In his sermon titled 'Ministers of Truth,' Peter Allison explores the themes of truthfulness and integrity, drawing from Proverbs 17:7-8. He emphasizes that excellent speech and wisdom are not fitting for a fool, who is described as someone who disdains God. The sermon discusses the role of civil rulers and ministers, highlighting the necessity for them to be men of truth, as hypocrisy in their roles leads to blasphemy of God's name. Allison criticizes modern civil rulers, particularly politicians, for their common practice of lying, noting that this reflects a wider societal acceptance of deceit. The sermon discusses the difference between gifts and bribes, with bribes being given for self-benefit, unlike true gifts meant to bless others. He warns against the impact of bribes on justice and truth, citing biblical examples. Ultimately, Allison contrasts human deceit with the integrity of Jesus Christ, the 'precious stone,' urging believers to trust in Him for salvation and righteousness, and warning of the consequences for those who reject Him.

Please turn in your scriptures to the book of Proverbs, chapter 17. I would like to read our text this morning, verses 7 and 8. Hear the word of God Almighty. Excellent speech is not becoming to a fool, much less lying lips to a prince. A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor.

Wherever he turns, he prospers." Thus far the reading of God's Word. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Almighty Heavenly Father, We lift up our hearts to you this morning in grateful adoration. And thanks for this word that you have preserved, that you have brought to us through your messengers, your angels. And We ask now that your Holy Spirit would come to us, open the eyes of our understanding, open our ears that we may behold the glory and the beauty and the truth of your word.

May we see you our Savior Jesus Christ, for you are the word who was made flesh and dwelt among us. We ask that you would do this mighty work in our midst this morning and we give to you the praise and the glory for it in Jesus name. Amen. Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool. It is not becoming to a fool.

It's not comely. It is not suitable. It's not something that fits. Excellent speech, wisdom, truth, Coming out of a fool, it doesn't fit. It doesn't match.

They don't go together. It's like finding apples growing off of a basketball pole. It just doesn't fit. It's absurd. It's out of place.

It's like wearing cut-offs with a tuxedo top. They don't fit. Just like that alarm in the middle of the sermon. Doesn't fit. It's not comely.

It's not fitting. Perfect example. Excellent speech is not fitting to a fool. A fool, There are several kinds of fools in Proverbs. We looked at that early on, but to review, a fool, or this fool, this particular word for fool is a nabal.

It's someone who curses God. Someone who insults Him. Someone who doesn't have any regard for the blessings of the Lord. Who mocks them. When Job's wife said to Him, in the midst of His suffering, in the midst of His physical pain, in the midst of His deprivation, He lost all His children, they'd been killed, He lost all of His flocks and herds, those are the way that wealth was measured in that world.

All of it was gone. It's his livelihood, his income, and he was left sitting on a pile of rubble, scraping his boils with a piece of broken pottery. His wife said to him, curse God and die. And Job's response to her was, you speak, you speak as a fool, You speak as a nabal. Shall we receive good from the hands of the Lord and not the evil?

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed is the name of the Lord. So, a fool is somebody who despises God, despises God, who curses God, who insults God. And it's a foolish people, is a foolish people that say in their heart that God is harsh or cruel. The Israelites were that kind of people and Ezekiel reminded them of that when he said to them In Ezekiel 13 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel saying, Son of Man prophesy against the prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing.

O Israel, your prophets are like foxes in the deserts. You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the day of the Lord. They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, Thus says the Lord, but the Lord hasn't sent them." These are people who prophesy out of their own heart. Prophets of Israel who prophesy out of their own heart and say, Hear the word of the Lord. These are prophets who instead of proclaiming the word of the Lord, are proclaiming their own words.

They show contempt for God's Word, and in place of God's Word bring their own Word, which God hasn't given them. And God doesn't have any regard for the praises of the wicked. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. The prayers, the way of the wicked, we've read before in Proverbs, is an abomination to the Lord. He just doesn't regard, he doesn't hear the praise of wicked people.

