And if you'd like to follow along,
I'm just going to read one verse in the book of Proverbs chapter
23. Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 23. Buy, buy, B-U-I,
the truth and sell it not. Also, wisdom and instruction
and understanding. I read that the other day, and
it kind of took a hold of me, so here we are. But before I
get started, I want to read you something Rolf Barnard wrote.
I told Walter about this a couple weeks ago, and I think it's applicable. He wrote this, it is impossible
to preach. that man is both partially and
totally depraved. It is impossible to preach that
election is both unconditional and conditional. It's impossible
to preach that redemption is both limited and unlimited. It is impossible to preach that
perseverance is both certain and uncertain. And it is impossible
to preach that regenerating grace is both irresistible and resistible. Although men are trying to do
that every day. There's no modification of one
by another. There's no blending of these
two opposites, because that's what they are. They're opposites.
Man has tried and has failed. There is no mixing of sovereign
grace and free will. None whatsoever. They've been
trying that for centuries, Mason. Centuries. Why? Because they
can't walk together because they don't agree. You can't have one
with the other. Because the sovereign God is,
is a stumbling block to the religious. And they will trip over him every
time he is mentioned. I guarantee. Now there was a
little bit of me in the end of that, but that's what Ralph Barnard
wrote, I like that. You can't put them together. And by his grace, I'm gonna try
not to. But here we are with this proverb,
buy the truth and sell not. That it is added in italics.
Also, wisdom and instruction and understanding. Now, I looked
at the word buy in the Hebrew, and it means to buy. Pretty tough. To procure. To procure with purchase. I'm going to be up front with
you folks here. This is a proverb. This is an expression. There's
no real way to buy the truth, no matter what rich people think. You can't buy love. You can't
buy happiness. Well, you can't buy truth. But if you could,
you should. If you could, you should. Buy
the truth. And not only that, don't sell. don't ever sell. You understand? Once you have the truth, don't
go back to a lie. Because that's the only two propositions
here. If it's not the truth, it's got
to be a lie. And I still remember, and bless
their hearts, it was on the sign of a veterinarian, of all things.
It's better to be slapped by the truth than to be kissed by
a lie. And that's true. I don't care
if it is a veterinarian. That's better than most of the
stuff I read on churches nowadays. Buy the truth. This is an expression
of how important the truth really is. So how does one buy the truth? Well, really you can't. So there's
only one way. Isaiah 55 tells you, verse 1. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy. Buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine
and milk without money and without price. That's the only way to
buy the truth, without money. Without money. And without price. Without price, oh my. But notice
carefully, of course, Isaiah there, it's only the ones that
thirst that will come to the water. Understand, he that hungers
and thirsts after what? Righteousness. What? Shall be
filled. Shall be filled. Oh, if there's
a hunger and a thirst, you're going to do something. Even if
it is, all you can do is throw up your hands and say, help me
God. That's a good place to be. And
that's a place most religious people know absolutely nothing
about. They've never been there. They
don't ever want to be there. And they don't want you to talk
about it, if you don't want to know the truth about it, because
it makes them feel guilty. Without money and without price,
the ones who want the truth, they'll buy. They'll buy. Oh my. Whatever the cost. Without price, whatever the price,
if you want the truth, you'd be willing to pay it. If you
really desire it on your inward parts to where the fact that
it is driving you crazy, I want to know what really is. I want to know who God really
is. You'd pay money for that knowledge,
even though you ain't got none. You might have money, but you
can't make the price. Because here's the thing. It's
without price. It is precious. beyond price. And in that word precious, I'm talking about Jesus Christ,
folks, because the truth is a person. I was gonna say that here in
a minute, but I'm gonna say it now. Because to those who believe,
to those who know the truth, he is precious. Now, precious means far more
than just valuable, although he is valuable. Precious also
means Rare. Rare. You understand? That's
why the hope diamond's such a great diamond, because there's only
one. It's a monster. It's a big old thing. That's
why it's valuable. Why? Because it's worth a lot
of money, and there's only one of it. And here's the thing about
the truth. There's only one truth. And that is Jesus Christ. Righteous,
and he is without price He is the pearl of great price, but
he himself is without price you couldn't come up with enough
money to buy him So come without money Come without money. I like that Of course I said
the truth is a person Jesus Christ John 14 and verse 5 and 6 says
this Need to turn back to 14 Thomas
saith unto him Lord. We know not whither thou goest
and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him and Paul
read this this morning on TV. I've said what's he do I? am the way the truth and the
life No man cometh unto the father but by me Now if that's not a great statement,
I don't know what is. My gosh. And you know what that
is? That is the truth. Spoken by
the truth. And that's something. Because
here's the thing. He who is the truth can only
speak the truth. And anybody that says any different
is a liar. I'm sorry, folks. I told you
I might offend somebody along the way today, but here's the
thing. As Pilate asked, what is the
truth is not the question. Who is the truth is the question. And that's the question every
man, every woman has to answer on their own. What think ye of
Christ? Whose son is he? I know what Gloria Copeland thinks.
