Put Off Lying and Falsehood (Ephesians 4:25) - Tim Conway

let's pray father we want you to march on we want to be marching in stride in rank behind you we want we want to be about the Masters business father I pray we have a room full of people who are in another Kingdom been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness I pray Lord that you give us grace to run and run well and run with our eyes set upon the Lord Jesus Christ and I pray Lord you'd be transforming us more and more into that glorious image of Christ because you have said in your word we're predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ and I pray Lord that that would be happening that that christ-like people would be transformed by the preaching of your word the washing of your word the power of your word the application of your word by your spirit your spirit moving your spirit cleansing we know the will of God is our sanctification especially sexual immorality you talked about there in first Thessalonians Lord you want us in all cases in all ways to be transformed into that glorious image of Christ and I pray Lord you'd help us to put on Christ every one of your children in this place give us grace give us ears give us to hear the word of God give us to be moved upon by this word don't leave us unchanged father what what I fear most is religion that is powerless religion that is godless religion that is a name only or a form of godliness that denies the power thereof Lord we need power we want power we pray for power the power of the Spirit to work at us in eNOS in the inner man Lord don't leave us alone that's what we pray Lord whatever it takes whatever is necessary help us to stay the course the first hour we heard about people like hymenaeus and Alexander there's hymenaeus and philetus I don't know who hymenaeus is but his name manages to show up twice in Scripture and not in a good way and we pray that when all the annals of history are put together our names would not be in that place where somebody like hymenaeus is or Diotrephes or Dimas Lord we want to be faithful we want to be men of encouragement we want to be men of faith we want to be men like those who bore the name of Paul or Timothy Timothy Paul said that all the others they served themselves and not the things of Christ genuinely concerned Timothy was Barnabas Lord we want to be like these men tickets at Patras men who walked well even men like Peter who though weaknesses but he made he made the journey well he made it to the end he died for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that name give us grace to live for that name in this hour when we live our lives this day 2,000 years removed from their lives we need we need power of the early church clothed with power from on high Lord don't just do that to them we plead with you do that to us - we ask for it in Christ's name Amen we're gonna find ourselves back in Ephesians chapter 4 the specific verse we're going to be looking at this morning is chapter 4 verse 25 therefore having put away falsehood let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another now just hold your finger there and go over to Colossians chapter 3 which in your Bibles will just be I don't know five pages five six pages chapter three and verse nine now if you've got your fingers still back at Ephesians I want you to get a feel for the verb here therefore the ESV says having put away falsehood I know that the King James Version the New King James they say therefore are wherefore putting away line having makes it sound past the KJV the new KJV they make it feel present in nature the new American Standard therefore laying aside falsehood again present Young's literal therefore putting away the line now according to the Greek scholars and experts this can be taken either way this is an Erised participle that grammatically allows either view that the Holman Christian the new English translation they followed the ESV in this the the translations are divided on this now in the original Greek it can go both ways it can even either sound past or it can sound present but don't get too hung up there you just saying this because I recognize that as I'm preaching some of you have the ESV and some of you don't but the reason I had you turn over to Colossians is this even here in Colossians 3 9 do not lie to one another that's that's an imperative that's present even if you take it past having put away falsehood over here which is it's it's remotely similar language do not lie to one another seeing you have past tense put off the old self with its practices well even back in Ephesians you have this idea of pudding or to put off your old man and my point here is this Paul sometimes talks about the fact that you need to do this and sometimes he talks about the fact that you have done this and I don't think we need to get all bent out of shape over that there's no reason for confusion the truth is what Paul is talking about is what we've been taught by Christ and if you're a genuine Christian back when you first came to him you were taught to put off falsehood and the reality is that if you were genuinely saved you did put it off now did you put it off so perfectly that Paul doesn't have to come along later you know what Paul's doing here he's coming back to these Ephesians after they're already Christians for whatever amount of time and he's dealing with them about not lying but putting on truth why because we're members of one another he is arguing the way he's arguing because he's calling for present truthfulness and the putting away of falsehood in their lives but nevertheless he can appeal to the fact that when they first believed they did put off the old man they did put off the old Manish ways but the reality is this is a fight and the work isn't done yet and and we don't want to be confused about that Paul sometimes talks about these things in the past tense he sometimes talks about these things in the present tense but whichever way he's talking all you have to do is read and recognize he's writing to Christians who have already been saved and he's obviously exhorting them toward some type of conduct in their life right now and that's that's where we're at and that's what