# Dealing truthfully

Key Passage: Proverbs 12:22
Date: June 7, 2024

What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, and we stand before him in a great, great truth. Proverbs chapter 12 of God’s word. I believe the Lord would have us deal with this subject: the trap of dishonesty. Or you could just title it this way: dealing truly.

I was shocked. I looked through my files, kind of at the past 22 years or so, and I was shocked. I don’t think there’s ever been a Sunday morning or Sunday night that I’ve just dealt with a subject of lying. And that’s a little bit the angle we’re going at. It’s a broader subject than you think, so we’ll try to narrow it down a little bit. But we’re going to start in Proverbs chapter number 12.

Does it sound like I’m in a tin can to you? Ten can to you? Some of you are saying no. Some of you are. Someone was saying they were sick and they had hung out, stayed at home because they were sick and watched on YouTube, and they said, “I got to be honest, I was watching, but I got just that comfortable position. I fell asleep.” And what makes me thinking the new building will have very uncomfortable pews over there, all right? But they’re working on it and adjusted. They’ll get it here just a moment.

But dealing truthfully, or the trap of dishonesty—you heard about two brothers. They were very successful businessmen. They both had a lot of money, but they were con artists. They were just cheats, and both the brothers were. They had their own business, both just con men and cheats. They had a lot of money, though.

So one of them got terminal cancer, who’s going to pass. And so his brother went to the pastor and said, “Hey, Pastor, I make you a deal. If you can say somewhere in there in this funeral message when my brother dies that he was a saint, I’ll give a large donation to the church.” The pastor thought about it a little bit. Finally, he accepted the deal and he said, “I’ve got to do it somewhere in an honest way. How can I do that?”

So, of course, the fellow passed, and he’s preaching the funeral. And right towards the end of the funeral, the pastor said, “Before we close this memorial service, I want to say that compared to his living brother, Joe is a saint.” So, dealing truthfully.

Proverbs chapter number 12, we’re going to start right there. Verse number 22, would you please stand? Proverbs 12 and verse number 22 of God’s word. If you’re there, would you say, “Amen?” Good, good. Here we go. Proverbs 12:22: “The wicked desireth the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.” I’m sorry, I’m in the wrong passage somewhere. I’m not dealing truthfully.

Tell you what, let’s just jump over to chapter number 11. I had another verse along that line, and I’m not sure where it is. Oh, go back. Go back, would you please? What did I say? Chapter 12, 22. Y’all were there. I’m going to catch up one of these days. I promise you, folks. I’m only 52. Come on, it’s not old age. I haven’t too many people telling me here lately about those gray hairs. I remember my dad, he plucked those gray hairs with tweezers, and he came to the day he had too many to pull. Just leave them in there, you know. So I haven’t even plucked any of them yet.

Proverbs 12:22. Y’all there? We’re going to find out. Here we go: “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight.”

I think that last part of that verse is really the beginning. If you don’t deal truly, you eventually fall into that first part of the verse: lying lips. In other words, it starts with not dealing truthfully. Typically, we don’t have to just say a lie at first; we’re just a little deceitful in it. And then after a deceit for a little while, if we keep going, we eventually fall into this lying lips. Well, that’s an abomination to the Lord.

Look in chapter number 11, if you would please. Chapter 11, and would you look at verse number one? Chapter 11, verse number one: “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord.”

Now let me just stop and say a word about this false balance. What does that mean? I’m for balance in the Christian life, but it’s not necessarily talking about that. It is talking about in Bible times, especially in the Old Testament times, they would have weights. If I was at the church yard sale, Ms. Brenda’s a tough dealer. She’s good at saying, “You want to give money for those kids to go to camp, don’t you?” But if we were there in Bible time, she would say, “Well, that costs five ounces of a certain metal.” Either she or myself would have a weight that equals five ounces. You would weigh out your metal on one side of the scales, and you would put that five ounces on the other. Well, it balances out.