I talked about that a couple of weeks ago. I don't believe
what she says. She's lying about Jesus Christ
who is the truth. Because she's not saying what
he said. She's not saying what his apostles
have written to us. And this book is the only book
we have. These scriptures are the only
scriptures that we have. They're the truth. They're the
truth. given it, holy men of old, moved
by the Holy Spirit to write it down. And he has preserved it
to this day. We've got it right here in black
and white and in English of all things. Who is the truth is the
question though, because the what of the truth is going to
be told to you by the who of the truth. Not the other way around. Period. You don't use a fact of truth
to try to prove him who is the truth. The one who is the truth
is going to tell you what the truth is. Now try and say that
three times fast, because I can't. Too many people, too many preachers, too many bishops and popes, they
pick a person depending upon their thoughts, their teaching,
their education, and their beliefs. And whatever you pick it on,
you're wrong. Because the who has told us the
what. The truth has told us the truth. That's what it is. He who is
truth tells us the truth because Jesus Christ And I don't know,
this might offend somebody, I don't know. Jesus Christ is more important
than the doctrine. You understand? Now I'm not saying
doctrine's not important. Wait a minute, I'm not saying
his doctrine is not important. A lot of doctrine, what people
say is doctrine, is unimportant. Why? Because it don't conform
to these scriptures, thus saith the Lord. But Jesus is more important
than the doctrine, because the doctrine doesn't save. Jesus
Christ saves sinners. The doctrine doesn't. And he
has given us. What? His doctrine. His doctrine. What's the proverb say? Buy the
truth. Lay hold of the truth. And keep
the truth. Don't sell. Don't ever sell the
truth. What? by the truth, without money
and without price, him who is the truth. Come if you're thirsty. Oh, remember last week? All empty
vessels will be filled. Will be filled. And I left this
out last week because I didn't think of it till I was on my
way home. I was talking to Paul outside. I started on it. You
understand all them empty vessels that were filled? Here's the
thing. It didn't matter what was in
those vessels beforehand, just that they were empty. It could
have been a rich man's vessel she borrowed from, had gold and
silver and rubies in it. But now it's empty. Now it's
empty. Could have been a vessel held
potting soil, dirt, a plant, whatever, it doesn't matter.
Now it's empty and empty vessels will be filled. Come if you're
thirsty and be filled without money and without price. Matter
of fact, you know another thing without price means? You don't
have to save up for it, Walter. I'll come after a while, I gotta
get myself ready. No, no, no. You don't need to
be ready. You just need to be empty. Amen.
That's right. You know? You don't need to get
yourself ready because you'll do exactly the wrong thing. Trust
me on this, folks. You'll do exactly the wrong thing.
