Lie Not Ephesians 4:17-25 & Proverbs 12:22

I've often said it before, and I'll say it again

today. We are very blessed in our congregation.

with worship of the Lord. And I appreciate those

of you who, like me, try to just focus on God

during that time and just kind of really let

God do what God wants to do. And I'm grateful.

And when I hear your voices behind me, that encourages

me. And I'm grateful for that. And I'm grateful

that we have a God of whom there is no end to

our ability to declare His goodness. There is

no end. Amen. So, real quick, before we kind

of begin, before we kind of begin, we are going

to talk today about four of seven. You recall

that I said to you that I was in the process

of sort of like working a riddle, if you will,

and today's clue toward that riddle is four of

seven. Now, if you have it, Once you figure out

the riddle, the answer to the riddle, you can

text it to me. Don't blurt it out, though, because

other people might still be working on it. You

may figure it out today while we're going through.

I don't know. But we are over halfway through.

This is the fourth week, and today's clue is

four of seven. So bear that in mind, and we'll

get there in a few weeks. If nobody figures out

the answer before we get there, I will give it

to you in a few weeks. So we talk about lies.

You know, the world has a different kind of a

view on lies. When I was a kid, there were times

where I just didn't want to do my homework. You

know, you get an assignment and it's kind of

hard. Now, this was not because I wanted to play

video games. There was no such thing as video

games at that time. Pong was invented when I

was like in junior high. It was the first go

round of video games. And it really was the internet

was invented while I was in school. Everybody

was like, oh, that was invented. I didn't know

there wasn't always a thing. But yes, it was

invented while I was in school. So I never had

a computer. I was 16 years old when I bought

my first ever computer. And we bought Pong and

played it for a while and then got bored of it

when I was like 10 or 12 or something. So it

wasn't for video games. It was more for playing

yard. It was for building things or destroying

things sometimes. It was for wrestling. It was

for football. And I never did any of those things

for the school. But it was for all of that. and

fresh air blowing through my hair as I rode my

bike as fast as I could down the neighborhood

streets and things like that. I just didn't want

to do my homework sometimes. And so my mom said

to me, she loved me very much, and she saw that

I didn't want to do my homework, and I got up

in the morning to get ready for school, and I

had not done my homework, and she said, well,

just go to school and tell your teacher that

a kid on the bus took your homework when you

were on the way home, and then she'll give you

another copy, and then you can do it later. And

I said to my mom, I said, now, but isn't that

a lie? And she said, well, you've got to understand

this about lies. There is a time to lie and a

time to not lie. And this is just a little white

lie. It's just going to give you one extra day

to do your homework, and then you will do it.

I will make sure you will do it. And then you'll

get it turned in, and you'll not lose points,

and everything will be fine. And she said, this

is a little white lie. Now, that was not the

first time that I was taught. to lie in the world,

but it is one that sticks out in my head. And

from that point on, I remember making that excuse

for myself. I would say, I don't know, thousands

of times, well, this is just a little white lie.

And before we say that we would not, realize

that there are things where people will ask you

your opinion. And the comedian always says, if

a woman asks you, does this dress make me look

fat, right? Lie. It doesn't matter if it's true

or not. I always say, if it does not make her

look fat, then definitely say that, but go beyond

that and say it is. stellar, right? But don't

overdo it because then they'll know that kind

of thing. And so there's a big joke about lie

in all of creation. So the question is, what

does God say about lies? And on the surface you

might say, well, I already know what God says

about lies. In fact, you might say that I know

that the Ten Commandments says thou shalt not

lie. And you would be wrong. The Ten Commandments

do not say thou shalt not lie. What? In fact,

there is only one of the Ten Commandments that

directly addresses this issue. And it is a commandment

about what? False testimony, false witness, right?

Which is a governmental and community command.

And also an atrocity, don't get me wrong. But

it is not about the simple lying. In fact, did

Jacob lie? Did Abraham lie? Did David lie? Name

somebody in the Bible as a main character that

you can think of, that you can think of that

they never lied. Well, there are some. And there

are some of the best. But most of the big names

that we know from the Bible lied. Noah never

lied as far as we know. Enoch never lied as far

as we know. There were probably others. Did Adam

lie? Kind of. He at least deceived a little,

right? Did Eve lie? Did Eve lie to God when God

came and asked her what happened? No, she did

not. She said, that serpent tempted me and I

gave in and I ate. But did she lie to the serpent?

She did. She told the serpent that God said something

that he didn't say, right? So we have lots of

characters in the Bible that lied. So what I

want to do today, and it's going to go by fairly

quickly, so your note taker be right on it, right?

Because each one is not very long, and there's

not a lot of them. So the lightning point today

says creativity or a lack thereof applied to

the truth. So when you apply creativity to the

truth, that could be to carry the truth, or it

could be to perfect the truth, or it could be

to make the truth look a little bit better, or

whatever. Creativity or a lack thereof applied

to the truth to create a lack thereof as a pathway,

a lack thereof, meaning a lack thereof the truth,

as a pathway to worthlessness. Now, I would hate

to say to anybody that they are worthless or

that they have the state of worthlessness, but

that is not exactly what that says. So let's

dig into it, shall we? We mustn't make light

of lies or call them little white lies or anything

like that, but what does God say about it? So

first of all, we're going to go to, grab your

Bibles if you would, and go to Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

4. Amen. This is God's word. Okay? So whatever

I get right or wrong from here forward, whatever

we read from the Scripture, if God uses it to

adjust your heart, that's exactly the way it's

supposed to go. Okay? Ephesians 4, beginning

in verse 17, says this. It says, So this I say,

and affirm together with the Lord. In other words,

I'm saying this, and also God is saying this.

We're together, unified on this. Be sure that

we know that we're talking about what God says

here. Okay? No doubt about that. Now, in the

letters, you will find times where Paul wrote

and said, not I, but the Lord, or not the Lord,

but I. So, and I've done that too when I'm talking

to people. I can't say that God is saying this,

but this is what my impression is, or this is

what I think of the overall from Scripture. This

is basically what I think it says, you know,

kind of thing. And then I would have to research

more if I want to be specific. And I'm avoiding

lying by saying, this is what God says, right?

So we don't do that unless it's what God says.

But here, Paul is clearly writing, this is what

I say, this is what the Lord says. We affirm

together that you walk no longer as Gentiles

also walk in the futility of their mind. In other

words, in their head, they're figuring it out.

You could go back to saying they're doing what

they think is right, right? So if every man does

what's right in his own eyes, we know that that's

a system that fails. It's failing right now in

the world. Every man's doing what is right in

his own eyes, and it's falling apart. It's destroying

lives. It's literally destroying lives in the

form of legalized murder. It's destroying relationships.

