Theme: Back to the Constitution
Topic: The Efficacy of Truth
Text: 2 Corinthians: 13 : 5-8 " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 6 But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. 7 Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates. 8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth."
This is a statement that has been tested in heaven, on earth and beneath the earth. If you wish, bury the truth seven times, it will rise again. You can do nothing against the truth but for the truth. All that you will do to profit must be in line with the truth. In the Orthodox world, there is what is called The Passion Week. Passion Week is the period that the Lord Jesus began to undergo trials, judgment and all manner of preparations for the eventual crucifixion on the cross. It includes all the persecutions, the abandonment, betrayal and various forms of sorrow that he went through until he was finally laid on the cross; these all got pumped up through the Passion Week. If you will look at John chapter 18, there is something significant that will help us as we discuss the efficacy of truth.
John 18:34-38:
34 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?
35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?
36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered; Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
38 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."
Jesus was born to bear witness unto the truth. He says everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.
John 19:6 says "When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
That is another way of saying what Apostle Paul said, that you can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Now if the reason the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world, the cause for which he was born, is for him to bear witness unto the truth, and Pilate was asking "what is truth?" It means therefore that there is more to it because the purpose of our Christianity must be tied or connected to the reason why Jesus came into this world. If your life is not in line with the reason Jesus came into this world, it means you are wasting your life. I hope you know what it means for Jesus to be at the judgment hall? We are talking about going "Back to the Constitution."
When you are taken to the law court, the only thing that matters at that point in time is what the Constitution says; I believe you all know that. If you have ever been to the Law court, you will notice that for lawyer, the court is not a place you tell stories and weep up sentiments because these won’t help. What obtains in the Law court is "it is written; it is written." Whatever they want to defend, they will say it is written. Written where? That’s in the constitution.
If you are going to win any case, you are not going to win it by telling stories and shedding tears; you are going to win it by appealing to the constitution to defend you. If your case would be properly handled and in line with the constitution, no matter how far you are from liberty, that constitution will deliver you.
Brethren, we have come a long way and soon, very soon, the Lord will appear, but a lot of things working against us must be brought face to face with the constitution. For every case that has been proffered against us, we have the right, by the constitution of heaven, to appeal to the Supreme Court of the universe and that Supreme Court is the foundation upon which the church is built. All the lower courts may have one case or the other against you, but you have a right to appeal to the Supreme Court where the constitution, which is the Word of God, is the only thing that matters and that is the foundation upon which the church is resting.
I’ll take you a step further to 1 Timothy 3:15 "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
Paul was writing to Timothy so that if he delayed his coming, Timothy would know how to behave himself in the Church of the Living God. That church of the living God is described as the pillar and the ground of the Truth, that is to say that the church of the living God, the house of God itself, is rooted, characterized and defined by the truth. Where do you find the ground and the pillar of the Truth? When you hear of ground and pillar, what immediately comes to your mind?
Pillars are not usually many in a building but wherever they are found, they bear heavy weights. The Bible says when it comes to the truth, there is a place where the pillar thereof and the ground, the basis of the standing of the truth is, that place where you have truth as pillar, where truth is standing with great strength is called the Church; the House of God. That is to say that in the whole of this world, if you are looking for where truth is standing firm and unshakeable, you must look out for the church.
If anybody has not come to the house of God, the church, he has not come to where the pillar of truth is. When somebody says this person is the pillar of a particular place, it means that he is the one upon whom the entire system rests, so that if you remove him, system will collapse.
A building rests upon certain pillars, if the pillars are not there, then nothing else is standing. Remember that in John 18, the Lord Jesus in the place of judgment was asked by Pilate (Pilate was like the Judge of the court that day), he was sort of saying to Jesus: "They say you are a king, are you really a king?" Jesus answered him and said: “You have said it; you have said I’m a king. The Lord Jesus asked Pilate, "Were you told this thing concerning me or you just discovered it by yourself?" Pilate said: "Look, I’m not a Jew, it’s your people that brought you to be judged by me; He said, tell me, are you really a king?" and Jesus said: "Well, for this purpose have I come into the world. This is the reason I was born, that I might bear witness unto the truth." That means, "When I appear, people will know what the truth is." To bear witness to somebody or something is to show a proof that, that thing is real. Did you get that?
The reason Jesus Christ came is to bear witness; to give support; to give a basis; to prove what the truth is. Read carefully because we are undergoing a revolution by the grace of God, in our coming back to the constitution, we are coming back to the place where God can find us adequately prepared to receive the fullness of what He has for us in these last days.
