1 Sunday, Octber 18, 2009 The Weight f Our Wrds T Tell the Truth: Beguilement, Deceit, Lying, and False Witness Intrductin Last week we began a new fall series f messages entitled The Weight f Wrds: Measuring the Impact f What We Say. In ur intrductin we lked at five principals regarding the tngue ut f James 3. Principle 1: Cntrlled Speech Is a Measure f Maturity James 3:2 Principle 2: The Tngue is Small but Significant James 3:3-5 Principle 3: Our Wrds Are Ptentially Cmbustible James 3:6 Principle 4: The Tngue is Like a Wild and Deadly Beast James 3:7-8 Principle 5: The Tngue Tends t Prmte a Duble Standard James 3:9-12 Ephesians 4:9-21 Crrupt--rtten, putrefied, 2) crrupted by ne and n lnger fit fr use, wrn ut, 3) f pr quality, bad, unfit fr use, wrthless Edifying building up, the act f ne wh prmtes anther's grwth in Christian wisdm, piety, happiness, hliness Evil Speaking--slander, detractin, speech injurius, t anther's gd name, 2) impius and reprachful speech injurius t divine majesty Tday we are ging t begin lking at different frms f crrupt cmmunicatin and evil speaking by cnsidering the issue f telling the truth. Truth-telling has fallen n hard times. Our culture has shifted t the ethics f expediency and self-advancement, st falsehd is nt nly tlerated but even encuraged in many cases. Any slight untruths t gain a cmpetitive edge are accepted in ur mdern culture. Truth is the underlying fundatin fr trust, cnfidence, integrity, faith, security, and stability. Cnversely, falsehd is allied with suspicin, dubt, withdrawal, insecurity, cnflict, resentment, and anger. Why Is the Truth S Imprtant? The Scriptures emphasize the serius natural f tampering with the truth. Exdus 20:16 lying is frbidden in the 10 Cmmandments Psalm 51:6 Gd desires truth t live within us. Pastr Bryan Rss
2 Prverbs 6:17 a lying tngue is included in the list f items that the Lrd hates. Revelatin 21:8 liars are included with thse whse eternal sentence will be the lake f fire. Why is truth s imprtant t Gd? Reasn 1:Truth Aligns Us with Gd Gd s intense cncern fr truthfulness centers n his very nature. Psalm 25:10 Psalm 31:5 Gd is a Gd f truth. Titus 1:2 Gd cannt lie. Jhn 1:14 Jesus Christ was full f Grace and truth. Jhn 4:24 withut truth we cannt wrship Gd. Jhn 14:6 Jesus Chris the way the truth and the life. Jhn 17:17 the wrd f Gd is the nly surce f bjective truth. Truth is abslute nt relative. Truth is that which crrespnds t its referent. Withut the crrespndence view f truth lying wuld be impssible. Reasn 2: We are Redeemed t reflect Gd s Character Rmans 8:29 ur very purpse as believers is t be cnfrmed t the image f Christ. If Gd is truth then we t must prtray truth t accurately reflect Gd s image in ur lives. Reasn 3: Truth-telling is a Matter f Submissin t Gd s Will Gd s Wrd cmmands us t speak the truth regardless f the cst. Prverbs 13:5 Clssians 3:9 Beguilement The wrd beguile appears twice in the Scriptures. Clssians 2:4, 18 The Greek wrd translated beguile carries the fllwing meanings: Pastr Bryan Rss
3 t reckn wrng, miscunt t cheat by false reckning t deceive by false reasning t deceive, delude, circumvent Beguilement is the sin f disseminating false cnclusins. It is t delude r be deluded. Althugh ften dne inncently, it is devastating. It plants seeds f mistrust, dubt, and cnfusin. Deceit We tend t equate the facts with truth, yet its amazing hw facts can be arranged t distrt the truth. Cnsider the fllwing sentences as examples. Wman withut her man is a beast! Wman withut her, man is a beast! The wrds didn t change, but the truth f the statement changed cnsiderably thanks t tw simple punctuatin marks. The tremendus pwer f deceit is demnstrated in Genesis 3:1-6. Thrugh deceit, Satan nt nly gained cntrl f Eve but als caused Adam t sin thereby impsing the curse f sin upn all f Gd s creatin. Genesis 3:1 ntice that at this pint Satan is dealing with factual infrmatin. But Satan s presentatin f the facts suggested that Gd was restrictive and stingy. T Eve, serving Gd was nw perceived as enslavement. She cncluded that Gd was keeping her frm experience the cmpleteness f life. Genesis 2:16-17 after reading what Gd actually said we ught t be struck by his genersity and lve. Adam and Eve culd eat frm every tree in the garden except ne what a kind and generus creatr. Satan presented truth in a way that deceived Eve int thinking wrngly abut Gd. He twisted the facts t gain an advantage this is what the Scriptures define as deceit. Genesis 3:13 II Crinthians 11:3 The wrd beguiled cme frm a different Greek wrd than ne we lked at earlier. The ne in II Crinthians is translated ther places as deceive. Rmans 7:11 Rmans 16:18 I Crinthians 3:18 II Thessalnians 2:3 Pastr Bryan Rss
4 Deceptin has becme a widely used technique fr manipulatin, self-advancement, and selfprtectin. Prverbs 20:17 Prverbs 12:20 deciet is a sign f a wicked heart. Lying Bth beguilement and deceit tamper with, twist, and distrt the truth. Lying is the direct cmmunicatin f untruth. Lying is the base f Satan s strategy. In Genesis 3, nt nly did Satan deceive Eve by playing with the facts He lied t her abut Gd and His Wrd. Cmpare Genesis 3:4 with Genesis 2:17. Lying is the central part f Satan s strategy. Rmans 1:25 Jhn 8:44-- when we lie, we fllw the Satan s curse fr this wrld rather than Gd. Untruth is still Satan s main methd f peratin tday. He has pervaded ur culture with the i.e. that there are n cnsequences t sin. Satan s lie are abundant: Be as gd as yu can, and yu ll g t heaven. Just be sincere. Mankind is the result f a chance evlutinary prcess. There is nt Gd. Success can be measured by wealth and material pssessins. Freedm is fund in ding anything that makes yu happy. Clssians 3:9-10 lying is part f ur ld nature. This is why lying cmes s easily; it is part f ur flesh prgramming. Lying is a quick and easy way t gain advantage, prtectin, and prmtin f persnal interests. We lie t get peple s attentin and have them think mre highly f us. We lie t get rich r t get elected. We lie t prtect ur reputatins. We lie t escape punishment. Ephesians 4:15 this des nt mean we shuld blast peple with the truth. Clssians 4:6 False Witness Pastr Bryan Rss
5 The expressin false witness is fund in 21 verses in the King James Bible. Exdus 20:16 Exdus 23:1 Deuternmy 19:16-18 False witness refers t thse wh bear false testimny against anther persn, ften fr sme persnal gain. I Kings 21:1-16 Matthew 26:60-61 False witness is s ffensive because it strikes injury, ften irreparable, t inncent peple, their reputatins, livelihds, and families. It had the pwer t kill Nabth and t crucify Christ. Cnclusin Beguilement, deceit, lying, false witness are all methds f Satan t defeat Gd s glry in us and thrugh us. It is thrugh these flesh patterns that he enlists us int his netwrk f nntruth and gets us t participate in his lie prgram. Beguilement disseminating infrmatin gleaned frm false cnclusins. Deceit the willful manipulatin and distrtin f facts. Lying-the direct cmmunicatin f untruth mst ften fr selfish reasns. False Witness willful false testimny spken against smene else. Pastr Bryan Rss