But sometimes people that were deceitful would have a weight in their pocket that maybe said five ounces, but it really only weighed four and a half or four ounces. And they would cheat people. It was just a way of dealing that was very common in that day and time. The Bible here says a false balance, deceitful if you will, is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. You’re paying the full amount. You’re not cheating. You’re not being deceitful.

The trap of dishonesty. If this is one of those messages, you’re going to be tempted to say, “Well, I’m honest. I don’t lie,” and kind of just write it off. But if you let God, I think he can work in every single one of us today in this subject—all of us, myself included.

Would you pray and say, “Lord, would you work in my heart?” But let’s pray. Would you pray and ask God to speak to your heart? As we talk about this subject, the trap of dishonesty, would you pray with me on that subject?

Father Lord, we come. And Lord, I really think it to all messages, but especially this one, Lord, it just seems if you’re in it, you could really grow us and teach us. Lord, if you’re not in it, Lord, I just believe it will lose most people. So Father Lord, would you be in it? Would you grow us? Would you speak to us individually and do a great, great work in our hearts, Lord, please? And Father, we’ll brag on you for what you do, Lord. In Jesus’ name we ask, amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

Let me give you just six statements. Honesty is not just that you don’t say anything incorrect. It’s more you dealing honestly with your life. It’s not just that you say, “Well, I didn’t lie,” but you’re dealing honestly with your life.

Number two: Satan is always trying to get you to deal dishonestly, and eventually he’ll try to get you to just outright lie. Jesus said he’s the father of it.

Statement number three: We can lie so long that you believe your own lie. 1 John 1:8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” That’s what God says—we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So I can lie and say, “Well, I don’t have sin,” so long that I’m deceived. That happens to all.

Very interesting. Years ago, my wife and I were taking a little getaway trip, and at the time I was needing to roll a tiller from a garden. We saw a fellow on the side road; he had a tiller for sale. We pulled in there, and as we pulled in, we noticed that it looked like that tiller had lived through the Vietnam War. I mean, it was old, had rust all over it. It was like an antique, pretty much. As soon as we pulled in, you know, you want to leave, but the fellow walks out there, so you feel obligated at least to talk to the guy.

He begins to just try to sell us on this tiller. And he kept saying this statement: “It’s smooth as silk. Smooth as silk.” I mean, he must have said that statement, I don’t know how many times. Smooth as silk. Then he tried to crank it. I can remember him just pulling and pulling, you know, and he kept saying, “I’m telling you, if it cranks, it’s smooth as silk.” Pull it in, pull it in.

You heard about the fellow, the preacher that bought it at the yard sale. The guy said, “Man, cranks, runs good.” He took it home, and the preacher started it; it wouldn’t crank, wouldn’t crank. He went back to the guy holding up the yard sale. He said, “Hey, you said this thing cranks and runs good.” And the preacher said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. You have to cuss it.” And he said, “Well, I’m a preacher. I don’t cuss.” And he said, “You keep pulling. You’ll cuss.”

I wasn’t planning on telling that one. But this fellow, we were over at a town I can’t remember where, and he finally got this old antique tiller to crank. Man, he was just bouncing all over the place, smoke coming out, and he kept saying, “Smooth as silk. Smooth as silk.” And my wife and I just kind of smiled at each other, got in the car, and left.

I honestly believe a little bit that fellow thought that tiller was smooth as silk because he had said it so long and so often. And you can deal dishonestly. You can say a lie so often you’re deceived by your very own life. We say that we have no sin; we deceive ourselves.

Now let me ask you this: Do you deal truly? I’m not necessarily talking about whether everything you say is a lie or not, but do you deal truly? Is your life truthful? Those that know you best—would they say, “When she says something, you can just bank on it; that’s just the dead honest truth”? Do people know you like that? Or do people say, “Well, it may be embellished a little bit”? That’s your terminology for exaggerated or lying.

Would your husband, would your wife say, “I tell you what, when they tell you something, that’s just the dead honest truth”? With those around you, we use this word a lot in our day and time, unfortunately. But when anybody around you ever says, “Hey, you tend to manipulate things,” are you known as being a manipulator? By the way, typically, how can you solve someone that just manipulates? If they just get honest, they take care of the problem.

