One of my very favorite scriptures in the Bible is Rom. 3:4 “Let God be true and every (not some people, most people) but every man (all people a liar). Now that word liar is the Greek word: ?e?st??, ??, ? pseustés (psyoos-tace'); which means, falsifier, deceiver, misrepresenter, misleader, distorter. Each of us needs to stick a pin in the definition of “liar” and we will work back to it.
Now, why Rom. 3:4 is one of my favorite scriptures, has to do with my first accepting the Lord as my personal Lord and Savior over 30 years ago, after hearing the Lord speak audibly to me, not a loud thought, hearing things or my mind playing tricks on me. No. Someone standing right next to me spoke and He said, “you have a spirit, where do you want yours heaven or hell?” Now, at the time there was no one on either side of me, not to my right, left, in front or behind me. Not only did I hear them, but I could sense their presence. Now I didn’t grow up in a religious home, I didn’t go to Church, I didn’t have any religious or Christian background or foundation. But, that night, I knew it was the Lord speaking to me, I was sure of it.
So, over the next couple weeks I began trying to read the Bible. However, the more I read it the more I just couldn’t comprehend it. Being college educated, and able to read and comprehend quite well, I was so confused why I couldn’t understand what I was reading. It was like reading a foreign language. To me, it was like listening to Charlie Browns parents speak, wow, wow, wow wow.
I began talking to God asking Him why I couldn’t understand what I’m reading, but He didn’t answer me. God doesn’t hear the prayers of the unrighteous. But, in me, I knew God wanted me to do something. So, when I returned home from college, I called my brother who I knew went to Church on Sunday and asked him to come get me and take me to Church.
Three Sundays later, early in the morning around 4:30 a.m., I felt someone tugging and shaking me to wake me up. I woke up expecting my brother or my mother standing over me to tell me something, but instead, I saw no one, but heard an audible voice say to me, “Get Baptized today”. I was excited and felt joy, because the Lord had spoken to me again.
So, I went to Church that morning and after the pastor finished with his sermon, he immediately went into the benediction, blessing everyone to have a great upcoming week. He closed his Bible, everyone began getting up to leave. He walked away from the podium, and I felt sadden, dejected, deflated because I know I heard the Lord tell me to get baptized today. When, suddenly, the pastor walked back to the podium and said, “O’ does anyone want to be baptized?” I jumped up excited and said loudly, “I DO!” Praise God, Hallelujah!
Immediately, after coming up out of the water, everything was new, I had truly experienced being born again and I could feel it in every fiber of my being. I was transformed from the inside. I knew with every fiber of my being, that salvation was true, the Gospel was the truth. I had not grown up in a religious home. I didn’t go to Church growing up and had very little knowledge of God or Jesus. When I went outside, it was like I could see what I once had not seen. The world looked different. I now had come to the truth of God.
Now, the first year of my new birth, I floundered in my Christian walk, after all, I was a new born babe in Christ and I didn’t know God’s Word. I truly didn’t even know there was four Gospels. But what happened along the way was I continued to read my Bible every day, I prayed every day, several times a day, and the Lord began giving me some understanding of His Word. But, by year two, I really wanted to know the Lord more, and I prayed fervently, that He would give me more understanding of His Word. The Lord answered me, this time spoke in my spirit and I heard Him, and He told me to start reading Children’s Bible, and go to children’s church. I humbled myself and said O.K., Lord.
I went and purchased a Children’s Bible and started attending Children’s Church on Sunday. Here I am a young man around 22-23 years old, and when the pastor would dismiss the kids to Children’s church, I went to the Bible class for kids from 6th grade to 12th grade, with a children’s Bible in my hand.
One Sunday as I was in the youth service, the youth pastor asked the class, “what is fruit?” It seemed like all the kids raised their hands to answer. However, he called on me. I was clueless and gave I gave a simple answer of, “I don’t know apples or some other fruit.” The whole class started laughing. Now, I wasn’t embarrassed, because I knew my answer was just trying to get him to call on someone else. However, the youth pastor admonition the kids and told them that’s not right to laugh at me. He then began explaining to me that fruit was love we produce back unto God. Wow! That blew my mind.
Everything changed that day! Fruit was giving love back unto God! After that, I came across Rom. 3:4 “let God be true and every man a liar…” and Heb. 4:12 “The Word of God is sharper than any two-edge sword, dividing asunder bone from marrow, soul from spirit, it is a discerner of the intents and motives of a man’s heart”. Walla! I knew what it meant! God’s Word is true! God’s Word exposes the truth of ourselves, our intents, our motives, our thoughts, why we do what we do, say what we say, act how we act, believe how we believe, what excuses we give ourselves, what falsities, misrepresentation, misleadings and distortions of truth we use to rationalize, justify, excuse and deceive ourselves for our feelings, acts and behaviors. I now know the truth behind my sin. Rationalization, misrepresentation, justifications, excuses and lies.
