The Doctrine of Sin - The..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Proverbs chapter 6 from verse 16 through 19. These are the six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him.

Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among the brothers. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord remains forever. So brothers and sisters, as we're all aware, this is the second sin this evening. It's the third in our Bible studies in the series in the book of Proverbs chapter 6.

But this is going to be the second sin that we study or that we meditate together upon this evening. the sin of the lying tongue. If you remember last week we spoke about the first of the seven sins that are listed for us in the book of Proverbs in chapter 6, and the first one was haughty eyes, haughty eyes. Now the word haughty, as you remember last week, we were told that it's not really a common word that we use in our contemporary English language, but it means to be from above. And haughty eyes are eyes that are elevated, exalted from above, looking down upon everyone else.

Haughty eyes is simply a synonym for pride. pride, a sin of the heart, an extra heinous sin of the heart that looks down upon others, that elevates self. It's a sin that considers self as more important, as greater, as more knowledgeable, as stronger, as elevated, as above the rest. It's a sin that says in one's heart, I'm important, it's all about me. It doesn't consider those who are around them.

In particular, the sin of pride is self-love. It's a scene that exemplifies that the heart, which really does have love for self at the very focus, and that is the unregenerated natural heart, the heart that is still in Adam. because when one is captivated by himself, when one thinks that his heart and his affections and his mind is all primarily for self, he's stamped and defined, his life is stamped and defined by a concern primarily to please self as one is with a manifestation of the pride that is within, then we can account that to self-worship. Now they might not say it, but that's what it is. When self is at the very centre, that's self-worship.

And so what's so hideous about the scene of pride, of haughty eyes as it is listed before us, is it dethrones God in the heart and places one on that throne. God comes off his throne and one places himself in his place. And as we said last week, that is every one of us who are born in Adam. Our nature, our sinful nature, desires to do that, to have self at the very center. And we said that that sin, the sin of pride, of haughty eyes, is the very root of all sins.

Because beloved, we'll be spending some time this evening looking at the sin of the lying tongue, the second sin in our list. And we'll ask questions like, what is a lie? What is a lying tongue? Why do we lie? What's God's attitude or disposition towards a lying tongue?

And how can we stop? And so on. But the centre of this sin, as with all sins, is a matter of the heart. You see, we lie, when we lie, we lie to serve our own selfish goals and our own sinful desires, and not God's. we're more concerned with ourselves than for God.

And so God hates a lying tongue. It's an abomination to his eyes, we're told. Because every time we lie, we choose self over the one who is true. No matter what the circumstances are, a lying tongue declares, I know better than to tell the truth. And if God stands for truth, that a liar, just like the proud, opposes God himself.

So how do we define a lying tongue? It's to speak with the intent to mislead or deceive. It's to intentionally mask the truth with anything else. It doesn't have to be a complete opposite to that truth either. An intentional two or three percent deviation from the truth to soften the blow may have evil intent and to be considered a lie, a lie in the heart.

That's where it's rooted. Now it's quite possible for someone to speak falsities, to speak things that may not be factual and not know them. And we can all probably come up with examples of these. Now those falsities are untrue and we have the responsibility as Christians to be wise and calculated with the economy of the words that we use to make sure to the best of our knowledge that the words we use and the facts that we espouse are indeed true. We ought to be diligent in what we say, to the best of our knowledge, to make sure what we say is credible and true.

But generally, when the Bible speaks about lies or a lying tongue, it speaks to a person who is aware of what they utter to be a deviation of the truth. It's a matter of the will. The will is engaged when one lies. I know the truth is what the person would say in their heart or in their mind. I know what is true, I know what is authentic, but I am making a conscious decision to speak something else.

I'm making a decision to lie. It's not like you say something and then later on you find out the facts were wrong. No, here the Bible is speaking about intent to speak falsely, to mislead, to deceive. It's not truth. If it's not truth, it's a lie.

And it's actually as simple as that, brothers and sisters, that there are no white lies in the Bible. There is no righteous lies. There are no acceptable lies. An intentional deviation from the truth is to lie, no matter what the motivation is. The Apostle John in 1 John 2, 21 and 1, he says it best when he says, no lie is of the truth.

No lie is of the truth. In other words, no lie is justified. Because it's not true. And if God, as we'll soon see, demands truth, because He is true, then every lie is defiance to God. He stands for truth.

