Speaking Truth

Back in 1991 I purchased a book called The Day America Told the Truth. Very interest bo. And in it it states these words. Am li. They lie more than we had ever thought possible before the study. But they told us the truth about how much they lie. Just about everyone lies. 9% of Americans lie regularly. The majority of us find it hard to get through a week without lying. One in five can't make it through a single day, and we're talking about conscious, premeditated lies. When we refrain from lying, it is less often because we think it's wrong than for a variety of other reasons, among them the fear of being caught.

We lie to just about everyone, and the better we know someone, the likelier we are to have told them a serious lie. 3% of Americans confess to telling that kind of darker lie. And as to the question, who lies most in America, the studies show men lie more than women. Didn't like that statistic too much, but I had to give it to you. Young men lie more than older men. Gays and bisexuals lie more than heterosexuals. Catholics lie a bit more than Protestants, and both lie more than Jews. Unemployed people lie more than those with jobs, the poor lie more than the rich, and liberals lie more than cons.

And among the author's conclusions were these start statements: There are more serious liars right now, that is, liars who do harm, than at any other time in our nation's past. Lying has become a cultural trait in America. Lying is embedded in our national character. That hasn't really been understood around the world. Americans lie about everything, and usually for no good reason. The majority of Americans today, two out of every three, believe there is nothing wrong with telling a lie. Only 31% of us believe honesty is the best pol.

Now these men who who did this research and this survey of those of us in America are not Born Christians. They're men just trying to figure out what's going on in America. And that's what they came up with. And we in the church have to understand that there is a problem in the church as well. So we need to speak truth as Christians, not just because God said, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. In Exodus 20:16, but because God is truth, John:, and because we are partakers of the divine nature.

And the Bible says that it's impossible for God to lie, and that the Holy Spirit who takes up residence in our lives, John 16, 13, is the Spirit of truth who guides us into all truth.

We have a hard enough time telling the truth with the Spirit of Truth there. Without the Spirit of Truth, lying becomes easy. And so tonight I want to cover five points with you. I want to cover, first of all, with you, the prohibition on lying.

Second of all, the origination of lying. Thirdly, the expression of lying, and then the ramifications of lying, and then fifthly, the liberation.

From lying. First of all, the prohibition. This commandment originally focused on one perjuring himself in a judicial trial. Not against other forms of lying and deception. But as one author states, he says this. Just as with the previous commandment against adultery, which was expanded by Christ to include adulterous thoughts, and likewise with the commandment against murder, which was expanded to forbid hatred, so here the very serious sin of lying. And perjury will be broadened to include the whole spectrum of lying, sins of the tongue.

Leviticus 19:11, which comments on the Ten Commandments, says, Do not lie, do not deceive one another. Proverbs 6, verses 16 and 19: six things the Lord hates, yea, seven are an abomination to him, and two of them deal with, of course, lying, a lying tongue, and a false witness who pours out lies. And do you remember the words of King David in Psalm 1 and 11 when he said, I say in my haste, all men are liars. God speaks against it. He says, don't lie. So, where did all this originate? That's our second point, the origination.

Where did it all come from? Well, it's pretty easy to trace. Turn with me to John chapter 8. And Jesus said in John 8:4, You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning. And does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Satan is the father of lies. He is the one who is identified with lies. And it's illustrated over in Genesis chapter 2.

Turn there with me, if you would, please. Genesis chapter 2. Over in verse number 17, God had given the command that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die. So in Genesis chapter 3 comes the fall of man, and the serpent comes to Eve and begins to question her. And in verse 4 he says, You surely shall not die. Will you? Is God holding something back from you? You see, what Satan tries to do is accuse God of base motives.

In other words, God doesn't really care about you. He's holding out on you, Eve. He's got something that he doesn't want you to have, and that's not right. You should have it. You should have the right to whatever God has. So. You really won't die. He goes on to say, in verse number five: For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God. You'll be just like him. Satan is a liar. And any who puts a question mark on the word of God is doing the work of the devil.

Because you see, he was questioning God. You can't question God. You can't put a question as to the motives of God. Because God is truth, and what he does is right. And of course, Revelation 12, verse 10 says that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. And day and night he is before the throne of God, accusing the brethren. So, if anybody asks you where Satan is, you tell them Satan's in heaven. That's where he is. He's before the throne of God day and night, accusing, slandering the brethren. And that's where we have our advocate, the Lord Jesus.

