To Tell The Truth
TEXT: John 8:30-32
INTRODUCTION:
1. To Tell The Truth?
2. Is it really always better to Tell the Truth?
3. In the 50’s there was a game show called to tell the truth. Everyone was lying but one person and the task of the contestants was to figure out who was telling the truth.
4. Lately it seems that every time we turn on the TV we have to play "Tell the Truth."
A. NBC Expose of the Chevy Pick up truck. Later they admitted that they had used pyrotechnic rockets wired to the frame to start the fire.
B. In the Summer of 1998 CNN aired a report that American troops in Cambodia had used Serin nerve gas on defectors. Later the story was retracted.
C. A recent President paid a fine for perjury.
D. Enron
E. Tycho
F. Xerox
G. World Com
5. I have been amazed as National politicians have looked directly into the camera and lied to us and then people polled about the incident said, Well what did you expect. They all lie.
6. Jesus Said you show know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Do you Believe that?
7. Paul said (Colossians 3:9 NKJV) Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
Discussion:
I. Truthfulness is a rare but valued trait in today’s society.
A. Once when Frederick II, an 18th-century king of Prussia, went on an inspection tour of a Berlin prison, he was greeted with the cries of prisoners , who fell on their knees and protested their unjust imprisonment. While listening to these pleas of innocence, Frederick’s eye was caught by a solitary figure in the corner, a prisoner seemingly unconcerned with all the commotion.
"Why are you here?" Frederick asked him.
"Armed robbery, Your Majesty."
"Were you guilty?" the king asked.
"Oh yes, indeed, Your Majesty. I entirely deserve my punishment."
At that Frederick summoned the jailer. "Release this guilty Man at once," he said. "I will not have him kept in this prison where he will corrupt all the fine innocent people who occupy it."
B. It would seem that modern America is finally recognizing the wisdom of the biblical admonitions concerning honesty.
C. Recently Zig Ziglar, America’s foremost motivational speaker came to the Detroit area. He was addressing an audience of approximately 1,000 business men and executives who had paid $35 each for the opportunity. He opened the lecture by 2
posing the following hypothetical situation: "Suppose you have been given the responsibility to hire a someone to fill a key position in corporate management. The position is so important that how well you do in selecting this new employee will affect the future of your career with the corporation.
D. He then opened the floor and asked his auditors to give him the requirements they would look for. He received thirty three suggested requirements. And...the first on the list was honesty.
E. America is rediscovering the value of honesty. A book called "Image at the Top" has come up with a radical solution to the problems facing American business:
F. Companies should start telling the truth.
G. The book recounts enough examples of the opposite to make plain why "public relations" has become a dirty word.
H. The message preached by Richard Ruch and Ronald Goodman is intended for the corporate chief executive officer (CEO). It is the old fashioned one that honesty is the best policy.
I. They write: "The CEO--and others at the top--must commit to a corporate policy of truth-telling."
J. They give examples of companies that have tried to deceive or stone wall the public, with disastrous effects. They then proceed to give examples of the benefits garnered by companies that opted for a policy of open honesty at a time when deception would have been tempting.
K. One such example was the reaction of Johnson & Johnson to the Tylenol scare. When the early reports surfaced of Arsenic laced Tylenol. Johnson & Johnson immediately warned the public and pulled all of the product the shelf. Such actions cost the company millions and caused the price of their stock to plummet. But, today Johnson and Johnson has regained the public’s trust and is stronger than ever.
II. We need to convince our people that honesty really is the best policy for our personal lives.
A. Black lies, white lies, stone walling, or shaving the truth, Spin Drs. is never the best policy.
B. Perhaps the best illustration of the fact in scripture is that Of Abraham and Sarah.
C. We are all familiar with the story of Abraham’s deception of the Pharaoh.
D. Abraham was afraid they would kill to take his beautiful wife Sarah, so he told the Egyptians that she was his sister.
E. Abraham prospered because the Egyptians thought him to be the brother of such a beautiful woman. It took the intervention of God to prevent the pharaoh from unknowingly committing adultery with Sarah. Abraham and Sarah were expelled because of their deception, but it appeared that they prospered as a result of the deception Genesis 12:10-20.
F. However, the story does not end there. Later (Genesis 20:1-16) Abraham committed the same deception against Abimelech.
G. He justified his deception on the grounds that Sarah was his half sister.
H. Once again God had to intervene to protect Sarah’s virtue, and once again Abraham appeared to prosper from his dishonesty.
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I. But, did he really?
J. First had Abraham been honest, perhaps he would have avoided moving to countries where he would have had to lie to protect himself to begin with.
K. When we make up our minds that we will not lie or deceive, we will avoid doing things that would require us to lie to begin with. Thus the honest person is less likely to put himself in a position where sin is a possibility.
L. Second, Abraham’s dishonesty indicated a lack of trust in God’s ability to protect him and his family. So, dishonesty involves a lack of faith on our part.
M. To be genuinely honest we must have absolute faith that God will see to it that we are always better off --in the long run-- to do the right thing.
N. Third, Dishonesty leads to more sin and prevents us from admitting that we need to reform.
O. Had Abraham realized how dishonest this act was perhaps he would not have done it again.
1. AA tells us that the first task in helping an alcoholic is to get him to be honest with himself and admit he is an alcoholic.
P. God will forgive any sin the Christian confesses. As long as we are dishonest with ourselves not only will we continue the sin, but we will go without forgiveness because of a failure to confess it (I John 1:7-10)
Q. Fourth, dishonesty is contagious.
R. Abraham’s son committed the same deception (Gen. 26:1-10).
1. Years later, Isaac and his wife tried to deceive each other concerning who was to get the birth right.
2. In fact their second son was named Jacob which means the deceiver.
3. Jacob deceived his father, and had to flee home for his life.
4. He then was deceived by his father-in-law and in turn deceived his father-in-law.
5. Still a generation later, his sons deceived him about the supposed death of Joseph.
6. For two decades he grieved the supposed death of Joseph because of the deception of Joseph’s brothers.
S. Yes, Abraham appeared to prosper as a result of his deception, but the dire consequences of dishonesty haunted his family to the forth Generation.
T. Perhaps this is an illustration of what the Moses meant when he said,
"keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation. (Ex 34:7)"
"The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation." Numbers 14:18.
Conclusion:
I. We should live our lives assuming that honesty is always the best policy.
A. File: TAXES, CHEATING ON DEFENDANTS.
II. We should thus avoid getting into situations that would tempt us to lie or deceive.
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III. We should never let our children see us lie or deceive. Cheating on our taxes, stealing from the employer, lying to the officer who stops us for that stop sign or the speed, exaggerating a loss to an insurance company.
IV. Not only are all of these things wrong, but to do them in from of our children is to multiply our sin to the "Fourth generation."
