The Love of the Truth by C. P. Bollman

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 4, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 42.

The Love of the Truth.

By C. P. Bollman

EVERYBODY should love the truth, for the truth's sake and for the sake of Him who is the fountain of all truth. But all do not so love it; and that for the simple reason that the truth condemns them. The testimony of the Saviour was, that "men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil;" and the same is true to-day. But such is the deceitfulness of sin, that people do not realize that they are clinging to error and rejecting the truth.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" is it therefore any wonder that many are deceived even as to their true motives? Speaking of some who should live in the last days, the apostle said: "Because they receive not the love of the truth . . . God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." 2 Thess. 2: 10, 11. Not that God desires that any should be lost, for he declares: "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God;" but all are left free to choose for themselves. Says the Lord: "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." But any one may refuse to enter in at that door; God offers salvation to all; but he compels none to be saved; he sends forth his truth, but he compels none to believe it. All are free to choose darkness rather than light; and that the great majority do so choose is plainly taught by the Saviour, who said: "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

God has given us his word of which the psalmist says: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." This word, the apostle Paul tells us, "is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." This being true, we may be sure that anything that leads away from this word is not of God; for "God is not the author of confusion; but of peace."

It will not do to lightly esteem the work of the Spirit; but we may rest assured that there is and can be no conflict between the Spirit of God, and the word which is inspired by that Spirit. The word is "the sword of the Spirit" (Eph. 6: 17); and by it He reproves the "world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." This harmony is also clearly recognized in the Saviour's prayer for his disciples: "Father, . . . sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." And the apostle Peter exhorts thus: "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit . . . see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently; being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." And again he says, "The word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." "Wherefore, . . . as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." 1 Peter 1: 22, 23, 25; 2: 1, 2.

It is thus that Christ and the apostles honored the truth; and why not? for, as we have seen, the truth is the word of God, which, in the hands of the Spirit, "is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

This is the truth that all should love and obey; and not deceive themselves with the idea that they can follow the Spirit while rejecting that which he has spoken. The idea is not that we cannot safely trust and follow the Spirit; but that when we cut loose from that which we know to be the plain testimony of the Spirit, we are only following our own heart, which the Spirit has told us "is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." The trouble is that when we leave the word to follow, as we suppose, the Spirit, it is our own spirit that we follow. Our feelings may be all right, but they are likely to be all wrong; and if they incline us to go contrary to the word of God, we may know that they are wrong. And we may know that any spirit that begets such feelings within us is not the Spirit that inspired holy men to write the word.

Very many persons are deceived in regard to what is truth. Those to whom God shall send "strong delusion" (2 Thess. 2: 10, 11), are deceived; and so were many deceived in the days of Christ, else they would not have rejected him. They no doubt imagined that they loved the truth, indeed they thought that they were very jealous for it; but they were none the less the "betrayers and murderers" of Jesus (Acts 7: 52); and so Peter said to them: "Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses." "And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers." Acts 3: 14, 15, 17.

But ignorance did not excuse them; and so the apostle continues: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." Verse 19. These texts show that those Jews were deceived, but that that fact did not excuse them; neither will it excuse any one; for people cannot deceive themselves by departing from the truth, or by closing their eyes to it, and then plead that fact in justification. Even in human affairs "he who places himself in a position to be imposed upon must suffer the consequences of his own act." Such people, then, are self-deceived.

But not only do people deceive themselves as to the truth, but they deceive themselves as to their motives. Some, when an unwelcome truth is pressed upon them, "make it," as they say, "a subject of prayer," and then deliberately reject it, claiming that they are led by the Spirit of God! And no matter what the word of God says, they feel that they are right; and so the truth has no power to move them. The fact is, they simply cling to their own ways and "walk after the imagination of their own heart;" and then presumptuously assert that in answer to earnest prayer the Lord has shown them so and so—things that are contrary to his revealed will! Such claims are simply blasphemous. The Lord does not "show" people that they are free to disregard his law. He does not "show" them things which contradict the plain testimony of his word. With God there "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," and even "if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself." And we may rest assured that unless heartily repented of, every transgression and disobedience will receive a just recompense of reward, in the day when "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

C. P. BOLLMAN.