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All right. Thanks again for having me this evening, everybody. Thanks for showing up to church, being faithful church members. It's been a pleasure getting to know everybody and having fellowship throughout the day. And I look forward to hanging out again in the future. God willing, if I come back to preach again for you guys. My name is Brother David for those of you who don't know. Thank you, Pastor Thompson, for allowing me to preach. Let's just get right into the sermon. Title of this message this evening is Thou Shall Not Lie. Now, we just looked at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and notice that how it's phrased in the Ten Commandments is thou shall not bear false witness. So before I start out anything, I do want to separate the difference between lying and bearing false witness. We know that the Bible teaches that the law of God is perfect converting the soul, right? And that the Bible teaches great peace of they which love thy law, and nothing will offend them. So when we see the term bearing false witness, understand this. That is a lie nonetheless. But it is a lie under oath. It is a criminal act in the law of God to lie under oath. If someone is to be accused of a crime and you were to lie about whatever crime it is, that is what the Bible is teaching is bearing false witness. Today's term we use is perjury. And the criminal punishment for someone who would bear false witness is whatever you're accusing that person of would be inflicted unto you. So if someone were to accuse someone of a horrible, wicked sin that's worthy unto death, like something like adultery or blasphemy or working on the Sabbath or something like that, if it's found out that you're lying and that person never committed that sin, you would be put to death. If someone stole an ox or someone's material and the punishment for that would be to return fourfold or sevenfold depending on what it is, you would have to return fourfold or sevenfold depending on what it is. So I'm not going to be addressing bearing false witness under a criminal act. I'm just saying the general generic sin of lying. No one in here is misunderstanding what it means to lie. To bear false witness is to lie under oath. But what if you're not under oath? Can't you still lie? Isn't it still possible to just lie in general? And that is what I'm going to explain this evening is thou shall not lie. Turn to Proverbs six, if you would, and understand this. God is angry with the wicked every day and lying is I believe if not the worst sin, it's one of the worst sins imaginable. Why? Why do we, why do I say that? Well, think of it like this. When we go out evangelizing, preaching the gospel, don't we explain to them the punishment for sin? And don't we turn to Revelation 21 eight and don't we read that list of sins that explains but the fearful, I know I've been afraid, and the unbelieving and the the whoremonger and the murderer and the sorcerer and an idolater, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. What does that do? What does that tell people that everyone is damned to hell ultimately, because we have all had sin in some way, shape or form, and lying is a sin that really hits home with us. Everyone in here and probably in the world can be said to be guilty of lying. And there is a difference between lying and being ignorant on a matter. But we're going to go into that throughout the sermon. God hates lying. God hates liars. And we should be the same way. We should be not practicing in lies and lying. I'm going to go through a list of types of lies this evening. And how do you know God hates liars? Doesn't God just hate the sin and love the sinner? No, that's what Gandhi wants to say. God says that I'm angry with the wicked every day. And it says right here in Proverbs six, if you would, take a look down at your Bible at verse 16. The Bible teaches these six things that the Lord hate. Does he dislike? Does he bear with? He hates these things. He seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift to run to mischief, a false witness that spreadeth lies. And he that soweth discord among the brethren. I don't know if you notice, but it says twice lies. The very beginning it says a lying tongue. And at the very end it says a false witness that spreadest lies. So he's just drilling in the point that God hates lies and we should be the same way. And look, I can't emphasize this enough. I get that we are all sinners saved by grace. But if in your life, let me ask you this. When's the last time you consciously told a lie? Was it yesterday? A week ago? A month ago? We should not be known as God's children to be liars. And let's go through a list of what I believe to be some of the worst types of lies there are out there. But before I do that, lying, how many people do you think have gone to hell because they've been a murderer? Probably a lot. There's probably throughout history been a lot of people who have died and gone to hell because they murdered someone. But how many people do you think have died and gone to hell because they've been a liar? Probably a lot more people have gone to hell for never murdering anyone in their life, but they have lied. And we know that anyone who has ever made a lie, as it says in Revelation 20 at the very end of the passage, maketh a lie means you've just said one lie. If you lived a perfect sinless life, never did anything wrong, you're always doing the right thing, but you said one lie in your life, you