The Problem of Lying, Part 2

I wonder what you think about lying and telling the truth. It is a problem. It's a problem that is more of a problem than we'd ever realize. And tonight, my desire is to help you understand that problem. But what I want to do is set the tone for what we want to talk about tonight, about the problem of lying.

The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 12 about the call of Abraham. Now the word of the Lord brought him to the land of Canaan. The word of the Lord brought him to where he was, but the word of the Lord did not take him from Canaan to Egypt. He decided that's what he needed to do. Now, Abraham didn't seek the Lord when he went to Egypt, but let's say he's there now. Now he has an opportunity to show Egypt that his God is the protector of his life. He's got a great opportunity to make a testimony for his God, Jehovah. And what does he do? He lies. He lies.

When they went down to Egypt, they got Hagar. The whole plan about Abraham going into Hagar and bearing a child, and she did. His name is Ishmael. And you know what? We have problems in the Middle East today because one man lied way back in Genesis chapter 12. See that? You see the effects of one man's lie? You see what happens when you don't call upon the name of the Lord amidst the famine? You begin to lean on your own understanding, trust your own resources. Trust your own personality, your own education, your own effects. Look what happens. But we need to learn the lessons, right? And so that story sets the tone for the problem of lying.

But let me talk to you tonight, beginning with point number one: the origination of lying. Satan is the originator of the lie. He is the father of lies and no one else is truth. But point number two, and that is the instruction on lying. What does God say about it? Well, Proverbs chapter 6. You know the verse very well. Proverbs 6, verse number 16: "There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven, which are an abomination to him. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue." Verse number 19: "A false witness who utters lies." The point is, God hates lying. Why? Because he's a God of truth. That's why. He has no room for lies.

In fact, Proverbs 12, verse number 22 says it this way: "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are his delight." In other words, God says that if you lie, it is an abomination to me. It's something worthy of great punishment. If you are the one who tells lies, Proverbs 17, verse number 4 says this: "A liar pays attention to destructive tongue." A liar likes to listen to a gossip. A liar likes to listen to the destructive tongue. Why? Because he wants to perpetuate a lie. He wants to continue on with the thought. He has no desire to get to the bottom of the thing, to know what the truth really is. He just likes the sound of what he hears, and he wants to be able to perpetuate it so the destruction will continue.

Proverbs 25, verse number 14. Realize that lying is a form of boasting. Proverbs 25, verse number 14 says these words: "Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of his gifts falsely." You know, we tend to boast, and boasting is a form of lying. Why? Because we like to make ourselves look better than we really are. We like to make people think that what we did a while back was really better than what it really was. That's why people lie in their resumes. They want to make themselves look better to the man they're going to get a job with, or hopefully get a job with. So they'll lie about their resumes, they'll lie about where they went to school, they'll lie about their accomplishments at school. After all, who's going to look back 25 or 35 years ago to make sure everything what you said was true? And so we say things in a way that make us really look better than what we truly are.

Over in James chapter 3, it says this, verse 5: "So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things." It boasts of great things. Verse 13: "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds and the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy, and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant, and so lie against the truth." People have bitterness and jealousy in their hearts, so what do they do? They lie to cover up that bitterness, to cover up that jealousy. To speak arrogantly about themselves, to make themselves look better than they really are.

Sometimes we want our children to look better than they really are. So we try to talk more about them and the greatness of their deeds and what they have accomplished so people will think that we're good parents. I'm always leery of the people who talk too much about their kids. It kind of makes me a little skeptical about what the truth really is. Let me see them. Let me make the judgment. Don't tell me, but people like to boast about their children. A lot of times, what they say really isn't true.

Another form of lying you understand about the instruction of lying is that whenever you don't live what you say, you're a liar. 1 John chapter 1, verse number 6 says it this way: "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." If we say we're in fellowship with Christ, if we say that we're a child of God and we live in darkness, we don't follow the word of the Lord, we're liars. 1 John 2 says this: "The one who says," verse 4, "I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments, is a liar. And the truth is not in him." The guy who says, "Yeah, I've come to know Christ, I've given my life to the Lord," but doesn't want to do what God says, the Bible says that man's a liar. He doesn't want to practice the truth. He doesn't want to live the truth. He wants to live his own way. That makes him a liar. Those are some of the instructions about what the Bible says concerning lying.

