Introduction:
A. Last week we began a new sermon series I am calling: “Speak Life – Speaking Words that Heal, not Hurt.
1. Last week, we explored the fact that words have the power of life and death.
a. Words have the power for much good or much evil.
2. God’s desire is for all of us to learn how to control our tongues so that our words bring life.
B. Today, I want us to focus on one aspect of our speech - speaking the truth.
1. I want us to explore the truth about lying.
2. We all remember the story of Pinochio and what happened to his nose when he lied.
a. Thankfully, our noses don’t grow when we fail to tell the truth, or we all would have some very long noses!
3. One day a minister was walking down the street when he came upon a group of about a dozen boys, all of them about 12 years of age.
a. The group of boys had surrounded a dog.
b. Concerned that the boys were hurting the dog, the minister went over and asked “What are you boys doing with this dog?”
c. One of the boys replied, “This dog is just an old neighborhood stray. We all want him, but only one of us can take him home. So we’ve decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest lie will get to keep the dog.”
d. Of course, the minister was shocked by their little game and said, “You boys shouldn’t be having a contest telling lies!”
e. Then the minister launched into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning with, “Don’t you boys know it's a sin to lie,” and ending with, “Why, when I was your age, I never ever told a lie.”
f. There was dead silence for about a minute.
g. And just as the minister was beginning to think he’d gotten through to them, one of the boys gave a deep sigh and said, “All right, the minister wins, give him the dog.”
4. The sad truth about lying is that all of us have lied in some way at some point in our lives.
a. There are many ways that the distortion of the truth takes place, but when it does, then damage is always the result.
C. When Abraham Lincoln was 24 years-old, he served as postmaster of New Salem, Illinois, for which he was paid and annual salary of $55.70.
1. The post office he was in charge of was closed, but it was several years before an agent arrived from Washington to settle accounts with ex-postmaster Lincoln, who was now a struggling lawyer, and not doing very well.
2. The agent informed Lincoln that there was $17 due the government.
3. Lincoln then opened an old trunk and took out a yellowed cotton rag bound with a string.
4. Untying it, he spread out the cloth and there was the $17.
5. He had been holding it for all those years.
6. Lincoln said, “I never use any man’s money but my own.”
7. Lincoln could have lied to the agent about the money and might have gotten away with it.
8. But even 24 years before he entered the White House as president, Lincoln was showing the kind of character that earned him the title of “Honest Abe.”
D. Don’t you wish our government officials and American citizens were as truthful as Honest Abe?
1. Are you and am I as truthful as Honest Abe?
2. The sad truth is, telling the truth has fallen on hard times.
3. Since our culture has shifted to the ethics of expediency and self-advancement, falsehood is commonly seen as a virtue.
a. Transforming lying from vice to virtue is representative of the great cultural shift in our thinking.
b. To the modern American, wrong is not always wrong, and right is not always right.
c. Therefore, lying is not always wrong and telling the truth is not always right.
4. Unfortunately, this undermining of the absolute value of truth has devastating consequences.
a. Truth has valuable allies: like trust, integrity, security and stability.
b. Conversely, falsehood is allied with suspicion, doubt, insecurity, resentment and anger.
c. Augustine said, “When regard for truth has been broken down or even slightly weakened, all things will remain in doubt.”
5. This erosion of trust and confidence touches every relationship into which non-truth is injected.
a. When lies permeate our homes and marriages, there is instability and destruction.
b. When lies permeate our culture then governments become suspect, media information is viewed with skepticism, and business relationships become untrustworthy.
c. No relationship can succeed, let alone survive, if it is based on that which is false.
6. That is why God makes it so very clear in the Bible that telling the truth is so important.
I. What Does the Bible Say About Lying?
A. The Bible makes it very clear that God hates lying and that He expects us to be truthful people.
1. One of the original 10 Commandments of the Old Testament Law is devoted to truth telling.
a. Commandment #9 is: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor (Ex 20:16).