I'm doing today these verses are meant to deal with us where we live right now and no matter what has been done in the past no matter whether you want to put the having in there or the fact that it's present tense the reality is this is something that we need to give ourselves to right now now let's come to the particulars here you know what's been happening verses 23 22 23 24 you have the general instruction put off the old man be renewed in the spirit of your mind put on the new man that's the general instruction when you get to verse 25 and really all the way this this goes probably all the way to chapter 6 we are now going to get Paul's very specific itemized list of things that he believes that we need to give attention to in our life as far as putting off and putting on what I think is interesting is this that as he comes to particular he starts with falsehood and lying number one and you want to remember how Paul starts this section this section really started in verse 17 this I say and testify in the Lord that you no longer walk is the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds you know what's true each of these Ephesian Christians had not always been Christian you must no longer walk what does that imply well they did they did once this is precisely how they did walk as Gentiles and so did you know the reality is so did each one of us we come from Gentile stock and Gentile is basically a way of saying people who don't know God they've been brought up in the heathen realm of Gentilly in life and they had formerly lived like Gentiles did and how do Gentiles live I mean what are good words to describe it lying cheating deception fraud dishonesty betrayal treachery corruption you know what when I when I visited Nepal now I don't know if this struck any of the rest of you but what I remember is John telling us oh yeah I have an arrangement with with this guy that owns this bus it's brand-new you guys remember that John telling us a brand new bus that thing was an old rickety broken-down yeah it got us there but it was not new and you know what they told John the same thing this time and it wasn't true again and one of the things I came away from Nepal convinced of is that the nape Alize are notorious liars if anything stood out we would you agree have you seen that Paul was convinced the cretians were liar you ever hear that one of their own profits and you know if you listen to Dan have you listened to Dan talk about the the Lebanese well listen to trevor talk about the Indonesians and listen to brother get get him and ask him about the Chinese Albert Barnes the commentator says this he he knew of a certain man who had spent much time in India and this man said he would not believe a Hindu on his oath and Barnes goes on to say this the same testimony is borne by almost all the missionaries of the character of pagans everywhere no confidence can be placed in their statements and where there is the slightest temptation to falsehood they practice it without remorse and the thing is if Americans are any better I would say this it is the result of two great awakenings but the reality is Americans are little better there's a book I came I came across this somewhere but in a book called the day that America told the truth in this book 91% of Americans polled confessed they lie regularly and what it made me think of is the other nine percent they're either even worse Liars or they're Christians 20,000 middle schoolers and high schoolers were surveyed 92% admitted lying to their parents in the past year now what's interesting is those same 20,000 students were also asked to rate their own ethical character and 91 out of the 90 well 91 percent said that they're satisfied their own ethics and character I come from a family it's it's a nominal Catholic family my family full of liars including me lying is a universal vice of the whole pagan world and the thing is you can get moral people you can get nice people but they still they they lie I remember being amazed after my stepdad died just about all the lies that he told they began to come out then Adam Clark another commentator some of you know that name he gathered together some of the sayings of wise men and philosophers and writers from the ancient Greek and Roman world listen to what these guys say Plato you know Plato philosopher this is what he said he may lie who knows how to do it in a suitable time Menander yeah I understand he was a Roman writer a lie is better than a hurtful truth Pro CLIs good is better than truth in it that is that is such a worldly saying good is better than truth when telling a lie will be profitable let it be told so says Darius and eroded us what do I mean what do our Bibles say doesn't scripture itself affirm that lying and you think about lying when it talks about the wicked being born you know what the first thing scripture says they do is they're liars they come forth from the womb going astray from birth and speaking lies the psalmist in Psalm 144 says this of foreigners foreigners whose mouths and foreigners is another way to say Gentiles whose mouths speak lies whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood and we know what Romans 1 says Romans says 1 Romans you know if you basically can compare Romans 1 with Romans - it's like the Gentile is being spoken about in Romans 1:18 and following and then in chapter 2 Paul picks up with the Jew well there in Romans 1 probably speaking mainly about the Gentiles they excited them they exchanged the truth about God for what a lie and and you know what that's what I did when I was lost and even though it wasn't an idol it wasn't a Hindu Idol or a Buddhist Idol or a Catholic Idol it was a distorted view of the biblical God but it wasn't the biblical God because it was distorted it was something I created in my own imagination and it's a lie I mean men start right at that level there their perspective of God is a lie 2nd Thessalonians 2:10 Paul speaking of those who are perishing the lost the man in sin the natural man they refused to love the truth and so be saved you know why people perish because they hate the truth every single person in Hell hated the truth every single person in heaven loved the truth that's that's