Amen.
Amen, I wanna look back at verse 16, the Bible says,
these are the things that ye shall do,
speak ye every man to truth to his neighbor.
Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates
and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts
against his neighbor and love no false oath
for all these things that I hate, say it the Lord.
For all these are things that I hate, say it the Lord.
And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me saying,
thus saith the Lord of hosts, the fast of the fourth month
and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh
and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house
of Judah, joy and gladness and cheerful feasts.
Therefore love the truth and peace.
Now in this particular passage,
we have the children of Israel returning back to Jerusalem,
returning back to the southern kingdom of Judah,
to reestablish Jerusalem, to rebuild the city
and to restart their nation.
They've been in captivity for 70 plus years
and so now they're starting the progress of returning
and coming back out of the nations
and returning back to the house of Jerusalem
to reestablish this nation.
And notice in the reestablishment,
God is giving them some instructions here
and a recipe for success is that they would speak,
ye every man the truth to his neighbor
and to execute the judgment of truth
and to be a lover of truth.
And what I've noticed in the Bible
is it feels like a main theme.
It feels like just the main emphasis that you see
from Genesis to Revelation is two groups
pitted against one another,
those who love the truth and those who hate the truth.
And then another word for this would be called liars.
So the title of my sermon this evening is this,
lovers of truth versus liars.
So we're gonna take a journey through the Bible
and then we're gonna take a second journey
through the Bible.
The first journey is gonna take a journey
through the lovers of truth.
And look, the Bible just emphasizes lovers of truth.
Now, why would it pit these two groups against one another
because of the fact that we're all sinners?
There's not like good people versus bad people.
There's not like these really good sinners
versus the really bad sinners.
We're all sinners.
So really the fight, the battle is over those
who love truth and those who hate the truth
that are liars and despise the truth itself.
And this is a main theme in the Bible.
This is a main emphasis in the Bible.
You constantly read about it.
If you read the Psalms and the Proverbs,
you read any of these passages.
I mean, this is the main theme.
It's got the liars on one side
and you got people that care about the truth.
And you know, that's important when you talk about church
because church supposed to be the pillar and ground
of the truth.
Jesus Christ himself is the truth.
He's the way, the truth and the life.
No man comes other than the father, but by him.
The gospel is considered the gospel of truth.
The Bible describes the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth.
Everything about God is true.
Everything about the Lord is true.
The word of God is considered true.
Jesus is true.
And so of course the battle and the fight is over the truth.
You think about Pilate himself asking the stupid question,
what is truth?
What a dumb question.
What a foolish question to ask.
And you know, of course in our world that we live in today,
people want to talk about their truth, my truth.
But here's the thing.
There's no such thing as my truth.
It's either true or it's not.
The reason why you're saying my truth
is because it's not true.
It's a lie.
Because if it wasn't my truth, it would just be truth.
You don't even need to add my.
It's just true.
It's just true or it's not true.
And the idea of my truth is taking something
that's not true and then trying to say it's true
because it's mine.
Like my view of the world is just true, false.
There's true and false and it doesn't matter
what you feel, think or what your ideas are.
True is just true.
And those who love the Bible just love truth.
Good, bad or ugly, it doesn't matter your perspective.
And of course we're supposed to challenge ourselves
with what the truth is, not what we think already.
Every man does that which is right in his own eyes.
So you already think you're right,
but the question is what is right?
Not what do you think is right, but what is right?
And then recalibrating ourselves to love the truth
and like the truth.
And of course we should be people who quote,
love the truth.
And notice when you love the truth, you love peace.
When you hate truth, there's not really any peace.
Now I wanna go back to Psalms, go to Psalm 15.
We're gonna take a journey through the Bible.
Let's just look at a lot of passages this evening.
We're gonna do more of like a Bible study
in perspective of the sermon,
but I wanna just look at a lot of Bible
because of course the Bible talks about
faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
And of course, if we're gonna love the truth
in really thinking about this sermon,
I'm like how do you love the truth
is you have to hear it, you have to hear it.
If you're not reading the Bible
and if you're not hearing the Bible
you're just not gonna love truth.
You love the truth because you hear it.
You love the truth because you're seeing it.
Psalm 15, look at verse one.
Lord, who shall abide, night, tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh up rightly and worketh righteousness,
notice this, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
So notice the people that are gonna be
in the house of God, that are loving God
are the people that are speaking the truth
in their heart.
And of course this is in a sense
kind of what's being alluded to here in Zechariah.
They're returning back to the nation of Judah
to reestablish Jerusalem.
But it's kind of a picture of what church is like too
where you're calling people out of the world.
You're calling people out from the heathen
and you're separating yourselves under the house of God
which is a picture of what church is.
And when they do that, they're supposed to be
lovers of truth and speaking the truth.
And they're coming to the house of God
which is supposed to be the pillar
and ground of the truth.
So who's gonna abide in God's house?
Who's gonna abide in this quote tabernacle?
It's gonna be those that speak the truth in his heart.
You know, you could take another layer here
of the fact that those who speak the truth in their heart
is a picture of people that have accepted the gospel
and those are the saved
and so those are the ones that are gonna dwell
with God are the saved.
If you don't speak the truth in your heart
you're not saved and you're not of God
and you're not gonna dwell in this tabernacle.
It says in Psalm 51, go to Psalm 51 if you would
flip just a few pages and look at verse number six.
And this is a desire that God has for his people.
The Psalmist is just essentially telling us,
Psalm 51 verse six, behold,
thou desirous truth in the inward parts.
And in the hidden part,
thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Notice God wants us to have truth in the inward parts,
in our hearts, inside of us.
He wants us to love the truth and have that truth
inside of us.
Go to Psalm 119.
You're gonna be,
we're just gonna be flipping through the Bible here.
Psalm 119 and look at verse number 30.
Verse 30 says, I have chosen the way of truth.
Thy judgments have I laid before me.
So notice the Psalmist is saying that he's made a choice
and what is the choice, the way of truth?
You have to love the truth,
even start on the journey towards truth.
And so when you don't even love the truth,
you have no way of even improving.
We have to first identify truth
and we have to love truth.
And of course I would argue one of those truths
that we all need to embrace and accept
is that the King James Bible is God's word.
And when you love that truth,
then you can start to clean yourself up.
And what I've noticed is the non-denominational
viewpoint of Bible versions,
just pick whatever Bible you want.
They don't actually clean themselves up
because they're not lovers of truth.
They don't want to know what the truth is
and they say strange things.
Anytime I hear these people talking about the Bible
and they're using these modern versions,
I'm thinking, what the heck did you just say?
It's weird.
I was listening to some guys talk about salvation
and once saved, always saved.
And they were talking about Hebrews six
and they were like, oh, well, you know,
the reason, and again, they have a different viewpoint
than I do on Hebrews six.
They were saying these people are not saved or whatever.
But their justification was like verse nine.
And in the King James, it says,
we speak better things of these than that.
And it's like, and things that accompany salvation.
So like in the King James is saying,
hey, what we just talked about,
we are persuaded better things of you
and we're gonna talk about things
that accompany salvation.
The ESV says that we were talking to you
about things that belong to salvation.
So it's like King James saying,
hey, we're talking about things
that accompany salvation.
And then the ESV saying,
we're talking about things that belong to salvation.
So it's just like completely changing the narrative
and saying the exact opposite.
And of course, if you use the ESV,
you're probably a Calvinist
because you don't love the truth.
And so therefore, again,
they have no way of actually reforming themselves
and cleaning themselves up.
Isn't it funny that they're reformed
and then they don't reform themselves?
Because they've already arrived.
I mean, they're already elect.
I mean, what else have they got?
I mean, irresistible grace.
How are they gonna resist that?
