Always Be Honest
ALWAYS BE HONEST
Exodus 20:16
We live in a society that accepts lying as the norm:
· Advertisers lie to sell products
· politicians lie in order to get votes
· Lawyers twist the truth to confuse the jury
· coaches lie to psyche out the opposition
· The press lies to increase ratings
· Some preachers lie to get the message across
But against all of this stands the 9th Commandment which says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Now this commandment against lying is based on one of the most fundamental principles of all, the sanctity of truth. Remember when Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate? Pilate asked, “What is truth?” Everybody assumed that questions had a genuine answer. But in our age of relativism, everyone is asking, “Is there any truth? Are there any absolutes? Is anybody being honest?” Well, it’s the purpose of this message today to encourage you to be people of integrity; to tell the truth all the time.
You see, we have a tendency to take this command rather lightly. In the back of our minds, we have the commandmetns categorized. We think the worst commandment to break is murder. After that is adultery. After that is stealing. And after that is taking God’s name in vain. And then in our minds, way down a the bottom of the list, is lying. It’s kind of an insignificant sin, we think. Everybody lies on occasion. So we use euphemisms to cover it over.
· We talk about telling “white lies”.
· Or, I told a little story.
· I fibbed.
· I embellished the truth a little.
· When politicians lie, they misspeak, or, they fail to disclose all the facts
I. WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT LYING
But the bible does not treat lying lightly. In Deuteronomy the 19th chapter there was a rule set forth that if a man dared to give false testimony in a courtroom, if he committed perjury, then whatever penalty would have been given to the innocent party, the liar would receive. Talk about a deterrent! In fact, the end of that portion of scripture says, “The rest of the people will hear this and be afraid and never again will such an evil thing be done among you.”
Proverbs the 6th chapter lists 6 things that God hates, 7 that are detestable to him. And one of them is a lying tongue, and another is a false witness that pours out lies. Of the 7 things that are detestable to God, two have to do with the misuse of our tongue. Or listen to this passage from Revelation 21:8, it’s sobering. “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.” In Acts the 5th chapter when Annanias and Sapphira lied to the apostles about the amount they were giving to the church, God struck them dead. The church was to be a place of integrity. The church was to be a place where people spoke the truth in love.
Now, why is the truth so important to God? One reason is, lying alienates us from God. It is God’s nature to be true. In Romans 3:4 Paul said that if every human being on earth were to found a liar, God would still be true. John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the Truth, and the Life.” In John 16:13, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. In John 17:17, the bible is called the Word of Truth. On the other hand the bible says that Satan is a liar, the Father of lies. So when you and I lie we are of our father, the devil. When we tell the truth, we demonstrate our desire to be identified with God.
Another reason that lying is so wrong is that it undermines our relationships with other people. Ephesians 4:25 says, “Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” Relationships are built on truth. Truth is the core of communication. Once you lose confidence in another person’s honesty, the relationship deteriorates. You don’t believe them any more. You lose respect for them.
Another reason God takes lying so seriously is that we hurt ourselves when we lie. Lying is almost always an effort to cover over some other sin in our life, have you noticed that? Instead of honestly facing ourselves as we are and repenting of our sins, we try to cover it over with a heap of lies.
· Cain murdered Abel and then he lied saying that he didn’t know where he was.
· David committed adultery with Bathseba, then he lied to her husband and covered it up.
· Sarah doubted God’s promise that she was going to have a child in her old age and she laughed at the messenger. When the messenger asked her, “Did I hear you laugh at God?” Sarah lied and said, “Oh no. I didn’t laugh.”
· Annanias and Sapphira lied to cover up their greed.
· Peter lied to cover up his cowardice.
Lying covers over sin in our lives. God want us to confront it and repent of it.
And have you noticed that lying always gets progressively worse? It gets addictive. Once you tell the first lie, you usually will have to tell another one to cover it up. And then you’re forced to tell another to cover that one. And if you’re a liar, you’d better have good memory. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to worry. But you can eventually become so involved in lying that you don’t know the truth from a falsehood. I heard about a golfer who lied so much that when he got a hole in one, he wrote a zero down on his card.