So that leads me to this. What are some of the conditions for lying? Is it ever right to tell a lie? Is there ever a time where I can lie? Well, on Sunday, I gave you a couple illustrations. One was Rahab the harlot in Joshua chapter 2. You can go back and read that story if you like. You can read about her in James chapter 2, verses 24 and 25. You can read about her in Hebrews chapter 11 because she's in the hall of faith. And people say, "Well, Rahab lied about the spies, therefore, lying must be okay. It's okay to lie to protect someone's life." And they use Rahab as the example. But God never commends Rahab for her lying. He commends her for her faith. He commends her because she believed in the Lord God of Israel.

You must understand that Rahab was a new convert. She was a new believer. Rahab knew nothing about the Ten Commandments. Rahab knew nothing about the God of truth and how much value he placed on truth. We know that "faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God." How did Rahab hear about the Lord God of Israel? By all those men who wanted to use her services, who would come to her chambers and speak about this God of Israel who led this nation out of bondage and what he did. And every time she had one of those men come into her chambers and she heard the stories over and over again, she began to realize that the God of Israel was the true God. She gave her life to God. That's all she knew. And so when the spies came, she could tell them about the God of Israel, that he was the true God, and she believed in him, but she wasn't grounded in the word of God, she wasn't grounded in the fact that God has these commandments that they are to live by. She didn't know anything about those things.

So, what did she do? She did all she knew to do as a new believer, and that was to live according to her sinful practices because she knew no better. But God never commended her for her lie. She's in the hall of faith because of her belief in God, the Lord God of Israel. Her life was spared, and we'll go into great detail when we cover Joshua and the whole book of Joshua as soon as we're done studying the book of Proverbs.

Another illustration is: remember the midwives in Exodus chapter 1? How they, in fact, let me read it to you: Exodus chapter 1. It says, "Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, and the other was named Puah. And he said, When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death. But if it is a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live? And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women. For they are vigorous, and they give birth before the midwives can get to them. So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very mighty. And it came about because the midwives feared God that he established households for them."

The Bible never says the midwives lied to Pharaoh. The midwives spoke the truth to Pharaoh. They feared God. So what did they do? They just showed up late at the birth. That's all. They showed up late. If it was a boy, it was already gone. If it was a girl, they would get there and it would be a girl. She'd still be there. The Bible never says they lied to Pharaoh about these being boys and sparing the boys' life. They just showed up late. That's all they did. They told all the midwives, "You know what? The Hebrew women, they give birth rather rapidly. Let them give birth. Let them decide what they're going to do with their child. And then you get there after it's already done. That's what we'll do." And you know what? That's what they did. This is the first example of civil disobedience in the Bible. It's not the first example of someone lying and getting away with it and God honoring it in the Bible. Because God never honors a lie. He didn't do it in Abraham's life. Why would he do it in the lives of the midwives?

Another example is Rebekah and Isaac and their boys, Jacob and Esau. Let me go back with you to that and let you remember that Rebecca knew about the plan of God. And people say, because Rebekah knew about God's plan that the older would serve the younger, that what Rebekah did in deceiving her husband was the right thing to do. And she was justified because she followed a higher authority, and that was God Himself. But God never told Rebekah to do what she did, she did it on her own. She had a struggle in her womb. In Genesis chapter 25, it says, "The children struggled together within her, and she said, If it is so, why then am I this way? So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your body, and one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger."

So Rebekah knew what was going to happen in her life. She knew that the older would serve the younger. And there was the birth of Jacob and Esau. And one day, as the boys grew older, her favorite was Jacob, and Isaac's favorite was Esau. Hers was Jacob. And she one day overheard what Isaac said to his son Esau: "Go and get me my savory stew and bring it to me and feed me, and I will bless you. I'll give you the blessing." She heard that. What does she do? The wheels began to spin. "You can't bless Esau. That's not what God said. My husband's disobeying God."