And it's funny that Calvinists today,
they're the ones that love drinking alcohol
and not even drinking alcohol,
they're drinking hard liquor.
Most Calvinists, they really don't drink beer.
They drink hard liquor and cigars and get tattoos
and they're the elect.
And they're lazy and they don't go soul winning
and they're just all about debate.
They're already smarter than everybody in the room
and it just appeals to the prideful, lazy person
that just wants to drink alcohol.
Which again, how are you so smart
and you think that drinking liquor is a good idea?
The Bible says that wine is a mocker
and strong drink is raging
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
So how are the smartest people on this planet
deceived by alcohol?
I mean, it's just ridiculous.
Go to Proverbs three, go to Proverbs three.
Hey, I've chosen the way of truth
and let me tell you something.
I've laid God's judgments before me
and it's the King James Bible.
It's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
and Deuteronomy and you know what?
I love it.
I love the truth.
I love the law of God.
I'm not embarrassed about any of the verses in the Bible
but I'll be honest with you, I'm embarrassed
in some of the verses in the modern versions.
When you start reading that Old Testament,
the modern versions, it gets weird.
It's just like, it just changes verses.
It's like, King James don't wear a garment
of linen woolen, modern versions don't wear mixed fabrics.
And then of course atheists are just like,
oh, you're wearing a mixed fabric shirt.
And I'm just like, yeah, I am.
But guess what?
It's not a garment made of linen and woolen.
Number one.
And number two, you just don't understand
the spiritual aspect of what this is even saying.
You know, it's just funny when you read
these modern versions and they just say
weird perverted things.
They're talking about temple shrine prostitutes
and I'm like, I don't know what that is.
Do you know what that is?
No one knows what that is.
I was like, does this even exist anywhere?
What is this?
But again, I love the law of God though.
You know, I love all the commandments of God.
Proverbs three, look at verse three.
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee,
bind them about thy neck,
write them upon the table of thine heart.
So God's people are people that are seeking the truth
and they don't want to forsake the truth.
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee,
buying them out there.
Hey, really important that we just understand
what the truth is.
We don't let it go.
We have it, we have it attached to our person.
And of course we're not literal,
we're not Jews, we're gonna strap a Bible to our foreheads.
It's funny, they strap it and they don't even believe it.
It's just like, why are you strapping a book
to your forehead?
You don't even believe.
Proverbs eight and look at verse number seven.
For my mouth shall speak truth
and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
Notice that God's people are ones that seek truth,
they speak truth and they think it's just horrific to lie.
They don't want to lie.
It's an abomination to speak of wickedness.
It's an abomination to lie.
They don't want to do that kind of stuff.
Look at Proverbs 12, Proverbs 12 and look at verse 17.
For my mouth shall speak truth.
Doesn't that sound like someone
that's just a sight I'm not gonna lie?
If I said, hey, my mouth is gonna speak the truth.
What am I saying?
I'm not gonna lie.
I'm just gonna be honest.
I'm gonna tell the truth.
I wanna speak the truth.
I don't wanna be dishonest in what I say.
Proverbs 12, verse 17.
He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness
but a false witness deceit.
Notice again, it's pitting those who speak truth
versus those who lie and they're a false witness
and they deceive people.
Does it say like, here's the good people,
here's the bad people,
here's the fornicators and here's the drunkards
and here's the adulterers and here's the non.
It's just people that speak truth and the people that lie
because at the end of the day, we all sin
and if we were really to rack up sin lists,
we wouldn't really be that much different
than any other group of the people.
You know what makes us different?
We like to speak truth and these other people like to lie
and they bear false witness.
That's the difference.
I mean, I wouldn't even be surprised honestly
if some groups even, some groups of Mormons
or Jehovah's Witness or whatever
that they could even potentially
have a cleaner rap sheet in theory.
But even if they did, I don't care
because it's not about a rap sheet.
You know what it's about?
It's about some people speak truth
and some people speak lies.
And let me tell you something,
the Mormons only speak lies.
Doesn't matter how clean they look
on their outward appearance.
Oh yeah, isn't that the Pharisees?
And look, let's be honest about the Pharisees.
Let's be honest probably about the Mormons as well
is that they have this outward appearance.
There's a lot of iniquity going on inside there.
There's a lot of hypocrisy, a lot of adultery,
a lot of evil.
You know, beware of the people
that just look so good on the outside.
How much do they love truth?
That's how we should really be measuring someone
because out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh.
And of course the Pharisees were great
at cleansing the outward cup and platter,
the outward appearance, the outward look.
They had it all together
and it seemed like they were super pious and righteous
and they're the ones following the commandments
rigorously.
I mean, according to the apostle Paul,
he was a Pharisee.
And you know how he described himself?
According to the law, blameless.
And according to the common people,
their perception of these individuals
was the highest level of righteousness
because he said, except your righteousness
exceed the Pharisees and the scribes,
ye shall know why he's entered into the kingdom of heaven.
Why would he use that group
if they were just the worst people
on the outward appearance?
He's using them because from everyone's perspective
they seem to be the most pious, the most righteous,
the most godly, the least sinful,
the ones doing the most right
from man's perspective, from our outward perspective.
So this is what you have to think about.
There's people in this world that you would look at.
This guy must be the nicest and the cleanest
and got the most right.
In many cases, they're the most wicked and the most evil.
And how we judge them is not the outward appearance.
It's what's come out of their mouth.
Are they lovers of truth?
Do they love the truth or they do not?
And here, let me tell you something.
Mormons don't love the truth.
Jehovah's Witnesses don't love the truth.
There's a lot of holier in the house.
The Nazarene Church is all about standards.
The Nazarene Church is all about the commandments.
They're so over the top.
I mean, you talk about the Church of Christ.
The Church of Christ and the Church of Nazarene,
these Nazarite people, they're so extreme
that if you miss church, they don't think you're saved.
Like you get ice cream if you show up.
The other churches, you're not even saved, okay?
I mean, it's real extreme, okay?
They're so pious, they won't even use instruments
because they're of Satan, you know?
It's just like, what in the world?
Right, you can't even use the piano.
You can't even use any kind of instrument
at the Church of Christ.
So they were afraid from using any of them.
Which you're thinking like,
doesn't the Bible talk about instruments and stuff?
And he's just like, Old Testament.
Old Testament, they could play music, you know?
New Testament, we just have to sing or whatever.
But I'm telling you, the outward appearance
is meaningless to God.
And when we really pit the two players
in the Bible against each other,
for the most part, the big emphasis
is those who speak truth and those who are liars, okay?
Look at Proverbs 23, actually keep your finger there
if you want to, look at verse 19 as well.
The lip of truth shall be established forever
but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
Hey, you tell the truth, it'll last forever.
You tell a lie, you never know
when you're gonna expose her for being a liar.
You never know when the conspiracy theory file
will finally be released.
And it's like, hey, who killed JFK?
It's like, oh, well, now the file's finally been released.
And you look at dictators,
evil dictators in the world,
eventually we all know they were an evil dictator.
Eventually we can all see
that the emperor was wearing no clothes.
It was just in the moment or in that time period.
Eventually we'll realize that Joe Biden was not
the most liked and loved president in US history
and did not garner the most votes.
At some point in human history,
it'll be publicly acceptable to just say like it was fraud.
But in the moment it's not allowed.
In the moment you get censored,
in the moment you can't talk about it,
but eventually the truth will come out.
But hey, the lip of truth shall be established forever.
Those who told the truth will be remembered
for speaking the truth.
Proverbs 23 verse 23,
buy the truth and sell it not,
also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
The Bible just puts such an emphasis on the truth.
Go a couple more pages over
to Cleasi's chapter 12,
Cleasi's chapter number 12.
