Textual Tuesday 07/14

2Thessalonians 2:9-12

"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

My Gleanings:

1. Men perish and are damned because they do not have the love of the truth.

2. To be without the love of the truth is to be without the Lord Jesus Christ. For, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

Jesus is the truth. To have the love of the truth is to have the love of Jesus. If you do not have truth, you do not have Jesus. (John 1:17, Ephesians 4:21)

3. Those who do not have the love of the truth have no pleasure in righteousness. In fact, they actually take pleasure in unrighteousness. They do so because they are without Christ and His Spirit.

The great contrast of this is that those who have the love of the truth take no pleasure in unrighteousness. “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9)

4. Those who love not the truth have made a conscious choice to reject God’s salvation. Jesus is salvation. Jesus is truth. They do not love the truth!

As a result, the text says, “God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth.”

This shows the severity of their judgment in that God is giving them over fully to their hearts desire… deception unto damnation.