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00:00:02 We’d like to begin our discussion 00:00:03 with the importance of buying truth 00:00:07 personally. 00:00:09 No one else can do that for us. 00:00:11 And then we’ll talk just for a moment 00:00:13 about how much effort it takes to do that. 00:00:18 Let’s begin our discussion with something that happened 00:00:21 to King David of Israel. 00:00:24 He wanted to buy a threshing floor from a man named Araunah. 00:00:29 And he wanted to offer up sacrifices to Jehovah. 00:00:34 But Araunah the landowner said, ‘Look, David, take the threshing floor. 00:00:38 ‘I’ll give you the cattle. I’ll give you whatever you need. 00:00:41 Just take it and worship Jehovah.’ 00:00:44 But how did David respond? 00:00:46 At 2 Samuel 24:24, he said this: 00:00:50 “I will not offer up to Jehovah my God burnt sacrifices 00:00:54 that cost me nothing.” 00:00:57 David realized that it had to be his personal sacrifice 00:01:01 in order for it to have value. 00:01:05 Likewise, when we buy truth, 00:01:07 we have to pay for it, in effect, ourselves. 00:01:11 How much effort does it take? 00:01:13 Well, let’s open our Bibles to the book of 2 Peter chapter 1, 00:01:17 and let’s look at a couple of expressions here 00:01:20 that will help us to appreciate the effort that’s required. 00:01:25 Second Peter 1:5: 00:01:28 “For this very reason, put forth all earnest effort 00:01:32 “to supply to your faith virtue, 00:01:35 to your virtue knowledge.” 00:01:39 So we’re always having to add, to supply, 00:01:42 to our knowledge of the truth. 00:01:44 And what kind of effort? —earnest effort, sincere, 00:01:48 strenuous with depth of feeling, conscientious. 00:01:53 And how about this matter of supplying knowledge? 00:01:58 The original Greek noun here used meant “leader of a chorus.” 00:02:02 What does that have to do with supply? 00:02:05 Well, back in the day when this was written, 00:02:09 if a city wanted to put on a stage play and they had a chorus, 00:02:13 men of the city who had money would actually go into their own pockets 00:02:18 and pay for the training and the maintenance of that chorus for the city. 00:02:22 They had to spend a lot, 00:02:24 but they were willing to do it for what they considered to be a worthy cause. 00:02:29 So it was a personal sacrifice on their part. 00:02:31 So likewise, no one else can 00:02:35 read for us, study for us, 00:02:38 research for us, meditate for us. 00:02:41 It has to be personal, and it has to be done sincerely. 00:02:46 But now, even though we get the truth (and we’re glad that we have), 00:02:51 we want to make sure that we never sell it, we never lose it. 00:02:56 Now, these expressions “buy” and “sell,” they’re business expressions, aren’t they? 00:03:01 Well, let’s see what principles in the Bible can help us 00:03:04 to be on guard against the Devil and this system, 00:03:08 who are always trying to get us to sell, 00:03:11 or to get rid of, our truth. 00:03:15 Let’s go this time to the book of Proverbs chapter 20, 00:03:19 and we want to look at verse 14 00:03:21 —Proverbs 20:14. 00:03:24 Now, this is a dishonest businessman, and notice what he does: 00:03:28 “‘It is no good, it is no good!’ says the buyer; 00:03:33 then he goes away and boasts about himself.” 00:03:36 So he sees something he wants. 00:03:39 But he doesn’t want to pay them the value, 00:03:42 so he runs down the product; he criticizes and makes it look like it’s inferior. 00:03:47 And then the seller, if he’s not aware and alert, 00:03:50 will actually sell his product 00:03:52 for far less than it’s worth, for practically nothing. 00:03:55 And then this dishonest buyer goes off, and he brags about it. 00:04:00 Well, buyers are not the only ones that can be dishonest. 00:04:05 Sellers can be dishonest too, can’t they? 00:04:07 “This is the product you need. 00:04:09 It’s exactly what you want.” 00:04:12 But they don’t tell you about the long history of problems 00:04:15 that it has. 00:04:17 They don’t tell you about the cost that it takes to maintain it 00:04:21 and the difficulties that come with owning that product. 