And it's not fitting. This excellent speech, praise and wisdom, isn't fitting from the mouth of a fool. In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about the hypocrite who wants to say to their brother and point out this problem in their life when they have this log in their own eye. Jesus called that kind of person a hypocrite. It's not fitting for excellent speech to be coming from a fool.

In fact, it's not merely just not fitting, but because of it, God is blasphemed. When those who preach the truth are not themselves men of truth." Paul wrote to the Jews, indeed you are called a Jew and you rest in the law and You make your boast in God. You claim to be these good people. You claim to be a guide to those who are blind. You claim to be a teacher, but you have a form of knowledge and truth.

He says, you therefore who teach another, do you teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, do not commit adultery, Do you commit adultery? You who are poor idols, that's what you teach, that's what you're proclaiming, those are good words. You're saying good things.

Don't commit adultery. Don't lie. Don't steal. You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Because you are here proclaiming all these words of wisdom, all this truth, but you're foolish people. You hold God in contempt. You're doing the very things that you're proclaiming and saying shouldn't be done. That's not fitting. That's not fitting.

People who would proclaim the truth must themselves walk in the truth. Do we ever expect truth to come from fools? Well, we shouldn't, but I think sometimes we do. Sometimes we forget. Because a fool is somebody who the Bible also describes as saying in his heart, there is no God.

A fool is someone who says in his heart, There is no God. Whether he says it out loud or not, he says it in his heart. And so we shouldn't expect wisdom or comely speech to come from a fool, somebody who says there is no God. And yet that's exactly what we do when we give our children to the government school. The government school has said there is no God.

We don't know who made us, and in fact, because we don't know that there is any God, You shouldn't even use his name in our presence, on our property. You shouldn't talk about him. You certainly shouldn't pray to him. So if we send our children somewhere there expecting to get words of wisdom spoken to our children, we are the fools. Excellent speech is not becoming to a fool, much less Lying lips to a prince.

So there is the basic principle which we all can understand. We don't expect wisdom from a fool, unless we ourselves are foolish. But I think even the world recognizes that there is something wrong when a minister of the gospel preaches against the very sin that he is committing. That's the obvious. And so even more true than that, even more unfitting, is lying lips to a civil ruler.

A prince or a civil ruler must be a man of truth. That was one of the requirements that God gave for those who would bear civil office. There are many requirements throughout scripture and we don't have time this morning to go through all of them. We've done that at other times, or a little bit. But just look at Exodus 18, it's one passage that's very comprehensive.

And Moses is, God is giving the requirements in his word for civil magistrates and God says in his word moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God." That's the first requirement. They have to be able, they have to be capable. They have to fear God. That means there's a caref- That's the opposite of being a fool. A fool has scorn and contempt for God.

Somebody who fears God has a carefulness not to do unrighteousness. Men who fear God, men of truth, they've got to be able, they have to fear God and be men of truth. They have to be known for those who speak the truth. Men who are true. Men whose character matches their words.

And there's one more thing that's given there, they hate covetousness. We're going to come back to that. But men of truth, princes are to be men of truth. And yet, who are the people today most known for not being men of truth? It's the civil rulers.

Politicians we call them today. And there are all sorts of jokes and one-line comments about politicians and their ability to speak the truth. In fact, they are probably politicians, Congress in particular, is probably held in the lowest esteem among all of people, all occupations in the United States today, primarily because they do not speak the truth. But just think about some of the places where this is a problem. Have you ever thought about sting operations that the police run?

Civil rulers who are charged with the punishment of evildoers claiming to be someone they are not. We are told today that police are not required to tell the truth. The police are civil magistrates, they are civil rulers. They have been entrusted with a portion of the authority that God has given to the civil magistrate. In our country, that authority God has given to the civil magistrate is not given to only one man, but it's given to a number of different men in different institutions.

And there's wisdom in that. But today, sting operations, where men who are not to have lying lips, go around lying about who they are. Or the child protective services routinely lying in court to take children away from their parents. There was a case that came before the Ninth Circuit. It was appealed in 2015.

