Don’t Sell Out
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - Truth is a rarity, but that’s only part of what makes it so valuable. Truth aligns with what is real; it reflects God’s character; it guides us through life. Once we possess TRUTH, no amount of rationalizing, mocking, or threatening should ever cause us to part with it. Living in truth is courageously acting for the common good, supporting communities of fairness, and choosing to be a steward of what is right and decent. Living in truth is also the means for advancing civilization, and acknowledges our diversity of views, appearances, and contributions to the whole as our sustaining strength. Speaking the truth makes things clear for everyone, builds stronger relationships, and most importantly establishes trust. Speaking the truth inspires others, overcomes fear, opens our hearts, and makes an impact on the world we live in.
However, we’re living in a day and time where the idea of absolute truth is nearly abolished and replaced with the concept of what is true for me right now is all that matters. There is the concept you can have your truth, and I will have mine, because that is the postmodern way of doing things. People today operate in lies and tell more lies to try to cover the other lies and the truth is being pushed further and further away.
Because the truth is of so little value in this tumultuous age, many of God’s people have become spiritually powerless holding onto opinions and the rudiments of men instead of unadulterated truth of the Word of God and convictions, and they are selling out because they have given the infallible, unchangeable Word of God little to no place in their lives or they use it as a tool to gain prosperity, prestige, and popularity.
This week I was appalled when I saw the news about how Paula White-Cain, Donald Trump’s favorite pastor and special government employee as the White House Spiritual Advisor, says “she will deliver seven supernatural blessings just in time for Passover season” and all you have to do is send her $1,000.
Immediately when I heard the news my mind was drawn to the scripture of Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding”. That means that truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding should be valued above all else yet we have people that will compromise their values, forfeit their integrity, and compromise their salvation for popularity, prosperity, prestige, and position selling out truth and manipulating scripture.
It is baffling especially this issue with Paula White-Cain selling out and basing her seven blessing on Exodus 23 when it begins with this warning in verses 1&2 “Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment”. Yet she has foregone all of that and says she will deliver seven blessings if you send her 1000 dollars.
I want to encourage you today “Don’t Sell Out”.
PRAYER
SCRIPTURE: - Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding”.
Proverbs 23:23 connects to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 13:44-46, where He compares the kingdom of heaven to a treasure worth giving up everything to obtain.
What is TRUTH? John 18:38 says, “Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all”. John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. John 8:31-32 “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”. John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”. Truth is the commodity we are urged to buy, therefore TRUTH is the Word of God as taught by Jesus Christ.
UNDERSTAND all truth is God’s truth, whether scientific, philosophical, historical, political, or theological. Therefore, we must treasure truth and realize that truth is indispensable. The Bible calls itself the Word of truth in 2 Timothy 2:15, The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth in John 16:13, Jesus our Lord and Savior, is the way, the truth and the life John 14:6 the church is the pillar and the ground of truth 1 Timothy 3:15 and we as the children of God give Him no greater joy than to know that his children walk in truth 3 John 1:4. God is the essence of truth Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good”; Psalm 33:4 “For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth”; Isaiah 65:16 “That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes”; Jeremiah 10:10; John 3:33, and He wants His people to reflect His truth in their lives Psalm 15:1–5 “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved”. Ephesians 4:25 “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another”.
The Lord delights in His children who buy the truth and do not sell it Proverbs 12:22. To His disciples, 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” John 8:31–32. Truth is truly indispensable.
We’re living in a day and time where the idea of absolute truth is nearly abolished and replaced with the concept of what is true for me right now is all that matters, you can have your truth, and I will have mine, because that is the postmodern way of doing things. Truth is absolute in mathematics; because 2+2=4 always, as well as in mechanics, medicine, faith and morals, truth is absolute, and we must not sell it but buy it at all costs.
When Solomon said in Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding” he was talking I believe about absolute truth for he said in Ecclesiastes 1:12-13 “I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith”.
It is imperative that every true Child of God, every true born-again Christian, every professing preacher, prophet, pastor should understand that the truth costs and we must not sell it. You must make Truth your own, value it, defend it, stand for it, and protect it at all costs.
Salvation is graciously and gloriously free by faith through Grace we are saved but the truth costs a great deal.
Sadly, in this post-modern society that we live in today so many people are not willing to buy the truth. They won’t pay what it costs to say: “This is the truth, and this is what I believe. This is my conviction, and I am going to stand for the truth regardless of what people may say”. They compromise their standards, values, ethics, and morales for temporary pleasure. The truth isn’t worth that much to them. Just look at the news and our political system and see how many people are compromising the truth, selling out for popularity, position, prestige, power, and so-called friendship with the world. Look at the apostate church and how they will manipulated the Truth of the Word of God for their own prosperity, deeds, and desires lying saying lock the doors of the church and no-one leave until we raise 40k dollars and say this is the Will of God. They are selling the truth out.