Dealing truly is so very, very important. By the way, I don’t think that any of us, myself included for sure—I know myself more than you—deal truly 100% all the time. You said, “Preacher, come on.” Well, you let that husband and wife be in a little argument, and they’re mad at each other, and the phone rings: “Hello, you okay?” “We’re great over here. How are you doing today?” None of us deal truly all the time. None of us do.

We used to have someone who would spend some time with our family years ago, a good person, a friend of our family. They have a Facebook page on all this internet stuff, and a little bit of their business is on the internet. They’re kind of at home, inside a lot, on the computer and all those things, but their portrayal online is that they’re always working out and exercising and everything.

Our family would like to do things. We used to have a boat, and they’d ride on our boat sometimes. Anytime we did anything—we like to play pickleball. Anybody here ever played pickleball? Good. They would do something like that with us, and before we would even actually play, they’d be over there taking selfies. It seemed like they were putting some water on only to look like they were sweating or something. They would take a picture and send it out, and they never really did anything with the activity; they just took pictures while, “I’m on the lake, skiing, whatnot,” and they wouldn’t ski, you know. We’re tubing, and they wouldn’t get on the tube. I’m just saying that’s a little bit of our day and time that we’re not dealing truthfully. It’s a little bit of a way of life.

Dealing truthfully—sometimes we’re talking about someone, “Well, they just don’t have a filter.” I’m for having a filter. The Bible talks about you having to bridle your tongue, or that your religion is vain. But sometimes I’d rather somebody didn’t have a filter because at least I know where they believe and where they stand on something. That someone is just always a little bit deceitful, manipulative.

The Bible here says so much about dealing truthfully. Let me just give you three things about it. Every Baptist preacher has got three things, three points. Now underneath those three points are ten different subtitles. Okay, you all right with that?

Number one: God hates dishonesty.

You know the fall of mankind, Adam and Eve back over there in the garden. You know where it all began? It began by Satan deceiving Eve. Eve was deceived; Adam willfully sinned, but Eve was literally deceived. Would you look over there in Genesis chapter 3, would you please? Genesis chapter 3. This is where everything started going downhill right here. Satan is the master manipulator; he’s the master deceiver. He’s just so slick and so sly. The very first words the Bible gives of Satan saying are just so sly of the devil. Genesis chapter number three, look at verse number one, please. Genesis 3, verse number one: “Now the serpent”—of course, Satan was working through the serpent—“was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

Sometimes as preachers, we would point out he was casting doubt on the words of God from the very beginning, but can I say this? That’s not what the Lord said. God never, ever said you cannot eat of every tree of the garden. The serpent was so manipulative, so sly, so sneaky that it got Eve thinking about this thing that God had never even said. God never said that. It never said you can’t eat of every tree of the garden. But Satan was so manipulative, so sneaky that he began to slip dishonesty in from the very get-go, and she was deceived, and Adam followed. And that’s how the fall came: deceiving. No wonder God says those lying lips are an abomination to me. I can’t stand it. I hate it. Dishonesty.

In the New Testament, we’ve got this story of the early church, and some people had given a large amount of money in the offering plate. There’s some people that gave a large amount of money, and then this other family came along and said, “Hey, we’re going to do the same thing. We’re going to sell our land, and we’re going to take all the profit—or excuse me, all the amount that we get off of it—and we’re going to give it to the church.” That was theirs to give whatever they wanted to, but they went to the church and said, “Yeah, we sold our property for $100,000. We’re putting it all in the offering plate.” Really, they had sold it for $150,000. They could do whatever they want to do with their money, but they were lying.

In fact, they were lying to the Holy Ghost. If you lie to people pretty soon, very quick into it, we start lying to God working in our heart. You know what happened? You know what happened. Peter, old preacher, he said, “Hey, Anonis, you sell it for such and such.” He said, “We sure did, Preacher. We gave it all.” And boom, he just dropped dead. Wow.

