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Combating the Lie - part 3

The Love of the Truth

Tesloniqyah Bet (Second Thessalonians) 2:10-11
And with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.  And for this reason YHWH will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe the lie, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

The "deluding influence" has already been examined in the study:  Combating the Lie – part 2: A Deluding Influence.  Please take careful note as to the source of this deluding influence, that is, where the deluding influence comes from; it is YHWH Himself.  If that does not make one sit up and take notice, then he is spiritually dead, and already under the influence of this deluding force.  What does this deluding influence do?  It causes those who have not received the love of the truth to accept the lie and be judged accordingly.  Make no mistake about it, each person is constantly choosing every day of his life either to walk in the truth or to walk in the lie.

Please note this passage dealing with truth.

Yochanan (John) 14:6 
Yeshua says to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me.”

Please note well that if a person loves the truth then he will love Yeshua as Mashiach.  No person can hate Yeshua and love the truth.  It is not possible to do this.  To love the truth is to love Yeshua.  Furthermore, Yeshua taught that if one loves Him (the truth), then he will obey Him.

Yochanan (John) 14:15 
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

When a person receives a love of the truth he will have a deep abiding love for Yeshua and have an overwhelming desire to obey His commandments.  This will not only include hearing and obeying His Voice, but it will actually be the foundation of his walk and life in Mashiach.

How can one be sure that he has received the love of the truth? After all, according to the above passage in 2nd Thessalonians, this seems to be something one dares not miss the boat on!  After all, one certainly does not want to be deceived by the deluding influence YHWH is going to send upon the whole world!

Ma’aseh [Acts] 17:10-11
10 And the brethren immediately sent away Shaul and Silas by night to Berea; who when they had arrived there went into the synagogue of the Yehudim.
11 Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.

When a person has received the love of the truth, there are several characteristics that stand out about that person.  First, he will have the mindset of a Berean.  He will take no one’s word for it, but rather check it out for himself and use Scripture as his rule of measure.  As Scripture teaches one is to prove all things, this is one of the characteristics YHWH desires to instill in each person.

2nd Timothy 2:15 
Give diligence to present yourself approved unto Elohim, a workman that needs not be ashamed, handling rightly the word of truth.

The second characteristic of a person, who has received a love of the truth, is that he is consistently studying Scripture to show himself approved.  He also handles the Written Word of YHWH rightly and with care.  It is perhaps at this very point that so many fall short today.  Many take up the Scriptures YHWH has given to prove their own points or positions.  To do this is a gross misuse of His written word.  When one takes up His word he should be pliable in its grip.  It should mold him, shape him, and reveal those things in him that are not pleasing to YHWH.

When a person has a love of the truth this means that he will do no violence to the truth by attempting to re-make it into his own image.   

Yochanan [John] 13:17 
“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

The third characteristic of a person who has received a love of the truth, is that when a new truth is revealed to him, he immediately will restructure his life to include this new truth, and he will reorder his thinking and his living to this new understanding.   Simply put, such a person obeys the truth of YHWH regardless of the cost or inconvenience of doing so.  We clearly see this in the life of Avraham when he was told to go and offer his son Yitzchak up as a burnt offering.  This was a new truth to Avraham and it was certainly not convenient, nor was it going to be cheap for this new truth to become a part of his life.  Nevertheless, he did it anyway.  Such is a person who has a love of the truth.

A person who has not received this love of the truth is not saved, nor will he restructure his life to any new truth learned.  Perhaps the reader may consider this too strong of a statement, that such a person is not saved who does not have a love of the truth.  However, please consider  that a person who has not received a love of His truth is stagnant and not growing in his knowledge and understanding of YHWH the Elohim of Israel.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:1-2
1 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which YHWH your Elohim commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it;
2 that you might fear YHWH your Elohim, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son's son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.”

When a person has a love of the truth, then he will also have and continue to develop a healthy fear of YHWH; a fear that causes him to walk in loving obedience to YHWH, to all of His commandments and to shema His Voice; i.e., hear and obey His Voice.

