We need to Come to the Full Knowledge of the Truth and have the Faith of the Truth

As those who are saved by believing into Christ, we need to have a full knowledge of the truth; we need to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth, having a full acknowledgement and appreciation of the reality of all the spiritual and divine things that we have received through faith. Amen!

There is a great emphasis in the New Testament on the matter of the truth – being constituted with the truth, knowing the truth, speaking the truth, coming to the full knowledge of the truth, and walking in the truth.

Even the apostle John, whose gospel was mainly focused on life and building, emphasized the truth in his epistles; in his second and third epistle, he emphasizes truth more than life. He loved in truthfulness, and he wrote his epistle to those who know the truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.

We need to be steadfast in the truth, even as we walk in the truth; there’s no greater joy than to hear that the saints walk in the truth.

The New Testament speaks concerning walking by the spirit and according to the Spirit, but in 2 John the apostle charges us to walk in truth.

Today we are in a warfare, in a battle over the truth; in the educational system there are many things infused into our children that are not the truth, and society is permeated with lies and denying the truth.

We are in warfare over the truth both for ourselves and for our next generation; we must be armed with the truth and come to the full knowledge of the truth.

In Eph. 6 we see the church as a corporate warrior; the first item of the armour is our being girded with the truth.

Eph. 6:14 says, Stand therefore, having your loins girded with the truth.

This doesn’t mean that we need to promote a certain doctrine or fight for a doctrine; the truth is not doctrine but the divine reality whose essence is the Triune God Himself conveyed by His Word.

We need to fight for the truth, coming to the full knowledge of the truth and speaking the truth, seeking to bring all the saints and especially our next generation to the full knowledge of the truth.

What is the environment that our next generation is growing up in? It is a situation summarized by Isa. 5:20, Woe to those who call evil, good and good, evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who call bitter, sweet, and sweet, bitter. Oh Lord!

Isa. 29:16 also describes this generation when it says, You turn things upside down.

If we look at the society we live in, we can hardly recognize what is going on, for even some of the most basic principles in the Scriptures are being denied.

May we be armed with the truth, girded with the truth, and constituted with the truth so that we may fight the warfare over the truth for the sake of the Lord’s move and for the sake of our children, the next generation.

As we come to the full knowledge of the truth and are girded with truth, we stand firm, solidly, like a pillar; we will not compromise the truth anymore but rather, our living will be in the light and our walk will be in the truth.

Having the Truth Constituted into our being to Protect God’s Interests in the Church Life

In Rev. 21:12 and 17 we see that the New Jerusalem has a great and high wall to protect the city; the high wall around the city protects God’s interests.

The gates are to allow in what should be allowed in, and the high wall is to keep out anything that would harm God’s interests.

In the church life, we need a great and high wall in a very practical way to protect God’s interests by declaring them.

This is by our being constituted with the truth; if the truth is wrought into us and constituted into our being, we will be able to protect the interests of the riches of God’s divinity and the attainments of His consummation. Amen!

In Psa. 48 we see that Zion is beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth; as we walk about Zion, we will consider her bulwarks.

The bulwarks are the walls of defense; the wall is for defense.

Every local church needs a wall; every saint needs a wall; this wall is by the truth being built up in us.

Is there a wall in us and around us? Is there a high wall around our college students, the young saints, the young adults, the middle-aged saints, and around the church in our locality?

Is there an arriving to the full knowledge of the truth among us, or is everything allowed to come in as it pleases?

Are we constituted with the truth and do we walk in truth, or do we take in everything that comes through social media, the news, the things happening around us, and the world?

We need to be those who are constituted with the truth and come to the full knowledge of the truth.

There has to be a wall, a great and high wall, that protects the interests of God; the church needs to be the pillar and base of the truth.

We may have a good foundation of life, we may enjoy the Lord in His word and with the saints, but do we have a solid constitution of the truth in our being?

Whether we are a brother or a sister, whether we are young or old, we need to pay the price to buy the truth and not sell it; we need to pay the price to be constituted with the truth.

This doesn’t mean that we merely memorize verses and learn doctrines; rather, we need to come to the Word of God and have the Lord’s light shine on us so that the divine reality in the Word of God would be televised into our being.

When the divine light shines upon the facts of the Word of God, we are under the divine television, receiving the truth and being constituted with the truth.

The church in the Lord’s recovery must be full of life and also strong in the truth; the church is the pillar and the base of the truth, and the church is composed of all of us.

Both brothers and sisters, both young and old, we all need to pay the price and be constituted with the truth so that we may come to the full knowledge of the truth, thus upholding the truth and protecting God’s interests in the church.

Even teenagers need to know the truth; there has to be a solid foundation of the truth laid in us all, because the world is usurping us and misusing us, deceiving us and misinforming us concerning the truth.

It is a blessing for us to get into the truth and daily be under the heavenly televising of the divine truths into our being so that we may be constituted with the truth and protect God’s interests in the church.

