“THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH”
I desire to say a little as to these two references to the truth, “the love of the truth” and then “belief of the truth”. The first reference is over against the working of error and it seems to establish by inference that there are those who have embraced the love of the truth and are here amidst the developing conditions of lawlessness which we in our generation have to face. It is not that those who love the truth are taken out of these conditions, but they can prove salvation as morally apart, and I think the Lord would encourage us at this time to see that our position is to be faithful witnesses amidst the public dishonour that has been brought upon the name of Jesus. In divine grace there is power for testimony in persons who are marked by the love of the truth and are saved. The gravity of the times we are in should quicken a zeal for these things and appeal to the lovers of Jesus, to those who love the light and the truth of the assembly and the glad tidings.
The Thessalonians were a company of Christians brought through suffering, pressure and tribulation, and they came through with spiritual spoil. This epistle is addressed to “the assembly of Thessalonians”—that is, the personnel—“in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. It is not exactly the more formal position, as in Corinthians, but the moral formation of the personnel, “in God our Father”. It is an inward, strong position, like John in Patmos, “in Jesus”, Rev 1: 9. There is a peculiar glory in the time we are in—the last times. We need to gather up the spoils of these deep recovery exercises and see that there is something special reserved for the end that was not present in the same way at the beginning in the pristine days of the church.
There is nothing more urgent than that we fearlessly accept this responsibility and privilege and see what is needed now as conditions of apostasy and lawlessness develop in almost every sphere of this poor world. Where the light has once been so bright there are now some who have, alas, fallen away because they have not been marked by “the love of the truth that they might be saved”. We have often spoken of the term “the truth”. Pilate said, “What is truth?” (John 18: 38), as if he neither understood nor cared to understand, but to the overcomer the truth means everything, it means more than life. How many have been martyred for the truth! It meant more to them than life. It is far more than the setting out of doctrine and principles, important as that is. It involves the revelation of God in a Man, as Paul says, “as the truth is in Jesus”, Eph 4: 21. Then we are told, “It is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is the truth”, 1 John 5: 6. So lovers of the truth are not just following a creed—far from it; they are following a living order of things, quickened by divine Persons and involving the knowledge of God in the Person of Jesus.
So it is a wonderful area of things when we begin to speak about “the love of the truth”. It should stir us inwardly and morally that we are called to the testimony of our Lord, of which we are not to be ashamed, “For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion”, 2 Tim 1: 7. Oh, beloved, I wonder if we could just hear what the Spirit would say to us, that we should see that there is something of “the love of the truth” governing us. It is our bond, it is how the testimony can be preserved in its brightness and freshness and in the energy and vigour of life amidst the worsening conditions that are about to come under judgment. Let us therefore renew our vows and as overcomers be fully committed to the present truth. It involves the service of God, and it involves the glad tidings proclaimed in the quality of persons who come through the tribulation and sorrows of the public breakdown. In the ways of God it has all been envisaged, and the present stress of things, where the love of the many has grown cold, will bring out the quality of persons who are bound together in love and protected by divine grace, as “using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”, Eph 4: 3.
The second reference is to “belief of the truth”. This involves faith, and it involves the Spirit. We have not seen the Lord yet. How wonderful it will be when we see Him; we shall be like Him then; we shall see His face. Oh, beloved, how our hearts are drawn to the coming of Jesus, when we shall hear His assembling shout. That time is in the Father’s keeping. Times and seasons are all in His hands—how safe they are! We go through the seasons. If it is autumn, winter, or springtime we will go through it. We have times of blessing and we have times of pressure. It is all measured; we shall not have one day longer than needed.
It is a great comfort that there are things we can do here as energised by the belief of the truth. The Lord said to those Jews in John 8, “The truth shall set you free”, and He added, “If therefore the Son shall set you free, ye shall be really free”. Let us have faith in the truth. All that God has in mind will go through and He will not be hindered in any thought of His. How wonderful faith is! How easily we get depressed, but the Lord would lift us in our spirits to see that there is an order of things untouched by death or fear; it is outside the sphere of failure. Faith and the Spirit link us with a living Man at the right hand of God. Let there be nothing else controlling us. May the Lord bless us so that we come through to His thoughts in perfection. We began the week with the thought of ‘divine perfection in a Man’ (Hymn 20), and the Spirit is here serving to bring about an answer in persons who are in the belief of the truth.
We see this when Paul says, “God has chosen you from the beginning to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth”. It is remarkable that God has chosen us from the beginning. Think of God looking right down the dispensations and the generations of faith and working sovereignly to secure an answer in persons such as ourselves who have been recovered for such a time as this. It is “to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit”; so it is more than an outward position; salvation, as we have been taught, is not only from enemies and associations, but connects us to what is above where the final condition will be that our bodies will be changed. The position of separation and salvation here from enemies and from associations is to be in the sanctification of the Spirit, that is, an inward state that is in keeping with the position. Well, this is very searching. Some of us have been reminded recently of how valueless is separation without sanctification; more than that, it is obnoxious to God. We are called to absolute consecration. Dear brethren, this may seem a high level, but there is no other as I see it. The present moment calls for absolute committal and consecration in our love for Christ and for what is next His heart—the assembly, possessed of heavenly light which involves the revelation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I would just touch Paul’s exhortation as appealing to persons who are feeling the working of lawlessness and the increase of it in violence and corruption all around us. What is to mark us? What does Paul say? “Stand firm”—let us get our feet on solid ground. “The firm foundation of God stands” (2 Tim 2: 19)—let us get on to it, as I believe through divine grace we have. And then, “Hold fast”. It is like Revelation 3: 11, “Hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”; it is not anything public yet; it is a moral position, not an ecclesiastical one. “Stand firm”, and “Hold fast”.
As to numbers, that is in the Lord’s hand; if He wishes to add He will add ‘such as are to be saved’, but, as I see it, salvation will be in maintaining the sanctification of the Spirit. Let us not lower the standard! I believe the Spirit of God would maintain the standard inviolate. Let us be with Him and led by Him.
“Stand firm, and hold fast the instructions which ye have been taught, whether by word or by our letter. But our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us”—let us remember that—“and given us eternal consolation and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts, and establish you in every good work and word”. May the love of divine Persons, known in nearness, and Their comfort, make the sense of suffering recede. What a wonderful thing it is in the days in which we are, in twos and threes, in small positions, to have a sense of divine approval—“There am I in the midst of them”, Matt 18: 20. Well, may we be encouraged! We are in critical times, but the Lord is near.
MOTUEKA NZ
20th November 1979
______________________