TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
I’m not talking about the old game show, or the town in New Mexico were it was filmed. What I want to talk about is being truth full no matter what the consequences are.
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
I’m not talking about that game show either. In Revelation 21:8 the Bible says the place for all liars will be in the fiery lake of burning fire. That’s the price.
We are going to cover four major areas of non truth today.
Beguilement
Deceit
Lying
And the false witness
Let’s begin with the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6:14 gird your loins with the belt of truth. Do you remember that the breastplate of righteousness is connected to the belt of truth?
And the scabbard that holds the sword spirit, the word of God, is attached to the belt of truth. God’s word is the absolute truth,
So without truth, you don’t have anything to attach your righteousness to. Without truth you don’t have a place to house the word of God.
If we are not truth full in all areas, where do we stand with God? I’ll tell you. When we’re not truth full we don’t stand with God, every non truth we tell moves us further and further away from God.
Here is some interesting statistics that I ran across. In the 1960’s 65% of Americans said they believed the Bible is true, and today the figure has dropped to 32%.
And even more dramatically, 67% of all Americans deny that there is any such thing as absolute truth. 70% say there are no moral absolutes.
In a similar study done by the Barna group, when just asking those aged 18-25, amazingly 72% of them said nothing is absolutely true.
Now, if there is so little confidence in the existence of absolute truth, is there any surprise that there is an eroding commitment to practical truth.
When you tell a non truth it’s like unleashing an earthquake. You not only have to worry about the quake it’s self, then you have all the little aftershocks that follow it that you have to worry about.
When we let absolute truth erode, we also erode trust, confidence, integrity, security, and stability.
At the same time as our reliance on truth diminishes, the space or the void that the non truth leaves is immediately filled with falsehood and all of it’s followers. Suspicion, doubt, insecurity, conflict, resentment, and anger.
every time non truth comes into a relationship, trust and confidence is thrown out the window.
Let’s look at some important truths about truth. The 9th commandment in Exodus 20 is thou shalt not give false testimony against thy neighbor.
Proverbs 6:16-19 says there are 6 things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him; haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush to evil, a false witness that pours out lies and a man that stirs up dissention among brothers.
Truth is so important in our relationship with God. Psalm 31:5 says; Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.
In a very familiar verse Jesus says; I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6
We know that Jesus is the way, and the life, he is also the truth, and we can’t go to the Father thru Him without truth. So may the truth be told.
We were created in God’s image, so we are a reflection of God, conformation to God requires an accurate reflection of who God is, and God is truth. His nature, His character, and the will of God is truth.
Let’s move on to the heart of the lesson, Colossians 2:4; Paul says; I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine sounding arguments. And this I say, lest any man beguile you with enticing words.
Beguilement is non truth by misdirection and deception.
Have you ever been in a situation where something has happened, and without any evidence concluded that a certain person must have been involved.
Only to find out latter that you were wrong. If you have, you have been beguiled.
Now then, after you have come to this conclusion without all the facts, and you share it with someone else, you’ve not just been beguiled, you have become a beguiler.
There is a book called Tongue in Cheek, written by Joe Stowell, and in his book he gives five suggestions with scripture to help you avoid falling into beguilement.
1. Have a patient spirit, and wait for all the facts.
Galatians 5:22; but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.
2. Choose to exercise love first until the facts prove otherwise.
I Corinthians 13:6-7; Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.
3. Exercise the power of God’s intervention through prayer.
I Peter 1:17; Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
4. Protect others by encouraging other people to reserve judgments until they have all the facts.
I Corinthians 13:4; Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, and it is not proud.
5. Be willing to go to the source for the facts.
Mathew 18:15; If your brother sins against you, go show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
Deceit, is a camouflaged non truth.
Sin entered the world through deceit. Listen to what Genesis 3:1 says; Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals God had created. He said to the woman, did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?
You see, Satan camouflaged the facts to make God appear restrictive and stingy. In reality God was very generous. He said, every tree is yours to eat from except this one.
Deceit comes in disguises, and unexpectedly from something you should have control over. Stay alert and sober so that you will recognize any deceit that comes your way.
Lying, is a non truth by direct communication.
A sign in a store, warning people about shoplifting says; To win a ride in a police cruiser, just steal something from this store. Well if shoplifting will get you a free trip to jail, lying is so offensive to God it will get you a free trip to hell.
Revelation 21:8 says; But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murders, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
God wants you to know much He hates lying. The liars will be condemned to the same place as murders, molesters, and unbelievers.
Lying has always been the basic strategy of the Devil. Just as the truth is a part of the nature of God, lying is a part of Satan’s nature.
In John 8:31-32 Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus was talking to some Jews and the Pharisees who were trying to trap him, they challenged His validity as the Son of God, and boy he blasted them, listen what He said to them in verse 44; You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native tongue, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Lying could have been a part of your past, but it cannot be a part of your future. Colossians 3:9-10 says; Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
You know a lot of times its easier to lie than it is to tell the truth. It not only serves you, but it also serves who your talking to by telling them what they want to hear rather than the truth that they don’t want to hear.
Ok let’s wrap this up by briefly talking about the False witness, which is a non truth directed against another.
Remember the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not bear false witness.
This was the term God used in His prohibition against lying, it’s the most violent use of the tongue known in scripture.
Proverbs 19:5 says a false witness will not go unpunished, and he who pours out lies will not go free.
Oliver Wendell Holms once said , “ sin has many tools but, a lie is the handle that fits them all.”
In the Old and New Testaments, truth is a fundamental moral and personal quality of God. God proclaimed that He is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth”
(Ex. 34:6)
He is a “God of truth…without injustice” (Deut.32:4). Furthermore, all of His paths are “mercy and truth” (Ps. 25:10)
Truth is a moral and personal characteristic of God: He is “the God of truth” (Is. 65:16). The psalmist declared “Your law is truth” (119:142), “all Your commandments are truth” (119:151), and “the entirety of your work is truth” (119:160).
Because of His perfect nature and will, God has to speak and act in truth, He cannot lie (I Sam. 15:29, and Heb 6:18).
Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh, John 1:14 says the only begotten son of the Father, full of grace and truth. All that Jesus said was true, because He told the truth which He heard from God. (John 8:40).
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”.
The prophecy of the coming Messiah, His birth, His ministry, His death, burial, and resurrection is the definition of the truth about God, man, redemption, history and the world.
“The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came thru Jesus Christ”. (John 1:17)
So what’s my line, to tell the truth. Truth or consequences, and the price is right.
Are you serious about living for Christ, are you serious about improving your relationship with Jesus? Then you must be serious about dealing with non truth.
As we prepare for the week ahead, let us prepare with truth, with Christ, through Christ, and in Christ.
