To Tell The Truth

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 Later the story was retracted.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.