And every lie is opposing and defiant to the God who is true, and it is offensive to Him. He hates it, and it's an abomination in His eyes, as we're told in chapter 6, verse 16. Now that's very simplistically the definition of a lying tongue. Now, the question that we need to be asking ourselves is this. If one knows the truth, then what is the reason that one would have to hold back from speaking that truth, to speak lies, to utter false cities?

What is the motivation in one's heart? Said more simply, why is it that people lie? Why is it that we lie? Well, there's many reasons. And everyone is rooted in the desire to serve one's own objectives.

Lying is always selfish, beloved, even when it's masked with nobility. At the surface level, some lies may seem noble, but in the heart they are always selfish. Now we have to realise being selfish doesn't always mean that it's benefiting you the most. That's not what selfishness means, but rather your words or your actions are purposed to serve your own agenda. Your agenda is at the heart, your agenda is primary, and not God's.

And that's the case even if you lie to protect a loved one. or a relative, or a friend, or a family member. God stands for truth, and if you can justify a lie in any circumstance, then in your own mind, you're saying that God demands truth only if it's applicable when you see fit. That may be 99% of the time. The truth is necessary, and you see that as being the ultimate.

But that 1%, when that lie is justified, if, of course, that's what one thinks, then one is saying in their heart that God makes an allowance for that 1%. He makes an allowance for that lie. How could that be? Let's think about that. God created man in His own image and in His own likeness.

His intention for man is to be righteous. God created man with His intention that man would have God-like qualities of righteousness, that they would be like God. To be like Him in purity, to be like Him in holiness. Be holy as I am, as I the Lord your God am holy. Those words were spoken to the people of Israel at the base of Mount Sinai.

You might remember Leviticus chapter 19. And those words were spoken in relation to Israel, the people of God, the covenant people of God, to keep the whole law that God has given them through Moses. the very law that characterizes the God who gave it. And if you remember, the ninth commandment is one of those, and it speaks of the necessity of truthfulness of God's people, because God is true. Now, there'll be more on the ninth commandment in a few weeks when we address the sixth of these sins in a few weeks' time.

But God's intention for man is that man would be like Him. like him in truthfulness, like him in his purity, like him in his holiness. Be holy as I the Lord your God am holy. In other words, he's saying to these people, be like me. I've created you to be like me.

Be like me. He's the epitome of truth and he expects his people to be true. to be true. He's the truth in his person. He's the truth in his word.

And so multiple times in scripture, we see this over and over again, the whole concept, the whole theme that God is true. Isaiah the prophet calls him the God of truth. Jeremiah calls him the true God. Solomon says every word of God proves to be true, or every good word of God proves true rather. And the psalmist says these beautiful words we probably commit to memory, the sum of your word is what?

Truth. Jesus. Jesus comes in the New Testament and He speaks of the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Truth. Beloved, God is true. Over and over in Scripture, we're told that God is true.

There is no hint of a lie in him. He never lies. Titus chapter 1 verse 2. In fact, it is impossible for God to lie. Hebrews 6 verse 18.

With the abundance of these passages, ask yourself the question, is it ever okay to lie? Now I know, I know questions of ethics come into play. I understand that. And I know that some of those questions may be a little bit difficult to navigate. But beloved, my submission to you this evening is this.

Either God has spoken clearly in his word or he hasn't. Either he's given us what is true and righteous and what is expected of mankind or he leaves it up to us to decipher for ourselves. God is true and we ought to be true too. Simply said, beloved, at the very heart of every lie we speak, every lie we utter, every lie that we even lies to ourselves, at the very heart of every lie is a lack of faith. A lack of faith.

We don't trust the Lord with the outcomes. We'd rather take matters into our own simple hands. So we lie. That's the truth. It's that not an insult to our Heavenly Father.

Is that not a blasphemous thought that His will is not good for us when we think this way? He loves us. He cares for us. He promises to care for us. And yet on many occasions we rather take the lie and turn our back on the one who is good and true.

And beloved, we need to ask ourselves the question, can God be trusted? Can God be trusted in all our lives? Can God be trusted for the lives of our families and our loved ones? Is it ever necessary for us to use or to utter falsities, lies, that which God hates and that which is an abomination in His eyes? So there are difficult, difficult questions that we said earlier, where some have justified lies, but brothers and sisters, for the most part, Our motivation for lying is selfish.