This is the end of the book of Ecclesiastes.
And of course, in November,
there's gonna be a preaching class at faithful word.
And if you wanna preach better,
I highly encourage you to go to it.
But even if you can't,
this is really the only advice that you need to learn.
If you wanna be a good preacher,
this is the only thing you need to think about
in my opinion is what we're gonna read right here.
Look at Ecclesiastes 12 verse 10.
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words,
and that which was written was upright.
Notice this, even words of truth.
Now the word even means specifically,
specifically words of truth.
What makes a good preacher and a bad preacher
is one preaches the truth
and the other one's not preaching the truth.
Is that simple?
You wanna be a good preacher?
Say things that are true.
If you can, and it just baffles me
when I listen to people preaching,
I'm thinking that that's not true.
Or that's not right.
Or you didn't consider what the Bible says on this issue.
You're saying something that's not accurate, not true.
And of course, even when I judge myself,
I get upset anytime I say something
that I feel like is not exactly accurate
or is not something that's dialed in
or when I just fly out and get something wrong.
And I've done that, of course.
No one is perfect.
But let me tell you what a good sermon
is someone that's preaching the truth.
Speaking the truth.
And you know, I consider,
when I think about my sermons,
I consider more and I think way more about
is what I'm saying true than anything else.
I honestly don't even think about application
until I'm preaching, okay?
So pardon me for that, all right?
But most of the time I'm just really trying to think about
is what I'm saying correct?
Is what I'm saying what the Bible is saying?
Is it true?
Because that's the only thing that really matters.
And if you get that locked in,
I feel like everything else makes sense.
When you don't really know what the Bible is actually saying
or you're not confident what you're saying
or what you're saying is not even true,
boy, it's just, you're gonna fail.
When you're saying what's true,
the Bible comes alive.
And just like verses flood your mind
and application floods your mind.
And it's just like every,
you can just speak about it just with earnest zeal.
But when you're saying something that's not quite right,
it's like the exact opposite.
It's the exact opposite because like verses come in your mind
and you're like, well, actually no.
And well, technically no.
And yeah, actually there's another verses
to something the opposite of what I'm saying.
And it's just like a total fail.
And you totally stop and you get shut down.
Hey, you wanna preach and your sermons come alive,
make sure what you're saying is true.
Make sure what you're saying is right.
And I guarantee you'll preach great sermons.
Great sermons are when you preach something that's true
and it's what the Bible is saying
and you can say it with authority
because you know it's true
and God's word's backing you up.
And I'm telling you, you'll knock it out of the park.
The reason why sermons are bad today
is because what they're saying is not true.
And when I criticize preaching,
that's the only thing I really even care about.
I mean, when I listen to other preachers
or other pastors or other sermons,
the delivery, I mean, yeah, I get it.
Some people are more entertaining than others.
But what's entertaining to me
is just if it's true what they're saying.
And if they even believe what they're saying,
if they believe it, they know it's true.
I mean, it's gonna be engaging.
And it's not so much about style even.
I've listened to people that have completely different
styles than me or my friends,
but what they're saying is right
and you just like it.
I just like to hear the truth
and I just wanna learn
and I wanna learn what the truth is.
And you know what, hey, we as God's people
need to be people that want the truth
and we desire the truth
and we're begging for preachers to preach the truth.
And we would be very offended
if they got up and they lied to us.
We'd be very offended if they got up
and they were being deceitful.
If they were not saying what the passage actually said.
If they're taking things out of context.
If they're bringing up things
that are just not legitimate.
I mean, I'm just offended by any lies.
I mean, if they just start getting up
and explaining to me how, you know,
terrorists took down the world trade centers
and that building seven fell due to office fires
in an unironic way,
they'd really believe that I would be offended.
Like I just get offended at people lying to me
and saying, hey, you know,
these white people came over
and they were just mean to Native Americans
and just genocide of them for no reason.
You know what, I'm gonna be offended
at you just lying to me
and just telling me your visionist democratic type history
and you're just repeating lies
that are coming from sources
that you didn't even fact check
and you just bring up random nonsense.
I mean, I'm really offended.
I'm preaching, get some and preach just the flat earth
and then says that that's what the Bible teaches
because that's heresy.
It's heresy, it's false doctrine.
It's insane.
It's literally insane.
And yeah, I'm gonna be extremely,
extremely offended at people
when they say things that are not true.
Now, someone says something that's really kind of like,
you know, shady, like you're not really allowed to say it,
but it's true.
I'm just kind of like,
you know, like, well, what did he say was true.
You know, and I'm just telling you my personal opinion.
Obviously as a pastor, as a preacher,
sometimes it's also important to consider people's feelings,
consider how much your audience can handle
and stuff like that.
And I think the wise pastor is considering,
like, what's the acceptable words here?
What's the best way to word this?
But at the same time,
I'm personally not offended as long as it's true.
And I'm more care about the truth in general
than anything else.
And we as God's people should try our best
to not be sensitive to the things that are true.
If we hear something that's true,
even if it's not presented in the most palatable way,
we should be willing to accept the truth.
Go to John chapter three,
go to John chapter number three
and we'll see this important idea
because sometimes we need to hear unsavory truths,
unsavory truths, things that maybe
would be considered offensive or taboo
or they're not convenient, inconvenient truths.
You know, wouldn't it be,
it would be inconvenient if someone said,
hey, you're stupid, but what if it was true?
What if someone said, hey, you don't have good manners?
But it was true.
What if someone said, hey, you have a really bad haircut?
But it was true.
You know, what if you're dressing inappropriately?
I mean, I don't think anybody would want to hear that.
I don't think anybody would like to hear,
hey, you're dressing inappropriately.
I don't think anybody would like to hear,
hey, you're being prideful.
I don't think anybody wants to hear,
hey, you're being lazy.
I don't think anybody wants to hear
these negative criticisms of themselves.
Hey, I don't think people want to hear,
hey, you're being a feminist right now.
You're repeating feminist talking points.
Hey, you're repeating Democrat talking points,
leftist talking points, atheistic talking points.
Hey, what you said is wrong.
I don't think people want to hear these things,
but you know what, if it's true, you should want to hear it.
If it's true, you should want to be corrected
and get things right.
And of course, those who get saved
are those who are willing to hear the truth
about their sin.
And this is what the Bible talks about.
Look at John 3, verse 21.
But he that doeth truth,
cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest
that they are wrought in God.
So probably the most famous passage in the Bible,
John 3, 16 on salvation,
all you have to do is believe in Jesus Christ.
Jesus, just in a few breaths later,
explains why some people believe the gospel
and why others don't.
And what does the Bible say
is one of the main reasons why people get saved
and the group that's saved, what do they look like?
Well, according to the Bible,
it says very clearly that he seeks truth,
that he has a desire to do truth.
Look at verse 21 very clearly.
But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light.
Who are the people that get saved?
Those that do truth.
So can a liar come to the knowledge of salvation?
The Bible is painting the picture as no.
This is why false prophets
and the religious adherents to false religion
can't get saved because they're not a doer of truth.
They have no truth in them.
They don't desire the truth.
They don't wanna hear the truth.
Of course, this is where you get the picture
of the reprobate.
They have the truth of God and they turn it into a lie.
They don't want the truth.
And so we have pitted against each other.
Those that are the doers of truth come to the light.
But what's the opposite?
Well, what does the Bible say?
In verse 20,
for everyone that doeth evil,
hateeth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproof.
He doesn't wanna know the truth about what he's like.
He just doesn't wanna know that he's a sinner.
And I'll be honest with you.
Most people, when you pin them down
that don't believe the gospel,
they'll eventually tell you this.
They'll say, I just don't believe
I would have to go to hell for my sins.
