A.In 1Timothy 3:15, Paul said that the church is the “pillar and support of the truth.”To be so, the church and every member need to understand two responsibilities:
1.We have to be willing to hear the truth.
2.We have to be willing to speak the truth.
B.Let us consider these two responsibilities and how they affect the church’s work of preaching the truth.
II.“SPEAK TO US PLEASANT WORDS”
A.We have to decide whether we want to hear the truth (good or bad) or whether we want to hear only pleasant words.
1.Let us be honest with ourselves: do we want to hear that we are right with God regardless of the truth, or do we want to hear the truth of what is required to be right with God?
a.If we are right with God, then the truth will not offend us.
b.If we are not right with God, then our greatest desire should be to become right with Him.
2.If we are sincere about our service to God, then we will accept nothing but the truth, and we will know that no amount of false words will ever suffice, no matter how pleasant they may sound.
B.Consider some examples of people who wanted to hear only pleasant words about themselves.
1.2Chronicles 18:1-34
a.Ahab, king of Israel, inquired of his four hundred prophets whether he and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, should go to battle against Ramoth-gilead.All four hundred prophets assured Ahab that God would give him the victory (vv. 5, 11).
b.However, Jehoshaphat asked for a prophet of the LORD, to which Ahab replied, “There is on man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me but always evil.He is Micaiah, son of Imla” (v. 7).
c.When a messenger was sent to bring Micaiah to Ahab, the messenger said to him, “Please let your word be like one of them and speak favorably” (v. 12).However, Micaiah replied, “As the LORD lives, what my God says, that I will speak” (v. 13).
d.Micaiah revealed to Ahab that the four hundred prophets had deceived him and that the battle would be a disaster (v. 22).For this, Micaiah was imprisoned (vv. 25-26).
e.In the end, Ahab died in the battle and the unpleasant words of Micaiah were proven to be the truth.
2.Isaiah 30:1-17
a.Isaiah pronounced God’s judgment against Judah for their plan to form an alliance with Egypt without and against the counsel of God (vv. 1-2).
b.God described Judah as “a rebellious people, false sons, sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the LORD” (v. 9).
c.Their attitude toward the truth is revealed in these words: “…who say to the seers, ‘You must not see visions’; and to the prophets, ‘You must not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us pleasant words (lit. smooth things), prophesy illusions.Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel” (vv. 10-11).
d.Thus we see that Judah’s priorities did not include God or His truthful word.
3.2Timothy 4:1-4
a.Paul charged Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction” (vv. 1-2).
b.The importance of having a special commitment to preach the word was because there would be men who would “not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (vv. 3-4).
c.Just as Paul foretold of such men, certainly they soon became evident.Many such men fill church buildings today, and they sit at the feet of preachers who speak the pleasant words that their itching ears want to hear.
C.Let us not follow these examples, but instead let us welcome the opportunity to hear the truth, whether good or bad.
1.In these examples, we see the self-destruction of those who choose to be blissfully ignorant of the truth.By them we see that unwillingness to change in the present only leads to greater problems in the future.
2.Instead, let us rejoice to hear the truth and embrace it even when the truth is painful and unpleasant.
III.“WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN”
A.Having decided to listen only to the truth, let us also decide to speak only the truth.
1.Many times, it is even more difficult to say the truth than it is to listen to the truth.Nevertheless, we must speak what is right.
2.It is often a temptation to compromise the truth to make it more palatable, but the only effect this has is to make us false teachers and to leave others lost.
B.Consider some examples of people who boldly spoke the truth, even when it was difficult and unpleasant to do so.
1.John 6:60-66
a.After Jesus taught His disciples that He was the bread of life, many of them withdrew from Him, saying, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” (vv. 60, 66).
b.Rather than softening His words, Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (v. 64).Had Jesus changed His message, those disciples may have stayed with Him, but they would not have had the words of eternal life.
2.Acts 4:18-20; 5:27-33
a.After Peter and John healed a lame man, they taught the multitudes at the temple about the resurrection of Christ (Acts 3).Because of this, the Sadducees had them arrested (Acts 4:1-3).
b.The Sadducees “commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18).To this, Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).
c.Later, when the apostles were arrested again for preaching the truth, the Sadducees questioned why they had disobeyed orders.They answered, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
d.For their refusal to disobey God, the apostles received a flogging, and they rejoiced in their shame (Acts 5:40-41).
3.Jude 3-4
a.Jude said that he had intended to write about the pleasant subject of salvation, but instead it was more necessary for him to appeal to them to contend for the faith (v.3).
b.The reason for Jude’s change of plans was that false teachers had crept in among the believers, and they needed to know the unpleasant truth about these men.
C.Let us therefore follow in these good examples and speak the truth without reservations.
1.By no means should we be unduly harsh or overly critical toward anyone, but rather we are to “speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15).
2.Nevertheless, concerns about secondary issues should not hinder us from our primary duty, which is to speak the truth, regardless of the consequences.
IV.CONCLUSION
A.For the truth to be preached, it has to be spoken and it has to be heard.
1.Are we willing to do the difficult work of preaching the truth, regardless of the consequences?Or will we compromise the truth in an effort to make everyone happy?
2.Are we willing to listen to the truth, even when it is unpleasant?Or will the truth provoke our anger and our rejection of those who speak it to us?
B.When Paul preached the truth to the Galatians, he had to ask them the question, “Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Gal. 4:16).Will you count those who tell you the truth as your friends or your enemies?