Let's look at this. Think about why we lie. Why do we lie? Think of some of the reasons in your mind now. Why is it we lie?

Why are we tempted to lie? Well, to avoid conflict. to avoid embarrassment, to get out of a difficult situation. We've all been in tough situations, and sometimes it's the easiest thing to do is just to say something that is not true, but it gets us out of that situation. Because none of us like conflict.

We want to avoid it at all costs. So we may say something that's not true to get us out. Or in a difficult situation, a question might come up. Someone might ask us a question, for example. An untruthful answer might create awkwardness.

Have you ever been in a situation where someone asks you a question and the truth will be, well, it might be offensive. It might be awkward. It may even cause a fracture in your relationship. So what do we do? We may be tempted in that situation to answer with a lie.

to avoid the truth in order to avoid the awkwardness, to avoid the conflict. Now we have the right to remain silent, but some of us, most of us, decide rather than remaining silent, we need to say something and that thing we say may not always be true. Beloved, the Bible is very clear. It's not loving to lie. When we lie to others, that's not showing love for others.

They need to know the truth. And even if the truth hurts, they need to know we ought to have the freedom, one with the other, to be able to respectfully and lovingly speak truth to one another, even in difficult situations. Why else? Well, we may be tempted to lie to protect ourselves or our things. We may be tempted to lie to avoid loss.

Because telling the truth sometimes comes at a cost. Sometimes it's a financial cost. Think with me. Say when you admit of goods or someone else's property. And admitting that you did it means that you're going to have to fork out some money and pay for it or make restitution.

But in order not to part with your hard-earned money, the temptation always comes, maybe I can get away without saying that it was me. Maybe I don't need to be completely forthright. If asked, maybe I can avoid the question or say a lie. On the other side, still on the financial, maybe we're tempted to embellish the truth by saying that we made a more generous donation than we really did, to give more to whatever ministry or to friends or to the needy. And maybe later on, as we're speaking to our friends or relatives, we might embellish what we've done.

I'm thinking of Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament. But more often than not, it's not a financial cost that is the concern, but a reputational cost. Sometimes telling the truth can result in a wounded ego, egos that we choose to protect at all cost. We don't like people to see our vulnerabilities. None of us like that.

We don't want people to see and to know our weaknesses. No, we want to protect ourselves. We put a facade and a bit of a shell around us. We want the people around us, even those close to us, to see us in the very best us, the very best of us. So we put a facade, we paint a picture of someone that we're not really.

It's fake. And if that facade is ever in threat, we might find ourselves taking the option not to come clean, but rather to use our mouths falsely, deceitfully, and say something to protect ourselves because we're not willing to pay that cost, the cost of a wounded ego, or the cost of a tarnished reputation. We may lie to avoid punishment. This is a big one for children. Parents, you know.

Having children is a prime example that we are born with a depraved, sinful nature. Every parent in this room and online would know that you don't need to teach a child to lie. You never have to sit a child in your lab and then teach them to be deceitful, or teach them to lie, or teach them to avoid punishment with saying something false or blaming someone else. No, parents are diligently and painstakingly trying to instill honesty and truthfulness in their children, not lies. It's so instinctual for a child to lie, especially to avoid punishment.

And we train them to do the opposite. We discipline our kids for lying, and discipline is good, but parents, my question to you is this, are you Are you guilty of the same? Are we guilty of hypocrisy? The very thing we discipline our children over, are we guilty of the same? We teach them not to lie no matter what.

Do we lie when we're pushed in a corner? Do we resort to the untruthfulness? Do we do like the kids do when they're confronted with their sins? Or are you prepared to come clean and say, hey, I take full responsibility. I did it.

And the most important thing is I am being clean before you and before the Lord. How is our hearts in this? How about adding to the truth? Is that a lie? When you say the truth and then you add something to it.

Or is it always taken away? No. Adding to the truth is called embellishments or exaggeration. And it is a lie. We sometimes speak more highly of ourselves or our families than what is true.

Parents, you would know. The temptation with our children to embellish or exaggerate their achievements, right? If they achieved something at school, we might scratch it out a little. If they're really well-mannered, we stretch that out a little, especially when speaking to other parents. It's always a temptation to embellish, to make things look better than what they really are.