And lying is contagious, too. If you lie, you encourage others who look you up to you to lie; especially your children. Do you remember back a couple of moths ago when we started this series on the 10 commandments, in Exodus 20:5, right in the beginning God said, “I’m a jealous God punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the 3rd and the 4th generation of those who hate me.” Now that doesn’t mean that if you sin God is going to come down and zap your great grandchildren to punish them for your sin. What it means is, that our children have a way of emulating our sin and even magnifying our character flaws in their lives.
If you have your O.T. with you, would you turn to the book of Genesis for a minute? Look with me in the 12th chapter and I want to show you what happened in the life of a good man by the name of Abraham. And I want you to pay particular attention to the results that his lie had on future generations. Genesis 12, beginning with verse 10 reads, “Now there was a famine in the land and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for awhile because the famine was severe. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you they will say, This is his wife. Then they will kill me and will let you live. So say you are my sister so that I’ll be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” Talk about a caring husband! What a nice guy. Abraham says to his wife, “Look, you’re so beautiful, they’re going to kill me to get to you. So let’s lie about it. You say you’re my sister. Let them do whatever they please to you. And my life will be spared.” And, by the way, this was a half-truth. Sarah was his half-sister as well as his wife. And in the end God spared both of them in this incident.
But I want you to turn now to Genesis the 26th chapter and notice what happened in the life of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Genesis 26:1, “Now there was a famine in the land, besides the earlier famine of Abraham’s time, and Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar.” Verse 7, “When the men of that place asked him about his wife he said, she is my sister (he was afraid to say she is my wife, he thought the men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah because she is beautiful.)” Where did Isaac get that idea? He got it from his dad. Well, he wasn’t even born when Abraham lied. Well, he probably heard Abraham brag about it, or some of his friends boast about how clever his father had been. So, when Isaac got into a similar kid of situation, he lied his way out, too. But this wasn’t even a half-truth. Rebekah was not his half-sister. So it’s getting worse.
Turn over to the next chapter, Genesis 27, and look at the account of Isaac’s son, Jacob. Isaac is old and feeble, and he tells his oldest son Esau, that he will give him the family inheritance if Esau will go out and hunt and bring in some game. While Esau is out hunting, the twin brother, Jacob impersonates Easu, complete with a costume in which he puts goat’s hair on his arms and on his neck so that he’ll feel hairy like his brother. He goes into his father’s tent and in Genesis 27:18, “He went to his father and said, ‘My father.’
‘Yes, my son,’ he answered, ‘Who is it?’” Now, blind people often develop a keen sense of hearing to compensate for their loss of eyesight, but Isaac wasn’t sure whether this was Easu or Jacob. Jacob said to his father,
I am Easu, your firstborn - liar
I have done as you have told me - liar
Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing - liar. It wasn’t his game. His mother just cooked it for him.
Isaac asked, ‘How did you find it so quickly my son?” He’s a little suspicious. The pressure’s on. Listen to Jacob’s blasphemous response, “The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied. Jacob lies and use the name of God to verify it.
Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come here so that I can touch you to know whether you are really my son Easu or not.” Jacob went close to his father. Isaac touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him because Jacob’s hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau. So Isaac blessed Jacob with Esau’s blessing. Now when Easu returned from the hunt, he was really upset. And he vowed that he was going to kill his brother Jacob and Jacob had to flee for his life.
And then, you remember, that Jacob had 12 sons and the favorite was Joseph. And the older brothers hated Joseph so much that they kidnapped him and sold him to slave traders who were on their way to Egypt. Then they took Joseph’s special coat, ripped it to shreds, spattered it with blood and brought it back to their father and said, “Evidently your favorite son has been attacked by wild animals and he is dead!” And Jacob lived under the grief of that lie for over a decade and not one of those 10 older brothers ever had the courage to tell him the truth. You see, the sin of the father, Abraham, was visited to the 3rd and 4th generation of those that despised God. So God forbids us to lie for our own benefit. Lying destroys our relationship with God, with others, with ourselves, it grows progressively worse, and it is compounded in the lives of our children. In order that we might have the best life here, and live life the way God really meant for it to be lived he said, “I want you to tell each other the truth.”
