Buy The Truth
Rev. Raymond Woodward

Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

There is something precious about truth! TRUTH is one of the foundational principles of God’s kingdom, because God is truth!

• Psalm 119:142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.
  
• Psalm 117:2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.
  

Notice that there is “TRUTH” (facts) and then there is “THE TRUTH” (revelation). The word in English and in Greek is normally the same, but the context of the statement shows us that many times in Scripture when we refer to “THE truth” the meaning is not merely ethical truth, but truth in all its fullness and scope, as embodied in Jesus Christ. HE WAS THE PERFECT EXPRESSION OF THE TRUTH!

• John 18:37 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.

Other religions point the way to truth, but Jesus said “I AM THE TRUTH!”

• John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
• John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Throughout Scripture and until our present day, many people have a problem with TRUTH. In fact, it is not politically correct today to say that there is even such a thing as absolute truth!

• * Stanley Grenz, a well-known spokesman for this new tolerance, says that “truth is relative to the community in which a person participates. And since there are many human communities, there are necessarily many different truths.”
• * Thomas Helmbock states that “every individual’s beliefs, values, lifestyle, and perception of truth claims are equal … There is no hierarchy of truth. Your beliefs and my beliefs are equal, and all truth is relative.”
• * This view is reflected in such oft-heard statements as:
  o “No one has the right to tell me what’s right or wrong.”
  o “It’s wrong to impose your beliefs or morals on someone else.”
  o “I have the right to do whatever I want if I’m not hurting anyone.”
  o “You have to do what you think is right.”
  o “You have your value system and I have mine.”
  o “I don’t feel the same way.”
  o “Look … that’s YOUR opinion.”
• * Such views are not the exception today, even among Christians. An extensive study revealed that 57% of Christian youth already believe that “what is wrong for one person is not necessarily wrong for someone else.” Nearly 80% of 18 to 34 year-olds believe there is “no unchanging ethical standard of right and wrong.”
• * It is not enough today to “live and let live.” It is not enough to assert another person’s right to believe or say what he thinks is right. In order to be truly tolerant, you must now give your approval, endorsement and sincere support to their beliefs AND BEHAVIORS!
• * United Nations Declaration of Principles On Tolerance – “Tolerance … involves the rejection of dogmatism and absolutism.” (Isn’t it ironic that the proponents of the new tolerance are so dogmatic about dogmatism and so absolute in their opposition to absolutism?)
• * In other words, any system that believes in ABSOLUTE TRUTH is by definition guilty of intolerance! You don’t even have to say anything. If you even THINK there is an absolute truth, then you are intolerant!
• * To the modernist, nonagreement is phobia, nonconformity is hate, and conviction is fanaticism. This is why the proponents of toleration have no problem being intolerant towards Christians, because we believe in Biblical truth, one God, man’s sinfulness, and the evangelism of other faiths.
• * Traditional tolerance asserts that everyone has an equal right to believe or say what he THINKS is right, but the new tolerance says that what every individual believes or says IS equally right. All values are equal. All lifestyles are equal. All truth claims are equal. BUT …
• o THE LAW OF NON-CONTRADICTION (BASIC LOGIC) insists that two contradictory ideas cannot both be true. Hinduism teaches that when a soul dies it becomes reincarnated in another form; Islam (among others) asserts that souls spend eternity in heaven or hell. They are not equally true!
• o THE BIBLE MAKES IT CLEAR THAT ALL VALUES, BELIEFS, LIFESTYLES AND TRUTH CLAIMS ARE NOT EQUAL! It teaches that the God of the Bible is the true God (Jeremiah 10:10), that all His words are true (Psalm 119:160), and that if something is not right in GOD’S SIGHT, it is wrong (Deuteronomy 6:18). This is not just the view of Hebrew, Christian or Western culture – it is truth, according to the God who rules over all cultures!
• * The spirit of the “new tolerance” has in great measure infiltrated the church of the last days. That is why people have the false ideas that “all interpretations of Scripture are equal” and “to tell someone their belief or behavior is wrong is being judgmental.” But the Bible contains ABSOLUTE TRUTH!
  * The question is not “what does it mean to me?” but “what does it mean?” and “how do I apply it to me?” The meaning of the Bible is not DECIDED by the reader, but DISCERNED by him!
• * You can divide a quantity without hurting it, but you destroy an entity when you divide it (i.e. Solomon dividing baby) – God’s Word is an ENTITY!

Regardless of the opinions of men, truth stands on its own! Truth does not suffer when we fight against it, WE SUFFER!

• * 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
• * Galatians 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
• * 1 Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
• * 2 Corinthians 13:8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
• The Apostolic church is often criticized as being inflexible and out of step with the times. This perception is false, but quite common. The problem is that we are in step with TRUTH and we cannot move from it!
• * 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.
• * 2 Timothy 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
• * Galatians 4:16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
• * Right is always bound (2 + 2 = 4), wrong is always free (2 + 2 = 10!) – a dog with a collar indicates that someone CARES!

BUY THE TRUTH, AND SELL IT NOT!
So how do you “BUY” truth? Look at these examples from God’s Word:

ABRAHAM – BUY IT PUBLICLY

• Genesis 23:13 And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.

DAVID – BUY IT WHOLEHEARTEDLY

• 2 Samuel 24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

JEREMIAH – BUY IT UNCONDITIONALLY

• Jeremiah 32:8 So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
• Matthew 13:45-46 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.