To prove to you that that was a Baptist church, his wife was late, so it was a Baptist church. She came in later. Now, I’m joking, Fred. I’m joking. I got all the ladies mad at me, all the men happy with me. Forgive me, ladies. But a little while later on, hours later on, the wife comes in and says, “Hey, did y’all sell that property for $100,000?” “You know we did. We gave it all in the offering plate.” Boom. Wow. That’s pretty strong how God feels about the saying of deceiving.

Hey friend, we’ll never get close to God when we’re lying, just dealing deceitfully. But they that deal truly are his delight. That’s with that verse that pastor couldn’t find; he finally found it, Proverbs 12:22. They that deal truly—do you deal truly? As people know that you’re not slightly deceiving, or do you just deal truly? It’s so vital. God delights in that.

Psalms, when David was getting around Psalms, Psalm 51, verse number six. David had committed that sin with Bathsheba, and then in a repentant Psalm, Psalm 51, verse number six, he says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” God likes it when we deal truly; we’re not sly and slick and deceiving; we’re just painstakingly honest with the Lord and others.

Now, let me say this: Dishonesty stifles growth. That’s the sad part of it. Would you look over, would you please, in Proverbs chapter number 16? Proverbs chapter 16 of God’s word. Proverbs 16, and would you look down in verse number six? Proverbs 16 and verse number six of God’s word. And it says there, “By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.”

Now look, this iniquity—iniquity is typically sin in our heart. How do I get rid of this iniquity in my heart? How do I get it purged out of my system? By mercy and truth. I’m just prone to this sin in my life; how can I overcome it? First of all, get honest about it. You’re not going to overcome this thing. You’re not going to become a better Christian, a better husband, a better person, unless you just get dead honest. By mercy, yes, that’s part of it, but truth. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged.

I remember years ago, a good man in our church—he’s in heaven now—came to me and said, “I realize I have anger issues. And I’m understanding I’ve got a problem there.” I was so glad he did it. I said, “You know what, brother? You’re setting yourself up to grow.” And I believe he did grow. But friend, it also, by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. So very, very important.

Look over in the book of John, if you would, John chapter number eight. John chapter number eight of God’s word, please. John chapter number eight. This is a very familiar passage, and I want to try to put the context into it. Sometimes we’ll quote one verse out of this, but we’ll miss some of the meaning of it. John chapter 8, and would you look in verse number 31? John 8 and verse number 31 of God’s word. When you’re there, would you say, “Amen?” John 8, verse number 31: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.”

Now, let’s just stop for a second. All right, I know you want to read the next verse. All right, let’s go ahead and get the next verse in, then we can talk about it. All right, you’re going to read it anyway. Verse number 32: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” All right? Now, let’s try to put this in context. It was the Jews that he was talking to that had gotten influenced by the Pharisees. They grew up in that realm, and the Pharisees were like the religious elite. They worked hard at it. They had counted how many commandments there were in the Old Testament. I think if I remember, it’s supposed to be 613 or 618 commandments. But some of those are a little bit like you’re not supposed to work on the Sabbath day, but it’s not defined what work is. So the Pharisees had written some laws that define what work is. And actually, when you had all the Pharisees, it was about 1,500 laws, if you will.

The Pharisees would define that work means you can only take so many steps on the Sabbath day. You can only write so many letters on the Sabbath day. Jesus clashed with the Pharisees. He said, “Look, you’re like a whited sepulchre.” What does that mean? It’s like you’re going to a graveyard, and these sepulchers or tombstones, they would bleach them white. They look real clean and real beautiful on the outside, but Jesus said, “You look so good on the outside, but on the inside, you’re full of dead men’s bones.”

They were arguing, the Pharisees: “You’ve got to wash your hands before you eat. If you don’t wash your hands before you eat, it defiles you.” Jesus said, “That doesn’t defile you. Probably a good suggestion, but it doesn’t defile you.”

Now think about these Jews that just got saved, and they’ve been raised in this ritualistic religion. And Jesus here is talking to them; he said, “Look, if you’re my disciple and you stay in my word”—in our day and time, that would be equivalent to saying, “You stay in the Bible.”

