1)
I exhort therefore, that,
first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be
made for all men;
2)
For kings, and for all
that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all
godliness and honesty.
3)
For this is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4)
Who will have all men to
be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
5)
For there is one God, and
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
|
T |
ruth
is an evasive concept to many. Most often, man wants to decide his own truth.
You see, in this day, there is believed to be no absolute truth concerning anything. Of course, those of us who have
received enlightenment know that there is an absolute truth because truth is
defined by God.
If
you will pay attention to many "messages" today, you will notice that
many preachers want to expound upon what they have "discovered" as
truth rather than upon the truth of God. Often, this is either due to a lack of
familiarity with the truth, or an
attempt to justify the failure to follow His truth.
It
is only through learning, embracing and conducting oneself according to the
truth of the Word that one will inherit the
It
is impossible for one ever to come to "the knowledge of the truth"
without the Spirit of God for without this Spirit, one has not the means by
which to understand spiritual things. Think of what this means in light of the
fact that many, today, are teaching against
the Holy Ghost.
Scripture
teaches that first, comes that which is natural and then, comes the spiritual.
Therefore, one cannot stay in the state of "naturalness," for he will
forever be "locked out" of the spiritual. It is really a vicious
circle, for without the Holy Ghost, one sees no need
of being "born again." This would seem to suggest that one simply
needs to go ahead and receive the Spirit whether one understands Him or not,
doesn't it?
Jesus, during His walk on earth, taught
by parables. Their
very purpose was to confuse those who lacked the means by which to understand
them. You see, they could not be understood just by recognizing the words that
the Lord spoke. One had to be able to capture the meaning of the words. The state of those without the Holy Ghost is
that everything is dealt with at "face value." Actually, they have no
choice, for they do not have the Power to look beyond.
It
is tempting for everyone to take the "easy way out" and simply deal
with all of life's circumstances from the "surface" view. It takes
both self-discipline and control to calm oneself in the midst of your
"storm". It takes both of these to be able to "do the right
thing". This is exactly why we
have Jesus—so that He can control us
and all things pertaining to us. It is He Who regulates our minds and allows us
the self-control to make decisions in the best interests of the
"The
knowledge of the truth" is perhaps the greatest liberator there is.
Through this knowledge, we are released from the lies of the devil and freed to
live for God. When we accept the truth, we come to the knowledge that it is not
necessary for us to do anything other than what the Lord commands. We come to
know Who actually "owns" us. When we are
saved, but fail to commit all that we are and have to the Lord, we allow the
devil to retain "rights" to us through the Law of Ownership (or, the
Law of the Right-of-Way). Basically, all that this means is that if the devil
has possession of only one small "piece" of us, he has the right to walk all over the rest of us to
get to what he owns.
Man
is trying to live by the fallacy that he can be saved, yet not listen to all of
the commands of the Lord. This is a fallacy because if He is not being listened
to, He is not being followed, and therefore, He is not "in control".
Jesus either controls all of one's life or He is not in control.
The
key to possessing "the knowledge of the truth" is in understanding
what the Lord has already done. This is the condition for "unspeakable
joy". One's "joy meter" is a good indication of his "knowledge
of the truth." How's yours?