Truth or Consequences
Exodus 20:16
Borrowed But Not Kept
A Jewish man was confronting a Christian man: "You know,
you people borrowed the 10 Commandments from us."
"Well," responded the Christian, "we may have borrowed
them from you, but we didn’t keep them!"
For the most part we, in the Christian circles, have not kept nor tried to keep the 10 commandments of we think that we "…live by grace…" and that it enough; and it is however there are benefits to following God’s principles where they were given in the Law or not.
We are going to address some of those benefits:
"Liar, liar! Pants on fire! Nose that’s as long as a telephone wire!" Probably all of us have either said that or had it said to us when we were kids. It’s a good thing that it’s not really true. Otherwise, many of us would be walking with a limp, burnt and in a lot of pain. Some churches might even come in both regular and extra crispy.
There is a movie line that I have loved, "truth is overrated" but that is not true.
Ill. One pastor was speaking on this subject and said, "Next Sunday I am going to preach on the subject of LIARS. And in this connection, I would like you all to read the 17th chapter of Mark." The next Sunday, the preacher rose to begin, and said, "Now, all of you who have done as I requested and read the 17th chapter of Mark, please raise your hands." Nearly every hand in the congregation went up. "Very good," said the preacher. "You are precisely the people I wish to speak to this morning. There IS no 17th chapter of Mark!"" – Bible Illustrator.
This morning we are going to address the 9th commandment, "You shall not bear false witness" and see how that breaking this one will hurt you and me.
When I was just a child, under 10 years old, I heard that there
is a polite way/ nice way to say things:
That a person was intoxicated instead of being drunk
Today we have many of those "politically correct"
terms:
Someone is loaded
Or smashed
They are 3 sheets in the wind
DUI instead of DWI or Drunk driving – I’m glad that
some commercials have corrected that
This morning’s subject is no different:
Little white lie
Small fib
Slip of the tongue
Gossip – close cousin
These might be polite/politically correct ways to state the obvious but the result is still the same – you are lying
Is there ever a time that lying is ok? How serious a matter
is lying?
Is it OK to lie about something if the consequences are not immediately
felt or the situation is bad enough that you want to shield someone
from the blunt of the problem?
Consider how serious lying would be in the following situations:
Firestone official: "The tires that you are riding on are
safe."
Presidential candidate: "I promise that there will be no
new taxes."
Trial witness: "I saw so and so with the group that robbed
the bank Friday night."
Airplane mechanic: "The engine you saw me working on will
last through your entire flight."
Groom: "I will be faithful to you alone until death."
God considers lying a very serious matter regardless of whether
the consequences of that lie are immediate and deadly or not.
(Proverbs 6:16-19)
Yet as much as God hates lying, I doubt that there is a church or any group of people where there is not a large group of liars present.
May I suggest that many of you have probably already lied to
someone this morning? See if you can find yourself anywhere on
this list.
When someone asks you on Sunday morning how you are doing, you
say "Fine".
Many times you are not fine but instead you have problems that
you will not share - (James 5:16) the church house should be the
place where we are the most free to be ourselves and admit our
weakness.
The policeman asks you, "Do you know how fast you were going?".
You answer, "No; was I speeding?"
Someone calls on the phone for you, and you step outside the door
so that your wife or child can say that you are not in at the
moment.
The last birthday that you counted was 15 years ago. - [Aunt Mary
"I’m 39 again"]
The fish gets bigger every time that you tell the story.
The cashier assumes that your children are under the age limit
that gets a free meal at the restaurant, and you don’t correct
the error.
On Sunday morning, your wife asks "Does this outfit make
me look fat" and you say, "You look beautiful"
in order to not hurt her feelings.
Why is it so important to tell the truth?
Truth evidences a change in your life - lies evidence that you are still a liar
Colossians 3:9-10, "Lie not one to another, seeing that
you have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the
new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that
created him:"
1 John 2:21, "I have not written unto you because you know
not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of
the truth."
In John 14:7, Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the "Spirit
of Truth". When you took Jesus as your Savior, you received
the Holy Spirit who now lives within you and is supposed to be
in control of your life.
If the Spirit of Truth is present and in control, what should
be flowing out of your life? [TRUTH]
Truth provides protection for you - lies provide a false sense of security
Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things
are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things." Ephesians
6:14, "Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with
truth…"
Isaiah 28:15, "…we have made lies our refuge, and under
falsehood have we hid ourselves:"
Truth creates a spirit of trust - lies create a spirit of deceit and hypocrisy
Did you ever notice that kids can be a little bit too honest?
Ill. Mrs. Fisher was recovering from surgery and got a card from
her fourth- grade class: "Dear Mrs. Fisher, Your fourth-grade
class wishes you a speedy recovery by a vote of 15-14." [Tales
of the Tardy Oxcart, p. 588]
The great thing about children is that since they are so honest
and have no pretense about them, you can usually trust that what
they say about what they think of you is the truth.