2. Two forms of lying are included in the infamous list in Proverbs 6.
a. There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. (Prov. 6:16-19)
3. When describing those who will be judged in the lake of fire, God includes liars (Rev. 21:8).
a. “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Rev. 21:8)
4. Psalm 51:6 says: Surely you desire truth in the inner parts…
B. But we might wonder why truth so important to God.
1. For starters, God’s intense concern for truthfulness centers in God’s very nature.
a. The Bible tells us that God is a “God of truth” (Ps. 31:5)
b. The Bible tells us that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).
c. The Bible tells us that Jesus is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
d. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of Truth” (Jn. 14:17) and that His mission is to guide us into all truth (Jn. 16:13).
e. Psalm 33:4 says: For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
f. And Jesus tells us that truth is key to our worship of God: “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (Jn. 4:24)
2. Therefore, our commitment to truth aligns us with God, both in God’s nature and in God’s mode of operating.
a. And since our very purpose in existing as God’s children is to be conformed to the image of God’s son (Rom. 8:29), then we must not participate in falsehood, for that would tarnish the reflection of God’s glory in us.
b. In other words, if God is truth, then we too must portray truth to accurately reflect God’s image in our lives.
c. Someone observed: “Truth lies in character. Christ did not simply speak the truth; he was Truth - truth through and through, for truth is a thing not of words but a life and being.” (Frederick William Robertson)
d. Therefore, as children of God, we must not only speak the truth in words, but we must be truth through and through. Truth must permeate our entire lives and being.
C. Another important reason why we should be people who speak the truth – it is a matter of submission and obedience to God.
1. God’s Word commands us to speak the truth.
2. Proverbs 13:5 says: The righteous hate what is false.
3. Paul wrote: “Do not lie to each other…” (Col. 3:9)
4. Paul wrote: “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor…” (Eph. 4:25)
5. Nowhere in Scripture does God grant exemption from these commands – they are absolute.
6. Our consciences cannot be clear before God and our joy cannot be full if we get involved with that which is false.
7. Telling the truth is a matter of submission to God’s will and obedience to God’s commands.
D. Let me add one final reason why we should be people who speak the truth – for Christians, lying should be a thing of the past.
1. Paul wrote: Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Col. 3:9-10)
2. Our new life aligns us with Christ and with His truth.
3. We used to be under Satan’s power and we used to follow his ways – he is a liar from the beginning…he is the father of lies (Jn. 8:44).
4. But now we should be operating under God’s power and we should be following His ways.
5. Although lying was likely part of our past, it must not be a part of our present and future.
II. What Is Lying?
A. But what does it mean to lie? And what does it mean to tell the truth?
1. Let’s spend a few minutes exploring the ways we might be tempted to lie and distort the truth.
2. Before we discuss outright lying, let’s explore other more subtle forms of deceit.
3. There are ways to be involved in falsehood without telling a boldfaced lie.
B. We can lie about others through insinuation.
1. Insinuation is a kind of no-risk lie.
2. All we have to do is wonder aloud about someone else, and the seed is planted.
3. We might say, “I wonder how so-and-so got all their money…or why so-and-so is so popular…or how so-and-so got that promotion, and the damage has begun.”
4. Insinuation is one of Satan’s favorite tools. Satan said: “Did God really say…” “Does Job fear god for nothing?”
5. Also, consider how this truthful statement could be deceptive: What if I said, “It’s really good to see that Bill Perkins is sober today!”
a. Isn’t it a good thing that Bill is sober today?
b. What do my words insinuate about how Bill is on other days?
c. Did I say that Bill is drunk on other days?
d. No, I didn’t say that, but the effect is the same.
C. Beguilement is an old word that we don’t use much anymore, but it means to influence by trickery or flattery, and to deceive by guile or charm.
1. In reality, flattery is not encouragement, it is saying something to soften someone up so that we can get something from them in return.
2. Proverbs 29:5 says, “whoever flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his feet.”
D. Another way we sometimes lie to others is by remaining silent.
1. Whether it is allowing false reports to go unchecked, or by keeping from someone a truth that they need and deserve to know.
