Episode Transcript
Title the message tonight is dependable delivery.
We're in Proverbs chapter 14 verse 25.
Proverbs 14, 25.
We'll begin with the words a true witness.
A true witness.
I love the Hebrew word translated witness here.
It's based on a root word that means to duplicate.
And I don't think you can get any better understanding of what a witness is supposed to be than That right there.
A witness is supposed to be someone who duplicates.
And last week after church, Tammy and I went out to eat.
We took that young couple out to eat and And uh I I noticed that uh when we pulled into the parking lot A big truck.
I don't want to be too particular because I don't want to offend anyone if someone knows this person locally.
Man, it was it was great.
This big big vehicle pulls up beside us and it's got a picture of the driver.
On like a big life-size photo of the driver on the side of the vehicle advertising her business.
And I mean right up there in your face when she pulls in.
There she is looking through your window at you on the side of that truck.
So I got out and I watched the woman get out and I looked at the woman.
I looked back at that Picture on the vehicle?
Y'all ever seen those uh Facebook filters where they They they take someone, they do this, make them look glamorous.
That's the way it was on the side of that truck.
And I look back at that woman in real life and I looked at that truck and I'm like, yeah, I think they did some work on that photo there Now, I'm not saying she was ugly.
I'm not saying that at all.
I'm what I'm saying is the photo on the truck looked much younger, flawless airbrush, whatever you want to put.
And the woman that got out of that truck looked older and with blemishes just like me.
And it was not a duplicate of the person inside the vehicle In fact, in my naivete, I wasn't even thinking about it at the time.
I looked at both of them and and I said, ma'am, is that you on the on the vehicle?
She didn't answer me.
And uh her husband her husband answered and said, Well, that's her twin.
They said, no, that's her.
And uh And then I started thinking later, well, that may have embarrassed her.
I wasn't trying to.
But uh that's not a duplicate.
That's bearing false witness, maybe you could say Maybe you could say that.
But a true witness is someone that duplicates the original.
As a notary, I did something that I hadn't done before as a notary last week.
And someone had to have a certified copy of their driver's license. to send in to a particular place and uh to a particular agency.
So uh uh to certify that driver's license as an original or the or the photocopy as an original copy or a copy of the original driver's license, I had to Notarize the photocopy.
I've notarized signatures before.
I've never had to notarize a photocopy.
But I took the original driver's license and I created a form and I photocopied the form.
I'm sorry the form the the the driver's license on the form And then I notarized it that it was indeed a true photocopy of the original.
And that allowed them to be able to accept it as a sort of certified or notarized copy.
And um so it was a true witness, one that duplicates the original.
If a witness gives testimony about something that they saw take place.
Then when they're giving that testimony to you or to a jury or to whomever, if if Brother Shepherd saw something and then he's trying to tell me what he saw His words should paint a duplicate picture in my mind of what he saw with his eyes.
That would be a true witness.
If they're a true witness and they're going to give you a story, that's going to be a true duplication of what occurred.
Now if a witness, on the other hand, is not relaying something they saw, But they're really laying a message for someone.
Like if I said, Brother Shepherd, would you go tell So-and-so that uh A, B, C, and D, well, if a if a witness is relaying a message for someone to another person, then the messenger needs to tell the intended recipient recipient a duplicate message of what they heard from the message giver Needs to be the same.
If they're a true witness, then the message they speak is going to be a duplication of the message they heard.
So a true witness is going to give you a duplication of the original.
As far as the word true is concerned, because we're looking at a true witness now that we know what a witness is.
As far as the word true is concerned, we've talked about that Hebrew word just a few weeks ago.
And it's also a very good Hebrew word.
If you'll remember back, I told you that this word had the idea of stability.
Perhaps you remember that.
But the Hebrew word translated true here has the idea of stability.
You cannot separate truth and stability in Scripture.
They go hand in hand.
If something is true, then it is stable.
And if something is stable then it is dependable.
I like that.
It's dependable.
A true witness is a dependable witness Have you ever had something like this happen to you before?
I bet you have.
Someone tells you a story of something that happened.
A significant story.
I mean something that matters, whether it's something in the family or something at work.
It's something important and you listen carefully to what this person tells you took place.
And after you hear them out real well, then you feel pretty confident that you have a pretty good understanding of what took place.
Now you're going to act on what you know.
And now you're going to to uh whatever you need to do, deal with other people, make new policies, whatever you're going to do.
You're going to now act on what you know.
So you you go out to others now and you begin explaining to others what took place based on that person's testimony But later, you hear that person talk about the incident again.