It's destroying the ability to have more children.

It's destroying the population of the world.

It's just going on and on. People are doing what's

right in their own eyes. Even inside a system

that is free and just, like the American democracy

is supposed to be. They are working in their

own heads to do what they think is right and

it is not good. So he says that you would walk,

that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles

also walk in the futility of their mind. In other

words, don't try to determine what's good or

bad or truth in your own head. That is not the

standard. And he's saying you're moving away

from that. Verse 18 says they're being darkened

in their understanding. So the truths that they're

standing under are really ignorance. So they

go, oh, I got this. And they latch onto something

and they might for years live according to that

something. Like a little white lie is okay. And

you latch on to live with that for years only

to find out when we face God that that was all

ignorance. It was all wrong. They are excluded

from the life of God because of the ignorance

that is in them, because they don't know, because

they have not latched onto, if I may say this

without getting ahead, onto the simple truth,

the simple reality, because they are looking

for something different, something more creative,

something better, something more far -reaching,

something more deep, something more intentional

or something less complicated, whatever, because

they can't latch onto the simple truth. They

are excluded from the life of God. And it says

this happens because of the hardness of their

heart. And we know Ezekiel says that the stone

heart removed and a flesh heart replaced, but

a person's heart is considered hard when they

do not know the Lord, when they're not being

worked on and in by the Lord. And so because

of that, they are excluded from the life of God.

And then it says in verse 19, and they having

become callous. So in other words, they realize,

hey, the world is hard. It's difficult. And they're

not asking themselves anymore, what is supposed

to come out of this? Or when all creation testifies,

what is the message I'm supposed to be getting?

They're just kind of static. They're okay. They're

not changing. They're not. They're not looking

for something like the life of God, for example.

They've given themselves over to sensuality for

the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

Three kind of big words there, but basically

it means doing these things, and there's a reason

they're doing things, and it's because they're

guided by their senses. They're going after that

which they want in their senses, and then because

of that, they get into every kind of impurity.

That's when you're not clean and useful to God,

and greediness, that's when you're taking something

for yourself, whatever it might be, your own

goals, etc. Verse 20 says, but you did not learn

Christ in this way. In other words, you didn't

get it in your head. You didn't ascend to it

as an idea. You didn't twist it to be right.

You didn't put it under a microscope and turn

it around 17 ways and finally latch on to Jesus.

That is not how you came to Christ. Instead,

he says, or not instead yet, but you did not

learn Christ in this way. If indeed you have

heard him. and have been taught in him just as

truth is in Jesus. In other words, if you really

got Jesus, you didn't get Jesus that way. You

got Jesus another way. And we talked about that

in the discipleship moment where we said it is

by faith through grace. And so if it is by faith

through grace, you cannot ascend to it by any

patterned plan. That's the problem with when

we set out to talk about evangelism and we set

up the ABCs of salvation or the Roman road or

even churches without fear. When we do those

things, we have to be careful that we realize

the gospel is more like a living beast of goodness

than it is a pattern of certain words that you

might say. There are literally no words whatsoever

that you could ever say to another person to

get them saved. And so if you think, well, I've

got to wait until I can say the right words before

I start talking to people about Jesus, you're

completely missing the boat because it doesn't

have anything to do with what you say. What we

need to do is let God say through us whatever

he wants to say through us. And it may not even

make any sense. You have to walk up to somebody

and say, you know, snapping turtles will hurt

your hand. And you're like, not talking about

food, not talking about animals, not talking

about snapping, not talking about pain, nothing.

They're talking about football or talking about

politics. And you might have to walk up and just

break into a conversation about snapping turtles.

And that might be what it was. You know, I had

a snapping turtle when I was a kid. It really

meant a lot to me. And that snapping turtle was

named Mary after Mary, the mother of Jesus. And

I remember we used to go to church back then,

and now you're talking about Jesus. Why? Because

you brought up snapping drills. It doesn't matter

what you say. You just say whatever it is that

God wants you to say, and then that will start

the ball rolling for them to believe. But really,

it's about whether or not they believe and receive

the grace of Jesus. He's going to do it. People

get saved without hearing it from another human

being. It happens. It's rare, but it happens,

right? People get saved. They read it in the

Bible and start thinking, I think, and then they

go and ask, and somebody explains the details

to them, right? I'm reading from the scroll of

Isaiah. Do you understand what you're reading?

Well, how can I understand what I'm reading unless

somebody explained it to me? Climb on up here

and explain it to me. People are searching for

something. They're twisting the truth. They'll

never quite get there unless God does something.

But the bottom line is, we didn't learn Christ

by certain words. If there was a trigger phrase

or an illustration in the sermon that you got

saved under or the guy who witnessed to you at

the store or at the bank or wherever it was that

you got saved. If there was a trigger phrase

or something that was there in that that got

you thinking about maybe you want to be saved,

those words did not save you. They're not special.

They're just words. Yes, God used them. And yes,

it brought you to a place of saying, I'll submit,

I'll accept Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

But if you would walk around then going, look,

if I just say the right thing to this person,

if I can figure out their trigger phrase, then

they'll be open to accept Christ. You have missed

the idea of salvation. You've missed the idea

of believing in Jesus Christ and the sacrifice

that was made and receiving the grace of God.

You did not learn Christ that way. Not indeed

if you have heard him and have been taught in

him just as truth is in him, Jesus Christ. Notice

that that truth in him is a big deal. Jesus said,

I am the way and the truth and the life. And

we could go there when we're talking about lying,

but it's more than that. It doesn't really mean

that. He's not talking about... Like, I am truth,

I don't lie. It's something completely more than

that. And we're not going to go there and look

at that today. But notice that truth is in Jesus.

That's a problem for the liar. That's a problem

for the person who's willing to creatively adjust

the truth to fit their circumstances, isn't it?

Because if truth is in Jesus and you're a liar,

or you're willing to creatively adjust the truth

to fit the circumstances, then in that moment

in time, you can reasonably say you're not in

Jesus. And that's a problem. Because the one

who abides in Jesus, Jesus abides in him, and

eternity is there. Verse 22 says that in remembrance

to your former manner of life, you lay aside

the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance

with the lusts of deceit. So there's two major

pieces here. Obviously... We're not talking about

salvation or being born again, but it's a very

real thing. We do get saved. We do let the old

us pass behind. My old me passed behind, and

it was a couple of years, two and a half probably,

before I was able to give up the habit of white

lies, if you will, some of which were not very

white or small at all. And so it took a while,

and sometimes it takes that. Sometimes it takes

something like this to look at what does God

say about lying to make you go, okay, I'm going

to stop and think about this. Your former manner

of life goes away. You lay aside the old self.