What about ourselves? We can embellish the truth. We can exaggerate the truth by exaggerating what we weigh or how tall we are or what our net worth is or what our IQ is. What are our achievements? How do we speak about our achievements?

Do we exaggerate them? Your position at work? Beloved, are we being truthful with these things? Our resumes, do they reflect truth? Or are there some exaggerations in them?

You see, our conscience is formed and informed by the Word of God. And the question is, do we know the Word of God? Do we adorn our resumes? It's interesting for me to see. It's listed in some statistics, depending on where you go, but up to 75% of resumes have been deemed to whether it's where they studied, or what degrees they got, or the level of their experience.

Now, I don't know how they came up with three in every four, 75%, possibly the ones that have been caught out. So the statistic could be actually higher than that again. But the temptation is there. Temptation is there. that we may think in our minds to use words and expressions that may paint a picture, not quite violating our conscience because we haven't gone into a blatant lie, but we want people to think more highly of us than what we deserve.

Beloved, why not just say it as it is? Why not just say the truth and then trust in the Lord for the rest? Can he be trusted? That's the question we always need to be asking in our hearts and in our minds. Can the Lord be trusted?

Or do I have to resort to taking things in my own hands and the sinful corrupted hands and possibly being resorted or resorting to lying? Because when we trust the One who is true, we trust all of our lives, we trust all of our futures, we trust all of our finances, we trust everything, our jobs, and everything to His hands, because He is faithful. But what is extra disturbing about the sin of a lying tongue is it happens even in spiritual matters. It can happen within the context of a church. We could lie about our knowledge of the Bible so that we may be respected more amongst one another.

We could lie about the time that we spend in prayer so that we can be seen more wholly than what we are. We can lie about the quantity of scripture we read, the chapters we read every day. We can lie about the blessings God's given us, even exaggerate them to feel more important somehow. We can even lie about our evangelistic endeavours. We can lie about even spiritual matters.

Beloved brothers and sisters, you're not compelled. You're not compelled. to reveal the things that belong between you and the Lord, that is up to you. But if you choose to reveal them, we need to make sure that we reveal them in truth, that we don't adorn them, that we don't code them, that we don't exaggerate them. It may be because of fear of embarrassment.

If they knew how little time I spend or a little knowledge I have in the Word, or I may be ashamed. Beloved, the Lord may use opportunities like that. to draw your heart, to reveal gaps in your understanding. But we ought to have the freedom to express the truth, one with the other. We don't need to embellish things because God hates a lying tongue.

It's an abomination to Him. At the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves this question, who am I trying to impress? Who am I trying to impress? And beloved, you know there's only one right answer. Christ.

We are to impress our God and our God alone. To please Him with our conduct, with our lives, with our thoughts, with our actions. To please Him alone. But He's the thing. He knows everything anyway.

Everything He knows Anyway, listen to what the psalmist says. He says, even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together. I love that Psalm 139 verse 4. He knows it anyway, and hear this, he delights in truth. He delights in truth.

So we can be tempted to lie for many reasons, many that I haven't even mentioned. To manipulate others is one. Because of fear is another. Flattery, gossip, and sometimes because one can simply get away with the lie. But the bottom line is, if we lie, it serves our own purposes with little or no regard for His good purposes, which are far better for us.

than any of our own purposes we've designated for ourselves. And beloved, this is the trap of the enemy. The enemy is doing everything he can to rob you of what is better. And what is better is to be in the divine will of God, trusting in him by faith. receiving everything from His hand faithfully and joyfully, knowing that He has your best in His mind.

The enemy wants you to think otherwise. That was Eve's sin, wasn't it? Remember last week we addressed the original sin, Adam and Eve's sin, and last week we looked at Satan's sin in particular at that time, or even actually before that time, how his heart was swelled with pride. You remember that he elevated himself and motivated by pride before he fell from glory. But do you realize that the first mention of Satan's activity in the Bible tells us that he had a lying tongue.

We know he fell from his glorious position as a minister of God, as an angel, but the first time we hear of him in the Word, we get to know that he's stamped and defined by a lying tongue. Let's open our Bibles to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3, and we'll start reading from verse 1. Genesis chapter 3 from verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast in the field that God had made.

Now crafty here means cunning. Some of your translations actually have cunning, like a schemer. This Satan would get what he wants through deception. That's what it means. He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of the tree in the garden?

