ENMITY TO THE TRUTH

All those, who in the grace of God, have been regenerated by the Spirit through the Word of God and who live a life of faith upon the Son of God, are lovers of the Truth presented to them in the Bible and in the preaching of the whole counsel of God. David expresses himself thus: “0 how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” The Word of God is an indispensable and invaluable possession and means of grace to the living soul. And on the other hand, the carnal mind in the natural man, is enmity against God, and consequently such are opposed in heart to the truth of God’s Word.

The natural man inherently hates the truth of God’s Word because it exposes his sins whatever they are. It reveals that man is under divine condemnation and that he is utterly destitute of anything of a moral and spiritual nature to commend him to God in any measure. The Truth warns him that the wicked shall be turned into hell, and that there is a hell in the world to come; and that he must stand before the judgment seat of Christ at the last day. These truths are capable of greatly disturbing the sinner’s false peace of mind and conscience, while he revels in evil, vanity and worldly things, deceiving himself and being deceived that he possesses what can produce happiness and bring him satisfaction in the world, like the rich fool of whom the Lord speaks in the Gospel. Thus such abhor at heart the truth and seek to close their mind and conscience against its influence, light and authority.

Then there are those who have acquired some interest in religion and Christianity, but who know not what a broken heart over sin is and who never saw and never believed that Christ Jesus in His righteousness and atoning blood is the alone foundation upon which a sinner can be saved. They have a high opinion of their personal character and think much of their own attendance upon religious duties and are sure and certain of their enjoyment of the divine favour here in the World and after death. To confront such with the doctrine of salvation by grace, the absolute necessity of the new birth for entry into the Kingdom of God and that without the shedding blood there is no remission of sins or life eternal, is to raise up in their hearts an antagonism to the religion and gospel which maintains these precious and fundamental truths as essential to the salvation of any man — any sinner. These and other truths of God’s Word undermine their false hope and spurious religion. Here we have an answer to the sad fact that the preaching of the truth of the Gospel is despised and ignored by many, who give ear to another gospel which is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Then there is the case of a nation such as ours, with a history of gospel and spiritual privileges, with an honourable history in the past of a witness to the claims of God in law and gospel by a long line of God-fearing men and women. Now, on a national scale and in every section of society, there has been and is a lamentable departure from belief in and adherence to the truth of God. There prevails all manner of evil and wicked conduct and our sins testify against us and our backslidings are many; and all to be seen in the light of the truth of God. Yet those who witness against all this national evil scripturally and sincerely are either ignored or scorned or considered lacking in understanding as to the changes which have taken place in the modern mind and mode of conduct. Throughout the nation, people will not tolerate reproof or a call to repentance toward God. The truth which is the basis of such reproof and a call to repentance, is disdained and hated by multitudes.

Our divine Lord declared: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” (John 3: v. 19, 20). Here we have the divine explanation, in the clearest terms, of man’s enmity to the truth.

The divine Saviour himself became the object o the enmity of men because He told them the truth. And on one occasion He declared to the Jews: “But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth.” Here we have the very spirit of murder arising from enmity to the truth, and that toward the holy Son of God. How much further can enmity to the truth go?

Then going back to the Old Testament and the experiences of Jeremiah the prophet of the Lord to Jerusalem and Judah — what do we find? Because Jeremiah declared to the backsliding Jews the truth regarding their sins and that God would punish them as a nation if they repented not: the princes and others said that Jeremiah was worthy to die. They cast him into a low dungeon to die there, but he was delivered out of it in the good providence of God. Jeremiah spoke, not his own words, but all the words of truth which the Lord gave him to speak to an evil and backsliding people. They hated the truth and Jeremiah for declaring it in their ears.

However much men hate, reject and ignore the truth of God’s Word, the truth will stand and abide for ever. Men who persevere in rejecting the Word of Truth, that same word will judge them in the last day.

May God in His great mercy, and for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, and by His power, turn men, families, communities and the nation back to His infallible Word, “the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him for ever.” And if God will grant this great mercy, then, and then only, will be seen a return from widespread wickedness and superficial and false religion, to godly living in the fear of God throughout the nation.

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