be ashamed of the work we do to promote the gospel.
Yep, worldview people will probably oppose us. That is especially true if they are fighting conviction by the Holy Spirit.
We have to put our faith and trust in God. We have to utilize a straightforward method in disseminating God’s Word.
Making the Connections
The truth we are talking about here is divine revelation. God has told us what we need to know in order to believe in Him.
We must discern how we apply this Truth to our daily lives. We are going to be looking at discernment in a couple of weeks.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
Sometimes, doesn’t it seem like making a decision is easy? It is the implementing the decision that is hard.
It may be easy to ask God to forgiving us of our sins. It is hard to change our character and live for Him.
How Do We Apply This?
To discern how we apply the Truth means we have to study God’s Word so that we understand what we need to understand. We have to build a solid foundation — and then we have to build on the foundation.
Not everyone is at the same place on the Sanctification Road. Some will be milk babies; some will be steak adults — and bunches anywhere in between. When we are instructing others, we need to take that into account.
When we are witnessing, we need to take into account that people have varying experiences. They have varying value systems. We need to take that into consideration as we choose how to talk with them.
We have to diligently strive to live the way in which God calls. We have to choose to follow Him.
Father God. We acknowledge that Your Truth is the only way that leads to eternal life and purity. We commit to diligently seeking You and Your Will for our lives. Help us to be witnesses for You. Amen.
What do you think?
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