Proverbs 6:12-19, Truthfulness vs. deception (1)

1)    Definition: earning future trust by accurately reporting past facts.

2)    Scripture: Ps. 15:2; Prov. 2:7; 3:3; 6:12-15,16-19; 10:9-10,18; 12:19; 19:5,9; 20:7,17; 21:6,28; 23:23; 25:18; 26:28; 27:5-6; 28:6; Matt. 5:33-37; James 5:12; Eph. 4:25.

3)    Underlying Principle:

a)    “Truth” is who God is (John 14:6).  “Truth” is what God wills (Ex. 20:16). 

i)      We need to note an OT word.  The Bible speaks of God’s “goodness and truth.”  Ps. 25:10a: All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth.  We are called to these same qualities.  Prov. 3:3-4: Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.

ii)   The Hebrew term for “truth” (emet) is akin to the term for “faithfulness.”  That is helpful information in terms of defining “truth.”  Truth can refer to one sentence or even a phrase in a conversation: is it true or false?  But truth is also the integrity of a life, a life-long characteristic.  Which leads to an additional underlying principle.

b)    The long range benefits of truthfulness far outweigh the immediate benefits of falsehood.  I.e. telling the truth will be better for you in the long run.

i)      Normally we don’t care for this type of “underlying principle.”  For one thing, you could say this about any character trait.  But for another thing, living a Christ-like life is not about me/us.  The Christ-like life is the life that exalts Christ and brings glory to God.

ii)   But the reason we refer to it here is that there are a lot of times the Bible says that telling the truth, even when it hurts, will be better for you in the long-run.  E.g. Prov. 10:9: He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known. 

4)    Illustrations:

i)      1 Sam. 15.  Here we have King Saul in a conversation with the prophet Samuel.  Saul is trying to tell Samuel that he did what the LORD commanded when he didn’t!  You see how a person can play little “word games” that are actually lies.  In v13 Saul brags, “I have done the LORD’s work.”  Samuel points to the facts that disprove Saul’s claim: What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears (Saul was supposed to destroy everything).  Oops! Caught red-handed.  So change your story with a little lie: They have brought them … the people spared the best of the sheep … to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.  See how he blames others, and tries to appeal to good intentions (we actually did this for the LORD).  Saul didn’t honor the LORD, and it went bad for Saul as he lost the kingdom!