As you read the Bible, you’re going to come across truth that says, “Hey, the outside’s not the big thing; the inside is the big thing.” Well, that’s totally contrary to what they’ve been raised. And so when truth comes along, they can either deal truthfully with it or they can handle it dishonestly and kind of push it aside. And Jesus said, “Now look, as you come upon truth, the truth shall make you free.” It’ll help you grow beyond where you’re at, where you’re not just on the outside looking good, but on the inside you have a pure heart and you’re trying to please the Lord, and God has changed your very heart, and there’s freedom in Christ—not freedom to go out and sin, but freedom from sin. It’s on the inside. You have freedom in Christ. Christ is the truth, and he’s the living word and the written word. You have freedom because you’ve got the truth, and as you face these things, you accept the truth of it.

Now, let me take this and kind of apply a little bit to your life and my life and everybody’s life. It’s very interesting how we grow up in our developmental years when we’re young. It’s the only world we know. Some families are more what I call a closed-unit family than others. I’m not debating where it should be, but some families go very drastic and they’re very closed. Some of them won’t go to church; they don’t let their kids go to school. Homeschooling is a great option; I’m not against that, but they won’t go to church, they won’t go to school, they really don’t get out much at all, and they’re very closed.

What I’m saying is, when you grow up in that environment, you think that’s the world because it is your world, and you think that’s the norm. Isn’t it very interesting—I’m not the guy to talk about this—but the pronunciation of words? It’s all about how you grew up. How do you say it? Do you say caramel or do you say caramel? We just started a church split right there. How about do you say humble? How many ever heard somebody say humble? A couple of you, yeah. It’s just where you grow up at and your family.

Boy, you come to pronunciation of Bible words: “Oh, this is the way you’re saying it. I heard Alexander Scorby.” Well, what about this other guy? I would go with what you say in pronunciation instead of what I say. But I’m saying that world you grow up in, you go to default. When I do premarital counseling sometimes, especially with young couples, I really am interested in what their parents’ marriage was like because that’s going to be their default mode. They just think that’s right because that’s what they grew up with. Maybe it is right, or maybe it’s not right. But as they grow in the Lord and they grow in the Bible, they’ll be faced with truth.

Now, wait a second. Sometimes they’ll have to say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That wasn’t right.” And sometimes Adam wanted to defend their parents; they wouldn’t admit that that was wrong. I’m not trying to tear down Mom and Dad; we’re supposed to honor them, but I would like for them to grow. But we will always face truth, and how I handle truth is so vital. Sometimes I learn, “Hey, that’s not Bible. I didn’t get the right concept.” When I get honest about myself and who and what I am, I’m setting myself up to grow. But if I deal deceitfully and I just don’t want to face things as this truth, and I don’t want to accept the truth as it is revealed to me, then I’m limiting my growth.

Here’s another sad thing about it, the whole formula, if you will. Would you look over in Proverbs chapter 17? Proverbs is such a good book on how to deal with life. It talks much about dealing honestly. Look at Proverbs chapter 17. Let’s just throw a little bit more into this mix. The truth shall make you free. Do I handle things honestly or dishonestly when it comes at me? Do I just justify, look at the law of liberty, the mirror, the Bible, and just go on my way and never change, or do I say, “I need change”?

Look at this. Proverbs 17, verse number nine: “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love: but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.” That’s a very sad formula. If a child grows up and he has a lack of love at home—not always, but generally—he’s going to try to hide his sins. That’s not what you want. You want that child to be able to deal with things, and that child will be open with you. But if it grows up in a home where maybe that home is all about them looking good, them looking good—we’ve got to look good to everybody. By the way, friend, that’s a lack of love for the child; that’s about Mom or Dad, about me, not about the children. Who cares what it looks like on that child to live right? But if they lack love, then they’re going to be apt to just hide, hide, hide, hide, hide everything because there’s a lack of love. But when you hide, you don’t overcome, and then you continue to do this thing that separates those people that do love you, your friends that want to help you. And you’re stuck in a rut.