The oral argument was heard in 2016 in the Ninth Circuit. And the attorney, the reason the case was being appealed, because the CPS agents had lied in court, submitted false evidence, created their own evidence, in order to get children taken away from a mother. And the mother was appealing this. And the CPS lawyer is arguing before the circuit court that CPS agents have a constitutional immunity to lie and present false evidence in court in order to remove natural children from their parents. Now thankfully, the judge was somewhat incredulous at that.

Sadly, not so much that it was such a horrible thing for them to do that. And in fact, the judge, But really, it was horrible that it was the court that was being lied to, or them that was being lied to. But the reason this attorney was bringing this argument, and she had her legal arguments in front of her, legal cases, that she was making this argument on. She wasn't just making it up. She was basing her argumentation on case law.

Case law that she thought said they did have the right to lie. The judge said, well, Don't you think that's preposterous that anybody would think that they could lie in court?" And she says, well, of course. And then the judge said, well, isn't that the case over? And then she said, oh, no, no. Of course it's morally absurd to think that, but it's not constitutionally absurd to think that was her argument, which is more absurdity, folly.

But these are princes that are lying. In fact, lying by civil magistrates has become so common today that it has its own name. We talk about false flag operations. False flag operations. So the civil magistrate thinks that it's good to lie and that it's cumly, fitting.

Proverbs says, excellent speech is not becoming a false, much less lying lips to a prince. But false flag operations, they abound today. This is where, I'll give you an example of one, one of the ones that's well documented, because this gets into the stuff of conspiracy theories and people wearing tin foil hats. But I'm going to tell you about an example that you can find in the National Archives. It's signed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

It's got his signature on it. You can go home to your computer and go to the National Archives and download your own copy, as I have done, and read it. It was a document created in 1962. So it's a lie that's old enough that people are willing to admit it was a lie. But it was classified top secret, and In the document you download from the archives, it has top secret on it.

Nobody can see it. It was not declassified long past the normal period of declassification, because it's a lie. It's the civil magistrate saying a lot, telling a lie. And not just telling a lie of no significance, but telling a lie of such magnitude as to get the United States into a war. The Northwoods project was about how to lie to the American people, so that they would be willing to accept a war with Cuba.

And they talk about, in this document, which is in our National Archives, signed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stamped the top secret. They talk about these sorts of things. They are brainstorming on ways to lie that they can actually deceive the American people getting them into a state of war. Here are some of the things that they talk about. Some are very simple.

Like they could just have a boat of refugees get mown down, have a boat of refugees get machine gunned down. People doing the machine gunning would be Americans, and then they'd blame it on the Cubans for doing this, and use that as a just pretext for war. But here's a more elaborate scheme, and it's something closer to what was actually done. They were going to have a series of airplanes, a sortie, four or five airplanes, fly over toward Cuba. They would be in a row, and The first four pilots wouldn't know what was going on.

They would think we were just supposed to fly to Cuba, but the last guy would know about the lie. He was flying last so nobody could really see him. And then he would all of a sudden on his mic say, Mayday, Mayday, I've been hit. And he would zoom down and away and back home, skimming along the top of the ocean where the radar couldn't see him, flying this plane into a secure base, and then a submarine would release a bunch of plane parts in that area from that particular airplane. And then the president could come on and say, well, we had a plane shot down by the Cubans, And we need to retaliate.

We need to avenge this death. That's a lying lip. That's a prince lying. And you can read about it right in our own National Archives. It's not comely for princes to lie.

Or just look at our money. Printed right on the face of it is acclaimed to be some number of dollars. When we all know that that piece of paper is not a dollar, never was a dollar, has really nothing directly to do with being a dollar. It's a lie. It's a prime official lie.

Those are big lies with huge significance. How many parents have lost loved ones, have lost husbands, or parents have lost sons because of lying lips of princes, starting wars. But this is true for all rulers. It's true for ministers of the gospel, as we've talked about. It's also true for parents.