I mean, I don't care if it's Mormon.
I don't care if it's some liberal Christian.
I don't care if it's a Catholic.
I don't care if it's a Muslim.
I talk to these people and I pin them down
and I'm asking them the questions.
And eventually they just come out and flat out say,
well, I just don't, I don't believe in a God
that would sin this little kid in Africa to hell
even though he didn't really know any better.
Or I just don't think that I would deserve hell.
Or I just don't think somebody that tried to do their best
would deserve hell.
And so that's why all of these false religions
have created a lower heaven for them to go to.
All the Mormons and everybody else,
they have their little mini-heaven
that everybody gets to go to that just,
well, they tried their best and they did their best
and they were a good person.
Sorry, there is no such thing as a good person.
Including you.
But you don't want to find out how bad you are.
You don't want to find out that you're a sinner.
And so as a result, they don't seek the truth
of the gospel and they don't get saved.
And what's crazy, this is what's so funny about it,
is like many false religions
seek you after repent of your sins to be saved
and yet they don't even get saved.
And then people that, like us,
we don't even believe you have to repent of your sins.
We get saved and then we repent of our sins.
I mean, I could show you church after church after church
that believes in repent of your sins
and they're filled with adultery.
They're filled with drunkards.
They're filled with every sin in the book.
They don't really care about the things of God
and then they believe they have to repent of your sins.
Then you come to a church like ours,
it's like we don't have to do squat.
And then people are changing their whole life,
having as many kids as God to bless them,
going soul-winning for hours and hours a week,
going on missions trips, spending all their money
to serve God, trying to help people.
It's just like, why are you repenting of all those sins
if you don't have to go to heaven?
Because I'm a doer of truth.
Because salvation was free and I'm doing it
because I love Jesus.
You're trying to earn your way to heaven
because you don't want anybody to realize
what you're really like
and you think you're better than other people.
And you know what?
They hate the light, they don't want to come to the light,
lest they should be called out
for being the wicked sinner that they are.
And of course they don't want to give up their drinking,
they don't want to give up their fornication,
they don't want to give up their adultery,
they don't want to give up their pride.
And ultimately pride will take you to hell
and so they speak lies.
They don't want to hear the truth about what they're like.
They want lies to be told to them about what they're like.
So those who are saved, they do truth
and they come to the light.
Look at chapter four, verse 24.
God is a spirit and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit.
Notice this, and in truth.
So let's think about the first part.
How do you worship God in spirit?
It's called being saved
because if you're not saved,
you can't worship him in spirit.
You can only worship him in flesh.
And you know what?
God doesn't accept such worship.
You must be saved and then you must do it
according to what the book says
which is truth.
And so there's the group that loves God
and loves truth and they're the ones that worship him
and then there's ones that don't do what this is saying
and they don't worship him in spirit and truth.
That's why when you go to the Catholic church,
nothing that they're doing is according to this book.
Like it's like literally almost nothing,
virtually nothing because they don't care
about what the truth is.
They're not worshiping him in spirit and in truth.
They're not saved and they're not using
the truth whatsoever.
And so virtually everything they're doing
is just false doctrine.
Look at John 8 and look at verse 32.
John 8 verse 32.
We need to be people who love the truth
and we want the truth.
You can't handle the truth.
Yes, you can.
You come to Steadbaz Baptist Church, all right?
John 8 verse 32 and you shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free.
Notice that truth gives you liberty.
Truth gives you freedom.
Lies is oppressive.
People want to act like a church like ours is oppressive.
No, lies is oppressive.
The truth makes you free.
And truly people have as much freedom
as you can possibly have coming here.
I mean you can come and go whenever you want
and do whatever you want, whatever.
Obviously we exercise church discipline and I get that,
but at the end of the day,
I mean you can't really have it much more free.
It's just like it's kind of like
calling the Garden of Eden oppressive
because of all the trees of the Garden
that we freely eat except for this one.
And you're just like, wow, it's so oppressive.
But the problem is that you know what the oppression is?
Eating of that one tree
and then now being kicked out of the garden.
That's the real oppression.
And so it's like living for God and going to a church
and just not eating of the forbidden tree
is actually freedom.
Whereas being kicked out of the garden
and now having to toil
and the way of transgressors is hard,
that is actually the real oppression.
All the sins.
And look, I mean think about the sins that kick you out.
Being a constant drunkard, you think that's freedom?
Alcoholics Anonymous will tell you very clearly
it is not freedom to be addicted to alcohol.
Alcohol will destroy your life
and you become a slave to the bottle.
Fornication is a slave master
and it will drive you to constant dissatisfaction.
People that are living in lives of fornication
are never satisfied.
I mean think about men that go into this in the Bible even.
Samson's not satisfied.
Samson is constantly being driven
to just go after another harlot and another harlot
and he turns to very evil women who betray him
and turn him over to his enemies
and then he's put literally in prison
and his eyes are poked out.
That is not freedom.
He is not free.
He is a literal captive of the sin
that he thought was so free.
Oh, being married to one woman is just so oppressive.
No, sleeping around is oppressive.
Getting all kinds of disease is oppressive.
All the baggage that comes,
the emotional baggage that comes
from multiple relationships is bondage.
Being in an adulterous relationship is bondage.
Having bastard children is bondage.
Having all of these skeletons,
I mean being Jerry Jones
and having these skeletons in the closet
and constantly having to pay for your baby mamas
and all this weird skeleton women in your closet.
Sorry, you're a little perfect Jerry Jones or whatever.
He doesn't know how to pick them in the bedroom
or on the team, okay?
The guy's a failure, all right?
But let me tell you something.
It is not a liberty lifestyle to just sleep around
and just be a whoremonger.
And if it was so freeing and so fun,
why do they seem so miserable?
And why is it, I mean, think about it.
If it's just so fun and you're having so much fun,
why wouldn't you want to stay with that person
you're having so much fun with?
Why is it like I never want to see you again?
It's like the Amnon and Tamar situation.
That's why you don't commit fornication.
There are so many people
that want to have so much fun with you for one night
and then make sure to never see
or talk to you ever again.
How is that compatible?
How does it make sense that you just had
the greatest night of your life with some person
and now you never want to see them ever again?
Let me tell you the truth about it.
You didn't have the most fun you ever had in your life
and that person's a miserable person to be around
and it's all lies and both parties
are extremely selfish jerks.
That's why the relationship didn't work
is they're both extremely selfish.
Look, fornication is selfish.
You should stay away from this.
Getting married, freedom.
They have statistics on this all the time.
Married men have more like in quantity and quality
in this area than men that are going out
and committing fornication.
Oh, it's so free.
It's so liberating.
It doesn't exist, okay?
And you think that Andrew Tates of this world
and these weirdos, they're just having so much fun.
I mean, Andrew Tate, doesn't he been rested recently?
Is he still a rest?
I don't even know what's going on with this guy.
Seems like a faggot too.
You know, so liberating, you know.
Everything's on the table for him.
Animals probably too.
You know, you got Sneeko into Islam or whatever.
I mean, you know, and even these Islamists
that have four wives, look,
any guy that was honest with himself
would realize four wives is not liberating.
Okay?
Like, wow, okay, that's crazy
to think that that's gonna be so much more fun.
It's like, hey, it's silly, it's weird.
Look, I love my one wife and that's all I want.
Just want her and that's it, okay?
And I'm not Mormon, we're not gonna be eternally married
either, okay?
No, we'll be friends, I'm sure, I hope, you know.
She said that I can visit her
in upper heaven occasionally, all right, so.
But at the end of the day, it's just like,
people think that sin is so much fun.
Oh, being addicted to drugs, it's so much fun.
That's why everybody I've ever met addicted
to drugs just seems like a fun person to hang out with.
