You Can’t Help People Who Won’t Be Honest

Jer. 7:16, 23-28; 9:3, 5-8; 11:14; 14:11-12

When someone will not be honest with you or won’t tell you the whole truth about their situation, they are usually hiding something. As long as that thing remains hidden, you’ll not be able to help them. [READ TEXT]

Generally, there are two reasons why someone does something they shouldn’t do: (1) The reason they tell you, and (2) the real reason they don’t tell you.

For example, consider some reasons people give for leaving a church (NOTE: There are legitimate reasons for leaving—Heresy; immorality in leadership; relocating):

• “We are leaving because the Lord is leading us to a different church.”

• “We are leaving because there are no programs for our children.”

• “We are leaving because we are not being “feed.”

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When someone leaves our church, I’d like to know why. One family who left our church several years ago told me they were leaving because they felt their “ministry” was over here and decided to move on. (God was obviously blessing their ministry.) However, someone who knew this family told me the real reason they left was because I said something against one of their “heroes” (Bill Gothard).

Another family who left our church several years ago told me they were leaving because they felt they were not getting what they needed at BBC. (They would never tell me what they needed that they were not getting.) I found out later they left because I preached on tithing and stewardship. Neither of these families were being honest with me, therefore I could not help them.

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Some reasons people often will not tell you the real reason is…

• They know in their heart they are wrong, but are too proud to admit it.

• They know their real reason isn’t justified or they are hiding something.

• They are offended.

God gives people the opportunity to “come clean” about their behavior. However, when they persist in being dishonest, they prove they cannot be helped. Consider these two cases involving dishonesty:

1. Gehazi (2 Kings 5:20-27).
2. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10).