The Present Truth
2 Peter 1:12 (KJV)
Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
It’s very important for us to know what the present truth is.
The Greek actually says, “Up-to-date truth.”
“…and be established in the up-to-date truth.”
Apostle Peter is so convinced about our establishment in the truth that he uses the word (stērizō) for “established.”
When we understand the meaning of the present truth, we’ll see why he used (stērizō).
The word (stērizō) means to set fast, fix firmly, strengthen, and make as solid as granite. That shows how much he really wants us to be established—not weak, but firm and grounded.
(Stērizō) also means the removal of all doubt. Once you’re established in that truth, every doubt is dissolved.
There is a present truth—or up-to-date truth—that the apostle wants us to be established in; a truth in which every doubt is removed, and we become as solid as granite.
The word “established” is used in the perfect tense in Greek (the perfect passive participle). This means he wants us to be in a settled state—solidly grounded. Some people may profess the truth, but when challenges come, they deny it.
Even Jesus said that trouble comes because of the Word.
Sometimes, troubles come not because of your disobedience, but because of the Word.
For example, you believed God concerning the communion, and the moment you began, the sickness started escalating. You may be tempted to say, “This thing doesn’t work; let me stop the communion.” But if you continue, persevere, and hold on to the Word, you’ll see results.
We can see truth in three different aspects as far as doctrine is concerned:
1. The present truth
2. The outdated truth
3. The general truth
Outdated truths are those not relevant in our current dispensation, especially in the context of the Church and the New Testament. They are outmoded.
General truths are still relevant and very important within the Gospel and the New Testament. Among these general truths, some are vital and foundational.
Then there is the up-to-date truth, also known as the Magna Carta of the Gospel.
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
As ministers of the Gospel, we are called to rightly divide the Word of Truth without distortion.
If you handle the truth with distortion, many will not be blessed. They will be deficient, and you will not fulfill God’s heartbeat as intended.
How do you determine which truth is relevant for us and which is not?
The acid test for determining the relevance of truth is the Cross.
Hebrews 9:26 (KJV)
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
The Greek meaning of “end” is “in the meeting of the ages.”
When Jesus died on the Cross, the Bible says it was the meeting of the ages. On the Cross, two ages met: the conclusion of the Old Testament age and the beginning of the New Testament age.
The Cross determined which truths survived into the New Testament and which did not.
Some truths couldn’t survive past the Cross; others crossed over but were modified. There were also new truths revealed in the New Testament era.
An example of a truth that was modified is in:
Matthew 6:14–15 (KJV)
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
When did the New Testament actually begin?
After Malachi, we come to Matthew, which is labeled “The New Testament.” Naturally, one might think that’s where the New Testament begins because Jesus was born. But that division was made by a church father named Tertullian, who actually coined the term “New Testament.”
From a strict biblical standpoint, however, the New Testament did not begin when Christ was born.
A testament doesn’t begin at birth—it begins at death.
Hebrews 9:16–17 (KJV)
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
There cannot be a testament without the death of the testator.
Through His death and resurrection, the New Testament came into effect in the strict sense.
Jesus was born of a woman, made under the law. He came as a minister of the circumcision to redeem those under the law.
Now, in Matthew 6:14–15, Jesus said something profound as part of the Lord’s Prayer:
If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
That was before the Cross.
But after the Cross, it was modified:
Ephesians 4:32 (KJV)
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Before the Cross: Forgive others so that you may be forgiven.
After the Cross: Forgive others because you have been forgiven.
Why? Because there has been a payment. Jesus paid for our sins in full. Since we’ve already been forgiven, we now forgive others. This is a modified truth.
What is the outdated truth?
It’s important to know this because if you’re not careful, you may spend your entire ministry preaching outdated truth. You might have sincere love for your people, but if your means are wrong, you could lead them in circles for 40 years instead of 40 days.
So, which truth is outdated? — The Law!
Sometimes people don’t really understand what “the Law” means, but the Law is the Law.
2 Corinthians 3:7 (KJV)
But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious… which glory was to be done away.
The Law is described as the ministration of death.
