Holding on to the Truth of Salvation
The preacher of truth is filled with the Spirit of truth, who illumines the Word of truth to the people of truth. We are of the truth and what we need is the truth. God is true (Rom 3:4); and Jesus Christ is truth, personified (Jn 14:6). It is the truth that sets people apart. It frees the children of God from bondage to the lies of the evil one (Jn 8:32).
Satan is a liar (Jn 8:44). He has been deceiving humanity from the beginning, from the Garden of Eden. The devil blinds the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 4:4). He distracts his subjects by distorting the truth.
In sending his false prophets of old and false teachers, today, his end is every person’s destruction. The spirit of antichrist has long been at work and is legion, today. The diluted messages are so many that man in his stupor of ignorance, subjects himself to every wind of doctrine.
The only hope for the born again, in this present evil age, is Jesus Christ 1 Tim 1:1). To have the right Jesus, we need sound doctrine. The Word of God, the Bible, is the only source for doctrine. It is the test that determines whether we are truly Christians. The reason is that the indwelling Holy Spirit is the one who guides us into all truth (Jn 16:13).
Those who have not received the Spirit of Christ do not accept the things of the Spirit (Jn 14:17; 1 Cor 2:14). In their estimate, the Spirit presenting and promoting the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is foolishness to them (1 Cor 1:18). For this reason, every Christian needs to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). He or she must also have the Spirit to help them discern the truth from error. The Word is like a double-edged Sword, the Sword of the Spirit who cuts and divides truth from lies (Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12).
The Person of the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the triune Godhead. There is one God; and there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim 2:5). To deny that the Son of God came from heaven and was incarnate is to deny the Christian faith. This was some of the false teaching of those in the early church who were leading people away from the Person and work of Christ. In truth, Jesus must be fully man in order to represent us before God as our great high priest (Heb 4:14).
In the role of high priest, Jesus offered himself as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of His people from the whole world — every nation, tribe and tongue (Mt 1:21; Jn 1:29; Rev 5:9; 7:9). The substitutionary sacrifice was His death on the cross of Calvary, where He shed His own blood of the covenant that released us from our sins (Mt 26:28; 1 Pet 2:24; Rev 1:5).
The Spirit-filled preacher proclaims Christ and Him crucified as the only means by which people are redeemed, forgiven, and set free to serve the living and true God (1 Thess 1:9). Every distortion of Christ and His perfect work is antichrist. It is the world standing against the truth of the Gospel.
Those receiving the mercy and grace of God unto salvation are born again of God’s Spirit (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3). They are made alive to God in Christ (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). By this receipt of the Spirit and the Word of truth, they know they are of the truth (1 Jn 3:19; 4:4). For this reason, we rejoice that the Spirit is producing peace, joy, love, hope, and faith among other fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22–23).
The accuser of the brethren is the devil (Rev 12:10). He serves God by bringing charges against God’s people before God’s righteous judgment seat (Gen 18:25; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11). He has already tempted us to sin against the One who loved us, now he does whatever makes us look bad. In doing this he lays guilt and shame upon Christians to derail our service to the Lord. The solution to these diabolical machinations is to return to the truth of God’s Word that tells us our sins our forgiven and there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1; Eph 1:7).
Telling the truth is an act of love (Eph 4:15). God has demonstrated His love toward us that while we were deceived in darkness, He told us the truth. When we did not comprehend the truth, He sent His Spirit to us to enlighten us with the light of Christ. Taking in the knowledge of truth our disposition was rectified by God our Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord.
Some of the benefits of this transfer from the domain of darkness an into the kingdom of His beloved Son is that we have immediate and permanent access before the throne of grace that we might pray without ceasing (Col 1:13; 1 Thess 5:17). We pray for many things and those good gifts from our Father are received in the recognition of Him to whom we give thanksgiving in everything (1 Thess 5:18; Jas 1:17).
God’s commandment is for us to believe in His Son (Acts 16:31), to trust Him for all things in life and ministry. By doing this, in the power of His Spirit, we express our love for God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Having received God’s love first (1 Jn 4:19), we also love others as a testimony and witness of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith and love are in union with one another; and truth is the glue that holds them together. Without truth, faith is an exercise in futility. Likewise, love is a perversion without truth. Thus, we truly love others when we do truth, that is, in a Word and in a deed.
John, in his first epistle, warns us to beware of the false teachers and their false doctrines derived from Satan’s lies in this perverse generation. The media of the menace is many; and we must be diligent and vigilant to hold on to the truth as it is in Jesus (Eph 4:21)…the Jesus of the Bible who is fully God and fully man.
Let us live in light of who we are for we are the adopted children of God (Rom 8:15, 23), filled with God’s Spirit of adoption (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9,11). We are to walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16, 25), who causes us to walk in God’s statutes (Ezek 36:27), which are not a burden to those walking in the truth. Safe Journey! Your Guide is worthy of your trust.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 17, 2023
1 John 3:19–4:6
