The first lesson we can learn from lying is found in

Transcription

1 Proverbs 6:16-19 Lessons from Lying Introduction We are working our way through these three verses in the book of Proverbs. We are discussing seven sins the Savior hates. The first sin mentioned was a proud look. Pride is hated by our Lord because of the fact it blinds us to the wickedness of our sin, the worth and worship of the Savior. Pride will prevent you from seeing and savoring the glory of God. The next sin that Solomon lists is a lying tongue. There are few things more detestable than a liar, except when we are the ones doing to lying, and then its just a little white lie. The only problem with that is, whether it s a white lie or a horrendous lie, it s a lie and the Savior hates it. In fact it is an abomination to Him. He detests it, He abhors it, He hates a lying tongue! According to one websites study (mentalfloss.com) Of those they surveyed 60% of people admitted to lying in a ten minute conversation. 86% admitted to lying to parents. 75% to friends. 73% to siblings. And 69% to spouses. Why do people lie? People lie about things that will make them look better and seem more likeable. 40% of people lie on their resumes. And 90% lie on their online dating profile. Another website studied children and determined that a child can begin deceiving as early as 6 months of age! Those stats are condemning. The truth leads us to believe that we are lie more than we would like to admit. However, I believe there is something to be learned from all this lying, and tonight I would like to point out some lessons we can learn from lying. The first lesson we can learn from lying is found in

2 I. The Definition of Lying There are three basic parts to the definition of telling a lie. A. Lying is defined by Dishonesty Lying is when we tell something that is false. It isn t fact or reality. It is telling a false statement intentionally. You know its not the truth, you know the information you are giving is not right, but you say it anyway. B. Lying is defined by Deception Many may not tell what we would call a bald face lie, but lying goes further than that! Lying gets into fibbing, fabrication, half-truths, and exaggerations! Lying is when you deceive someone by adding to or taking away from the truth so that they believe something other than what is really true. When you intentionally mislead someone by what you say that is a lie! Whether it s a little white lie so that someone doesn t think less of you, or a gross invention of your own mind for the purpose of totally deceiving someone, both are lies and the Savior hates them! C. Lying is also defined by Disloyalty We can lie by speaking. We can also lie by what we intend on our words to say. You can say something that isn t a lie, but if you say it for the purpose of deceiving someone, it s a lie just the same. Then you can lie by going back on your word. Doing what we say we won t do, and not doing what we say we will is telling a lie!

3 How many times have you said, I will do this, and you don t do it. I won t say a word brother/sister, and you tell the secret that has been confided in you. I will be sure to pray for you, and you never think of that person again. You can lie to yourself, you can lie to others, and you can even lie to your savior! Isaiah 29:13-16 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, who seeth us? And who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? Or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Mark 7:6 Jesus said Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Jesus addresses them as hypocrites. A hypocrite was originally someone who replied back to the chorus in Greek plays, turning speeches into dialogue. From this general meaning of an actor on a stage, the word hypocrite who was applied to someone who acted in real life or who pretended to be something that they were not, especially in the moral aspects of life!

4 We are hypocrites and are ultimately telling a lie by the way we live when we pretend to be spiritual and act as those we are close to God when in reality we are far from Him! But how many times do we say how much we want God with our lips, while our heart is cold. How many times do we say we love the Lord when our lives are telling a different story? Whether we lie with our lips or lie with our life, God hates our lying and He stand against us in it. The second lesson to be learned from lying is found in II. The Depravity of Lying In the Old Testament the word that is used for lying is seqer. In every instance of the word it opposes that which is true, and consequently it opposes God. 1 John 1:5 says This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 Samuel 15:29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. The Apostle Paul wrote to Titus In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. God not only speaks truth, He is truth! God s word is true, because He is true. He cannot lie because He is truth, and it is impossible for truth to ever be wrong! Where then did lying come from? Jesus says to a group of Jews who were trying to kill Him in John 8:42-45 If God were your

5 Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. The devil never abode in truth. He is called the father of lies. Lies originated with Lucifer, He has no truth in him, and so when he speaks a lie it comes from his own wicked heart! Lying shows us our own sinful nature and wicked heart. It shows us that in our lost condition Satan was our father, and we have his nature. We lie because we aren t in the truth. We lie because we oppose the truth. We will even go so far as to reject the truth and embrace a lie because of our sinful nature! God hates the sin of lying because it opposes Him and His truth! The third lesson we can learn from lying is found in III. The Destination of Lying Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremonger, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and bringstone: which is the second death.

6 Now we have all told a lie. This is not meaning that everyone who tells a lie is going to hell. What it does mean is that if the pattern of your lifestyle is a lie, or you lie continually with no conviction, no repentance, never forsaking that lifestyle you are lost and you will take your part with murders, whoremongers, and unbelievers! Why? Why will liars go to hell? That s where they belong. They have no truth in them! Prov. 13:5 A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame. The scripture says that a righteous man, a saved man hates lying! Just like He used to lie because of his nature, now the saved individual has a new nature, the nature of God, and He loves truth! The saved person loves truth, speaks truth, and stands against all lies! This doesn t mean the saved man has never told a lie, but it wont be something you do continually. Why? You will hate it! The new birth gives a new nature and the new nature produces new affections. That s why a person changes when they get saved! Conclusion Now that we have looked at the second sin that savior hates, where do you find yourself in the message? Do you find yourself in a lie? Maybe you realize you are among those in Revelation 21:8. You re a liar, by the way you live, and by what you say. Your lies never bother you and you have never repented. Come to Christ tonight and He will save you! Maybe you see that although you are saved, you have been guilty of lying by the way you lived. If you re saved you don t want to live that way, you desire to declare truth by your life and your lips! So come to Christ, repent, and trust Christ for forgiveness and grace to live in truth!