Introduction
Today we are going to start a new series of lessons on Christianity 101. You’ve heard me talk and tell you, many times, to live right. This series of lessons will explore the basics of living the way God wants you to live. It is so easy for all of us to forget these basics of the Christian walk since we are constantly bombarded by the messages that are contrary to God’s Word.
Let’s turn to our main passage for today and we will read verses Ephesians 4:20-24.
"That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
Verses 20-24 is why we want to talk with you about counting the cost before you decide to follow Jesus. You needed to realize what it takes to be a child of God so that you could make an informed decision about being a follower of Christ.
The former way of life must be put off. Those sinful desires that were out of control in your life, alcoholism, drug addictions, anger, lying, sexual impurity in all of its forms, bitterness, rage, brawling, slander and every form of malice are to be put off. You are to do them no more.
Will you fail at times? Of course you will, but you put forth the effort and work daily to replace these evil attitudes with a new set of attitudes.
My goal for this series is that you will (as verses 23-24 tells us) - "be made new in the attitude of your minds;24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
The first attitude I want us to look at is being truthful. Verse 25 says, “25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “
Truthfulness is the hallmark of a Christian. In fact as we will see it is at the very heart of God Himself.
The Lying World
Have you ever noticed how much lying goes on in the world today? How easy it is for one to lie to their boss, coworker, children etc. It seems that lying is a chronic disease of humankind.
Psalms 116:11 - 11 "I said in my alarm, “All men are liars.”"
Jeremiah 9:3-6 - “They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” declares the Lord.
4 “Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals [c]craftily, And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
5 “Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity.
6 “Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord."
The Severe Consequences of Lying
Everyone is lying! It is amazing to me how devastating lying is! When a person or a society’s existence is based on lies then we have to always be on guard, because we can’t be sure if you are being told the truth or a lie.
Is the check in the mail or not? Do I trust them or not? A person who is a liar is one who cannot be trusted and one who cannot be trusted does not have good relationships. It is the same as the person who always cries’ wolf when there is not wolf. People end up not trusting them and they try to avoid them. Then a time comes when they truly need help and help is not there. Why? Because they have proven themselves to be a liar and therefore no one believes anything that comes out of their mouths.
Not only are the earthly consequences of lying bad, the eternal consequences are far worse!
Psalms 5:5-6 - "The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong;
6 you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest."
Psalms 101:7 - "No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence."
Proverbs 12:22 - "The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy."
God is Truth
Why does God detest lying lips so much? The answer is found in the very nature of God himself.
His Nature is Truth
Hebrews 6:13-20 - "13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” 15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by [k]one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 [l]In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, [m]interposed with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have [n]taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 19 [o]This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters[p]within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."
It is impossible for God to lie! Think about that for a minute. It is impossible for God to lie. If God cannot lie than everything he does, thinks, everything he says is true. EVERYTHING! Always! Throughout time! Throughout the past and throughout the future is all true.
Our God in his very nature is truthful. We should praise His Holy Name for his truthfulness. Since he is true his works are perfect, his ways are just, he does no wrong and he is always upright and just! What a God we serve! This also means that every Word he has spoken is true.
His Word is True
John 17:17 - "17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth."
Since everything about God is true, then everything in this book is true as well. We have been given the greatest book in the world. God’s Word given to us in written form so that we may be certain of what is true and what is right and what is good.
If you don’t know which way to go in life and you are confused as to what is right or wrong. This book is the place to go for the answers. This book always gives the truth. Always
His Promises are True
Since everything about God is true then all of his promises are true as well and we can have assurance that they will come to pass.
1 Kings 8:56 - “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses."
Out of all the promises God made to Israel. Not one word. Not one word was false. It all came to pass; the promises of blessings and the promises of curses.
Romans 4:18-25 - "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations ,just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”[d] 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification."
His promises to Abraham came to pass. Abraham had the faith we need to have in God’s truthfulness and gain strength in our faith because if God said it, it will certainly come to pass. We today can have faith in the promises of Jesus Christ. We are promised that he will deliver us, that his death was for our sins and by his resurrection we too are justified to live a new life. What a promise!
This brings us to an important aspect about truth that we need to understand.
His Son is True
Why did Jesus come to earth? Many of you will say something like, He came to earth to pay the price for our sins so we could be forgiven. Yes the gospel message comes to mind. So, was Jesus’ only purpose coming to earth, was to die? Did you know that Jesus told us why he came to earth? He told us when he was before Pilate and was on trial. Remember the lesson Dwayne gave a few weeks ago? Let’s take up the story. Turn to John Chapter 18:33-40
"33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to "
Die on a cross? Or is it to open the kingdom of heaven? Oh, it was that he came into the world to forgive us of our sins! That’s it, isn’t it? Not exactly.
"Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”"
Did you realize that one of Jesus’ primary goals was to testify to the truth? How often are we like Pilate.
"38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising."
What is truth retorted Pilate. You see, Pilate is like a lot of us before we started following after Christ. There is no truth. What is right for you may not be right for me and what is right for me may not be right for you, but in the end it is o.k. because there is no basis for truth. Everything is just shades of grey. No black and white. We call it tolerance. If we don’t except shades of grey we are labeled intolerant, bigots, homophobic, etc.
Christians are persecuted in our country and around the world for this very basic principle. We don’t believe in shades of grey. There is right and there is wrong. There is absolute truth in this world and it is found only in this book that we call the Bible. Jesus came to this earth to testify to the Truth. Not an arbitrary truth that evolves over time, but rather an absolute truth that has been the same since the very creation of this earth and will stay the same clear through eternity. An unwavering set of principles that are true and Jesus came to testify to that truth. The world hated Jesus because of the truth and the world hates us today for that same truth.
So it is no wonder that here in Ephesians 4:20-25, it says, “That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body."
When Paul starts his list of things that we as Christians need to put off it should be no surprise the very first thing we as Christians need to remove from our lives is falsehood.
We must put falsehood behind us because as John 3:33 says, “33 He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true.”
We are to be truthful, because God is truthful, and to follow after truth we find that we lift the veil of darkness on this world by shining light. No shades of grey here. If we are truthful like God is truthful we shed the light of God’s truth into the darkness. 1 John 1:5-10 puts it this way:
"5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us."
God is total truth, he is the source of pure light. In God there is no darkness at all! But we can’t claim that can we. There are several important aspects we need to understand in this passage. First off, just like the Ephesians passage we must change. We used to walk in darkness, but we can’t do that anymore. Now as Christians we must put off the old sinful self and start living by the light.
If you want to say that you are a Christian, but still want to live your old way of life, you prove yourself to be nothing more than a liar. One cannot be a Christian and still walk in darkness. Darkness and light are opposites, truth and lies are opposites. If God is light and truth, we cannot claim to be a Christian and live in darkness and lies. To live in darkness and lies is denying Jesus Christ. One cannot have both!
As Christians we also cannot claim to be without sin. We are sinners, so if we claim to be without sin then we are deceiving ourselves, we are lying to ourselves and the truth is not in us. It is important for us as Christians to realize that we are sinners following after truth. We so often think that, “boy I certainly have it all together, unlike that guy over there!” Watch out!
Let God’s light of truth expose our sins and then be open and honest about them. Confession is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of walking in the light. We are letting the light of truth expose us for who we are. When we confess, don’t worry, God already knows what you have done, and he is faithful. He will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness.
The final thing in this passage is that if we claim we have not sinned then we are saying that God is a liar, because he has told us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Have you ever been in the situation where someone contradicted what you had said and you thought to yourself, “That person just called me a liar. He didn’t say it, but that is what he said implies!”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Let’s start working together to put off falsehood and see the great results that will come into our lives from living honest truthful lives.
Proverbs 12:19 - "Truthful lips will be established forever, But a lying tongue is only for a moment."
Zechariah 8:16-17 - "16 These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your [m]gates. 17 Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love [n]perjury; for all these are what I hate,’ declares the Lord.”"
We Need To Be People of Truth
God desires us to be people of truth. When we live in truth we will stop lying to ourselves, saying that what I have done is not so bad. We will stop lying to ourselves saying that I can hide my sin from God. We will stop lying to others. We will start confessing our sins and wrongdoings. When we intentionally work on being truthful we will start seeing changes in our lives. Truthful lips are established forever. Truthful lips have nothing to hide or fear.
Let’s make a commitment today that we will work on being truthful within our lives.
Closing
We must understand that God is always truthful. For those who are following after Christ this should be very comforting to us. His promises are true and will come to pass. Praise God. For those that have rejected God, they should fear. He is truthful in all things including his discussions on hell and eternal damnation.
Since God is true he has called all of us to be truthful as well. We need to be intentional about this aspect of our Christian walk. This week I challenge you to think daily upon this subject and work to correct those habits of lying within your lives. Pray daily this week asking God to help us change our attitudes about lying. Ask him to open our eyes in how we can have the heart of truthfulness that He himself possesses.
Passages quoted are from the Bible Gateway NIV version.
