The Price Of Telling The Truth

The Price Of Telling The Truth

Ezekial 33:1-29 2 Timothy 3:1-5 & 4:1-5

Have you ever been put in the place of knowing the truth about a situation, but you didn’t want to say anything because you knew you would pay a price for telling it. For most of us it could mean losing a friendship, or having a brother or sister get angry with us for coming clean, or getting kicked out of a group. For others, it could mean losing a job, losing a career, and sometimes even losing a life.

The truth can get you into trouble. The word of God teaches us, that the closer we get to the coming of Christ, the more the truth of the word of God is going to set us in trouble. It teaches that people will have a desire for religion, but they will not have a desire to know the truth of the word of God. Today people do not mind you talking about religion or spiritual matters, but the moment you start to talk about the word of God saying something is sin, then you are accused of imposing your values on others.

What does the word of God tell us about truth. It tells us that God does have a standard. It tells us that there are some things that are right and some things that are wrong. There are some behaviors which are acceptable to God, and some behaviors which are not. It tells us that all of us start out in the same category of people, which is a sinner in need of a change that can only happen by the grace and mercy of God. We are all born with a bent toward doing evil. Nobody ever sits down and teaches a child how to be selfish. No one teaches a child, how to rebel and say no. No one teaches a child to say mine. No one teaches a child to reach out and smack someone.

Every one of us came into this world with desires that are contrary to the word of God. Some of us came into this world, lying. We struggle with telling the truth. Some of us came in ready to steal in a moment. Some of us came in willing to hold grudges for years. Some of us came in looking for somebody to control and dominate. Some of us came in struggling with lust the moment we discovered the opposite sex. Some of us came in with a spirit of jealousy. God still loved us, but God loved us with a desire to get us to turn away from that desire and turn toward him.

The truth is, that as we get closer to the ends of time, people will insist that we accept all kinds of behaviors. It says from our Scripture reading. In 2 Timothy 3:1-4 (NIV) 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—

These are the kinds of people, we have been called to go and make a difference in their lives for Christ. Now let’s be sure we understand, that this line is not a black and white line, where there is always a clear break. The reality is that some of us are struggling with these issues in our own lives and we are going to be wrestling with them to the grave. That is why we are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The truth of the word of God tells us, if we are doing these things, we need to stop, change, and move closer to Jesus Christ in our actions.

You can’t say, I’m just an unforgiving person. Even when I was a little, I had a hard time forgiving people. I never did forgive my 8th grade teacher for that F I got which kicked me off the team. God made me this way. I tried to forgive a couple of times, but it was a struggle and one time I took back my forgiveness. If God truly loves me, God will accept me as I am. As long as I offer my gifts and talents to the Lord, that should be enough.

Well the truth of the Word of God states, “if you do not forgive others, your Heavenly Father will not forgive you.” You can believe anything you want but, the word of God remains the same.

Our society is bent on changing our values to get us to reject the word of God. It never says, warning, here is an attempt to get you to deny the truth of God’s word. It simply involves your emotions in a story, that leads you down a path to accept its conclusions without you asking critical questions.