The Logic of the Truth sermon examines what is truth and what is not truth. There is a shortage of truth in the world today. Many people today look at the truth and don’t even recognize it.

Key verses:
Proverbs 12:17-22

I’m going to ask you to turn with me to the Book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 12, we’ll begin reading at verse 17, and we are going to read through verse 22.

Proverbs 12:17: “He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.”

Proverbs 12:18: “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.”

Proverbs 12:19: “The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”

Proverbs 12:20: “Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.”

Proverbs 12:21: “There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.”

Proverbs 12:22: “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

I want to take you back to verse 17:

Proverbs 12:17: “He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.”

I want to talk to you this evening about the logic of truth. Let me just preface that this way. There is a shortage of truth in our life, in our world today to the point where many people have trouble discerning what is truth and what isn’t.

You’ll remember the story of how Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate. Pilate asked Him, “What is truth?” It is a question people should ask. What is truth? The thing Pilate failed to realize at that moment was that he was looking at Truth in the face when he asked the question. That’s how it is with so many people. They can look squarely at the truth and not recognize it.

Discerning Truth

The topic tonight is somewhat conceptual and that’s not always what we do here. But I think it’s important because we are faced with a problem here, as I said earlier. There is a shortage of truth. We live in an age when lies and deceit are commonplace. Identity theft occurs daily. Maybe you’ve had your identity stolen. What an unpleasant experience that is and it could cause major problems. It can cause legal issues. It can hurt you financially and can hurt you in many ways. No, I’m not advertising a product that will help you with it. Fraud is perpetrated constantly. There are people who will tell you exactly what you want to hear in order to get whatever they want to get from you. We live in an age of deceit.

It is as Isaiah wrote of his day:

Isaiah 59:13: “In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”

Isaiah 59:14: “And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.”

Isaiah 59:15: “Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.”

What I want to submit to you this evening is it will help you somewhat to recognize what is true and what isn’t. The basis of truth is God. That’s simple. Jesus said, “I am the truth.” The basis of truth is God and then, in our hands is God’s Word. Anything that runs afoul of God’s Word, contradicts God’s Word, is not truth.

I was having a conversation with someone just yesterday. I heard, and I’m sure most of you have heard many times with so many contradictions in the Bible. I wasn’t trying to be humorous with the person, I wasn’t trying to be insulting to them, but I said this, “I’ve been studying the Bible for 53 years, and I haven’t found the first one.” I haven’t.

But there is logic to the truth. Lying and falsehoods, deceit, and fraud are always illogical. What do you mean by that? Well, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, one of the definitions of the word “logic” is this: Interrelations or sequence of facts or events when seen as inevitable or predictable. In other words, truth always follows a reasonable and understandable order.

The opposite of that would be non sequitur. Non sequitur, the same dictionary defines that as: a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement. In other words, it’s not in order. It doesn’t follow. It doesn’t make sense. It’s not reasonable. You came to a conclusion that doesn’t fit.

So, I submit to you there is logic to truth, and you’ll find that. If you’re having trouble following something somebody’s telling you, or they tell it to you, and on another occasion, they tell it to you, and it’s not quite the same as it was before, that should raise a question mark. It could cause you to wonder if what you’re hearing is actually real or not. To be sure, people can change details in telling something, or they can forget something. We’re not discounting that.

Truth Will Prevail

This passage that we’re looking at will help us discern the logic of truth. First of all, in verse 17, truth is contrasted with lying. Look at it, if you will.

Proverbs 12:17: “He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.”

Truth, again, is reality. It does follow a logical order. It makes sense, it’s understandable, and it does not need to be corrected. It doesn’t need to be corrected because it was right the first time. It is a statement of what is presently or what has actually taken place. Therefore, truth is the expression of righteousness. That’s what our verse says, “He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness.”

By contrast, it says, “but a false witness deceit.” A false witness is one who will lead you away from the truth. They may do it for many different motivations. It might be to lure you in to do something they want you to do. There could be other motivations. But a false witness will lead you away from truth. Their words will always lead to non sequitur, and that is not always immediately evident.

The reason it is not always immediately evident is that there are some people who have made an absolute art out of lying. They can lie to you, look you in the eye, and make it sound reasonable and logical and you will believe it until you find out that it really wasn’t true.

I knew a fellow years ago, and it was sad in many ways what happened to him. He was a very likable person. He had one of those personalities that when you met him, you liked him immediately. You’d known him for only 30-seconds, and you already liked him. Somehow, he didn’t seem to realize that people liked him for who he really was. So, he would tell terrible lies to get people to like him.

What happened? Well, what happened was when people found out he was a liar, they didn’t like him. You see, that’s what happens with a liar. Eventually, he is found out. Eventually, the truth comes across. You never have to try to make sure your words match what you’ve said before if you told the truth the first time. You don’t have to back up. You don’t have to cover up. You don’t have to correct it. If you told things as they are or as they have been, then there’s nothing to correct. Truth will prevail.