For this purpose I have come, for this cause am I come into the world, to bear witness to the truth and it says that where you have the pillar and the ground for the truth is the church. Beloved, that is saying in essence that the entire structure of creation is resting on the church and for us in the church, we have nothing else to witness to, we have nothing else for which we are alive other than to bear witness to the truth because that was why Jesus was born.
He was not born just to give us bread and butter, the core reason for which he was born, for which he was released into this world, is to bear witness unto the truth. It is on the strength of that ministry that he is able to defeat all opposition. Pilate asked the question, and if I may ask, can anyone here provide an answer to that question, because it was not answered. Soon after Pilate asked the question, what is truth? He went back to the judgment hall and began to discuss with the Jews. "It’s like we have to release this man because as it stands now, there is nothing we can do against him. He has spoken about the truth and I know there is nothing we can do against the truth."
As I reflected on Pilate’s question, I began to ponder it myself, "What is truth?" I reluctantly decided to check the English Dictionary for the meaning of Truth and it says it means something that is true. What does it mean for something to be true? It means something that corresponds to a known fact; it also means Reality. The Lord Jesus Christ said he came to bear witness unto the truth and the Church, the body of people that Jesus Christ had redeemed unto himself, is described as the pillar, the strength, and the real nucleus of truth. That is the ground where every structure will find alignment and stability. What is that truth? What is the meaning or the fact that it corresponds to? And what is reality? Let us put it this way, assuming two people were fighting and the case finally gets to court, they judge would want somebody who was present when the fight started to come and testify as an eye witness. At the end, it is the statement of the person who saw everything from the beginning that would be taken as the fact, as the fact because he was there and saw it all from the start. Anybody that came one hour after did not see what obtained in the beginning so whatever must be said, must be judged by the report of the principal witness. The person who was there before the mountains were formed, the one who saw it all from the beginning is our Lord Jesus Christ.
By the time somebody gets hold of you and says, this Jesus who you are shouting about, were you there when he died? Are you sure he was really killed? Only the person who saw it from the beginning can be said to have the facts and when that person begins to speak, every other witness will have to be compared with the witness of the one who was there at the beginning.
Of all those that came to bear witness to the truth, there was none that was original; none was there from the beginning except Jesus. Therefore, all that has been reported on or before Jesus came into the world had to await a confirmation and must be consistent with the fact or reality.
Concerning life and eternity, past present and future, there is just one person who knows it all. Reports from all other sources will be mere hearsay. For the first time ever the one who was there from the beginning, stepped into the witness box of humanity and said "I have come to bear witness to the truth!"
Jesus alone has the whole story, the reality. That was why when he came on the scene his report exposed the loopholes in all those who had been parading fragments of the truth. Until the actual truth is obtained, there could never be real justice. Because Jesus is the truth personified, that is why all judgment was committed to him.
Pilate asked? What is truth? He knew he was not dealing with somebody who relies on hearsay, but the one who was there all the time and was part and parcel of the entire system. It’s like the case of a car and its manufacturer; it is the maker alone who knows what color it was from the beginning before men began to change the paint. He knew that the original color of this car was red, though from one owner to other paints of different colors and grades had been used. Arguments may rage until they meet the manufacturer.
Beloved, the key is this: The Lord Jesus is the one that has the very truth from the depths of the whole matter. He alone has the reality. I will explain more on the reality later, for you to know why God is leading us to come back to the constitution.
The problem today is that there has been so much distortion of the truth.
Jeremiah 5:1 says: "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it."
Run ye to and fro through the city of Jerusalem.?
These speaks of the city of God, “and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if you can find a man that is executing judgment(applying the constitution) and the one that is seeking the truth, digging and investigating until the original witness is made available. The best the police can do to show the court the credible witness is to track down the very person who was there from the beginning. Until such a person is presented to the court, judgment will be partial. It says, to go round the city, run round all over the place and see if there is any man that is interested in the truth and it says ?I will pardon it?. God is trying to tell us about the centrality of truth on the streets or everywhere that our Christian walk may carry us. This refers to where the day-to-day activities touch our life and faith. It says truth is scarce, because men that are applying the constitution, seeking judgment and truth, are in short supply. He says if you can find anyone, I will pardon.
It means that truth has the power to attract pardon from God. God will not pardon until truth is made available. The Spirit of the Lord will help us to understand more about the implication of the Lord Jesus coming to bear witness to the truth. It is part of the consideration for obtaining pardon for all of us.