I did. You know? Been there, done that,
threw away the t-shirt. I don't want it no more. You
come to the truth. Oh, there's nowhere else to go. If you think there's somewhere
else to go, go ahead and go, because you will anyway. You
remember that thing about running to Sinai, the Pilgrim's Progress,
and that song we sang? Sinai says, I got nothing for
you, boy. You don't want to go to Sinai,
but we're so dumb that we don't know what the Ten Commandments
mean. Oh, my. All of them have to do this,
don't do that, don't do this, don't do that, and whoop. And
don't think wrong. That's the killer right there.
I might not steal. I might not kill, try not to
kill. I might honor my mother and father.
I probably already failed at that. But there's no way in this
world I can't not covet. That's up here. You know? And I have, by virtue of age
and slowing down of my mind, Mason, I have learned to control
this thing a little bit so that what I do think sometimes doesn't
come out these lips. But that doesn't take it out
of here. Oh my. Buy the truth and sell not. Sell not. Because any price is
worth the truth. Jesus Christ. He is the precious
cornerstone upon which everything else is to be built. If you don't
build your house on a rock, it's gonna fall. It's gonna blow. If you sow your seed and that
seed's coming up in stony ground, guess what? That seed's gonna
fail. That seed's gonna fail. Every
time. Every time. But it also says,
also wisdom and instruction and understanding. Now let's be clear
here about the truth. Wisdom and instruction and understanding
are wonderful things, but they don't add one thing to the truth. Not one thing. The truth is the
preeminent thing in this proverb, and he is preeminent. Wisdom
and instruction and understanding help us to see, to comprehend,
maybe to lay hold of a little better. Oh, and wisdom and instruction
and understanding will help you walk in the truth. But it doesn't add a thing to
the truth. You can't add anything to Jesus. Not Jesus Christ. Not the Lord Jesus Christ. Why?
Because he is Lord. He is God manifest in the flesh. He doesn't need you, you need
him. And you've got nothing he wants.
If he wants your feet, he'll send you in them somewhere. And
if he don't want your feet, he'll have them cut off. You understand? God doesn't need my tongue. I
really would prefer that he not remove it. And I want to use
it to his glory and to say what he has said in his word. But here it is, the truth is
true and nothing can be added to him ever, ever. And besides that, he's our wisdom. Proverbs talks all about wisdom
before that. And guess what, it's talking
about wisdom as a person, as a person. And of God are ye in
Christ Jesus. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus.
But the reference is to God. Put you in Christ Jesus or you're
not there. Who is made unto us. He's our
wisdom, he's our righteousness, he's our sanctification, and
he's our redemption. He's our wisdom. But we are told. No, sorry, that's
wrong. We are told to grow in the grace and the
knowledge of the truth. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, the truth. The truth doesn't grow. You're
supposed to grow. You understand? Some people keep
wanting to find a new truth somewhere. There ain't no new truth, folks.
It's just something you was too dumb to see beforehand. And I'm
just talking about you because I don't want to talk about me
anymore. This is the way it is. The truth, what? Jesus Christ
is what? The same. When? Yesterday, today,
and forever. You know why? Because perfection,
true, godly perfection has no need to change. Oh, but I do. But I do. And Lord, help me. I want to grow. I don't want
to regress. No, sell not. Buy the truth and sell not. Don't
regress. I want to grow. So how do you
grow? All right. I'm spending a lot of time in
the book of John for some reason. But it's OK. I like it. I do. John 14 and verse 16. Because the truth told us of
another who is called the truth. You didn't see that coming, did
you? The truth, Jesus Christ, told us of another who is the
truth. John 14 and verse 16. And well here, verse 15. If you
love me, keep my commandments. I will pray the Father and he
shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever,
forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be
in you. I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you. Then over on the next page here,
John 15 and verse 26, Christ again speaking, but when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
what? Even the Spirit of truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, what? shall testify of me. He shall testify of the truth.
The spirit of truth is gonna testify of the truth. And ye
also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the
beginning. One more, John 16 and verse 13. How be it when
he, the spirit of truth, is come He will guide you into all truth. Notice that is singular, not
plural. The only one truth. For he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak, and he will show you things to come. Now what's he gonna
speak of? Read the next verse. He shall
glorify me. for he shall receive of mine
and shall show it to you. The truth ain't changing, just
your reception of it. And how do we receive the truth?