Truth Brings Healing

Look at verse 18, if you will:

Proverbs 12:18: “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.”

Lies pierce like a sword, they pierce the heart, they pierce the mind, they pierce the soul, they destroy relationships, they wound the spirit, they destroy societies. They destroy great friendships, marriages, and homes. So many times, I come across people who were just liars, some of them habitual liars. Again, this a very sad situation because there is never a need for that. So, truth brings healing. Lies pierce the soul.

Fire and Brimstone

And then, in verse 19:

Proverbs 12:19: “The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”

What it’s saying there is those who tell the truth live forever, and those who lie do not. Or another way of saying the same thing is truth is eternal, lies are temporary. “I’d like to hear some more scripture on that.” I’m glad you asked. I was going to give you some. Revelation 21:8, listen carefully:

Revelation 21: 8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

I hear people say, “I don’t hear any fire and brimstone preachers anymore.” Well, you just heard it, there it is, “and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Which is the second death? What is this lake of fire? It is eternal separation from God and everything that was ever related to God and anything and everyone you ever had relations with. Let me illustrate that for you just a little bit. A lot of people make jokes about Hell. They do. Is the lake of fire Hell? Well, technically not, but in our thinking, it is.

What do I mean by that? Hell already exists. The lake of fire is out in eternity, but death and Hell are cast into the lake of fire. So, then it becomes Hell. But I’ve heard people try to joke about it. “Oh, I don’t care if I go to Hell. I’ll take an air conditioner.” Or “I went to Hell once. They kicked me out for selling ice water.” They are making jokes out of it. But the one I think is the saddest of all is I’ve heard so many people say, “I don’t care if I go to Hell. All my friends will be there. We’re going to have a party.”

What we read in the scriptures indicates that the soul in Hell is alone. If your friends are there, you won’t be partying with them. You won’t in all likelihood be with them, be in sight of them. If you remember in Luke 16 where the rich man is crying out to Father Abraham and he says to Father Abraham, “Send Lazarus to tell my five brothers that they not come to this place.” The man in Hell did not want them to join him there. No, it’s not a place where you are going to rejoice because all your friends are there. You’re not going to have a big party.

There is ultimately the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death. The word “death” means separation. Physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body. Eternal death is the separation of the spirit from God forever. That’s Revelation 21:8.

Loving a Lie

Revelation 22:15: “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”

What does it mean “for without”? It means left out of. In this case, it means left out of the New Jerusalem. I don’t want to get off course tonight, but I want to share something with you. Somebody questioned, “Without a dog? You mean dogs aren’t allowed in Heaven?” Well, I don’t want to get deeper into that, but simply to tell you that is not what it means here. It doesn’t answer your question, I realize, but it is not what it means here.

The idea of “dogs” here is actually a euphemism for people who are liars. But it’s easier to understand than that. For without, outside of the New Jerusalem:

Revelation 22:15: “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”

Can you imagine loving a lie? People do. They make up a lie, and they love it. They love to perpetrate it. Let me give you another illustration of what I’m talking about. There are in this world deceivers, and there are people who are deceived. You take a religious cult, and by a religious cult, I mean a religion usually formed around the teaching of one person, and it’s usually strange and different than anything that we know and recognize as truth.

The founders of religious cults know that what they are teaching is not true. And they will assemble around them an inner circle of people who know that what they are teaching is not true. But they perpetrate their lies, and those who come into that religion are not deceivers. Those at the upper echelon are deceivers. Those who come in are not deceivers; they are deceived. They don’t know they’ve been lied to. They think that they’ve been told the truth.

“Could you give me some examples of that?” Sure. A fellow comes up with the idea that there is no Hell. It doesn’t exist, and he builds a whole religion around it. “Why, don’t worry about it at all. In essence, you’ve got nothing to lose. Either you’re going to work and be really good, a really good person, and you’re going to have a place in God’s kingdom because of your great service to Him. Or, if you are not a good person, or worse than that, if you don’t believe what I’m telling you at all, well, guess what? You are going to die, and the worse thing that could happen to you is that you will just cease to exist. You’ll be annihilated. You’ll just cease to exist. There’s no such thing as eternal Hell, a lake of fire. All that is nonsense.”

A lot of people say, “I’m into that. Sounds good. What have I got to lose? If I’m really good, I’m going to be in the kingdom. If I’m not quite that good, I’m not in the kingdom, and if I’m bad, I’ll just cease to exist. I won’t be conscious of anything anyway. What is there to lose?”

I’ll tell you what there is to lose, your eternal soul. That’s what there is to lose. But you see how such lies can be carefully crafted by deceivers so that others are deceived. I gave you one illustration of that. We could go on and on with similar illustrations where those deceivers love to make a lie. Why do they do it? Quite often, they like to have power over other people.