what's being laid here that here are these Ephesians they live this sort of life but then what happened they got saved then maybe they became Christians now they're fighting the good fight of faith and lying is the first foul filthy garment that Paul says put this off and put on truth this is where he goes right at the beginning and does he simply exhort them to pray the God would deliver them from this tendency to lie no when he says is this stop lying put off falsehood put on truth speak the truth with one another that's what he says he goes right the Erised tense here this this putting away falsehood and speaking the truth it's it's a once-and-for-all definite concluding action the stripping off of falsehood is to be done once and forever for good not just not just momentarily not just today not just when you involved in this job or work for this place it's the rest of your life you're gonna be people of truth that's what he's calling us to that's where he starts as he's gonna itemize he's going to talk about all sorts of things he's he's gonna talk about how we sing he's gonna talk about your marriages he's gonna talk about children how they relate to their parents he's gonna go through this he's gonna talk about forgiving one another he's gonna talk about anger grieving the spirit I mean he's just through these chapters he's gonna talk about sexual purity he's gonna talk about covetousness you know talk about all sorts of things and where he starts is right here being people of truth being people who are honest what does he say once it for good once it for all air is tense let it be done let it be complete stop it start telling the truth and don't just do it do it because something is true you are members one of another do it for a very specific reason and did you get that I mean this this this is Paul's manner of teaching this is this is such a common biblical form of teaching put off put on appeal to the mind renew the mind what what I wanted you to notice is the Apostles method of teaching because it's very common in Scripture you know what he's doing here you know he's doing in verse 25 he's applying what you find in verses 20 through 224 put off put on and renew the mind with truth you need to be thinking a certain way do you see that put off the old man ish liar that you once were put on the quality of the new man that's godlike namely truth and then let your mind be conditioned with some sort of substantial biblical truth for renewing the mind your members of one another Paul first puts a negative telling us what we must not do then a positive telling us what we must do and thirdly gives a reason that appeals to our minds there's a reason for the required action here and this is so characteristic negative positive reason now I recognize even in this immediate context you don't always find it so neatly packaged but I'll tell you this generally that's what you find it let's let's just talk about sexual immorality I mean you go to one place where Paul deals with that like I put a place like first Corinthians six that's what came to my mind you know what he says they're put off was he saying what's the put off when it comes to sexual immorality flee from it put it off get away from it stop it and then he says the positive glorify God with your body and then he gives reasons here's here's the reasons every other sin a person commits is outside the body there's one reason the sexually immoral person since against his own body or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit there's another reason you're not your own there's another reason you were bought with a price but you can see this put off put on and there's a reason you are you and I are called upon to do certain things but you know what's supposed to happen in the midst of all of it our minds are to be renewed engaged at the same time we're always to know why we behave the way we do that's being biblical that's being a Christian you're thinking there are reasons why you do what you do and don't do what you don't do we need to be able to give a reason for our conduct you know when when I remember I remember those those old lost friends or you it may be co-workers your family members your well whoever it is but people people recognize I remembered people that I worked with recognized that my life had changed and my friends had recognized my family had recognized my life change well when they come to you and they say why don't you do the same things I mean I won for buddy say you know come on man you used to drink hard liquor with me what I mean you were one of the only ones not you don't do that anymore well what are you gonna do what are you supposed to do as a Christian is is our place just to say I don't know why don't do that anymore that's not being Christian that's not what Paul wants us to even think we need to know you don't just sit there and say I don't know if we're gonna be biblical Christians we must be able to give a reason for our conduct not only to them you know what's important is that you are able to give yourself the reasons it's not just enough to stand back and say to my old buddy why you know all the reason I don't do that is this this and this but you need to be able to preach to yourself because if you don't know the reasons then what's to stop you from doing it well I don't know why I don't do that well then go ahead and do it I mean what what is it that really motivates us what is it that really causes you you see Paul and it's a it's a very bizarre thing that he throws in there because quite honestly if you would have asked me reasons why you should not lie and why you should tell the truth my first answer would not be because you're members one of another that would not be what I would say I would have a lot of other reasons but we're gonna get to that in a little while I mean what's interesting to me is an inspired apostle that's the very first reason he gives so we'll think a little more about that but we need to be able to preach these reasons to our own selves and I just want us to think for a moment an anatomy of line notice the thing about lies I want us to break this down kind of look into that whole mechanism of lying what is it that happens and here's one