Sometimes at home, if a child has offended, Daddy will say: "Now, tell me the whole truth and I will forgive you." The truth has a way of drawing pardon from the one who is on the throne. Why is it that people are not able to subscribe to the truth? It is because they have not contacted the person that can release pardon. There can be no true repentance until a person acknowledges the truth.
A lot of people think that if they tell the truth, they will be punished; but it is the other way round with God. Don’t let the devil deceive you that truth will bring punishment. Truth in its final course will bring pardon. I believe that what we count as punishment is God’s own way of getting us to line up with the truth.
In verse 2, it says: " And though they say the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely:"
We find these types of Christians all over the place, claiming to be born again, yet, in the name of the Lord, they swear falsely.
Verse 3: "O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved, thou has consumed them but they have not received correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return."
This verse says the eyes of the Lord are upon the truth. This speaks of the focal point of God. If you remember your Ordinary Level Physics, when you studied Optics/Light, there is what we call focal point; that is the point at which if light is focused, you get the clearest/sharpest image. Focal point is where the image is the sharpest. Most of the light energy concentrates there and if directed on our skin it burns. The very truth or the genuine picture is revealed when the light touches on the focal point of the object. This is where the correct, unadulterated image is revealed, here, the eyes of God zero on.
If you line up many things in the sight of God, the one that will attract His attention is the one containing the truth. No matter what articles we may be marketing, the one that God will see and will want to buy is the truth. Verse 3 says: "O lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth?
Verse 4: "Therefore I say, surely these are poor; they are foolish for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God."
Those who despise the truth don’t know how God works; they don’t know how He judges. The Bible describes them as foolish and poor. Any system that claims to be a church and does not enthrone the truth, no matter what it parades; they may be giving good offerings, the people may be dancing very well, they may be having crusades, but if they are not walking in truth, they do not know the way of God and they do not know his judgments. The Bible describes them as foolish and poor. They may be paying tithes, but if they are destitute of the truth, the Bible says they are poor and foolish. It is unfortunate that so many arms of the church are in this category. They have compromised the truth and this is very dangerous because it takes them far away from God. May God restore us.
Psalm 85:11: “Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven."
There are some fresh dews of revelation from that verse. Most times, we come together and we sing and worship and expect God to come down, we say we want Open Heavens which means that God should open His doors and windows , look down and pour us a blessing. But here, we are told that with or without that qualitative worship, if you want the Lord of heaven to look down and pour down righteousness, there is only one thing we must begin to develop on earth and that thing is Truth. When the truth springs forth out of the earth, righteousness will automatically look down from heaven.
If we want God to visit us mightily and to give us true righteousness, which comes from above, we must on our own, spring forth truth. We must begin to release truth from the depths of our hearts that will compel heaven to pour down righteousness.
Don’t kneel down to pray to God asking Him to make you righteous, No! No! No! The easiest way out is for you to remove everything that is not truth in your life and expose truth unto God. God will respond because the Bible says that the heavens will look down and pour forth righteousness. Where will the truth spring forth from? From the earth, from our hearts and then from heaven, righteousness will be poured down.
We are looking for revival but we must know exactly where we are being called to prepare ourselves. There is nothing the church needs today other than bearing witness of the truth, that means making the principal witness, the person of Jesus and all that He stands for, known unto ourselves and unto our world.
In Isaiah 59: 12-15, the Bible says:
12" For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:
13 transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey."
We all know where we have erred; we all know where we have substituted the truth with our petty doctrines. We all know where we have replaced the counsel of God with our traditions; we all know where we have had reason to bow down to all the images that today’s Nebuchadnezzar is raising up in this end time. We all know all the ‘it doesn’t matter’ labels we have placed upon certain scriptures and all the adulteration we have brought into the Christian fold. Truth is constant, whether in Europe, America or Africa. The arch-enemy that we are all contending with is Satan and he has no regard for geographical location. He is Satan anywhere. He can deceive anybody no matter how clever the person is. The Lord Jesus said that if not for the sake of the elect, all of us would be deceived.
Satan is the oldest tenant in this world. He was in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve got there, because of his age on this planet, he understands all the crooked ways, all the cheating etc in it and nobody in this world understands this earth more than him. The only place you are safe is when you operate in Christ Jesus who was before him.
Part of the problem we are facing is because we have compromised the truth; we have become partial in the Law and we have also indirectly pushed God further away from ourselves.
