Proverbs 23:23
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
I don’t think Solomon is referring to all truth in general but to God’s truth in particular, because it is in His truth that we also find true wisdom, instruction, and understanding. The idea in this proverb is that we should seek to acquire the truth at any cost and then never part with it for any cause. The main purpose of selling something is to make a profit. But if you sold the truth of God’s word for all the money in the world you would take a major loss! There is nothing more valuable than the word of God (Prov. 8:10-11, 19; Ps. 119:72, 127).
The truth costs. If you don’t think so, just believe it with all your heart, live by it, preach it, defend it, stand for it, and see if it doesn’t cost! Before you are through it may cost you far more than you had thought. There is a difference between just mentally knowing the truth and buying it. To buy the truth it is to personally possess it deep within your heart. Many who mentally assent to truth won’t pay what it costs to say: “This is what I believe and stand for!” The truth isn’t worth that much to them.
Many in our society today, like Pilate of old, are cynical about truth (Jn. 18:37-38).
The truth costs. If you don’t think so, just believe it with all your heart, live by it, preach it, defend it, stand for it, and see if it doesn’t cost! Before you are through it may cost you far more than you had thought. There is a difference between just mentally knowing the truth and buying it. To buy the truth it is to personally possess it deep within your heart. Many who mentally assent to truth won’t pay what it costs to say: “This is what I believe and stand for!” The truth isn’t worth that much to them.
Many in our society today, like Pilate of old, are cynical about truth (Jn. 18:37-38).
John 18:37-38
(37) Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
(38) Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
But God has revealed His truth to man and it is still available today (Jn. 14:6; 17:17).
We must be all about the TRUTH! We are living in the last days of apostasy predicted by the apostle Paul. Most are deceived (2 Tim. 3:13). Apostasy is a willful denial and departure from the truth. Just as it was apostasy for Israel to depart from the truth that God revealed to them through His spokesman Moses, so it is apostasy in this age for believers to depart from the truth that God revealed to us through His spokesman the apostle Paul (2 Tim. 1:13-15).
2 Timothy 1:13-15
(13) Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
(14) That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
(15) This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
In days of apostasy, the prophet Isaiah said that “truth is fallen in the street” (Isa. 59:14). Jeremiah said that there was none left in Jerusalem that was seeking the truth (5:1), that “truth is perished” (7:28), and that there was none that was “valiant for the truth” (9:3).
The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.”
Buy the Truth – at any cost
Not, “Buy it if you can get it at a bargain; if the price is not too great.” No, buy the truth at any cost! It is worth far more than anything you can give in exchange for it.
The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.”
Buy the Truth – at any cost
Not, “Buy it if you can get it at a bargain; if the price is not too great.” No, buy the truth at any cost! It is worth far more than anything you can give in exchange for it.
What it may cost:
1. Time and effort to learn the truth (Prov. 2:1-9; 2 Tim. 2:15)
2. Religious traditions (Mk. 7:5-9; Titus 1:14)
3. Religious self-righteousness (Phil. 3:7-9)
4. Reputation (Gal. 1:14; Acts 24:14; 26:24-25)
5. Relationships (Lk. 12:51-53; Gal. 4:16)
6. Ease
7. Life (multitudes of martyrs)
In 1521 Martin Luther was called before Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms ("diet" meaning a formal meeting and Worms being a city south of Frankfurt). Luther thought he would have a chance to defend his ideas but Charles would only accept an ironclad recantation. Luther said, "Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God."
God used William Tyndale (1492-1536) in a great way to translate and publish the Bible in English. Forbidden to work in England, he translated and printed the NT and half the OT between 1525 and 1535 in Germany and the Low Countries. His pocket-sized Bible translations were smuggled into England, and then ruthlessly sought out by the Church, confiscated and destroyed. Condemned as a heretic, Tyndale was strangled and burned outside Brussels in 1536. On that stake he prayed, “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes." His work has survived. Much of Tyndale's work eventually found its way to the 1611 Authorized Version of the Bible. Here are some quotes from Tyndale:
· "I perceived how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue."
· "I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who drives the plough to know more of the scriptures than you do."
· "I call God to record against the day we shall appear before our Lord Jesus, that I never altered one syllable of God's word against my conscience, nor would do this day, if all that is in earth, whether it be honor, pleasure, or riches, might be given me."
· "My overcoat is worn out; my shirts also are worn out. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark."
Anything it may cost us to buy the truth is well worth it! Consider the supreme value of the truth. It brings:
1. Assurance of salvation (Eph. 1:13)
2. Real and lasting freedom (Jn. 8:32, 36; 2 Tim. 2:25-26)
3. Sanctification (Jn. 17:17)
4. Knowledge of God (1 Jn. 5:20)
· "I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who drives the plough to know more of the scriptures than you do."
· "I call God to record against the day we shall appear before our Lord Jesus, that I never altered one syllable of God's word against my conscience, nor would do this day, if all that is in earth, whether it be honor, pleasure, or riches, might be given me."
· "My overcoat is worn out; my shirts also are worn out. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark."
Anything it may cost us to buy the truth is well worth it! Consider the supreme value of the truth. It brings:
1. Assurance of salvation (Eph. 1:13)
2. Real and lasting freedom (Jn. 8:32, 36; 2 Tim. 2:25-26)
3. Sanctification (Jn. 17:17)
4. Knowledge of God (1 Jn. 5:20)
Sell it Not – for any cause
He does not say: “Don’t sell it unless you can get a very good price for it.” He says: “Sell it not.” Sell it not at any price. Buy it, no matter what it costs and when it is yours do not sell it for any price or under any consideration. Many have bought the truth only to sell it out! For a while they valued and defended some God-given light from His word, but they sold it for something that seemed more valuable to them. They may still have given mental assent to it but it formed no part of them. It was no longer a conviction.
People sell the truth to “gain”:
1. Peace with others
2. Position, or promotion – One preacher admitted, “A man can’t make a living in his denomination if he doesn't hold to the traditions of his denomination.”
3. Popularity (Jn. 12:42-43)
4. Prosperity – there is money to be made in religion (Gal. 1:14)!
What would you sell the truth for? Judas sold the truth for 30 pieces of silver. Where did it get him?
It is because the truth is so little valued in this indifferent age, that many of God’s people have become so spiritually powerless. They hold opinions instead of convictions, because they have given the infallible, unchangeable word of God little place in their lives. God blesses and uses those who “buy the truth and sell it not.”
Of course, salvation is free to all sinners! We are saved freely by God’s grace through faith because Christ paid the full price with His blood. It is free to believe the gospel but it costs to stand for the gospel and faithfully preach it to others (just ask the apostle Paul).
People sell the truth to “gain”:
1. Peace with others
2. Position, or promotion – One preacher admitted, “A man can’t make a living in his denomination if he doesn't hold to the traditions of his denomination.”
3. Popularity (Jn. 12:42-43)
4. Prosperity – there is money to be made in religion (Gal. 1:14)!
What would you sell the truth for? Judas sold the truth for 30 pieces of silver. Where did it get him?
It is because the truth is so little valued in this indifferent age, that many of God’s people have become so spiritually powerless. They hold opinions instead of convictions, because they have given the infallible, unchangeable word of God little place in their lives. God blesses and uses those who “buy the truth and sell it not.”
Of course, salvation is free to all sinners! We are saved freely by God’s grace through faith because Christ paid the full price with His blood. It is free to believe the gospel but it costs to stand for the gospel and faithfully preach it to others (just ask the apostle Paul).
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