of the things that I want you to see there is a correlation between verse 22 and verse 25 I would say there's a correlation between verse 23 and 25 and 24 and 25 depending on which part of the verse of 25 year in with the very first part about putting off the falsehood that correlates to verse 22 look look at 22 to put off your old man which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires here's the thing verse 25 starts with therefore ties it back there's a connection clearly falsehood is a specific characteristic of the old man put off the old man therefore put off falsehood and why is it helpful to make this connection well because it helps us to see where line comes from comes from somewhere verse 22 says that the old man is corrupt because of what because of what deceitful desires that's right old man corrupt because of deceitful desires and the thing that makes these desires bad is that they come from deceit the connection we want to make between verse 22 and 25 is this when Paul says that the old man is corrupt one thing he definitely means is that the old man is a liar which means that the corruption of line comes from somewhere it comes from deceitful desires men lie because they themselves have bought into lies concerning desires there's a there's a desire and they want something and they lie because they believed a lie that's connected with the desires that they have the reason we lie is because we ourselves are deceived by sin to certain desires and to believe in something not true so what what desire I mean why do people lie and you don't have to think too hard about it it's not rocket science here if you want to boil it down it comes down to this it comes down to this desire man loves himself it's selfish what's behind lies it's his own regard for himself it's man's desire to be God it lying displays man's self-centeredness his selfishness it's think about what goes behind line it's his desire to be highly thought of to be praised to impress to be important to be thought well of to shield himself from being thought negatively about it's to get his way it's to make himself appear the way he wants to appear you study the anatomy of lies for yourself I mean trace it out you'll always find that the purpose of lies is to protect oneself to get something for oneself to improve one's self-importance that's where it comes from you can always trace it back there but here's the thing man's deceived because reality is and here's the thing about telling a lie jesus said everything done in secret is going to be shouted from the housetops there's not a thing that is done that is not going to come out into the light you see man thinks he's doing well for himself but he's not doing well because every lie that's told it's going to be exposed and there's no hiding place you may think that that lies doing something favorable for yourself and making you giving you a certain image making you feel a certain way look a certain way protecting yourself a certain way right now but you're deceived because it's only temporary you know the thing is when you look at scripture lying is not a matter of indifference to God not in the least just think about a few texts Psalm five six God destroys those who speak lies the Lord of Horrors the deceitful man you think of it you just think about that a world of liars and God abhors them this is this is the wrath of God abides upon man he abhors liars there are six things that the Lord hates you know that text seven that are an abomination to him haughty eyes a lying tongue scripture says truthful lips endure forever but a lying tongue is but for a moment you see the liar is but for a moment it is so short-lived because what's going to happen is you're gonna stand before God every lie you told it's going to be exposed and then you're gonna perish God is going to damn you God hates liars and he is going to destroy them and it doesn't matter whether they hide in the church or whether they're out in the world bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man right now but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel you see the lie is but for a moment and then your mouth is full of gravel what does that mean well you can imagine eating sweet bread over against trying to eat gravel it means it's not going to turn out well for the moment it's sweet but in the future not good he who breathes out lies will perish this is another proverb now listen to this the getting of treasures by a lying tongue again fleeting vapor you see this is a thing about lying it's so temporary it's so fleeting just a vapor just like the steam comes off the teapot it's gone you protect yourself for a moment you make yourself you give yourself this image for a moment you you somehow defend yourself you shield yourself you don't want somebody to know something that's true about you that's really ugly so you tell the lie where you try to get something you try you not honest in your business not honest with your tech I'm gonna get some treasure from that but it's gone what's the advantage it's just gone and what it says is getting treasures by lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death you see after that's death and you know how the Bible ends all liars their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death outside are the dogs and Sorcerer's and the sexually immoral or moral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood and and I don't doubt some hearing my voice right now you you're living a lie and you know it you can't escape these you and you don't want to run from these scripture says nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be made known and David says of God in Psalm 51 he says behold you delight in truth in the inward parts that's what God delights in and he abominates liars why men lie the anatomy I didn't think about this you know the story chief priests and elders Jesus by what authority are you doing this all the things that you do he says okay I'll I'll answer that question but you answer me a question first the baptism of John where's it come from is it of God or is it of man now you know what they got together they got in their little huddle over there well if we say that it came from