Judge Right, Lest Ye Be Wrong (John 7:11-31 Jeff Kliewer)

Truth as a Christian Virtue and a Culture of Lies

Sing a few songs together. This newer song is based on Psalm 148. I encourage you sometime today, throughout the week, read through Psalm 148. It speaks about how we should be praising the Lord. So let's sing together.

Praise his name. Is of heaven. Starry high of the earth. Dancing inside in some morning Above every other name

Go to the Lord in prayer. Father, your word in Psalm 51 .6. Reads, behold, you delight in truth in the inward being and you teach wisdom in the secret heart. Lord, we pray that you would teach us wisdom in our hearts today.

We pray, Lord, that we would delight in truth in the very inmost part of our being. Lord, each of us in the fallen nature is prone to entertain lies and misrepresentations and to be deceived. But Lord, we pray that from this sermon, as we open your word, you would teach us truth and teach us to love truth and to make no accommodation for lies.

Help us this morning in your word, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Truth is not a pagan virtue. Before the rise of Christianity, truth did not hold the place of prominence in society that Christianity brought about.

So the scientific revolution happened among many who highly valued truth, that is, investigating matters based on the evidence, being willing to test one's opinions or ideas against the evidence, to falsify those or confirm those.

But as the society moves away from Christianity, the culture is moving more and more in the direction of paganism and away from love for truth. Nowhere was this more clearly seen than in our government's response to the changes that occurred in 2020.

It became evident that the government was not so much interested in discovering the truth as in writing a narrative. And painting those who disagree as villains. If you don't eat what I'll call Joe's cookies, then you are unloving and reckless and trying to kill grandma.

Now whether a person is deciding based on their own interpretation of the evidence, whether or not they choose to eat the cookies, is up to them, and that is really a matter of freedom and conscience, and some would choose one way or another, but here are the facts of the matter.

Because facts matter if you're pursuing truth. In Burlington County, in which we live in New Jersey, right now, the average number of new cases is 110 per day. That is precisely the same level as it was during the height of the hysteria.

The average number of deaths per day in Burlington County is approximately one, which is the same level of those attributed to the virus as during the height of the hysteria. So what changed? Was it the facts, or was it the appearance and the narrative that is written?

The goal of pagan government is not science, but the creation of the appearance of a scientific consensus. You see the difference? The goal is to create the appearance that science has reached a consensus.

We hear from government that we don't know what's causing the death and the collapsing of many young people, but what we're told is that we know that it's not something. Without knowing the cause of something, it's impossible to rule out any other measure.

It's probably true that we don't yet know. But here's the principle of scripture. This is very important. Proverbs 18, 17. "'One man seems right until another comes and examines him.'". One man seems right until another comes and examines him.

Cross-examination is the pursuit of truth. Truth doesn't mind being questioned. Truth is a pursuit. Truth is there whether we understand it or not. And the one who's pursuing truth is willing to question and look at all evidence, no matter where it leads, even if it's different than what I came in believing.

Truth has been lost in our culture. Much energy is spent trying to stifle free thinking. And in fact, in a post-truth culture, those who oppose what is wrong are the ones who are hated rather than the ones who perpetuate wrong.

You know, the very fact that I have to refer to anything as Joe's Cookies is evidence that truth is not the objective of our culture because we're on YouTube and there are filters which would then censor a message which would use certain terms.

Christian must be a lover of truth. But let's take this down from the governmental level to the personal level, to individuals in pursuit of truth. What is the one sin in a post-truth culture? The one sin in a post-truth culture is judging.

The one thing that you are not to do is to judge another. In other words, if you were to say that a Muslim who claims that Jesus was never crucified, who claims that Jesus is not God in flesh, to say that a Muslim is wrong makes you wrong.

Now, do you see the irony here? Because that in itself is a judgment. To say that you're wrong to say that someone else is wrong is a judgment, but the one thing you're not to do is to judge, to say a Muslim is wrong or to say that there are boundaries around sexuality and to go outside of those boundaries is wrong, is itself considered wrong.

