Children of Truth

Words. Words. Words. It's a season of words. Everybody's talking. Talking inspiring words. Talking hopeful words. Talking encouraging words. And what are they all talking about? They're talking about Christmas. They're talking about the elections. They're talking about the economy. That's bogus rhetoric, most of it. Some of it's crafted with lies, mythical fables, and emotional fantasies. And all of it really contains an ulterior motive. They want to get something from you and me. Words. Words. All talking. All encouraging. All hopeful. But those words are trying to get and to take from others. I'll give you an example of this warm, fuzzy season. It took place here right here in Phoenix a few years back over at the Biltmore Hotel Swimming Pool on a nice hot day next to the pool. Irving got a tune in his head, and he called to his secretary and said, quick, come over here and bring a pencil. Write this down. I just came up with a song on this hot, sunny day, and this song is going to be the best song I have ever written. In fact, it's going to be the best song, the best selling song anybody has ever written. And Irving's little tune turned out to be the best-selling song, the best single music song in history. Even today, the 1942 version of Bing Crosby's I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas conjured up beside a hot swimming pool intended to make money worked. It worked. Christmas is about money, and business rises and falls on this event and on this season and its sales. And what's it about? Is it about truth? Is it about light? Is it about something factual? Or is it, in fact, something about Simramus and Nimrod and Damu, Tamus, and their murderous lives as they sought fame for themselves? It's quite an interesting story that's told in many different ways, and I don't know that you can actually find a This Is the Only True Version, because you see, when Nimrod was alive, people didn't write.

They didn't record things. They lived back at a time that was in what you call prehistory, and over in that part of the world, they were just beginning to write on pieces of wet clay some transactions, some receipts, as it were. But nobody was writing history, and so a lot of it has come down to us in oral tradition. One tradition says that Nimrod was fighting in a war, was involved in a war, and he came to a town of Erech, and he met a brothel keeper, as the innkeeper, brothel keeper, during one of these wars. And this lady, and he somehow got together, and she rode to fame on his coattails, because you know, Nimrod was the mighty hunter before the Lord. He established several cities, the Bible says. Some way didn't sound like it was a very above-board way. They hooked up, and on they went. There was a sort of a kingdom with family officers, priests around them, and there was an annual winter solstice royal family feast that was celebrated by the priests and the royal family, according to this tradition, that celebrated Nimrod's rule. And during this festival, it took place at the very end of the year, commemorating a new year beginning. Psychedelic drugs were taken, and hallucinogenic drugs were used. And to celebrate the transfer of one year into the next, they took a year-old male lamb and tore it apart and ate it while it was living. And what this did was, it showed that the one year represented by the year-old lamb was over, and they were doing away with that to make room for a new year to come in. And it was a very barbaric thing.

There was a problem in this little relationship in time. The one who would become Cimaramis, or be named Cimaramis, got pregnant. She wasn't supposed to by somebody else. And so there was a little friction between her and Nimrod, and that friction got pretty bad until, as Nimrod's anger rose, the end of a year approached with this little celebration festival. And while everybody was sort of lit up with the psychedelic drugs, she got the priest to substitute Nimrod for the lamb that year. And he met a very terrible, terrible fate. But what that did was allow Cimaramis now to be in charge. And she changed her name to Cimaramis.

She had this son who was born out of wedlock named Tamos. The word meant blood. It came from the word blood. Damu, or Tamos, was the, I believe the Hebrew word for Damu. And she declared him to be the reborn king, God. The reborn, Nimrod's back to life, and here he is. The last one to heaven, the new one's here. So he had this rebirth, and he now was the king. Of course, an infant can't rule, so it just so happened she was available to be the regent in his place. She declared him a god, and well, since she was the mother, she became the goddess, claimed to be the queen mother of heaven. Well, this didn't set well with about half the kingdom in Babylon. And according to the tradition, the soldiers and half the priests resented that a female was ruling. What she did was build fortress walls around the city, and defended herself inside with those who did support her.

She elevated herself, and she now became the queen mother of heaven. Now, this rolled along, and she eclipsed—history records that Cimaramis eclipsed Nimrod. She pushed herself up higher, using this, using that, even using her infant son to be bigger and bigger in everyone's eyes.

