Telling the Truth
Telling the truth is essential because it is God's delight and gives us infinite power, while lying is an abomination to the Lord.
Mary Wilder Tileston emphasizes the importance of speaking truth and the abomination of lying in the eyes of the Lord. She encourages believers to put away all forms of deceit and to speak truth with one another, highlighting the unity and interconnectedness of believers. Tileston echoes the sentiment that telling the truth brings infinite power and support, while lying invites infinite power against us.
Text
Lying lips are abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are His delight.
PROVERBS 12:22
Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor; for we are members one of another.
EPHESIANS 4:25
IT seems to me, that the shortest way to check the darker forms of deceit is to set watch more scrupulous against those which have mingled, unregarded and unchastised, with the current of our life. Do not let us lie at all. Do not think of one falsity as harmless, and another as slight, and another as unintended. Cast them all aside; they may be light and accidental; but they are an ugly soot from the smoke of the pit, for all that; and it is better that our hearts should be swept clean of them, without over care as to which is largest or blackest. Speaking truth is like writing fair, and comes only by practice; it is less a matter of will than of habit, and I doubt if any occasion can be trivial which permits the practice and formation of such a habit.
JOHN RUSKIN
If you tell the truth, you have infinite power supporting you; but if not, you have infinite power against you.
CHARLES GEORGE GORDON
Sermon Outline
- The Importance of Truth
- The Consequences of Deceit
- The Power of Truth
- Speaking truth is like writing fair
- It requires practice and habit
- Telling the truth gives us infinite power
Key Quotes
“Lying lips are abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are His delight.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“If you tell the truth, you have infinite power supporting you; but if not, you have infinite power against you.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- We must be vigilant against deceit in our lives and cast aside all forms of lying, no matter how small or accidental they may seem.
- Speaking truth requires practice and habit, and it's essential to develop this habit to have infinite power supporting us.
- Telling the truth is a matter of will, but it's also a matter of habit, and we must make a conscious effort to speak truth in all our interactions.