Notice he says, which is being corrupted. That

means he's messed up in accordance with the lusts

of deceit. There are desires that go along with

lies or deceit, and they come hand in hand, right?

Like wanting to turn your assignment in one day

late because you just wanted to play outside.

A little white lie will suffice to get that done.

Not wanting to get in trouble with your parents

because you were on the phone half an hour or

two later because you text something online that

you shouldn't have or because you did something

with your boyfriend or girlfriend that you shouldn't

have. So a little white lie facilitates staying

out of trouble. And the greed is me. I want to

stay out of trouble. I see a possible future

and I want to avoid it. And the lust of deceit

is how easy it is to either just completely fabricate

a lie. And you know these people that do that,

and the lie is like 74 steps long. So it's so

elaborate. And the old saying is, oh, what a

tangled web we weave when at first we practice

to deceive. So the elaborate liars get into this

big, long, elaborate thing. But how easy it is

to just tell a little lie, or we think it's a

little lie, it's not elaborate at all, that gets

us past that moment in time in which we would

be in trouble. Were you up a half an hour later

than your bedtime last night? Is that why you're

tired this morning? Oh, no, I wouldn't do that.

I don't do that. Okay, but you were, but you're

lying about it. Now, there's no way of confirming

it, right? And this is the thing that I learned

about lies. As long as there is no one alive

that can know that you're lying, it's not a lie.

That's what I believed when I was not saved and

for a long time after. Frankly, if no one can

know, right? The old saying is, police officer

didn't see it, I didn't do it. But you did do

it, whatever it was, whether he saw it or not,

you did do it. And God always sees, and again,

not to run on a head, but the bottom line is

our old self was like that. We wanted what we

wanted and we were going to do what we needed

to do to get it. That's what the lust of deceit

is about, verse 23. And it says, and that you

be renewed in the spirit of your mind. So remember,

we had our mind at work, twisting things, being

creative, embellishing, right? So we were improving

the truth, not always lying. Sometimes we were

just improving the truth to make it more attractive,

right? So we were doing a good deed for the truth,

not a bad deed. We weren't hurting the truth

at all in our own minds. We were just making

it a little bit better. So our minds were acted

to do that and pursue those things. And now he

says you're renewed in the spirit of your mind.

And you put on the new self. So now there's a

new you that does this completely differently,

which in the likeness of God has been created

in, wait for it, righteousness. We do the right

thing. Holiness, which means we're going to be

more like God. We are not like the world. So

if the world embraces lies in some sense, we

do not. We are holy. We are different from the

world. And of the truth. Therefore, and this

is what we came for. We came for the therefore

today. And it is this. Therefore, because all

of that that I just read to you and broke down

to you is true. We could have skipped it and

just got this verse. But I wanted you to see

that therefore was all of that, 17 through 24.

Therefore, laying aside falsehood. Falsehood

is deceit. It is deceptiveness. It is lies. It

is anything that allows somebody else to believe

something else about you that is not true or

about circumstances or about somebody else that's

not true. It is falsehood. It is lies, deceit,

trickery, anything like that. Laying aside falsehood,

speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor,

for we are members of one another. And so these

verses very clearly say that it is time. If you

have been saved, it is time. It is time to put

away any form of falsehood, any form of deception,

any form of lies. And we're going to talk about

a few of the most common forms for people to

still be kind of wrapped up in here in a second.

But the bottom line is, the word says, if you

received Christ this way, if you have known him,

then there is no place in you. There is no place

in you. There is no place in you for falsehood,

for lies, for deception. No room left for that.

Because in Jesus is only truth. And how much

of you personally do you want Jesus to fill?

100%. And so if you leave room in your life for

lies of any kind, to deception or falsehood of

any kind, then you chase Jesus out of that room.

And what do we know about the occupation of Jesus?

It begins with the belief and the receipt. I

believe and receive. And when he comes in, what

kind of commission do you make? Do you give Jesus?

I believe in you. I see you die on the cross

for my sins. I'll give you 82 % of who I am.

90%. Not good enough. He still won't come. I'll

give you 94, 96, 99, 99 .9, 99 .9 repeating.

When does Jesus come? When it's 100%. And so

if you can honestly say that you said, I will,

Jesus. I will surrender my life to you, let you

lead, be Lord, pay for my sins, forgive me, and

turn me into a minister of reconciliation. If

you said you will do that, short of one, one

billionth of one percent, Jesus didn't come.

But could you embellish the truth? Could you

believe a lie? Could it be twisted just so that

you could think that if you prayed a certain

prayer, did a certain thing, that it was done

a certain way, that you would be tricked into

believing that you're something that you're not?

According to the word of God, that's possible.

To support, the New Testament position where

he says, therefore laying aside falsehoods, speak

truth, each one of you with his neighbor, for

we are members of one another. In Proverbs 12,

22, it says it like this. So this is a long time

before the gospel as we know it. Now the gospel

goes to Genesis 1, right? But the gospel as we

clearly know it, Jesus died on the cross for

sins and it's believe and receive or else, right?

That gospel did not exist then. They were looking

forward to the way that God would make, and it

existed clearly. The gospel existed clearly that

God would make a way, and they needed to look

forward to it. And the prophets began to get

pictures of the crucifixion. They began to get

pictures of the sacrifice. They knew that he

would be a sacrificial lamb, but not everybody

knew. It wasn't common for everybody, hence the

prophets were so busy pushing it to try to get

everybody to understand that that was coming.

But this is what Solomon writes as an observation

to the way all creation works. Amongst the lost

and the saved, he says this. He says, lying lips

are an abomination to the Lord. You know, when

God made creation, he looked at everything, including

Adam and Eve's lips, everything, including their

lips. And he said, it is good. But now some things

inside creation have become an abomination to

the Lord. So God looks at the lips of a lying

person, taking it literally, and says, this is

an abomination to me. That this person would

speak this way. that they would be allowed to

speak this way. It is an abomination to me. He

says, but those who deal faithfully are his delight.

It's a pretty broad swing. So here is a few ways

that as a Christian, as you're serving the Lord,

it's possible that you might still be wrapped

up in the lust of deceits and lying. The first

one is dressing up a good intention. Jesus said,

but let your statement be yes, yes, or no, no.