2Ch 15:3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
This was spoken concerning Israel, the covenant people of God. It didn’t say Sodom had been without the true God, it says Israel, the people of God; in a sense the Church in the Old Testament was at a certain time period without the true God; without the teaching priest and without law. They had abandoned the constitution. How come they had not been with the true God? They had been with all manner of gods - pocket gods, head knowledge gods, experience gods, but the true God had not been given His rightful place. We have had ceremonies, danced, sweated, we have had man-made prophecies but the true God had not been around. We have celebrated in our man-made religions, we have raised brass for gold, and it appears that most of us no longer know the difference.
That is the problem the Church is having in these last days. We have been without the true God for a long season. Why were the Israelites not with the true God? It is simply because there was no teaching priest and there was no law. Look at it this way: For you to have the true God reigning in your midst there must be a teaching priest and for a teaching priest to be effective, he must be well connected to the Constitution. He must always be rested and grounded in the law. How does it happen? Nobody can know the true God except by the way of self-revelation; those unto whom He reveals Himself, they are the ones that can know Him. The Bible tells us that no man has seen the father but the Son, and no man knows the Son but the Father and to whomsoever the Son will reveal the Him.
Now, how can Israel reconnect with the true God? It is only when Israel begins to long for the constitution and when they really do they’ll look for a teaching priest.
Let me explain what a teaching priest means. It is only the teaching priest that has understood God’s own order and principle and he is the one that can properly introduce God. Until somebody is properly introduced, he may be misrepresented; he may not even acknowledge the introduction. For a teaching priest to effectively bring the true God unto the people he must of a necessity know the God that he is introducing and he must know Him in the law.
This brings me to the importance of order and constitutionality. Please turn your Bibles to 1 Chronicles 15:11-15 ;
11 "And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab,
12 And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it.
13 For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.
14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel.
15 And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD."
Once, David got so overwhelmed with the joy of the Lord and a life of worship so much that he came up with the beautiful idea of bringing back the ark of the covenant of God to its rightful place. So zealous was he that he overlooked the importance of getting the teaching priests to consult the law and ensure that things were done in line with truth. They just presumably followed the example of the Philistines.
God dealt with the Philistines so severely that they had to return the ark in the most civilized fashion known to them, being ignorant of the law. The best they could offer was nevertheless unconstitutional. They brought it back on a cart. They used a cart because they knew no better, but instead of Israel correcting that mistake when they were to take the ark to proper place, they copied the method of the unbelievers.
While they were shouting, dancing and singing all their imported songs something happened! God got ‘angry’ and rather than get blessed for their noble move and wonderful worship” they got a curse, expressly wired from heaven to register God’s displeasure. Sorrow punctured the cloud of excitement over the feasting because they did not do it according to the law.
1 Chronicles 15:13 says: "For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order."
They did not carry the ark the way God wanted it so He embarrassed them. God could not be bribed by all the singing and dancing and testimonies. Constitution!
When that calamity struck, David said; Let us share the grace right away, no announcements please, no offering. God has shocked me. I can’t explain why somebody should die in the midst of high praises and celebrations like this. Let’s just go home and check our lives."
They soon realized where they missed it and the next time, David was careful to call on the ministers so that they would do it right. I can imagine him saying to them: “O ye priests come let’s correct ourselves. The first time, we failed to do it according to the prescribed standard." Verse 15: " And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD."
That was what God’s word commanded and that was how they did it and God accepted it. You cannot ‘civilize’ God; He is not your mate. What do you know that God does not know? Where have you traveled to that God has not been to? What is it that God forgot to write in the Bible that you have decided to add in the 21st Century? How old are you? Where did you school? Who gave you your degree and what does the person know? Remember that unless the teaching priest is working by the law, he will not properly introduce God. I imagine the Lord saying to himself: “No way! This cannot be me. I’m not supposed to be carried like this. Oh no, this is not me." Suddenly, He got Himself out of their net and struck somebody dead so that the meeting was dismissed. On that day, people they saw the other side of the true God because he was not properly introduced.
For instance, if I was to introduce Rev. ABC and I say something like: “Praise the Lord; I have the rare honor and privilege to introduce this great man of God. In fact, I’m not qualified to do this introduction but it is my privilege tonight to introduce this great man of God who takes his breakfast in Britain, lunch in Italy and dinner in America. Praise God. He is here tonight in our midst. He is a man that walks on four legs; he is a man with three heads and has 50 children; he is so anointed that if he raises his hands, this building will fall. Please put your hands together as we welcome Rev. ABC! Honestly, Rev. ABC will not stand up to acknowledge that introduction because though his name was mentioned, the person that was described is not him!