By the Spirit of truth. Who's that? That's the Holy Spirit
of God. That's the Spirit of Christ.
Whatever you want to call him, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit,
I don't have a problem with him being the truth also, Walter.
Because I also read where Father, Son, and Spirit, these three
are one. Oh, what? Yeah, guess what? If Christ is the truth, the Father's
the truth. And if the Father's the truth,
the Spirit's the truth. And guess what? Buy the truth
and sell not. Get it and grab hold of him.
And lay hold of him. And He will guide you into all
truth. Ah, I like that. Because the
spirit of truth proceeds from the Father and is sent by the
Son. Ah. Who is the truth? The Son. And He dwells. Now, He dwells in every single
believer. Every single believer. And you
know for how long? Well, right now. Christ said,
forever, forever. And the world cannot receive
him. The world cannot. Why? Because it doesn't see him. And this is strange. I saw it.
It says, because it doesn't see him, the world can't know him.
The world can't receive him because he doesn't see him, neither does
the world know him. And then he says, but you know
him. You know the strange thing about that? He didn't say you
could see him. Because you can't. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
And you can't even tell where it came from or where it's going.
But if you're lucky, you might know when he visits you. You can't know. You can't see,
excuse me. But he says you know him. Why?
Because he's in you. He's in you. Christ in you. The
hope of glory. 1 Corinthians 6 and 19 says this,
Paul wrote, what? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have
of God? And ye are not your own. Now
it doesn't say that you're always gonna feel the Holy Ghost in
you, but he says, Christ says, if the Holy Ghost is in you,
he's never coming out. It's forever. You understand? And you know who said that? The
truth said that. And you know what that means?
That means it's true. So now you can look at that and
say, well, they went out from us because they were not, what?
Of us. Because had they been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us. Not saying anything
about us, it's saying something about them. He shall not. This is a key thing. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of
truth, shall not speak of himself. And I agree. 30 years ago I heard
a human man say, if people are always talking about the Holy
Ghost this, the Holy Ghost that, the Holy Ghost this, the Holy
Ghost that, they don't know the spirit of truth. Because the
spirit of truth don't talk about himself. What? He shall glorify Christ, Jesus,
the Lord. So if you know the Holy Ghost,
the Holy Ghost is telling you to talk about Jesus Christ, the
Lord. And if you don't know the Holy Ghost, you're going to be
talking about the Holy Ghost. And you can even say it funny
if you want to. Oh, the Holy Ghost. It's never Holy Spirit.
Holy Ghost. And it's one word. Holy Ghost. I know. I'm mocking them. But that's
OK, too. I'm sorry. You're asking to be
mocked if you talk like that. That's just the way it is. I'm
not against people talking country at all. But you want to talk
stupid, then we're going to make fun of you. That's just the way
it is. If you want to have a problem with that, you can take it up
with Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Maybe your god's asleep. Why don't you wake him up? Forgot
to set his alarm clock. That's all right. He shall not
speak of himself. Now, I'm certainly not telling
you to ignore the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth. But I am
telling you that the spirit of truth speaks of him who is the
way, the truth, and the life. He, I'm saying, he shall glorify
me. And that's the words of the truth.
And I'll believe him over some Pentecostal preacher any day
of the week. All right, every day of the week.
Because there are a lot of people who don't know the spirit of
truth and are so enamored of, wait a minute, because there's
one out there, the spirit of error, that they discount, they denigrate,
and if they could, they would dismiss, dismiss completely God
manifest in the flesh. And some of them are so bad,
I told you a few weeks ago, they say they are God manifest in
the flesh. And I'm sorry, you've ascended
to another level of idiocy in my book, if you're saying stuff
like that. Oh, my. He, the spirit of truth, will
guide you into all truth. How? He shall glorify me. John 8 and verse 32 says this.
I told you I spent a lot of time in John 8, or the book of John.
