Speak Truth, Not Lies

Proverbs 24:1-2,8-9,12 ESV

1 “Be not envious of evil men,

    nor desire to be with them,

2 for their hearts devise violence,

    and their lips talk of trouble.

8 “Whoever plans to do evil

    will be called a schemer.

9 The devising of folly is sin,

    and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

12 “If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’

    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,

    and will he not repay man according to his work?”

Please know here that the “wicked” are not all who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ while the “righteous” are all who profess faith in our Lord Jesus. For the wicked are all those who make a practice of sinning against the Lord, and against other humans. The wicked are those who do evil deliberately and habitually and premeditatedly and without conscience, compassion, or concern for who they are hurting in the process. So they do include some or many professers of faith in Jesus Christ.

[Jn 3:19-20; 2 Thes 2:9-10; 2 Thes 3:1-2; Jas 1:19-21; 3 Jn 1:10; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 15:18-20; Mk 7:20-22; Lu 6:45; Lu 13:26-28; Jn 5:28-29; Rom 1:29-32; Rom 2:6-10; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-11; Heb 3:12; 1 Pet 3:12; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

And the righteous, in the eyes of our Lord, are those who make a practice of righteousness which can only be done by those of God-given faith in Jesus Christ. For we are not talking here about self-imputed righteousness. And we are not talking about the false righteousness of the Pharisees who made a profession of faith in God and of obedience to our Lord and to his commands while their hearts were filled with all sorts of wickedness and while they did all sorts of evil. But we are talking of those who are living righteously.

For those who are righteous in the sight of God are not the hypocritically righteous, like the Pharisees, but they are those who are living in conformity to God’s standard, in conformity to God’s own being, to his will, and to his standard of rightness and of what is upright, in practice. And they are doing so by the grace of God, in the power and wisdom of God, and in practice, by genuine God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

[1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7; Matthew 25:34-40; Romans 1:17; Romans 2:13; James 1:22-25; James 2:23; Romans 6:16-20; Romans 8:3-8; Galatians 3:11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 10:35-39; Hebrews 11:4; 1 Peter 3:12]

Therefore, those who practice evil are those who are evil, regardless of what they profess with their lips. And not only do they practice evil, but they devise evil, they plot evil on their beds, for they plan to sin premeditatedly and not just as a gut reaction to their circumstances. And they will also plan out their coverup for their sin in advance, too, in order to hide what they are doing from those they do not want to see what they are up to. So they are liars who do not speak truth and who plot evil against others in advance.

And yes, they are schemers and manipulators and backstabbers and betrayers and adulterers and deceivers. And they can be very convincing in their conniving, and many people believe them because they are so convincing. And some or many of them are pastors of church congregations, some of whom are being trained in marketing techniques in how to be deceptive and in how to manipulate their people into doing what they want them to do. So we need to watch that we don’t get duped by them.

For one of the techniques these liars and deceivers and manipulators who are workers of evil will use to excuse away the evil that they do, in practice, is to claim ignorance. They will say, “I did not know,” when they did know, and some of them have known for a very long time. But God will not accept that excuse (see Romans 1:18-32). But they are usually full of excuses. For our God is going to judge us all according to our works (deeds), and he will repay all humans according to what they have done in this life.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Proverbs 24:10-11,24-26 ESV

10 “If you faint in the day of adversity,

    your strength is small.

11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death;

    hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

24 “Whoever says to the wicked, ‘You are in the right,’

    will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,

25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,

    and a good blessing will come upon them.

26 Whoever gives an honest answer

    kisses the lips.”

Do you see here what our responsibility is as followers of Jesus Christ, not only to those of no faith in Jesus Christ, but also to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ? Even if we are being hated, rejected, and persecuted for righteousness’ sake and for the sake of the gospel of our salvation, and for the sake of truth, we should not back down. We should not give up. But we must persevere, for we do not know who is listening or who is reading what we write and how that may be impacting their lives for Jesus Christ.

For we are called of God to rescue the perishing, to snatch people out of the flames, to lead them to repent of (forsake) their sins and to follow Jesus Christ with their lives in obedience to our Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant. And we are to tell them the truth of the gospel and we are to expose the lies for what they are, for the lies are leading the masses to follow after another Jesus and a different gospel other than the Jesus and the gospel of the Scriptures.

And this Scripture here could have been written today, for it specifically addresses the situation we are in today. For it appears that the majority of those supposedly preaching the gospel these days are telling the wicked, “You are in the right.” For they are telling them that all they have to do is just make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future) and heaven is secured them for eternity but regardless of how they live. And that is a lie from hell!

But we are not to be those who say what people’s itching ears want to hear and just what will make them feel good. We are to be those who are courageous enough and who care about people enough to tell them the truth, even if they hate and reject us in return. So we are to be those who speak the truth of the gospel, in love, and who rebuke the lies and the liars and those who are living wickedly, who know better. For we are to expose the lies for what they are in order to rescue people from hell.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]  

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296