If you remain standing and take out your Bibles, turning to Colossians chapter 3, we're continuing this morning in our series through a variety of one another passages in Holy Scripture. And this morning, looking particularly at Colossians chapter 3 at verse 9, I'll begin reading at verse 5. This is the holy, inerrant word of God. Give it your full attention. Colossians 3, verse 5. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, you too once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. Thus far, God's holy word. You may be seated. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you as we continue considering these various texts throughout Holy Scripture that Direct us how we are to live before the watching world with one another, how we are to think of one another and to treat one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, as members of your family. members of the visible church, and we are to live, Lord God, so that others may see the light that is in us in Christ and be drawn to that light. We pray now you would bless the preaching of this particular word, regardless, Lord, of the sins and in spite of the sins of the preacher, that this word may be heard, that it may be applied by your spirit for your glory in the church. Amen. All of us are in on it. And we all fall for it. The police call it a con game, which means or is short for a confidence game. On the surface, all appears normal and innocent enough. But you see, that's how a sting works. You may be what the con artist calls the mark. Which means you make the dangerous assumption, which by the way is called the hook, that people who speak to you actually mean what they say. That's the bait. For example, she told you, I'll pray about that for you. But you wondered why she never asked you about it or ever brought it up again. He said, oh, something came up after missing the meeting he promised to attend. But then he's so busy. Or the time you tried not to be cynical when they said they really like the church and definitely would be back. But they never showed up again. It really upsets you that he never returns your calls, even though his answering machine says, leave a message and I'll get right back to you. And how many times have you swallowed these lines? I'm going to get right on that. Count me in. Just let me know and I'll be there. Well, my boat's just too loaded right now. Let's get together sometime. You know, we really do need to talk about that. Yeah, that would be great. I'll set it up. First chance I get, I'll be in touch. I'd love to, but that's not my gift. I think you would do a much better job than I would. I'll look into it for you and let you know. Or what about the time you messed up, you blew it, and you apologized and you asked for forgiveness? You thought the words, I forgive you, And the next six months of smiles and pleasant conversation meant your offense was settled, only to find out later it wasn't. And how often have you asked, have you been? Only to hear in response, oh, I'm fine, coming from lips on a joyless face. But then you didn't want to pry. So the sting goes on. Sometimes you are the mark. Other times you are the con. Now, you may be thinking, well, David, everyone says little things he doesn't really mean. I mean, we all make little promises that are unlikely to be kept. Everyone is guilty of exaggerating a bit from time to time, but there's no harm intended. Everyone likes to add a little color to his version of the story. No one wants to hurt anyone by being brutally honest. So it seems kind to edit the truth a little at times. Most of us are reluctant to open up about our sins and failures. So there is a tendency to cover them up somewhat with cliches or euphemisms or busyness. Now, if that's how you're thinking, you are absolutely correct. Each of us participates in the sting. And the Lord wants the con game shut down. There should be no con artists in the church. The church is a place for ex-cons. God expects you, his children, whom he has rescued from the kingdom of darkness, to live in the light. And the kingdom of light, in the kingdom of light, falsehood, lies, distortion, phoniness, misrepresentation, masquerades, counterfeits, misinformation, any other practice that tampers with the truth, no matter how small, needs to be expelled. The Apostle John put it this way, in his second and third letters. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Beloved, the Holy Spirit wants the ninth commandment active in our lives. And the Spirit wants the ninth commandment operative in every area of our living. In the New Testament, The ninth commandment comes packaged in both negative and positive language. Negatively is where we read it in our text this morning from Colossians 3.9. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices. Or in Ephesians 4.25, a parallel passage, Paul says, each of you must put away falsehood. And then in 1 Peter 2, Peter writes, rid yourselves, and there he's talking to the church, to God's people. Rid yourselves of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Now, the positive wrapping in the New Testament has the word truth stamped all over it. Ephesians 4.15, speaking the truth in love. Ephesians 4.25, speak truthfully to one another, for we are all members of one body. And then Philippians 4.8, finally brothers, whatever is true, think about such things. Then in Ephesians 6, you remember Paul says, stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. And the Apostle John, in his first letter, says, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Now, hopefully, none of us in this church has a problem with Just conscious, bold-faced lying. Emphasis. Hopefully we don't have a problem with that like Seinfeld's George Costanza. You remember George? His whole character was built, it was based on his being a pathological liar. For us, it's the little lie. It's the fib, the slight turn of the truth, the subtleties of falsehood that tempt us daily. And there's something else in many churches today that that seems to be missing, that appears to be a deficiency. And I'm referring to a passion for integrity, for honesty and love of truth. One of the ways Satan has sabotaged Christians, particularly in the past century, has been by extinguishing their zeal for truth. And how has that happened? By bombarding us with the lie that truth is relative. Or that truth is merely subjective. That what is right or wrong depends on your situation. In fact, you've heard it so much. You've seen it so much. You've voted against it and lost so often. And you've argued against it so many times, yet it just keeps growing in our culture. Is there anything to counter this tide of relativity and autonomy? Yes, there is. God wants a flash flood of truth to fill your life and the life of the church. The Lord Jesus never intended truth to be a little trickle in your life. He told the temple crowd, remember that day, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him. By this, He meant the Spirit, the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth. So, your life is supposed to be flowing with rivers of truth. Christ made you, beloved, to be a Niagara Falls of integrity. Now, this morning, let's turn to that passage that Andrew read earlier, Zechariah 8, and see if we can dynamite away some of the debris, some of the worldly thinking or attitudes that seem to have damned up the desire for truth in our lives. There are many passages in scripture that instruct us regarding the place of truth in the Christian's life. I picked Zechariah 8 because it is not familiar to most of us and therefore may require a little more concentration. First of all, Zechariah is one of the minor prophets. You may have had a hard time finding it this morning between all those prophets that are together there at the end of the Old Testament. But he's not minor in the sense of importance, but simply minor in the sense of the length of his book. In fact, William Henderson prefers the description former and latter prophets. Zachariah was a latter prophet. And he was a priest as well as a prophet. And he ministered to the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon. The king of Persia, Cyrus, had allowed a remnant of Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. And you remember the temple. And the ensuing events of that are recorded in the book of Ezra. Now, renovating a downtown Jerusalem after 70 years of deterioration and neglect, that was a big, frustrating, and even dangerous job. And the builders were often discouraged. And there was the constant temptation to quit the whole project and into of what had become a throw-in-the-towel atmosphere, God throws in two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. Their preaching to the Jerusalem Construction Company went hand-in-hand. Now, I don't want to oversimplify since much of their content overlaps, but generally speaking, Haggai's message was more of a rousing revelry. His was a get out of bed and get to work and we can talk about it later bugle call type of preaching. And as Haggai pushed for action at a construction deadline, Zechariah, he zeroed in on attitudes and the relationship with God that also needed rebuilding as the temple walls went up. Now, secondly, Zechariah, he begins by calling the people to renounce the unbelieving ways of their forefathers. And of course, the principle there that directly relates to us is that repentance is always the first work of renewal. It begins rebuilding, repentance begins, begins that process of renewal. And then after this call to repentance, he reports a series of seven visions. And these visions that he has basically remind the people of God's covenant faithfulness to them. that God is keeping His promises to protect them and provide them, but the visions also point to a future protector and provider, a priestly king, a shepherd king, who will not only rule Zion, but the whole world as well. Zechariah's prophecy prefigures Christ. And of course, it has many detailed predictions which we see fulfilled in the New Testament. For example, if you're in Zechariah 8, just look at chapter 9 across the page there at verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. righteous and having salvation, is he humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. You know that fulfillment in the New Testament. Now, in response, to the review of God's covenant and the reminder in the first part of the book that God is faithful, the people then ask Zechariah a question in chapter 7 at verse 