Let’s look at another verse in this whole form. Look over in chapter number 28 of Proverbs, chapter number 28, verse number 13. Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sin shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

That’s a sad thing. Here’s the thing: Maybe someone grew up, and there was a little bit of lack of love, and so they’re trying to hide everything all the time. By the way, every child’s going to try to hide some things. I’m not trying to throw anybody under the bus; every child’s going to do that somewhat. I’m just talking about being excessive. And they’re hiding everything because they’re seeking love; they don’t have the love they should have in their own. And then the Bible says you cover your sins, and you’re not going to prosper. You’re not going to grow to the next level, and so they get stuck in a rut, and they never get out of their issues of life. They grow up with major issues in their life, never winning over them.

You said, “Preacher, what’s the answer to that?” Well, here’s a wonderful thing. When I get saved, I become a child of God, and God has unconditional love. He said, “Hey, you that come to me, I will in no wise cast you out.” You’re my adopted child. You can call me Abba Father. Underneath your own, there is the everlasting love of God. You’ll always be loved. And you get close to your Dad; you realize he’s going to love you no matter what. You can start getting real honest about your root issues. Don’t deal falsely with God. That’ll always harm. In fact, Psalm 6:8 says, “Pour out your heart before the Lord; he is a refuge for you.” God’s the answer to that thing. He’s got plenty of love that you need, and you learn to get real open and vulnerable with God. And God begins to work on issues in our life that we all have. God begins to grow us. By mercy, that’s God’s love, and truth, iniquity is purged.

But how do I deal with these things? Am I dead honest, or do I deal deceitfully? It’s sad to see somebody who’s just stuck in a rut because they deal deceitfully.

Let’s get this last thing. Number one, we said God hates dishonesty; it’s an abomination to God. Number two, dishonesty stifles growth. I’m not going to grow as I ought to.

Number three: Look over in John chapter number 16, please. John chapter 16, and let’s just get one verse there, John 16, verse number 13, would you please? John 16, verse number 13. When you’re there, would you say, “Amen?” You didn’t deal with us honestly because you said, “Amen.” You’re still turning, folks. I’m teasing with you out there.

John 16, look at verse number 13, please: “Howbeit when he”—the Spirit, the Holy Spirit—“the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself: whatsoever he shall hear, that he will shew you things to come.”

Now look for him. If I don’t deal truthfully, the Spirit of truth will not be able to fill me and empower me like you’d like to. I get the indwelling when I get saved, but the empowering—I’m deceitful. Hey, he’s the Spirit of truth, and he wants to flow through you. He’s a straight arrow, if you will. It’s hard to put a straight arrow through a crooked pipe.

It’s sad when I don’t deal truthfully and I’m deceitful about things. It’s sad sometimes you’ll see some people just work so very hard to be used by God, and yet they’re just deceitful. And they’ll be limited to how much God can use them because one of the titles of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and I just have to be totally dealing truthfully so the Holy Spirit can flow through me. And when I don’t deal truthfully, I quench and then eventually I grieve the Spirit of truth, and then I’m very susceptible to the master manipulator, the devil. If it’s just me and him, or you and him, we’ll all lose. He’s deceived us all plenty of times. Now, I don’t bring God to; I submit to God. He’ll give me the strength to resist him, and he’ll flee. But just me and you head-on is no hope for you.

When I quench and then I grieve the Spirit of truth because I’m just not dealing honestly with things, I’m setting myself up. How many ever heard the story of the king and his magical seamstress that could make magical clothes out of gold? A couple of you have. All right, good. Those of you that have heard it, would you be merciful? I haven’t read it in a while, and I couldn’t find it, but I’ll do my best to tell the story.

Some seamstresses came to town, and they were just great at convincing people that they were the best seamstresses in all the world. They convinced the king that they could make a beautiful garment for the king to wear in the upcoming parade. So the king said, “All right, make it. I want to look good at that parade.” They gave them some gold, and the seamstresses said, “We need more gold to make the garment for your parade, King. It takes a lot.” So they kept bringing gold in, and they were in there working night and day, really stacking away that gold.