That's the other institution that God has ordained. Sometimes we think of our lives as just little, they're insignificant. But what about the tooth fairy? Or what about Santa Claus? Nothing wrong with having a picture of a jolly old man, but when this person is said to come down a chimney and be the giver of all of the gifts that we are received at Christmas.

Or what about the tooth fairy is the source of the money that's under the pillow? See, we're really telling our children things that aren't true. They're lies. They're little lies. We might say they're forgivable lies, they're white lies, but they're really not true.

And if they're carried out long enough, it can really undermine the trust that our children ought to have in us. Ought to have in us. But as we saw last week, An evil doer gives heed to false lips. What does this say about us as a nation? That we are willing to listen to these lying princes.

That we are willing to accept these things. It's really a commentary on us, and our character as a people, as a nation, that we are wicked Because we listen to these lying lips of princes. We need to choose men who meet the qualifications of Exodus 18. Men of truth. That has to be the standard by which we evaluate the princes that we choose, the people that we choose to be a prince, the people that we choose to rule over us.

Not how good they look and how smooth they sound, not how much legislation they have passed, or how much money they have raised. We need to be Choosing men of truth. Men who reject these false flag operations. Men who speak the truth about our financial condition. The fact that we are choosing people who lie says really more about us as a people than it does about them.

There's another characteristic in our text regarding ministers of truth, and that is in the next verse. A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor, wherever he turns he prospers. A present. That is a word for a gift. And there's some question about whether this is a good gift or a bad gift.

We call a bad gift a bribe. This could be a bribe is a precious stone. I think it is referring to a bribe. And some of your Bible translations, I think the ESV call it that. They call it a bribe, and I think that's the better sense.

That's the sense of this verse and I'll show you why. Precious, well, what is the difference, I guess, first of all? What's the difference between a gift and a gift? What's the difference between a present and a bribe? A bribe is in a sense a present.

What's the difference between one that's given good, like the gifts we give to our children, and a bribe? Here's the fundamental difference. The difference between a bribe and a gift is that a gift is given to bless the receiver. A bribe is given to bless the giver. A bribe is given to get something.

A gift is given to bless someone. When you give a gift to your child at Christmas or on their birthday or some day in between. You're not expecting to give that in order to get something from them. You're giving it to them because you want them to be blessed by having it. But a bribe is something where you give something expecting a favor in return expecting to earn or win the favor of the one you're giving that gift to and that word that translated precious here is exactly the word for to find favor.

There is another word for something being very costly or precious in the sense of expensive. It is a different word entirely. This word is almost always translated to find favor. It says that Noah found favor, it uses this word, in the sight of God. Ruth said to Boaz, why have I found favor in your sight?

Remember, Boaz had treated her so generously. He had given her the ability to glean in the field. He had told the workers, hey, leave a little extra on the side so it's easier for her to pick up. And then he had just outright given her grain. And she's asking, why have I found this favor in your sight?

Boaz was giving her gifts, not expecting anything from her. There was nothing that she could really give him back. She was a poor, low-bite woman, having to glean a field just to stay alive. Moses often prays, using this word, to the Lord, if I have found favor in your sight. You notice it's Noah found favor in God's sight Moses said if I have found favor in to God if I have found favor in your sight that's what this is saying a bribe is a stone of favor.

It's a stone that brings favor. Now who does it bring the favor to? It is in the eyes of its possessor. Here's the guy who is going to give a bribe, and he thinks that giving this gift will cause him to find favor from the person he's giving the gift to. He will find favor in his eyes, that's what he thinks.

Now what does the Bible say about our own eyes? I think it's more a reference to a fool. It's a fool that finds favor in his own, or is wise in his own eyes. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil it's a fool that is The Proverbs 12 is is wise in his own eyes Proverbs 12 5 Thoughts of the righteous are white the councils of the wicked are deceitful.

It's They're the ones that think they're wise in their own eyes. So this giver of this gift, this bride, is seeking to find favor from the person that he's giving the gift to. He is giving it to receive something in return. As Jesus says, when you invite people over to your house, don't invite the people that can repay you back. Invite the people who can't repay you back.