God well then he's got us cuz then he's gonna say well why didn't you believe him why didn't you follow him why didn't you I mean then then we look like we're fools but if we say from man Wow we fear the people because they took John to be a prophet so so what'd they do they lied we don't know well the fact is they didn't think they knew they did think that it came from man now they were wrong but that's what they thought but they said in the end they said we don't know you see they were lying why because the reality is that well we can't say of God because then we lose our reputation we can't say of man because we're afraid of the people I mean these people sometimes stone people and we don't like that you see so what they were saying is we can't give either answer because any one of the answer exposes us to either shame or to some kind of fear of the crowd you see protect ourselves irrelevant what actually is true why because their desire wasn't for truth their desire is behind what's behind all the desires of liars they just they desired something they were after personal reputation physical well-being truth irrelevant what makes me look good protects me is all that matters you know there's a young lady that's under the discipline of our church and I met with her recently and we were talking about how people under discipline are restored to the church and I was talking about repentance and I said you know in some cases we really have to base it on people's word and you know what she asked me she said what if they're lying but I don't I I said what if they're lying I said what good is that why do you want to get back in the church by lying God knows that everything is okay if you get back into the church that way I mean isn't isn't the whole idea of repentance everything is right with God but you lie and I mean I I walk away from that and I think why would somebody want to lie to get back in the church when they know they're a fake God sees it got abominates that but you know I do recognize that there again it comes back to selfishness and to self-serving why would somebody lie because they want to get in the church because this is where their social life is outside of the church they really don't have a whole lot of friends and you know one thing about the church is it doesn't matter what walk of life people come from it doesn't matter how broken their life is it doesn't matter what their past is it doesn't matter who they are if they come professing Christ we received them as brothers and sisters and you know out there in the world they don't do that but in here there's there's relationships that people desire and would they be willing to lie yeah I guess I guess she asked that question because something was going on in her head Ananias and Sapphira you know people will lie because of greed they want things you know what they wanted a reputation why why do you even say we're gonna sell this property and we're gonna give it all to the church all of it well though all of it is I lie because of reputation makes me look good but I Barnabas he got applauded when he did this let's do this we're gonna really look important we're gonna really be touted as godly people but then why do you hold part back greed you see it's it's also self-serving and they lied and in order to show what a terrible thing this kind of sin is especially in the church God dropped them dead and I just wonder I just wondered what if that happened today I mean what if there every person harboring some kind of notorious deception in their life within these four walls I mean what if I had a button up here is like rather than you want me to push it if I push it everybody that's harboring such lies gonna fall over dead what a few people run screaming for the door God killed them I mean you need to remember this God is real boy if God would break through like that you talk about here's this situation in the church and all of a sudden God breaks through and you've got some dead people you're burying why they were liars and you say well what were they Christians are one thing Christians does it really matter what you see is how God responded to this and which is more fearful to think that God killed them because they were lost people in the church that were lying or God killed them because they were saved people and they were lying in the church I'll tell you this it means God takes lying very seriously you can have your theories about that but what you don't have to have any theory about is the fact that God killed them and God killed him for lying and God has shown that early church into the very end of all time all the churches and all the people of God the terrible character of that particular sin we just read a proverb the kind of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death fleeting enjoyment how short it was for them and they're dead and you tell me what is a greater kindness if God drops you dead for your sin right now on the spot er II let's you live longer and live lying longer I'll tell you this but their God drops you dead now or later if you're living this kind of life in this kind of deception you're gonna die and you're gonna face the same God what God is doing right here is he's showing the seriousness there's a reality God is real and God is here and God knows and God is watching and here's an example in our Bibles where God just broke out dead and fear came upon the church and everybody you better believe it dead people Durst not join themselves it's very close to deceitfulness and business men lie about taxes customs declarations lie to get the advantage financially it's the lie of greed it's the lie of covetousness scripture speaks about the faults weight I mean you know what that was like things were measured out in a scale and people had two weights they had one for when they were selling and one for when they were buying a light one for selling a heavy one for buying dishonesty and God hates that I often think about two-by-fours hey go to Home Depot by 2 by 4 but it's not a 2 by 4 it's a one and a half by three bath had that ever happened who started whittling that thing away some honest merchants somewhere I doubt that or the concealing of defects you know you know