I. INTRODUCTION

A. In our world, lying is considered to be commonplace as a necessary practice for life.

1. In business, lying is a primary principle of marketing products and services.

2. In politics, lying is an esteemed skill by which men and women ascend to power.

3. In general, lying is a way for persons deceive and manipulate one another and avoid truths that are unpleasant and undesirable to them.

B. While this may be the way of the world, it is not the way of God, for He considers lying tongues and lips to be abominations (Prov. 6:16-19; 12:22). As children of God, His way should be our way.

II. THE TRUTH ABOUT LIARS

A. What makes a person a liar?

1. A liar is a person who tells a falsehood deliberately for the purpose of deception.

2. A potent example of liars is found in Acts 5:1-11. Peter declared that Ananias and Sapphira had lied to the Holy Spirit when they deliberately misrepresented their gift. They intended to deceive the church and even God, and their penalty was immediate death by the hand of God.

B. What are the differences among lies, false witnessing, errors, fiction, figures, and failures to keep one's word?

1. We may be tempted to define every message that is not true as a lie and to call every person who speaks a false word a liar. However, it would be a mistake to do so.

2. As noted above, a lie is an intentional deception such as that told by Ananias and Sapphira.

3. False witnessing is giving a false account concerning the actions of others. It was this type of lying that was specifically forbidden in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:16).

4. An error in words is an inaccuracy, a mistake in judgment, or an unintended falsehood.

a. A person's words can be in error for several reasons, but errant words are not always lies.

b. For example, Apollos did not teach Christ with perfect accuracy until Priscilla and Aquila "explained to him the way of God more accurately" (Acts 18:26). He was in error, but he was never considered to be a liar.

5. Fiction is an imagined story that is not presented as truth nor intended to deceive. Those who write or tell fictional stories are not liars even though they say things that are not true.

6. A figure is a symbolic way of communicating a message.

a. The Scriptures often use figures to explain concepts, and these figures are not to be taken literally. Although figures are not literally true, they are not lies.

b. Parables and allegories are not historical accounts of actual events, but rather they are figurative stories that teach truth. Those who teach parables and allegories are not liars, and even Jesus taught many parables.

7. A failure to keep one's word is not necessarily a lie.

a. A broken promise may or may not have been intentional, and it may or may not have been within one's power to affect.

b. Whether a person who breaks his word is a liar depends on his intent and his circumstances. If he intended to deceive, or if he did not keep his word when circumstances allowed, then he may be considered a liar.

C. What is the source of lies?

1. Jesus answered this question plainly when He spoke to His enemies in John 8:44:

"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

a. Satan is the source of all lies, for it is impossible for God to lie (Tit. 1:2; Heb. 6:18).

b. Those who lie make themselves children of the devil by doing his will. This does not mean that "the devil made them do it," but it does mean that they have chosen to serve the devil and have made him their master to do his will.

2. Lies proceed from the hearts of those who have submitted to Satan. Notice Matthew 15:19 -- "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders."

D. What is the outcome of lies, and what is the destination of liars?

1. Many liars prosper in this world for a time, but their temporal gains come with grave spiritual losses. Notice these passages:

a. Proverbs 20:7 -- Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

b. Proverbs 21:6 -- The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death.

2. The Bible is very straightforward about the punishment that will come to liars. It will be certain destruction and ruin unless there is repentance and forgiveness.

a. Consider a few of the proverbs:

i. Truthful lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only for a moment (12:19).

ii. A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who tells lies will not escape (19:5).

iii. A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who tells lies will perish (19:9).

iv. A false witness will perish, but the man who listens to the truth will speak forever (21:28).

b. The final destination for liars is revealed in Revelation 21:8 -- "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

c. Concerning the "new Jerusalem," which is symbolic of the eternal home of the faithful, Revelation 21:27 says that "no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."

E. What if the liar was only joking?

1. Many liars are casual and thoughtless about their lies. They flippantly excuse their lies by claiming that they were merely joking and that it was harmless.

2. It may be a joke to the liar, but the damage he does by lying is serious. Notice Proverbs 26:18-19 -- "Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, 'Was I not joking?'"

3. The end of such liars will be the same as all other liars. "Their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8).

F. Are there any exceptions? Aren't there people in the Bible who lied and were blessed for it?

1. Some will point to Abraham (Gen. 12:13-19; 20:2), the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah (Ex. 1:15-20), Rahab (Josh. 2:1-7; Heb. 11:31), and other Biblical examples of faithful persons who lied. They will attempt to use these examples to justify the practice of lying or to reject the Bible.

a. In the case of Abraham and other similar examples, the Bible does not endorse their practice of lying but merely records what they did.

b. Concerning Shiprah, Puah, and Rahab, they deceived the enemies of God in order to save the lives of Israelites. Their actions were done in faith even though the mechanism of deceit was not approved by God. In their cases, it would have been far worse to be complicit in the deaths of God's people.

2. Those who attempt to use these examples either to justify lying or to reject the Bible are being intellectually dishonest. They know that the Bible consistently teaches against lying as a rule, and a few examples of exceptions do not change the rule.

III. CONCLUSION

A. Lying is an especially grievous sin for Christians, for we are to be people of the truth.

1. We are to speak the truth in love to one another (Eph. 4:15).

2. In Ephesians 4:25, we are given this instruction: "Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another."

3. In Colossians 3:9-10, we are given good reasons to cease from the practice of lying: "Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him."

B. Therefore, let us resolve to put away all lying, and let us pray the prayer of Psalm 120:2 -- "Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue." Amen, whether the lying lips and deceitful tongues belong to us or someone else.