And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. But God said, You shall not eat from the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Did you get it?

Verse 4, did God actually say that you don't know Eve? No, you've got it all wrong. No, no, no, you're not going to die. Liar. That's what God said.

He's got lying, deceiving lips. He fell from glory because He is a proud being and He is defined by lies. Jesus said so Himself. And he wants to rob God's people from the joy of dwelling with God in truth. You remember what Jesus said in John chapter 8?

He was speaking to the religious leaders of the day, many of the Pharisees and the scribes. And he says, you are of your father, the devil. Your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Satan is stamped and defined by lies. That's who he is. And beloved, those who belong to him are also the same. They're liars. Jesus is saying, like father, like son.

If he is your father, you'll bear the traits of your father. And if he is a liar and there's no truth in him, then those who belong to him are also liars, like Jesus says to the scribes and the Pharisees in the first century. In other words, tell me who your father is, and I'll tell you who you are, whether you're a liar or whether you're a truth teller. And that depends on who your father is. And then from the fall of Satan and the fall of man in Adam and Eve and in the garden, the scripture, which is a book of unadulterated truths, just truth.

It's the truth of God from the heart of God. It shows us that lying tongue of the devil has been passed on to his children in all generations, all who are born in Adam. Inherit to the sinful nature is a lying tongue, no escaping that reality. And it's hatred, it's hated by God because it's antithetical to the very nature of God, which is the nature of truth. It is antithetical to what God has intended for mankind, and that is to imitate His truth.

Beloved, I want us to think about that. When we speak truth in righteousness, we are like God. But when you or I lie, we are like Satan. That's a scary truth. And just like the first lie deceived our parents into sin and plunged the whole world into darkness and death, so too every lie we speak, every falsity we utter, has severe consequences.

Our tongues, they are so destructive. Small members of the body, but so destructive. Do you remember what James says about the tongue in James chapter 3? He says, mankind has been so successful in taming all the wild animals. Think of them, the tigers and lions, we see them in the circus.

Mankind's been able to capture them and tame them to some degree. But the tongue, the tongue is untamable, is what James is saying. Such a small member of the body, yet he's capable of great boasts. He goes to give an example about a whole big forest that is set ablaze by a small little fire, and he likens that to the tongue, where he says it's a world of unrighteousness, a restless evil, full of deadly poison. And although the use of tongue in James can be destructive in many ways, it certainly includes a lying tongue, or a tongue that speaks out lies.

And this sin has permeated every single son or daughter in Adam, and because a lying tongue, beloved, a lying tongue is the manifestation of a corrupted heart. The lying tongue is a manifestation of a corrupted heart. Turn with me to Mark chapter 7. If you have your Bibles, Mark chapter 7. Let's read from verse 14 through 23.

I'm reading these fairly quickly only because I've just realized we're a little bit behind on time. So I'll try to go through them as quickly as possible. So Mark chapter 7, verse 14 through 23. Jesus speaking, really explaining the very root of all sin. Why is it that people sin?

Where is the sin rooted? And he called the people to him again and said to them, that's verse 14, Hear me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And when he has entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable, and he said to them, Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it neither enters nor since it enters not his heart, but his stomach, and is expelled.

Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, Sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within and they defile a person. You see, the problem of lying lips is not that one, that lying lips corrupts a heart, but rather the corrupted heart has lying lips and that corrupts the whole person. It's a sin nature problem.

And even since the fall of man, that which defines us is not righteousness, beloved. In Adam, in our sinful nature, we're not defined by righteousness and goodness, but unrighteousness. Not by truth, but by lies and deceit and slander. That's what so naturally comes to us in the sinful nature. You see, we were slaves to sin.

not righteousness. So from a lying heart comes lying lips. The problem is here. The problem is the heart. The problem is not what comes in from the outside.

The problem is what comes from the heart and then is manifested on the outside. Circumstances could be conducive to that, but the root cause is a corrupted heart and that is so evident, so evident through Scripture. You see, Scripture is so honest. It doesn't embellish. It doesn't cover over the sins, even the sins of God's people.

And it's so transparent. Now God is true and his people should be true also, but that doesn't happen overnight. It's a process of sanctification. Because we see in the Bible, example after example, God's people are just as guilty of many of the heinous sins that God hates as the unregenerated person. Have you thought about that before?