Church, what is the most quoted verse in the Bible in 2023? Well, 2022. All of you know it. It is Matthew 7, 1, judge not, lest ye may be judged. In previous generations, it was John 3, 16. But how has John 3, 16 lost emphasis in favor of Matthew 7, 1?

Well, Matthew 7, 1 has become useful to those who would take that verse in isolation and twist it to mean something that it doesn't. As we open the text today, we will study Matthew 7 to understand the real meaning.

There is a real crisis in our country. And it really is at the personal level. People have come to hate truth. They feel no need to be consistent, no need to pursue matters to the end. They believe narratives without investigation or evidence.

And families are suffering because of this when individuals in a family are willing to be deceitful toward one another, the inevitable result is a lack of trust in the breakdown of the family. Where there is no truth, there is no trust.

There is a movement over the last 60 years of therapy, therapy to work with people in their problems. But the therapist does not open God's word to exhort from the scripture to teach a person how to think and how to work matters out in pursuit of truth.

Rather, the therapist is quick to tell the person who's struggling, you are perfect, you are loved. Trust yourself, do whatever makes you happy. This preoccupation with the feelings of a person rather than the pursuit of truth is leaving people in personal prisons.

And the main idea this morning is that this cultural preoccupation with feelings is causing many to latch onto the idea that judgment itself is the problem. That's ironic because that itself is a judgment.

The scripture tells us, church, according to 1 Corinthians 2 .15, the spiritual person judges all things. We must learn to take responsibility for making right judgments. Matthew 7 .1 says, judge not, lest ye may be judged.

But let's look into John 7, bring a consistent interpretation to that because John 7 teaches us that you must judge. Judge right, lest you be wrong. Let's turn to John chapter seven. We left off at verse 10 and today the scene will be another confrontation.

This happens in Jerusalem and what we have is people, the crowds, considering the evidence of the claims of Jesus. There are truth claims that are being considered and as we watch this unfold, we learn how to come to a knowledge of the truth and the importance of truth.

The very structure of the book of John is teaching us about truth. Chapters one to four are the presentation of the Messiah. Jesus is presented as the son of God with evidence. The testimony of John the Baptist, the testimony of miracles like turning water into wine, what Jesus says to Nicodemus and to the Samaritans, this presents him as the Messiah.

But beginning in chapter five and continuing through chapter 12, we have opposition to that claim, opposition. There are confrontations all throughout John five to 12 and this is intentional. John is grouping this opposition section as a testing of the claim.

Remember Proverbs 18, 17. One man seems right until another comes to examine him. So here we have in John five to 12 the examination of the claim. In John chapter five, you have the Pharisees who begin to accuse him because he healed on the Sabbath and Jesus will answer their claim with evidence.

Remember what he says? You search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life but these are they that testify of me. They testify, he gives the evidence as well as the evidence of John the Baptist and the miracles, the voice of the father.

In John chapter six, he turns, he multiplies the bread and feeds 5 ,000 people. And then he makes a claim about himself and the people oppose that claim. They all leave him and reject him. And here in chapter seven, he's back in Galilee and he's rejected by his brothers.

There's confrontation with his own physical earthly family, the half-brothers. So let's pick up at verse 11. I'm not gonna read all the way to 31 but we're gonna take it in small sections and read as we go.

The Question of Who Jesus Is

Verses 11 to 13. The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, he is a good man, others said, no, he is leading the people astray.

Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him. We'll stop there for a moment. The question asked at first is where is he? Well, why are they asking where is he? They're interested. He's been doing miracles.

He's the talk of the town. But the question where is he really derives from a greater question, a more important question, the most important question you, listener, will ever be asked. And that is, who is he?

Who is Jesus? And notice in the text, some say he's a good man. They think he's telling the truth. They're listening to him. They're noticing the miracles and they notice his compassion to heal. He's a good man.

But others oppositely say what? No, he is leading the people astray. Now, is this an open debate where the evidence is put on the table or is it stifled and obfuscated by something? Look at verse 13. For fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him.

The conversation is being stifled. They can only mutter, the text says, under their breath, to their family and friends, but they don't dare say anything because the Jewish authorities are stifling the conversation.

