Pentecost and the Gift of the Love of the Truth

To the choir, thank you very much. It was very beautiful and inspiring. Appropriate for this day of Pentecost. Today, we are celebrating the 1995th year from the beginning of God's Church. So actually, the church was founded, as best as we can determine, in AD 31 AD. Hard to believe that that anniversary is only five years away from the 2000th anniversary in 19...or 2031. Also, it would coincide with Christ's ministry ending after three and a half years. And also, Christ being resurrected. So all this, according to the best we understand, is five years away. So that can be an important date. In Acts chapter 2 verses 1 through 4, we read about the Pentecost that was 50 days after Christ's resurrection on that date of 31 AD. And we can read in Leviticus 23 verses 15 through 16. Leviticus 23 verses 15 through 16. It says, 49 days, and then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. That would be on that 50th day. And actually, Pentecost in the Greek means 50th. In Acts chapter 2, we read that Psalm 120 brethren received God's Spirit. And that changed everything in history. Such a small event at that time in Jerusalem. And yet, that was also a marker in history. Because for the first time, a group of believers received the Holy Spirit. Every one of them, men and women, they became the first group of people who collectively became converted Christians. They had been specifically, or there had been specifically, called persons in the Old Testament who had received God's Spirit individually. Mainly to write some of the Scriptures and carry out God's will. Men like Abraham, Moses, and David. Certainly, there were also women, Sarah, Deborah, and others. But just a very small group, specifically called... notice what it tells us in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 10. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 10. It says... I got it right. Sorry, I think it's... Yeah, sorry, it's 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 10. It says...

Notice here, incidentally, that it says that these prophets had the Spirit of Christ. And so that shows that Christ, in his pre-existent manifestation as a word, was the one that was guiding these men. Of course, God the Father is over everything, but Christ is the one that's working essentially with mankind. And so it says the Spirit of Christ that shows pre-existence of Christ. And it's a good text to remember. So I want to focus on one of the fruits of God's Spirit that is not well known. But it is so vital for all of us. Now, we find the classic nine fruits of God's Spirit in Galatians 5. That is usually what is mentioned about the fruits of God's Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But these are not all the fruits of God's Spirit because Paul also brings up in Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 8, it mentions three of the fruits of God's Spirit. And one of them is repeated back in Galatians 5, but there are two new fruits that have not been brought up. So it says in Ephesians 5.8, For the fruit of the Spirit, the same term as in Galatians 5, is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. And I want to focus on that last one, that God truths are a fruit of God's Spirit. The term in Greek aletheia, or aletheia, in the word study dictionary, says, the reality clearly lying before our eyes as opposed to a mere appearance. And so it is the reality of things. It's not what we want them to be, but what they truly are, truth. And that is a good definition in any case, in a case of law. There's a lot of hearsay, but no, this is the reality. These are the facts. And so the Bible is based on revealed truth. It is such an important concept to take into account. And since truth is a gift from God, and a fruit or a result of having God's Spirit in us, so we have in a nutshell what can be called in the Bible the love of the truth. And so this Pentecost, when we talk about receiving the fruits of God's Spirit, we should remember those other two. And the last one is we receive the truth from God. It is a gift. And it is something that we sometimes take for granted, but it is something that separates mankind. Those that have the love of the truth, that have received that gift from the Holy Spirit, and those that don't have it, or who have lost it, because it is something that can be lost. Notice in Luke 24, Luke 24, verse 44, how Christ gave these disciples that love of the truth, and they were able to understand Scripture. Luke 24, verse 44, it says, Then he, talking about Jesus, said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, and the Old Testament, concerning me. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. So it wasn't something that they would normally understand. It is a gift from God. And sometimes I ask people, when do you feel you came to that love of the truth? Do you remember in a moment in your life when it just changed, and you couldn't get enough studying God's word and truths? And so some people that maybe are born in the church, they get it gradually. They're learning the truth from their parents. They go to church. And eventually, there comes a time when they want it to be applied to themselves. Where it's not enough to just hear the truth, but you are convicted of the truth. And so different experiences, but the important thing is we are here because there was one moment when God, just as He did here, He opened the understanding to understand the Scriptures.

So that is something that we have to take with us for all our lives.

