Doug Batchelor - The Truth about Lying Part 1

amazing banks production how much longer will our planet serve as a battlefield between good and evil Jesus gives us many prophecies regarding his return and the end of the world our century alone has already witnessed two world wars the daily headlines are filled with fresh records of tragedy and disaster earthquakes floods volcanoes and hurricanes have swept away thousands of lives and billions of dollars in spite of advances in modern medicine AIDS and famine are claiming their victims in ever-increasing numbers the epidemic of divorce now breeds a society of broken homes and hearts crime drugs and every kind of abuse saturate the headlines religion seems confusing from the New Age gurus to the flim-flam preachers hundreds of voices beckon calling our souls our service and our checkbooks each of them proclaiming to have the truth where can we turn for hope and honest answers in this age of deception well my friends there remains a brilliant hope for this ailing world Jesus is still the answer from the capital of California we're excited to bring you central worship we're together we open God's blessed book the Bible with teacher author and evangelist Doug Batchelor we find fresh honest answers for our spiritual questions come and join us now for central worship hello friends I'm pastor Doug Batchelor and I'm really thankful that you could join us today for our worship program here at Sacramento central this church revolves around God's Word we want everybody to develop a personal relationship with Jesus because of regular time in this book the Bible it's through knowing Christ in his word that we know the truth that sets us free in this next few worship programs we're dealing with a subject of honesty and integrity among Christians and that's sad but true that even among Christians there has been a grain of lines that distinguish truth and error right now we want to invite you to join our program in progress the truth about lying part one Darnell needed some more information she said there's some things I'm still not settled on and after going to the net 95 meetings she said I understand now I'd like to be baptized and so I'm so excited to see this family united in their decision to commit their lives to Jesus and being part of the same church and we don't believe in infant baptism but we're baptizing a baby today too and so we just want to pray for this family they might be filled with God's Spirit I wonder if the Nels family and Robin would like to stand in support of her decision today to commit her life to Jesus Donnell because you've made a decision to accept Jesus as your Savior to follow him to be part of his people and have your sins washed away i baptize him in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost amen I'd like to invite any friends or family if Kenseth may be here today to stand in in support of his decision can you've chosen to accept Jesus as your Savior and to get a new beginning of the Lord have your sins washed away and because of that I now baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and he is stepping out in faith he's maybe going to encounter a little bit of a resistance or misunderstanding because of his decision today but he's convinced that this is what the Lord is leading him to do and I honor him for his commitment and courage so I solicit your prayers for David and for Luke and if any friends or family that may be here today would like to stand in support of this commitment Dave because you've made your decision today to commit your life to Christ to have your sins washed away to be part of his people i baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost I didn't say my prayers night but I prayed today and Jesus didn't help me get my dollar so he didn't know what to do and he'd roll on one side till his side got really sore and then he'd roll on the other side and he'd say you know I really need to pray no I don't want to pray but I need to pray but Jesus didn't answered my prayer today and finally realize you know I don't pray just because Jesus gives me everything I want I pray cuz I love Jesus and so he kind of slipped over to the side of the bed and he just kind of slipped these legs off to the side and kind of slid to the floor and started to pray and he thought wait a minute there's something under my knee and he reached down and it was a silver dollar he almost missed finding his silver dollar because he wasn't going to pray that evening and he was so thankful you know boys and girls one of the things we have to learn in life to be a an upper-level Christian is that we don't just pray to get stuff out of God we pray because we love God and he's our best friend and prayer helps us because it puts us in a real good relationship with him not because he's a Santa Claus or a Eddie Bauer catalog in the sky but because God loves us and he wants to really communicate with us and be real close to us I'm thankful for Joe and his experience and I hope each one of you grow up to have a relationship with God where you can pray without ceasing thank you so much for coming up front get your bulletins and go quietly to your seats you you turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory a reading this morning is second Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 9 through 13 the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders and with all the unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this reason God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they