That's true hospitality. That's a gift. Don't rely on your own wisdom and your own understanding. That's being a fool. Now bribes are specifically forbidden.

Civil rulers are specifically forbidden from taking a bribe because to take a bribe is going to pervert their eyes, it's going to pervert justice, it's going to cloud their understanding and their judgment and make them partial toward those who have given them the gift. He says to them, circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer. For the Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords, the great God and mighty and awesome who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and widows and loves the strangers and gives them food and clothing. God is impartial.

He doesn't take a bribe. He's not moved to show favor by giving of a gift. And that's the way the civil rulers were to be. They were not to be those who were moved by a bribe. It says to the civil rulers in Exodus, you shall not pervert judgment of your poor, But keep yourself far from a false manner, do not kill the innocent and the righteous, for I will not justify the wicked, and you shall take no bribe.

For a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous. And that's why if you remember in Exodus 18, what was the last characteristic of a civil ruler? They were to be able men who fear God, men of truth, and not covetous. Because somebody that's covetous is desiring, is going to be desiring that gift. And they're going to be someone who will more readily fall into the sin of that bribe, and of being moved in their judgment by it.

Remember the soldiers in Jesus' day is an example of people who were moved by money to tell a lie about the resurrection. They were supposed to guard the tomb and Jesus arose and in order to cover that resurrection, the Jews said to the soldiers, just tell everybody that the disciples came and stole it away while we slept. We fell asleep and they came and took it. When we woke up, the body was gone. And if that matter comes before your rulers, we'll take care of that.

But they gave them a bribe to pervert the truth. And Matthew says that that story was still being told, even when he wrote the book some years later. False prophets are people that are tempted by bribes. Remember, Balak came with money to try and bribe Balaam to come and curse the Jews. And there was a rather lengthy exchange where initially Balaam refused the bribes, but eventually he broke down and took it and the New Testament tells us that he took that money out of covetousness you know the first time Balaam came he said no I can't and He sent them away after he went and sought the Lord.

The next time they came back, he said, well, let me go see. They came back with more money and more honor. He said, well, let me go see. Maybe the Lord has changed his mind. So the last time, finally, after a series of these, God said to him, go with them.

But only the word which I speak to you that you will do." So he goes with them and then God is angry that he went with them. That is an example of the difference between God's perceptive and decreed will. What he commands us to do and what he has ordained will happen and what he brings to pass. Clearly, Balaam was sinning by taking that bride to go and curse, But in God's wisdom, he ordained for it to happen, for his purposes. Preachers can have the same problem.

In order not to offend those people who are able to give large sums of money to the Church, they may avoid things in the Word of God that would be offensive, or that would be hard to proclaim. That's a very real temptation. And it's something that we need to guard against. Any faithful minister of the Word has to be willing to proclaim the truth of God's Word, all of it, without regard to the people who may be able to give large sums of money. Parents can also fall into this as well.

Giving bribes. Giving something to the children in order to pacify them, in order to placate their demands. You see, apply that definition of a bribe. It's something that you give to Find favor. It's something that you give in order to get something in return.

You want the children's cooperation. You want them to be quiet for a while. And so you bribe them. You give them something that they want in exchange for the peace that you want. That's really a bride.

Now that's nothing wrong with giving a reward. The reward is given because they have met a goal, and it's a goal that you've determined is good for them. You're encouraging them to do something that is good for them, that will bless them, that will benefit them. And in order to induce them and encourage them toward that which will help them, you give them a goal, a reward for meeting a goal. That's a very different thing.

You see, the purpose of that gift is for their benefit. You want them to do something, whether it's read the Bible in a year or learn how to make their bed every day. Those are habits that are for their own good. And you want to encourage them to reach those habits, to reach those goals. And so you give them a reward after they've done that.