Let’s take a close look at this scripture: - “Buy the truth, and sell it not”. Solomon does not say: “Buy the truth and don’t sell it unless you can get a very good price for it”. He says: “Sell it not”. Sell it not at any price, but buy it, no matter what it costs and when it is yours, do not sell it for any price or under any consideration. “Purchase it upon any terms, spare no pains nor cost to get it.” (Poole) “Buy the truth; that is, be willing at all risks to hold to the truth. Buy it as the martyrs did when they gave their bodies to be burned for it. Buy it as many have done when they have gone to prison for it. (Spurgeon)
In the original Hebrew, the word translated as “buy” “Strong’s 7069 qanah” means “to get something, often through one’s efforts or as compensation to acquire at a cost”. The buying of truth involves effort and sacrifice. Although it will not cost you a monetary amount, it will cost you friends, relationships, status, and popularity. You will most likely be criticized, isolated, ostracized, talked about, turned against, and cast out. Because there is a cost for TRUTH and those of us who are wise and desire to bring God joy will do whatever it takes to gain truth, wisdom, and instruction, which are far better than gold and silver Proverbs 16:16.
Once you take hold of truth, we must never let it go.
The word rendered “sell” comes from a Hebrew verb meaning “to exchange or deliver something for money or its equivalent” “Strong’s 4376 makar”. Sell it not; we can’t sell it because it cost Christ too much. Sell it not; it has not disappointed you; it has satisfied you, and made you blessed. Sell it not; you want it. Sell it not, you will want it. The hour of death is coming on, and the day of judgment is close upon its heels. Sell it not; you cannot buy it’s like again; you can never find a better”. (Spurgeon)
Truth will hold its value, and the person who has it is truly rich. The apostle Paul warns that godless people have foolishly “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” Romans 1:18-25. Instead of buying the truth, they sell themselves out to the lie of a darkened, shameful, sin-filled life or for shameful association with false reports and putting their hands with the wicked.
Listen to Job 28:12-19: - “But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold”.
People will search hard and are willing to endure danger for the sake of the riches of this earth, for popularity, prestige, power, and positions but all of that is easy compared to the search for truth.
Truth, discernment, understanding, knowledge, insight and wisdom these are all priceless possessions that must be sought out and secured through determination, perseverance, commitment, and the desire to obtain more and more of God. Matthew 13:44 says, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field”. This exudes the importance and the pricelessness of truth. No matter the cost I am determined to buy truth.
So how do we buy truth: - It will cost you time. Time is precious, but it’s not as precious as truth, hurry is the death blow of prayer and Bible study and unfortunately many people won’t pay the simple price of time neglecting to buy truth. The Hebrew word for “instruction” literally means “self-discipline.” You can pray for wisdom, but you must have self-discipline and study for instruction and to many are not willing to spend the time. Understand we never get beyond the place where we need to study, learn and grow, we never get to the place where we should stop buying TRUTH as long as we are on this side of glory.
We must understand that truth is to our spiritual man as food is to our body. As we eat to obtain strength, endurance, health, vigor and vitality truth does the same for the spiritual man. It gives us the ability to endure hardness as a good soldier, it causes us to be able to stand and having done all to stand anyhow, it lets us know that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus and that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. John 8:32 says, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. Truth sets us free from prejudices, hatred, lies, party lines, political divides, traditional differences and all that is contrary to the Will and Word of God.
Sell It Not: - Jude 1:3 says, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”.
Titus 1:9 says, “Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers”.
There is an outright attack against the Word of God, Truth, and all that is Holy in the world today and we must stand for TRUTH, fight against those who deny the Bible, distort the truth, twist the Word of God to fit their own personal desires. They will say they have a new revelation and God spoke to them and told them when the Bible clearly states there is nothing new under the sun Ecclesiastes 1:9.
Revelation 3:18 says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see”. This is an admonition to acquire to yourselves the good of love and truth from the Lord through the Word, that they may obtain wisdom, instruction and truth. "to buy" signifies to acquire to oneself at a cost; "of Me," signifies of the Lord through the Word which involves studying the Word of God; "gold" signifies Truth, and "gold tried in the fire," this is absolute truth the Word of God; and "to be enriched" thereby, signifies wisdom and instruction and understanding”.
CLOSING: - Many people are selling out by compromise of their values, convictions, morales, and standards. Some are selling out by selectivity saying and convincing themselves that doesn’t apply to me or to this time. So often you hear the stupidity of people saying if Jesus was where today He would change this or say it differently – NOT SO – the truth is the truth. There are those that sell out because of self-interest, prosperity, popularity, prestige, power, position, etc.
Although there is a great cost to buying the truth there is an even greater cost to those that sell it.
Revelation 22:18-19 says, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book”.
Galatians 1:8-9 says, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed”.
I want to encourage you to Buy Truth and Sell it NOT. Hold on to God’s unchanging hand regardless of what the rest of the world does, Stand strong and be encourage for the truth is priceless.
Don’t Sell Out!
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