will all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you brethren beloved by the Lord because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and the belief in the truth let us pray father in heaven truly we desire to have the truth in our lives the truth that we receive in Jesus Christ and now their Lord as we open thy word as our pastor breaks the bread of life to us we pray Lord for your spirit and your words to speak to our souls in Jesus name Amen happy Sabbath this next couple of Sabbath's it may go on beyond to sabes we'll see how the Lord leads we are going to talk about the subject of honesty and dishonesty I like my sermon title kind of an oxymoron the truth about line part one and as I began to look through the scriptures for material on this subject I was overwhelmed with how much the Bible has to say about it matter of fact I was overwhelmed with how many stories in the Bible there are regarding lying you might say lying is very biblical it's quite a bit of it all different degrees and we can learn from these things because sometimes it reproduces itself in our lives dictionary definition we're going to talk about lying maids will get a definite definition to lie means to present false information with the intention of deceiving or getting elected sin first entered our world through a lie the serpent said to Adam and Eve you will not surely die and he went on to say you will be as God and thus he deceived through the medium of a lie our first parents matter of fact one of the devil's most successful traits is that of deception line in all different degrees and forms now I want us to understand before we go any farther the reason that I feel this is an important subject to study I mean you don't want to dwell on negative things but the Bible makes it very clear that God loves truth and he hates lie well we just read something to you from Genesis turn with me to Revelation chapter 21 speaking of the time when the sin problem is dealt with revelation 21 verse 8 I'll read verse 7 to he who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son but here's the overcomers on one hand but now we look on the other hand the Cowardly the unbelieving the abominable murderers sexually immoral sorcerers idolaters and all what all Liars will have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death is that clear enough if it's not turn to revelation 22 verse 14 blessed are those who do his commandments that they might have a right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates of the city that you want to be in that city take my word for it because outside our dogs and sorcerers and their dogs there does not mean canine puppies it's not talking about dog biblically is a term for a person who you know the Bible says as a dog returns to its vomit it's talking about a person who loves sin and will not let it go for outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie doesn't even say lies whoever loves and practices a lie you know the whole final scenario between good and evil is going to revolve around what you believe and you notice in our scripture reading at the beginning God tells us if we do not receive a love of the truth that doesn't just mean love of doctrinal truth but love truth for truth sake if we don't learn to love the truth God will allow us I'm paraphrasing a little bit God will allow us to believe a lie and be very sincere and very long do you see the importance of understanding and appreciation for the truth now why do why do people lie what are some of the reasons why would a person lie first of all I've discovered and going through the different examples of lying that you find in the Bible and you find it all the way from Genesis to Revelation even some of the great men and women of God had their moments of dishonesty and they suffered for it but as I looked at it I found out that a lie is sort of the handle that fits all the other tools of sin lying is so often connected with the stealing and lying is connected with the adultery and in lying is connected with a coveting and right on down the line I'm going to give you a few different reasons not all one reason people lie they're ashamed and they're trying to cover up shame to protect themselves from embarrassment they might tell a lie I talked to somebody before who was doing something that this was a supposed Christian and in counseling they confess they were doing something no Christian should ever do and he's told me to send confidence and I said you know that may come out someday what if you're confronted on this they said I'll have to lie because I'd be too ashamed to tell the truth they thought that you know if you're going to be ashamed enough that would justify lying turn with me in the Bible to one example of this a small example Genesis chapter 19 oh no I think I'm giving you the wrong verse Genesis 18 verse 5 you remember when the Lord appeared to Abraham and he told Abraham and Sarah that they were going to have a baby now this is when Jesus we believe it was Jesus appeared to Abraham he had two angels with him the two angels went on to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah to rescue lot First Lord stayed behind and talked with Abraham but while they were talking outside the tent remember that Abraham and Sarah provided food for these visitors the Bible says the Lord says in verse 9 Genesis 18 where is Sarah your wife he said here in the tent and the Lord said to Abraham I will certainly return to you according to the time of life the cycle of life and behold Sarah your