The sinful nature of the flesh is still a major problem in all the characters of the Bible, even many of those who are listed in the hallmarks of faith. Now, they're not bound to sin. They're not in chains to sin. They've been freed from sin by grace through faith. They have now a choice to live by the Spirit.

But the flesh lurks nearby. And it's incredibly destructive. The Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 3 verse 13 about our nature, he says, we have throats that are open graves. We use our tongues to deceive. That's the sinful nature inside of every man.

No good thing comes from the flesh, and until glory, that danger remains in us. Think about the narratives throughout the scripture. Think about the narratives that speak to a lying tongue. Now you'd expect that from pagans, you'd expect that from the enemies of God. And we've got examples of those, plenty, a fair share of those in the scripture.

Or you might even expect it from false prophets, those who are directly opposing God, those who cry out, peace, peace, when there is no peace. These men don't feed God, and speaking lies they do so to appease their listeners. But how many times do we see a lying tongue in a person who clearly is a child of God? Men and women in the Bible, who in many Christian circles are depicted as examples to follow, but they're not. These men and women are portrayed truthfully in the Bible, warts and all.

Beloved, that is so that none of us think that our hope lies in any mere man. That no mere man has the answer to our sin problem. Even the best of these men and women speak falsely and it's not okay, but it shows us the danger of the sinful nature. Its pull is so powerful. How many examples can we think of?

How many examples of lies and exaggerations and falsehoods can we think of that is depicted for us in the scripture? Let's have a look at a couple. Let's look at Abraham. He lies to Pharaoh about the relationship he has with his wife. You remember why he lied?

She was beautiful in form and Abraham was afraid that Pharaoh will take Sarah and keep her and kill him if they knew or he knew that she was his wife. Think about the consequences of that deceit. Now you might say, wait a minute, wait a minute, that happened in chapter 12. It wasn't until chapter 15 that Abraham had believed that his faith was accounted to him as righteousness. Abraham matured in his faith between chapter 12 and 15.

I don't doubt that. I believe that the children of God are always being matured in the faith. But beloved, in chapter 20, after Eve's faith was counted to him as righteousness, he does the same thing, the very same thing, when he lands in the land of Gerar, the province of Abimelech, the king, and he does the same. He calls Sarah his sister so that he can preserve his own life. And then he's rebuked by a pagan king.

Why would he lie? A pagan king rebuked Abraham. As we continue through the word, sin is always at arm's reach. We see more and more of the same. Think of Sarah when she denied laughing.

You remember that. She lied. Lot lied about his daughters. Isaac lied in the exact same way that his father Abraham lied, lying and saying Rebekah's sister said that they wouldn't take his life. Think about Jacob.

He lies to his aging father to take the birthright of his older brother Esau. He then lies to his uncle Laban deceitfully. And then about 20 years later, a more mature Jacob, on his way back, he also lies to his brother Esau, telling him he's going to follow him and he had no intention to do so. Think about Jacob's sons. How they lied to their father Jacob about Joseph telling him that his favorite son was torn to pieces by a wild animal.

Deceived their father knowingly. Beloved, all this before they even come into the land of Egypt. How about in the land? How about the man who's after God's own heart? How many lies or acts of deceit can we count to his name?

David himself. Beloved, in coming to the New Testament, think of the great apostle Peter. Three times. Three times we say he denied Christ. He lied three times, denying, knowing the Saviour.

Beloved, these saints, hear me clearly, were not defined by deceit and lies. They were growing in their sanctification. They were growing in their love of God. So it wasn't as though they were bound by sin or bound by lies. That's not it at all, but they were still capable of it.

And we ought to see, by looking back, the power of sin upon even the people of God. Not being bound by it, but it still is very powerful. And it ought to move us from within. Because the multiple examples of Scripture of lies and a lying tongue don't give us a license to sin or to lie. They don't soften the blow if we lie, so we can look back and justify ourselves and say, I'm not quite as bad as Abraham because I didn't do that ever about to my wife.

No, that's not the intention. We are not to look back in pride. But it's meant to look back and to acknowledge the power of sin, the deception of the sinful flesh that still lurks within every single one of us. And it's meant to bring us to our knees, beloved, to recognize we need help. We need help.