00:04:24 All they want you to do is buy this beautiful product. 00:04:27 Well, how can we take that principle 00:04:31 and apply it to what Satan and his system tries to do to us? 00:04:36 Jehovah warned about those who say this, as recorded at Isaiah 5:20: 00:04:41 “Woe to those who say that good is bad 00:04:45 and bad is good.” 00:04:49 So Satan, with all of his cunning and his deception, 00:04:53 will try to say to us: “You know the truth that you purchased? 00:04:57 “That was a bad purchase. 00:04:59 “It’s too burdensome. 00:05:01 “It took away your freedom. 00:05:03 “You lost your independence. 00:05:05 “Now, I’ve got some products 00:05:07 that will really make you happy right now.” 00:05:12 Well, we know that in the business world, 00:05:14 the buyer always has to separate the facts 00:05:19 from the salesman’s empty, or foolish, talk, 00:05:23 or his nonsense. 00:05:25 Not all salesmen are like that, but many are. 00:05:29 So we have to be careful that we don’t buy into something that seems so good, 00:05:33 but in reality, doesn’t have value at all. 00:05:38 So how do we fight all of this propaganda from the system of things around us 00:05:43 to make us feel that we made a bad purchase with the truth? 00:05:48 Well, we have a very good example in Jesus. 00:05:52 Remember the time when the Devil came to him, as recorded in Matthew chapter 4, 00:05:57 and the Devil said to him, 00:05:59 ‘I’m going to give you all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 00:06:03 and all you have to do is one act of worship to me.’ 00:06:07 How did Jesus respond? 00:06:10 “Go away, Satan!” 00:06:12 He knew that that was a lie, and he knew it was nonsense. 00:06:17 But how did he support and protect his truth? 00:06:20 He went to the truth. 00:06:22 He said to Satan: “It is written: 00:06:25 “‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, 00:06:27 and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’” 00:06:32 Well, that was the truth from God’s Word, 00:06:35 and that’s how we can protect our truth 00:06:38 that we’ve worked so hard 00:06:40 to obtain and to maintain. 00:06:43 We use the Scriptures, the truth from Jehovah, 00:06:47 to defend our precious purchase. 00:06:51 So may we continue to do that and not be fooled by this system of things 00:06:56 and all of its glitter that it says it wants to give to us. 00:07:02 Now, when considering what we’ve talked about thus far 00:07:06 —personal effort 00:07:08 and never letting the truth go because we view it as so valuable— 00:07:12 we can talk just briefly about the apostle Paul. 00:07:16 At Acts 22:3, 00:07:21 he talked about his previous education, obtaining knowledge, 00:07:25 and he said: ‘I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, 00:07:30 ‘instructed according to the strictness of the ancestral Law, 00:07:34 and zealous for God.’ 00:07:37 Saul, as he was known then, 00:07:39 was being trained at the feet of one of the most famous and renowned teachers 00:07:43 in the first century, Gamaliel. 00:07:46 Well, what did Gamaliel teach? 00:07:49 He promoted belief in the oral law, 00:07:53 and he placed greater emphasis on the oral law 00:07:57 than the inspired Scriptures. 00:08:00 So when the Hebrew Scriptures didn’t say specifically or explicitly 00:08:04 what a person should do, 00:08:06 men like Gamaliel came up with all of these oral traditions through the years. 00:08:11 And they knew them well, and the rabbis 00:08:14 would make the decision for the person, not the person. 00:08:18 In fact, Gamaliel was so esteemed that he was the first to be called rabban, 00:08:23 which was a title higher than a rabbi. 00:08:27 And Paul had to learn all of this oral tradition. 00:08:32 And research shows that it was a very painstaking, 00:08:35 relentless training program, 00:08:37 where they had to memorize all of these voluminous laws 00:08:41 and make it their own. 00:08:44 There would be benefits in the secular world —prestige. 