The Sin of Lying.
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The first Lie
The first Lie
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The serpant the devil told the first ever lie. Because Adam and Eve believed it , it caused the whole human race to become corrupted. From our fallen human nature we love to lie and we tend to lie all the time because of the flesh.
Satan is the Father of lies.
Satan is the Father of lies.
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
This is Jesus talking to the jewish leaders this way is very sharp here. Its because the Jewish leaders were saying that if they are related to Abraham then they have no error and Jesus corrects them and says if you were of Abraham you would do what Abraham saysand because you dont you are children of the devil because you behave like the devil.
Jesus is showing us that true character of someone is shown by their actions. There actions show who there real father is.
Satan is the father of lies, he cannot speak truth, he will misrepresent truth , he will outright lie, he will manipulate , he will decieve. This should help us see how against lying God was and when we lie , who do we represent?
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
This verse shows that its so natural for us to lie, we dont have to learn how to lie or be dishonest, we know how to do that already , some of us are experts in the past life.
Even if you are a born again believer if we dont discipline ourselves we can still return to these things.
God hates Liars
God hates Liars
16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Solomon here in the proverbs names the things that God hates and since were talking about lying he says “a lying tongue, a false witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers.”
God hates liars.
Discord is someone who spreads conflict or trouble throughout the church, maybe someone who was upset about something then spreads rumours or sows tares in order to be heard or gain a following.
Are you a Liar?
Are you a Liar?
In my little family of 4 , lying is a serious thing. Small lies , big lies , it doesnt matter. When me and my wife speak we learnt to tell eachother everything and not leave little details out of the story thats important. If my kids lie they will be disciplined, even if its a small lie, i always test out my kids if they are lying because in the past, we know things that they dont know so they lie to cover up or they lie to get something and we have caught them out.
Reflecting back on my childhood, i grew up with alot of friends that lied alot and i used to lie alot myself and something ive learnt is that lying starts from an early age. These same friends i had still often tell lies today even though they are adults and they think its funny and just a joke.
When me and my kids are playing and they lie i tell them off. We can sit there and say “oh they just playing” or “oh theyll grow out of it” thats not helpful , they will end up thinking its okay to lie.
One of the easiest habits to take control of your heart and your life is lying.
The more you lie , the easier it is to lie.
The more you lie , the more you like it.
The more you lie, the better you become at it.
When you lie all the time, that just becomes your default. When you want something badly, lie.
When you want to fit in, lie.
When your scared of what others will think, lie.
There was this one guy i used to work with when i was working with youth. Man when you speak to him he sounds so nice and interested in you, but he just wouldnt stop making up stories. We had these kids and he would lie to them about everything so the kids would not play up. After work he would lie on our shift reports to make him sound good. I caught him lying at work in general so many times and lying to others so many times it was crazy. I remember i was speaking to him and i asked what he did today and he said “oh i just hung out with one of the boys at his house” and i said “oh nice”. The next day i saw the guy he said he hung out with and i asked him how their hangout was and he said “what are you talking about hes never been to my house”. This guy ended up lying so bad within the team causing division and starting gossip he ended up getting fired from our job when he got exposed.
Some people , because theyve allowed lying to take a hold of their life, they now lie by default, you dont know if they are telling you the truth or not.
Now back to my point with the question, are you a liar?
The most common forms of lying that we see on nearly a daily basis are:
-Telling people what they want to hear but not what they need to hear.
-Bribing to make something easier.
-Show up late to work and lie on your time sheet.
-Taking something thats not yours then saying you dont have it.
-When confronted about a wrong , lie to save your back.
-Make up a lie as to why you didnt do something.
-Lie to stay in a position.
-Act like you didnt know something you are fully aware of.
-Conveniently make up an excuse when you dont want to do something.
-Leave important information out when confronted.
-Hiding personal or other peoples faults.
-Using the Lords name in your desires saying “ the Lord this, the Lord that” so no one can tell you otherwise.
Now these are only a few of the many forms of lies that we could tell and with my question earlier “are you a liar?” if you are living like this in lies, ask yourself another question… are you a Christian?
Because if you are doing the things that God hates, you cannot be a follower of Christ.