They've concluded that he's a false teacher. Sabbath breaker. So the conversation is not open and honest. But this question, who is Jesus, is the most important question you'll ever be asked. You wanna know what the most popular tattoo saying in our country is?

Only God can judge me. Isn't that interesting? Only God can judge me. What does that indicate about our culture? Well, people are so anxious, so afraid, and their feelings are so fragile that they're worried about what I or another person might feel about them or perhaps say about them, which might make them feel less or feel judged, feel condemned, the result of which is nothing except feelings.

And what they have no concern or worry about is what actually matters, and that is the judgment of God. It matters little if I judge a person in one way or another, but what truly matters is the judgment of God, and the judgment of God will be determined based on this question.

Who do you say that I am? The Lord Jesus asks that question, and Peter answers. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. The one who believes in Christ and confesses, making the good confession, will be saved, and the one who concludes wrongly will be lost.

And so all of human history comes down to this question, and it is a truth question. So here is the ultimate evidence that truth matters. If you make the right judgment and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.

But John 3 .36 also teaches that if you decide wrongly and judge wrongly, you will be lost. It's like the sinking of the Titanic. Some people were saved by lifeboats, others were lost under the water.

And when they got to shore, there was a list in the New York Harbor, in the city. And as it was confirmed that someone had been rescued, their name was added to the list under the title saved. And when it was confirmed that some had been lost, their name was written under the title lost.

Truth divides that way. And the question of survival, of being rescued, of being saved, is far more consequential even than escaping the death of a sinking ship. This world is a sinking ship. And you will be saved by believing in Jesus, by concluding rightly, or you will be lost by concluding wrongly.

And that's what's happening in verses 11 to 13. Two completely opposite opinions of the most important question, who is he? Now this question presupposes that truth and falsehood exist. Let's read 14 to 18.

Truth, Falsehood, and the Will of God

About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, how is it that this man has learning? Or in the Greek, knows his letters. Well, who's trained him when he has never studied?

So Jesus answered them, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory.

But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Here in verse 18, we see that there are categories of truth and falsehood. But we live in a postmodern culture that has rejected the very categories of truth and falsehood themselves.

This came from philosophers. Now, philosophy means love of wisdom. But if someone has a depraved mind, and according to Romans 121, their thinking has become futile, their mind is now darkened because of the fall, they rather than loving wisdom will love their own foolishness.

Thinking themselves wise, they become fools, we're told. And so here, the philosophers of previous generations, like Immanuel Kant, taught that objective truth is no such thing. All there is is subjective experiences, and whatever you experience and believe, that is true for you.

And then from Kant comes Hegel, and after him, Karl Marx, and all the insanity of our culture is built on these philosophical musings about truth. This is the ultimate question. Does truth exist, or is it only something relative to you?

If there's no God who reveals truth, then the person in their own mind is the only source of authority that they'll ever know. And so they conclude that everybody is their own little God, making up their own truth as they go along, but see the opposite of that in verse 17.

If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God. That's the issue. Now, by the way, who will desire to do God's will? Will the fallen man and Adam? No, because according to John 6, 44, no one can come to me unless the Father draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

That is John 6, 65. No one will come unless he is given by the Father. In other words, this kind of willing to come and think and do the will of God, that comes from God. You need grace. All of us are fallen in Adam.

All of us think wrongly. This is the noetic effects of the fall. Noetic meaning on the mind. The mind of humanity has become insane. I once preached a sermon that I entitled The Insanity of Humanity, because we're not rational.

Our very ability to think has been corrupted in the fall, but Jesus is purely rational. He is the logos, pure rationality. He has no error in his thinking, because he's God, and God is that way. In the world in which we live that was constructed, and we are the six-day creatures, which were meant to rule and have dominion here, this was made for us that we would represent God and glorify God on Earth.

Well, this world is orderly, and it has categories of truth and error. Some things are true, absolutely true, regardless of what anybody thinks of them, and other things are false. Do you see that in verse 18?