I was just a young boy, 17, and met a church member that was also in high school. And he gave me a booklet or article to read, and I started reading it, and I thought, I've never heard this before. It was an article. I don't want to belabor the point, but it talked about prophecy. And as a good Catholic, I thought, well, prophecy is something in the past. I asked my mother, very Catholic, when I was just about a six-year-old, when is Christ coming back? And she looked at me and said, son, it's going to be about a million years from now. So I thought, oh, good. I've got my whole life to do what I want to then. But then I found out, no, it isn't that way. Christ could come very soon. And so I asked him for more articles, which filled this concept of the Bible as a time machine. I remember having that. It tells us we can travel to the past. The Bible explains the past. We can travel to the present. The Bible explains the world we're living now. And then we can go into the future and see what is ahead with God's kingdom that is going to come. And all wars will be ended and man will eventually be able to have a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ and Christ will reign. And so it was just like filling a cross or a jigsaw puzzle, all the pieces. And I never had any doubt during that period of time it all made sense. That wasn't me. God opened my mind to those truths. And so pretty soon, at 17, I didn't want to go to other universities. I wanted to go to Ambassador College. I wanted to learn more about God's truths before I did anything else. And that's what I did. I had to leave father, mother, everybody behind come here to the college.

And so to me, as a Cuban that left Cuba at seven years old and lost everything and came as a refugee and then started a new life, I knew how this world, everything that you have can be lost from one moment to the next. And so we don't know what's going to happen here in a couple of days. But we had what happened with those fires and we have to be prepared. We know we still got God. We still got our relationship. He's still working things out. And that is the love of the truth. Notice in 2 Thessalonians how it explains to us about the love of the truth, how important it is for all of us to have it. It's talking about the division of people into two groups. So the bride of Christ is going to be tested time and again. 2 Thessalonians 2, 9 through 14.

Let's read it. It says, And for this reason, God will send them strong delusions of people who will be swept up and believe that deceit that is going to happen at that time, that they should believe the lie. From Satan and his henchmen, the beast and the false prophet will be on the world scene. That they all may be condemned who did not believe what? The truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. And then he goes on to talk about the brethren. But we are bound to give things to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you, salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and the belief of the Lord. The truth in the truth.

So that's a gift from God. We should never take it for granted. We should never think it's our intellect or erudition or scholarship. No, it is something that God opened our minds.

And? Just like he told Peter at the end of that period of time when he visited Peter, he asked him, do you truly love me, Peter? He asked him three times in John 21, 15 through 17. It's important for Christ to hear that. Are you willing, Peter, to follow me and love the truth? Beyond and more than your own life.

Now, there will be some with a lot of good intentions, but they will drop the truth from their lives. Notice in 2 Timothy, Chapter 4, verses 1 through 4. So God might choose to call you and have you, but you have to make the final decision. He's not going to carry you into the kingdom. You have to do your part. You can be negligent. You can fall away. Notice what it says in 2 Timothy, Chapter 4, verses 1 through 4.

It says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Preach the love of the truth every time. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.

And they will turn their ears away from what? From the truth and be turned aside to fables. And so the church is going to be tested. It was tested mightily in 1995. Who had the love of the truth? Who was going to face persecution? Maybe dismissal? Getting fired from the ministry, because the love of the truth, you're not going to change into false teachings. You're not going to hire yourself out, because you want the salary or whatever. You give up everything, but you keep that integrity. You're going to continue to follow the love of the truth for all your life. And we still have many tests ahead. And the church is dwindling.

And we'll see there's still more time, but especially it's up to you, youths, to carry the torch. The love of the truth, you've been called to that destiny, to that marvelous way, because that doesn't have a price. That's something that Christ died, so that we could have the opportunity. Notice in Hebrews 10, verse 19. Hebrews 10, verse 19. It says, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Christ, of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope, without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. So we have to, without wavering, continue forward. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, encourage one another, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another in so much the more as you see the day approaching, the day of Christ, when he returns to the earth.

Are we going to be ready for that or not? Now, some will quit assembling with us for different reasons. Maybe it's doctrine. Maybe they'll have some new idea about something and just insist on it. Well, we have a process that any member can go and submit it to the Doctrine Committee.

I've been in that Doctrine Committee for years, and we always give it a fair hearing. And we look at it and we have subcommittees, doctrine and prophecy, depending on the category. And so we get that doctrinal machinery going and cranking it out with all that until everything is set up. And then we look at the situation. Is it according to God's Word? Is this sound doctrine or not? And so it tells us here that one of the reasons is about doctrinal differences.