The third thing I want you to see is what I'll call the expressions of lying. Because inevitably somebody will say, well, you know, I don't really lie. I mean, I really try to speak the truth all the time. And so I thought I'd just kind of throw some things out at you to help you understand how we express ourselves in terms of lying. One is through slander, silence, and the spreading of rumors. Over in Acts chapter 7, verse 11, Stephen was slandered the same way Christ was slandered. Accusing him of blasphemy, speaking against him.

When you slander someone, it is a lie. Invented and spread to do harm to that individual. And of course, we know that Stephen was stoned. It was Thomas Watson, that great Puritan, who said that the scorpion carries his poison in his tail, the slanderer carries his in his tongue. This sin assaults the character of other people. When you slander someone, when you speak against someone with the intention of doing harm, you align yourself with the slanderer, the father of lies. It's a form of lying because you're speaking against someone.

The second thing I want you to see is that it's also silence is that which slanders an individual. Do you know that if you don't speak up when the truth is not being told, you in spirit Break this commandment. Leviticus 5: says this: Now, if a person sins after he hears a public adjuration. To testify when he is a witness, whether he is seen or otherwise known. If he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt. If you're a third party and you hear a conversation, and someone is speaking the non-truth, someone is slandering another individual, someone is lying against another individual, someone is speaking against someone else, and you don't speak up.

Because you know the truth and don't speak to the truth, you're a liar. Another way is spreading rumors. Spreading rumors over in Exodus chapter 23. Listen to what the Lord God says, Exodus chapter 23, verse number 1.

You shall not bear a false report. You can't spread a rumor. You can't do that. And then it says, Do not join your hand with the wicked man. To be a malicious witness. That is, don't keep spreading the rumor. Don't allow the rumor to stay in circulation. Why? Because it's a form of not speaking the truth. It's a form of slandering. It's a form of lying. And then, next, I've kind of grouped these together: there's exaggeration. Insinuation and ad. First of all, exaggeration.

That's another form of lying. We kind of embellish the truth. We kind of blow it up a little bit, you know. How many people came to Christ at the Christmas musical? Well, 50, you know, when there was only two. And so many times we like to embellish what is happening. We like to tell a story and really add to the story to make it really sound good, don't we? And preachers are really big culprits here, so you got to be careful of preachers. They really want to embellish your story to make it sound really good.

And so they'll stretch it as far as they can go. And they'll exaggerate the truth. And that's a form of not telling the real truth, and that's a lie. Gotta be careful. Next is insinuation. Remember back in John chapter 8, verse number 41, when Christ was talking about them and about the Pharisees, we talked about it earlier, but the Pharisees insinuated that Jesus. Was an illegitimate child by saying these words, we are not born of fornication. Not us. Insinuating that Jesus himself was born of a harlot, that his mother knew no man.

Presumably, they would say. And so they were insinuating that he was born of fornication. They weren't. And so we can insinuate something by the raise of our eyebrows, the gestures of our hands, the tone of our voice. And you can just see the Pharisees saying, well, we weren't born of fornication, ins that you, Jesus, were. And we know he wasn't. But you see, that too is a form of lying because it's not the truth. You're insinuating something that's not true, hoping to degrade the other person. And then of course there's adul.

Over in Proverbs chapter 26, verse number, I believe it is 28. 26, 28, a lying tongue hates those it crushes, and the flattering mouth works ruin. Ad is flattering. It's buttering somebody up when you know it's not true. Now, this is different from encouragement and giving thanks and commendation to somebody who has earned it. You want to do those kinds of things. But so many times we like to spread it on really th when we go through these adul and they're really not truthful. And we say them in front of someone, insinuating that they are better than what they really are, and therefore not really speaking the truth.

And so we've got to be careful about how we ex sin, which leads us to the fourth point, the ramifications of lying. The first ramification you need to see is that there's going to be punishment from God.

And how this comes to you or how this comes to people, I don't know, but there's going to be punishment from God because it is an abomination to God. Proverbs 19:5 says, A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who tells lies will not escape. Those are powerful words. The Bible says you will not go unpunished.

So if you've lied about something and you think you've covered it up, The Bible says that's not going to happen.

You will suffer. You will be punished because no man escapes the lie. That's what the Bible says. And God says, You mark my words.