Now its possible that maybe one of these lies i mentioned you do but not every single one of them. The best thing for you to do is identify the root of why you do it and ask God for forgiveness and stop doing it.
INTEGRITY-
What the world says:
Its okay to be a little dishonest or cheat if it benefits you.
Everyone cheats a little to get to the top.
No one will know.
Its okay to let your behavior slip when your going through a tough time.
Its impossible to have integrtiy in todays world.
What the Word says:
The Lord knows wether or not you are doing things within the integrity of your heart.
Sometimes we say its impossible to have integrtiy when we are hit with trials, loss , grief and temptation - we say how can we rely on God? Job did it.
Integrity is a way of life itself, its not one time thing but its a journey of relying on the Lord to help you make the right decisions and do whats pleasing to him.
Integrity is one of the things the church of Jesus Christ needs the most today! The church has to stay away from lying and hypocrisy.
The world is filled with people who are dishonest and we have top stand out!
Heres a quote:
The avoidance of one small lie may sometimes be a stronger confession of your faith than a whole long discussion of Christianity.
People get drawn to Christ because of your honesty. There has been times at work where people will say stuff like “lets ask Nolo about this, because he never lies”. Not lying gives you the reputation of an honest person amongst others.
5 Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
This is something Job says. We have to make a delcaration like that in our hearts.
Integrtiy is from a Latin word called “integritas” that means wholeness, entireness and completeness.
A person of Integrity is someone who stands for their convictions even if its going to cost them relationships, reputations, your job.
9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.
A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart;
3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.
This is a psalm that shows the completeness of wholenss of someone who has integrity. That last sentence, someone who does all these things will never be moved. Its no wonder we face these problems in our lives sometimes, its no wonder why we dig ourselves holes , its no wonder we always end up in trouble or exposed and embarrassed is because we dont hold to truth and we dont tell the truth.
7 The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!
17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
Everything comes to the light.
Lying Destroys others and it destroys the church.
Lying Destroys others and it destroys the church.
1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,
2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.”
9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
God striked these two Christians dead because the church cannot operate to its full potential when there is someone telling lies within it. Remember this was the beginning of the early church so had they been able to carry on with their lying it may brought corruption upon what God was trying to do.
LIES IN THE BODY OF CHRIST
-You might lie to cover up your sins.
-Lie to get the pastors or other people off your back.
-Lie when you say your going to do something but you dont.
-Maybe share some information but keep back the most important parts.
-Act like you didnt know some sort of information - fie vale loi , or maluo loi.
-Sometimes you lie and then when you get caught out on it you start crying.
-Lie about making some changes in your life.
-Lie about coming on time or sowing into things for the body.
-Tell someone one thing then turn and say another thing to someone else. Being a two face.
-Showing up and saying your fine but really your struggling inside.
-Promise things but deep down intend to not pull through.
-Conventiently forget something they promised to do.
The thing with liars in the body is that they are a cancer in the body of Christ. They make the church sick from the inside and it eats up the body, it makes the body sick.
Thats why the judgment came upon Ananias and Saphirra immediately its cause Ananias lied and it brought division into the body and his wife knew about it and left it.
The thing with Lying aswell is that you can always get caught out on it so you have to make more lies to cover up the original lie. If you lied the first time and you got exposed or questioned about it you will say something like “ohh because so and so, ohh because of this and that” coming up with another lie.
“Its easy to tell one lie. Its hard to only tell one.”
9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,
10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
Jesus calls himself the Way, Truth and Life in John 14:6 and he expects his followers to be people of truth not people of lies. The fruit we bear should reflect Christ and also want others to come and know Christ. This cant be seen in us if we continue to lie.
8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
17 Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.
Love covers a mulitude of sins, Lying covers a multitude of sins to, but only temporarily.
The Christian will avoid these things for the glory of God!
Sow an Act and you reap a habit.
sow a habit and you reap a character
sow a character and you reap something either good or bad for your family, your church and those around you.
HOW TO OVERCOME THE SIN OF LYING.
You have to recognise that you cant stop the sin of lying on your own.
You have to ask the Holy Spirit to help you.
You have to be in your word and mediate on your word.
Ask the Lord to search your heart.
Amen.