Jesus says, the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. You see the categories, truth and falsehood. You must believe in absolute truth to do the will of God, to learn from God, and this is precisely where our culture has gone bonkers, by rejecting truth itself in favor of relativism and postmodern philosophy of men.

Well, that leaves us at the next key point in the text, from verses 19 to 23. I wanna answer the question, how do you know what's true? You realize that as Pastor Jeff preaches from John 7, and I advocate for absolute truth, and the knowledge being revealed through the scripture, and categories of right and wrong, as I preach this, somewhere across town, in fact, most of the churches across town these days, are preaching quite the opposite message.

They're preaching a perversion of the concept of tolerance. They're preaching something different. How are you to know that you happen to be in a church where the pastor's got it right, and they happen to be in a church where the pastor has it wrong?

See the categories of right and wrong? How do you know truth? Here is the hallmark of truth, consistency, consistency. It is one thing to grab a verse out of the Bible, perhaps twist it, and run in a direction where the person already intends to go, to create an appearance of obeying the text.

It is another thing to take the full counsel of God, Acts 20, to correlate that data, and to be entirely consistent with every word that God says. Notice the consistency, and this is what Jesus is arguing, verses 19 to 23.

Has not Moses given you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me? Crowd answered, you have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you? Now, pause right there. Consider the rationality, or the insanity, the irrationality of the crowd.

They come to their conclusion before they ask the question. Their conclusion is, you have a demon, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. In fact, his works were done by the true and living God. They come to their conclusion before they consider the evidence and ask the question, but Jesus answers them this way.

I did one work, and you all marveled at it. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers, and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. What's he talking about here? He's appealing for them to be consistent in how they interpret scripture.

What happens if a baby boy in Israel was born on a Friday? Well, the law prescribes that circumcision happen on the eighth day. So the eighth day would fall on the Sabbath, so how do you rest and not do any work if the circumcision is meant to happen on a Saturday?

Well, consistently, the law allowed for circumcision on a Saturday. Well, if that's the case, then let's be consistent. Look what Jesus says in verse 23. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision so that the law of Moses may not be broken, you're keeping all of it, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well?

The cutting away was acceptable on the eighth day, but to make a body well is not acceptable in your real view? Listen to this about the Pharisees. Most people think that a Pharisee, a judgmental Pharisee, is somebody who is too rigid with the word of God.

They're too into the law. They're like lawyers that are too precise with the word. A Pharisee is, in fact, entirely lawless. They don't obey the word. What they do is they pick and choose certain parts of the word, not being consistent with the whole.

They choose certain ones, and they happen to be the ones that make them look good, make them look spiritual. So yes, they'll tie the phylactery on their head, according to Deuteronomy 6, and parade about with scripture boxes on their head because all the people will say, look how spiritual the Pharisee is.

He has scripture on his head, and he'll pray on the street corner in order to be seen by men. But what the Pharisee does is he writes his own laws about the Sabbath, adding to what was written that are rules and traditions taught by men, and not, in fact, what God had written in the first place.

So the test is consistency. We must pursue truth before we pursue justice. In our culture that has abandoned truth, many people will make a judgment based on their feelings and then demand a just cause in support of what they've concluded.

Let's take the life of an unborn child in the womb. This baby is made in the image of God, and science has now demonstrated the life of this human being from conception. But rather than taking that truth as the starting point and then pursuing justice from that starting point of truth, rather what people do is entertain a justice cause that denies the original truth.

Another example. Some incident will happen with the police, and rather than pursuing a truth question, whether it can be demonstrated that police are systemically persecuting people based on the color of their skin, that question cannot be asked.

Instead, people are told to pursue justice against them without answering the truth question first. No evidence is gathered, no trials are held before the verdict is already in. These cases happen with the Believe Women movement.

No investigation, no truth work can be done, but you must right away jump to the step of justice. That's what the irrational crowd did in the days of Jesus. They made their conclusion first, you have a demon, and then they began to crusade against him.

Ultimately, they put him to death. You see the issue? Remember this phrase, truth before justice. You can't pursue justice until you've done the truth work to find out what is real, what is right, what corresponds with reality.