And you notice the stories changed a little bit.
That ever happened to y'all?
Yeah, everybody.
And boy, when that when you would you start going, oh, whoa, you're thinking in your mind, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
And so so you question them about the change in their story And when you question them about the change, well, they're smooth, so they kind of act like it's the same story they told the whole time.
And you know good and well it's not.
That's not a true witness because their story's not dependable.
Truth is always dependable.
You can count on the fact that it's never going to change.
If a person's story changes, this is something you can take home with you, if a person's story changes, then they are not duplicating a story.
They are fabricating a story.
If a person's story changes, they are not duplicating a story.
They are fabricating a story because truth is always consistent over time.
A lot of times in law enforcement when I interrogated people and Brother Shepherd still does, but a lot of times we would, uh I I know I would, I would visit with them very casually about the story, and I'd get the story from them.
I'd then wait some time.
We'd talk about something else.
And then I'd go back again and dig down into the story.
And I'd watch. for changes in that story.
And oftentimes there were.
A lot of times the way I caught fugitives.
If I was talking to someone and I'd ask them for their name and their date of birth and they'd give me their name and date of birth, I'd write it down.
I'd go back to my patrol car, I'd do the math on their date of birth, I'd figure up their age.
I'd then go back and I'd be visited with them and I'd just like that I'd say, uh, how old are you, sir?
And they'd give me a number and it didn't match their age.
Because they they fabricated the date of birth on the fly.
They just made it up.
They didn't have time to do the calculations.
So then I knew they'd gave me a false identity, and then we'd go from there.
Then you'd find out who they were eventually, and then they would be wanted.
That happened all the time.
So people will change their story sometimes depending on the person they're speaking to.
If I'm speaking to one person and I believe that m the story I'm telling is going to sound more favorable to them.
I may shade the story a little bit to please them.
If I'm giving an account of the same story that happened to somebody else I may shade it a little bit to please them.
And that kind of witness cannot be counted on.
That's not a true witness.
But thank God there are some true witnesses out there. stability, something you can depend on.
You know, that's what it is with the gospel.
The gospel requires us to receive witness from somebody.
When you're looking at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Those men are bearing witness of what they saw and what they heard.
There's a scripture popping in my mind right now.
And I'm going to look it up real quick.
It's not going to be in the sermon notes, but It's in my mind, so I want to read it to you.
It's in uh 1 John chapter 1, verse 1.
And it says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard.
Listen to that.
Listen to this man's testimony, which we have heard.
Which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled.
Isn't that something?
He says in verse 1 John 1. 3, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you.
That's what the gospel does.
The gospel requires us to receive the witness of men. and to receive the witness of God through those men.
God is a true witness.
And God's gospel is a true witness to us.
The evangelist in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the Apostle Paul, the prophets of the Old Testament, All of those people bear witness to us, and they are true witnesses.
It's stable, dependable testimony, and in order.
In order to believe on that.
Because we're talking about stability and then we're talking about dependability.
And why do we need that?
Because the gospel requires us to depend. on the witness that we hear.
That's a big step.
People say easy believism.
Man, I tell you what, it it's a huge step when you're asking somebody. to stake their soul's eternity upon the testimony of people they've never met Who lived thousands of years ago?
Who bear testimony about a God we've never seen, who sent a son we've never seen, And we're taking their testimony and we're depending on that.
The believing on Jesus means to depend on Jesus.
So in the Bible, you have believe in him, that means trust in him.
You have the words believe on him also in the Bible with the preposition on instead of in.
And when you say believe on, that means depend on or rely on.
And so to be able to believe on or to depend on something, you must have something reliable, stable to depend on.
Because we're just literally hanging our soul upon that testimony.
That's all we have is that testimony.
So you better have a true witness.
I thank God that our God is a true witness.
His story never changes You go to Genesis and this is the I've talked with man when when when atheists try to talk to me about not believing the Bible, or when someone tries to say, oh that's just written by a man I've taught the Bible long enough now, Old Through New Testament, and I'm telling you, I know that Bible well enough to know man did not come up with this.
These are credible witnesses.
And as you go from Genesis to Exodus, Leviticus, the Numbers, and you get on through the history and the the the the prophecy and the poetry and into the the uh uh evangelical writings in the New Testament and the epistles They all just harmonize together to let us know that we have many bearing witness, but we only have one person giving the testimony.
And then they just bear witness.
They're just relaying the witness to us that God has given in the gospel.
And it's worthy of our trust.
So thank God we can depend on that.
And the Bible says one of the true qualities of a of a true witness is this.