Tamas, meanwhile, was growing older, year after year. And instead of sacrificing people, the history says that they got a volunteer from Babylon to take the place of Nimrod and being torn apart each year. Just a terrible, terrible thing going on. Now, Tamas grew up, and guess what? He wanted to be king. He was supposed to be the king. Mama's the king instead of me. Now I'm 18, 20 years old. He wanted to be king. She didn't want to release the power. There's quite an issue grew there, until finally she decided to solve the problem. Let Tamas be the offering at that year-end festival coming up.

Tamas got word of it and killed her herself with a knife. So the boy finally killed off Cimaramis. Now, I want to read something to you. The writer of this event, Bryce Self, writes this. These events laid the groundwork for all the pagan religious systems of antiquity, as well as many that are alive today. Cimaramis, in particular, was the model and original of every goddess and female cult figure in the ancient and modern worlds. And so we see today these words, and we see these images, and we see these tales that are built on a system that goes back. It's changed. It's altered. The names are twisted. People reinvent, but it's all built on mysticism and myth. Now, welcome to Christmas and to trees that symbolize the newborn baby out of the old Nimrod Yule log that died. And just the next day, amazing, the new little boy becomes the reincarnate. Welcome to Easter, the annual celebration of the Queen Mother of Heaven, of the fertility of the earth. This is Babylon. This is confusion. This is not only misinformation, it's disinformation. And there are many, many threads of this that go around the world that come into the observances, the religions, the beliefs, even that are associated with so-called Christianity today. But it's falsehood. Today, I'd like to examine a crucial mindset that separates you and me and the children of God from the children of this present evil age, the rest of humanity. And that concept is shown in the title of the sermon today, Children of Truth. We're going to examine a mindset of truth as compared to the many words that are being spoken and so easily fill the minds of people with imagination, with hope, with emotion, with some kind of inspiration. Christ's followers will never have anything to do with lies. Certainly not something built on murder, self-exaltation, lies that promote an individual at the expense of others. Breaking God's law is to lie. Breaking God's law is to do things that are not of the truth. And that's the reason we do not participate in anything to do with lies or mistruth. We don't participate in holidays. We don't participate in elections. We don't participate in unethical business practices, which is about lies and sales techniques built on this in order to get and to take. We don't sell ourselves to other people as an individual that is better or more talented or more capable than we truly are. We're learning to deflate ourselves like 11 and push it down and compact it and be humbled and take on a mind of truth. I'd like to show you how God says that money and lies conspire together and really end up alienating humanity from God and from itself. This is found over in Revelation chapter 18. Revelation chapter 18 verses 2 through 5. We jump right into the heart of what we call Christianity today, and we see it from God's perspective, and we see it for what it really is. Revelation 18 and verse 2. Revelation 18 and verse 2.

This is a prophecy. This is taking place in the end time. During the Day of the Lord, the seven last plagues, God is going to end this current evil age in this Babylon-ish system, which has permeated the cultures of this earth. He's going to replace it with a time of truth, an age of truth and righteousness. And so he's saying, this is fallen, is fallen. What's that been about? Was it really so bad after all? Well, it says it's become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hated bird, for all the nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. This goes back to a woman who was, history is saying, was loose, and she promoted a religion that was loose. And it was about getting involved in relationships that were outside of marriage and also outside of our relationship, our marriage, with Jesus Christ, or our engagement to Jesus Christ at this point in time. In verse four, well, verse three, it says, the merchants of the earth have become rich. It was about money. It was about lies, money and lies. Verse four, I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people. There's a system here that we don't understand. I started reading a book yesterday called Currency Wars, an incredible book that looks at what's going on in the economies of the western world, actually the entire world right now, to do with currencies, especially the U.S. dollar, but other currencies as well. We don't have a clue what this is all about. We don't understand the manipulation that runs up through the world markets, through the world banking systems, through all the games that are played and the leaders' support. This isn't some black helicopter stuff. This is a person that worked for the U.S. government in actually practicing wars like this, in think tanks. This is the mind of the age. Who can outdo and who can get and who can cripple the others? And then who can respond back and find a way to torpedo them and jerk the rug out from others? There's a huge game that just is part and parcel of what we're reading right here.