You lie to get something, you lie to get your way, you lie to fin in your desires and get what you want when it's all said and done. It's not going to be what you thought it was. And anytime you inject lying into a relationship, that relationship will never be the same. Proverbs 19, 22 says, It is better to be a poor man than a liar. How about you? You tell the truth? You tell the truth on your income taxes. You tell the truth when the cash reg lady gives you too much change. You tell the truth when the ATM machine gives you too much money?

What do you do? Would you rather have the money than be a liar? Or would you rather be poor and live the truth? So there is punishment. Maybe it's shame. Maybe it's embarrassment. Maybe it's imprisonment. Maybe it's a loss of a friendship. Maybe it's a loss of a rel Maybe it's the loss of your marriage. I don't know. But know this. The Bible says, God says, if you lie, you will not go unpunished.

Take it to heart. And if you don't repent from your sin, and if you don't seek the God of truth, Which leads us to our second ramification: you will perish without God.

Listen to these verses. Proverbs 19: says, He who tells lies will per. Proverbs 21, 28 says a false witness will perish. Proverbs 21, 6 says, The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit. Of death. If you go after treasures with a lying tongue, you in reality are pursuing death, the Bible says.

Proverbs 21, 8 says, All li shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Revelation 21, 27 and 22, 15 speaks simile of the lake of fire and the destination of those who are liars. You see, how could that be? Jesus said in Matthew 12, 36 and 37, But I tell you that men will have to give account on that day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. 1 John 2, 4 says, He who says, He who says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments is a liar.

And the truth is not in him. The Bible says if you live in a state of habitual lies. If you say you love God and you habitually break his commandments without any care or concern about the consequences of what you've done, the Bible says you're a liar.

Because the truth's not in you. If the truth was in you, you would not cont down the road of deceit. You see, truth-telling is truth and demonstrating. Which leads us to the liber from lying. Say, wait a minute, I want to speak the truth. Folks, if you want to speak the truth, that's an evidence of true Christianity. Did you know that? If you really do want to do the truth and say, do the right thing, that's an evidence of a real true conversion. Because you see, the unbeliever doesn't care about truth.

Could care less about it. But the believer, they do care about the truth. So, turn with me over to Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 17.

This I say, therefore, and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk. In the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him, and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jes.

That in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit. And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and the holiness of the truth. If you want to be liberated from lying, number one, you've got to learn truth.

And where do you learn truth? From Jesus Christ. The Bible says, you have learned the truth as it is in Jesus.

Paul says, look, you know the truth because Jesus is truth. Therefore, you put away, you put aside those things that the Gentiles do, and you learn to walk in truth. You learn from Jesus who is truth. So first of all, learn truth.

Number two, love truth. It says over in Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 15, speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up in all aspects into Him who was the Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part. Causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Speaking the truth, that love is a fine balance. But you need to love truth. So learn truth, love truth, and lastly, live truth.

Proverbs 4, verse number 29, says this: Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth. But only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. Isn't that a good verse? I hate that verse. I really do, because it is the most convicting verse in the New Testament for me. Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth. Nothing that's deceitful, nothing that's slandering, nothing that's going to be exaggerated, nothing that's going to be an embellishment of the truth, nothing that's going to misconstrue the truth.

No words that are used to flatter somebody and to butter them up. No unwholesome word. Only whole words, pure words, that are graceful to the hearer. I would honestly be ashamed. If my family was to tell you all the things and the ways I said them to them, I'd be ashamed. And this verse has got to be a reality in my life as much as it needs to be a reality in your life. And whenever I read that, I think to myself, how many unwholesome words have come out of my mouth, even this very day, let alone over the past 38 years that God has given to me.

And you know why the Bible says don't do that? Not because you hate somebody else, and not because you're going to hurt somebody else. But it tells you, read on, and do not but grieve. The Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all Malice. Be kind to one another, tender, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Do you know why you don't slander somebody?

Do you know why you don't lie? Do you know why you speak the truth? Because if you don't, you're going to hurt the Spirit of God. That's why. And hopefully that would make a bigger impact on you than hurting your spouse or your family or your friends. The Spirit of God has sealed you unto the day of redemption. You're sealed. He's there forever. But don't grieve when Paul says. Don't sadden the spirit. It tells you the Spirit of God is a personality. The Spirit of God is a person. He indwells you.

And he can be hurt. And the Spirit of God is deeply grieved. When there's bitterness and anger and malice and slandering, that's there. We need to exhibit a lifestyle of honesty. David said this way in Psalm 141, verse 3. Instead of watch, O Lord, before my mouth, keep the door of my lips.