Anything beyond this is evil. If you've ever

had to add parameters to what you were saying

in order to get somebody to believe you, you

know what we're talking about. Just say you'll

do it or say you won't. Just say you'll be there

or say you won't. I have a brother, friend of

mine. I love him dearly. He's not my biological

brother, Christian brother. And over the years

that I have known him, we've become good friends,

brothers in Christ. I'm not going to name him

because I didn't ask his permission. to use this

illustration. But I have now realized that my

brother has a habit. His habit is he is good

at keeping his commitments. That's a good habit,

is it not? He's super good at keeping his commitments.

Like he says he's going to be there, he's going

to be there. You can trust he'll be there. But

when he knows that there is a chance that he

will not keep his commitment, he says, I will

probably be there. I will probably be there.

So when you say you will probably be there, that

is something different than yes or no. And it

doesn't say, let your yes be no. Your yes be

yes and your no be no and your probably be most

of the time. Or your yes be yes and your no be

no and your probably be almost never or almost

always, right? It doesn't say that. It says let

your yes be yes and your no be no. And so there

is this probably that happens between me and

my brother. And guess what? So my brother has

said to me about five times, I will or we will

or whoever was involved will probably do that

or probably there. And you know how many times

that my brother has said probably that he actually

showed up and did what he said he would do? None.

Zero. Five times or so he has said probably and

five times or so he did not. It is not unheard

of for Christians to get wrapped up in this.

I understand if I make a commitment, I have to

keep my commitment. That as a believer, as a

follower of the Lord, if I say I'm going to do

this, I have to keep it. So here's what I'm going

to do. Even though it's probably right. I know

it's probably right for me to do it because I'm

saying probably. I wouldn't be saying probably.

I would say unlikely. It's unlikely that we'll

be there. If I thought it was most likely not

the right thing to do, then I would say it is

unlikely that we'll be there. But I know that's

not the case. I'm not saying unlikely. So it's

not that it's a thing that I think I shouldn't

do. It's a thing that I think I should do. Or

otherwise, I wouldn't say probably, right? If

I didn't think it was a thing I should do. So

if you know it's probably a thing that you should

do, and you say probably, and then you don't

do it, you probably lied. You took the truth

and you twisted it. You added it. You embellished

it. You perfected it. You perfected the truth

so that you could not be caught lying. That's

what you did. Did you lie? No, because you only

said probably, right? So now I didn't lie. And

that's what happens. We take the truth and we

add a little bit. We embellish a little bit.

We make it just right. Sometimes we say, sometimes

we say, if the Lord so wills. Oh, now watch out

because now our not doing what we said we would

do could very easily be hung on God. that woman

you gave me, she gave me of the fruit and I ate,

right? So now we say, if the Lord so wills. But

then that means in the meantime, between whatever

you said, if you say the Lord so wills, which

scripture says we should say that, we should

admit that it's only going to happen if God wants

it to. But if you say the Lord so wills, then

you need a guarantee. You need to be devout and

faithful and following the Lord. And if it's

one day or five days or seven days, whatever

that period of time is, if the Lord so wills,

you darn well better show up because if not,

you lie. You lied and said, if the Lord so wills,

I'll do it. But then the Lord did so will, and

you didn't do it. Not only that, but you now

have lied to the person because if the person

believes you, you now lied that it was God's

fault. You said you would show up and do that

or do whatever, keep your commitment, and then

you didn't. So now it is God who told you to

not do it, even though God actually told you

to do it. If you're going to lie about something,

don't lie about what God does. That's pretty

much too far, right? That's a bridge too far.

But we're not trying to do that. We're just trying

to embellish the truth a little bit. So that

we can be sure. I just want to be sure. I'll

probably do it. But I don't know that I'll do

it. So I just say probably. Just say yes or no.

Jesus said, let your yes be yes, your no be no.

Anything beyond these is of evil. That's what

he said. It's bad enough to say yes, yes, no,

no. But he went so far as to say anything beyond

this, anything beyond those two things is evil.

Probably has a very good likelihood of being

evil. Maybe. Very likely to be an evil. You are

a creation of God. You are a child of God. Should

you own tomorrow and take it away from God? No.

Should you say if the Lord so wills? Yes. But

then if the Lord so wills, you darn well better

do it because anything else is evil. Sometimes

people fall into this because the world accepts

it. Accepts it. Will you speak what is unjust

to God and speak what is deceitful to him? That's

Job speaking. So these men... came and they accosted

Job. Job is suffering horribly. He's lost almost

everything he ever had that was good. And the

men are coming to him and they're basically accusing

him. And they're talking about how he's done

these wrong things. And then in chapter 13 of

the book of Job, Job refutes them. And he says,

would you? Would you speak what is unjust for

God and speak what is deceitful for him? Those

are talking on behalf of God, correcting me for

something that I did wrong. You're saying I did

wrong. And I'm telling you, I didn't do it. I

didn't do what you said I did. And this is what

we do. We go out into the world and we say to

the world what the world wants to hear. I'll

give you an example. And I'm stepping on toes.

I apologize in advance. I went out witnessing

a young man, brother in Christ by his profession.

And he and I were the only two people who showed

up. We opened the whole church. This was over

on Main Street. We were the only two people who

showed up. Now, it wasn't a weekday afternoon.

We knew there wasn't going to be a lot of people

that could come. But there were a few others

that might have. But nobody did. It was just

him and I. We went out walking the streets looking

for people to tell about Jesus. That was our

whole point. We're walking the streets looking

for people to tell about Jesus. And we got there

a number of times to tell people about Jesus.

I think we had 13 people pray to accept Christ.

But one of those witness encounters, we were

standing in front of a house that looked like

it was deserted. I mean, it looked like it was

the previous home of a hoarder, but was deserted.

That's what it looked like. It had so much stuff,

but there was nobody living there. But we knocked

on the door, and we were knocking on every door,

and we probably led to it. So he was leading

during this encounter, and I'm standing behind

him praying that this person would get saved.

And the person was saying, I don't believe, I'm

not interested in getting saved, whatever. And

this is what he said. He said, well, we're just

out here today offering a prayer of salvation.

Would you like to pray along with me? Now, the

guy's already said he doesn't believe in Jesus.

He doesn't believe in God. He doesn't want to

be saved. But he said, we're just offering a

prayer of salvation. Would you like to pray along

with me? And the guy said, sure. And so he led

and he prayed what was kind of a heartfelt prayer

of salvation. And the man prayed the same words

that he prayed. Allah. One by one after two by

three or whatever. Right? After. And after it

was done. The guy who was with me witnessing

looked him in the face and he said, now you're

saved. Do you need a Bible? How can we help you?