wife shall have a son and Sarah was listening through the tent skin in the tent door which was up behind him now Abraham and Sarah were old and well advanced in age and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying after I've grown old shall I have pleasure my lord being old also and the Lord said to Abraham first of all Abraham wasn't as old as say or thought because after she died he got married again to a lady named Katara and had a whole brood of children so the miracle was not so much on the part of Abraham as it was with Sarah she was past the age of bearing and the Bible says Sarah laughed within herself and the Lord verse 13 said to Abraham why did Sarah laugh saying shall I surely bear a child since I am old now Sarah is embarrassed because God knows what's in the heart you know the Bible says Sarah laughed within herself did she laugh outside how loud but God knew her heart verse 15 and Sarah denied it saying I did not laugh for she was afraid now did she laugh out loud technically technically she didn t know what the name Isaac means she laughed in her heart and God said to her no but you did laugh now did Sarah lie when she said I didn't laugh and God said you did laugh who's telling the truth that should narrow it down right but she laughed in her heart and she thought because I haven't done it openly I can deny it how does God measure truth does God just measure truth by what everyone sees on the surface or does God measure truth by what's happening in the heart where does truth begin where does the lie begin the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks when you speak a lie you're simply reproducing what's in your heart dishonesty is in the heart there's impurity in the heart if you clean the fountain source the water is pure right and so God was looking at Sarah's heart he said you don't believe me you're laughing I didn't laugh you're lying yes you did and every time she called her son later when he was born what was his name Isaac what is Isaac mean laughter it was a reminder of that event when God read her heart she didn't laughing at the promise of God now do you know when we laugh at God's promise we're calling him a liar when God says he can save you and me and we don't believe it we're calling him a liar so one reason people lie is because they're ashamed then they're trying to cover up why did Peter deny that he knew Jesus was he lying let's back up a little bit the night that Christ was betrayed and Peter denied him Jesus said tonight you're all going to forsake me Peter jumped to his feet and so it said though everyone for sakes you I'll not forsake you was he lying then I think he was sincere I think he meant it to stand up for Jesus but he didn't know his own heart but a little later when he was surrounded with the enemies of Christ and they started to mock Jesus and make fun of him and ridicule him and he was being tried as a criminal it was no longer popular to be associated with Christ and then one of the servants there around the fire pointed Peter and laughs and in a mocking sort of wases huh you're one of his followers you think that he's the Messiah he was so ashamed he said I don't know and then every time he told that lie not only did he deny Jesus he lied have you ever said you don't know Christ when you really do you ever said you're not a Christian when you are sometimes we say it without opening our mouths amen if you made a commitment to be a Christian and then you're surrounded by unbelievers we can conduct ourselves with our body language sometimes by our silence we lie about being Christians say Amen sometimes when we say nothing it's a lie I've heard people say silence is gold and sometimes it's plain yellow right just a person in a chicken and Peter said no I don't know you so one people one reason people lie is shame fear of embarrassment number two I see several examples in the Bible where people lie because of selfish gain or they desire power now probably a very famous familiar stories in Genesis 27 verse 12 where Jacob lied to his father in order to obtain the birthright why don't you turn there with me Genesis 27 now the sad thing is he didn't need to lie to get the birthright God promised that the younger son Jacob would be the one who would receive the blessing but they wanted to secure it they were afraid that God was going to fail Isaac was getting ready to bless Esau with the blessing it sent his son out and so in order to get it for themselves they thought well we're going to help God by lying is it ever appropriate to use the devil's tools to do God's work I've given her Christians justified line to forward God's cause I'm sad to say sometimes it happens in church politics people will act like they don't know something they do know or they didn't say something they did say because they think well it'll preserve peace in the church honesty at any cost is always supposed to be the policy for a Christian well back to our story here Esau has gone out hunting to get venison for Isaac Rebecca tells her son verse 6 so Rebecca spoke to Jacob her son saying indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother saying bring me game and make me savory food for me that I made eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death now therefore my son obey my voice according to what I commands you now go first of all is there a command that says honor your father and mother is there a command that says thou shalt not bear false witness what if one command seems to go against the other what do you do there I'll