The Word of God gives many commandments. The world loves to forget these, and for this God says they shall be turned into hell, for it is written:
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God”
Psalm 9:17
The Lord Jesus Christ said to us, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). He says about obedience to his commandments that, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” (John 15:10). The world says what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. But the Lord says do as he himself has done.
As we were told by the Apostle Peter, that Christ left us an example, that we “should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). As we were told by the Apostle John, not to marvel if the world hates us (1 John 3:13), and as the Lord Jesus Christ told us, that if the world hates us, we know that it hated him before it hated us (John 15:18). This is all to reason with them that hate the brethren based on what the brethren say. The Apostle Paul asked the Galatians if he had become their enemy because he told them the truth (Galatians 4:16). There is no doubt that what Paul had to say to them may have been hard to hear, for they were in great need of hearing truth, for they had slipped back into attempting to fulfill the law, which no man but Jesus Christ could fulfill. Yet great pride had welled up inside of them, and they loved the words of them that bewitched them with lies, as sweet-sounding as those lies may have been.
Must the words of truth be hard words? Let us not be as the hard-hearted disciples were, in their murmurings about the words of the Saviour, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it? (John 6:60). They were offended by the truth. They despised the truth. Brethren, the truth, when spoken, is prophesied. This is perhaps difficult to grasp for some, for the word “prophecy” is misunderstood by many to mean a telling of the future, but prophecy is just a truth. A false prophet prophesies lies, but a prophet of God prophesies truth. A teacher of God prophesies truth when teaching God’s word. A child of God prophesies truth when they speak the words of God. To prophesy means to speak truth from God’s word. Therefore Brethren, “Despise not prophesyings” (1 Thessalonians 5:20). This verse of Scripture commands us to be lovers of truth. When we hear it, how we hear it, whosoever we hear it from, it must not be despised. Does it hurt some feelings? Perhaps, but the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it pierces soul, spirit, and the joints and marrow of the body (Hebrews 4:12). Christ told his disciples things they did not want to hear. Paul told the Churches things they did not want to hear. Let us be lovers of truth, and not despisers of it.
It is a sad state to see the fellowship in when they hate the truth and love the lies. Any one of us that loves the lies of the world and despises the correction that comes by truth is a bastard (Hebrews 12:8). Christians should abhor evil and cleave to the good things of God (Romans 12:9). We should not love the world, neither the things that are in the world (1 John 2:15). In fact, we should hate the world, and the things of the world. The King David hated the things of the world so thoroughly, that he said, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me” (Psalm 101:3). It is amazing how the Scripture explains the Scripture, for Paul said to cleave to good, and David said he will not allow evil to cleave to him. This should be telling for a Christian, as it explains that we must hold fast to truth, and run away from evil, for those works desire to hold fast to us. As the Word of God commands us, despise not prophesyings, love the truth, and despise instead those things that are evil, the works of the world.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
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His Name Is Called The Word Of God 