are worthy of death. Thou shall not lie. We should not be practicing this sin. God is angry with it and we should be the same way. So the first type of lie I want to address is what's known as white lies, or some would call a little lie. What is a white lie? Well, we understand as Christians that magic and sorcery and magicians and wizards and all that stuff is wicked and damnable, right? Horrible. And the sorcerer shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. But doesn't the world say that there are witches that practice white magic, the good kind of magic, magic that is helpful to humanity? That never came from the Bible. That came from the world and Harry Potter books and stupid thoughts of man that says that when it comes to witchcraft and wizardry and sorcery, as the Bible calls it, that there's a good side to it. There's a white magic. Well, the same thing as what they're saying about lies. They're saying there's a white lie, that there's a lie that actually is a good thing. And the Jews believe this. If you look into ancient Jewish literature and the teaching of the Talmud and stuff like this, they actually suggest that ethnic Jewish and religious Jewish people lie to Gentiles and that's not sinful. There's nothing wrong with that. We're known as goyim or as cattle to them so it's okay for them to lie to us but they cannot lie one to another to their fellow brother Jew or Hebrew or Israelite. And like I said, it is absolutely wrong to lie, period, in the discussion whether you lie to your co-worker, whether you lie to your boss, whether you lie to your parents, your brothers, your sisters, fellow church members. It's absolutely wrong. You may never be put up on a pulpit or called out or you may never go to court and bear false witness but lying in general is just wrong. And white lies, a lot of people will justify their lies because it doesn't hurt someone. I mean, think about it. The analogy I picked, which a lot of people don't like, is let's say your wife's pregnant and she's picking up a little bit of weight and she comes to me and says, hey, do I look fat? Yes, you look fat. You're picking up weight. It's inevitable. Look, I'm not saying you're not beautiful but you picked up weight. I mean, what's the other statement? Don't ask questions you don't want answers to. And with that being said, we should be honest too. I'm known amongst my friends and family to be honest to a fault and I don't understand it but I get what they're saying. Jesus Christ was a man of truth and they hated Jesus Christ. Men love darkness rather than light lest their deeds should be reproved. So we need to be transparent, I believe, and like I said, honest to a fault. That doesn't make sense to me because you can't handle the truth. That's my problem. No, that's your problem because if you want to know the truth, the truth will make you free. So another thing that I'm going to speak on, which a lot of people disagree with me on, but I make no bones about it, I'm not a big fan of faking it till you make it. We've all heard this term, fake it till you make it. And I get what they're saying and I understand there could be a realm for someone, like let's say in the workforce, they are given a task and this is why personally I'm known to be honest to a fault because if a boss or a co-worker gives me a task and I genuinely don't know what I'm doing, I'm not going to pretend like I know what I'm doing, especially if I'm building something because if that thing comes breaking down, it's going to fall on me. So rather than pretending like I, what's the first part of the word? Faking. You're lying ultimately. You don't know what, and there's nothing wrong with saying I've worked on something like this before and I understand parts of it, but I don't, I've never done this, I don't know this. You know, I've actually been promoted and helped out because of that honest statement. My boss came to me, he's like, okay, well then so and so is going to show you how to do it so next time you know how to do it and because of that I get raises and stuff like that and this is what I mean about faking it till you make it. I'm not a big fan of that and you know, what is, like I said, faking it, you're lying till you make it. What if you didn't make it? Then you just lied and you know, the house came crashing down or you know, what if a brain surgeon faked it till he made it? You know, it's like that's not a big, there's a lot of room for error. We shouldn't be known as saying white lies or lies that are not harmful. You know, honey, you're picking up weight. I'm picking up weight. I want you to tell me if I'm looking a little unhealthy or something like that, you know, and that's just it. White lies, you know, people and especially Christians can really justify themselves with white lies because they're like, it's not that bad. No one's being hurt. I don't want to hurt their feelings or whatever. No, let's be children of truth. Big lies is the next one. Turn if you would to Mark. Now big lies, most cases, unfortunately, most adults don't have a problem with this, but some do. And a big lie is very obvious. It's a lie that doesn't convince anyone. No one is convinced of it. And most cases, children are known to fall into this category of making a big lie. You know, did you take a cookie from the cookie jar? No. With cookies all over their face and you know, the chair right by the refrigerator and the other son or daughter watching you eat the cookie. It's like that's an obvious lie. Now we need