We need help. We're to admit our inability before the Lord, admit that we don't have the strength in and of ourselves to clean ourselves up, to clean our lying tongues, and to pursue truth. And so if we have any hope, we just like the Old Testament saints, just like the New Testament saints, we need someone to redeem our tongue. One who is true. One who is righteous.

One who is acceptable to God in our behalf. If we have any hope of getting cleaned up, beloved, within. It's not just a matter of the tongue. It's a matter of the heart. If we have any hope of being cleaned from within, then we need a Saviour.

Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Matthew 12, verse 34. We need a supernatural power from above to do a divine work in us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. To rid us from a lying tongue. Because God is clear.

He hates a lying tongue. He says it here and He says it over and over again in Scripture. And by nature we are all liars. Because God is clear. Liars will not go unpunished.

A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish. Proverbs 19.9 Why? Because lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.

But those, I love those, but those who act faithfully are His delight. There is hope. Proverbs 12.22 Lying lips are loathsome to God, they're detestable in His eyes. They go against all that He stands for, all that He intends for His creatures.

They go against His own character to be faithful. They go against His delight. Lips that only speak truth are the delight of God. A mouth that has never uttered slander is the delight of God. A mouth that has never gossiped is the delight of God.

A mouth that has never spoken flattery. A mouth that has never exaggerated or embellished the truth. A mouth that has never given false witness and a mouth that has never engaged in deceit. That is the delight of God's heart. Who can stand?

Who can stand in those righteous demands? If that's what God demands of us, then beloved, who can stand? Saying it as the psalmist says, he says it this way, he says, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? Who has clean hands and a pure heart?

Who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully? That's the one who can stand before God. And if you and I examine ourselves honestly, then we would know that none of us by our own nature in and of ourselves can stand before him. None of us can approach the holy hill of God. But there is one.

there is only one. 1 Peter 2.21 For to this you have been called. Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.

When He was reviled, He did not revile. In return, when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body, on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. You see, if God delights in the faithful, if He delights in those who have pure hearts, or as the psalmist says, He delights in truth in the inward being in Psalm 51, one who never lies, one who never speaks deceit, and not even a hint of deceit is found in his mouth, then the conclusion that we all must come to is this, He can only be pleased with Christ. can only be pleased with Christ.

This is why he declares from heaven, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. God is delighted in Jesus. And the remedy for sinners like you and I, beloved, It begins somewhere and it begins by ceasing to lie to ourselves. It actually begins by us stopping lying to ourselves.

As 1 John says, in 1 John 1 verse 8, he says, if we say we have no sin, we declare or we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So if we lie to ourselves and say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. We lie to ourselves. It's a pretty stupid thing, isn't it?

To lie to oneself. Sin makes a man or a woman a fool. That's what sin does. But it continues in 1 John. He says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

And then he goes on to say, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God is delighted in His Son, because His Son is the only one pleasing to Him, because His Son is perfect and righteous and faithful and true. And the only way God can be delighted in us, beloved, is if we are united in His Son. If we are united with Christ by grace, through faith, in Him we are cleansed from all unrighteousness. In Him, we're given a new nature.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5.17.

The righteousness of Christ is accounted to us by faith. Praise God. We stand innocent before God. But it doesn't stop there. He's also concerned to make us like him, remember, his intention for creatures, for mankind.

That was his plan from his beginning, that those who remain in his image, in his likeness, would be like him. To clean our lips from lies and deceit. And so by His Spirit, He does that. And He gives us a new nature. He empowers us to that end.

That is to become as our Father. Once we were stamped and defined like our other father, the devil, by lies. And we were liars. But now, now our lives ought to be stamped and defined by our Heavenly Father in Christ Jesus. And if God is true, then we ought to be true.

That's why passages, the passage that I read earlier, it says, he himself about Christ, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Dying to a lying tongue and to live to truth. That's why over and over again the Bible spurs us to turn our back from sin and to walk in Christ in righteousness, to live by the Spirit of truth, the one who is true. What seemed to be impossible is now possible with Him. Passages like Ephesians chapter 4 verse 25, Therefore, having put away falsehood, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one body.

In Christ, it's doable to put away falsehood. You can live that way. You're not bound by lying lips. Or in Colossians chapter three, verse nine, when we read, do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its creator. You're a new creator.

You're a new creature in Him. And so the message of the Bible is this. Look to Christ and live like the new creation that He's made you. Be who you are in Christ. The Apostle John says it this way.