Verse 5, For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. We are to be children of something else. We're not even supposed to be associated at all with them. This is not just some end-time anomaly that the angel is talking about. Oops, I think something happened here and we've got a babylon. Better get rid of that. This is what humanity has worked at becoming. It's about an age. In Galatians chapter 1 and verse 3, we read about this age from the mouth of the apostle Paul. Galatians chapter 1 verses 3 through 5. He says, grace to you. God's graciousness to you and peace. The Greek word, Irene, joining together this unity. Unity from God, the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. There's something special about this relationship that we have because we're repenting, baptized individuals, being led with God's Holy Spirit. We are receiving His grace. He is gracious to us. We are being unified through God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age. We're to be delivered, rescued, saved, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. This is about glory to God, not about us. This is about us being rescued from Satan's world, where we have lived, we have fought the good fight, as it were, against our human nature and against the wickedness of the principles and power of this age. He wants to deliver us, according to God's will. We are not to commingle with this society and with this mentality. We're not to compromise with mistruth, to have any part of it whatsoever. Let's notice in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14 through 18 and see why we're not supposed to. Second Corinthians 6, beginning in verse 14, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

You and I are to be not part of the blab that's going on, the falseness, the lies associated with money or getting other peoples to give us something. Rather, he says, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? Righteousness is obeying God and living godly. Lawlessness is out there trying to do something for yourself while not loving God and not loving your neighbor.

What communion has light with darkness? I spoke on light and darkness. From darkness to light, they are as different as night and day. It's not a pun. One is not to have anything to do with the other. Or, what accord has Christ with the devil? There's no overlap here. There's no mixing. We are to be different.

What part has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, and as God has said, I will dwell in them and I will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Now, we can look at this and say, oh, that's nice.

I might do that. I might choose to do that. I might choose to do that partially. Or, I am doing that partially, but not fully. Are we really separating ourselves from the lies and the merchandising and the get? Are we separate, or are we sort of joining? You know? I have to ask that question, because it all comes down to this. He says, if you come out from among them and be separate, do not touch what is unclean, I will receive you. The caveat to that is, if we don't come out, if we're not separate, I won't receive you.

Verse 18, if you do those things, I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. And so, therefore, chapter 7, verse 1, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We need to be about something very, very different. In contrast to false religions, to false fables and misinformation, false teachings, we're given this Sabbath day, a day of truth. We're given a Sabbath day that God made this 24 hours new as holy time, so holy that we're not only supposed to not work on it, not to even think our own thoughts on it, do our own pleasures on it, but rather be about loving and serving and giving to others.

Let's go to Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 13. This day, which really teaches us many things, teaches us it's a day of worship, time set aside for God. It also teaches us it's the day of creation, God rested on the seventh day. It teaches us there's a millennial day, a thousand years, coming when Christ will reign. It also talks about a Sabbath day in Hebrews, a Sabbath rest, a rest, God's kingdom, his eternal kingdom that you and I are supposed to be part of.

This day is so holy it's just for the people of God. It is just to be about God and godliness. And here in Isaiah 58 and verse 13, he says, if you turn away your foot, your selfish foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, you know, you're not supposed to be watching TV, you're not supposed to be reading novels, you're not supposed to be doing your own pleasure, you're not supposed to be hanging out, just, you know, having fun, just sleeping in, listening to your own music.

This is a holy day and those things should not be done. They shouldn't even enter into our minds. And if you do that and call the Sabbath a delight by not doing your things and doing your pleasure, you still think it's a delight. The holy day of the Lord, honorable, and will honor Him on this day, not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasures nor speaking your own words, then you will delight yourselves in the Lord.

You know, this is all part and parcel of a chapter that's talking about doing God's will, having His mindset. It talks about the fast He has chosen in verse 6 is to loosen the bonds of wickedness. Don't hurt anybody else. Don't take advantage of other people. Start apologizing for those things. As James 5 says, confess your sins one to another. Go over and say, look, I sinned against you.

I've transgressed against you. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm selfish, but I'm going to try. You confess your sins one to another, that you commit to each other, and you'll be healed. That relationship will join. It will be healed by those who promote peace. Going on, is it not? Verse 7, to share your bread with the hungry, to bring to your house the poor, to see the naked you cover him.

This is the mindset of God that you and I are to be developing and to be living, and the Sabbath day enables us to remove the profane, to get rid of the half-truths. It's not about what you and I say. It's about God's Word is truth. Jesus Christ, the Logos, is truth. Children of the truth focus on God. The Sabbath day is all about truth because God is truth. Jesus said in John 17, your Logos is truth. Him. Everything he says he did, he wrote, the written Word. These are polar opposites to the age of destruction, offenses that are coming.