E. It is also amazing how facts can be arranged to manipulate.
1. It is possible to tell the truth in a manner that people are deceived.
2. One day a woman invited friends to an elegant party.
a. The woman wanted to serve some mushrooms to her guests, but she was a little uncertain about whether the mushrooms were still good, so she served some to her dog.
b. The dog ate them and had no complications, so she served them to her party guests.
c. During the party a maid hurried to the hostess and said, “The dog is dead.”
d. The hostess rushed her guests to the hospital so that everyone could be treated.
e. After everyone left, the maid said to the butler, “That car sure did mess up the dog.”
f. The maid had not told a lie, but neither was she truthful - she had been deceptive.
3. There have been times when I left the office for an appointment later than I should have, and then ran into a traffic problem on the way.
a. I then used the traffic delay as the reason I was late, which was partially true.
b. The real truth included the fact that I would have been late even without the traffic delay.
4. So, both beguilement and deceit tamper with, twist, and distort the truth.
F. Lying, on the other hand, is the direct communication of non-truth.
1. We live in a time when bold faced lies are told to us regularly by public figures.
2. The prevailing principle is if you continue to tell the lie then maybe people will believe you.
3. Do you remember how long Lance Armstrong lied about using performance enhancing drugs?
a. For almost 20 years, Lance Armstrong denied using PEDs and attempted to destroy the reputations and lives of those who accused him.
b. Finally, in 2013, calling himself “deeply flawed,” Lance Armstrong said he used an array of performance enhancing drugs to win seven Tour de France titles.
c. He said that his apology is “too late, it's too late for probably most people. And that's my fault…(This was) one big lie, that I repeated a lot of times.”
4. Many of us remember the sordid Monica Lewinski sex scandal with President Bill Clinton in January of 1998.
a. Clinton repeatedly denied having a sexual relationship with the woman.
b. Later that year, in August of 1998, Clinton admitted in taped grand jury testimony that he had had an “improper physical relationship” with Lewinsky.
c. That evening he gave a nationally televised statement admitting his relationship with Lewinsky was “not appropriate.”
5. More recently, Olympian Ryan Lochte was disgraced after admitting to fabricating a story of being robbed at gun point in Rio de Janeiro.
a. For several days, Lochte stood by his fabricated story, but in the end admitted that it was a lie and issued an apology.
6. The old saying is true: “Those who cook up stories usually find themselves in hot water.”
III. Why Do We Lie?
A. Lying is a quick and easy way to gain advantage, to protect ourselves, and to promote our personal interests.
1. Sometimes we lie to get people’s attention or to promote ourselves in people’s eyes.
2. Sometimes we lie to get rich or to get elected.
3. Sometimes we lie to protect our reputations and to escape punishment.
4. Most lies are dedicated servants of self.
B. Sometimes we lie to try to hurt or destroy others and to ultimately get our way or accomplish our goals.
1. Do you remember how the wicked queen, Jezebel found two “worthless men” to lie about Naboth, so that she could get Naboth’s vineyard for her husband, King Ahab? (1 Kgs 21)
2. Do you remember that during the trial of Jesus, the high priest brought in two “false witnesses” to testify against Jesus to bring about Jesus’ condemnation (Mt. 26:60-61).
3. Whether to gain a vineyard or to crucify one who threatens your position, bearing false witness is a serious offense before God.
4. This kind of sin against others strikes injury, often irreparable, to innocent people, their reputations, and their families.
5. That’s why God says, “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who pours out lies will not go free.” (Prov. 19:5)
C. Other times we justify lying by thinking we are protecting and serving others.
1. At first this may seem to be a valid exception to the righteous goal of truthfulness.
2. We have all heard war stories of German citizens who lied about hiding Jewish neighbors, or Jewish children who were asked by Nazi soldiers if their parents were home.
3. From the weighty consideration of that kind of situation to the common “social lies” that keep everyone happy, we tend to excuse certain lies for their social benefit.
4. Admittedly, it is sometimes hard to tactfully apply the truth.
a. What do you say when you see the ugliest newborn baby you have ever seen?
b. How do you respond when you’re asked to admire that new dress, or tie, or hairdo?