get to that just a minute go now to the flock and bring me there to choice kids of the goats and I'll make savory food for them and for your father such as he loves then you shall take it to your father that he may eat it and that he might bless you before his death and Jacob said to Rebekah Isaac's blind so they think this will be easy Jacob said to Rebekah his mother look he saw my brother is a hairy man and I'm a smooth skinned man I guess they weren't identical twins perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to him to be a deceiver and I'll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing but his mother said to him let your curse be on me my son those are fearful words only obey my voice and get them for me now here jacob had to make a decision obey my mother and lie to my father obey my mother and disobey god what does a person do when it seems there's an apparent conflict my answer would be this if there's ever a conflict between your obeying the laws of the land and doesn't the bible say obey the laws of the land what are we going to do when the laws of the land conflict with the laws of God always make the first platform in your obedience be to God before your parents hopefully we don't appearance here they're telling kids to do things that are not appropriate but before your parents before your government your first allegiance should be to God but she said obey me and he went and he did what she said and he got the goat she cooked the food up they put this skin from kids verse 16 on his hands and the smooth part on the back of his neck pretty creative how they did all this then she gave I tell ya Esau must have been fairly hairy don't you think like a goat the back of his neck and so we went in before his father and an Isaac senses something's wrong he's saying who are you he says I'm Issa so okay well bring me something to eat and he's saying are you sure who you are he said come here let me feel you and he smelled the clothes of Esau that smelled like the the field and the campfire and and but the voice was different and he wanted to be sure cuz he was blind and verse 24 and he said are you really my son Esau he said I am now what do you call that he just blatantly lied to his father in order to get a blessing of God now does that make sense can God bless you because you lie God was going to see to it the Jacob got the blessing if he had just waited but he took things in his own hands just like Abraham had done and it caused a lot of problems you know because of this lie a curse did come first of all Jacob had to leave home he never saw his mother alive again because of his deception what is the name Jacob mean supplanter or deceiver because of his deception Jacob set an example that was passed on first of all then his father-in-law started lying to him you know whatever you do to others will come back to you he lied for personal gain to gain ahead of his brother to get the birthright then when he went to work for his uncle Laban Laban kept lying to Jacob for about the wages and then the sons of Jacob started lying to him when they went to kill the men of Shechem and then the sons of Jacob sold Joseph as a slave and lied and said that he had been killed by a wild beast right you ever notice that one lie never stops there's kind of like potato chips you can't just tell one and they have a tendency of being reproduced in the children pastor came to visit a father father was having some problems with his teenage son said I don't know what's happened to the boys he's acting up he's he's lying to us he's stealing he's using drugs pastor what can we do so I've tried to be a good father and right then the phone rang other answered the phone and the father calls were and says tell him I'm not home pastor said he could tell right then where things had gone wrong just a little why like that a little bit of dishonesty like that and what we call white lies the incidentally you know what an oxymoron is two words that contradict themselves and one sentence kind of like pretty ugly or the truth about lying or military intelligence these two phrases that you put together that just don't complement one another they're opposites little sin white lie all eyes are black there is no such thing as an innocent or a good lie you know one reason I think it becomes so easy for us to lie is because we're in a society especially in North America with the TV and the media where we are constantly being told that lying is something that everybody does you can joke about it I heard about a magazine that did a survey back in the 20s where they sent $1.00 to a thousand people and they made up some story magazine lied to do the survey they made up some story that says we found out that you overpaid us when you subscribed or something like that and these people didn't subscribe and out of a thousand people I think there were like a hundred and forty that sent the money back and said there's been an error 140 people sent the $1 back they did the same survey 25 years later and 27 people out of a thousand were honest enough to send the money back there has been a decline in recognition of truth in our society Medicaid we are so used to hearing lies that it's becoming easier for us to tell lies without our conscious mind even recognizing it I believe one reason for that is we see an awful lot of lying on television and it's joked about it's seldom called sin is it it's a matter of fact you know I don't know whether to say things like that but I used to be just a compulsive liar as a child growing up you're