Don't work together. And a person says, no, I believe this, and they go off on a tangent. Also, people get offended. Somebody did something to me, and I'm offended. I don't want to see that person anymore. So I'll quit going. It can also be because of sin, that a person just gets so far away from God, and his heart and mind become hardened to the point where they don't respond to God's Spirit.

That can happen. It can be because of ambition, that a person also rises through the ranks, and then something happens. He doesn't get what he wants. It can be a deacon. It can be anybody. But ambition. Yes, I want to be somebody important in the church. And then God will start separating and distancing from that person. You have to rely on your own abilities and talents. And before long, you're shown to not have the love of the truth in putting it into practice. Also, it was mentioned before, you can be disappointed with the leaders in the church.

And some will just say, no, this is not proper, and you can just get so upset about things. And guess what? You know who was the first, quote, church leader that we have in the Bible? It was Lucifer. He was one of the leaders, and he got mad at God. He didn't think God was doing a good job. And guess what? He convinced a third of angels. Look, if you come with me, here are all the benefits.

And we are going to have top positions. Just have to overthrow God in his crazy ideas. But we have this. So if people can be disappointed with God, the Father, as that third of the angels did, who are we to think we're so perfect? We are not. I'm not in the church because of church leaders. I'm in the church because I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I have a commitment to obey. And as long as this church maintains the love of the truth and keeps the truth, I'm here because men are fallible. And we can't use those excuses to quit assembling ourselves. So these are tests to see if we're faithful. Are we going to be just fair-weather friends, as they say? Oh, I'm in the church because things are going so well for me. And then when they don't, oh no, then we drop out.

Because I expected God to do more for me. I'll tell you a little anecdote. When I was just here in Pasadena, I was a ministerial assistant working in the Spanish department. And we had a lady that was in the Spanish area, and she quit coming. And the pastor at that time asked about what had happened to her. And she had gotten into an accident in the freeway there in Pasadena, and her car had broken down in the freeway. And she got out, went to the curb, and this car came and smashed her car to smithereens.

And she said, well, God didn't save my car. Saved my life, but He didn't save my car, so I'm leaving the church, because I expected God to have angels to protect my car. You know, you can always make all of these designs and machinations about things.

So you hear it all. Some of the silliest things that people become convinced in their minds that that's why they should drop out and quit feeding that love of the truth. Because I need your love of the truth to strengthen me, and you need my love of the truth to be strengthened as well. Notice, continuing on in verse 26, He says, For if we sin willfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, In other words, now you are in a complete, rebellious state, you are going to sin not because of weakness, because you want that way of life.

It says, There is no longer a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. And so, yes, we can get to the point where our heart hardens so much that we don't want to confess before God and repent and change, and we just harden our attitudes. And as it was brought out in the message, you start the blame game. Well, I would have been in the church except for this reason or for the other reason.

I want to be where the people love the truth of God above all things. Notice in 1 John chapter 2, verse 3 and 4, tells us here, because there are a lot of people dropping out of the church during the time of John. He says, verse 3 gives them a test.

Now, by this we know that we know Him. If we keep His commandments, He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in Him.

By this we know that we are in Him. Again, it's not enough to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and be committed. What about our part? Are we doing our part? Are we keeping His commandments? One of them is being here in the day of Pentecost. It's one of the commands of God. Whether we like it or not, whether we have issues or not, it's still something that unless it's a serious sickness or emergency, we understand that.

But otherwise, it is a commandment of God. Notice in verse 21 of this same chapter, it tells us, I have not written to you because you do not know the truth. So He's saying, brethren, I understand you know the truth or you wouldn't be a member in the church. He says, but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth. When God opens our minds to God's truths, we understand now what are the true lies out there, and that this is what God's Word tells us to do. Notice in 2 John chapter 1, in verse 1 through 4, here the Apostle John mentions this concept of the love of the truth, the importance of keeping the truth of God, because again, what was happening?

People were abandoning the truth. There were very clever and deceitful people around. Notice in verse 1, it says, to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth. So many times, in John's day in particular, there was a big persecution, and so you had to be careful what you wrote.

So it all sounded like it was just a letter to a lady, and yes, I believe in you. And then he says, well, those who know the truth, but of course he's not talking about the commandments of God and all the details, because he could be, oh, this is a Christian that's writing this. Goes on to say, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. So he says, we've got to keep God's truths forever, during our whole lifetime, if we're going to be rewarded by God.