Look in your text.
A true witness does what?
It delivers souls.
Delivereth souls.
Now if you were falsely accused of a crime, and you're thinking of a true witness, well a witness can can uh come forward and clear you of a crime you didn't commit But a witness can also come forward and condemn you of a crime you did commit.
So we're talking about a specific type of witness tonight.
We're talking about a true, stable, dependable witness that delivers souls So this is a much deeper meaning here, and the witness in our text tonight is no doubt referring to those who bear witness of the gospel message.
There's no doubt in my mind.
This is the true deliverance the Bible's talking about tonight.
Because what good is it to have your soul delivered on earth to only have it condemned forever in hell?
Now listen to the Apostle Paul. who rehearses his account of his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.
It's in Acts 26, 15 through 18.
And he explains how God made him a witness of the gospel.
He said, and I said, Who art thou, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness. both of these things which thou hast seen, meaning the resurrected Christ, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee. delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light.
And from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Now watch how these two go together.
Jesus says, Paul, I'm going to make you a witness.
What's going to be the outcome of Paul being a witness?
People's eyes are going to be open.
They're going to be turned from darkness to light.
They're going to be turned from the power of Satan unto God.
They're going to receive forgiveness of sins.
They're going to inherit an inheritance from God among those that are sanctified.
And how are they sanctified?
By faith.
Faith in what?
Faith in the testimony Paul's going to be bearing witness to.
Which is the gospel, speaking of the deliverance of his soul in the souls of the Thessalonians.
By Paul being a witness to them as Jesus called him to be.
Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 through 10.
For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turn to God from idols The power of Satan unto God, turn from the power of Satan unto God.
You turn to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, sanctified by faith which is in me, whom he raised from the dead.
That's the resurrected Christ that Paul saw, that he bore witness to.
Even Jesus, watch now, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
So Paul was delivered, the Thessalonians were delivered, and they were all delivered on account of a true witness.
A true witness delivers souls.
A faithful witness delivers souls.
And what a glorious privilege it is for us to be a witness of the gospel.
My mom and dad were flagged down this week by someone who saw the doubting your salvation, know I'm saved. com on their their back glass.
They pulled up at a red light and there this lady's over there waving at them and my mama rolls down the window and the lady says, Oh, I love your sign on the back of your car.
My dad said it made him happy to see that that woman was happy.
It did.
Having your soul delivered by the gospel is something to be happy about.
A true witness delivers souls by speaking the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now, when we're looking at stability, dependability, Because remember, the a true witness is someone that's stable, dependable.
And the witness that they bear, therefore is stable and dependable.
You don't have to worry about if someone comes to testify in court, you don't have to worry about their story changing in the middle of cross-examination.
The prosecutor doesn't have to worry about that It's going to be stable.
It's going to be dependable.
In the same way with God's Word.
When we have God's word, we don't have to worry about the story changing in the middle of our life.
We don't have to worry about the story changing when we get up and stand before God.
I've had people I've talked to who say, well, I know the Bible says this, but I'm still afraid.
I'm still this.
I'm still the other.
And I know what the devil tries to make them think.
The devil tries to make them think that they're going to read something in the Bible that says very plain, very clear.
That he that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, shall not be damned, shall have everlasting life He that believes not is condemned, but he that believes is forever forgiven and has everlasting life The Bible says that they'll never come into condemnation because they've been passed from death into life.
And they read those verses like that, and it gives them such comfort.
But then they think, well, maybe there's something I'm missing.
And so they're always worried about some little obscure scripture somewhere down here that may get them, that may condemn them.
And I've had to tell them before so many times, and I'll tell you tonight, you'll never see God's word contradict anything that you have ever read concerning the gospel.
You're not going to read the clear passages.
About that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
You're not going to read the clear passages like that.
And then somehow or another.
There's going to be some little verse down here that uh that that's going to contradict it.
You're not going to find it.
If you find something you think is contradicting it, then you don't understand it.
But they think that somehow it's like God has this this law book up here.
And the people stand before them.
They die.
They stand before God to be judged And they say, Lord, I believe in Jesus as my Savior, then the Lord's going to say, well, now that's true, but hang on a minute.
Because in section 142, paragraph B, subsection C, it says this right here.
You missed that part.
And they think somehow there's going to be some fine print.
That's going to be like a I gotcha.
And then all their hopes and dreams of eternal life are going to vanish and they're going to perish forever.
That would be a deceitful witness.
God's word will never change.
And let me tell you something else.
Because God's word is stable That means those who believe in God's word for salvation, their salvation is stable.
You see?