That is how many of us have introduced God and He has refused to stand up. Many have described God the way He is not. What God would not want to do, they will say He will do. Where God does not want to reign, they say He reigns there because they have not known Him by the law.
We have seen people parading themselves as teaching priests and what they do not know about God, they flippantly open their mouths to say. Some people have been told: “Oh come to God, He will make you a millionaire tomorrow," and God is wondering thus: But I didn’t plan to make this one a millionaire. Why are you embarrassing me? I will not do it, no way." As a result, God withdraws, leaving the priest alone; meanwhile, the new convert is at a loss whether it is the true God he had surrendered his life to or the god made by the priest. We must go back to reality. We have tried the symbols and all manner of fake things and God is bringing us back to the truth. Nothing can work against the truth but for the truth.
Because of similar problem that has befallen the church and how the Church has been misdirected, God has an arrangement. In Malachi 2:4-6: the Bible says:
"And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 2:5 "My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him [for] the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. Malachi 2:6 " The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.”
That is what the Bible says concerning this truth and anybody that is in the order of full-time ministry is supposed to operate on this covenant of Levi. The law of truth was in the mouth of Levi, the priest of God.
Anyone called a Levite/a minister must have the law of truth, which means that he must be operating on a tested and proved divine principle. There is a difference between a law and a hypothesis.
A law is an idea or explanation of something that has been consistently proved to be everywhere factual. It means that wherever that statement is taken to, it will happen just as stated. Hypothesis on the other hand, is an idea or explanation of something that is based on a few isolated tests but that has not yet been proved to be universally true or correct. It works on probability, it may happen and it may not. But where it has been tested and proved, it becomes a law. Example, the law of gravity says that anything you throw up within the realm of this earth must fall down. It is a law of gravity. Whether the person is a believer or an unbeliever, once he throws something up, that thing must come down as long as it has mass. The law of truth is at work in the mouth of the teaching priest/Levite. Whenever he opens his mouth there is a revelation of the truth. This is so because they are remotely and directly connected to the person of Jesus Christ for whom they are ministering.
A lot of people have certificates of ministerial ordination but they are not ministers in God’s register. They are not on God’s payroll, they’ve sent themselves. Nobody sent them and it is unfortunate because if you stumble into the ministry of such people, they will completely drain you and leave you dry.
Verse 6 says "... and iniquity was not found in his lips...." because the law of truth was in his mouth, iniquity was not found in his lips.” He walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity." How? by operating in the law of truth. The only way you can turn a people away from iniquity is for you to have the law of truth in your mouth. Any time you handle the microphone, in the name of the Lord; there must be a release of the truth whatever it will cost you.
Verse 7-9: "For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he [is] the messenger of the LORD of hosts.” But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. "Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law."
One can be partial in the law, by believing one part and disbelieving another part. They believe in prosperity but don’t believe that sometimes things can be hard. They want to go to heaven but they don’t want holiness. And because of that, they are not able to turn people away from iniquity. The Bible says the people must seek the law at his mouth. Any time you come before the man of God and there cannot be an adequate relay of the truth, question him one more time. "Are you really a man of God?
Jeremiah 3:15 "And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."
Who is a priest indeed? What is the standard expected of the pastor that God has chosen?
A true pastor must feed the congregation with knowledge and with understanding. It’s a different thing if the people refuse to go to the pastor. If they are destroyed, it is their business. When programs are planned and you refuse to attend, you risk being deceived. You may be pursuing money but remember that unless you are being constantly fed with knowledge, you are at risk of being deceived. The knowledge of ten years ago may not be enough to carry you in the present dispensation. You must renew your ‘papers.’
Proverbs 16:6 says "By mercy and truth is iniquity purged and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil."
Now let’s get this straight; if any man of God so called comes to you and asks to deliver you from iniquity, and he begins to pray, to bind and to lose, watch it.
The only way iniquity can be purged is by mercy and truth. It can never be purged by prayer and fasting. It can never be purged by positive confession. The only way iniquity can be purged based on the testimony of Malachi chapter 2 and Proverbs 16:6, is by mercy and truth. Any time there is a ministration of the word of God in truth it automatically, purges iniquity. Any system that withholds the truth from the people is indirectly enthroning iniquity. Iniquity means crooked, not straight, lawlessness and distortion of the truth. There is no other way of purging iniquity other than by saying and declaring the truth, you release the truth to the people and you set them on the path of deliverance. That is the thing for which Jesus was manifested. Until truth is made available, a lot of people will remain in different categories of bondage, affliction and limitation.