In verse 12, those from around you, if you do these things, what God wants this people to do, those from among you shall build the old waste places. Now people are tearing them down. We've got these special things that fly around and blow things up. Everything's being blown up. People are really good at being blown up and blowing things up. Masters of the blow up. Masters of killing, dissecting life, making it in, destroying. We have things called destroyers. Destruction is in their paths. God's people will be building up the old waste places. You will raise up the foundations of many generations, not about murder. You will be called the repairer of the briefs, the stitcher together of broken relationships if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath. This is what we are to be about. In Psalm 85, verses 10 through 13, we find a description of God and godliness that is so different than the words that are being spoken today. Words that, if you're not careful, will suck you in, make you think good things, warm thoughts, and be inspired and encouraged as a human race spirals down into pending destruction. Psalm 85, verse 10, says, mercy and truth have met together. Mercy and truth. Kind of using a play on words here, almost in a romantic way, says, righteousness and peace have kissed. Verse 11, truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Now, this is where God is. This is what God does. This is what the people of God does. Jesus Christ wants us to develop mercy, an attitude, a mindset of mercy. That is His mindset. He wants us to move away from our carnal human nature and what this age is all about and move towards Him and His family.

Sabbath isn't just a nice day. It's not just a day to be lazy. It's to remind us of creation, to remind us of God's work in us, to remind us of Jesus Christ's coming Kingdom on earth, to remind us of the eternal relationship and perfect peace that will exist in the Kingdom of God, we read in Hebrews 4, verse 9.

The Sabbath is also a time to pursue truth, to pursue God. You know, our thoughts and our words are imperfect. What I'm saying to you today is imperfect because it's not of Scripture. I mean, it is of Scripture, but I'm not reading the Scripture. When I speak, I speak as a human being. God inspires me, but I'm still a human being. They're not words of pure truth. You could probably go back and argue certain things I've said, or some of the history, or your version of this or your version of that. But when it comes down to this, it's inarguable. We all recognize the written Word of God is truth. And we today on the Sabbath and all during our lives are to be rightly dividing the Word of truth. We're to be applying it in our lives. We're to let it be our guide, the lamp to our feet. When we do that, we become children of truth. Our words flow out from thoughts. The thoughts flow out from the heart. And what are we? We're all imperfect. I'm imperfect. We're kind of stuck in that, but we're trying to grow out of it at the same time. We need to understand that concept. Let's go to Romans chapter 3, verses 4 and 5. Romans chapter 3, we'll begin in verse 4. Just breaking into the verse here, it says, Indeed let God be true, but every man a liar.

It shows that we as humans, we are not truth. God is. We are imperfect in this state. I don't know about you, but that frustrates me. I want to be perfect. I want to be perfect in everything I do and everything I say. And I find myself saying, that which I want to be, I'm not. And it's frustrating. That's the human state. Verse 5, breaking into the verse, it says, Our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God. It's not about you and me showing off some perfection. Or we're to strive to be perfect, as Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 48, become you, therefore perfect, like your Father in heaven is perfect. We're not there yet. We're not going to be there yet. But God is righteous. And so the Sabbath becomes a multifaceted sign between us and God. Multifaceted. Some people say, well, if I don't work on the Sabbath, it's a sign. Well, I guess that's one sign. Do you keep it holy? What does holy mean? Do you keep the Sabbath holy? It doesn't mean to necessarily maintain its holiness, because only God can make it holy. So if you're going to keep it holy, it means you've got to observe it in a holy manner, doesn't it? Take off some work and get some rest. Is that observing it in a holy manner? Do you also do good on the Sabbath? Like Jesus said, He gave an example and said, isn't it not right to do good on the Sabbath? That is the mindset of God. That's what the day is about. Doing good by whose... you know, that raises an issue by whose definition.

We've got to use God's definition. We've got to look at what Jesus did on the Sabbath in the apostles, not come up with our own ideas, which may actually just violate the Sabbath and the sanctity of the Sabbath. But we are to do good. Do you also remove unrighteousness on the Sabbath? Like we read in Isaiah 58, do you break the burdens? Lift the example or lift the burden and let the oppressed go free. Do you repent and apologize for the sins that you commit against others? Like James 5 said, do you fill your mind and your mouth with truth? Do we have time? Take time on the Sabbath to study truth and be about truth. In John 17 and verse 14, there was an exchange that took place in chapter 18 between Pilate and Jesus Christ where Pilate asked the question, what is truth? And he was talking to truth at that point. Interestingly enough, he didn't know it, never did. But the Logos was truth and he was standing there talking to him when he asked the question, what is truth? The previous chapter, John 17 and verse 14, Jesus said, I have given them your Logos, your Word. The world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. So we have the truth and we get hated for it. We're different.