wondering right now has he gotten over that this week as I've been preparing for this sermon I found out I'm not nearly as honest as I thought I was because lying goes a lot farther and deeper than we sometimes recognize growing up my mother was an actress she was in show business and she used to always tell me in order to be a good actor or actress you have to be a good liar because basically what you're doing and acting is you're trying to portray yourself to be something or somebody or an event that is not true am i right and so through our constantly absorbing the media and the movies we're watching lying all the time and it gets us to the place where we have a hard time separating truth from fiction can't make a distinction between the two and don't get me wrong I'm not saying if you're going to play basketball cause I play basketball I faked the shot sometime when you're short you got to do that you act like you get a jump and they jump over you and then you shoot otherwise they stuff you every time but we're just surrounded with so many things where deception is just the name of the game and has its way of leaking into our business lives our personal lives another reason people lie is to win approval there's a story ii samuel turn with me second samuel chapter 1 verse 10 a sobering story about King David this was after King Saul had been in a battle with the Philistines he had been wounded by the Philistines and the Bible record is King Saul asked his armor-bearer to kill him the armor bearer wouldn't dare lift a hand against the Lord's anointed so Saul the King fell on his own sword and killed himself while they were while the the the pagan nations were going over the field and stripping the slain of the battle this Amalekite came on King Saul he said ah King Saul dead he took his crown he took his bracelet some of his valuables he thought hey I can make the most out of these he's been trying to kill David David would probably very likely be the next king because not only was Saul killed but three of his sons were killed and he thought up I'm gonna win approval I'll tell King David I'll tell David I killed Saul and he'll reward me so he goes to David verse eight and he tells David well let me back up here verse five and David said to the young man who told him how do you know that Saul and Jonathan are dead and the young man said to him as it happened by chance I was on Mount Gilboa and there was saul leaning on his spear makes up a good story and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him now when I looked behind him he saw me and called and I answered to him and said here am i and he said who are you and I answered I'm an Amalekite and he said to me again please stand over me and kill me for anguish has come upon me my life still remains in me he had been wounded by the archers so I stood over him and I killed him because I was sure that he couldn't live after he'd fallen and I took the crown that was on his head and the bracelet that was on his arm and I've brought them here to my lord and David took hold of his clothes and tore them so do the men who are with him and they mourned and they wept verse 13 then David said to the young man who told him where are you from he answered I'm a son of an alien and a malachite and David said to him how is it you are not afraid to put forth your hand and destroy the Lord's anointed and David called one of the young men and said go near and execute him and he struck him and he died and David said to him your blood is on your own head your mouth has testified against you saying I have killed the Lord's anointed did he kill Saul no he lied hoping to get a reward and what did he get he got killed there's a lesson for us never to forget when you lie hoping to get ahead it's very likely to backfire I came to the office in the church this week there were some flowers on my desk and secretary confessed she was a little bit curious about who was sending me flowers but the card was stapled together and I was a little wondering who's sending me flowers and so I peeled the the coupon open and it was from the company that's that's buying our time for a new radio talk show they're wishing us good luck and I thought that was a classy thing to do from a company honest incidentally whenever a person says honest when they tell you something or this is the truth you automatically wonder does that mean everything else you say is a lie anyway so I thought well that's nice nice flowers and then I looked at them and I thought incidentally guys this is a lesson for you I'm going to get all the mileage out of these I can and so on my way home I'm thinking I'll say Karen I've brought you some flowers and it's true I did bring them from the office to the house right isn't that true is it true no it's not this is one of those gray areas where we get the truth and fiction mixed up I was going to say to Karen I brought you some flowers she's going to think I thought about how much I love my wife and I went out and bought her some flowers I was conveying something that was not true it would have been a lie am i right so I said I brought you some flowers that somebody sent me at the office and then she want to know who's sending you flowers but these are the kind of areas where we mix it because I wanted approval I brought you some flowers and so sometimes in order to get approval you know when I was a kid growing up I went to a Catholic school I went to two Catholic schools the first one was run by all nuns there was an elementary school I later went to a high