2. Now the people of Bethel had sent Charazor and Regem-Melech and their men to entreat the favor of the Lord, saying to the priests of the house of the Lord, saying to the priest of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, quote, should I weep and abstain in the fifth month as I have done for so many years? That is basically a question about religious form and ceremony. The question is something along the lines, are we following the right form? Is the liturgy correct? Does our order of worship look okay that we've been doing? Now, on the surface, there's no problem with this question. It is important and it should be asked. But from the Lord's answer in verses 5 and following, we know that the liturgy, the external conformity wasn't their real problem. Rather, it was a lifestyle of true faith. Say to the people of the land and to the priests, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh for these 70 years, was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous with her cities around her and the south and the lowland were inhabited? You see, the character of God, his attributes were not being reflected in their daily lives. They were ignoring, even though they had the external rituals, the practices, the liturgies, they were ignoring what mattered most to the Lord. Doing it all for Him. And then in chapter 7 there, in verses 8 through 10, I'm not going to read them, but you can look right there. Zechariah lists four character traits that should stand out in the lives of those whose intimacy with God is being rebuilt. Justice, mercy, generosity or compassion, and finally, integrity or truth. And when you read that passage there in Zechariah, it sounds very familiar. It sounds like Christ's rebuke of the Pharisees in Matthew 23, when he says to them, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness or integrity. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. Ceremonial exactness, form mattered, but it was not more important than godly motives and behavior. Now, as chapter 7 of Zechariah ends on this note of rebuke and reproof, chapter 8, the one Andrew read this morning, opens with an overture, really, of hope. Chapter 8 begins with the Lord expressing His commitment to His people using the language of a faithful, loving husband to his wife. I am jealous for Zion, he says, with great jealousy. And I am jealous for her with great wrath, or it could be translated there, with a great burning. The Lord then describes what Zion will be like when she is fully restored and fully dressed. You heard the whole chapter. Now that, beloved, is more than a picture of Jerusalem 500 years before Christ. It prefigures the church, the bride of Christ. It's a picture of you and your relationship to Christ. In chapter 8 here at verse 3, We read, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Zion and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city. Or as the NIV translates it, I really like this translation, the city of truth. And the mountain of the Lord, the holy mountain. Now notice first that the Lord calls Zion home. He is living in you and with you. You are the temple of God, as Paul writes, both individually and corporately. God is your constant audience. Now this verse here in Zechariah, also points to two mammoth, gigantic marks of the church. Truth and holiness. And these twin towers, they should dominate the skyline in the city of God. Those who belong to God, the church, for all time in every culture and in every corner of the earth, should be utterly conspicuous from the world because of these two qualities. Truth is your namesake, beloved. Truth is your thing. Is it any wonder that you are called here the city of truth? You were created by the one true God. In sin, you suppressed the truth in unrighteousness. But out of His mercy, God brought you to life and convicted you of your sin. By whom? By the Spirit of Truth. James says, God chose to give us birth through the Word of Truth. And through that word of truth, you realized the truth of your helplessness before God and your desperate need of a Savior. By the grace of God, God gave you true repentance and true faith so that you were enabled to turn from sin and to trust Jesus Christ, the one true mediator between God and man. And having been truly justified by Christ, you are now united to Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. The true vine. The true bread of heaven. The true light that gives light. The rider on the white horse in Revelation 19 who is called faithful and true. In God's providence, you have joined a true church, where in answer to Christ's prayer, you are being sanctified by the truth, where you are being renewed to true righteousness and true knowledge and true holiness. And now as true sons and daughters of God, you have been given the true ministry of reconciliation in a world that is always learning and yet never able to come to the knowledge of what? The truth which you have. In other words, beloved, truth looks good on you. Truth and holiness are woven together to make elegant, beautiful material which alone is resplendent enough for the wedding gown of the bride of Christ. In Proverbs 17, 22, we read, like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. Likewise, falsehood and deceit, they just don't look right anywhere. in the life of a Christian. You look good in truth. So put it on, Paul says. Wear it all the time. And when truth is the predominant fabric in your wardrobe year-round, two actions become routine in your life. In fact, the Lord commands them here in Zechariah in verses 16 and 17. These are the things that you shall do. Speak the truth to one another. Render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace. Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. And love no false oath. For all these things I hate, declares the Lord." Now right there, Zechariah uses a common Hebrew literary device to underline and to punctuate these particular actions. It's called an antithetic parallelism. If you want to impress somebody sometime. Oh, yes, that's an antithetic parallelism. But it simply means that two parts are set in contrast to each other. First, speak the truth to one another is set in contrast to do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. And secondly, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace is contrasted to love no false oath. So you are to be Speakers and seekers of truth. Speaking the truth in love, which is how the Apostle Paul expresses this first command, that does wonders in exterminating the many sins of our mouths. lying, slander, gossip, sarcasm, mocking, innuendo. Our verbal sins begin to vanish when the truth dominates our tongues and love dominates our motives and our manner of speech. Now, the second activity, which is phrased here in legal terms, gates, which were also the courts of that day, gates where judgments are made. That is not so much about speaking in a loving way as it is about a basic love for the truth. A fundamental desire to get at the truth in every situation you encounter. In other words, Christ wants justice and fairness and goodness to prevail in their lives and the lives of others in that passage. Seeking, digging, and working to uncover and apply the truth serves that noble desire. So how do we fulfill this truth speaking and truth seeking mission? Well, God's method of motivation hasn't changed. It is what it has been from the beginning. The revelation of God's curse and His blessing. First of all, the curse. We've seen it in these passages. God hates falsehood. He abhors deception. Just as he says here in verse 17, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord. Liars, the New Testament said, liars will not inherit the kingdom of God. And what about the blessing? The blessing is bilateral. First, God pours abundant joy into true worship. He turns fasting, that is the rituals which are empty, selfish, dead, and man-centered, into God-centered, heartfelt, truth-filled services of excitement and exuberant praise and thanksgiving and celebration. So when truth is proclaimed, worship is maximized. But that's not all. God promises to magnetize you. Magnets, you know, may repel. You see, when you stand for the truth, those who hate God and are perishing will stand against you. In his book, The Death of Ethics in America, newspaper columnist, many of you know, Cal Thomas, quoted from what he calls, quote, a remarkable commencement address, which was given in 1987 at Duke University by Ted Koppel, the news anchorman Ted Koppel. Here's what Koppel said in his commencement address. Quote, in the place of truth, we have discovered facts. For moral absolutes, we have substituted moral ambiguity. We now communicate with everyone and say absolutely nothing. Indeed, it can even be argued that opinions of real weight tend to sink with barely a trace in television's ocean of banalities. Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder. It is a howling reproach." But truth, beloved, not only repels, it also attracts. Because it heals, it comforts, it understands. It loves. It inspires. When you stand for the truth, those whom God is rescuing from the darkness are attracted by its light. They will want to stand with you. Brothers and sisters in Christ, you are the city of truth. Love it. Live it. Seek it. Speak it. And the God of all truth will make you a howling reproach to some. But by His powerful, sovereign grace, He will also make you a healing reformation to others. Beloved, do not lie to one another. Speak the truth to one another. Let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we do so much want to be people of integrity before you and our hearts before you where we know there is no hiding. But also, Lord, we plead, we humbly ask you to make us people of integrity before each other, that we do speak the truth to one another, that we do not lie to one another, that we trust one another, that we love one another, and that that love is shown in the way that we do speak the truth, that we do not, Lord, That we do not run off into the ways of the world and try to hide from dealing with the difficult issues we have to deal with with each other. That we do not condone our sins, but that we expose them with each other and to each other and do that in a merciful, truthful way that results in all of us growing more and more as your sons and daughters in the likeness of Christ our Savior. We rejoice that you are doing this work in us and we plead that you would have your way with us for Jesus' sake. Amen.