Lies, lies, lies

Point of whole sermon

Lies will destroy you.

not talking about ones told on you, though those are destructive

talking about lies that we accept

Attention Grabber

We are going to read a chapter of the Bible that is full of lies

I will need you to assume that I am talking about you, and not your neighbor

“so and so needs to hear this”, no you need to hear it, just as well

Background Story

Evil King of Israel, Ahab, is going to war

He asked the Good King of Judah, Jehoshaphat to help, and he agrees

and Jehoshaphat being the follower of God that he is, wants to consult the Lord first

Evil King, Ahab calls 400 prophets together, and they all predict that the Lord would give them the victory

Jehoshaphat knows that something is off, and asks don’t you have a real prophet of God

Ahab reluctantly calls for a prophet named Micaiah

Micaiah tells the truth, that Ahab will be killed in this battle

Ahab gets angry, throws that prophet in prison, goes to battle and dies

1 Kings 22:6 NASB95

6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”

Beware of the lies that you want to hear

The king wants to go to battle. These false prophets know this, and so they say, “go to battle, you will win!”

That’s often why lies are so appealing . . . because they speak to our desires and wants

That’s why a person will believe the words of an obviously unfaithful spouse, because they so desperately want that spouse to be faithful

in the garden, Adam and Eve wanted to eat the fruit, wanted to do their own thing, so satan told them something they wanted to hear . . . you won’t die, God is trying to hold you back

beware of lies you want to hear

Beware of popular lies

400 prophets repeat the same thing

we can fall for the trap that if enough people say it, then it must be true

But the number of liars, or the number of times a lie has been told, won’t change the truth

Before entering the promised land 10 of the spies said that they would not be able to conquer the land, only two said that with God, they could do it

the people listened to the majority and ended up, dying off in the wilderness . . . beware of popular lies

Classic lie that people want to hear, and is also popular - have intimate relations with whoever you want to, whenever you want to

that’s a lie what we want to hear

that’s a super popular lie

But the Bible outlines what is right, and it doesn’t say whoever/whenever

people experience a lifetime of troubles based on whoever/whenever

Beware of lies in the name of the Lord

Liars will often invoke the name of the Lord to gain legitimacy

The Lord is saying this/that

Liars will often misuse the Bible to make their words seem more credible

The Bible says this/that

The devil, the Father of lies, used scripture in an attempt to entice Jesus in the wilderness

Beware of lies in the name of the Lord

A contemporary lie is that life is supposed to be all good, all the time

that’s a lie we want to hear

popular in many Christian circles

lie in the name of the Lord

beware of preachers that preach - it’s all good, all the time . . . it’s always your year, always your season

who doesn’t want to hear that it’s your season - no one likes to hear sermons about repenting, act right, destruction is upon you, suffering for Christ, sacrificing for the cause of Christ, you will have to go through a dry season

but it’s a lie, that’s why the Bible is filled with words like overcomers, conquerors, take up your cross, suffered, endure, wait

1 Kings 22:7 NASB95

7 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not yet a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him?”

the godly king can tell right away that these guys are false

The Bible doesn’t tell how he knew, but he knew

Side note: Do you have a good lie detector?

How do you know if you are being lied to? What is your lie detector?

The Bible, interpreted correctly should be your lie detector

if you are Christian, listen to the spirit of God, his nickname is the spirit of truth

pray for discernment

1 Kings 22:8 NASB95

8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”

King Ahab answers that there is another prophet, but complains that this prophet only prophesies bad things.

He puts the blame of the negative prophecies on the prophet.

Ahab is ignoring the fact that this other prophet Micaiah, only prophesies bad things because the king has been acting bad

Beware of lies that you tell yourself

We will lie to ourselves

Often we lie to ourselves and ignore the truth because . . .

Truth involves admitting that you are not all that you thought/said you were

Truth involves acknowledging need for change

truth involves humbling yourself

Truth involves saying I am wrong

and so we would rather lie to ourselves

King Saul, the first king of Israel, the king before David, would never admit that he disobeyed God, had gone astray, was on the wrong path . . . he lied to himself and said David was the problem, the troublemaker

he lied so good to himself, that he tried to have David killed, and ran away the one person who could have helped him in the end

What lies are you telling yourself?