II. HOW WE VIOLATE THIS COMMANDMENT
Even though the Bible regards lying as a serious offense, we find a number of ways to break this commandment, don’t we? For example:
There’s the lie of desperation. When we get into deep trouble, our first inclination is to lie our way out. We rationalize, “I tell the truth most of the time. But sometimes you have to lie to make it through.” Peter followed Jesus Christ on the night of his crucifixion right into the courtyard of the High Priest. He warmed himself on the devil’s fire. When someone recognized him and said, “You’re a disciple of Jesus.” Every eye turned toward Peter. His life may have been on the line and he lied, “No, no. I don’t even know the man.” When we’re desperate, we can create all kinds of fabrications of the truth to get out.
· Officer, my speedometer must be 15 mph off."”
· Or, "I called 20 times but nobody answered. Something must be wrong with your phone.”
· “My watched stopped.
· The car broke down.
· The computer deleted it.
Then there’s the lie of deception. This is the lie that is just a portion of the truth, told for the purpose of deceiving. Like a little child who’s told not to play in the street. He goes outside and plays in the street Later, when he comes inside the mothers asks, “Where were you?” and he answers, “Well, I was outside.” Well that’s the truth, but it’s deceptive. Parents are away from home and the teenager goes against the parents wishes and invites her friends over for a party until 3 AM. The next day when the parents phone home they ask, “What‘d you do last night?” “Oh, I stayed home, and watched a little television.”
It is possible to be deceptive and tell a lie without even speaking a word, did you know that? I heard of a teenage boy who was told by his parents to be in by midnight. He came in at 2 AM. Fortunately his parents were asleep. Unfortunately, he hit a creaky step on the way up to the bedroom and his parents woke up.
The father said, “Is that you son?”
The boy answered, “Yes, dad.”
“What time is it, son?”
And before the boy could answer the cuckoo clock struck twice. The boy said it was the most ingenues moment of his life when he cuckooed himself 10 more times. You can lie without saying a word if you’re being deceptive.
Then, there’s the business lie. We lie on the resume. We exaggerate our credentials. Lying has come to be accepted in the business world. Some think it’s essential to survival. Now some of you are probably thinking, “Well, Andy I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You’re a preacher. In the business world, you’ve got to lie. If you don’t lie a little, it’s like cutting your own throat.” I dare you to try. I dare you to say, “I’m going to be a person of integrity. I’m not going to lie for a dollar, even if it cost me my business or my job.” I believe God would honor that.
The social lie is very common. These are lies we tell other people so that they won’t be offended or so that they will feel good. It’s one of the most prominent and one of the most justifiable lies, we think, because it consists of telling other people what they want to hear, or what will encourage them.
· “Your hair is beautiful. I love it.”
· That lesson was so interesting.
· You played a great game, really.
We misrepresent to encourage people. Someone tried to justify their lies by saying, “If you know you’re lying and the Lord knows you’re lying, isn’t that the same as telling the truth? Two negatives make a positive.”
Then there’s the lie of exaggeration. This is the lie of embellishing a situation just to make it more interesting. This kind of liar doesn’t expect to be believed, he just want to get peoples’ attention. Preachers sometimes fall into that category. Like the preacher I heard of who was asked, “How many people does your church run on Sunday mornings?”
And he said, “Between 8 and 900.”
“How many did you have last Sunday?”
“45.”
“45? I thought you said you had between 8 and 900.”
“Well, 45 is between 8 and 900!”