something's defective you know the transmission on your vehicle has been giving you problems now there's no problem with it or you know what the proverb says it says bad bad says the buyer but afterward what does he do he boasts it's that kind of thing you know you're talking to the guy who's selling yeah you're pointing out all the defects and then you walk away thinking you got this then now you're boasting to everybody else Wow look at the deal I got you're not doing the same thing yeah but look at the defects over here why because because you're wanting everybody to be impressed by you oh wow you're such a good salesman good good purchaser you got the deal you know what Paul says let him put away his falsehood that's what that's what's being said or a prayers I think of prayers brethren I'll tell you this you break up in small groups one of the hypocrisy is describing you know what a hypocrite is it's acting like you're one thing when you're not and the hypocrites pray that's one of the things they do and I'll just say this when we break up into small groups or even when we stay together when you pray you need to pray what's true because if you're praying anything else if you're if you're you know you're being earnest the reality is you you've never had a burden about it you don't care about it but oh you're in this little group and now you're gonna really impress people oh you're gonna pray about missions and about these souls over here in that ministry but you don't care you never pray about it on your own it's just hypocrisy that is being so dishonest you know what if all you pray for personally is God to give you a spouse and then you come in here and you're praying like you know you're you're the next Hudson Taylor that's it's not real be real that's why we're members of one another don't put up a front don't be false put away falsehood that's what's or singing singing we sing a song by Jesus I love me and you know you know the song if ever I love thee my Jesus tis now and you sing that so heartily all all the people around you think you know look at him he's got his hands raised guys eyes closed he must be one of the most godly people in the church if ever I loved you it's now and it's just not true or I surrender all you know you're so Hardy or you're mouthing that you know what if those things are not true you should stop don't don't be false in prayer don't be false in singing don't be false in business or falsehoods concerning God God led me God told me a guy in the Austin church just comes to tafiq and says he's just declaring he's not acting asking Council like James was talking he's just declaring rented an RV gonna take a girl with me that I'm not married to up with we don't have anything going but we're gonna both be in this RV we're gonna travel all the way up the west coast and God told me to do it I've been praying it's between me and him you know what he's a liar he's lying God did not tell him to do that God told him to flee fornication people people talk about God in the church and they lie about him they're not truthful about him don't do that God God is listening God takes that personally you make God out other than the scripture does you exchange the truth about God for a lie well you get people in the church that they imagine God smiles on them even though they're living in something sin this is not true I'm not saying you can't be saved but I'm saying scripture speaks about grieving the spirit and that's a reality and God is not pleased I mean you think about David I was thinking about David 70,000 people were killed you know you know what you don't find about David you don't find he got the plague but God killed those God deals with sin even when it's among that that was a boy what a way to strike right at David's Idol God can be severe even on his own people and especially for lying who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the christ this is the antichrist he who denies the father and the son if you deny the scriptural father scriptural son you're a liar that's a serious lie to be recreating God well you got people all the time well god is love God is love God is love and they don't want to attribute any wrath to him that is a perversion and it's a lie or not believing God whoever does not believe God makes God a liar and here's the thing God is not a liar so if you make God a liar you're a liar unbelief I mean that's unbelief doesn't belief God if you don't believe God you make him a liar if you make him out to be something that he's not you've denied the father and the son in some way or how about this lies of jesting Joshua was just telling us that he's got this math lab professor and the guy says Joshua don't ever believe I'm something like I'm glad you don't ever believe the things that I say and then he said something like Joshua I just can't stand you well yeah and we laugh but but that's actually not telling the truth how about exaggeration coloring narratives embellishing exaggeration my wife just told me that I need to stop that she did she pointed it out and and that's true it's true about white lies I'm not here I'm not feeling well you call into work the truth is maybe you're not feeling well but then you go out and move along it's like the real reason you didn't go to work isn't because you weren't feeling well you felt well enough to go mow the lawn you could have gone to work this he's half-truths or this this can be common it can be just the lies of salutation how you doing brother I'm doing okay when you're doing rotten suppressing certain facts that are important to a right understanding uh half-truths we get this pastors you know what you get conflict in the church it can between be between a husband and a wife or somebody in the church and you what happens is you hear their side of the story and and you know the proverb that says in one who states his case first seems right till the other comes well why does that happen it happens because the first guy leaves facts out it doesn't it doesn't even necessarily mean that he's lying but you know what he comes across that way why because there were certain facts that he just so conveniently left out I have I have been in situations where I've heard both