But in our country, I’ve said this many times over the decades, and I’ll stand by it, I have yet to have one person come to me and say that’s absolutely not true. If there is a religion, I don’t mean a church, and I don’t mean a denomination, but if there is a religion that had its origin in the United States of America – let me stop right there. I consider myself an American, a very patriotic individual. But if there is a religion that had its origin in the United States of America, it was founded as a money-making proposition. I have yet to have anybody come up to me and say that is not true. I could give you evidence after evidence after evidence.

There is one of the larger religions in our country that was, and I don’t know if this is still the case. It may not be, but at one point in the 20th century, it was said to be the largest financial institution west of the Mississippi River. It’s a cult.

There’s another one we used to have years ago. I took the teen group from our church up to the West Palm Beach City Auditorium. We went there to hear Joni Eareckson Tada give her testimony. She did, and it was a wonderful experience. Later, a religious cult bought that building and took it over, bought the West Palm Beach City Auditorium. I don’t know what they paid for it; I never knew, but I guarantee you it was a lot of money. These organizations, these groups, are started with the idea and the plan and purpose of making money, and in so many cases, they do. They make tremendous amounts of money. I could go on with this, give you illustration after illustration. I think you’ve got the idea. And so:

Proverbs 12:19: “The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”

All liars shall have their place in the lake that burns fire and brimstone. Whosoever loveth a lie is without, left out of the New Jerusalem, will not be there. That’s another thing I want to share with you right now. You know the Lord is your Savior, and you step into eternity, and you are with Him forever. There will not be a lie present. There won’t be a liar present. There won’t be anything but truth.

It’s been said, and it’s not a Bible verse, I don’t want you to think that it is, but it’s been said that all truth is ultimately is God’s truth. I have to agree with that because God is the author of truth. I’ll remind you, I’ve already said it:

John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Jesus said I am the way and the next thing He said was I am the truth.

Lies and Truth Come from the Heart

Look at verse 20:

Proverbs 12:20: “Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.”

That’s another great contrast. Lies come from the heart. John 8:44, Jesus was talking to the religious leaders of His day. You know what He said to them?

John 8:44: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

Some of the religious leaders of their day were children of the devil. And that they do his work. What work do they do? Deceit, lie. It comes from the heart. Good and truth come from the heart. Lies and deceit come from the heart as well. That’s what it’s telling us in verse 20; deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil.

Six chapters earlier in Proverbs, God says the six things He hates. The seventh one is an abomination. We’re going to see this word again in just a moment. But when you read the word “abomination” referring to God, do you know what that means? It means it makes God sick. It’s similar to the concept where Jesus says to the church of Laodicea:

Revelation 3:15: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.”

Revelation 3:16: “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

That’s what the word “abomination” means, make God want to vomit.

Proverbs 12:20: “Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.”

Lies come from the heart. Truth comes from the heart as well.

Final Destination

Proverbs 12:21: “There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.”

It’s not saying if you are a righteous person that, you try to do what’s right, and you follow the Lord and serve Him, you’re never going to have a problem. Nothing bad is ever going to happen to you. You can just drive down the road and not even pay attention because you’ll never have an accident. It’s not saying that, not saying that at all.

What it’s saying is that the evil of judgment will not come upon you. You need not fear judgment if you are the person who is just, “There shall no evil happen to the just.” The word “just” there means the righteous. How are we righteous? We are declared righteous. We said it this morning. Righteousness is imputed to us. We receive Christ, and we receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ. God no longer looks at us and sees our sins. He looks at us and sees the righteousness of His own Son. That’s what the word “just” is. When the Bible calls somebody just, that’s what it means.

Proverbs 12:21: “There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.”

Evil does not come upon them whose heart is true, whose words are truth. Followers of the truth have a final destination of peace and safety. The wicked shall continue on to more wickedness and ultimate destruction.

God’s Word is Truth

Verse 22, and we’re finished.

Proverbs 12:22: “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

“Lying lips are abomination” – there’s that word I told you was coming up. Lying lips make God sick.

Proverbs 12:22: “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

If you mark in your Bible, and if you don’t, that’s fine, a lot of people don’t like to, and that’s fine; no issue there. But if you are one of the people who do, I would underline the last part of verse 22, “they that deal truly are his delight.” Let us speak logically and reasonably. Let us speak and deal with truth. You and I need to be the ones who deal with truth. We need to be honest and upright. We need to be forthright in all that we do, and all that we say. We ought to be the kind of people when we are going to tell somebody that they are going to believe it because they know we wouldn’t lie about it.

