Lent Devotion: The Whole Truth

Julius: reading from God's Word tonight is from the book of Zechariah, chapter 8. This will be the basis for our sermon in just a bit. For this is what the Lord of armies says, just as I planned to bring disaster upon you when your fathers made me angry, says the Lord of armies, so that I did not relent. So in these days I plan to do good to Jerusalem. and to the house of Judah once again. Do not be afraid. These are the things that you are to do. Speak the truth to one another. Render judgments that uphold truth, justice, and peace in your gates. Do not plot evil in your hearts against each other. Do not love false oaths. Indeed, I hate all these things. declares the Lord. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. The witness took his stand in the court, mind racing, heart thumping, stomach churning, because he knew that if he went up there and he told the truth, he would most definitely be found guilty. But he also knew if he went for the alternative and he tried to lie about what he had done, well, that could get him in even bigger trouble. So what was he going to do? He did not know. And then all of sudden, he snapped back into reality as the question is asked to him, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? So help you God. God is the Father of truth, and He hates lies. Satan is the Father of lies, and he hates the truth. Lies ruin reputations. Lies steal other people's property. Lies can even end lives at times, and worst of all, lies condemn to hell. God wants us to tell the truth all the time, not just when we are under oath. In other words, what God desires of us is to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And that becomes ever so clear in the words we're considering here from Zechariah chapter 8. This is what the Lord of Armies says, just as I planned to bring disaster upon you, when your fathers made me angry, says the Lord of armies, so that I did not relent." For centuries, the people of Israel had been filling their mouths with lies and filling their lives with rebellion. Eventually, had enough. He allowed the walls of Jerusalem to come crashing down. He allowed the temple in Jerusalem to be destroyed. And the people, His chosen people, He allowed them to be carried off into exile to Babylon. And there they would remain for 70 years to continuously ponder all of God's truth that they had ignored and overlooked. By the time we get to Zechariah's day though, those 70 years are over and done with. The exiles have come home. And while all has been forgiven, God still wants to make sure that His people have learned their lesson. I feel like they're still struggling a bit with this thing called the truth, and so He wants to make sure they understand what He wants them to do. So He gives them this reminder. These are the things that you are to do. Speak the truth. to one another. Render judgments that uphold truth, justice, and peace in your gates. Do not plot evil in your hearts against each other. Do not love false oaths. So God demands truth in all relationships and in all responsibilities. He demands truth in all interactions and within all institutions. That's what he wants from his people. But apparently his people at this time were still struggling with this, withholding to the truth. And that struggle would continue on amongst the Jews all the way up until Jesus' day. When Jesus stands before trial, on trial, before the Sanhedrin, they show they have a very messy relationship with the truth. So let's take a look at their thoughts, their words, their actions, and compare them with Zechariah's checklist here. Speak the truth to each other. Well, seeing how much they hated Jesus and loved their own power, well, massaging the truth for their own purposes, that was acceptable. That was A-OK in their book. Next, render judgments that uphold truth. By the time Jesus went on trial, His judgment had already been preordained. They planned it weeks ahead of time. not based on the truth, but based on their rage and their anger. Do not plot evil in your hearts against each other. Well, clearly Jesus was not included in the each other of that statement because they had already planned this evil against him for years in advance. And finally, do not love false oaths while many false witnesses testified against Jesus even though they were under oath. And so what did God the Father think of all of this? He hated all of this ignorance of the truth, all this disregard of the truth, just like He hates it when it happens in our world today. So it's a good thing then that we all love the truth, right? We all uphold the truth. We would never do anything but speak the truth to our friends, to our family, to our parents, to our teachers, to our boss. to our coworkers, to any authority that may exist. We always speak that truth, right? Unless, unless something less than the truth can get us out of trouble. Unless something less than the truth can work things to our own advantage. Then, then we're okay with massaging things just a bit, or maybe even just outright lying. Would you tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth if someone were to ask you, did you finish all of your homework and… clean your room and make your bed today? Did you report all of your income on your tax