sides of the story you would have thought it was two different things altogether like there wasn't even anything remotely the same in the stories I got from these two people it's so colored it's so distorted it's so slanted I appreciate when you're talking to the person they say you know I mean to be fair my wife does this and this and this and so you know they're trying to bring some balance to it or silence when something untrue is saying you know something's something you're applauded in some way but you know it's not true but you don't correct it we there's many ways we can we we come across untrue just by remaining silent because we don't put something right when it gets said wrong and it may be something that said about somebody else or people that act like Christians when they're not you know what was said of one of the churches there in Asia Minor Sardis it was said that they had a reputation of being alive but they were dead and what scripture says whosoever says that I know him but doesn't keep his Commandments if you say I know God but you don't keep his Commandments scripture condemns you as a liar your liar and the truth is an we we have Liars here everybody that claims to be a Christian in this place that isn't one is a liar and that's basically how scripture if you say you love God and you don't love your brother again John same apostle says liar then there's this people who catch it flying rumors just in the last elders meeting a family was visiting the church they they were talking to the elders about joining I said to them you need to go talk to one of the other elders they had already talked to me go talk to one of the other elders and they did go talk to the other elder they just laughed and then they told one of the families in the church one of the elders doesn't want him to be a member and then that family went and told it to another family in the church that people who catch it flying rumors and I'll tell you gossip and slander are very close relatives of this kind of lying sin I'm talking about people who hear something some rumor and without trying to establish the facts they circulate the story as undoubted truth and you know what Paul says put it away be done with that kind of thing you hear a story through the grapevine and you just propagate it you're put it away put it away and if it really concerns you so much and you're not interested in just being a gossip or a slander something about this really does concern you go back to the source you'll find that ow best and you know what you'll typically find it's a stories other than what you thought at first and we as elders we find ourselves in this position all the time we're kind of high-profile we're dealing with lots of people in the church and things get said make it back around tea is like that just wasn't true and people are just propagating this and I know that it didn't just happen with us elders it happens with others put it away Paul says put that away or you have this people that make promises you know what again what scripture says about promising a gift and not coming through you tell somebody you're gonna give somebody something or you sign your name people who sign there if you sign your name you're giving your word you're gonna do what you're signing you don't just sign your name on a contract for a cell phone contract and just bail out and stop paying your bill or sign a lease and then you just are gonna walk away from it be good to your word I mean you're being dishonest or you get workmen who promise that they're gonna come over and they're gonna fix something at your house on Tuesday but then they never show up that's that's just dishonesty Paul says put it away don't be like that the reason Paul does not merely say that lying is a terrible thing of course it is but as Christians the reality is we have fire better reasons for putting away lying and you see what it is were members one of another now at first sight this seems strange at least to me as I said before if you were just arbitrarily ask me about reasons why you should put off falsehood and put on truth this would not have been one of the reasons that I would have given you and why because I just honestly initially I didn't feel the weight of this argument and you know what that tells me I tells me I need to renew my mind more I need to think more about what Paul's saying here out of all the reasons that he could have given I mean the very first thing he goes after is lying and the very first reason he gives for why we should put it off and put on truth is this were members one of another I mean since this is the first reason that comes to the mind of an inspired apostle I need to fight to feel this and I don't think we adequately recognize brethren I don't think we adequately recognize the importance of the health of the rest of the church and how that influences each of us individually because I think this comes from that reality and sometimes we can did you know we're Americans we like to be independent we like to have our freedom we like to you know live in our own home and we and this idea that we're so inter related you know I think we get a glimpse when Paul talks about discipline and he talks about the fact that sin in the church is like leaven that can leaven the whole lump I mean he's showing us that there is this interaction in the church that affects and influences I think just the imagery when you start thinking about a body you know if you smash your finger with a hammer the rest of your body isn't like you can't just separate yourself from that like well we're not gonna feel that we're not gonna let that you know when I have a migraine it's not like the rest of my body is all happy and goes about doing all saying my head just kind of lays there the whole thing the whole body lays on that bed because of the head I mean that's the imagery of the members of a body kind of speak to this but I just don't think we take this seriously enough listen to what Paul said right before this section of Scripture back in verse 16 he says the whole body joined and held together here's the body here's the picture we're members in this body this whole body is joined and it's held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each