But preachers aren’t the only ones guilty of exaggerating. You know why I think so many struggle with exaggeration? Because they don’t understand the difference between character and reputation. Character consists of the true facts about you and me. Reputation has to do with how people interpret those facts. And as long as you keep them in that order, you don’t have any problem. But when your reputation becomes more important to you than your character, that’s when you’re really tempted to exaggerate your claims and lie.
III. HOW TO OVERCOME THE SIN OF LYING
Well, how can we respect this commandment and overcome the temptation to lie? I came across a suggestion this week that is a simple, but effective cure. If you are genuinely repentant and you say, “I want to be a person of integrity.”, here’s an excellent prescription; it’s just one step. Dr. David Seamands said, “I only know one cure for lying. I had to do it in my own life and it’s a horrible remedy, but it’s the only cure that works. As soon as the Holy Spirit convicts you and you find yourself in a lie, go back immediately and tell the person to who you lied.”
Seamands tells of a man named Dave who was dramatically converted to Christ. Hew as an excellent salesman, but he was a habitual liar. A few weeks after he was converted, he was closing a sale to a manager of a large company. The manager was on the verge of choosing between two of Dave’s products. Finally the manager turned to Dave and asked, “Which of these two products did my competitor buy from you?” Now the difference in the price of those two products, thus the commission to Dave, was really significant. And before he realized it, Dave told this manager a lie saying that the rival company had purchase the more expensive product from him.
Believing Dave, and not wanting to fall behind his competitor, the manager signed a very large contract for the costlier item. But the moment Dave packed up his briefcase and started out the door, he was convicted by the Holy Spirit. He was not at peace. And he heard that little voice saying, “Dave that’s wrong. You told a lie. You’ve got to make it right.” But he couldn’t stand the humiliation or the financial loss. So he kept quiet. For an entire day his conscience would just not let him alone.
The next day he made another appointment with that manager and went to see him in his office. He shared a brief testimony of how he had been converted to Christ, and then said simply, “I’ve always been a colossal liar. I’m sorry, but I lied to you yesterday. Please forgive me. The company you asked about did not buy the more expensive item. And I understand how you must feel about this, so I’m going to cancel the contract. You may not want to do business any more with a company that employs a liar like me and I’ll understand, but in case you do want to continue to do business, I’ll send over another salesman.” Seamands says, “The manager sat their for a moment with his mouth wide open. He was speechless. But he was so impressed with this man’s transparency that he kept the contract.”
That’s a difficult thing to do, but he was determined to conquer that problem. And that one honest, but humiliating moment, cured him. Seamands wrote, “Many people come to me after conversion and say, “I can’t stop. I don’t know the difference between truth and a lie.” I tell them there’s only one cure. Every time you lie, immediately go back to the person you lied to and correct it.”
If you really want to overcome lying. If you really want to be a person of integrity, I challenge you today to promise the Lord and maybe somebody real close to you, “From now on if I lie, I’m going to go back to the person I lied to and tell the truth.” Robert Engstrom has a book on integrity in which he defines integrity as, “doing what you say you’re going to do.” So once you make that promise, you follow through. Because God is truth. And the closer you get to him the more you will speak the truth in love.
Will you stand. Before we sing our hymn of invitation, I want you to bow your head and close you eyes for a moment? We’re going to have a few seconds of quiet. And for those of you who are members of this church, those of you who are already a Christian, I want you to think about your integrity and the promise you’re going to make to the Lord to speak the truth in love.
If you’re not a Christian, I’d like for you to be honest with yourself and to admit, “I’m a sinful person.” Maybe you’re not a liar, but there are sins that you have committed. How do I know that? Very simply the bible says, “We all have sinned and can come short of the glory of God. Understand the truth about Jesus is that he is the only one who was sinless. He alone lived a flawless life. Peter said, “Salvation is found in no one else,”. And maybe today’s the day when you need to come forward and say, “I want to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, confess him publicly, and be baptized into him.” In just a moment, after a time of silence, we’re going to sing a hymn of invitation. Some of you may need to respond for the first time to Jesus, others of you may need to come and move your membership to this church. But whatever your decisions need to be, make them now to the Lord of truth.