And you put that reward out in front of them. That's very good and biblical. In fact, The Lord has set a reward before us, a crown of righteousness, to all those who love His appearing. And it's something we ought to look forward to, and it's something we ought to work for. But a bribe is different.

A bribe is what we give in order to get something. And even I think when you give that to our children, to get something from them, it is really a bribe. You see, To give a bribe is to fail to trust the means that God has ordained to provide for us. Paul told the Hebrews, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper.

I will not fear what man shall do to me." And all the examples in the Old Testament where these kings would take the wealth of the people, sometimes they taxed the people, the rich, sometimes they tore the gold off the walls in the temple, melted the things down. In order to give, the Assyrian king, or the Babylonian king, or the Egyptian king, they were giving a bribe. They were hoping to buy the favor of that king and save their country because they didn't trust the Lord to do that. When Hezekiah, on the other hand, was faced with an army of a quarter million people, or almost, and somebody who was threatening to destroy their city, who had boasted that he could destroy their city, his answer was to take that letter that boasted to destroy that city and to lay it before the Lord, and to ask the Lord for his help and deliverance. And God sent help, and Hezekiah didn't have to pay anyone a penny.

God's angel of death that very night went out and killed 185, 000 men. And Sennacherib went back to Nineveh humiliated because Hezekiah trusted in the Lord to provide to provide for his needs, to provide for his security, to provide for safety and not in a bribe. A present is a precious stone, a bride is a precious stone, in the eyes of its possessor, wherever He turns, He prospers. You know who really is a precious stone? And that precious is not something that is not the kind of precious that means that they find favor, but it is truly the precious stone that is very costly, very valuable.

It's Jesus Christ. Isaiah says of Jesus Christ that He is our precious stone. In Isaiah chapter 28, thus says the Lord God, Thus says the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious stone, a corner stone, a sure foundation. That stone is the same stone, talked about in Proverbs. Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation, and whoever believes will not act hastily.

Peter quotes that exact same verse out of Isaiah, and he says that, Behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect and precious, and he who believes in Him will by no means be put to shame. Jesus Christ is the precious stone. And those who believe in Him will not be put to shame. He is that valuable, that prize, that costly stone. We've been purchased with His costly blood.

Do you know there's two responses? As you know, there are two responses. In Proverbs it says that wherever this fool who is giving a bribe to try and favor where he thinks that wherever he turns he prospers but those who Encounter Christ there's two responses to those who believe he is precious But to those who are disobedient the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Jesus is a precious stone to those who believe, to those who trust in him, to those who look to him for the forgiveness of their sins and for their righteousness, who seek their acceptance from God in Christ and not from the things that we do, but to those who reject Him. He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

Those who fall upon it are broken and destroyed. May God give us the grace to believe the truth and to trust in the Rock of Jesus Christ. Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word and we thank you for the rock of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is indeed a precious stone, the foundation upon which our faith is built, the foundation upon which your church stands. For Christ is indeed a rock that shall never be moved. And we thank you that you have lifted our feet out of the miry clay and set them upon the rock that is Jesus Christ.

We ask, Lord, that you would give us discernment as your people. For you have said that we are living stones as well. And that we are being built as living stones upon the rock of Jesus Christ into a building. And we ask that you would sanctify us. You would set us apart as living stones.

And that you would give us discernment that we may not be those who are deceived by the lying lips of princes. But as we look to you for wisdom, as we depend upon you, as we walk in the Spirit day by day. We ask for your grace to trust in you for all that we need. We ask, Lord, also for our nation. We tremble to ponder your wrath upon us, for we are a land of lying lips and unjust hands.

And we have upon them the innocent blood of the unborn. Father, we ask that you would destroy the works of Satan, that you would destroy the lying lips in our midst. Now you give us this sermon to choose men, able men who fear you and who are men of truth and who hate covetousness. We acknowledge Lord our inability to do this. How easily we are led astray, how easily we are blinded.

Father, we ask that you would show to us your word, that you would give us clear eyesight, that you would anoint our eyes with your eyesab. These things we ask of you in Jesus name. Amen.