What was written and engraved in stones? — The Ten Commandments.
Romans 7:7 (KJV)
I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
That’s from Exodus 20:17 — the Ten Commandments.
Romans 7:7 defines what the Law is.
The Law is called the ministration of death.
In total, the Law includes 613 precepts and ordinances, but the core is the Ten Commandments.
Why is the Law abolished?
The Law is good and holy, so why should it be abolished?
Hebrews 7:18–19 (AMP)
So a previous physical regulation and command is cancelled because of its weakness and ineffectiveness… For the Law never made anything perfect—but instead, a better hope is introduced, through which we now come close to God.
If you hold on to the Law, you can never truly draw close to God because you’ll live in sin-consciousness, always feeling unworthy. This verse tells us the Law is outdated.
Hebrews 8:7, 13 (AMP)
If that first covenant had been without defect, there would have been no room for another one… When God speaks of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete.
The “first covenant” refers to the Ten Commandments—the Sinaitic or Mosaic Covenant, not the Abrahamic Covenant.
Romans 7:4, 6 (KJV)
Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ…
But now we are delivered from the law… that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
When you’re born again, you are dead to the Law and delivered from it.
Galatians 2:19 (KJV)
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Until you are dead to the Law, you cannot live unto God.
Many cannot live fruitfully unto God because they are not yet dead to the Law.
The Law is an outdated truth—we are dead to it and delivered from it.
What Was the Reason for the Law?
Until you are able to separate the age of the Law from the age of Grace, your preaching will remain complicated. You have to cut that distortion.
Why Did God Give the Law?
The truth is that God did not give the Law to make men holy. God gave the Law to expose the sin of man.
The reason God gave the Law is that man is a sinner but does not acknowledge his weakness. Man does not know how frail and weak he is.
So, what did God do? He gave a perfect Law — the Law is holy, pure, and spiritual. God gave a perfect Law to sinful men to see whether they would be able to keep it.
His intention was that the Law would bring man to the end of himself so that he would see the need for a Savior. It was meant to make man see his need for a Savior — Jesus Christ.
The Law was meant to reveal how weak man is, how impotent he is — to show that man is so weak he cannot serve God by himself. The Law was to expose man’s wretchedness and sin so that man would say, “I need a Savior.”
So, the Law was to bring us to Christ.
Romans 5:20 (KJV)
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
God didn’t give the Law so that holiness might abound. That is why when you give people the Law, sin starts increasing.
Romans 7:13 (AMP)
Did that which is good then prove fatal [bringing death] to me? Certainly not! It was sin, working death in me by using this good thing [as a weapon], in order that through the commandment sin might be shown up clearly to be sin, that the extreme malignity and immeasurable sinfulness of sin might plainly appear.
The KJV puts it this way: “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.”
Sin was already in man, but the Law had to expose man to see how sinful he truly was, so that he would recognize his need for a Savior — because sinners need a Savior.
Romans 7:8 (KJV)
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
Sin was dead without the Law. The Law came to awaken sin. If you don’t give people the Law, sin dies.
Romans 7:9 (KJV)
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
If you want a revival of sin, preach the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments say, “Thou shalt not kill,” and all that. But why is Paul saying that what was supposed to help him actually revived sin in him, causing him to die?
Romans 3:20 (KJV)
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
I was free, but when the Law came, I became sin-conscious.
Why Is the Law Abolished?
The nature of the Law is good, holy, and pure. But the Law is like a mirror — when you look into it, it shows you all your mistakes. A mirror is clean and perfect; it exposes how wretched your face looks, but it cannot do your makeup for you. It shows you what needs to be done, but you have to help yourself.
Romans 8:3 (KJV)
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
The Law is weak to help us, only because the flesh is weak. The problem lies in the flesh.
Your flesh is your unredeemed part. The Bible says, “Walk in the Spirit, so that you will not fulfill the desires of your flesh.” The flesh has its own desires and lusts.
The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusts against the flesh; they are contrary to one another, so that you cannot do what you will.
The study of the flesh is very broad. The Bible says we are not in the flesh, yet it also says the flesh is in us.