to have grace, but at the same time, big lies are just as horrible. We need to be not known to just be lying at all period. Whether someone knows it or not, it doesn't measure the amount of lie. It's whether or not you are not telling the truth. And a big lie that I'm going to address is what's known as sinless perfection. I don't know if you guys have heard of Jason Lee Peterson. This was a guy that Pastor Anderson, my pastor at Faithful Word Baptist Church has had an interview with, and he claims to be sinlessly perfected. That once he believed in Christ, he has never sinned. This is a big lie. Look, you have not convinced anyone that you are not sinning today. The Bible teaches that the thought of foolishness is sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Jason Lee Peterson thinks he's convincing the world that he's sinless, but none of us in here and no one in the world is convinced that he is sinlessly perfected. And anyone who believes in sinless perfection is a fool, is an idiot. But understand this, you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. And part of the next sin that I'm going to address is a convincing lie. And every good lie has a part of truth in it. Because here's the thing, when my spirit was quickened and I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit came and dwelled inside of me, in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, but all things are done away and all things have become new. When I sin, it is the old man that sin is, not the new man that sins. The creature that was born again and through salvation by faith, he doesn't sin. But I still have this flesh, therefore I am capable of sinning. So that's what it means to have sinless perfection. Look, Jason Lee Peterson is probably sinning more than us all. And people who are trying to make that claim that they're sinlessly perfect probably are some of the worst sinners out there. Now in Mark 10, we see an example of a person making a big lie, which I believe is very similar to sinless perfection. Did I have you turn to Mark 10? Mark 10. Mark 10 17 is the story of the rich young ruler. And let's take a look down at the Bible what it reads, And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeling to him and asked him, Good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness. There's that lie. Defraud not honor thy father and thy mother. And he answered him and said, Master, I'm sinlessly perfected. All these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus said unto him, beholding him, loved him and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, go thy way so whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and take up the cross and follow me. This rich young ruler really thought he was going to convince the Son of God that he kept the commandments all the way from his youth up. Look, Jesus wasn't convinced but you know what just to test him just to see how honest he really was because he said to fraud or bear not false witness. Now he's not under oath in a court but he's under oath in Christ's eyes right now. He's seen the Word of God himself and he says to him, okay, since you've done all this, say all that you have. Come follow me. And obviously if we look at the cross references of the same story in other gospels, we know he went away sorrowing because he had many riches. And this is a big lie. It's very obvious that he did not keep all the commandments from his youth up. And let's assume he did. Obviously, like these major sins, do not commit adultery, sin, and all these bigger sins, we know he has sinned in some way, shape, or form. Otherwise, Jesus would not need to have come and died for his sins. The next sin, or the next group of lies I want to go into is what's known as good lies. Now I don't mean good as in they're righteous lies. I'm saying good lies as in a convincing lie. You know, it may be that you go throughout your life and you lie to someone and you convince them and you convince everyone around you and everyone is swayed by your lie and you take it to the grave and no one ever finds you out in your lie. But you know who does know you lied? You know you lied and God knows you've lied. So a convincing lie is a lie that is very, anyone could believe it. And we understand as false prophets and false brethren crept into the churches unaware, they are wolves in sheep's clothing, they are inwardly ravenous wolves seeking whom they may devour, but outwardly they look like a sheep. Now, in the church we can only see one another by what comes out of each other's mouths, but can't the false prophet Judas was in the twelve disciples and when Jesus told them that one of you is going to betray me, they were all ready to accuse themselves before they were going to accuse Judas. Showing that these wolves that creep in are convincing, they can convince, they can sway people, they're really good at what they do and I believe they've done this. Why? Because they're following after their father Satan. Turn if you would to John 8. Any, oh my goodness I lost a word. You work with bugs. What's the term you work with? Yeah, anyone who works with that, exterminator knows, yeah I'm sorry I lost the term. Anyone that works with extermination knows if you want to get rid of rats you need to put out some rat poison and the rat poison is good looking food but with a little bit of poison mixed in. And I believe that the reason why God hates lying so much, why he's really upset with lies, because remember this in seven days, or six