Never Water Down The Truth Of God

Our new venture that we will be launching on July 5th is dedicated to pursuing and defending the truth wherever that may lead. Now that is easier said then done. As the pressure to be pragmatic gets greater, the more opportunity you have to compromise on aletheia truth.

Jesus’ whole mission in life was to bring the aletheia truth to the world. Recall what our Lord said to Pilate:

    “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18:37)

And we remember again our Lord’s wonderful words of salvation:

    “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” (John 8:31-32)

Notice that Jesus did not say that the aletheia truth would makes us pompous, popular, or pragmatic but too often that is what happens or for what we strive. NO! Jesus said the truth shall make us free! Free from what?

First, stinking thinking. Please understand that I am not completely opposed to political pragmatism but if it is contrary to the truth then we must trust the truth, because it will free us from fear of the unknown. We trust Christ.

Second, the truth will set us free from the political correctness that is the darling of Satan. The Devil knows that if he can get Christians to water down the truth by “not being offensive”, then the truth will be lost to those who need it the most; the lost. Beloved, the gospel is offensive! We’re not supposed to be offensive in our conduct, but the message is no doubt offensive.

We are to be gracious when we speak the aletheia truth and trust the power of God’s Word to convict men’s souls. Oswald Chambers puts it this way:

    A spiritually minded man will never come to you with the demand – “Believe this and that;” but with the demand that you square your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One Whom the Bible reveals… Don’t get impatient, remember how God dealt with you – with patience and with gentleness; but never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples,” not “make converts to your opinions.”

That is key to remember; let’s stop trying to make converts to our opinions. Too often my opinion was guided by political pragmatism and was contrary to God’s Word. We are to share God’s truth so that sinners will be saved and lives changed, changed in a way that it changes society. Paul explains to Timothy how this happened in his life:

    “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.” (1 Timothy 1:12-16)

The pursuit and defense of aletheia truth is not just to save our nation, in fact if that is the only reason we do so then we will fail. God’s truth means liberty, true liberty from the penalty and power of sin, liberty from greed and avarice, and liberty from fear of man. The writer of Hebrews explains that Jesus’ mission was to bring us out of bondage into liberty:

    “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:14-18)

Beloved, when we try to water down the gospel, we dilute it and it loses its power. Oh, our motives may be pragmatic…we don’t want to offend someone or bring them along too fast. In actuality what we are doing is getting in the Holy Spirit’s way of doing a heavenly work on a wicked heart through the aletheia truth.

We must declare God’s truth and we must live it. We must be salt and light to the world. The church must once again become a hospital for souls instead of a hospitality inn for saints. We must dress a poor man before we bless him.

In the end it comes down to trusting Jesus to do what He said He would do.

He came to set the captives free, and He wants to use you and me.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2011 David Jeffers

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