Are you going to church? And the guy said, well,

thank you very much. And he went away. Now, was

that guy saved? Where was the faith? Where was

the desire to come to Jesus Christ or come to

the Lord? Was there something there? I've seen

it done at evangelistic block parties back when

I was a youth leader many years ago where they

stand up in the microphone and they would say,

all you have to do is believe. and receive the

free gift of salvation. It's already paid for

you. And they would use an analogy like, it's

in the mail, but you got to sign for it or something

like that. You just got to receive. All you got

to do is receive it. If you just receive it,

right? You can receive it, put it in your closet

until you're older and then use it. That would

be fine. You just need to receive it. Does that

sound like salvation to you? So what we're doing

is we take the truth that we believe and then

we wrap it in a package that will be acceptable

to the world. This looks like I'm always on time.

I'm a hard worker. I don't cuss on the job. I

show up. I'm a pretty good person. Everybody

knows I'm a pretty good person. They don't know

necessarily that I'm a leader in my church or

a servant of my church or anything like that.

I've never talked to them about Jesus. We talk

about all kinds of stuff. I don't lie to them.

I don't cuss at them. I don't give them bad advice.

But I've never shared the gospel with them. Why?

Because they don't want to hear it. So you're

packaging the single most important truth that

ever has existed under the sun since Adam and

Eve fell, really before that even, the single

most important truth you're packaging it in.

I'm a nice guy. I care about you. I'm a hard

worker. I'm someone you can depend on. I'm honest.

You're packaging it in that because those things

are respected in the world. But for those who

are lost and dying, the cross stinks. Jesus smells.

Jesus is bothersome. The gospel brings conviction.

And you don't want to stink or smell or bring

conviction. So you're telling a lie with your

actions that the single most important thing

to you does not need to be mentioned. That's

crazy. And that's what we get into. We fall into

it because the world accepts a certain thing

and we want to be accepted by the world. But

Job would say, will you speak what is unjust

for God and speak what is deceitful for him?

And he goes on to say, will it be well when he

examines you? Watch out, baby. The lies that

you have been telling, the deceit that you have

been living in, whether it be, oh, I took the

garbage out. I swear I did. Oh, I didn't leave

that there. I know I didn't. I showed up on time.

I'll probably be there. I love you. I'm not going

to tell you about Jesus because I don't want

you to be offended with me, but I love you. I

care about you. You're my best friend. And then

there's no Jesus? Not, you're my best friend.

I know you're going to hell, but I want you to

be my best friend anyway. And then I'm going

to go to heaven when that time comes after that

we can't really be best friends anymore. But

in the meantime, we can be best friends for the

next 60 years and I'll never say anything to

offend you because I love you. You cannot love

somebody without sharing the gospel with them.

It is not possible because the gospel is the

epitome of love. It is the perfect representation

of love. There is no love without the sacrifice

of Jesus in it. And you can't make that sacrifice

yourself. But what you can do is stop embellishing

the truth. And if you do not, will it be well

with you when he examines you? Or will you deceive

him as one deceives a man? Will you say to God,

well, you know, God, I was going to tell everybody

about Jesus. I was going to live not deceitfully.

I was going to live outside falsehood. I was

going to put it away and treat all people as

brothers and sisters and lead them to you and

hopefully they get saved. I was going to do that.

But the kid on the bus, you know, he ate my pride.

He affected my self -esteem. He damaged my courage.

Whatever. He didn't really, they didn't want

to hear. There was nobody to get saved. There

was nobody around me who would hear the gospel

for me to save them. Is that what you're going

to tell God? When God asks, why were you embellishing

the truth? Why were you packaging it in a way

that the world would accept it? That's what's

happening in open and affirming churches. I may

get hate mail for this one. People say, we love

them. We have to love them despite their lifestyle.

If you love them despite their lifestyle. and

do not present the actual gospel of Jesus Christ,

but rather wrap it in something that they will

tolerate, wrap it in something that they will

not get upset about, wrap it in something that

they'll be able to keep coming and being there

and being involved and serving and giving their

money, right? Then you're a liar. You're just

lying to them. That's all you're doing. And you're

doing it literally every day, all day, as you

live before them, saying that Jesus is somebody

who's not. Will it be well when he examines you?

Or will you deceive him, that's God, as one deceives

a man? 2 Corinthians 11, 1 -4 talks about this

from another angle, and we're over halfway done.

It says this, 2 Corinthians 11, 1 -4 says, I

wish that you would bear with me in a little

foolishness. In other words, let's say this in

a fun way. But instead, you are bearing with

me. But indeed, you are bearing with me. For

I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For

I betrothed you, that means I set you up to be

married, to one husband, so that to Christ I

might present you as a pure virgin. But I am

afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his

craftiness, now this is written to the church,

so let's be very clear. This is written to a

church, the church in Corinth. But I am afraid

that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,

your minds will be led astray from the simplicity

and purity of devotion to Christ. I love the

fact that devotion to Christ, which would be

the most impossible thing to ever do if you were

not saved and born again, is described as something

as simple and pure. It's not complicated, folks.

The gospel is not complicated. You don't even

need 40 verses. In fact, you probably can't even

convey it in words as simply as it actually is.

It's so simple and it's so pure. But he's saying,

I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by

his craftiness, your minds will be led astray

from the simplicity and purity of the devotion

to Christ. Verse four says, for if one comes

and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached.

Or you receive a different spirit, which you

have not received. Or a different gospel, which

you have not accepted. You bear this beautifully.

In other words, you take it in. You accept it.

It's okay. And you think, well, all those other

churches can't be wrong. Or all those other things

that people are saying. Or all those worldly

teachings that my parents taught me. I have to

bring it all together somehow. I have to figure

it all out and mesh it and make it work. But

there is only one truth and one set of truths.

And all that set of truths points to Jesus, originates

from Jesus, is God's. There are nothing outside

that. All the rest of that that we're thinking,

well, okay, maybe, right? For example, and again,

I'm not trying to be political, but I'm trying

to put it in modern context, right? There are

people who say, I'm against abortion. I hate

the idea of killing an innocent unborn child

before they're born. I just hate it. It's a living

being and I hate it. And then there's other people

who go, yeah, me too. But in cases of rape, incest,

the child is going to be born with a sickness.

Mom could die in the process. So those are extremes.

And I could never bring myself to say that an

abortion would be wrong in that case. Therefore,

a willful determination of the pregnancy would

be wrong in that case. Therefore, I have to embellish

or package my idea of what it is. I can't say

it's murder of an unborn child if an unborn child

is killed. I can't do that. Because there are

these cases in which it's acceptable. The world

sees these kids. And so what happens is somebody

brings in that teaching. You can take everything

and make it okay if you take it to the nth degree.