In the Bible, we have the first report of affliction in Genesis chapter 20. Here, a prophet of God had to pray to minister healing to the afflicted. What was the circumstance that brought about that situation? Where a people became afflicted and then the prophet of God had to be brought in to minister and purge whatsoever held them in bondage.
Genesis 20: 1-18
Gen 20:1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
Gen 20:2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Gen 20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
Gen 20:4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
Gen 20:5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
Gen 20:6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
Gen 20:7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
Gen 20:8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.
Gen 20:9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
Gen 20:10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
Gen 20:11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.
Gen 20:12 And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
Gen 20:13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
Gen 20:14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
Gen 20:15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.
Gen 20:16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.
Gen 20:17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
Gen 20:18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
When Abraham got to the land of the Philistines, he felt that the people of Gerar did not fear God and anyone who does not fear God is involved in sin. He felt that in such a place, they could beat him up and take away his wife because of her beauty. He said to his wife: "When we get to this country, anytime they ask you who you are, you tell them that you are my sister and if they ask me, I’ll tell them that I am your brother because I don’t want them to kill me and take you away." Sarah agreed. And of a truth, when they got there, Sarah’s beauty attracted the king and he decided to investigate Sarah’s background. He was told that she was ‘free’, she was not somebody’s wife and with innocent heart, the king took Sarah as wife.
There is a mystery here because I don’t know for how long Sarah stayed in Abimelech’s house but I suspect she did not stay there for less than twelve months. However, after a certain period of time expired, God came to Abimelech in a dream and I can imagine God saying to him:
"Abimelech, count yourself a dead man now. Consider yourself dead."
Abimelech replied: "What have I done?"
God: "Because the woman in your house is somebody’s wife."
Abimelech: "Really? I did not know that. O God, I will not wake up to meet this woman here."
God: "If you love your life, return this woman to her husband."
When he woke up, he called his relations, friends and cabinet members. "Hear what God told me in the night."
He then narrated what transpired between him and God in the dream and they said to him: "But that is surprising because when we were making enquiries, we were told that she is his sister. However, since the truth has been released, please, run for your life. You cannot do anything against the truth but for the truth." Abimelech called Abraham and asked him whether Sarah was his wife and he said yes. Verse 9 says
"Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done."
He was saying this because of what he suffered because of lack of truth; he knew that his life was in danger. He said to Abraham: "Since you came into my country, I have been very nice to you, I have been taking good care of you; I have been giving you whatever you asked for even the honor of an in-law. How come you decided to put a great sin upon me and my people?"
Notice a principle here: Abimelech did not know the truth and so he did the wrong thing, but did that excuse him from punishment? No Way! Somebody told him a lie and because of that lie, he did something wrong - he took somebody’s wife. Was it his fault? No. You took somebody’s wife without knowing that you’ve taken somebody’s wife, does that rule out the fact that you have taken somebody’s wife?
Now, there are mysteries that God alone can see us through. Some people might have told you a lie and because of that they put a great sin upon you. That was why Abimelech asked Abraham: "What have I done that you to warrant you putting this great sin on me? Why did you withhold the truth from me and allow iniquity to prevail on me? Why did you withhold the truth from me and allow me to take the wrong step? Where ever the Church is being denied the truth, they are encouraging the Church to sin, even unconsciously you can be working against God and because of that, iniquity will rest in your bosom. What does that mean? For the period of time that Sarah was in the King’s palace, I perceive that Abraham was praying saying: "Oh God, please I won’t make that mistake again, bring my wife back to me. You are the only one that can deliver me. This man is a king, how can I go back and say she’s my wife? O God, deliver me, have mercy on me, I won’t do it again. Release my wife for me O God."
As Abraham prayed and prayed to God, God heard his prayers and went to tell Abimelech to release Sarah.
Abimelech could have argued thus: “Why should I release her? I paid the bride price, I married her legally…."
God: You are not serious, release this man’s wife, she is somebody’s wife."
Abimelech: "Does it mean I was deceived?"
God: "Oh yes, you were deceived, what you are doing is sinful, release her, if not, you are a dead man."
Whenever you withhold the truth from someone, you are putting that person under a great danger. When you tell someone a lie, you are not merely plotting a way of escape for yourself; you are expressing hatred to that person and setting him up for bondage and punishment. This is a divine principle at work here.
