Study Notes

Foundation Statement: Not everybody loves the truth, Not everybody wants the truth

 

I.      John 3:19-20-There are people who love darkness (darkened eyesight, not seeing); they love what they’re doing and what they are believing and what they are thinking more than they love the truth and they don’t want the light to shine and they don’t want to see the truth

A.    16-The catch is you’re going to have to believe the truth if you don’t want to perish

1.      17-2Thess2:10-Everybody is not going to be saved because not everybody is going to believe truth because not everybody wants the truth

2.      18-‘He that believes not’-If you don’t believe the truth you believe lies and you’re deceived and destruction is inevitable

3.      Although this is talking about perishing in regards to eternal life, this is the enemy’s blueprint to get you to perish in any area of your life; in any area of your life where you yield to the devils lies rather than believing the truth you will perish and you will not be saved because after deception destruction always comes

a.    Isn’t it interesting that the enemy’s strategy where somebody’s eternal destination is concerned is not to send 22 demons manifested in the flesh and force them to hell, but rather it’s to get people to believe not the truth

b.    The good news is, in any area of your life where you need to be saved you can be saved if you will believe and receive and love the truth

B.     These people love darkness and they don’t love the light; they love lies and don’t love the truth

1.      They welcome and are fond of not seeing the light, not knowing the truth; they are content with their darkness and deception and they don’t want the light and the truth coming and messing up what they are doing and thinking

a.    Love-Welcome, to entertain, to fond of, to love dearly, to be well pleased, to be content with

b.    Darkness-Darkened eyesight, blindness, ignorance respecting divine things and human duties

c.     Light-Of truth and it’s knowledge, the power of understanding (reason or mind) moral and spiritual truth      

1)       Psalm 43:3-O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles

d.    Hates-Detest

e.    Doeth evil-To practice, to exercise, be busy with, carry on, to undertake (This isn’t just a person who did it one time, this is a person who is practicing it and with whom this evil deed has become something that is a part of their lifestyle)

2.      They love what they are doing and believing more than they love the truth (and if the truth messes up what they are doing and believing they want no part of it)

a.    They want what they are doing and thinking and believing to be right, more than they want they truth

b.    Yeah, but what if it’s not right do you love the truth more than you love what you’re doing and thinking and believing?

c.     If the truth is you’re doing and thinking and believing wrong then whether you want it to be the truth or not it’s the truth and you should want to see it so that you can change

C.    People don’t love the truth because they’re doing wrong and they like what they are doing and they don’t want to see it because they don’t want to change; they love what they are doing and believing more than they love the truth

1.      Lest his deeds be should be reproved; He doesn’t want to have the light shine on what he’s doing cause he likes what he’s doing

2.      He hates the light because his deeds are evil and the light/truth would reprove him (show one’s faults) and he doesn’t want to change-Ephesians 5:13

D.    When you love the truth and practice (AMP) the truth you come to the light so that if you are doing wrong you can get the truth about it and make the changes you need to make 

1.      John 3:21 (AMP)-But he who practices the truth [does what is right] comes out into the Light; so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are

2.      It’s easy to say that you love and want the truth, but the true measure of that is only seen when the truth actually comes to you; If you accepted it then you did love it and want it, but if you rejected it then you didn’t love the truth and you didn’t want it

II.     2 Timothy 4:1-4-When the truth comes you can either receive it, welcome it, and accept it or you can turn away from it

A.    2 Thessalonians 3:2-3, John 16:13- Because the Lord is faithful to keep you we know the truth is coming to you

1.      The Lord is faithful to keep you and he keeps you by giving you the truth so that you’re not deceived and destroyed

2.      The question is what will you do when truth comes to you? It’s not a matter of, “if the truth comes,” but rather, “when the truth comes,” what will you do

B.     2-Preaching the Word is preaching the truth-John 17:17

1.      AMP-Whether it is welcome or unwelcome…you as a preacher of the Word are to show people in what way their lives are wrong

2.      Preach the word/the truth and let the word show people the corrections they need to make, but know this people will not always welcome the word, they will not always welcome the truth

C.    3-Do you want to hear what you want to hear or do you want to hear the truth?

1.      There’s coming a time where people don’t want the truth and teaching that is in line with the truth

a.    Sound Doctrine-Teaching that does not deviate from the truth

2.      After their own lusts-desires; They only what to hear what they want to hear, but sometimes you need to hear what you don’t want to hear

a.    People who want to hear what they want to hear even if it’s not true are on their way to total deception

b.    There are large groups of people and they don’t care what’s true; They want what they want and the only thing that they want to hear is for you to tell them that what they want is okay and they don’t care what is true

c.     AMP-Chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold         

1)       They are off, but they like being off and want somebody to tell them that being off is okay

D.    4-THEY shall turn their ears away from the truth-This is something they chose to do and nobody is making them do it (the enemy is leading them into error and they are following)

1.      They are separating themselves from the truth and departing from it when they could have welcomed it, received it, and accepted it

2.      4-It’s not that they are not hearing the truth, but rather hearing it they don’t want it and they turn away from it

a.    When you turn away from the truth there’s only one thing left to turn into and it’s lies; in turning away from and resisting and rejecting the truth, they turned into, welcomed and received lies

b.     They are separating themselves from the truth and turning to falsehood because they don’t love the truth; they are more in love with what they are doing and believing and how they are living than they are in love with the truth

E.     4-The truth these people are turning away from is the very thing they need to hear to be free

1.      Have you rejected the very thing that you needed to hear?

a.    There’s some stuff you need to hear that you might not want to hear that will keep you from being deceived

2.      There will be times when your flesh and mind won’t want the truth to be what it is and the temptation will be to reject the truth

a.    You will be tempted to try to reason yourself away from the truth and find justification that it’s okay and it’s really not that big of deal and that the truth is not the complete story and the temptation will be to do anything but deal with and accept and love the truth

b.    The truth is the truth whether you want it to be the truth or not