Judge Not by Appearances, but Judge with Right Judgment

We come now to verse 24, which is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It says, do not judge. And all the culture said amen, which means it is true. But he goes on to say, do not judge by appearances.

Do not judge by appearances, but judge. But judge puts the word judge as an imperative. It is a command to judge. And how are we to do that with right judgment? Turn back quickly to Matthew chapter seven, verses one to five.

I promised that we would look at that passage and see how it correlates. Matthew seven, the most famous verse in the Bible, Matthew seven, verse one, and then following. How can Jesus in one place say, do not judge, and in another, judge?

Well, as in John seven, verse 24, do not judge by appearances, this is referring to a specific kind of judging which is outlawed, and that is hypocritical judging that obfuscates the truth. Hypocritical judging, listen, judge not that ye be not judged.

Verse two, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye? You hypocrite! This is the issue here. It is hypocritical judging of others, unequal weights and measures, applying a standard to other people that you don't apply to yourself.

And it goes on to say, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly. So removing the log, removing that hypocrisy actually helps you to see, you get that? You can discern, you can see now because you're not clouded by your own posturing, your own appearance.

You're trying to make yourself look good compared to them, and that's why you're going to receive the same judgment you're heaping on them. But if you'll be genuine, if you'll walk in truth, then you'll be able to discern what's right.

And how do I know that I'm interpreting that correctly? Well, continue in the context. In Matthew 7, we will hear Jesus go on to say, do not cast your pearls before swine. Judge, make a right judgment of the situation and how you're handling.

And he'll go on to say, beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. These are false prophets. And you are to discern. And how do you discern? How do you know if this teacher in a pulpit or on TV raking in so much money for their, how do you know whether this person is true or not?

You will know them by their fruits. That is, you examine the external evidence, you examine what they say, you compare it to the light of scripture. You're a Berean, Acts 17, 11. You're training the powers of your discernment, Hebrews 5, 13, to distinguish right from wrong.

You see, this is judging, making a right judgment. Precisely the same thing, let's go back to John 7, verse 24, it says, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. You know, I entitled this sermon, judge right, lest you be wrong.

A playoff of judge not, lest you be judged. Both things are true. We must make right judgments, and that is precisely where our culture has gone haywire. Matt Hoek taught an amazing apologetic study last Monday night.

I'd encourage that you go watch it on YouTube. I was shocked by it because I remember growing up in the public schools and seeing in the textbook this supposed transitional form for evolution, where these one-cell organisms eventually give rise to humanity.

Can you imagine? And they say, one of the transitional forms is Lucy, and another is Artie. And the way they present it in the textbook, it looks like they found the transitional form, something that's half ape and half human, something in between.

Wow, case closed, you're a fool if you don't believe the scientific consensus that we evolved from monkeys. That's the appearance that I got when I was reading that textbook, and they told me about vestigial organs that are left over from that evolutionary process, and I thought, oh, well, what does my gallbladder do?

It's a dumb, worthless organ. It must be a vestigial organ until they find the meaning of the gallbladder. You see, and the tailbone. All of these things were to craft an appearance of scientific consensus, but what Matt showed us is that when you actually look at the evidence they found of Artie, and please watch the video, they tried to show that the transitional form no longer has the curved spine of the ape, but it's directly upright.

The trouble is, they collected only a few fragments of bone from this so-called Artie, over a 30-mile span, and pieced it together, and the parts that they did not find whatsoever included the spine.

And for Lucy, they painted these white eyes as if they're more human than ape. They don't have the yellow, they have these white eyes. Of course, in Lucy, they found no eyes. And the textbook shows more human-looking feet.

Of course, when they found the actual Lucy, she had no feet. They wrote this out of whole cloth. They completely fabricated an appearance of discovering a transitional form. So please watch that on YouTube.

There's a big difference between appearance and truth. Do not judge by appearances, according to Jesus, but judge with right judgment. Lastly, verses 25 to 31, some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.

So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, you know me, and you know where I come from, but I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.

So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, when the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?