I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. We have come out, we are supposed to be coming out, we're different. Sanctify them by your truth. Your Logos is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also be sanctified by the truth. You and I are made holy by the truth. By the truth here, by the truth here, because God lives in us and he is truth.

Things are holy when God is in them. God is in the Sabbath. It's holy. If God is in you, you are holy. God is in this Word. It's holy. This is a holy day.

These are inseparable elements of our lives and of our proper Sabbath observance in keeping it holy. In verse 21, that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. We are to be one with God. God is truth. We are to be truth. We are to be children of truth. That's inseparable.

Down through church's history, there have been times when non-truths have been spoken in the church. When? When, you might say? When does that happen? Well, if you've lived very long in the church, you've heard that happen. But you go back to the writings of Paul, Peter, John, James, Jesus Christ himself, Book of Revelation, and you see that mistruth, or false teaching, is part of the church experience. And we are to develop a mature mind that doesn't get suckered by, oh, I could get something if I did that. I could get power, position, I could get easy way to the kingdom, I could get myself somehow embellished, my life embellished, if I just take this little shortcut that the false teacher is telling me in the true church. That's what all that's always about. We can circumvent loving God and loving others and being children of truth. Why the untruthful words? Well, they're ulterior motives of get, just like in Babylon. They wanted to get something, just like the politicians. They want to get your vote, just like the stores. They want to get your dollars. Jesus called them ravenous wolves. They want to get something that they don't own. They want to eat parts of you.

I don't know if you've ever seen video, or unfortunately we've seen live sometimes. The hyenas over in Africa. It takes things that don't belong to it.

Pieces of other animals that are walking around. And that is the ravenous kind of wolf that Jesus talks about.

In Jude, verses 11 and 12, it says, they've gone the way of Cain. Cain was about himself, having run greedily in the era of Balaam for profit for himself, and perished in the rebellion of Korah, who wanted to exalt himself.

These are spots in your love feasts while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.

You and I need to recognize. Alarm bells should go off when the promotion of self and the opportunity to promote self becomes available and turn ourselves off to it. It'll always be in the church. It still is right here now. The seeds of it are always in you and me. But are we repenting daily? Are we squashing it? Are we getting the leaven push down?

Or are we feeding it and letting it fester? Christmas and Sunday and elections are worse than just being fables, if that's a word. They're worse than just being false. Much worse, because the purpose is to defraud the body of Christ, an opportunity to be in the family of God. That's what they're about. They're to trick people away and get them to offend God so God will kill them.

To keep us from the reward. Let's look in 1 Peter 2, verses 1-3.

1 Peter 2, beginning in verse 1. Therefore, we are to lay aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. See, those are things you use to get for yourself. We're not to be about that. We're to lay that aside and instead be as newborn babes. Desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. I heard a good example of this, actually, on a talk show yesterday. I was driving around.

Just a very secular example. We tend to be, verse 1, the malice, the deceit, the hypocrisy, the envy, the evil speaking, to push up the old self and shine the old self-image. We have to come to realize we are not those things. We have to consider ourselves newborn babes. Just admit it. Without God, I don't know anything. I can't do anything. Just like a newborn babe.

The thing on the radio yesterday was the most successful comedian in history was being interviewed about his television show, something about, are you smarter than a fifth grader? So they asked this comedian, a highly successful guy, do you always know the answers to what the fifth graders do? I thought, well, that's interesting. Here's one guy doing the interview that's kind of puffed up, and he thinks a lot of himself, and he just introduced the other guys being the world's most celebrated comedian. What does he think of himself? Jeff Foxworthy said, you know, if that show relied on me being able to answer any of those questions, it would have been the shortest show in history. Everybody would have turned it off after the first episode because I don't have a clue what those answers are. There was a man who recognized in his own life that we really aren't as high, aren't as big, aren't as bright as we sometimes think we are. And in the church, we've got to come all the way down to, like Jesus said, become as little children like newborn babes. Desire the pure truth, the milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. So what can you and I do to become God's children of truth? Four things. First is know it. Second is believe it. Third is do it. And fourth is persevere in it.