We are all falsifiers, we are all liars. Every man or woman? Yes, every man or woman. All human beings have broken their word and told lies at times. That is a universal truth. All man are liars because all man/woman are sinners. That’s why Paul in his exhortation in Romans Chapter 3, goes on to say in Roms. 3:10 “There is none righteous, no, not one” & 3:13: “With their tongues they have used deceit”.
Every human being lies because everyone is a liar in his natural state. Born in sin, every human is a sinner by nature. Out of his naturally depraved heart, man lies about to and about the things and Words of God. He lies about the nature of God. He even lies to himself about his own inward state. Some people say, “well I’m not a liar”. Neither am I. However, let me ask you a question.
Have you ever had thoughts in your mind that you wouldn’t want others to know about? There it is!
Why? Because you know those thoughts show that there is something wrong with your heart? Don’t those thoughts reveal the contamination of your heart? And isn’t it true that if you were absolutely forced to reveal those thought you would give some slippery answer about those thoughts? You’d give some sort of rationalization or excuse, try to dodge answering about your thoughts, wouldn’t you? All of us lie in ourselves, to ourselves, rationalize to ourselves. Misrepresent to ourselves, falsify to ourselves to justify ourselves.
Many people speak of the story of Job and only consider what they have been taught about the Book of Job, and that is “Job had faith”, and Job did have faith in the Lord. But, what most miss is that Job spent a lot time and effort rationalizing, justifying himself, while complaining against God, to the point, God Himself had to set Job straight, had to reprimand Job. God basically told Job, watch your mouth Job, before you get yourself in trouble, I Am the Creator and my ways are justice and true. Listen to the interaction
Job 40:8
1 The Lord said to Job:
2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” 3 Then Job answered the Lord: 4 “I am unworthy —how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. 5 I spoke once, but I have no answer — twice, but I will say no more.” 6 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm: 7 “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 8 “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? 9 Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? 10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
What the Lord spoke to Job is common among man, we will condemn God to justify ourselves, our intents, our motives, our actions, our ignorance and beliefs so that we may justify ourselves in ourselves to ourselves before an Almighty God. We call our wrongs right, God’s justice unjustified, His truth unrecognizable and unknowing, all to falsify, mislead or misrepresent our own ways in acceptance. Come on now! You know it’s the truth!
I want you to notice something in Roman’s 3:3-4, how Paul sets up a parallel between verses 3 & 4. In verse three the two elements are “unbelief” and “faith of God.” In verse four the elements are “every man a liar” and “God be true.” Now, the purpose of this parallel is to see the collation between unbelief being equivalent to man lying, and faith in God being equivalent to God being true. Did you get that?
When we accept God’s Word being true, truth, it’s based on believing what He has said, over my opinion, my thoughts or feelings, but my accepting God’s revealed will being the truth – “that’s having faith in God”. This is why “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing comes from the Word of God.” It is the accepting the revealed will of God – “His Word,” over all else!
does not affect the truth, truth’s reality or the importance of truth.
God’s truth is revealed unto man through His Divine Word and that does not change. So, when man does not take God at His Word, man in essences lies, whether it be in himself, to himself or to others, which only expresses man’s lack of faith to God’s truth. And, man's lack of faith in God’s truth will not affect or nullify the faithfulness of God towards judgment of truth. As we know, facts are independent of one’s denials, ignorance’s or affirmations of truth.
What do you mean?
Let me see if I can explain it this way. Say, I take something that doesn’t belong to me, not found it, like walking down the street and see something laying on the ground and no one’s around and I pick it up. I found it. Not that, were I see something and there are others around, and I have no way of discovering who it belongs too. We’re talking about acquiring something for myself, that doesn’t belong to me, and I can easily ask the people in the room or next door, if it’s theirs, because I know someone dropped it, misplaced it, whatever. The matter that I want to believe I didn’t steal it, or ignore that I stole it, doesn’t change the fact, I knew it didn’t belong to me when I acquired it and could have returned it to its owner. That’s stealing, no matter how you look at it! That fact doesn’t change because you add an excuse or explanation to it. You took something that didn’t belong to you, not found it.
Or if I sinned, pre-Christ, post-Christ, it doesn’t matter that I didn’t know it was sin, believed it was a sin, ignored it was a sin, I sinned nonetheless, that’s a fact! That doesn’t change!
When some is an atheist, their denial does not change the fact God exists. What about those that say there is no hell; hell still burns on any way and awaiting them. Though Kyrie Erving wants to promote the earth is flat, the earth doesn’t stop rotating and circling round the sun. Our state of mind doesn’t dictate truth; whether belief or don’t belief, in no way affects those facts of, and truths of God. That’s why Jesus said, “If they don’t praise me, the rocks would cry out in praise of me”. Our state of mind only affects our own character and destiny. Did you get that? Whether we believe what God said or don’t believe what God said matters nothing to the universe or to God, His Word is forever settled in Heaven it tells us (Ps. 118:89).