school run by all brothers an all-boys school when I went to the school with all nuns it was in the middle of the school year when I joined up I was in New York City halfway through the school year went to live with my father came from my mother had no friends I was in the school where everybody knew everybody I'm half Jewish in a Catholic school they're doing these things I don't understand I really felt out of place now my mother was in show business and I had friends and New York kids that were in show business so when someone asked me what I did up in New York I said I'm an actor oh boy I got everybody's attention you're an actor yeah what do you act in well I had gone to see this musical in New York called Oliver and I said I was on Broadway and Oliver oh boy that was really they got everything so the nun said will you sing a number for us I couldn't even sing as well back then as I do now I said well I've got a cold right now and I got caught but I wanted so bad to be approved to be loved you know a lot of kids tell lies because they want to be loved right a lot of adults tell lies too because they want to be loved when someone says what do you do for a living it's amazing how exaggeration can be blessed while a lie is cursed right well we begin to embellish what we do and make it sound a little bigger than it really is anyway this man lied hoping to get approval and all he did was he got himself killed another reason some people lie is to hurt somebody else vengeance hurts somebody's reputation get even with somebody you don't like pull them down maybe to pick yourself up turn with me to Genesis chapter 39 verse 15 so far we're just looking in the Old Testament maybe in part two we'll take some more stories from the New Testament now you remember the story where Joseph had been a slave in the house of Potiphar the Egyptian general and he went there as a young man 17 he worked there evidently several years and as he worked his way up he grew in stature and strength he matured went from a young teenager to a man well during this time he was so faithful in his responsibilities that Potiphar said you know everything Joseph does he does well and he kept increasing his responsibilities until pretty soon Joseph was in charge of this rich generals entire estate his fields his fortune is farming and Potiphar could go off and fight his battles and know that things were in good hands with Joseph's problem is the Bible tells us Joseph was a good-looking young man now beauty is not always a blessing sometimes beauty and a good physical appearance is a curse are you aware of that you're not so sure because you wanted it so bad all your life right it's true you know we know what pride does the people amen when a person is just very attractive especially if everyone treats them that way it can be more of a curse than a blessing how many of you have prayed to look homely before right think about that Bible says riches are a curse sometimes too doesn't the Bible teach that how many of you prayed for poverty do you want to get to heaven you need to be poor and homeless cooking no I'm serious some of these things are not the blessing that we think they are we get them and then they ruin us well Joseph was good-looking it got him in trouble Bible tells us that his master's wife cast her eyes on him she began to lust after him began making advances and when he didn't respond her advances became hints and when that didn't work the hits got heavier until she just became openly soliciting his affection verse 10 Genesis 39 Potiphar's wife spoke to Joseph day by day but he would not heed her to lie with her or to be with her when you know something's wrong you not only want to avoid it you want to even stay completely away from that source of temptation amen he was just in what he did he was good he did the right thing but it happened about this time that one time Joseph went into the house to do his work and none of the men in the house was inside she caught him by the garment saying lie with me but he left his garment in her hand and fled and ran outside and so it was when she saw that she had he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside that she called out to the men of the house you know they say hell has no fury like a woman scorned and she felt slighted she couldn't take it anymore she thought I'm going to get even with him what he did not think I'm good enough so out of vengeance she calls the other servants in she said she my husband brought this Hebrew in to mock us he came in to lie with me and I cried for help with a loud voice and it happened when he heard that I lived in my voice and cried that he left his garment with me and fled and went outside thought I'm going to teach him a lesson I'll make him sorry what'd she do she lied what did she do to Joseph's reputation has anyone ever lied about you has anyone ever lied about you how's it make you feel does it hurt you do you find that when someone lies about you that you're tempted to then lie about them or at least take the truth and embellish it a little bit now think about this story for just a moment what happened after Joseph spent a few years in prison he went in one day from the prison to the palace he became prime minister the second ruler in the land of Egypt does that mean that he now ruled Potiphar he was now master of his former master does the Bible ever record that Joseph took this opportunity to get even with Potiphar's wife you know I can just imagine that after Joseph was paraded down the street and announced the Bible says