No, someone that's drunk is not fun to hang out with.
It's the most annoying, dangerous, obnoxious people.
Their breath smells like death.
I don't wanna be around this individual.
What about extortioners?
They're fun to hang out with, right?
I mean, you sit here and think like,
oh man, you guys exercise, church discipline.
That would be like saying that it's not
a fun house to live in because you guys
throw the trash away.
Like, oh, this house is so restrictive
because you all throw trash away.
It's like, no, that's what makes the house nice to live in.
Like, I love my house.
It's so much fun.
There's so much freedom in here
because there's not litter everywhere.
There's not trash everywhere.
It's clean.
You know, having litter and trash everywhere
is not free, it's not fun, it's not liberty.
You know, getting the trash out is very nice.
It's very fun.
And it's like, it's nice to go to a church
where you're not sitting around a bunch of trash.
You know, there's a lot of people
that are going to church today
where they have to sit near trash at church.
They have to worship God with trash.
There's even trash sections of the church.
Like, here's the child molesting reprobate section
where we just let those people sit.
Here's the repent of your sins section.
Here's the Pentecostal section.
Seriously.
I mean, I've been in Baptist churches
where people are coming down the aisle speaking in tongues
at the fundamental Baptist or something like,
what's going on?
Nobody even knows what's going on.
Okay.
That's not liberty.
That's not freedom.
Here's the fornicating couple.
You can go to their house party
after the church service.
It's just like, and of course,
you know, this makes me so mad.
It's like, I'm going to a fundamental Baptist church
where we literally have a couple fornicating
in the church, open fornication.
And I think the guy's divorced.
So he's like divorced or something.
They're living together, not married,
inviting everybody in the church
to come to their house to hang out with them.
Fast forward, they get married.
Fast forward just a little bit more, they're divorced.
Am I like shocked or something?
It's like in the same Sunday school class,
then you have couples that were like wife swapped
or something.
It's like this lady used to be married to this guy
and then like her wife was married to some other dude.
And then you start thinking like,
you know, this family dynamic is weird.
Church starts turning weird all of a sudden.
Like you kind of thought it was like normal people
and then you start realizing like this
is really creepy and weird and like,
I don't know what's going on.
I like church discipline.
And again, I'm not saying you're divorced,
you get kicked out, someone probably misunderstand.
I have people literally ask me like,
can divorced people come to church?
Yes, you can.
But at the end of the day,
hey, obviously we're not promoting wicked sin.
We are going to preach what the Bible says,
but we also have freedom.
A divorced purpose can show up
if they want to allow me to rip on their sin.
We have that freedom, but here's the thing,
you don't want to come and hear
that is someone that loves truth.
It's not about whether you're divorced or not,
it's whether or not you love the truth.
It's not about if you've committed fornication or not,
it's you'd love truth.
It's not about if you've done something bad in your past,
it's do you love truth now?
And you know what, we love people that love truth.
I would way rather be around a bunch of divorced people
that committed fornication that love truth
than a bunch of people that have never been divorced
and have never committed fornication,
but they don't want to hear the truth.
Because at the end of the day,
it's about the people that love truth versus the liars.
And the Bible is emphasizing those that love truth.
Look at John chapter 14, that's why Jesus himself,
he didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.
And hey, we could have both.
I mean, I also like people that have never committed
fornication or divorce and also love the truth.
I love those people too.
But I'm just telling you,
it's more about the truth than anything
and be lovers of the truth.
John 14, look at verse six.
Jesus sayeth on him, I am the way, the truth and the life.
No man comes other than the Father, but by me.
So the truth is Jesus Christ.
Look at John 16 verse 13.
How be it when he, the spirit of truth is come,
he will guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak
and he will show you things to come.
Look at chapter 17 verse 17.
Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.
So the Bible says Jesus is the truth.
The Bible says the spirit of God is the spirit of truth.
The Bible says the word of God is the word of truth.
How can you then not like the truth and like Jesus
or the spirit or the word, anything about God?
God is the truth.
He's the true God and eternal life.
It's all about the truth.
Gov'y-wood to Acts 26, we've got a few more here
and we're gonna then go through the opposite side
of the equation.
But hey, what I like about God's people
is they love the truth.
It's not about being perfect.
It's not about their background or their history
or what sins or sins they didn't commit.
You know what it is?
It's people who love the truth versus the people who don't.
Acts 26, look at verse 25.
This is the apostle Paul.
He said, but he said, I am not mad,
most noble, fastest, but speak forth the words of truth
and soberness.
Hey, the world will think we're crazy,
but you know what, we're not crazy.
We're speaking the words of truth and we're serious.
Just for sake of time, go to Galatians.
I'm just gonna read some verses for you.
1 Corinthians 13, verse six talks about charity.
Rejoice if not in iniquity, but rejoice if in the truth.
So true charity only cares about what is true.
You know what, that's the problem
with most charities today
is they're not true.
They're not being honest about where the money is going.
They're not honest about their intentions
and they're giving money to the wrong people.
That's why a lot of charities are bad.
I don't even feel bad.
I go to the grocery store all the time.
Hey, you wanna give money to this charity?
No.
I'll be honest with you.
I don't even tip unless it's a waiter.
You know, it's like every restaurant now
has that system, but it's also just like the gas station.
It's like, no.
Would you like to buy a lot of ticket?
No.
And I'm also not gonna tip at the gas station.
Okay, it's just like, but they just put it in the system
and I'm not gonna fall for your little trap.
It's like, you're gonna tip $2 to the, no.
Like if all you did was punch in the number
for my order, I'm not gonna give you a tip for that.
Like at some point, aren't you getting paid
for just pressing the button one time?
Like I have to now tip you because you pressed the button?
You didn't even press it right most of the time.
And then I have to tip you?
It's just like crazy.
Now again, waiters, I will tip and I tip very generously
because waiters get paid $2.13 an hour.
Still, like even through all the inflation,
they still get paid $2.13 an hour.
Now again, they don't really get that.
It's their tips that they get their money on.
So of course, hey, I will tip
and I like tipping culture
because I visited other countries that don't have tipping.
And let me tell you something, the service sucks.
The service is awful.
You go to abroad, you go to other places
and it's like atrocious type of service.
And so of course, hey, there's a reason
why tipping actually helps
because they actually want to do a good job.
Now again, I'm not saying that you have to give
your life savings to someone that's a bad server,
but I pretty much always tip like 15% minimum.
If you did a bad job, I pretty much tip to 15%.
If you did a good job, it's like 20 or 25.
If you're a restaurant, gas station person,
I'm offended you even asked for a tip, okay?
I'm like, what is this?
I'm mad that you even asked for the tip, okay?
That's not something I'm gonna give.
And with these charities, I'm mad that they even asked me
because I guarantee if I looked into these little charities
that they're begging money from,
it's all going to rich elites
or it's money to use to bribe officials.
I mean, they've seen so many of these African charities
where they're using the money to bribe
the government officials of those countries
and then the people are seeing none of the money.
It's like if you really care,
if you really wanna help people,
give money to your church
or people in your church that you know
that could use the money, okay?
I'm not gonna sit here.
Like there's more people to help
than you could ever want to help or could help.
So don't feel bad, like hey,
I didn't give to this random African charity
that was gonna go to some prince over there.
You might as well just go ahead
and accept this $10,000 check in the email too
if you're gonna fall for these charity scams or whatever.
Charity doesn't rejoice in iniquity,
it rejoices in the truth.
True charity is not like, oh man,
I just feel so bad for the Ronald McDonald house
or whatever, you know,
a lot of these charities are fakes and scams
and I'm not gonna give a dime to them.