They said, “Now, King, let us tell you about this garment. The one thing about this garment: the wise people in your kingdom will see it and see how beautiful it is. The dumb people, they don’t see it.” And so they kept giving him gold and giving him gold. Finally, they said, “All right, King, we need you to come in and try on your outfit for the parade.” The King came in, and boy, that got it out. “Isn’t that beautiful?” And the King couldn’t see it. The King thought, “Well, I don’t want to admit that I’m dumb. I’m the King here. If the King’s dumb, we’re in trouble.” So he said, “Oh, wow, that is beautiful.”

They said, “Let’s try it on.” They put it up, and he started putting his arm in; he couldn’t feel anything. Well, I guess that’s dumb; I’m dumb, you know. Oh, it got hung right there. They said, “And later, straight,” and finally, “Oh, King, man, we need to take it a little bit here, and boy, it looks beautiful on you, though.”

On the day of the parade, the King put on this beautiful, beautiful outfit for the parade. He had his long johns on, is what he had on—all right? Now, you know he didn’t have much of anything on, and he walks out in the parade, and he’s walking down the street with this crowd on, and he’s in his underwear, but he’s supposed to have this special garment on. Everybody knew if you were dumb, you couldn’t see it, so everybody said, “Oh, that’s beautiful. Wow, I like that.”

Finally, they came along the part of the street where some old street fellow over there just started cracking up. “I never seen a king get his underwear out before. What about that?” And the more he started laughing and being honest about it, the more others started being honest about it. And pretty soon the King realized he was walking out there in his underwear. And it seems that those seamstresses had already left town with all that gold.

From when I deal deceitfully, I’m setting myself up. By the way, deceitful people get deceived. Oh, friend, if I’m just truthful, then the Spirit of truth will guide me into all truth. Dealing truthfully—so I’m telling you, friend, it’s so vital if you and I are going to grow, if we’re going to become the men and the ladies and the Christians and the coworkers that attract the world that’s hurting, we just got to deal truthfully. The world’s used to deceitfulness. When someone comes along, they’re just truthful, it speaks to the world, and the Holy Spirit can use someone like that.

Hey friend, nobody will ever get saved, nobody will ever go to heaven, that hasn’t just dealt truthfully. I’ll never be good enough. I met a man yesterday, and he said, “Well, the way we believe, you got to be good and do right and so on and so forth.” And I said, “Well, sir, let me ask you, are you good enough?” A little bit into it, he said, “I think so.” And I know he wasn’t dealing truthfully. By the way, there’s not a whole lot you can do; God doesn’t save him.

I remember as a teenager, I worked at Sampson Metal Machine in Lakeland, Florida. Mr. Sampson, he was a deacon in church. He had hired some of his teen boys to work at the shop there. I can’t remember what he did. He had been deceitful and maybe stole some tools when he quit work and all that. Mr. Sampson came back, and praise the Lord, we formed a friendship. I liked it. He’d come back and talk to me, a teenage boy, and the owner would come back to me from time to time. I enjoyed that.

Mr. Sampson came back to me, and I’ll never forget. It’s interesting years ago—I mean, I’m only 29, but, you know, it was years ago—I got dealing deceitfully, right? Truthfully there, you know. Anyway, it was years ago. I’m 52. All those years ago, whatever it was. He had never—I don’t think I’ve been to college—but he had a multi-million dollar business, really. He’s just an honest, hardworking man. I remember he came back; he was just kind of venting a little bit. He was mad. He said, “Boy, Paul, let me tell you, if somebody’s just not honest, they’re like a snake that just slithers out. You can’t hardly get a hold of him, like soap.” He was mad. He said, “All you can do is step on their head.” He was mad, yet what the Bible says over in Genesis 3 about the serpent that Jesus will bruise his head.

Nobody ever gets saved, goes to heaven, unless they just deal honestly. “I need a Savior.”