heart that's the member each part is working properly and when each part joined together like this is working properly what happens the whole thing grows the reality is causes the body to grow so that builds itself up in love Paul is saying we're connected and the reality is this if you tell a lie to another member you're really damaging yourself because you're connected to the body each part each member makes the whole body grow and and you've got the and one of the things that you need to see in there is the whole body joined and held together by every joint now think about that what are the joints the joints aren't the members the joints are what hold the members together but you think with me here I can tell you this as as elders if there's somebody in the church we are fairly convinced is lying to us are we connected tightly are we joined tightly is our fellowship extraordinary it's not and it isn't with any of you if there's somebody in the church that you feel like has lied to you look you know this fellowship is built on trust is it not and Trust is built on truth and if you distrust others if there are people in the church that I think that guy that girl she is lying to us they are not honest I'll tell you what if I'm having a fellowship sitting across a table is very uncomfortable it's not comfortable it's not like a look and it's like you know let's talk about the deep things of Christ because you know what happens suspicion arises your suspect I can't trust them I don't believe them you tell lies to one another when we're not honest you know what you know what we really appreciate the only admit as much as you caught them in but then later you can't catch them in more lies it's like well why didn't you admit this because they're not being truthful and now they're really suspect in your mind you know it's very encouraging in the church is when people are truthful when people confess sin when people are honest when people let you know what line comes from protecting self-image love of self but when those barriers go away in the church and we're vulnerable and we're transparent and we show one another the dirt and the wrongs and we confess and were open well that just nurtures a tightness it pulls the members close that's the reality I remember a pastor in another church he eventually left he came through our church and then CBC but he told me he told me that when he was at the church that he was a pastor in that he would actually hide a recorder in his jacket so that when he had conversations with people he was recording the conversations when you have that kind of suspicion and that kind of distrust do you have unity do you have fellowship and then what happens to the whole body I'll tell you what when you have people that are grieving the spirit because of their lies the power of God among the whole church is affected and when you're supposed to stir me up to love and good works you're hardly doing that if we're suspicious of each other there's not a tightness there's not a closeness we're not effectively exercising our spiritual gifts on one another not if there's a separation because you can't have unity where there's distrust we need to be honest with one another and I'll tell you I mean that elder that had something said about him and it was communicated through the church do you think when he walked out of that elders meeting and he found out that that was a reality or maybe he knew about it before that that all of a sudden you know his first thoughts are oh you know I want to be really close to those people who were spreading that story probably he's fighting with other feelings because that's what happens that's what happens when deception comes in the church and you know what Paul says Paul says quit it stop it you don't need to continue to pray that God would take away the tendency to line he says quit it right now stop it put off falsehood stop saying to yourself well I'm forgiven I'm a Christian so it really doesn't matter if I'm truthful or not he says stop it quit it stop with the sham stop with the pretense stop with the play-acting stop acting like the devil because that's what the devil does the devil is the arch liar and he's the father of lies stop acting like the devil you realize the world is as it is right now because of a lie you will not surely die and we are where we are because man believed a lie and your father is no longer the devil unless he is but Christian stop acting devilish the new man is created after the likeness of God and what is God like Paul tells Titus God who never lies but back in numbers God is not man that he should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind as he said and will he not do has he spoken and will he not fulfill it I love this text this comes from James I often think of it but not exactly in this sense but this this very much applies we speak of God as being the father of lights from whom every good and perfect gift comes but you know what James says there's no variableness in him nor shadow of turning I like that word there's not even a shadow in God of not being true to his word not even a shadow not the not the slightest put on the new man created like this put him on you don't need to pray anymore about it just do it it's no use pretending it's no use trying to hide anything God sees it all any desires truth in the inward parts God demands and insists on honesty you can't even start to be right with God until you're honest nobody nobody who covers up and won't admit their sin can even start to be right with God and ice try as I stressed last time another way to phrase this is put on Christ and you say well what's Christ like Peter says Christ committed no sin neither was deceit found in his mouth no to see I think I say you put that putting away falsehood let each of us speak truth to our neighbor for we are members one of another father I pray for determination among the saints to be all out honest ask this in Christ's name Amen

Channel: I'll Be Honest

Views: 3,220

Rating: 4.8677688 out of 5

Keywords: Ephesians 4:25, Lying, lies, honesty, Tim Conway

Id: zzX9PnobWfI

Length: 66min 21sec (3981 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 22 2019