Second Corinthians four, I'm just reading for you,
but it says, we have renounced the hidden things
of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness
nor handling the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth
commending ourselves to every man's conscience
in the sight of God.
Galatians 4, 16, I had you turn there.
Am I therefore become your enemy
because I tell you the truth?
Hey, even if I told you something really harsh,
here's the question you should ask yourself, is it true?
You have to read the first John three,
first Timothy two, four,
who have all men to be saved
and to come under the knowledge of the truth.
Second Timothy two, 15,
study to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
So what is the big admonition for preachers?
Hey, make sure what you said was true
and you correctly understood the Bible
because obviously why is it dividing the word of truth?
Because at the end of the day,
no one can preach Genesis to Revelation every sermon.
Don't test me, okay?
You can't preach all of it,
so you're only getting a portion, right?
Every sermon is just a portion of the Bible,
but we wanna make sure
that when we're giving a portion that it was right,
that it was correct, that it was balanced,
that it's not contradictory to other things in the Bible
because there's many people that take one verse
and run with it and teach all kinds of heresy
because they didn't balance it,
they didn't get the context right,
they don't understand it,
they're not filled with the Spirit of God
and they just wanna teach their agenda.
If you really can, if you want to,
teach anything you want
by twisting a few Bible verses,
taking them out of context.
And funny, I've even seen people preach stuff
and I'm thinking like,
I don't even know how you twist the Bible
and then they really don't.
They just say something in the Bible
and then just say something completely opposite
of what they even just said.
Like you're just like,
you just did the exercise of saying something out loud
in the Bible even though you didn't say anything
about what the Bible verse said, okay?
That's a real scary sermon.
It's disturbia, it's disturbing.
First John chapter three verse 19,
and hereby we know that we are of the truth
and shall assure our hearts before him.
Hey, we wanna make sure that we are of the truth.
Look at chapter four verse six.
We are of God, he that knoweth God here with us,
he that is not of God here with not us,
hereby know we the spirit of truth
and the spirit of error.
There's the spirit of truth versus the spirit of error.
Second John one verse four,
I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children
walking in truth as we received a commandment
from the Father.
Third John one four,
I have no greater joy than to hear
that my children walk in truth.
Look at verse 12,
Demetrius have good report of all men
and of the truth itself.
Yay, we also bear record and know,
you know that our record is true.
You know, it's funny because the guy in the Bible,
he says the most important thing to him
about his children is just that they're walking in truth.
That's it.
It doesn't really matter, even if your kids screw up,
even if your kids don't make money or make money
or don't do this or marry that person
or don't marry that person, do whatever.
It's just like the thing that matters to him
is just that his kids walk in truth.
And I think for all of us parents,
the thing that we care about the most is our kids get saved
and that they just actually love the truth
and they love Jesus.
That's what we want.
We just want kids to love Jesus
and be walking in the truth
and we have no greater joy.
We could not be happier than anything.
It's not, oh, well they won, you know, some trophy.
They got a big job, they got a big promotion.
They had, they have this, you know, award.
I don't care about that.
I want them to just love Jesus.
Oh, well they won the Super Bowl,
but they are not saved.
I don't care.
Hey, they're just a plumber just living an honest living
and they, but they love Jesus.
I'd be so happy.
Just be so happy that my kids love Jesus
and they love the truth because it's about the truth.
Let's go back to Psalms for a moment
and we'll do a quick run through the opposite side.
So who's the good guys?
The people that just love truth.
Well, but they're sinners.
Yeah, we all are sinners.
The good thing we've been washed
by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Hey, good thing we've been sanctified
and cleansed with the truth.
And you know, at the end of the day,
it's about loving truth.
That's what matters.
Look at Psalm 31, verse six.
I have hated them that regard lying vanities,
but I trust in the Lord.
Notice who the Psalmist hates.
He hates people that regard lying vanities,
lies of meaningless worth.
They're vain.
They're not, they're not gonna help.
Just I hate that.
I hate them that regard lying.
I mean, of all the people that hate,
I just hate liars, you know?
I just hate the people that regard lies
and they like lies.
That's who the Psalmist hates.
Psalm 31, verse 18.
Let the lying lips be put to silence,
which speak grievous things proudly
and contemptuously against the righteous.
Notice who's often lying is the wicked
and who are they lying about?
The righteous.
It's just like you got good people
that regard their love truth and then you got the liars.
And you know what they love to do?
They love to lie about the righteous.
They love to lie against the righteous.
They speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously
against the righteous.
Psalm 35, look at verse 11.
False witnesses did rise up.
They laid to my charge things that I knew not.
They just make wild accusations.
Things up that you've never even heard about
that you've never even dreamed about.
Psalm 52, go to Psalm 52 and look at verse three.
And look, you read through the Psalms.
It is just the guy that loves the truth
versus the guy that's lying about him.
It's just the guy, I love the truth
and everybody lies about me
and everybody's speaking contemptuous things about me.
They're making things up that I never heard
that I never knew.
And they're just so prideful
and they just lie and lie and lie and lie.
It's just a frustrating experience.
Psalm 52, verse three.
Thou lovest evil more than good and lying
rather than to speak righteousness.
There are people in this world,
they only lie because they can't stand the truth itself.
I'm just warning you.
There are people in this world
that it is almost like a game to them
to lie every time their mouth opens.
They almost cannot say the truth.
I've been around people like this.
They lied about the most meaningless facts you could think.
It's like they just would lie
about the color of shirt they're wearing
just because telling the truth
was just so offensive to them.
And why this is important is because
some people think they can redeem
these individuals or something.
Like they think like, oh well,
I know they've lied to me 50 times in a row
but the 51st statement I now magically believe.
And it's just like, no, like,
hey, when you catch somebody that's a compulsive liar
that's a psychological reprobate or something,
it's like this guy's just not gonna tell the truth.
They hate the good
and they'd rather lie than speak righteousness.
Psalm 59, verse 12.
For the sin of their mouth
and the words of their lips,
let them even be taken in their pride
and for cursing and lying which they speak.
So the Psalmist is complaining to God
about all these wicked evil people
and what is it that they do?
They lie when they speak.
Psalm 101, go to Psalm 101.
Get the attitude of David.
How does he feel about these people?
Psalm 101, verse seven.
He that worketh the seat shall not dwell within my house.
He that telleth lies shall not tarry my sight.
There's a lot of sins in the Bible.
We're all sinners.
But notice, David does not wanna be around liars.
He just hates liars and people that are working the seat.
He will not tolerate it.
He doesn't wanna be around them.
And you know what, teenagers?
It's not cool to lie.
Hey kids, it's not cool to lie to your parents.
Stop being a liar.
We don't wanna be able to tell the truth.
And look, my kids mess up, my kids screw up,
my kids cause problems and I discipline them
and I love them still, of course, obviously.
But the thing that bothers me as a parent
is just when they lie to me about it.
Please just don't lie to your parents.
When you do something wrong, just tell them what happened
because we always know you're lying.
Like it's so easy to catch you lying, okay?
And even if we can't prove it sometimes,
just because we don't have enough evidence or whatever,
it doesn't mean that we don't realize
you're not lying to us.
And it's just so offensive when you lie to us.
It's just like, just don't lie to your parents.
Just be honest.
And look, your parents love you
and they care about you.
Don't lie to them.
Don't lie to people, be honest.
Be a person of integrity.
Don't lie to your pastor.
Don't worry, I can handle it, okay?
But you know what?
I get more offended at you lying to me
than whatever you did.
Because we all have sin.
Psalm 109, look at verse two.
For the mouth of the wicked
and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me,
they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
Notice again, the guy that's against you is what?
A liar.
Psalm 119, look at verse 128.
Psalm 119, verse 128.