there were chariots and people who ran before him and one day mrs. Potiphar was sitting out there on the verandah drinking her pina colada and the the the heralds came marching up the street the new prime minister of Egypt approaching everyone kneel and she gets down you know they used to do this from time to time when the politicians came through and she gets down and then along comes Joseph and he turns and he looks at her and wanes did he get even did Joseph have a pattern in the Bible of getting even did he get even with his brothers when they lied about him sold him as a slave there's a lesson for you and me if someone lies about your reputation you just keep living right when Joseph went to prison because of part of his wife what did he do did he brew and stew and shake his fist against God or he said the same thing he said when he was sold as a slave said if I'm going to be a prisoner I'll be a good prisoner and pretty soon he was in charge of the whole prison and pretty soon he was in charge of the whole Palace and God turned the tables that pretty soon word came out that he had not deserved to be in prison that pot of his wife she probably got caught messing around with someone else later on one of the other surface right you know if you just live right if someone lies about you you live in such a way to make them look like a liar amen don't defend yourself I've discovered that when someone tries to snore or slander your reputation it's like they're throwing little balls of mud at you and if you spend all your time trying to brush them off all you do is smear it make it look worse right but if you walk and live in the sunlight that mud just dries and falls off clean so if someone lies about your reputation don't feel like you've got to defend yourself because it usually backfires when a person tries to defend themselves it almost makes them look guilty when someone makes preposterous claims about you if you completely ignore them no one will give it credibility the more time you spend trying to defend yourself if someone lies about your reputation the more guilty you appear amen is that true now these are just some of the reasons that people lie but I want to spend a few minutes talking about how God views line because I think all of us have been touched by some of these examples turn with me to proverbs chapter 6 verse 16 and 17 proverbs chapter 6 verse 16 and 17 these six things does the Lord hate yay seven are an abomination unto Him now here are some things that God hates now two of the strongest words used in the Bible expressing the negative feelings of God are used here abomination you know the word abomination means God uses that word abomination just to describe a few things he uses the word abomination when he talks about a person sleeping with an animal the word abomination means it sticks it's completely offensive to God he turns away from it in disgust okay this is the word use you got the picture then it uses the word hate here are the things that God hates let's suppose that they're mentioned in order of priority number one a proud look wonder why God puts that first what was the first thing that brought down the devil pride which led to point to a proud look a lying tongue if you and I have a lying tongue the Bible says we're not going to be in the city but we'll be outside with the dogs so to speak a proud look a lying tongue hands that shed innocent blood he puts lying right between pride and murder a Christian should be crystal clear and honest and everything they say and do amen now I'm not going to take time for you to look all these up because it's probably not time proverbs 12 19 the truthful lips shall be established forever how many of you want to be established forever you need truthful lips proverbs 19 5 a false witness will not go unpunished and he who speaks lies will not escape okay 4 young men were late for class one day and they missed a test as a result of being late and they realized they were in trouble because they'd missed the test and they begged the teacher they said please give us another chance let us take the test there was a flat tire that's why we're late and the teacher said okay let you take the test and the only be one question each of you go to four different corners of the room here's the test question pass this question you pass the test which tire was flat I got that from Paul Harvey proverbs 19 22 what is desired in a man is kindness and a poor man is better than a liar if you had to be rich and dishonest are poor and have your integrity what does God value more now tell you why I think this is so important one of the identifying names of Christ the Bible says Jesus declared I am the way the what the truth and the life he is truth Jesus was the Word of God embodied Jesus was truthfulness embodied even when it came to saving his life he could not lie and when he was accused of being the Messiah even though he knew when he spoke the truth he could not be silent and he said thou said it you said it he knew he'd be condemned and executed Jesus just was not able to tell a lie he was truth embodied now the Bible tells us you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free do you all understand that being true and knowing the truth who is the truth Jesus knowing the truth does what sets you free if knowing the truth sets you free what is the result of the opposite not knowing the truth not speaking the truth will enslave you never been caught by a lie just enslaved by a lie we've had to tell another lie and another lie to cover up the