The Word of Truth Ministries
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Truth Shall
Make You Free |
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“If
you continue in my word, then The first
quote from Jesus is often written, the truth shall set you free.
On many buildings across the USA, especially libraries and court
houses, you may read the distorted
quote. And beyond the many buildings that host it, some
ministers also recite it as set you free. To get the new birth you must believe his word and continue in it. Only by continuing in His word can you receive or even understand the new birth. [John 3:1-5] If one continues in the Word of God his eyes become open to understand the new birth and many other aspects of God. But if one does not continue, that little understanding that a person has will be withdrawn. The person who does not continue in God's word can never know more than the superficiality of God's truth. But that person who follows in the way of the Lord diligently, his light grows brighter unto the perfect day. [Prov. 4:18;2 Tim. 2:7] Nicodemus was an honest man
who was struggling with the concept of the new birth, and when Jesus
told him that he had to be born again of water and spirit, he showed
himself a man of integrity as well. Honesty is one thing; integrity
is another. To have integrity, he had to be willing to go beyond
his existing knowledge to get the greater knowledge of God. Many
have no integrity and are unwilling to go beyond their limited
knowledge to find the greater truths of God. Paul showed that there
are greater truths; notice that he said to Timothy, "Consider/adhere
to the things I say and God give thee understanding in all things."
[2 Tim. 2:7] There are things of God that can never be known by
those who are not walking uprightly before God. Jesus indicated that continuing in God's word would cause disciples to have certain epiphanies or revelations. This corresponds with another scripture: Then shall we know, as we follow on to know the Lord. [Hos.6:3] Certain godly knowledge can only be acquired through continuous obedience to the word of God. You must be twice born to get into the kingdom of God, but after that you must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Satan and satanic teachers have deceived God's people into thinking they cannot live the life of Christ in their lives. We can live by every word of God. We must live by every word of God! Without continuing in his word, you will never understand this, and you will NEVER be MADE FREE. Many church members are bound in sin because of ignorance, yet supposing their ignorance/darkness is actually light and that their truth is actually God's truth. [Mat. 6:23] They are stuck in their own wrong way of seeing God's word and refuse to allow the truth of God to intrude into their belief system or their behavior. These are those who hear the word of God and do nothing about it. [Mark 4:12-18] Instead, they cling to what they already believe, they cling to the cares of this life, and say to themselves and others, "I hear what you are saying, but I know what I believe." Or "Well, I have to pray about that." And, of course, that statement is merely loose church talk, meaning that they will do none of God's word but hold on to their way of life, their cares of this life, their own delusions of being saved, even though God's word will not change their behavior. So reprobated in their minds are they that they cannot see with their eyes or hear with their ears God's truth. They are totally wedded to the lifestyle they are living and the traditions that they have accepted--it is comfortable even though it is a deception they live by; to accept God's truth after years of self-deception is absolutely frightening to them. They are carnally minded and in the flesh, and it is a natural human phenomenon to resist change, even when it is to one's good. People in the flesh will usually maintain an old comfortable lie rather than change to a position outside their comfort zone. Thank God, Jesus was willing to go outside his comfort zone for the saving of our souls. Yet we see things our way; we serve God our way; we are Christians our way. And our ways are usually not God's ways. [Isa. 55:8] These are those who have made a god of themselves and think that they can engage in the holy things of God their way and God will accept their way as right. He won't! God has said that His way is not our way; His thought is not our thought. We must do godly things according to God's way, not our way! [2 Tim. 2:5] To do them any other way than God's prescribed way is to do them unlawfully, and we will not, the apostle Paul says, be crowned. A number of situations and examples should help you see how many have corrupted God's ways in preference of their own and deceived themselves into thinking God will accept their unlawful methods: First, I was in a dear old saint's home, helping her out with some matters and reminded her that I had prophesied of an event that is now looming burdensome upon her. That dear old saint said, "You certainly did. If I had listened to many of the things you said, I would be much better." A friend of hers overheard our conversation and asked if I was a holiness preacher; when I told her that I was, she immediately wanted prayer and started babbling in so type of broken and supposedly unknown tongue. That, I assumed, was her way of identifying with me or saying she had the Holy Ghost. But the word of God says, "Hereby know that we know him, if we keep his commandment." [1 John 2:3] Instead of just saying she was also a believer, she was willing to play in holy things, which is a custom many unlearned have. On another occasion I was teaching a certain concept in a Bible class and the occasion was that First Timothy 3:16 arose; I went quickly by it because we all knew that truth and the message was not on the deity of Christ but some other concept. But since this was one of the pet scriptures of that the group loved, they required my exegesis on the verse anyhow. Church fancies that have nothing to do with solid learning but fanciful notions that excite and are often diversionary! Finally, a student carried his Bible to class and while teaching on Oedipus at Colonus, I made reference to Job. He pulled his Bible and proclaimed himself a Christian. But upon closer examination, he seemingly had a male partner that he lived with. He is his type of Christian, rather than God's type of Christian--a Christian who obeys certain portions of scriptures and disobeys undesirable portions. This is what we have today: Men doing Christianity their way, not God's way. And they are unwilling to allow God's word to change their behaviors and ideas. They will not be crowned because the run unlawfully! [2 Tim. 2:5] These were situations that show how man prefers unlearned and simplistic fantasies to that of a solid understanding of God's word. Paul said that they shall turn their ears away from the truth and turn them unto fables. [2 Tim. 4:1-4] Indeed, many people have held on to lies of great darkness so long, thinking them correct, so that regardless of what is said, they will brush it aside and maintain their own regime of fables and traditions and customs and lies and misinterpretations of God's word. I have seen men with ideas directly in opposition against God's word and when shown what God says contrary to their ideas they still say, "Yes, but I still believe this or that." They are in the flesh and do not
know that what they think is light is really darkness and they are
laboring under great darkness! [ My dear reader, a wrong way of seeing or interpreting God's word will not save anyone, but it will dam a many souls unto hell. When one persists in thinking that a wrong way is correct, in spite of God's word rightly divided to the contrary of his thoughts, that person has darkness that he/she thinks is light and, in fact, it is a deep seated, ingrained darkness that dams thought, convolutes reasoning, and condemns their soul to hell. God's people have been destroyed because of their ignorance too long, [Hos. 4:6] and tragically many are "willingly ignorant." [2 Pet.3 :5] Their willful ignorance is a rejection of God's word, and under those circumstances, He will also reject the person who has this great darkness, sending them the strong delusion. [2Thes.2:11] Do not allow an learned or unlearned pastor or preacher to bind you with a wrong interpretation of God's word. You must prove all things! Ask real questions and demand real answers! [1Thes. 5:21] Be free in God; accept only His rightly divided word--it is always uncomfortable to the flesh, to traditions, and to those who are more concerned about the cares of this world. Anything other than the rightly divided word of God is not God's word. And to think it is, is to place yourself in great darkness!
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2006 by The Truth of God