Truth That word in Hebrew means stability.
And that's why once you believe in Christ as your Savior, And you're born again, you're sanctified by faith that is in me, Jesus said.
Once we're sanctified, that means set apart from the damned, Separated from those who are condemned, brought over into the category of those who are not condemned, because of our faith that is in Jesus for what he did for us on the cross.
We're sanctified forever.
And if we're not sanctified forever, then we're not stable.
In any moment, if we're not forever sanctified by faith in Christ, If at any moment we could be unsanctified again, and then sanctified again, then unsanctified.
That's not stable.
The only thing that makes us stable is God's word.
And God gave us a true witness so we can depend on him.
And we can rest assured that the story and the promises will never change and there will be no fine print in the gospel message when it comes Judgment Day.
So a true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness is going to do just the opposite If you'll notice here, it doesn't say a deceitful witness condemns souls.
A deceitful witness does this.
It just talks about the deceitful witness speaking lies.
But since we're contrasting here, it means he's going to do a deceitful witness is going to do just the opposite of what a true witness is going to do.
And the word deceitful here is speaking of fraud.
Something that that that defrauds someone, that harms them.
It's based on a root word that ha has the idea of someone taking a spear or an arrow and and throwing that spear into someone causing them to fall.
That's what a lie does.
A deceitful witness casts those lies, and those lies are like darts or spears that cause people to fall.
A true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness damns them, causing them to fall in their sins.
A true witness delivers souls by speaking the truth.
As Jesus said, the truth shall make you free.
But a deceitful witness damns souls because, look in your text, he what?
Speaketh lies.
Now watch the connection between lies and murder.
In the Gospel of John chapter 8, verse 44, speaking to a group of religious people, lost people, unbelieving people, Jesus said, Ye are of your father, the devil.
And the lust of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning And abode not in the truth.
Notice how murder and lack of truth go hand in hand.
Murder and departing from truth go hand in hand.
Jesus says, 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, what does a deceitful witness do?
They speak lies.
And this is the main point that the Holy Spirit is making here through Solomon.
When he speaketh of the lie, he speaketh of his own.
In other words, he's not speaking for me.
He's not speaking for the for the person who he's relaying the message for.
He's speaking on his own.
He's a false prophet.
For he is a liar, Jesus said in the Father of it.
So notice how the murder and the lie go just like this.
Why?
Because the devil murders by telling lies.
The people Jesus to spoke lies.
They were deceitful witnesses.
Every death that has ever occurred, every death that will ever occur is the direct result of a lie.
The direct result of the devil's lie.
Whether it's the lie spoken in the Garden of Eden, which brought sin into the world, and then that sin brought death, and every murder that comes with it, it all comes from that lie.
Or the continued lies told since then that keep people from the truth of Jesus.
They keep people away from the true witness of Jesus Christ.
And every soul that has ever been saved.
From that murdering devil has only been saved one way, and that's by the truth.
That's it.
So every soul that has ever been murdered, every every death that has ever taken place, by the way, there's no accidental deaths.
The devil meant to murder the human race when he interjected that line to the Garden of Eden.
It was an intentional act of homicide for the human race.
He used a lie to commit the mass genocide.
So every death is a result of that lie, that murderous lie.
And every person that will be rescued from that death, or using our word tonight in Proverbs, every person that will be delivered from that death, will be delivered by the truth.
Isn't that something?
A lie brought death to man.
A truth delivers man From death.
And that's why a faithful witness delivers souls.
And that's why any rendition of the gospel, which is not a duplication, Of the gospel that's found in scriptures speaks a lie that can only damn those who receive it.
You I've had people tell me, well, you're just splitting hairs over the gospel.
I tell you, if there's anything to split hairs over.
Anything to split hairs over.
It's the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You better have the scriptures like this, and if I'm going to bear witness to the gospel message, I need to.
Put my little link stamp right there on the scriptures.
And then when I go tell somebody else, I need to take that and stamp it on their hearts.
Just like Jesus said.
And when we do that, we give them something that they can depend on.
That will surely and eternally deliver their soul from hell.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
Thank you, Father, that the truth is stable Thank you, Father, that it's dependable.
It's never changing.
Thank you, Father, Lord, that that truth delivers our souls.
And Father, we pray, dear Lord God, that we'll be true witnesses thereof.
Thank you, Father God, for giving us the truth.
Knowing, dear Lord God, that it is a lie that brought every man into condemnation.
And that it is the truth that must bring us out.
May we know the truth.
And may we tell the truth until our dying day in Jesus' precious name.
Amen.