It seems that if a person does not have this healthy fear of YHWH then he will not keep all of His commandments, statutes, and ordinances that He has commanded His people Israel to keep.  Furthermore, if a person is not keeping and obeying all of His commandments, statutes, and ordinances does such a person truly have a fear of YHWH?  Does such a person have a love of the truth?  It would not seem as though such a person does.  In fact, would not such a person who only obeys what he chooses to obey already be under the deluding influence?  To be sure!

Qorintyah Aleph (1st Corinthians) 6:19-20 
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from Elohim?  And you are not your own;
20 for you were bought with a price; glorify Elohim therefore in your body.

Another characteristic of a person who has received a love of the truth is that he realizes he is not his own person any longer.  He realizes that Yeshua, via the Set-apart Spirit, lives in him, and that he is to live according to His Spirit rather than doing his own will.  He understands and orders his life according to the truth that it is not his own will that matters, but rather it is the will of our heavenly Father that he is to be doing, just like Yeshua who came not to do His own will, but came to do the will of His Father.  Likewise, the followers of Mashiach Yeshua are to do the same. 

Since a person who has received a love of the truth realizes that he is not his own, he also realizes that nothing he “owns” is his either, but that he has received it from YHWH.

Qorintyah Aleph (1st Corinthians) 4:7 
For who regards you as superior?  And what do you have that you have not received?  But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

And who did he receive it from?

Ya’aqov (James) 1:17 
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.

A person who has received a love of the truth knows and understands that he belongs to Mashiach Yeshua who purchased him with His own Blood.  Furthermore, he realizes that all that he has is a blessing from our heavenly Father.  This, in turn, brings about a willingness to share what He has blessed him with.

Ephesians 4:28 
Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that has need.

For whom does one work for in his place of employment?  If one answers anything or anyone other than YHWH, then he does not understand.  As a Blood-bought member of His people, he works for Mashiach Yeshua.  While a person may go to a place of employment, he does not really work for them, he works for YHWH.  As such, it is YHWH who pays him.  He may receive a paycheck from the place where he is employed, but according to Scripture, that paycheck is actually from YHWH.  Please read James 1:17 again.  YHWH just has him in that place for the time being and is causing them to pay him for being there.  One is to be doing His will, not his own. When a person works for YHWH, he always does his very best, regardless of what it is that he is doing.

The result of this should be a realization that what YHWH has placed into one’s hands is not to be used selfishly, but rather it is to be shared with those who are in need.  This is to be done according to the leading of His Spirit. 

Ya’aqov (James) 4:6 
But He gives more grace.  Therefore the scripture says,
“Elohim resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

As was pointed out at the beginning of this teaching, the deluding influence has been examined in another study.  Could the deluding influence be something as simple as pride?  Make no mistake about it, pride is certainly a deluding influence in any person’s life where it is present.  Furthermore, YHWH is against pride wherever it is found and in whomever it is found.  What YHWH is attempting to do is to remove pride out of the lives of His people so that each person may have eternal life.  Pride is a killer.  It does not make any difference what station in life a person is in, if pride is present, then it is killing him! Furthermore, it does matter what the cause of that pride might be, it is still sin and it is killing him.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 8:2 
“And you shall remember all the way which YHWH your Elohim has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments, or not.”

Pride keeps a person from obeying the commandments of YHWH our Elohim.  It takes humility to bow one’s life in submission to His commandments and to His will.  These things one cannot do without a love of the truth. 

Have you received a love of the truth?

If you have, then you will have a servant’s heart.  Not only are we to serve YHWH, but we are to serve one another as well. 

Kepha Aleph (1st Peter) 5:5
Likewise, you younger, be subject to the elder.  Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another; for Elohim resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

To walk the walk YHWH has called us to walk in Mashiach Yeshua leaves no room for pride in any manner whatsoever.  We must live in humble obedience to His Voice at all times.  Otherwise, YHWH will be opposed to him who is full of pride.

How are you doing in your service to YHWH?

How are you doing in your service to others?

Matithyah (Matthew) 22:37-40
37 And He said to him, “You shall love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second like unto it is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments the whole Torah hangs, and the prophets.”  

Have you received a love of His truth? 

If so, then all these things are yours and will be increasing in your life as you live for Him.

ABBA YHWH, we love the truth and are willing to submit to the truth in its entirety; in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach.  Amein.

Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

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