1 Corinthians 15:56 (KJV)
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
The Law doesn’t strengthen you against sin — it strengthens sin against you.
The word “strength” here is the same as Dunamis (power).
When you are living according to the Law, you may pretend to be holy, but deep down, you know you are struggling.
Romans 6:14 (KJV)
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
The Ten Commandments, or the Law, are called the system of demand. It’s all about performance, earning, deserving, and meriting.
The moment you come under the Law, you come under a curse. You can’t truly live for God, and many wrong things are activated.
Most of the time, instead of having faith in what Jesus Christ has done, we tend to have faith in what we can do. Because of the flesh, we believe in performance instead of the finished work.
There are people who are actively in ministry and doing well, but they are serving so that God will bless them. That can be very frustrating and can lead to envy — like the story of the prodigal son.
I have seen people who have been in ministry for many years complaining because they see younger ones rising quickly and doing well. They say, “Ah, we have been in ministry — these guys must be suspicious.” Then envy comes in, jealousy comes in, backbiting comes in, and complaining follows. Why? Because they think that by their years of service, by their performance, they should earn favor with God. They ask, “How come these guys? What have they done? They haven’t suffered as much as we have.”
All those attitudes come from the principles of the Law. The elder brother said, “All these years I have kept your commandment and served you, but you never gave me a kid.” He was serving diligently just for his father to bless him — and that’s the Law.
Okay, so when the blessing comes, will you stop serving?
The New Testament mentality is not like that. We don’t serve to get blessed — we serve because we are blessed.
There is a reward for serving, yes, but don’t serve with the intention that God will bless you. The proper mentality is that you have already been blessed.
The elder brother said, “I have not broken any of your commandments.” But this guy, who spent all his life with fornicators, comes back and look at what you’ve done for him!
What was his motive for holiness? He said, “All these years I’ve never broken your commandment, but you’ve given me nothing.” You see where the frustration comes from?
The New Testament operates by believing and receiving, not by earning and deserving, because under what Jesus has done, you believe.
There are people who want to be healed, but they think their faithfulness will bring them healing. No! It is your faith that brings healing because it has already been paid for.
You don’t say, “Let me read my Bible diligently so that God will see how faithful I am and heal my sickness.” That is the wrong motive. Read the Bible to find out what Christ has given you in redemption, so you will have enough faith to receive your healing — not so that God will see it as a reward for healing you.
“Let me live holy so that God will accept me.” Wrong!
“Let me live holy so that God will answer my prayers.” The holiness is good, but the motive is wrong.
“Let me live holy that I might be approved by God.” Of course, in ministry you have to be approved by what you do, but as sons of God, we have already been approved.
If you try to live a certain way so that God will approve you, I’m telling you, you will always fall short — because we are already accepted in Christ. You need faith in what He has done, not faith in what you are doing.
Holiness is good, but the motive matters. We are not living holy to earn things from God; we are living holy because that is our nature in Christ.
Romans 6:2 (KJV)
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Ephesians 4:24 (KJV)
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
We live holy because that is our nature — that is who we are. We are new creations, not living that way as a means to earn anything. That mindset brings bondage to the Law.
Galatians 2:21 (KJV)
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
To frustrate the grace of God is to render it useless, null, void, and empty.
“…if righteousness come by the law,” means if I can become righteous by my own obedience and faithfulness, then Christ died needlessly. You’re saying to Christ that He wasted His death — that He died for you to get something you could have earned yourself.
When you rely on your own obedience, you are saying that God should accept you because of how much you have fasted, prayed, or how many souls you have won. If you make that your foundation for acceptance before God, it is wrong. You will begin to walk in depression because you will never measure up.
Do these things — fast, pray, win souls — but with the right motive. Motive is more important than action. Trust in what Christ has done.
Galatians 5:4 (KJV)
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Do you know what that means? You can come to a place as a believer where you are severed from grace.
“Christ is of no effect unto you.” The Greek says you are severed from Christ. You are still a Christian, but you are disconnected.
“Christ is of no effect” means this: imagine electricity is flowing, but rubber is an insulator. If you are like rubber, though electricity flows, you cannot receive its power. The moment you come under earning and deserving — relying on your works — you become like an insulator. Christ becomes of no benefit to you.