return? Were you looking at something dirty and perverse on your device? Did your lips mutter something profane under your breath as that person who annoyed you is walking away? It's so easy for us to slip into lies. We even do it with the Creator Himself. God, I will never do that again. No, Lord, there's no possible way I can give any more in my offerings to You. No, no, no, God, that was not my fault. I hate all these things declares the Lord. Sometimes the truth is hard to hear. And this one is one of the worst ones to hear, that God hates lies. And God hates those who tell lies. And we all are liars. That hurts a lot. And it hurt Jesus to tell the truth, to tell the truth before the high priest that He is the Son of God. That meant for Him a sentence of death. But it also gave Jesus great satisfaction to tell the truth because He knew what it meant by always telling the truth throughout His life. That meant He earned righteousness, a holy life, a life that He gifts to you and to me. And also by telling the truth that meant that he who was the innocent one would be declared guilty so that we who are the guilty ones would get declared innocent forever. because Jesus is a truth teller. And yet, a jury of His peers were so invested in their lies that they refused to believe it. Despite all the evidence before them, despite all the miracles before them, nope, Jesus can't be anything more than just another man. And the same is true today because the Bible has a lot of things in it that are hard to believe. A worldwide flood. A virgin giving birth. people being raised from the dead, all of Jesus' miracles. They're hard to believe because they are incredible things that happened. But they're also hard to believe because the father of lies is always hard at work in our world. There is no truth that is so well attested to that Satan can't find a way to twist it and to perverse it and to massage it until it's a half-truth and then eventually becomes a complete un. So whom then will you believe? The one who has been lying from the very beginning and wants to see you stuck in prison with him? Or the one who loves you and says this to you? If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples. You will also know the truth and the truth will set you free. The war between truth and lies will be waged from now all the way until the last day. It will never stop. But until that day comes, there's some important truths we need to cling to and hold on to no matter what. And the first one is this, telling a single lie, just one single lie is enough to get you banished from God's presence forever. So don't believe the devil when he tells you, ⁓ that little white lie, that small little simple thing, that's no big deal. No, every lie is a big deal. Second, Jesus, though completely and fully human, like us in every way and subject to temptation, He never lied. He never sinned. And so then third, that perfect, righteous, lieless life, God credits that to you. And then Jesus, He says, your record of lies and slander and perjury and injustices, I'll take that all on myself with no objection so He can be... the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, which most definitely then includes you. All this, of course, sounds too good to be true. How could it be true? I get all these eternal blessings and Jesus gets blamed as the perpetrator of all of this. It makes no sense. But Jesus testifies to this truth and His resurrection proves His reliability. So whom are you going to believe? Don't believe the one who has been telling lies from the beginning. When He tries to tell you your sin is too big for God to forgive, it's not. It's already been done. is finished. Listen again to Zechariah. This is what the Lord of army says, just as I planned to bring disaster upon you, so in these days I plan to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah once again. God did do good to Judah and Jerusalem. He brought them back from exile. He rebuilt the temple. He restored all the practices and the sacrifices and the rites and rituals which pointed them the Messiah who was to come. And when the time had fully come, Christ came. And He was laid on the altar of the cross. And there He gave His life. There He spilled His own blood to pay for all sin, including every lie that you and I have ever told. And so how then may we as redeemed children of God show our thanksgiving and gratitude for all this grace? The Lord tells us, speak the truth to one another. Render judgments that uphold truth, justice, and peace. Do not plot evil in your hearts against each other. Do not love false oaths. Speak the truth of your sins to God. and to whomever you have wronged in your life and then rejoice in the truth that those sins have been forgiven, have been absolved. Speak the truth of forgiveness to the one who has wronged you and rejoice to know that you were forgiven first in Christ. And even be willing to speak the truth to that friend, that brother, that sister who stuck in a sin, that you may lead them out of it and then rejoice once more in the truth. that they have pardon purchased for them on the cross. In other words, brothers and sisters, tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Lord, help us all to do that.

Zechariah 8 · chapter mention Zechariah 8 · chapter mention