“Stop Resisting
The Truth”
II Timothy 3:6-9,13,14
6)
For of this
sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with
sins, led away with divers lusts,
7)
Ever
learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8)
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood
Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds,
reprobate concerning the faith.
9)
But they
shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was.
13)
But evil men
and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
14)
But continue
thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of
whom thou hast learned them;
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nyone
teaching the truth, today, encounters difficulty with reaching the minds of
their students. The greatest obstacle is the human mind, itself, in that it
fights to protect itself against the knowledge of exactly where one stands with
the Lord: However, the mind has no problem comprehending what someone else’s
problem is. Unfortunately we can make problems of something that does not exist
for we operate according to our personal opinions, as opposed to truth. Even
when we ourselves, can be pinpointed as our problem, we will fight to try to
blame someone else before we accept responsibility. This approach is “the path
of lease resistance” to contentment, for when our “problem” is someone else,”
that individual will have to change before we can.
You
know even when our lives depend upon it, it is hard
for us to acknowledge that we need help. Despite the fact that we could have
relief, peace, joy and be happy, we will remain mediocrely saved, without these benefits. Why? Because should we accept the truth of God’s word, we would have to
change all areas of our lives not representing that change. This is
becoming less-and-less common in today’s world, be it material or spiritual.
Taking
the place of personal account-ability is the phenomenon of “the passing of the
buck.” Whoever I can blame, I will and however I can deny fault, I will. Anyone
operating in this mentality, beware. For, while man
has come to expect his short-comings to be overlooked, God has no attention of
doing so.
As
long as one’s own interest is in preserving “self” (our own interest, our own
ego, our own self-image), they will be void of spiritual compression. That is,
he will sit like anyone else, hear all the same words, yet
have no idea of God’s vision. One will see this clearly only as he begins to do
God’s bidding, for then, one begins to comprehend how all things fall together.
If
one sincerely desires a deeper personal relationship with his Savior, he will
have to make an effort. This means seeking to know God according to His Spirit
and this can be done only by being willing to set aside oneself. Once we come
to know the Lord, we come to know what He wants, how he wants it and then, we
must begin to act upon the truth that we accept.
The
only direct mention of Jannes and Jambres
is made in this passage, yet it can be inferred that they are the magicians
present when Moses met with Pharoah. We all know when
the staves of all three (Jannes, Jambres,
and Moses) were thrown down, all turned into serpents,
yet Moses’ consumed the other two. The “folly,” here, was that they were not
what they claimed to be and it was made manifest to all. The lesson for us to
learn is that the Lord will not be silent concerning those who mock Him. All
mockers will be exposed for what they are.
You
see, man has gotten comfortable with believing that what he believe
is how God will conduct Himself. The Lord will never operate according to our
rules unless those rules agree with His principles, for He will not have us
believe that we do not have to follow His instructions.
The
devil is gladly setting people up and many are allowing themselves to be set up
as though they can resist the truth. From the beginning of time, no one has
been able to do this, and no one ever will.
It
remains true that in order to accomplish anything with God, we must do things
His way. “His way” is accomplished in our lives when we evidence a change. You
see, this is what truth does—it changes lives. Whoever will
accept it, will accept revelation.
Necessary
to accepting and implementing the truth is a determination to do what God says.
After all, today, the only thing that one can be assured of is the Word of God.
Therefore, one can also be assured that if he does as the Word of God says, He
will fulfill His end of the “bargain.”
Perhaps
at no other time have we been faced with so many who have turned from the
truth. One cannot embrace truth at one point and then decide you no longer need
it. Scripture, itself, explains to us that if we rebuild what we have torn
down, we are transgressors.
It
is useless to resist the power of the truth, for whether accepted or not the
Word of God never fails. What He has said, He will
surely bring to pass. The truth is what bolsters, strengthens and keeps us—and
it is what gives us the power and authority to say “no” to the devil.
The
truth is that we must stay saved no matter what course our life takes. The
truth is that we are only clay and God is the potter. In and of ourselves,
we are formless. The truth is men have been deceived into believing that they
have a right to reject whatever doesn’t “fit” into what they want to do. The
truth is that no matter the state of one sent to us, if what they bring is
true, we are obligated to listen. The truth is that when the people of God
“stop resisting the truth,” they will also stop working against the