If you are sick, Christ cannot be healing to you.
If you are depressed, Christ cannot be joy to you.
He cannot be wisdom to you — He becomes of no effect. There is no flow of life from Christ to you. He ceases to be your sanctification, redemption, or blessing because you are seeking to be justified by the Law.
You want God to accept you by your obedience and faithfulness. Yes, you should be faithful and obedient, but that’s not why God accepts you. That thinking will lead to many negative things.
“…ye are fallen from grace.” To fall from grace means you have fallen from unmerited favor. By the many things you are doing to earn and pay for blessings, you move out of grace.
To come under the Law is to enter into spiritual adultery.
Romans 7:4 (KJV)
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
When you are dead to the Law, you can bring forth fruit unto the Lord.
We died because we were married to “Mr. Law,” and through death that marital union was dissolved. Now we are married to Christ. To go back to the Law is to go back to your former husband — that’s how dangerous it is. The Bible calls living under the Law idolatry.
Galatians 4:8–9 (KJV)
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Paul’s phrasing here is amazing. He’s talking about turning to the Law, but he writes it in such a way that turning to the Law is equivalent to turning back to idolatry.
“…to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” You were serving false gods — now you want to go back into bondage by returning to the Law. He equates coming under the Law to formerly worshipping idols because it brings you under the same bondage.
That is outdated truth.
Up-to-Date Truth
Now let’s come to up-to-date truth.
The phrase present truth in Greek means up-to-date truth (2 Peter 1:12).
What is up-to-date truth?
In the New Testament, up-to-date truth is simple — it’s all about Christ and His finished work.
First, it’s about Christ Jesus. We must spend all our time knowing the loveliness of Jesus. It will bless you — the wonders of His personality and who He is. He is our calling.
The more you learn about Jesus, the more grace and peace multiply in your life.
2 Peter 1:2 (KJV)
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.
In Greek grammar, the structure of this verse is different. You may think Peter is addressing both God and Jesus, but he’s actually addressing one person.
So the Greek goes like this: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, even Jesus the Lord.
In the Greek structure, you understand that Jesus is God.
Grace and peace — in Greek, “grace” means favor, and “peace” in Hebrew is shalom. Shalom means health, completion, soundness of mind, wholeness, fullness, abundance, prosperity, and well-being — all are contained in that one word.
Do you know that your health can be multiplied? The favor on your life can be multiplied, and the peace in your life can be multiplied.
How does it come? By His knowledge. The more you know Jesus through meditation, the more grace and peace reign in your life. It’s priceless — He is altogether lovely.
John 5:39 (KJV)
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
The Scriptures are everything — they are the photo album of Christ. Don’t read the Bible to find prosperity or anything else; read the Bible to find Jesus.
When you find Jesus, you find yourself — because,
1 John 4:17 (KJV)
As he is, so are we in this world.
When you get to know what He has, you know what you have.
Romans 8:17 (KJV)
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
What He has is what you have. The more you find Him, the more you find yourself — the wonders of Jesus! To know Jesus more, just read about Him, learn about Him, and your heart will begin to gravitate toward Him.
In the New Testament, the reality is Christ. We are called to a person.
You can preach many things and share countless principles, yet deviate from the centrality of the Gospel, which is Christ. I’m telling you — so many preach principles, but not Him.
It is Jesus and His finished work.
The Finished Work
What is His finished work?
It is what He accomplished for us on the Cross. That is the crux of the Gospel — His finished work.
In John 19:30, that is where He said, “It is finished.”
The Greek word used there is Tetelestai, which actually means “paid in full.”
So, when Jesus said “It is finished,” He meant “paid in full.”
Our sins have been paid in full. On the Cross, your sins — past, present, and future — were all paid for. If there were even one sin He didn’t pay for, then He would have to die again. But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool — once and for all.
In the Greek, the word finished is in the perfect indicative passive tense.
The perfect indicative tense means that it cannot be paid again — once and for all, for all time: past, present, and future. It cannot be paid again. Your sins have been settled — paid for!