And that's what they've done. And so you have

to go back to the simple, pure devotion to Christ.

And I'm going to tell you right now that it is

outside the will of Jesus Christ as the Son of

God that any innocent child, pre -birth or after,

would ever be murdered. Would ever be killed

without exception. That's a little political,

but I'm not trying to be political. It's an example

of how people are struggling to draw the line.

And if you're struggling to draw the line, if

you embellish the truth, if you support it with

things that will make it work or fit or keep

you out of trouble. that make your logic or what

your mom or dad told you, even if they were Christians

and they were doing the best they could in their

reasoning, whatever, or what you read in a book

or saw in a Facebook video or a meme online or

listened to in a podcast or watched in a video,

if it does not line up with the simple and pure

truth of Jesus Christ, it is a lie. And all falsehood

is supposed to be put away from you. It is easier

to accept a lie that is spoken often or louder.

than it is to accept the truth that is rarely

heard or simply hated. Don't you understand that

our truth is supposed to be spoken often or louder?

Not my personal truth, but the truth that is

Jesus Christ, the truth of the gospel, the truth

of his availability of the kingdom of God. God

wants to adopt every living human being, whatever

their age may be, into his eternal family. He's

open for that. He's searching for his worshipers

in spirit and truth. And anybody who is... willing,

he is able to make them into a worshiper in spirit

or truth. It's as if there was a new neurosurgeon's

office opened in the city of Toledo and they

needed neurosurgeons very badly, a flow of them.

And they came in here in this room and they looked

out and said, you're all pretty bright. I can

see that. Everybody in this room is pretty smart.

So here's what we'll do. We'll pay you $250 ,000

a year as a neurosurgeon starting today. You're

like, I can't do neurosurgery. There's no way

I can do a surgery on somebody's brain. That's

absolutely nuts. I can't even, I can't stand

blood. I can't even use a scalpel. What am I

going to do? I can't do this. They say, no, no,

no, you don't understand. We'll begin to pay

you as a neurosurgeon now. Then we'll pay for

your schooling and all your room and board. So

that $250 ,000 is just free money. We'll pay

for all of that over the next 20 years. And at

the end of 20 years, you'll be prepared to be

one of the best neurosurgeons in the world. $250

,000 a year for 20 years plus room and board,

everything to take care of, all the training,

all the equipping, everything that you need.

We'll make sure that in 20 years you're one of

the world's best neurosurgeons. All you got to

do is show up and work 30 hours a week. Just

show up and work and just try for 30 hours a

week. Who says no to an arrangement like that?

God is saying to you that through simple and

pure devotion to Christ, he will equip you to

be everything that he wants you to be in your

lifetime, but it is easier. to accept a lie that

is spoken often and loudly than it is to accept

the truth that is rarely heard or simply hated.

In the book of, I believe it's 2 Chronicles.

Yeah, the book of 2 Chronicles, the king has

been consulting all these prophets to find out

what's going to happen. And it's actually God's

desire that this goes poorly. It's Ahab. You

may or may not remember Ahab, but Ahab's a bad

dude. He's one of the evil kings. In fact, he's

so evil that at one point in time, he and his

wife were having a dinner party. And they took

all the devout priests of God and hung them on

posts, soaked them in tar, and lit them on fire

to light the streets of Jerusalem around the

palace. That's how bad he was. He's a bad guy,

right? And so God wants to be done with them.

He's arranging for him to be done with them.

And God uses the prophet Micaiah, and he says

this. Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word

of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne.

and all the hosts of heaven standing on his right

and on his left. So there's God on the throne

and all the hosts of heaven around him. And the

Lord said, who will entice Ahab king of Israel

to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one of

the heavenly hosts, one of those who were around

him said, and one said this while another said

that. They had different ideas of how it could

be done. Then a spirit came forward and stood

before the Lord and said, I will entice him.

And the Lord said to him, how? He said, I will

go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of

all his prophets. And then he said, you are to

entice him and prevail also. Go and do so. So

the spirit volunteered to go and be a lying spirit

in the mouth of the prophets to lie to Ahab.

And God said, okay, that's a good plan. Go do

that. Verse 22, it says, now, therefore, behold,

the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth

of these, your prophets, for the Lord has proclaimed

disaster against you. He was saying to Ahab,

you're going to die. And you're listening to

all these prophets that are filling you with

hogwash. They're telling you what that evil spirit

is leading them to say. And now I'm here to tell

you, basically, if you repent and turn back to

God and do not follow the plans of that evil

spirit, you will be better off. So the king goes,

see, didn't I tell you after that? He says, didn't

I tell you that he'd prophecy badly against me?

So send him back to the governor of the prophecies

from and tell them, put him in jail, lock him

up until he's dead. But what Micaiah said was

true. And the king goes out then and is killed

in battle. And so. What you need to understand

is that your flesh loves a lie. That part of

you that does not want to truly be in fellowship

with God, that really wants to be into pornography

or wants to get more money or get more chocolate

or whatever things that will make you feel good

that are outside God, whatever that might be,

your flesh loves a lie because it's a thing that

you can fashion while the truth, on the other

hand, is largely outside of your control. You

can't change Jesus. You can craft a lie to surround

him to make him look like something different,

but you can't change him. You can't change the

reality that you've got to stop lying. You've

got to stop lying. You've got to. You've got

to be giving. You should be giving sacrificially.

You've got to be serving. You cannot change those

truths. But we like to be able to control our

environment. We were made creators, like God,

made in the image of God. We were made creators.

And so a lie works for us because we can alter

that truth to be palatable. We can make it work

for us. And when someone will come to us and

say, look, you don't want that. You know how

many... You know how many preachers or so -called

pastors are out there right now in the world

teaching a gospel of Jesus Christ that will not

save people, that will push people, manipulate

people, trick people into doing and being what

it is that the devil wants them to do and be?

I don't know what the percentage is, but it's

a lot. And I'm not going to name any names, but

I've seen them personally. I watched a very large

megachurch pastor from the Midwest preach on

TV at one point in time. And he preached out

of the story, the book of Exodus, where they're

getting ready to come out of Egypt. And he preached

out of the passage where the people give their

earrings, their gold and silver to the Israelites

as they're getting ready to flee. And then he

spent 15 minutes telling the congregation that

if there was anything in the world that they

didn't have, it was only because they had not

asked. lost people for it. His whole message

was this. If you want something in this lifetime,

go ask lost people for it and God will make them

give it to you. That was the message. Now would

that be on TV? Watched by thousands, tens of

thousands of people at the church of 5 ,000 people.