00:08:49 But when Paul learned the truth, 00:08:54 what did he do? 00:08:56 He came to appreciate Mark 7:7, 8, when Jesus said: 00:09:00 “It is in vain that they keep worshipping me, 00:09:03 “for they teach commands of men as doctrines. 00:09:06 You let go of the commandment of God and cling to the tradition of men.” 00:09:11 So Paul understood that he thought he had something of value, 00:09:15 but it was all in vain. 00:09:18 And from the time that he accepted and bought the truth, 00:09:21 he never let it go, did he? 00:09:23 Regardless of the pain and the suffering and the sacrifices he made, 00:09:28 he considered it all worth it. 00:09:31 What a fine example of personally buying 00:09:34 at great sacrifice! 00:09:37 And as the years went by, 00:09:40 Paul never sold the truth, did he? 00:09:43 At Philippians chapter 3, 00:09:45 he talked about his life as a servant of God, 00:09:50 and he had no regrets. 00:09:52 He said what he gave up was “a lot of refuse,” 00:09:55 and the original terms there 00:09:57 could indicate dung or food garbage. 00:10:01 He made the right purchase, didn’t he? 00:10:03 And when he taught and when he wrote under inspiration, 00:10:07 we do not hear the apostle Paul say, 00:10:09 “When I was with Gamaliel, this is what he said” 00:10:13 or “Gamaliel would do this in this case.” 00:10:15 Never. 00:10:16 He always went back to the real truth, 00:10:19 the truth from Jehovah’s inspired Word. 00:10:22 What a fine example for us all! 00:10:24 So, what have we learned this morning? 00:10:27 Truth is valuable, and it’s worth every personal effort to obtain it. 00:10:31 But be careful. 00:10:33 Don’t let the Devil fool us into believing we made a bad purchase. 00:10:37 Resist the Devil and this system. 00:10:39 And as a result, we’ll have no regrets over our decision. 00:10:44 We will always be so grateful that we took the time and effort 00:10:47 to buy truth, and we’ve held on to it. 00:10:50 And then the God of truth 00:10:53 will reward us with everlasting life.
00:00:02 We’d like to begin our discussion 00:00:03 with the importance of buying truth 00:00:07 personally. 00:00:09 No one else can do that for us. 00:00:11 And then we’ll talk just for a moment 00:00:13 about how much effort it takes to do that. 00:00:18 Let’s begin our discussion with something that happened 00:00:21 to King David of Israel. 00:00:24 He wanted to buy a threshing floor from a man named Araunah. 00:00:29 And he wanted to offer up sacrifices to Jehovah. 00:00:34 But Araunah the landowner said, ‘Look, David, take the threshing floor. 00:00:38 ‘I’ll give you the cattle. I’ll give you whatever you need. 00:00:41 Just take it and worship Jehovah.’ 00:00:44 But how did David respond? 00:00:46 At 2 Samuel 24:24, he said this: 00:00:50 “I will not offer up to Jehovah my God burnt sacrifices 00:00:54 that cost me nothing.” 00:00:57 David realized that it had to be his personal sacrifice 00:01:01 in order for it to have value. 00:01:05 Likewise, when we buy truth, 00:01:07 we have to pay for it, in effect, ourselves. 00:01:11 How much effort does it take? 00:01:13 Well, let’s open our Bibles to the book of 2 Peter chapter 1, 00:01:17 and let’s look at a couple of expressions here 00:01:20 that will help us to appreciate the effort that’s required. 00:01:25 Second Peter 1:5: 00:01:28 “For this very reason, put forth all earnest effort 00:01:32 “to supply to your faith virtue, 00:01:35 to your virtue knowledge.” 00:01:39 So we’re always having to add, to supply, 00:01:42 to our knowledge of the truth. 00:01:44 And what kind of effort? —earnest effort, sincere, 00:01:48 strenuous with depth of feeling, conscientious. 00:01:53 And how about this matter of supplying knowledge? 00:01:58 The original Greek noun here used meant “leader of a chorus.” 00:02:02 What does that have to do with supply? 