first one the truth sets you free you might be poor but you're free right but line will enslave you the Bible says there are two masters which we serve Jesus is the truth and the Bible tells us the devil john 8 forty-four for he the devil is a liar and the father of it problem with the devil being the father of the lies he never did put a patent on it everyone else is using it too Psalm 51 our last scripture Psalm 51 let's turn to that together I'd like to read verse five and go on from there behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me behold you desire truth in the inward parts where does God want the truth you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom the Bible tells us that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks if we want to be more truthful where does the change need to happen in the heart you know I've seen something happened to me this week just in preparation of this message the Holy Spirit has been working with me and as I've said I've realized there are things that I have done in my life with their expressions with body language with embellishing stories where I thought I'm not nearly as honest as I thought I was and I've heard the Holy Spirit working with my heart where I thought I was an honest person in our next program where we deal with the truth about lying we're going to talk about some of the ways where we think we're telling the truth where we're really not it goes a lot deeper than that but nothing can change until there's a change in the heart the Bible says Jesus is the truth if you have the truth in your heart it will come out of your mouth amen what does that mean Jesus has to be in the heart otherwise if Christ is not there the father of lies is in our hearts and we cannot be honest we cannot be really honest and pure unless Jesus is in our hearts if you'd like to invite him again to take possession of your heart and help you to be true and honest and Noble then please reach for your hymnals and we'll sing our closing hymn together nearer my God to the number 473 hello friends before the conclusion of today's service I want to tell you that we have a number of resources available to help you in your Christian experience and help you share your faith not only do we have audio and video recordings of these messages that you've seen here today but also we have literature books videotapes study guides to you in your personal walk with Jesus and to help you share your faith better if you'd like to know more about the resources that we have available please contact us our address is amazing facts peel box 680 Frederick Maryland 2 1 705 if you'd like to call the phone number is area code 301 six nine four sixty two hundred and especially let me say how much we appreciate your remembering us in your prayers and how desperately we depend upon your faithful giving in order for these programs to continue on the air and to spread to new stations we hope that you'll worship with us again in our next program god bless you you before we sing the last verse together I'm thinking perhaps there may be some here today who heard the Holy Spirit speak to them and they know that the only way I'm ever going to be honest by having Jesus in my heart and I've not yet asked Jesus to take my life if you'd like to use this opportunity right now to come to the front here we want to pray with you and invite Jesus to be your Lord then come while we sing the last verse together if you hear the Lord speaking to you and calling you now then don't tell him to wait he just wants to save you and give you everlasting life and I've never known anyone that was sorry they said yes to Jesus we can't really be honest without having the truth Christ in our hearts and if that's your desire this morning then please come to the front we want to pray with you before we close our service what a linger just a moment longer I see some are coming want to thank the PUC quintet for coming in providing music it's really enhanced our worship we hope you come back shall we bow our heads for prayer loving Lord we trust we've been in your presence today we've heard you speak to us through your word and Lord we know that you desire truth in the inward parts we know that the only way this is possible is to have the truth there Jesus in our lives in our hearts first Lord we want to ask you to forgive us for the time loops when we've been less than perfectly honest I pray that we can be witnesses for you because of our integrity and our faithfulness and all that we say in do thank you for the forgiveness that you offer and now we pray for the strength and the power to be consistent Christians to be crystal clear and honest in all of our dealings I pray Lord that you'll fill us with the Holy Spirit filled us with a joy and peace that comes from knowing our sins can be left at the foot of the cross we also want to pray in a special way today first for those who've been baptized we know after Christ's baptism you face the temptations in the wilderness we pray that you'll hold these people up with your spirit and angels and protect them also Lord we want to pray for those who've responded this morning in a decision to accept Jesus as the center of their lives

Channel: Isac C

Views: 11,629

Rating: 4.7105265 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, Love, God, Holy, Spirit, Gospel, Salvation, Word, Prophecy, Study, Preaching, Truth, Pastor, Grace, Messiah, Ministry, Bible, Angels

Id: zmwTToHG5CI

Length: 60min 0sec (3600 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 14 2013