There are more preachers in the world preaching

a gospel that is not about Jesus, is not godly

in any way, than we will ever know. Now, will

they get to God and have to answer? Will they

do well? Will they lie to God? No, they will

suffer for it. They're going to pay for it when

the time comes, even if they get saved or are

saved between now and then and spend eternity

with God. In the meantime, they will answer for

their actions, whatever that looks like. They

will have to say to God, oh yeah, I know, I knew

I was preaching the wrong thing, but see how

many people I got to fill the building? See how

many people I got to listen to me? See how many

demons we cast out? There were those who were

casting out demons who were not doing it in the

name of Jesus or for Jesus. And Jesus said, well,

if they're not against us, then they're for us.

They're still casting out demons. But then he

said, not all of those who say unto me, Lord,

Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And he said that to those who said that they

had cast out demons and healed the sick. If a

man thinks himself to be something when he is

nothing, he deceiveth himself, Galatians 6 .3.

And so the reality is we love a lie because a

lie can make us into something that we want to

be that we're actually not. It can make us into

something that we want to be that we're actually

not. And when a person thinks he is something

when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. You've

got to stop lying to yourself. You've got to

stop adapting the evil spirit lies that are in

the world to your own benefit. You've got to

stop adapting the truth of the kingdom to make

it more comfortable. You've got to stop adding

to your yes and no and saying probably or maybe

or whatever and just say yes when it's the right

thing to do and no when it's not or if the Lord

so wills and then if the Lord so wills, make

it happen. The fact is, if you want a lie, If

you want a life that fits the lies of the world,

God will give it to you. Based on the text that

we just read in 2 Chronicles, the text we just

read from Galatians, the bottom line is if you

want a lie, if you want a life that fits the

lies of this world, God will give it to you.

You can have it. It's available to you. You can

do those kinds of things that we've been talking

about, bless you, and have that lie, and it'll

probably feel good. So much so that this is true.

If you see yourself as a loving child to your

parents, So if you're in this room and your mom

or dad are still alive, if you see yourself as

a loving child, teenagers, Alex, if you see yourself

as a loving child to your parents and you lie

to them, then you are not a loving child. You're

just a liar. Now, I understand if you're saved

and you're still doing that, then you're not

technically a liar, right? Because you don't

get identity of your sins once you're saved.

But also, once your sins are brought to your

attention, you repent of them and turn to God

and follow him. And if you're not willing to

do that, then maybe you're not a Christian. If

you see yourself as a good employee, I'm a hard

worker. I'm worth more than I'm paid. If you

see yourself as a good employee, and yet you

lie to your boss, your coworkers, clients, then

you're not a good employee. If you see yourself

as a devout Christian, but you lie to your brothers

or sisters in Christ, or to God, or to yourself,

And you may see yourself as a devout Christian,

but you're not a devout Christian. Because we

put away lying. We don't lie about whether we

did our chores. We don't lie about whether we

got our work done. We don't lie about what we

did with our boyfriend or girlfriend. We don't

lie about our tithes or our offerings or our

service or our availability. And by not lying,

I mean we don't say probably when we actually

know we probably won't. The fact is we probably

shouldn't say probably at all. We should say

yes or no or if the Lord so wills. And if the

Lord so wills, we should darn well make it happen.

You know, if it's the Lord so wills on Wednesday,

between now and Wednesday, if you have to die

to make that happen, then you die to make it

happen. Don't say the Lord so wills unless you're

taking it seriously. He died to make it happen.

He said, your will, not my will be done. And

when you say, if the Lord so wills, that's what

you're saying. And so when you make a commitment,

you make that happen. If you have to die to make

it happen or don't make a commitment, if you

say the Lord so wills and he does not, and he

has you somewhere else doing something else because

he wills it and you know he willed it, then fine.

That's one thing. But otherwise, if you say the

Lord so wills, then you make it happen. See,

this could go on and on. You could look at every

kind of thing a person is. A good dad, a good

husband, a good son, a hard worker, a good soldier,

a good janitor, a good car salesman, whatever.

You could look at yourself and assess yourself.

And if in your reasoning you say, yeah, I'm there,

but you're lying as part of it, you're not there.

That brings us to our conclusion. A couple of

illustrations. In an English village in 1792,

an illiterate domestic servant named Joanna Southcott.

Anybody ever heard of her? Interesting. She became

mentally unbalanced and announced that she had

become the bride of Christ. And she was to be

the mother of the second Messiah. Shortly, she

was established in London where she became very

popular and cultivated 100 ,000 ignorant and

credulous followers called Southcottians, which

is her last name. Southcottians. A small sect

of South Katians still exists today. She made

a fortune from the sale of her prophecies, which

were incoherent and written in rhyme, and from

the sale of certificates guaranteeing salvation

to the purchasers. After long evading the question,

Joanna finally prophesied the date, October 19,

1814, when she would give birth to the promised

holy babe. But nothing happened, and she died

of a brain disease ten weeks later. And yet...

there are still South Katians to this day. Crazy.

She left a man behind a mysterious box with the

request that it be left sealed until its contents

were needed to solve the problems of a great

world crisis. When opened in 1928, it was found

to contain a dice box, a novel, a puzzle, a lottery

ticket, and a lady's nightcap and a horse pistol.

And yet, there are still South Katians to this

day. Because a lie that is spoken often and loudly,

will be preferred by the world and even by Christians

if they are not armed with these truths over

a truth not spoken often enough or even hated.

Paul Lee Tan writes that when the father of the

great philosopher Immanuel Kant was an old man,

he made a perilous journey through the forests

of Poland to his native country of Cilicia. On

the way, he encountered a band of robbers who

demanded all his valuables. Finally, when it

was all done, they asked him, have you given

us all? And only letting him go after he answered

all. When safely out of their sight, his hand

touched something hard in the hem of his robe.

It was his gold, which had been sewn there for

safety and quite forgotten by him in his fear

and confusion. At once, he hurried back to find

the robbers. And having found them, he said meekly,

what was not true. I have said what was not true.

It was unintentional. I was too terrified to

think. Here, take the gold in my robes. Then

to the old man's astonishment, nobody offered

to take his gold. Presently one went and brought

back his purse. Another restored his book of

prayer, while still another led his horse toward

him and helped him to mount. They then unitedly

entreated his blessing and watched him slowly

ride away. Goodness had triumphed over evil.