5. We often tempted to tell “little white lies.”
a. But think about it – the phrase “little white lies” is itself a contradiction.
b. Lying is never “little” and is always a part of the darkness.
c. Someone once said, “Those who are given to white lies often become color blind.”
6. I am in no way advocating that God wants us to “brutally” speak the truth.
a. God’s Word commands us to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).
b. The truth must be delivered with mercy, gentleness, and understanding.
c. Pascal said, “The abuse of truth ought to be as much punished as the introduction of falsehood.”
7. As I mentioned last week, if we just slow down for a second and pray for wisdom before we speak, then God will help us to speak the truth in any situation.
a. For instance, we can say that the unattractive newborn is precious (they all are precious!).
b. And certainly, we can say something commendable about that dress, or tie, or hairdo.
c. Proverbs 15:23 says: A man finds joy in giving an apt reply - and how good is a timely word!
D. Proponents of lying to serve others often point to the incident of Rahab, who protected the spies by lying to the soldiers (Joshua 2).
1. She is held up as a model of those who lie today to protect others from danger.
2. Because the Bible commends her, it is easy to conclude that her lie was not only right, but blessed by God.
3. If that is true, then prohibitions against lying are not absolute and we are left to determine when lying is good, and that would have disastrous ramifications.
4. When we examine what the Bible says about Rahab, we note that her faith is commended, not her lie.
a. Her faith was in response to the news about God’s activity on behalf of Israel.
b. But in reality, her lying was a lapse in her faith.
c. Had her faith in God been complete, Rahab would have concluded that God could protect the spies without her lie.
d. And in reality, Rahab’s lie precluded God’s opportunity to supernaturally intervene as He has done so many times…like with the Red Sea parting, or Daniel in the lion’s den, or Peter escaping from prison.
e. We assume that it would have been “bad” for the spies to have been found, but that is a shallow assumption.
f. God often uses what seems tragic to us to work great good.
5. Therefore, we understand that Rahab’s lie does not prove that lying is acceptable to God.
6. God’s absolutes in regard to truthfulness must be seen in the scope of His supernatural, sovereign abilities to bring about His glory, even through human tragedy if necessary.
7. It is our responsibility to obey God and it is God’s responsibility to decide how it will turn out.
8. It is always wrong for us to do what is wrong in our effort to help God do what is right.
Conclusion:
A. Mark Twain once said, “When in doubt, tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your friends.”
B. Let me end with this true story.
1. When the father of the great German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, was an old man, he made a dangerous trip through the forests of Poland.
2. On the way, he encountered robbers who demanded his valuables, finally asking, “Have you given us all?” and only letting him go when he answered “Yes, All.”
3. When safely out of their sight, his hand touched something hard in the hem of his robe. It was his gold, sewn there for safety and quite forgotten by him in his fear.
4. At once he hurried back and found the robbers, and said to them, “I have told you what was not true; it was unintentional. I was too terrified to think. Here, take the gold in my robes.”
5. Then to the old man’s astonishment, nobody wanted to take the gold.
6. After a moment, one robber went and brought back his purse. Another robber restored his book of prayer, while still another led his horse toward him and helped him to mount.
7. Then they all asked for his blessing and watched him slowly ride away.
8. Truth had triumphed over thievery.
C. Truth will always triumph in the end.
1. People of character know the importance of not only telling the truth, but living the truth.
2. The truth always comes out in the end, those who live by it are blessed, and those who are exposed by it are destroyed.
3. Today, I want to challenge us to speak the truth and to live the truth.
4. I want to challenge us to put off falsehood and to live and speak with honesty and integrity.
5. As we do so, we will be speaking life, not death.
6. And we will be speaking words that heal, not hurt.
7. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Col. 3:9-10)
8. When we live the truth and speak the truth, we are more and more like our God.
Resources:
Tongue in Check, Joseph Stowell, Victor Publishing, 1994, Chapter Two.
“Tell The Truth” Sermon by David Owens, Ten Commandment Sermon Series, 8.25.96.