In 1 John chapter 5 he says, And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know who is true. And we are in Him who is true. In His Son, Jesus Christ, He is the true God and eternal life. You see, when you know Christ, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt He can be trusted. You don't need to take matters into your own hands.

You begin in Christ to see how ridiculous an option lying is when you're united to one who is true. And your tongue becomes cleansed, and not because you try harder, not because you've engaged all of your will, but because you've been empowered by Him as you grow in the knowledge of Him. By faith, He empowers you unto righteousness. And you become convinced in your heart Obedience in truth, no matter what the outcome is, is the best option by far, because what He has for you is for your very best. And now the final words of the epistle, the first epistle of John, he says, little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Finally, that makes sense. That if you know Christ in that way, that makes sense. That in Christ and by the power of His Spirit, you now have a desire and the ability to obey His commands, to relinquish the idols and the lying tongue and the pride and the things of the flesh, to give them up because now you know Christ. Your eyes have been opened to know Him and to know His Word and as you mature in Him, He becomes your treasure. He becomes all the more lovely, all the more beautiful in your eyes.

That the world and everything in the world and all the sins of the flesh become abhorrent in your eyes. Lying is a non-option. Why would you lie when you have Him? What can I gain from all the lies in the world? What can I gain?

More money? If I need, if I'm in need, He'll provide for my needs. What would I gain? Reputation? He's the one who will preserve my reputation if my reputation needs to be preserved.

What will I gain by lying? Nothing. All that there is to gain, all the glories and the blessings in the heavenly realms, which is what my heart now desires in the knowledge He's the treasure. And to know Him, to know Him, is to know life. It's to have the abundant life.

So lying lips, being an abomination in God's eyes, become an abomination in your own eyes also. Because the glories of Christ are the very things that fulfill and satisfy the deepest longings of your own heart. We cannot give up sin by trying harder. We cannot give up lying by engaging simply our wills. Beloved, as with every sin, the only way we can have victory over that sin is to fix our eyes on Christ and to marvel at His beauty and His splendor and that He would be the treasure of our hearts and our souls.

As we engage with Him, as we commune with Him, as we commune with His Word and His Word abides in us by the power of His Spirit, He becomes all the more lovely and everything else that opposes Him becomes or is seen for what it is. It's yucky. It's ugly. It's darkness. It's death.

Lying lips is a problem. We see it throughout the scripture, but it's not only a problem for those who are reprobate, those who are pagans, those who directly oppose God beloved. It is a problem for even those who are in Christ. And the problem is that we allow our hearts and our affections to be taken by another. And that other is to believe the deception of the enemy.

The enemy's lie that spoken to Eve originally, surely you will not die. God is holding back. So we lie because we are pursuing the benefits of that lie. Pursuing the benefits of our own flesh. We believe the lie.

And so we use the lips that He's given us to speak falsely, deceptively. We ought to deny Him and look to Christ, the One who is true. Look to His Word and trust that those who abide in Him They are the ones who have abundant life. They're the ones who are empowered to overcome sin and they are the ones who are indeed the delight of God. Because they're found in Christ and every day they're maturing to be more and more like Christ.

The Old Testament saints are the same. We've picked on many of their sins and their fallings, not so that we can point back and say, look, we're better than them. That wasn't the intention in any way. They all were growing in maturity and sanctification as time goes on, as we are. And right now we can look at our own hearts and our own lives and we can recognize the sins that abide within one of those sins.

One of the sins that is still a temptation for all of us in this room is lying lips. But beloved, we just need to remember that whenever we choose to lie rather than to dwell in the truth of God, we're lacking trust in God. We're lacking trust in God and our eyes have been taken off the treasure of our soul, who is Christ. So the question we need to ask is this, is he our treasure? Does He fulfill every deepest longings and desire of our hearts?

Do we find true satisfaction in Christ? Will we take Him at His word and believe that He is the bread of life that satisfies us? Believe that He is the water, the spring, the everlasting spring of life that will quench our deepest longings? Do we believe it? If we do, we ought to fix our eyes upon Him, because the power to overcome sins like lying lips will only come as you dwell and savour the beauty of Jesus Christ.

Any other means will be temporal at best. Look to Christ. Trust in Him. And by God's grace, may we cleanse our lips so that we only speak truth because God is true. Let's pray.