And ye shall know the truth. And the truth shall what? Make
you free. You understand, the truth's not
here to set you free. He's here to make you free. You're not free to go wandering
around anywhere you want to. No, you're free to follow him.
You're free to follow the truth now. Matter of fact, you know
what the truth is, him. I said, what? You know who the
truth is. It's him. And my sheep hear my
voice and they shall follow me. Oh my. I can't get out of a sermon
without a good shepherd illustration either. I like the good shepherd. I like him. He goes out and he
finds his sheep. Them also I must bring. How many
of them? All of them? Other sheep I have. How many of them are coming in?
Every single one of them. Why? Because he's going to bring,
I must bring, I must bring, oh my. The truth doesn't lie, he
sets you free. You understand when he says,
you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free?
It's not talking about the what truth, it's talking about the
who truth. He tells us that. I said, John
8, 32. That's where I was at. Let me see. I better read that
before I forget about it. And 8, 32, and ye shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered
and said, we be Abraham's seed, and we're never in bondage to
any man. I don't know anything about Rome or anything like that,
right? How sayest thou, ye shall be
made free? Jesus answered them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant. of sin. They're talking about
being in bondage to man. They're talking about the wrong
thing again. You understand? And whenever people argue with
Jesus, they always argue about the wrong things. Did he own his own robe or no?
I don't care. He's the truth of God. What did
God tell us? This is my beloved son. What?
Hear him. Hear him, what did he say? He said, whosoever committeth
sin is a servant of sin, verse 35. And the servant abideth not
in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. If the son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed. The truth's gonna make you free,
what, no. The son's gonna make you free. No, they're the same. They're the same. Oh my. How do you know? The spirit of
truth teaches you who the truth is. John six and verse 44. No man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. And
I don't have time to go into that, but I love that passage
of scripture because it threw me in a turmoil as a very young
believer. It did, Mason. I mean, I'm seriously,
I wrestled with that thing for, oh, 20 minutes before I asked
somebody. And they told me, what's it say?
Well, it says no man can come to me except the Father which
has sent me, draw him. What's it mean? It means no man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me drawing. I
mean, it's not hard. Anyhow, but here's the thing.
And I will raise him up at the last day. Now what about these
people? The ones that the Father's gonna
draw and the ones I'm gonna raise up. Look at the next verse. It
is written in the prophets and they shall be all taught of God. God Of the spirit of God is what
I'm going to tell you right now Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the father Cometh to me What's that
mean? The spirit of truth Is the one
that gives you life? It gives you faith The spirit
of God, the spirit of truth, the spirit of Christ, the Holy
Spirit, glorifies the Son. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father, what? But by me,
by me. Hearing me preach may not help
you, but if you hear the one who I am preaching, He'll help. And if you're thirsty, he'll
give you the drink. If you're thirsty and hungry,
you can buy without money and without price. What's the conclusion? Buy the truth and sell not. Sell not, what? Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life. The words of the truth, who is
the son of God? The words of the truth are the
truth. And the truth speaks the truth,
and his words aren't going anywhere. Because his truth never changes. All kinds of things change all
around us. But his truth, the truth, never changes, never changes. Because what does the way and
the truth say? It says, no man comes to the Father but by me. What does the truth say? The
truth says, no man can come unto me except the Father which has
hit me draw him. What does the truth say? He says,
every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father
comes to me. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none under name, under heaven, given
among men, whereby we must be saved. Do you want the truth? Do you want the truth? He fills
empty vessels. He has living water for the thirsty. He's the son of God. And he makes free. He makes free
all his people. Buy the truth and sell not. Buy
without money and without price. Look to him. Trust Him, believe
Him, come to Him, come to Him. That's what it means. Buy the
truth and never, never, never sell. For He is precious. Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this day and this time. Thank you, Lord, for your son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. You have given us to him and
you have given him to us. Your spirit speaks to us. You open our ears and our hearts
and our minds and our, even our tongue to try to praise you to
praise your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray,
amen.