Paul explains this argument to us in verses 5-7, when he says,
But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) 6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? 7 For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
Paul here is referring to the incident of King David when he committed adultery with Beersheba and facilitated the death of Uriah. When Nathan came to David on behalf of the Lord and addressed David’s abominable sins. David was overwhelmed with grief; he saw his crime to be awful; he feared the displeasure of God, and trembled before him. Yet David, held a fixed, indisputable principle, that God is right, just and true. David never once thought of calling into question what he had done was somehow excusable or justifiable before the Lord. And, that the very things he had done was against the very truths and commands God had given to man.
Notice what David says after being confronted by Nathan, and God’s pronouncement of Judgment upon him for the sins he committed: “I have sinned against the Lord”. David further expounds on this in Ps. 51:4-6
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:
David said, against thee, thee only, have I sinned. Not that David was playing down the damage and harm he brought upon Beersheba, Uriah and Uriah’s family; what he is saying is, Lord your laws, your commands, your Words are just, righteous and true, and I have violated your commands from the beginning. Not when I committed the act of adultery or murder, but when I was on the roof top looking at another man’s wife, coveting another man’s wife, when I was told that it was another man’s wife, when I brought another man’s wife into my bedchambers, I falsified, misrepresented, mislead, justified, excused and rationalized my intents and motives, which lead to me being deceived and deceiving myself and others.
It was not the act, but the intent and motivate behind the act, all of which began with the violation of God’s Word, truth, command. David first went against the truth of God’s Word inwardly – “thou shall not covet another man’s wife”.
Why do you think David said, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: David is speaking to being “a sinner – a falsifier of truth by nature”. David had learned the lesson after this major crisis in his life, that God is true and everyman a liar, a falsifier, a misrepresentor, a misleader, a deceiver even unto himself.
David learned that the first principle for man should be faith in God, in what God’s Word says, and it should be believed as true, is truth, whatever consequence it might involve.
Had David only believed the Lord’s Word, “thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife”, David would have prevented God’s judgments on his life of his child dying at birth, his family being in total dysfunction, with one son raping his daughter, the other son killing the other. His son trying to kill him and take his throne. Other men sleeping with his wife in broad daylight. Spending his life in guilt that he took an innocent man’s life. All these judgments God pronounced on David, “the sword would not leave your house,” because he didn’t hold God’s Word as true, truth – “do not covet thy neighbor’s wife”. God’s Word speaks to intent and motives of the heart before we even get to the act, the actions and consequences. That’s what David meant when he said: Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:
How much better will we be when we regard God’s Word as a fixed principle, a matter not to be questioned in our hearts. When there is no debate or question within ourselves whether God’s Word is true and everyone a liar! How much doubt and anxiety would it save us from; and how much error would it correct us from!
As people we can make ourselves believe almost anything, rationalize it to ourselves, justify it to ourselves, make excuses to ourselves about anything. But if we take God’s Word as truth, and make it become a part of our inner person, then we will be able to see truth, seek truth and act in truth, rather than opinion. This is when and only when we begin seeing the reality of God’s presence in our lives and turn to Him.
Truth is, most of us don’t want to let God be true and every man a liar. We want opinions, human reasoning, our own and others, as long as it justifies myself. We don’t want to look directly in the mirror and judge our intents and motives against the truth – His Word is truth!
If we allow God’s Word to be true and every man a liar, I would judge myself by my intents and motives and see myself as a falsifier, a misleader, misrepresenter as to the truths of God. My trying would become my being lazy. My excuse would become my lies. My misunderstanding would become my unbelief. My attitude would become strife and envy. My can’t do’s would become I don’t want too’s. My false ways would become my doubts. My excuses would become my pride. My rationalization would become ignoring God’s Will; so on and so forth.
God is true and every man a liar (Rom. 3:4). His Word is sharper than any two-edge sword dividing asunder bone from marrow, soul from spirit, it’s a discerner of the intents and motives of the heart. (Heb. 4:12).
Lying in ourselves is equivalent to unbelief, and faith in God is equivalent to believing God’s Word is true! O’ you thought we forgot about that.
As a Christian, if you are willing to sacrifice our opinions and feelings when they appear to infringe on the veracity of God’s Word, we will then come to God is true and every man a liar, including myself.
God’s Word is forever settled in Heaven, and God will not change His Word to suit your unbelief. No – it’s you (not God) who must change. That’s what the word “repentance” means. God’s way is true. Your way is not true. Therefore, it is not God who must change His mind. It is you who must change your mind.
Many of you may have shouted “Amen” to this, or quite often say Amen in your prayers. But, I want you to know, the word Amen means “so be it or “let it be so”.
Isa. 65:16 says, “That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth or “God Amen”; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth (God Amen”);” Meaning, when you say Amen, you are saying, “So be it, or let it be so” as you have spoken it Lord, you are true, truth.”
So, the next time you say Amen, know that you are acknowledging God is true, and I am but a falsifier, misleader, misrepresenter, deceiver, each and every time what I think or feel is contrary to His revealed will.
May God Bless you and keep you. Amen!