Now, why is it Rebecca never went to her husband and said, "Honey, remember what God said?" How come she never went to her husband and began to communicate with her husband about the truth of God? Why is it she decided to go in the background and deceive and manipulate and get Jacob to dress up like her other son, Esau, and deceived her husband, his father? Remember what she said? His mother said to him in verse 13 of chapter 27, "Your curse be on me, my son only obey my voice, and go, get them for me." There's a problem here. I'll bear the brunt of the problem. I'll deal with it. And of course, you know the story. Jacob obtained the blessing, the older would serve the younger. Just like the Bible had prophesied, and people say, "Well, see, it must be the right thing to do because God let it go on, and that must have been the plan of God, and it was the decreed plan of God," but it doesn't make what Rebecca did right.

Notice this, verse 44. As Esau finds out about it, Esau is not a happy camper. He sets out to kill his brother. Listen to what she says. Verse 43: "Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran." Remember, she kept saying, "Son, obey my voice, son, obey my voice." She never said "Son, obey God's voice." She says, "Son, obey my voice. Do what I say." She never once said, "Do what God said." But she says, "Obey my voice. Arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban. And stay with him." Notice the phrase, "a few days." A few days. "Until your brother's fury subsides, until your brother's anger against you subsides, and he forgets what you did to him."

Two things. Number one, Esau and his descendants never forgot. Number two, a few days turned into a year, which turned into seven years, which turned to fourteen years, which turned to twenty years, and she never saw her son again, nor did she ever see her grandchildren. Why? Because she deceived. She lied. She manipulated. Be sure your sin will find you out.

There's another one, 1 Samuel 16. Turn there with me if you would for a second. People like to use this one to say that God condones lying. Chapter 16, verse number 1: "Now the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul since I rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go, and I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have selected a king for myself among his sons. But Samuel said, How can I go when Saul hears of it, he will kill me?" "Saul is going to kill me. Lord, I can't go to Bethlehem. I can't go to Jesse. I can't go and anoint another king because you've rejected Saul. Saul will kill me."

So, what does God say? "And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord." See? God says, "Don't tell the truth, lie. Just tell him you're going to sacrifice to the Lord. Saul doesn't have to know." So people say, "You see, God condones lying in certain instances, again, to preserve a life. Samuel's life, the prophet of God." Verse 3: "And you shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for me the one whom I designate to you. So Samuel did what the Lord said and came to Bethlehem."

People say, "Well, if you go back to Genesis chapter 12, Abraham told a half-truth. Not the whole truth. Here, 1 Samuel 16, you have Samuel. He is going to tell a half-truth, not the whole truth. And God doesn't condemn him, but Abraham was condemned for what he did. How do you reconcile that?" It's very, very simple. Let me explain it to you this way. First of all, God never said to Abraham, "Tell Pharaoh that Sarah is your half sister," did he? No. God told Samuel, "You go, take a heifer with you, and sacrifice." So now we know God said to Samuel to do something. We already know the character of God, that God is not a man that he should lie, right? It's impossible for God to lie. So we know that God is not going to lie. So we know then that God did not tell Samuel to lie because God's a God of truth. And what God told Samuel to do was exactly what Samuel was supposed to do.

Let me say it to you this way: Did God tell Samuel which son of Jesse he was going to anoint as king? Answer? No. No. Why? Because Samuel didn't need to know until it was time. Did God tell all the prophets in the Old Testament all that was going to happen in the end times, or at the birth of Christ, or what was going to happen, who the Messiah was? Particularly, who his mother was, who his father was? No. Because God would unfold his plan in stages. Does that mean that God conceals things from us? Yes. Does that mean that God hides things from us? Yes. God doesn't tell us what we need to know until we need to know it, right? That's why it's called in the New Testament "the mystery." Concealed in the Old Testament. Revealed in the New Testament.