Lord Jesus, make us willing to pay the price to be constituted with the truth so that we may protect the interests of the riches of God’s divinity and the attainments of His consummation. Save us from merely skating on the surface of the truth and not going into the depth of the truth. May the church life in the Lord’s recovery be full of life and strong in the truth. Keep us coming to Your word to receive Your shining and be infused with the truth. May Your light shine upon the facts in the Word to bring us under the heavenly televising of the divine reality into our being to constitute us with the truth!

We need to Come to the Full Knowledge of the Truth and have the Faith of the Truth

According to 1 Tim. 2:4, God desires that all man would be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth. He wants us not only to believe into the Lord Jesus to be saved but also to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

This means that every saved person should have full knowledge, a complete realization, of the truth; we need to have the full knowledge of the real things revealed in God’s word (1 Tim. 2:4; 4:3; 2 Tim. 2:25; 3:7).

We need to know the truth in a full way, having a thorough apprehension of the truth; we need to have a full acknowledgement and appreciation of the reality of all the spiritual and divine things that we have received through faith (Titus 1:1; 2 Thes. 2:18).

In 2 Thes. 2:13 we are told that God chose us from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.

On one hand, God selected us in the sanctification of the Spirit, and on the other, in the belief of the truth.

For us to be sanctified in the belief of the truth, the faith of the truth, is something very subjective.

Faith is the substantiation of the things unseen; faith is our reaction to the unseen scenery – when we see the truth and the Lord’s light shines on the truth, we react by believing it.

When we learn the truth and hear the truth, we have the hearing of faith (Gal. 3:2, 5).

The divine scenery in the Word of God (the truth) can be apprehended by us by faith; when the light of the Spirit shines on the truth, it brings it into our spirit to make it subjective.

The way we come to the full knowledge of the truth is not by merely memorizing or understanding the truth; it is by exercising our spirit and having the faith of the truth, that is, by having the divine light shine on the truth and imprint it into our being.

We are saved not merely by agreeing with the truth in a mental way; we are saved by the faith of the truth, by having a reaction to the divine light shining on the word of God to impress the divine truth into our being.

Many Jews read the Old Testament and have a veil on their eyes (2 Cor. 3:15), but whenever our heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and the Lord as the Spirit shines on the Word of God to transform us into the image of Christ, even from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:17-18).

When the divine scenery is being brought into our being through the shining of the divine light, we obtain the truth, and the truth is constituted into our being.

We are all short of the vision that comes from the faith of the truth; all our problems come from the shortage of a clear and adequate vision.

We first need to have the full knowledge of the truth, and then we need to speak the truth to others and help them come to the full knowledge of the truth by having the faith of the truth.

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17); when we put ourselves under the hearing of faith – under the hearing of the word of God – we are infused with faith, and faith makes the truth real and living to us.

May we be delivered from skating on the surface of the divine truth; may we cooperate with the Lord day by day to dive into the depths of the truth of His wonderful New Testament economy.

God desires all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth. This God with His desire was incarnated and became the Spirit of reality to guide us into all the reality.

The Spirit is ready to shine on the Word of God if we just turn our heart to Him, open to Him, and exercise our spirit to contact the Lord when we come to His word.

If we just come to the Word of God and to the ministry that opens up the Word of God, we will receive the faith of the truth by the Lord’s shining on the word, and we will be constituted with the truth to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

May we open to the Lord as the Spirit of reality to be guided into all the reality of what He is in His word, and may we trust in Him to bring us into the experience of Himself according to His word.

Lord Jesus, save us from merely skating on the surface of the divine truth. We want to cooperate with You by labouring together with You to dive into the depths of the truth of Your marvelous New Testament economy. Amen, Lord, shine on Your word as we come to read the Bible and dive into the truth. May there be the divine light shining on the facts in the Bible so that we may be infused with the truth and come to the full knowledge of the truth. Bring us into a thorough apprehension of the truth so that we may acknowledge and appreciate the reality of all the spiritual and divine things that we have received through faith! Amen, Lord, we want to come to the full knowledge of the truth and speak the truth to bring others to have a complete realization of the truth!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” ch. 8, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing the Truth, being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in this Present Evil Age (2021 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 3, Being Constituted with the Truth and Being Absolute for the Way of the Truth and the Propagation of the Truth for the Consummation of the Divine Economy.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – This outline of the healthy words, / In faith and love we’ll hold; / All different teaching, fruitless talk, / Reject with spirit bold. / Oh, healthful teaching, wholesome words: / The truth of godliness! / Oh, good deposit, common faith, / And life of holiness! (Hymns #1285)
  – O Father of glory, now grant unto me / A spirit of wisdom, a spirit to see; / O give unto me the full knowledge of Him, / Enlight’ning the eyes of my heart deep within. (Hymns #1133)
  – Faith is the response to the truth of the faith / Conscience is a test and a check to preserve us in the faith. / The faith is the economy, the economy of God, / The household administration, the dispensing of our God. (Song on, The faith is the economy)