days God created the earth and the sea and everything that in him is and they said it was good till there was iniquity found in Lucifer to Satan himself right. Satan is known as the father of lies. He is the one that brought sin into the world. Hell was not designed for mankind, it was designed for Satan and those angels that followed after him. Satan came into the world and brought in sin ultimately and if you would take a look down at your Bible at John 8 verse 42 the Bible reads Jesus said unto them if God were your father and he's speaking to the Jews the religious Pharisees and Sadducees you would love me for I proceeded a forth and came from God neither came I of myself but he sent me why do you not understand my speech even because you cannot hear my word year of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own he is a liar and the father of it and because I tell you the truth you believe me not which of you convinced me of sin and if I say the truth why do you not believe me he that is of God heareth God's word there ye hear ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God the Bible is very clear that Satan is the father of lying and turn if you went to Genesis 3 when you open your Bible for the very first time and you start reading your Bible and you start in Genesis 1 all you're reading is creation when you read Genesis 2 you see creation and the creation of man then you hit Genesis 3 and what is the first sin we're going to see in the Bible well let's see Genesis 3 now the serpent that's the devil was more subtle than any beast of the field he is convincing which the Lord God made and he said unto the woman ye hath God said ye shall not eat of the tree of the garden so the first thing we see is the challenging of God's word it's not it's not necessarily that he lied at this point he's just challenging the thought did God say this and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die and the serpent said unto the woman ye shall not surely ye shall not surely die that is the first sin we see in the Bible is Satan lying to the woman saying that if you eat this tree you will not die now remember every convincing lie has a little bit of truth in it did Adam and Eve die that day when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they did not physically die but they spiritually died that day so he lied to her in a subtle way a convincing lie and and this is why I believe God is so horror so so upset with lying and we need to be vigilant and weary whenever we hear preaching whenever we hear someone you need to challenge my words me up here today telling you what the Bible says as it says in the Bible you need to study to show yourself approve a workman that need it not that any man teach them if you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you you don't need that any man teach you because the same anointing that's in me is in you and you can know the truth through studying the scriptures yourself and whatever any pastor tells you preacher tells you you need to study to show yourself approved to make sure what he's saying is true or false because here's the thing when men in the church yell amen to a statement amen what are they really saying they're agreeing to what's being told yes I agree with that what you said is true then they're giving their their their acceptance of the sermon so we need to always be cautious just in general because if Judas was going around with the twelve preaching the gospel to people we know that a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit therefore Judas could not have got anyone saved but he still went out and preached the gospel Jesus knew he was the devil from the beginning and his father he's following after him is Satan so we get it Dave why lies lies that are not that bad that's what you said it's a lie period big lies they're more they're more obvious but we shouldn't be known to have them convincing lies okay you may convince everyone here but God knows and you know but what about compulsive liars now this is someone who I mean listen to the first part of the word can pull so you have a you know you just have to do it and we all know people in our lives that compulsively lied to that child you know did you eat the cookie no I didn't eat the cookie I saw you eat the cookie you sure you want to go with that statement yeah mom said I could have the cookie mom walks in the room and says I didn't say you could have the cookie this guy's just been found out this kids has been found out twice I didn't eat the cookie mom said I can have the cookie now you have a choice when your mom confronts you I didn't say you had it well yesterday you said I could it's it this is horrible because when we go out evangelizing you know and I know people are compulsive liars and the lost don't understand they know not what they do and I don't have like a big like I don't have passages that I want to point out for compulsive liars but it's just that like we need to as Christians if we're found out in a lie just make it right if that kid was called out did you eat the cookie yes I did I'm sorry forgive and forget it's done did you eat the cookie no I did it I saw you eat it now you have another chance to make it right okay I'm sorry you caught me no mom said I could have it you're gonna continue in that lie you're gonna keep this thing going and compulsive liars will bury themselves and destroy their lives because they're living a lie ultimately but the next group of people are people who would be willing