00:02:05 Well, back in the day when this was written, 00:02:09 if a city wanted to put on a stage play and they had a chorus, 00:02:13 men of the city who had money would actually go into their own pockets 00:02:18 and pay for the training and the maintenance of that chorus for the city. 00:02:22 They had to spend a lot, 00:02:24 but they were willing to do it for what they considered to be a worthy cause. 00:02:29 So it was a personal sacrifice on their part. 00:02:31 So likewise, no one else can 00:02:35 read for us, study for us, 00:02:38 research for us, meditate for us. 00:02:41 It has to be personal, and it has to be done sincerely. 00:02:46 But now, even though we get the truth (and we’re glad that we have), 00:02:51 we want to make sure that we never sell it, we never lose it. 00:02:56 Now, these expressions “buy” and “sell,” they’re business expressions, aren’t they? 00:03:01 Well, let’s see what principles in the Bible can help us 00:03:04 to be on guard against the Devil and this system, 00:03:08 who are always trying to get us to sell, 00:03:11 or to get rid of, our truth. 00:03:15 Let’s go this time to the book of Proverbs chapter 20, 00:03:19 and we want to look at verse 14 00:03:21 —Proverbs 20:14. 00:03:24 Now, this is a dishonest businessman, and notice what he does: 00:03:28 “‘It is no good, it is no good!’ says the buyer; 00:03:33 then he goes away and boasts about himself.” 00:03:36 So he sees something he wants. 00:03:39 But he doesn’t want to pay them the value, 00:03:42 so he runs down the product; he criticizes and makes it look like it’s inferior. 00:03:47 And then the seller, if he’s not aware and alert, 00:03:50 will actually sell his product 00:03:52 for far less than it’s worth, for practically nothing. 00:03:55 And then this dishonest buyer goes off, and he brags about it. 00:04:00 Well, buyers are not the only ones that can be dishonest. 00:04:05 Sellers can be dishonest too, can’t they? 00:04:07 “This is the product you need. 00:04:09 It’s exactly what you want.” 00:04:12 But they don’t tell you about the long history of problems 00:04:15 that it has. 00:04:17 They don’t tell you about the cost that it takes to maintain it 00:04:21 and the difficulties that come with owning that product. 00:04:24 All they want you to do is buy this beautiful product. 00:04:27 Well, how can we take that principle 00:04:31 and apply it to what Satan and his system tries to do to us? 00:04:36 Jehovah warned about those who say this, as recorded at Isaiah 5:20: 00:04:41 “Woe to those who say that good is bad 00:04:45 and bad is good.” 00:04:49 So Satan, with all of his cunning and his deception, 00:04:53 will try to say to us: “You know the truth that you purchased? 00:04:57 “That was a bad purchase. 00:04:59 “It’s too burdensome. 00:05:01 “It took away your freedom. 00:05:03 “You lost your independence. 00:05:05 “Now, I’ve got some products 00:05:07 that will really make you happy right now.” 00:05:12 Well, we know that in the business world, 00:05:14 the buyer always has to separate the facts 00:05:19 from the salesman’s empty, or foolish, talk, 00:05:23 or his nonsense. 00:05:25 Not all salesmen are like that, but many are. 00:05:29 So we have to be careful that we don’t buy into something that seems so good, 00:05:33 but in reality, doesn’t have value at all. 00:05:38 So how do we fight all of this propaganda from the system of things around us 00:05:43 to make us feel that we made a bad purchase with the truth? 00:05:48 Well, we have a very good example in Jesus. 00:05:52 Remember the time when the Devil came to him, as recorded in Matthew chapter 4, 00:05:57 and the Devil said to him, 00:05:59 ‘I’m going to give you all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 00:06:03 and all you have to do is one act of worship to me.’ 00:06:07 How did Jesus respond? 00:06:10 “Go away, Satan!” 00:06:12 He knew that that was a lie, and he knew it was nonsense. 00:06:17 But how did he support and protect his truth? 00:06:20 He went to the truth. 00:06:22 He said to Satan: “It is written: 00:06:25 “‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, 00:06:27 and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’” 00:06:32 Well, that was the truth from God’s Word, 00:06:35 and that’s how we can protect our truth 00:06:38 that we’ve worked so hard 00:06:40 to obtain and to maintain. 