We used to have a man in our church here, W.A. Daniel. He made great contributions to this church in so many different ways. But he used to put it this way, and some of you won’t understand this analogy, but I think most of you will. He used to say, “If I tell you that a rooster can plow, you will put the harness on him.” Some of you get that, some of you won’t, but he’s saying is, if I say it’s true, it’s true, and that’s the way we ought to live.

Do you know what the motto of our church is? What’s the motto? I don’t know, what’s the motto with you? No. The motto of our church is “Where the truth makes the difference.” And that’s what it ought to be. Where do we get the truth? Well, in John 17:17, Jesus prayed to the Father and said:

John 17:17: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

So, God’s Word is truth. We need to be proclaimers of the truth. “Well, preacher, don’t you think we could ever slip up?” Sure, yeah, we’re human. We can all slip up. We’re not talking about a slip-up. We’re talking about a person who purposefully lies.

Jesus said I am the truth. He said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth.” Let me help you understand this. I’m not great at mathematics. I was talking about this with my wife earlier today. She is a teacher, and I asked her, “What is the highest level of math that you have taught?” And she told me. It was beyond me.

Let’s just stick to basic math, okay, basic math. If you have two and you have two, and you put them together, how many do you have? Four. Two, add two is four. That is very simple basic math. You can take any two objects and two objects. They don’t have to be the same objects, they can be different, and you’ll still have four objects. If you take the number five and multiply it by five, it will come out to be 25. If you take 25 and divide it by five, it will come out to be five every time. Do you know why? It’s logical, it makes sense, it’s in order, and that’s your basic mathematics. If that didn’t work, we’d have a hard time running our society.

You know, we’ve accepted certain things in our society, such as measurement. If you have measurement, let’s put it down where some of us live. If you have a 9/16-inch nut that you need to get off of a bolt and you have a 1/2-inch wrench, you’re not going to turn it. It’s not going to work. I’ll get a bigger one; get one that’s a 1-inch wrench. No, you’ll just place it over it and turn, and nothing will happen. It has to be the exact same measurement.

So, A measuring stick is 12 inches, and we call it a ruler. And what unit of measurement is that? A foot. Three of those come to what we call a yard or yard stick, and that is how many inches? 36. 3×12, and it is always 3×12. Suppose they make yardsticks, and some of them are 30 inches, some of them are 36, and some of them are 38. Maybe you’ll wait a while and get a bargain and get one for the same price that was 40 inches. Would we have any standardization? No, none.

No Alternate Truth

You see, there is a mathematical and logical order to what is real and what is truth. We live in a day when things that are said are illogical. People say that truth is not reality. What is truth to you may not be truth to me. No, I’m sorry, that’s incorrect. What is truth is truth. It’s not my truth and your truth. It is just truth.

Well, truth is not what I want it to be. That is quite often the case. Quite often, to be frank with you, truth is not what I want it to be. That does not change the fact that it is truth. Truth is what I choose it to be; it’s what I perceive it to be. No, we don’t get to choose whether we choose it to be or not. It’s truth whether we perceive it or not. If I perceive it to be truth, then I think it’s true, so for me, it’s true.” No, it isn’t.

I told this here many times before, but I’m going to tell it again because it fits. My wife and I years ago were sitting at the dinner table. There was a lady sitting at the table. She was trying to sell us something. She was a fairly good salesperson. She made her sales pitch. And then she tells me, “You know, I create my own reality.” I did not say this to her, I did not voice this out loud, but I was thinking when she said, “I create my own reality,” I thought, “Create the reality of this sale because it’s not happening.”

You see, that doesn’t work, does it? We don’t get to create our own reality. What about virtual reality? If it’s not reality, it’s not reality. Truth must follow a logical, understandable order. It must be demonstrable; it must have a standard. If there’s no standard, no logic, no reason, then there is no truth.

Those of us who profess to be followers of Him who is the Truth, must be people of truth, and that simply is logical. If we’re going to follow the truth, we must be people of truth. So, we need to pray to the Lord that we will speak from the heart and that truth will be known to others and that we will be known as people who speak truth.

Ladies and gentlemen, again, this is somewhat conceptual, but it is a concept that we need. It’s a concept that we need today because there is so much deceit and lies are pervasive. We need to return to understanding what is truth.

Once again, we’ll close with John 14:6:

John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

There’s no other way. There’s no compromise. There’s no alternate truth. There’s no my truth and your truth. There’s Him who is Truth. We need to place our faith and trust in Him. We need to follow Him.

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Let’s pray. Father, thank you so much for blessing us. Lord, help us to be people who know and recognize truth. Help us to be people who live by truth. Help us to be people who share truth. Help us to be the people of Jesus Christ. Forgive us our failures and help us, Lord, always to come back to you. Help us to shine the light of truth so that others may see and turn to Jesus Christ.

Our heads bowed, our eyes are closed, we’re going to sing the hymn of invitation. And simply say this, the altar is here if you need it. Father, bless and move now. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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