For some, they lie to themselves and say“The reason I don’t go to church is . . . “

preachers are crazy

they just want money

that’s lying to yourself

true . . . some preachers are crazy

true . . . some churches just want your money

but that’s not all preachers, and not all churches

but the real reason you don’t go to church is because . . . you don’t want to

don’t want to put in effort to find a good church (school, neighborhood, restaurant, job)

don’t want to give up part of your weekend

don’t want to be held accountable for right living

you don’t want to deal with people

you don’t want to be responsible for anything else in your life

you’re stingy and don’t want to give

so they call for Micaiah to come, meanwhile . . .

1 Kings 22:11 NASB95

11 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made horns of iron for himself and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are consumed.’ ”

one false prophet, Zedekiah, even made a prop, to prop of his lie

Beware of bold faced lies

Speaking a lie with utmost confidence, fervor, and conviction

I am sometimes a sucker for bold faced lies? No one would be so bold to lie like that!!!!

Jacob lied to his father Isaac, and pretended to be his brother Esau

did a whole charade . . . clothes, the meal he made . . . that was a bold faced lie

you have to be careful, people will tell bold faced lies . . .beware and don’t fall for it

Christianity is the white man’s religion

popular lie

bold - faced lie

false . . . it’s not the white man’s religion, just last night, Pastor Camell sent me a link that talked about that Christianity is a religion born where Africa, Europe, and Asia intersect (it’s always been a religion for all the people of the world )

many white people have misused the religion in the history of this country . . . and they tricked us so bad, that they many people thinking that Christianity is the white man’s religion

looked up list of oldest churches . . . 90% of oldest churches in Africa and Middle East

Christianity is the white man’s religion is a bold faced lie (like saying rap is white man’s music just because eminem was famous)

Well . . . Micaiah comes and answers like everyone else . . . go for it dude, but apparently with enough sarcasm for the King to realize that Micaiah being serious or truthful

So he demands to know what Micaiah really sees.

First, this true prophet tells what really is going to happen

1 Kings 22:17 NASB95

17 So he said, “I saw all Israel Scattered on the mountains, Like sheep which have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace.’ ”

you are going to lose the battle and die in this battle

then he explains why!

1 Kings 22:19–23 NASB95

19 Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. 20 “The Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. 21 “Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 “The Lord said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’ 23 “Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you.”

Wow! A deceiving spirit will cause him to fall

if we our honest with ourselves, we can trace many hard times in our lives, back to a lie we believed

my parents don’t know what they’re talking about . . . some of us believed that lie and got in trouble

they said they loved me . . . . some of us believed that lie and got in trouble

go ahead and do it, nothing will go wrong . . . . some of us believed that lie

Be warned that the accepting of lies is followed by disaster, judgment, and destruction

and some think that God is harsh, but the fact that God revealed this to Ahab, through the prophet Micaiah, is really providing Ahab with a last chance at repentance

but repentance did not happen, the main false prophets slaps Micaiah on the cheek, and the king put him in prison . . . and Ahab accepted the lies of the false prophets . . . went to battle and was killed . . . the good king almost got killed too

embrace the lie . . . embrace destruction

The biggest lie is “You don’t need Jesus”

lies you want to hear - I would rather do my own t hing

popular lies - from atheist to people who say pick any God

lies you tell yourself - though the Holy Spirit is speaking to you

bold faced lie - Not only do you need him, he is everything you need, all you need

if you have him, He’s promised to provide all the things that you need

you need him in this life

personally, family, fix mind, renew your spirit, wisdom, peace, joy, love

wonder working power, forgiveness

after this life

so you can have an eternal home with him, and escape divine judgment in hell

if there are some people you want to see again on the other side, you need Jesus now

you need Jesus, it is that serious!

he is the way, the truth and the life . . . rock in a weary land, shelter in time of storm

way out of now way

and whoever the son sets free will be free indeed

don’t embrace the lies of this world, embrace the truth of Jesus