Now they're not huge points, are they? You've got to know it. Then you've got to believe it. Then you've got to do it. And you've got to keep doing it. That's what it's about. God doesn't want people to just keep His Sabbath holy, just to observe His holy days and every commandment. He wants children who live them, who love them, who endure in keeping them, rejoice in them.

Jesus said in Matthew 24, it's He who endures to the end, the same shall be saved. He doesn't want flash in the pan one time. People who say, oh, I love you, Lord. He wants people who really buy in, internalize it. Remember what he said there in Isaiah 57? You know, if you do these things and call the Sabbath a delight, if you really like it, if you really like the holy days, and you really like humbling yourself, and you really like repenting, and you really like loving God and loving your neighbor, if you really like these things, then I want you to be in the family. If you endure to the end in that, you'll be saved.

The question I think, as I ask myself, is which mindset will endure in me? You might ask the same question. Which mindset? The worlds or gods? Godliness, unrighteousness, self, give, however you want to put it together. Which is going to endure to the end in every situation that could possibly come up all the way through the end time, the great deceptions, the easy street Messiah that shows up with the miracles and says, yep, I'm here. You can all have a nice life now, and you don't have to do all that hard stuff anymore. Jesus said, trying to deceive even the very elect. Well, will I cave in? You know, our obedience and our adhering to the truth, being children of truth, loving and living the truth, is the deciding factor on whether we live or die, isn't it? Eternally. It's really what it comes down to. This isn't just sort of a rah-rah sermon of, oh, that's a good point. Maybe we ought to be children of truth. It's either or. It really is. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 through 10. Apostle Paul makes this very, very clear. This is what it's all coming down to. 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Boom. You're part of that. If you co-mingle, you compromise. If you break God's laws, if you don't perform the righteous acts of loving in concert with all of His commandments, you won't be in the kingdom. Neither will I. This will all have just been some exercise, and we'll bang on the door and say, oh, please open. And He'll say, I don't know who you are. And we'll say, oh, but I did this other stuff. And He'll say, I don't know who you are.

Go through all that. But the simple fact is, the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. There's no other shortcut. There's no shortcut through selfishness. There's no shortcut through, God bends the rules for me because I'm special, because of who I am, or what I look like, who I'm related to, or what I know. It goes like this. Verse 10. Nine, second part. Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, mentally, physically, as Jesus brought out in the Sermon on the Mount, nor idolaters, anybody who put something before God, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous. Now, there's one you really can't catch anybody in, covetous. Nor drunkards, nor revilers, those who put others down, nor extortioners. These will not inherit the kingdom of God. And that's what all the words are about right now. That's what everything's on the radio, and everything's in the stores, and everything's on the television. It's words, words, words that fall largely into those categories.

In conclusion, this present evil age is filled with deceit, myths, truths, disinformation, and it's an age associated with Satan. This holy day that we're keeping today is about a coming age, a different age, God's age, where righteousness and truth dwell. And that age is associated with truth, Jesus Christ, the Logos.

Let's turn to Proverbs chapter 12 in closing. Proverbs 12 verses 17 through 22. We're going to see this described for us here in Proverbs 12. We'll begin in verse 17.

He who speaks truth declares righteousness. It's very difficult for you and me to speak truth, because we're imperfect. Nevertheless, we need to speak truth. We need to be about the truth and of the truth. It needs to be in our hearts so that what comes out of our mouth is more and more truthful. He who speaks truth declares righteousness. But a false witness is deceiving. He is declaring deceit.

There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword. A sword divides. It tends to cut off limbs. It destroys lives. It breaks things apart, smashes and ruins. There's one who speaks and cuts, destroys and separates. But the tongue of the wise promotes health. It's about joining together. It's about healing. It's about unity. The truthful lip — think about that — the truthful lip shall be established forever.

But a lying tongue is but for a moment. It says, no liars. All liars will have their part in the lake of fire. Verse 20, deceit, getting for me, is in the heart of those who devise evil. Evil is the breaking of God's law. But counselors of peace have joy.

No grave trouble will overtake the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with evil.

And finally, verse 22, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. But those who deal truthfully are His delight. So work to become a stronger child of God by disassociating yourself from the false words and the false concepts of this age. Work to be an ever better and brighter ambassador of the coming kingdom that will be ruled by truth and will be all about truth and righteousness in the coming age. And when we do that, we are children of truth.