If you ask their opinion about something – if you ask them,
"How do I look?" they’ll tell you what they really
think rather than telling you what they think you want to hear.
That may hurt sometimes, but it creates a great level of trust.
When we get into the habit of telling the truth all the time,
we will get a reputation as an honest person.
Then when we ask, "How do I look?" they will be able
to respond, "You look like someone that I can trust."
Truth exposes danger to be avoided - lies open you up to destruction
1Timothy 2:4, "(God) wants all men to be saved, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth."
Do you know what the truth that God wants all men to know?
He wants them to know that they are sinners. And He wants them
to know that because of their sin, they stand condemned to eternity
suffering in hell.
It would seem that the nice thing for God to do would be to just
keep our dirtiness a secret and let us go on believing the lie
that we have told ourselves. The lie that says, "You’re
not OK and I’m not OK but that is OK".
The Bible records that Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way which
seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
The most unloving thing for God to do would be to allow us to
continue to believe that lie without challenging it. By telling
us the truth, God has given us a way to escape the dangerous situation
that we were in.
Ill. Who is Going to Heaven?
There is a growing tendency to believe that all good people, whether
or not they consider Jesus Christ to be their savior, will live
in heaven after they die on earth. In 1999 the public is almost
divided on the matter: 53% agree - 40% disagree. This represents
a significant change since 1992, when 40% agreed with this notion
and 1994 when 46% agree - 47% disagree.
Half of all adults (51%) believe that if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in Heaven.
SOURCE: From Barna Reasearch Online
How many of your neighbors are living under the false assumption
that they are going to heaven because they have been good or because
God is so loving that He wouldn’t let anyone go to hell?
Are you doing anything to correct that false assumption?
If we don’t warn them about the pit that is standing in front
of them, who will?
Truth sets a good pattern for your life (and for your family);
lies set an evil pattern for your life
"George Munzing, a minister, tells of a time he went to counsel a family about their son’s drug use. The father was distraught as he described the impact of drugs upon his relationship with his son. He said, "The thing that bothers me most about his being into drugs is the fact that drugs have made him a liar." Moments later the phone rang and his wife went to answer. She came back into the room with the message that the call was for the father. He told her, "Tell him I am not at home." Munzing then commented that drugs had not made the boy a liar; the father had." – Bible Illustrator.
What kind of an example are you to your kids when it comes to truth?
There is no such thing as a "white lie". All lies
are the same in God’s eyes no matter what the ramifications
of it is. Someone has well said that a little lie is like a being
little pregnancy - Everyone is going to know soon enough. [C.S.
Lewis]
The more you practice the art of lying, the better you become
at it and the easier it becomes to use it in any situation.
[Minty boy – Joey]
If you are faithful to tell the truth in the small issues, then you will establish a pattern that will enable you to tell the truth in the big issues too.
Truth frees (Jn 8:32 – ". . . truth will set you free."); the consequences of not telling the truth is that lies enslave
Mark Twain was right when he said, "The difference between a person who tells the truth and tells a lie is that the liar’s got to have a better memory." [Tales of the Tardy Oxcart, p. 344]
Lies trap you because you have to live in your own false little world that you have created. You can’t allow anyone to see the true you. You have to keep up the show and keep pretending that you’re that person that everyone loves you to be.
But truth frees you to enjoy all the benefits and promises that God has offered to you.
Truth identifies you with the Father - lies identify you with Satan (Jn. 8:44ff – Satan is the "father of lies")
John 14:6 – "I am the way, the truth, and the life …" Hebrews 6:8 "…it is impossible for God to lie…")
Have you ever thought about what it would be like if God could lie?
Think about some of the promises that He has made to you:
"…if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,
and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be
also."
"I will never leave you nor forsake you."
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved."
"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
children of God"
"…nothing shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus."
"My God shall supply all your needs…"
What if God could lie? What if all the promises were just a
bunch of lies?
You may have had persons who made promises to you:
take you to the movies
they would be faithful to you
they would always love you
then they broke their promises
God is very different from human being. The fact is that God
cannot lie. Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that he should
lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: has he said,
and shall he not do it? or has he spoken, and shall he not make
it good?"
When I fulfill my promises, when I tell the truth regardless of
the cost, it allows me to carry the same identification as God
– "Truth-teller", "Promise-keeper". Someone
who tells the truth all the time is someone who can be trusted.
Conclusion
When we tell the truth we are:
proving that we are protected by the truth from all danger
of lies
showing that we are someone who can be trusted
giving a pattern for our families to follow
showing that we are freed by the truth
showing that we are not the same person that we once were –
that we are now children of God
As I stated in the beginning, there are consequences to not telling the truth/lying; SO Truth or consequences which do you want?
Jimmy Glober