Therefore I esteem all thy precepts
concerning all things to be right.
And I hate every false way.
163, I hate and abhor lying.
But thy law do I love.
I know this Psalmist really doesn't like lying, does he?
Psalm 120, look at verse two.
Psalm 120, verse two.
Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips
and from a deceitful tongue.
Again, I'm just giving you a very small sampling
if you can believe that.
I mean, the Bible is just hammering this.
You read through the Bible,
you're gonna see this constant theme
of just the guy that loves the truth
versus the liars and the lying lips.
Let's go through a few proverbs
and then I'll kind of finish
with a few more New Testament things.
But look at Proverbs 13, verse five.
A righteous man, Proverbs 13, verse five.
A righteous man, hate it lying.
But a wicked man is loathsome and come at the shame.
Yet righteous people should just hate lying, hate lies.
Be offended by lies.
Not justifying or excusing lies, but hating it.
Proverbs 17, verse four.
17, verse four.
Notice this, a wicked doer,
giveth he to false lips
and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.
Notice not only do people lie personally,
but for some reason they accept other people's lies too
and they like lies themselves.
And you know, that should be a character problem.
When someone just likes lies and listens to liars
and is around liars all the time,
the Bible calls them a wicked doer,
meaning they do wicked things.
I mean, a wicked doer is not a random statement.
It's saying they do wicked things.
So when someone's lying to you, that's why it's scary.
It's scary when people lie
because it's like, what are you really doing, you know?
So we should be doers of truth
and we should tell the truth if you honest.
Proverbs 17, verse seven.
Excellent speech, becomeeth not a fool.
Much less do lying lips of Prince,
meaning you're not gonna elevate yourself in this world
by being a liar.
And I think that some people don't understand this.
It's like, they'll lie and they'll trash people
and they'll do all this stuff
and they think that they're gonna get ahead in life
and they don't realize it's a destructive habit
because like it doesn't matter who you are.
If you're a bank robber, if you're a professional bank robber
and you have a team and you have a crew,
they will not tolerate you lying to them.
Okay, if you're working in India
for a professional scamming crew,
like all you do is scam Americans all day long,
you can't lie to your little scam buddies though
because everybody hates lying.
Lying is something that's not allowed.
It's not tolerated.
It's a destructive attitude.
And if you're lying to those that are close to you,
if you're lying to those in your relationships,
you will find yourself to be a homeless beggar
with no relationships anymore.
And look, I've worked in the homeless shelters
and let me tell you something about homeless people
is they're the worst liars.
They run up to you on the street
and they tell you this monologue and none of it's true.
It's this rehearsed speech of just,
hey, I was trying to crowd across the country
and I was gonna see my brother,
my brother's sick with cancer
and he's terminally ill and I just love him
and I just don't wanna see him dying.
And unfortunately, my tire just exploded
and I had another tire explode
and I got mud on my shirt and I just need 20 bucks
and you just give me $20 so that I can see my brother
so he doesn't die from cancer.
It's like, bro, you don't even have a brother.
He's like, yeah, but give me $20.
It's just like, these homeless people are liars
and nothing is their fault either.
Everything is, everybody else's fault.
Bad upbringing, bad parents, bad relationships,
bad everything, just bad luck.
They've never done anything wrong a day in their life.
They're completely innocent.
Everyone in prison is innocent.
It's just, this is the lifestyle of these people
because they're liars and you should beware of the liars.
Hey, you're not gonna elevate yourself in lifeline.
Don't lie to your boss.
Don't lie to your husband.
Don't lie to your parents.
Don't lie to your pastor.
Don't lie to the government.
Just don't lie.
Be someone that tells the truth.
Be upfront and be honest.
Proverbs 19 verse five,
a false witness shall not be unpunished.
And he that speaketh lies shall not escape.
You will get caught lying.
Don't be a liar.
What does the Bible say?
You're not gonna go unpunished.
You're not gonna escape.
And if you didn't get the message, how about verse nine?
A false witness shall not be unpunished.
And he that speaketh lies shall perish.
I don't know, I just think it's okay to lie.
It's not cool to lie.
Stop lying, quit lying, quit being deceitful.
It's a scummy thing to do.
It's not a Christian attitude.
Proverbs 25, look at verse 18.
Proverbs 25 verse 18,
a man that beareth false witness against his neighbor
is a maul and a sword and a sharp arrow.
That's why I don't like mauls, okay?
I'm just kidding, this is a joke.
It's just saying, hey, this guy's a danger.
Being around liars is a dangerous thing.
You need to be far away from liars.
They're dangerous and they're gonna harm you.
Proverbs 26 verse 28, a lying tongue,
hadith, those that are afflicted by it
and a flattering mouth work are thrown in.
When you lie to people it shows contempt
and hatred for the person.
Go to Romans one for a moment, go to Romans one.
John 8, 44, Jesus said,
you have your father the devil
and the lusts of your father you will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning
and abode not in the truth
because there is no truth in him.
When he speak of the lie, he speak of it of his own
for he is a liar and the father of it.
So when Jesus talks about Satan,
he says, hey, he's a liar and the father of lies
and you're just like your dad,
you Jews are just like your father, the devil,
because you don't have any truth in you
and you love lies.
And so we see the devil and his people are liars
and God's people are people of truth.
It's the lovers of truth versus the liars.
And so when you catch people being a liar,
you should realize they're on the wrong team.
Hey, we all sin, we all fall short,
we all make mistakes,
but you know what, we don't have to all be liars
all the time and people that love lies.
Romans one, verse 25,
who changed the truth of God into a lie
and worshiped and served the creature
more than the creator who's blessed Rev. Roman.
What are the reprobates like?
They changed the truth into a lie.
That's why God punishes them.
Romans two, eight,
but in them that are contentious
and do not obey the truth,
but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.
So you got the reprobates love lies,
you got the Jews they love lies,
go if you would to first Timothy six,
and second, Thessalonians two,
talking about the people that are gonna be destroyed
in the end times.
It says, and with all deceitfulness of unrighteousness
and them that perish,
because they received not the love of the truth
that they might be saved.
Why are people damned and going to hell?
Because they received not the love of the truth.
They didn't love the truth enough
to find out the gospel and get saved.
They just didn't love truth.
That's why we need to be lovers of truth.
Second, Thessalonians two, 12,
it says that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
They love lies, they love evil, they love scheming,
and because they didn't believe the truth,
they're gonna die and go to hell.
First, Timothy six, verse five,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds
and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness
from such withdrawal thyself.
So again, they point to something in the outward
to point to how they're godly,
but notice according to the Bible,
they're destitute of the truth.
So they have no truth.
This is your Catholics, this is your Orthodox,
this is your false prophets.
This is even your holier than thou, Baptist.
They on the outward show you all the gain,
all the whatever pomp they have
to make it seem like they're godly.
But you know what?
They're destitute of the truth
because it's not about the outward,
it's about the inward
and it's about loving the truth.
Second Timothy three,
you just have to flip just a little bit more.
Second Timothy chapter three, look at verse seven,
ever learning and never able to come
to the knowledge of the truth.
The reprobates are people that can never come to the truth.
Chapter four, verse four,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables.
Unfortunately, many Christians
have turned their ears away from truth.
Titus one, verse 14,
not giving heed to Jewish fables
and commandments of men that turn from the truth.
Now, James five is kind of where I wanna land the plane.
Last verse I'm gonna look at,
but second Peter chapter two says,
but there were false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you
who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them
and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
Look, we're all sinners and on both sides,
but what's on one side is the truth tellers,
the lovers of truth.
On the other side is the false witness,
the false prophet, the false teacher,
the lying lips, the deceitful worker,
people that are spreading the opposite of the truth.