When the king finally released Sarah, God said to him: "Go and tell Abraham to pray for you for forgiveness. You are going to make some sacrifices." What was it that was happening to the entire family of Abimelech when he took Sarah? The whole family became barren, from house-maids, to princesses and the queen, no woman got pregnant during that period. How would one know that some women did not pregnant if a period of nine months or more had not elapsed?
Now, assuming there were 20 women in the king’s palace, Verses 17 and 18 says:
“So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife."
None of the women in the palace got pregnant. Barrenness became an issue because a considerable length of time had passed. Something was going wrong but they did not know why until the truth was released. I guess the king was also getting worried and was probably seeking an answer. That was how I discovered that Sarah must have stayed in the king’s palace for a long time. But how come theking did not touch her? Could the king have married a wife and not touch her for a year or more? There lies the operation of God. The scripture says God withheld Abimelech from touching her. This is the blessing of the covenant, that we can be so protected even when we have blown it. His mercy indeed endures forever.
God said "Because you are innocent, I withheld you from sinning against me."
I pray that the truth that will loose you from captivity will be released unto you in Jesus’ name. In some cases doctrinal errors or lack of revelation have kept people in barrenness. If those who should tell you the truth have deliberately kept it from you, they could be prolonging your affliction. This is why we are talking about the efficacy of truth.
Truth has power. It is by mercy and truth that iniquity is purged.
You may be innocent and practically ignorant of it, but so long as that ‘contraband’, the accursed thing is in your possession, it will limit the flow of divine favor unto you.
Psalm 60:4 talks of the fact that when people fear God, He gives them a banner of truth. Abraham was afraid of the people of that land so he told a lie. It is the fear of men that make people lie and it is the fear of God that will make you say the truth. The fear of God releases truth.
Psalm 60:4 “Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.
So when a people begin to fear men, you will discover that they loose boldness for truth, but when you fear God, you have the banner of truth.
Any lie you tell, put it to this test, you discover that you lied because you feared men and if you are always saying the truth, it must be on the strength of the fear of God. If you are lying, it means you fear men more than God. This gives birth to hypocrisy. We must at all times be conscious of the life we live. The righteousness on the inside of us must be revealed on the outside.
Psalm 40:10-11, "I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
"Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me.”
Efficacy of truth; truth preserves, truth makes us resistant to decay; it makes us not to expire. Some people were believers in the 1960s, in the 70s but as of today they are expired; they fizzled out. What preserves your faith and your integrity is the truth. The psalmist says he has not hidden that truth and righteousness from the congregation. That which was in his heart, he also demonstrated for everyone to see and know where he stands. As it was with the saints of old we must not only live the life we must preach the life. That is what it means not to conceal or hide God’s righteousness within our heart- Ps 40:10. We are into a time that we must not only strive to live righteously and we must be prepared to preach righteousness by telling people why and in whose power we are living the life. Failure to do so may put us in the same class with self-righteous philanthropist. Righteousness on the inside must also be declared unto the congregation. Wherever you are, a place of influence - in your offices, market place or in your business arena, there must be a relay of the truth to those who hear you. It is not enough to say you have the truth in your heart; you must also have it in your mouth. This is the operation of the law of truth. The state of your heart must be expressed by your PRO (public relations officer) which is your tongue. That is why the Bible says to buy the truth and sell it not. Truth is powerful, it preserves, it commandeers the attention of God upon an individual; it delivers you from iniquity, it purges iniquity. Because of that, buy the truth. Proverbs 23:23. When the Bible says to buy the truth, it means ‘to pay a price.’ For you to buy anything, you must pay a price. The price we pay can be anything. It could cost you your friends, it could cost you the position you have been longing to get into, it could cost you a title, and it could cost you cheap popularity.
Why does the Bible say we should not sell the truth? Some people may want to buy it from you, they may want to replace it or exchange it with something else. Once that is exchanged, you are no longer preserved. The only way God can continue to defend you is when you are abiding in the truth. There is a great warning the Lord Jesus Christ gave to the Church right from the time of his ministry. It’s reflected in what he ministered in
Luke 12:1 "In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."
Jesus was speaking to his disciples. He said they should be wary of the leaven of the Pharisees which is HYPOCRISY.
When the Church began to grow and all manner of people were claiming to be born again , He called his disciples and said: "Come and listen to me. I don’t want you to be deceived, watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees." Leaven is yeast. The Bible says the leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. What is hypocrisy? This means giving an impression of what you are not; hiding the reality; concealing the truth.