00:06:43 We use the Scriptures, the truth from Jehovah, 00:06:47 to defend our precious purchase. 00:06:51 So may we continue to do that and not be fooled by this system of things 00:06:56 and all of its glitter that it says it wants to give to us. 00:07:02 Now, when considering what we’ve talked about thus far 00:07:06 —personal effort 00:07:08 and never letting the truth go because we view it as so valuable— 00:07:12 we can talk just briefly about the apostle Paul. 00:07:16 At Acts 22:3, 00:07:21 he talked about his previous education, obtaining knowledge, 00:07:25 and he said: ‘I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, 00:07:30 ‘instructed according to the strictness of the ancestral Law, 00:07:34 and zealous for God.’ 00:07:37 Saul, as he was known then, 00:07:39 was being trained at the feet of one of the most famous and renowned teachers 00:07:43 in the first century, Gamaliel. 00:07:46 Well, what did Gamaliel teach? 00:07:49 He promoted belief in the oral law, 00:07:53 and he placed greater emphasis on the oral law 00:07:57 than the inspired Scriptures. 00:08:00 So when the Hebrew Scriptures didn’t say specifically or explicitly 00:08:04 what a person should do, 00:08:06 men like Gamaliel came up with all of these oral traditions through the years. 00:08:11 And they knew them well, and the rabbis 00:08:14 would make the decision for the person, not the person. 00:08:18 In fact, Gamaliel was so esteemed that he was the first to be called rabban, 00:08:23 which was a title higher than a rabbi. 00:08:27 And Paul had to learn all of this oral tradition. 00:08:32 And research shows that it was a very painstaking, 00:08:35 relentless training program, 00:08:37 where they had to memorize all of these voluminous laws 00:08:41 and make it their own. 00:08:44 There would be benefits in the secular world —prestige. 00:08:49 But when Paul learned the truth, 00:08:54 what did he do? 00:08:56 He came to appreciate Mark 7:7, 8, when Jesus said: 00:09:00 “It is in vain that they keep worshipping me, 00:09:03 “for they teach commands of men as doctrines. 00:09:06 You let go of the commandment of God and cling to the tradition of men.” 00:09:11 So Paul understood that he thought he had something of value, 00:09:15 but it was all in vain. 00:09:18 And from the time that he accepted and bought the truth, 00:09:21 he never let it go, did he? 00:09:23 Regardless of the pain and the suffering and the sacrifices he made, 00:09:28 he considered it all worth it. 00:09:31 What a fine example of personally buying 00:09:34 at great sacrifice! 00:09:37 And as the years went by, 00:09:40 Paul never sold the truth, did he? 00:09:43 At Philippians chapter 3, 00:09:45 he talked about his life as a servant of God, 00:09:50 and he had no regrets. 00:09:52 He said what he gave up was “a lot of refuse,” 00:09:55 and the original terms there 00:09:57 could indicate dung or food garbage. 00:10:01 He made the right purchase, didn’t he? 00:10:03 And when he taught and when he wrote under inspiration, 00:10:07 we do not hear the apostle Paul say, 00:10:09 “When I was with Gamaliel, this is what he said” 00:10:13 or “Gamaliel would do this in this case.” 00:10:15 Never. 00:10:16 He always went back to the real truth, 00:10:19 the truth from Jehovah’s inspired Word. 00:10:22 What a fine example for us all! 00:10:24 So, what have we learned this morning? 00:10:27 Truth is valuable, and it’s worth every personal effort to obtain it. 00:10:31 But be careful. 00:10:33 Don’t let the Devil fool us into believing we made a bad purchase. 00:10:37 Resist the Devil and this system. 00:10:39 And as a result, we’ll have no regrets over our decision. 00:10:44 We will always be so grateful that we took the time and effort 00:10:47 to buy truth, and we’ve held on to it. 00:10:50 And then the God of truth 00:10:53 will reward us with everlasting life.