Do we know everything that's going to happen in the end times? No. We know what the book of Revelation says, but do we know everything? No. Do we need to know? No. We don't need to know. All we need to know is what God told us. All Saul needed to know is what God told Samuel, and that was to go and sacrifice unto the Lord. Because that's exactly what was supposed to happen. And in doing so, it was a picture of what would happen to an individual who, when facing death, because he was a sinner, there would be a sacrifice provided for him in Bethlehem. And in Bethlehem, where David was from, would be the exact same place the Messiah would be born, the place where they would raise the sacrificial lambs to be sacrificed for the sins of man who were facing death. And Samuel was facing death. He was a sinner. And God, through a type, through a symbol, would use this as an illustration to show what ultimately he would do in the future.

But Samuel was obeying what God said to do. And just because he concealed something and didn't reveal it, now if Saul said to him, "What have you come to do?" He says, "I come to offer a sacrifice for the Lord." That's exactly what he came to do. If Saul would have said, "Have you come to do something else also?" Then Samuel would have been required to say, "Yes, I have." But Saul didn't ask that. In fact, one author said it this way: "There is here an appearance of duplicity, sanctioned by divine authority, which it is important to examine. It was the purpose of God that David should be anointed at this time as Saul's successor. And as the ancestor and the type of his Christ. It was not the purpose of God that Samuel should stir up a civil war by setting up David as Saul's rival. Secrecy, therefore, was a necessary part of the transaction, but secrecy and concealment are not the same as duplicity and falsehood. In the providential government of the world and in God's dealings with individuals, concealment of his purpose till the proper time for its development is the rule rather than the exception, and must be so. There is therefore nothing in the least inconsistent with truth in the occurrence here related." God did not tell Samuel to lie. God told Samuel what he was to do. And he would reveal more to him when he arrived. Those are a few, quote, "conditions."

Now I must rapidly finish. What are the ramifications? This is point number four. Proverbs 12:19 says that lying never lasts. Proverbs 19:5 and 19:9 and 21:6 says that every liar will never escape punishment. Proverbs 20, verse number 17 says that lying never satisfies. Revelation 21:27 and 22:15 say that those who continually practice lying will spend eternity in hell. Because lying is characteristic of the unbeliever, not the believer. And those who habitually lie and continue in that pattern are not truly born again. Those are the ramifications of lying. Outside the fact of what we saw with Abraham, what we saw with Rebecca, and the ramifications that take place in people's lives.

But what is the solution? Let me give you five points. Number one, if you have a tendency to lie, it's a problem for you. Number one, you got to repent of your sin. Repent of your sin. Over in Psalm 51, David said, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part thou wilt make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." Hyssop was used to scrape those with leprosy. To take off the leprosy from the part of their skin to be able to get down to the root of what was happening. David is asking that God would use that hyssop. Sort of like the yucca plant, to scrape away the lies from his life, to get down to his innermost being, to purge him and make him clean. In order for us to stop lying, we must repent of our sin. We must say, "God, purge me with hyssop, make me clean, take away all the dross that's there. And make me clean before you."

Number two, I must request the help of my God. Matthew chapter 26, verse number 41: "Pray lest you enter into temptation." Abraham never prayed when he went to Egypt. He never sought God. He never requested the help of the Almighty One. He just took matters into his own hands and he lied. Once you repent of your sin, you've got to request help from God.

Number three, you must recommit to loving your brother. You must recommit to loving your brother. Proverbs 26 tells us that those who lie hate the one they crush. Romans 13 says, "Owe no man anything but love." And we are to love our brother, and in loving so we fulfill the whole law of God. We are to recommit to loving our brother. And we do that by saying, "You know what? I will speak to them the truth."

Number four, I must rely upon the Spirit of God. Galatians 5:16: "Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Every step I take, every word out of my mouth, every person I encounter, I must encounter them, I must speak those words, dependent upon God and God alone.

And lastly, I must rely and rest in God's sovereignty. I must rest in God's sovereignty. Whenever you're in a situation and you're tempted to lie, remember that God is in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all. You don't have to revert to sinful patterns. You don't have to revert back to doing things you used to do. You need to rely upon the Lord and rest in His sovereignty. Romans 11:36: "For from him and through him and to him are all things." All things. Not just some things. And so God has orchestrated the events of life. He puts you in situations to cause you to depend upon Him, to trust Him, to believe in Him, to come through for you. You don't have to lie. Let's pray.