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Our heads bowed, our eyes closed. You’re there and you say, “Preacher, there was a day in my life when I knew I needed a Savior. I’m a sinner. I can’t save myself. Headed to hell. I need to be saved. I want Jesus to be my Savior and Him alone.” Preacher, there was a day I was saved. I was born again. I know that. I’ve settled that. There was a day I look back—you might not remember the date—but I look back. I got saved. I know that. Preacher, I’ve been saved before. If that’s you, would you just lift your hand? “Preacher, I know I’m saved. I know I’m going to heaven. I’ve settled that before. I know that.” God bless you. God bless you. Many, many hands. Thank you so very, very much. Many, many hands.

Maybe you’re here this morning. I’m not trying to embarrass you. I’d like to pray for you in a moment, and then after that, we’ll give you an opportunity, if you so choose, to accept Jesus as your Savior. Friend, out of love, I want to just talk to you about that. That is the most important thing in all the world. God loves you so very much, and Jesus has shed his very own blood so you can go to heaven.

If you’re here this morning, I’m not trying to embarrass you, but I’d like to maybe identify and pray for you, pray with you, and then give you a chance. It’ll be up to you then. If you’re here this morning and say, “Preacher, I don’t know that I was saved. I don’t have a time I can look back when I went to Jesus Christ, and I just dealt honestly—man, I’m lost. I need to get saved. Preacher, I don’t have that. I don’t have a time I can look back on when I was saved. I’m not sure I’m going to heaven.” If that’s you, with our heads bowed and eyes closed, if that’s you, would you just lift your hand up? Just slip it up. “Preacher, I don’t know that I’m going to heaven. I don’t have a time when I can look back on when I just dealt truly, and I’ve got to get saved.” Anybody like that? Just slip your hand up. Just slip it up. Anybody like that? God loves you. He’d love to save you this morning if you’re not saved.

If you hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, you know what? I want to deal more truthfully.” I don’t know where you’re at; maybe to the point where you’re telling some lies, little white lies like we might say, but maybe you’re not even there. You’re just dealing deceitfully, and I want to get more where I just deal truthfully. God delights in that. I just want to be one of those people that just deal truthfully in every area of my life, every avenue, every transaction, every relationship. I just want to be one of those that just deal truthfully. God spoke in my heart. I want to grow in that area. If that’s you this morning, would you just lift your hand? “That’s me.” By the way, my hand’s up too. I just want to deal truthfully. When truth comes along, I want to accept it truthfully. God bless you. God bless you. I’m with you. I’m with you on that. Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down.

Would you please stand right where you’re at? We’re going to have a word of prayer, then we’re going to have what we call the invitation. We’re going to invite you, if you’re not saved, it would be a great time to come down or go to the very back. There’ll be a man standing there. You can go shake their hand; they’ll take the Bible and show you how you could know for sure you go to heaven. If God spoke to your heart, maybe you just want to come pray. You can come down to an altar, and it’s nothing to do with me, but you’re spending—we’re inviting you to come and do business with God. Maybe you need to join the church or get baptized, whatever the need. I did not mention you want to pray for someone, but the invitation—we’re inviting you to come and do business with God. Would you just be obedient to him after we pray?

Lord, thank you so much for your word. Help us all, Lord, help me to deal truthfully. Grow us in that, Lord, please. Thank you, Holy Spirit, to live inside of us, your Spirit of truth. We pray that you would flow out of us. Bless our people during this time; help us to be honest and be obedient to you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Would you come as we sing? Would you come just spend some time with the Lord? Would you do that?

The wonderful thing is, God always restores. That’s his goal, I should say. His goal is to restore you. No matter what the issue, that’s his goal: to restore you. Yes, you can cross some lines, but God’s goal is to restore you. Oh, friend, never, ever, ever deal with God dishonestly. It never pays. He’s got the mercy available. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. Truth is Jesus; mercy is there. You do your part truthfully. Would you spend some time? The Lord’s saying another verse; would you do so?

Original File: Dealing Truthfully - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday 32722