2 Thessalonians 2:12 “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Now, the verse in the notebook that I wrote down, was this verse, except it was marked as 1 Thessalonians 2:12, which reads “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” Let’s glance at that, to be sure to be reminded of such a great and important truth! Lately we’ve been speaking of the Truth and how we should speak it. Today’s verse speaks of those who believe not the truth, but instead have pleasure in unrighteousness. 1 Thessalonians 2:12, reminds of something else which we would do good to quickly note: Walk in the Truth. It is incredibly important that we walk “worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” How can we say we accept salvation by Grace, and then reject the Holiness that goes with it? Holiness and Righteousness is what God is after, it is What Christ was sent for first! We can’t get into heaven without being cleansed from sin and being holy. And we couldn’t get cleaned and become holy, without Christ. To say we accept Christ, yet refuse to walk in Him to be cleansed and holy, is to reject the complete True Gift, and deny the Truth of the matter and the real reason He sent Christ in the First Place! I am reminded of the parable of our Lord, of the Wedding: Matthew 22:2-13 “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” We see in the last part of the parable, something important. See it as this, that wedding is Salvation. The Wedding garments, are clothes worthy of Salvation, or in other words, Righteousness, Holiness and of course: Faith. The man who had no “wedding garments” was cast into the outer darkness. Why? Because it is like a slap in the face for God, when we accept His Salvation, and then come to Him refusing to put on Righteousness and Holiness, which is what He truly wanted. Such refusal is due to pride, God basically GIVES us those “wedding garments” and yet we refuse to put them on (He through His Spirit, gives us righteousness and holiness, as His Children. Yet we refuse to clothe ourselves in them because we wish to continue walking in the world as we were before we were Saved). It may sound harsh, but think about it, why did God send us salvation? To reconcile man to Him, so that we can have a relationship! We can’t do that clothed in sin and unrighteousness, so He sent a Way for us to be cleaned up and clothed in Righteousness! Salvation, and Holiness and Righteousness, go hand in hand. We can’t accept one part, and reject another, they can’t be separated. (This doesn’t mean we reject the part if we simply falter in our walk. We reject one part, by our refusal to seek and try to walk uprightly!) We must walk in the Truth, and clothe ourselves with Holiness and Righteousness.

Now, with that in mind, let us go to today’s actual verse! 2 Thessalonians 2:12 “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” In context, today’s verse is speaking of the last days when the Antichrist will deceive all with the lies. We see that because certain people, when they were presented with the truth, didn’t love the truth. So they chose rather to reject it and follow something else. Because of this, as said in Verse 11, God will send them delusion, so that they will believe that lie they so much adore and want to follow. God is not unjust in this, they were given the opportunity to follow the Truth and they hated that Truth and loved the lie. So God gave them what they wanted: the lie. We must be careful that we are not like those who hate the truth, and love the lie.

Today’s verse, is a warning to us in that we are warned that if we decide to not believe the Truth, and rather do in life as we please, walking in unrighteousness, we are leading ourselves to hell. It is of great importance that we seek the Truth, and when we gain that Truth, we follow it with all our hearts’ desire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh!

We also see the importance of speaking the Truth, as we’ve been covering lately, instead of speaking to please people. If we speak not the truth, we are not really Witnessing to others, we are actually pushing them further from the Truth, and giving pleasure to their flesh causing them to love dwelling in the flesh even more! And instead of bringing them to Christ in the pureness of the Truth, we are damning them to believe a lie, the watered down Truth. Today’s verse shows the great Importance of speaking the Truth uncompromised! Both keeping us in line concerning our speaking, and also showing us the Importance of actually sharing and speaking that Truth. If we do not witness or speak the Truth of the Word of God to others, we willfully are telling them and God, “I don’t love them enough to pull their souls away from the fire, and point them to Jesus. Let them go to hell, I really don’t much care one way or the other.”

Now, if you personally don’t feel as though you know enough of the Word of God to witness, or that you in all honesty, are very shy, I pray for you. Seek to learn the Word of God. You already know enough though. Afterall, do you know that God came from heaven, clothed Himself in flesh, named Jesus of Nazareth—the Messiah, died on a cross, and rose again 3 days later, all to save us from our sins and give us forgiveness, so that we can get into heaven. Then you know enough. But go ahead and seek to learn more! Do this daily, don’t put it off, study the Word of God each and every day, soak it into your heart. If you are shy, I will pray for boldness on your part, as Paul asked in Ephesians 6:18-20. When witnessing, why not try these verses, Known as the “Roman Road:” Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:12, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:13, (Revelation 3:20, is a good one to place here also), Then Romans 10:9-10. Mark them in your Bible, and put a note leading you to the next one (in the order given above). Learn them, and show them to the person you are witnessing to, and explain each one to the person. It doesn’t have to be an In-depth explanation, just a simple understandable explanation. Salvation and God’s Word, is not limited only to the college graduate. Talk to that person about each verse, and lead them through each one, showing them and witnessing to them the Saving Grace through Jesus Christ. Above all, pray before you witness, and even during witnessing, and definitely right after!

This all also regards believers, speaking the Truth of the Word of God to other believers. We must remain in the purity of the Truth, when speaking to anyone!

I love you and pray for you, that you are guided when you witness to others. I praise God for your being a witness! I pray also that you are guided each day, in everything you speak, that you speak no lies, nor compromise the Truth, but are lead and guided in the Purity of the Truth found in God’s Word. May God greatly bless you in all things. Have a wonderful day in the Lord today!

Love in Christ, Always,
Your friend forever,
And brother,
Chris/Michael

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Psalm 119:173 “Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.”

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