Goes on to say, verse 3, grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and in love. I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking, how? In truth, keeping the commandments of God. He says, as we receive commandment from the Father. In verse 6, he says, this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. So, talking about God's laws throughout the Bible, but again, mentioning it in a very generalized way. A third John, also just one chapter, here we have six times the mention about keeping firm the truth of God.

He says here, in verse 1, to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. That's kind of like a code word there. It says, verse 3, for I rejoice greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. People knew what he meant by that. It's like when we talk about brethren, let's maintain God's truths. Well, that's part of Scripture. Those are the laws of God. We don't have to be so subtle or enigmatic about it. We can understand it. And how did David describe God's truths? Let's look in Psalm 119.151. This Psalm 19 is dedicated to God's law and all its ramifications. It's the longest chapter in the Bible, and it is dedicated to God's law. In Psalm 119.151, he says, You are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are truth.

There's not any of them that can be discarded.

All of God's commandments, Ten Commandments, and its ramifications, they're all vital to us. So the gift of the love of the truth that the brethren in that day of Pentecost received, now they could understand the Scriptures. Now Peter and others could expound like they couldn't a day before. And so it transformed their hearts and minds. It's a process that takes place in a person. So the gift of the love of the truth, which is based on God's laws, which are the foundation of spiritual truth. Notice in Romans 7, verse 12. Romans 7, verse 12.

Paul described, again, about God's laws, very important elements. It says, Romans 7, 12, he says, Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. And then in verse 14, he says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, soul under sin. So the problem is not with God's law, it's with our human nature, our carnal human nature.

So we have, as the eleven fruits of God's Spirit, what are called inward truths. This is something that comes in through the Holy Spirit, and it produces these attitudes, these spiritual attitudes, to treat people with. But we also have outward truths, and they are the ones that we have to act on them physically. They basically consist of the Sabbath, because that's not something just an attitude. No, it's an action from loving God, obeying God in the fourth commandment. We're going to keep the Sabbath, and it's not just in a spiritual way, it's physical. This is something that a true Christian does. He shows physically the results of having God's Spirit. It also has to do with God's feasts. That's the second manifestation. Physical, outward manifestation. I don't care. A lot of people say, oh, I love God. I do all these wonderful things. Yes, but are you keeping God's feasts? Because to me, that is the outward manifestation of a true Christian. Now, you need to do, of course, many other things, but if you don't have these four elements outwardly, we are not being faithful to God. Because a person can say, well, I have love, and I've received God, and His love, fine. But how are you going to show that forth? It's through pleasing God, doing those things that are going to show outwardly, and not just this inward feeling about things. Thirdly, they are the food laws. Outwardly, we're going to show. Am I close to God? Am I keeping His law? Am I doing things that are pleasing to Him? Well, that's why He set up these food laws. So outwardly, it's going to show that a person is that way. Have you ever come across somebody that says, oh, yes, I'm a true Christian, but I'll just eat ham, and I'll eat lobster, and I'll do all of these things. Well, outwardly, you are showing me you're breaking God's law, because that's part of God's law. That was not done away. We can't find one person that is called by God, who is shown to be a follower of God throughout, from Genesis to Revelation. We can't find one example of one of those persons, either in the Old Testament or Christians in the New Testament, that were eating pork. Show me an example. It would have been easy, because Gentiles ate pork. You could just cross the border from Israel, and you had all the pork-eating people you wanted. But why doesn't God show us that Peter went and he ate pork with Gentiles? You can't show that. And lastly, it's about keeping God's tithes, because you see, that's another outward manifestation. Because you can talk a lot about things, but you know where our heart is, that's where our treasure will be. And so tithing is also an external manifestation, that we have God's fruits of the Spirit, that we have the love of the truth. Because you can't do things halfway. You either are in it with both feet in or both feet out. Remember what God says about being lukewarm and doing some things, or don't do other things, or with Elijah? How long will you haul behind, or between two different things? So those are the outward manifestations, the main ones, at least, to do so. So remember, Pentecost represents those who have the love of the truth, and will keep it until the end. We so look forward to that coming kingdom of God, and being inside that glorified Jerusalem. What will it be called? And with its inhabitants, what will they enjoy in that glorified Jerusalem? Notice what it says in Zechariah 8, verse 3.

It says, Thus says the LORD, I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called what? The city of truth. God will be there, and His people, the lovers of truth, will be in that city.

And so the love of the truth shall reign there, and hopefully we will be there to celebrate it. Happy day of Pentecost!