People that deny the truth, deny the Lord,
hate the truth, did not receive the love of the truth.
I mean, we see the same group,
they change the truth of God into a lie.
This is the one side versus the other.
And so we wanna be Christians who tell the truth.
And I just hope that if you're living a lie right now,
if you're not being honest with people,
you need to just start being honest.
Be honest with your wife, be honest with your husband,
be honest with your parents, be honest with yourself,
be honest with your church, be honest with everybody.
Because being a liar is a destructive habit,
it's a destructive attitude.
And what I've noticed is that on one side
you got the truth tellers,
on the other side you got the liars.
And look, don't be shocked when the people
that don't like us lie about you.
And lie about us and lie about the Bible.
Because that's the other group,
the other group's just a bunch of liars.
They don't tell the truth,
they're not gonna tell the truth,
they're not interested in the truth.
That's why they're not on our team.
James 5, look at verse 19,
brethren, if any of you do err from the truth
and one convert him, let him know
that he which converted the sinner from the air
of his way shall save his soul from death
and shall hide him multitude of sins.
So we could notice there could be a brother in Christ
that ends up switching teams.
He gets on the wrong side.
And what does the Bible say?
That we convert him,
that we convert him from what?
From the, he's airing from the truth
or converting him back to the truth team.
And so notice again, it's like,
how could you look at this?
It's not both sides are true, both sides are true.
One side's the liars, the other side's the truth.
But sometimes you get someone that gets squirrely
and they just, they kinda go on the wrong side.
They go on the liar side.
And it's like, bro, you're on the wrong side.
Come back to the truth.
Come back to what's true.
And you know, why is this important?
Because we live in a world that's messed up.
Life situations and life circumstances are screwed up.
Things don't even make sense.
They're confusing, it's weird.
But you know what?
At the end of the day,
we should just wanna know what's true.
I mean, you read the epistles to the churches,
they're screwed up, man.
They got some screwed up stuff.
I mean, a guy sleeping with his father's wife, that's weird.
You know, that's pretty screwed up.
But it's true.
Jezebel preaching lies and teaching other people,
seducing other people to commit fornication with her
and being in this bed of adultery.
That's pretty screwed up, but it's true.
Hey, the Galatian church is often heresy
and some of them aren't even saved, but it's true.
First Corinthians, you got people
that aren't even believing the resurrection
and they're not saved, but it's true.
I mean, all kinds of just issues and problems in the Bible,
but we gotta know what's true.
And you know, at the end of the day,
this world, there's a lot of stuff that I look at
and I say that's weird, it's confusing, it's ugly,
it doesn't make sense.
But at the end of the day, I just wanna know what's true.
And you know what I wanna side with?
Not the victims, the truth.
I don't even know who the victims are, okay?
You know what I wanna side with?
Whoever's telling the truth.
And whoever likes the truth
and whoever wants to hear the truth.
And you know who's not telling the truth?
Faggots.
I don't know why that's confusing, okay?
But it's like, hey, you got people over here
promoting literal sodomites, promoting sodomy,
promoting alcohol, promoting drunkenness,
promoting false gospels, promoting false teachers,
promoting false religions.
It's like, hey, you know what?
That's the wrong team.
I don't even know why you're over there.
I don't even care why you're over there.
It's just wrong, okay?
And I wanna bring you over here.
You know, I saw this stupid idea,
someone was out there was like, you know,
I used to be harsh about people
that were like preaching and saying lies,
but I just didn't understand.
Everybody comes from a different backgrounds
and different life circumstances
and we shouldn't be judging them harshly
because we would all be like that.
What?
It's like, no?
You know, I've never been like,
hey, it's okay to be Catholic because of your upbringing.
What?
It's okay to be, I would be, you know,
being Orthodox, no problem
because you didn't really have a choice.
No, no, you're supposed to just love the truth
no matter what your circumstances are.
I mean, oh, well, you know,
but what if you're in a bad situation?
What if you grew up in a bad household?
Okay, it's okay to hate God
because you know what, you had a bad example as parents.
Well, okay, what about Daniel?
What about Shadrach, Meshach, and Medigo?
What about being literally taken into physical captivity
and then castrated from the master of the eunuchs?
Do they now have, well, I can see why you hate God
because you were driven into captivity and castrated?
Or is it like, hey, you're still supposed to love God?
You're still supposed to love the truth.
And let me give you some scary statistics.
You know, they report out there
that 20% of girls are molested in this country.
But you know what, it's not okay
for them to hate God because of that.
There are a lot of people that have messed up life,
messed up situations, bad parents, bad relationships,
people die that you care about, people abandon you,
horrific things, but you know what?
It's not okay ever blaming God for it
and ever being mad at God and turning against God
and hating the truth.
You should love the truth no matter what.
And you know, if we were gonna all play the victim game,
we could probably all play it.
I bet we could all find out some injustice
that happened to us.
Someone cut you in line at one point.
You were made fun of in school one time.
Someone gave you a wedgie, you know?
Yeah, my brother and sister,
they gave me a wedgie worse than you can imagine, all right?
They grabbed my underwear and drugged me through the carpet
and I had carpet burns all over my legs
and then hung me on the wall by my underwear, all right?
But you know what, I'm not a victim.
Yeah, my brother put me in the dryer, okay?
He didn't turn it on, all right?
So, you know, there's that.
Yeah, he held me down and hawked a luke in my mouth,
all right?
I'm not giving you ideas, okay?
I could sit here and come up with all kinds of stuff.
I could sit here and tell you all kinds of,
oh, I've had this, but you know what?
I don't live in Africa.
I haven't had some of the hardships
that people have in third world countries.
I didn't have like, I'm not Cynthia Parker,
where my whole family was murdered by Native Americans
and I was taken in captivity by Native Americans.
I mean, that's a pretty rough upbringing,
wouldn't you say?
But is it okay?
Well, Cynthia Parker, if she has a right
to hate the God of the Bible,
because Native Americans killed her entire family
and took her into slavery.
Nope, Cynthia Parker better hate faggots
and Cynthia Parker better love the God of the Bible
and she better be a doer of truth.
And I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like it's okay
to hate the God of the Bible or I kind of get it
because bad people did bad things.
That's a bad attitude and we shouldn't excuse it.
And you know what, praise God, there's many people
that if they actually told us their life story,
we'd all be a little horrified.
But they still love God anyways
because you know what, God is good
and God loves you no matter what.
And we should be people who love the truth
even though it's messy.
Well, why did God allow this bad thing to happen to me?
I don't, you know, God, let's free will happen, man.
And there are some really, really messed up stuff
that happens in this world.
You know what, it's not an excuse for you to be evil.
It's not an excuse for you to tolerate evil
or accept evil or excuse evil
or pretend like it's cool or I get it.
No, no, no, we should love the truth period.
And you know what, on one side, lovers of truth.
On the other side, liars.
Liars and wicked evil people.
And you know what, never side with the liars,
never side with them, this group of permanent victims.
You should side with the people that love the truth.
And we should be lovers of truth.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for the word of God.
Thank you so much for the truth.
I pray that we'd be able to love the truth more,
not less, that we would read the Bible more
and we'd love that.
I pray that you'd help the children
in this room not to lie to their parents.
I pray that you'd help wives not to lie to their husbands,
for husbands not to lie to their families,
for husbands and men to not lie to their employers,
to not lie to the government, to not lie to this world.
I pray that the church would be a place where we don't lie,
we don't tell false witnesses things,
we wouldn't make up deceitful works.
I pray that we would just love the truth
and we'd love those who are telling the truth.
And I pray that you would just help
in this world of lies and deception
for us to be a bright and shining light of the truth.
We go out and preach the gospel
and we would hate every false way.
In Jesus' name we pray amen.