to even lie to themselves and this we we know people lie to themselves all the time you and and like I said in the beginning there's a difference between ignorance and lying passing passing around bad information is not a lie you don't know you're ignorant you don't understand these things Paul said that he worshipped the religious Pharisee and Sadducee religion ignorantly he says I did all these things ignorantly I didn't know of the messiah and all this stuff and we can't necessarily blame him but once he found the truth he understood that like okay yes that's the truth he was just passing around bad information but people who would lie to themselves know the truth but don't believe the truth and this is a scary realm to fall into because this is probably your reprobates your sons of the devil your people who are just twice dead you know that cannot be saved now obviously not in all cases but in most cases and in in the circumstances someone who could be saved we all the the number one example for someone who would be willing to lie to themselves would be a woman that had an abortion they may say that a doctor told them that that's just a blob of cells they may say that their school taught them that life doesn't happen in conception they may say whatever it is but they know that what is in their stomach is a child whether anyone convinces them or tries to convince them at the end of the day they know that they are with a child and that's just one example and this is why lying can lead you to all sorts of many sins the bible teaches you know that the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted of after they have earned from the faith piercing themselves through with many sorrows that if a woman would be willing to lie to herself and go with the act of committing an abortion and murder their son or daughter they may lie to themselves and be like nope that was just a blot of tissues i'm fine i'm not wrong there's nothing wrong with this that's a scary realm to fall into because god is not going to bless that sanction if someone does that and obviously if if a woman in here or ever in any of the churches that we go to have done this we need to forgive and forget those things which are behind and press towards the mark of the high calling but this is what i'm trying to get at lying will get you to do all these other horrible wicked things you know would to god a man of god would be able to tell them that what's in their stomach is a is alive it's it's a child and they would believe that so that they could you know keep life and with all that being said turn if you would to john a turn back to john 8 lying is a horrible sin we should not be lying because lying is ultimately going to lead us into worse sins jesus christ says i am the way the truth and the life and no man goes into the father but by me and in john 8 it this teaches us that we can continue in truth the bible reads in verse 31 then said jesus to those which believed on him if you continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free if you are a child of god and you are saved by faith through grace and you are an ambassador in christ's stead jesus says i am the light of the world but when he's gone he says now you are the light of the world if we are ambassadors in christ's stead he need to be children of truth so that people when they see a christian you know they know them to be honest in their life and you would say dave this is a milk of the word kind of thing don't lie we all know that lying is wrong and bad right but do you ever sell a white lie do you ever say a convincing lie you may convince everyone around you but god knows and we need to confess those things and be children of truth turn if you would to john 15 how do we continue in truth we need to study to show ourselves approved a workman that needeth not that any man show us rightly dividing the word of truth if you're in your bible every day you're going to know the truth it's going to set you free in john 15 26 the bible reads but when the comforter is come that's the holy spirit whom i will send unto you from the father even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the father he shall testify of me and he shall bear and he shall bear witness because he been with me from the beginning look at uh chapter 16 verse 13 how be it when he the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall speak of himself or she shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to come if we pray for the holy spirit to show us the passages to show us the scriptures then we're going to be children of truth the holy spirit is going to guide us into our lives into truth because as we grow up you know we don't as the bible teaches that information is going to abound in the end times there's going to be a lot of information in the you know technological revolution that's occurring there's a lot of information but there's a lot of bad information we use the bible as our screen to go into the world to know the truth and with that being said we need to not be known as liars thou shall not lie and let's continue in following jesus christ in being children of truth the spiral heads and have a word of prayer dear heavenly father thank you so much for this church thank you so much for everyone here we just ask that you help us throughout our week that we continue serving you seeking you fellowshipping with one another and that we be children of light and that we disdain sin as you disdain it and in jesus christ name we pray amen