This truth should give you peace to serve God.
Righteousness — The Sum of His Work
But His finished work — what Jesus accomplished for us through His death — is all summed up in one word: Righteousness.
Righteousness by faith.
In fact, if you want one word to describe everything Jesus did, it is Righteousness. Everything Jesus accomplished is summed up in that single word.
Righteousness by faith is the main crux of the Gospel.
What Is the Gospel?
Romans 1:16 (KJV)
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.”
Is there anyone ashamed of the Gospel?
“...for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Now, look at verse 17:
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith…”
So, what is the Gospel?
The Gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God.
It says, “For therein” — or “in it” — “is the righteousness of God revealed.”
Imagine I have a parcel that’s wrapped. The parcel is called the Gospel, and this parcel is the power of God unto salvation.
The word salvation means sōtēría — it’s an all-encompassing word. It’s the same word for healing, deliverance, prosperity, health, and provision.
Normally, the word salvation is related to sozo or sōtēría. Anytime we talk about being “saved,” we usually think of eternal salvation or going to heaven — but that is the third or fourth definition in the Greek.
According to Vine’s and Thayer’s lexicons, that’s not its first or primary use. The first and most regular definition of sozo literally refers to temporal and material deliverance from danger or distress.
The word salvation is used often in reference to our day-to-day deliverance — being saved from poverty, disease, and danger. God is concerned about all these. That’s the first usage!
So the Gospel is the power of God unto your salvation.
The Gospel as a Package
Let’s see the Gospel as a package. I’m telling you, this package is the power of God unto salvation, but it is wrapped. The unveiling of this package is the revelation.
“…For therein is the righteousness of God revealed.”
The Gospel is the unveiling — the revealing — of the righteousness of God.
So, if I unwrap it, what I find inside is the righteousness of God.
The Gospel unveils the righteousness of God.
Now, what is the power unto salvation?
That righteousness is the power of God!
The moment you own your righteousness by faith, that becomes the power for your deliverance, the power for your salvation, the power from danger, from fear, from weakness, from addiction, and from bondage.
That is the righteousness of faith.
That is the Gospel.
The Purpose of the Cross
Now, what was the reason for the Cross?
The main reason Jesus died on the Cross was for our sin — is that not so? But to what end? What was the ultimate purpose?
He took our sin, yes — but was that the end?
2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV)
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
That was the reason for the Cross. It would have been wonderful that He took our sins, but the result — that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him — is the ultimate goal.
The Purpose of the Resurrection
What then was the reason for the Resurrection?
Romans 4:25 (KJV)
“Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”
The same word translated righteousness is also justification — they are used interchangeably. The Greek word is dikaiosunē.
Let’s illustrate this:
Assume someone is in prison for a crime you committed. As long as he remains in prison, you are not truly free — because there will still be guilt on your conscience.
But once he comes out, you are free — because he was serving your sentence.
Jesus served the prison sentence of death. When He was raised, all sins were put away — He was raised for your justification.
What Is Righteousness?
Now, what is righteousness? Because the concept of righteousness in the Old Testament is different from that in the New.
In the New Testament, righteousness is used as a noun.
In the Old Testament, righteousness is used as a verb.
So in the Old Testament, righteousness referred to what we do — an action.
But in the New Testament, righteousness refers to what we have become by nature — because of the new birth we received.
The Covenant Illustration
In the Old Testament, when a covenant was made — for example, between Abraham and God, or as in Jeremiah 34 — the two parties of the covenant would stand facing each other, with a path between them called the path of blood.
Animals would be cut into two halves, placed on the left and right, and the parties would walk between the pieces to seal the covenant.
This act symbolized “I take your place, and you take mine.”
Something similar happened on the Cross — a holy transaction.
On the Cross, this was you (man) — a sinner.
And this was Christ — a perfectly righteous man.
Jesus Christ never sinned. In fact, Pilate himself said, “I find no fault in Him.”
John 19:6 (KJV)
“When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.”
Even wicked Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him.
Jesus Himself said, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?”
Nobody could say that Jesus had sin.
