Receive the Love of the Truth

ZChurch Message for April 25, 2026 (full service:    • Receive the Love of the Truth  )

Elder Bob Peck brings the message “Receive the Love of the Truth.” It’s not enough to simply like the truth—the Bible calls us to love the truth. In a world filled with competing voices and deceptions, we must be intentional about what we believe.

This message will challenge us to make sure we are loving, valuing, treasuring, seeking, finding, following, and fully devoted to truth and truth alone. Even small deviations can lead us off course and open a door for the adversary—but a love for truth keeps us grounded and protected.

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It’s not enough to “like” the truth; the Bible tells us to “Love” the truth. Why? Because in a world full of
lies, you can’t afford to just assume what you’re believing is true. We need to double-check ourselves and
make sure we are loving, valuing, treasuring, seeking, finding, following, and fully devoted to truth and
truth alone. Even small deviations from the truth can open a door for the devil to bring in lies that
ultimately lead to destruction.

Love the Truth or Believe a Lie
A Principle of Justice
2Th 2:9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and
lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the
love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
2Th 2:12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
Not exclusively an end-time judgment, but an eternal principle of justice.
People perish because they do not receive the love of the truth. The truth would lead them to salvation.
This is not God angrily getting even with people for rejecting Jesus. This is God judging what is just. If
you’re not going to “love” the truth, then God would be unjust to protect and preserve you from the
deception of a lie.
The choice before every member of the human race is to love the truth that leads us to salvation or believe
the lie that leads to destruction.

An Old Testament Example
2Ch 18:18 Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His
throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and His left.
2Ch 18:19 And the LORD said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab king of Israel to go up, that he may fall at
Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner.
2Ch 18:20 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ The
LORD said to him, ‘In what way?’
2Ch 18:21 So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the LORD
said, ‘You shall persuade him and also prevail; go out and do so.’
2Ch 18:22 Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and
the LORD has declared disaster against you.”
This was not an act of vengeful judgment, but an act of allowing what was just.
Ahab had both the truth and the lie, but he loved the flattering lies of the false prophets more than he
loved the truth and thus followed those lies to his destruction.
It would be unjust for God to protect us from lies if we’re not willing to love and devote ourselves to the
truth. All lies are of Satan, the father of lies, and they ultimately lead to destruction.

Why Are People Destroyed?

Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…
The extent to which we lack the knowledge of the truth is the extent to which the devil can deceive us
with lies that lead to destruction.
Knowing the Truth Makes us Free
Joh 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My
disciples indeed.
Joh 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Only the truth you know will make you free from the lies the devil seeks to deceive and destroy you with.

Can the Devil Devour You?
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour.
Satan does not have the power to devour at will. He is seeking those without knowledge of, or devotion to
the truth, whom he can deceive and devour.
Summary – Lies lead us to destruction, but loving the truth leads to seeking, finding, and following truth
until it makes us free from the devil’s plans for our destruction.

What Does it Mean to “Love” the Truth?
Our key scripture does not tell us to “like” the truth, be okay with the truth, or hang around in the general
vicinity of the truth so we can feel like we’re a good person. The Bible tells us to “Love” the truth.
Love is not an emotion. Love is the value we place on a person or thing. Love begins when we value a
thing equal to or more than our own life, making it an object of treasure that we become devoted to and
serve.
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Loving the truth means placing such a high value on it that we treasure it above all, devote ourselves to it,
seek it as the pearl of great price, and when we find it, we sell all to obtain it, even if it means divesting
ourselves of relationships, associations, affiliations, or reputations in order to stand with truth alone.

Blind Spots
Even if we love the truth, the devil will exploit blind spots to trick and deceive us.
Assumption and Assimilation
It’s common to assume that what we already know and think is the truth, but have you checked?
We tend to assimilate what we hear from those around us and adopt it as truth, but have you checked?
My experience – when confronted with a different view on a subject, I assumed it was wrong. After
praying, I realized that I had no scripture for what I believed. I had not learned it form scripture but
assimilated it from other Christians, assuming that if Christians are saying it, but must be true.
Investments Leading to Inordinate Loyalty

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What you invest in, you will become devoted to, whether you invest time, money, reputation, association,
or affiliation. What we become identified with, we develop a vested interest in to the point of defending it,
even against the truth.
Andrew Wommack shared a story of a lady who didn’t believe the Holy Spirit was for today. He shared
all the relevant scripture. The lady stated that there are a lot of things in the Bible that her church didn’t
believe. That lady loved, was more invested, and devoted to her denomination than to truth.
Inordinate church loyalty can lead to accepting that churches false doctrines. Inordinate political loyalty
can lead to swallowing the favored faction’s propaganda.

Question Everything
Question everything you think you know. Do you know it because you learned it from the word of truth
and Spirit of truth, or did you assimilate it from others, assuming it to be true?
Exercise critical thinking, hearing all sides (Pro 18:17), verifying the facts, analyzing and asking what
adds up, how the pieces fit, and if the resulting picture makes sense and squares with the principles of
God’s word.
Are you trusting a single source, an “expert,” or even the majority to be right? That’s an invitation for the
devil to deceive that source and lead you astray.
Are you being told there are only two choices, so one must be wrong and the other right? Satan can
deceive multiple contending factions to be in opposition and all be wrong.

Truth Matters
Truth matters in our personal life as it is the only defense against lies that lead us to destruction.
Truth matters in the civil society, as lies, called propaganda, can lead to war, death, and destruction.
Truth matters in the church as lies, called false doctrine, can destroy the church’s testimony.
Truth matters, not just for us, but for a world that is destroyed for lack of knowledge of the truth.