This is the response of the crowds. And notice three groups here. First, you have people in deliberation. On the one hand, they're saying, verse 26, they're not arresting him. Maybe he really is the Christ.

So they're kind of considering, maybe this is true, he kind of sounds like he has authority and he knows what he's talking about. But on the other hand, nothing good comes out of Nazareth. For that first group who are in deliberation, does Jesus just snuff out the smoldering wick?

Does he just break off the wounded reed? Or is it good that they're in the discovery of truth? They're thinking, they're weighing things, and so Jesus mercifully speaks, I think, knowing their thoughts.

He speaks directly to it in verse 27 and 28. He explains that they think they know him because he grew up in Nazareth, but really, he comes from heaven. He comes from the Father. And what they don't know is that he was born in Bethlehem, fulfilling the prophecies.

So he's helping them by teaching this way. And then finally, in verses 29 and 30, I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me, so here's the conclusion of those who reject Jesus. They were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.

His hour had not yet come. The first negative is the negative response. When they finally decide, some people decide against him. Now, a whole sermon could be preached on the second half of that verse.

I'll spare you today. But remember the restraining hand of God. As wicked as this culture becomes, as hostile as it becomes, the providence of God is still over all, so we have nothing to fear. It's really up to God.

But to their own demise, they're seeking to arrest him. In other words, they have decided, they've made up their mind, Jesus is a fraud. It's what they think. But notice the good news here at the end, verse 31.

Yet many of the people believed in him. What did they say? Why did they believe? Well, spiritually, we know that the drawing of the Holy Spirit is working in them, John 644, John 665. But look, this is a matter of truth.

As their minds are rational, as they look at the evidence, here's what they say. When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done? The evidence is right before their eyes. They saw the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been there begging for so long, and Jesus healed him.

The lame are walking and leaping and praising God. Blind eyes are open, deaf ears. They now hear, later Lazarus will be raised from the dead. The evidence is right before their face. How else do you explain this?

The evidence of his works testify, and some of them now are believing. You see, truth is truth, whether you believe it or not. Some people won't and some people will, but you are responsible to believe the truth.

Believe the Good News About Jesus Christ

In closing, there may be somebody here you've heard preachers assert that Jesus is the Christ. This question about Jesus Christ, who is he? Is he a fraud or some religious teacher that people have built up over time?

Or is he the Christ? That question is the most important question you will ever be asked. All of the evidence is there. The fulfillment of prophecies. Eyewitnesses who saw him rise from the dead. The miracles he performed.

The consistency of 66 books that all testify him, of him, in perfect accord. Consider the evidence and believe the good news. Believe that Jesus is the Christ. That is the rational, true conclusion based on the evidence.

I wanna say something lastly to you who have believed that. You have believed that Jesus is the Christ. That he died for your sins, that he rose from the dead. Yet, you and I live in a culture that's built on lies.

The world is opposed to Christ and the world is opposed to truth. All around you, you are in the world but not of it. The world in which you live is deceit. And everyone around you who does not know Christ and does not value truth like this will teach you that entertaining lies is okay.

To value truth and to love truth the way it's taught here in the scripture, as Jesus does, is foreign to the world. And because you live in the world, it will be very easy for you to begin to justify small areas of deceit in your life.

Whether it's doing things that you know to be wrong online or whether it's cheating a little bit on homework or falsifying something on your taxes, things to create the appearance, you still look righteous but small areas of deceit.

This message this morning is a call to purity, to truth. When you hear the words of Jesus, he desires truth in the inmost part of you. And he's calling you to wisdom in the secret heart. I want everybody who's listening to me right now to commit to memorize Psalm 51, verse six.

David had entertained areas of deceit in his life, little lies that he allowed himself to believe. And it almost destroyed him. But in Psalm 51, we have his repentance. And in Psalm 51, six, we read these words.

Behold, you delight in truth, in the inward being. And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Christian, it is your responsibility to love truth. It is your responsibility to discern what is right and what is wrong.

When there are competing opinions, you must go to the word of God and come to the truth. And then it is your responsibility to walk in that truth, to hold to that truth, to defend that truth in a hostile culture.