In 1Corinthians 5: 8, the Bible says "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Unleavened bread in the language of the New Testament means sincerity and truth. The bread made with yeast/leaven has the flour blown up to give the impression that it is bigger than it actually is. That is hypocrisy. When you squeeze leavened bread, you will get the true size, what it is supposed to be and not the bloated size it got as a result of the leaven. So the Lord Jesus was saying we should look out for the real size and not be deceived by the bloated image that yeast produces when mixed with flour. There is a dangerous incursion, a dangerous current or flood of iniquity that we have produced by certain funny doctrines that we have preached. Certain end-time corrupted teachings that blow us up and get us swelling with pride ; so called special revelations or mysteries are soon revealed for what they are- the leaven if hypocrisy. When we eat such, we swell and assume sizes/shapes that we are not. You find a young pastor, parading himself as a mighty man of God just like the leavened bread.
Read this carefully: God is going to subject the entire Church to diverse pressures so that the reality in every man will come to light. A lot of pressure will be applied and much divine squeezing will take place. It is only then that we will get to know who is who. It is then we will know your true size. A lot of us are not showing our true sizes so God is going to cause us to be hard-pressed and then we will know our actual sizes. It is then we will know whether you are as spiritual as you appeared to be and that is why what is coming very soon will be a great shaking and most people may not stand it. That is why God is insisting that we purge ourselves from the old leaven and embrace sincerity and truth.
In summary, when we talk of hypocrisy, withdrawing of sincerity, you’ll discover that it is happening at the home level, at the Church level, in the business world. We are being taught to say what we are not, bombarded by all manner of teachings on positive confession, most of which we have deliberately incorrectly applied
There was a Church that was having a program and the program was being video-taped, I guess the pastor wanted to send the tapes overseas. He took the microphone and said: “Yes, in this place, we have over 5,000 people gathered. You can see it." He was laying so much emphasis on the number meanwhile the seating capacity of the entire hall is just 500 and he was there saying: "Over 5,000, outside is jam-packed." I said to myself: "This is a lie! This is real hypocrisy. We are not as many as 2,000 and you are saying we are 5,000."
Such hypocrisy will make God not to follow him to the last because God cannot defend the lie. The Church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. Until the reality, the center on which that thing can stand is revealed, God cannot vote for that system. I know we all want to be great but let us operate in sincerity and truth, as a husband, as a wife, if you are going to survive, the pillar must remain that of the truth. As business partners, the pillar must remain that of the truth.
If there is no sincerity and truth in a business, beloved, Jesus will not be in it. For him to die and rise again is because he is the embodiment of truth. Bury the Truth seven times, He will rise again. Everything will pass away, only the word rooted in the truth will abide forever. On what ground are you going to erect your own structure? If it is not rooted on the ground of truth, it will not last.
Let me end with this: The Operation of Truth.
Ephesians 4:15 says: "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ"
Verse 25 says "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.”
Speaking the truth in love and constantly operating in the truth is something the Church really needs to examine. Some of you in the name of operating in the truth are doing more harm than Jesus would tolerate. How can we speak the truth in love? Let’s see
2 Chronicles 25:2 "And he did that which was right in the sight of God but not with a perfect heart.’ What is right in the sight of God?
He did that which was right in the sight of God but not with a perfect heart! What is right in the sight of God? How could one marry doing the right thing with an imperfect heart? The point here has to do the motive behind that action. Our right doing must be backed up by love. It must be in the interest of the Truth, in the person of Jesus Christ. Sometimes you are saying the truth and that is right, but if you are not saying it with a perfect heart, that means you are not saying it in love. I will give you an example: If in a group in a local church, you have a leader and an assistant. Now, if the leader is not performing well, let’s say he is meddling with the Church funds and the assistant decides to report him to the Church authority, is that the right thing to do? Yes, because that is defending the truth, okay? He may be doing the right thing (reporting the leader), but not with a perfect heart if his action is motivated by envy, vindictiveness and a desire to have him removed and his place given to him. If you are the person reporting such a matter with a perfect heart, when the Church wants to take a disciplinary action against him and they ask you to take over the leadership of the group, you will say “No, I just want the man to be corrected so that iniquity will be purged, so that he can go to heaven."
But if as he is removed and you begin to say in your heart: “O praise the Lord, I’ve been looking for how to assume the leadership of this group and so on ,it means that you did that which was right in the sight of God but not with a perfect heart. That means you were not doing it primarily to correct and restore him, but to damage him beyond repair. That is why the truth must be said in love. You can apply this in many other areas.
So much about the efficacy of truth today, it’s time to pray.