Now, would you, under those circumstances? Go

back and give the coin that you'd found in your

robe simply because you had lied and said that

you had given them everything? I submit to you,

we had better. Your mouth means something. Your

words mean something. You ask, do you want God

to look at your lips and go, oh, that's disgusting.

That's sick. I can't believe I made that. I can't

believe that's going on. God loves you and you

want him to look at you and go, what did he or

she just say? What falsehood did they just? Present?

I say we go back and give over the coin. I say

we make what we say matter. There are only two

ways. One right and the other is wrong. About

is always wrong. Don't tell me it's about right.

If it's only about right, then it's wrong. If

you come to it, by the way, you get that, right?

If it's about right, it's approximately right.

If it's almost right, if it's getting close to

right, it's just not right. Does that make sense?

We wouldn't have to say almost, about, approximately,

getting close if it was right. If it's that close,

if it's as close as it could ever be, but not

right, it's not right. If you come to a stream

five feet wide and jump four and a half feet,

you fall in and get wet. If you jump four and

seven eighths feet, hit the bank, bounce off,

fall in and get wet. You will get just as soaked.

Not right is not right. You might just as well

have tumbled in from the other side and save

yourself the exertion of the jump. Why bother?

If you're going to jump a five -foot stream,

why would you bother to jump anything less than

five feet? And that's what we're talking about.

Put falsehood away from you and stop lying. Tell

the truth. Be a representative of the truth in

this world. There's a man, kind of a comical

story. He saw an ad in the newspaper where a

talking dog was for sale. He went to go buy the

talking dog. He showed up and there's a dog laying

on the porch. He went past the dog, knocked on

the door. Dog just looking at him with a lazy

eye. Owner comes outside and says, hey, I saw

you had a talking dog for sale. Do you have a

talking dog for sale? He said, yes, I do. It's

this dog right here. And the guy said, oh, yeah,

we'll see about this. And he kneeled down in

front of the dog and he said, are you a talking

dog? The dog said, yeah, I've been talking my

whole life. So I have had an incredible life.

I was a bomb sniffer for the army. I worked in

the CIA hunting down fugitives. I even protect

the president as part of the Secret Service.

And the guy's like, it's a talking dog. Yes.

This is awesome. And he looked at the owner and

he said, how much? I'll pay anything. And the

owner said, 10 bucks. He said, 10 bucks? Why

so cheap? And he said, because this dog's a stinking

liar. What are you worth? Are you a stinking

liar? You're not. You were not created to be

that. Notice the lightning point. It does not

say that lies trap you in a state of worthlessness.

As it is written, it means worth, space, less.

It is the state of being worth less. Not worthless,

but worth less. As a Christian, a follower of

the Lord, if you are still lying, you are worth

less than you will be when you stop lying. As

a lost person, if you are still lying, you may

never be saved until you think you're saved and

you're making yourself out to be something you're

not. You may never get there. You need to stop

lying and accept the truth and become worth what

God would desire to make you. A person who is

a liar is not worth nothing. And that's what

we do. Somebody lies to us a few many times,

we want to just write them off. I can't trust

them. I want nothing to do with them. But a person

who is a liar is not worth nothing. He or she

has the potential to be a child of God. He need

only believe the truth and repent, which is to

say, turn to God through Jesus Christ for salvation,

and he or she will be born again. With that potential

so readily at hand, the lie, the willingness

to lie, the desire to embrace a lie, readiness

and availability of a variety of lies, and the

king of all lies, Satan himself, which is the

lie, That he or she is something when he or she

actually is nothing. These things are put in

place. They work together to keep that person

from realizing their potential. You know somebody

and you might be somebody who's bought into lies.

And unless those lies are dismissed, unless those

lies are put away, unless the new person has

a renewed mind to live and walk the truth and

speak the truth as painful as it may be, you

could be trapped there. While the liar creatively

carves out a meager existence, sometimes rising

to what a man would consider greatness. Great

liars sometimes achieve what human beings would

consider greatness. But while all it really is

is a meager existence, he actively throws away

his greatest potential. He dismisses the opportunity

to receive the keys to the kingdom and to live

forever as an eternal child of God. Turn to Christ

today, whether you are a child of God already,

saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, and are just

now concluding that you have been all too willing

to receive a lie, or to perpetrate a lie, or

if right now in this moment you are realizing

that your salvation has been a lie, or your life

has been a game moving from one lie to another,

and you've never truly embraced Jesus Christ

as Lord and Savior, turn to Christ now. Lie not.

Are you a follower of Jesus? Lie not. If you

are a devout follower of the Lord, no one will

ever find you being anything but, and God will

empower it to be so. Am I saying perfection?

No. God understands that the sacrifices of the

Lord are a broken and contrite heart. So you

may be here and you say, look, I have been struggling

with lying, even if it is only in dressing up

the truth, avoiding struggles in the world because

I make the truth look like something that it's

not so that they'll be comfortable with it, whatever.

Even if I've been doing it one of those ways,

I have been embracing lying. And if you have

been doing that, you need to repent today, which

is to turn to God. Not turn away from lying because

you'll just turn to something else. You turn

to God and let him put an end to it. And the

next time you think about it, I want you to think

when I was in the basement of East Toledo Baptist

Church, two and a half years into my salvation,

and I told one of the old deacons who walked

on a cane and couldn't move the tables that I

would come and move tables for an upcoming event.

I didn't really want to do it. But first I said,

I can't do it. I'm busy that day. It was a Saturday

afternoon. I had nothing going on. I said, I'm

busy that day. I can't do it. And he said, okay,

that's fine. And the Holy Spirit said to me,

no, no, it's not about tables. It's not about

relationship. It's not about community. It's

about who you are. And if you tell a little white

lie, that's not you acting as somebody who's

mine. That's you trying to control your circumstances

to get the outcome that you want. You're taking

it away from me. What will you do when the time

comes? If you're continuing to live in deceptiveness,

what will you do when the time comes? If you

continue to believe you're one thing and you're

actually not, you'll stand before Jesus and he

says, you're not actually what you say you are.

You haven't even been doing what you say you

are. Let us repent and turn to the Lord and let

him build us up to speak truth, even when it

costs us everything. Because that is who we are.

I ask the praise team to come forward at this

time and lead us in our final song. As we sing

this song. to ask yourself, did you find yourself

in one of those scenarios that we discussed?

Did you realize that you were doing that? So

repent right now before the music begins. Repent

and say, okay, God, I'm going to let you do it.

I'm going to let you solve this problem. I turn

over my willingness to just slightly work the

tree or to accept the falsehood or whatever.

I turn that over to you to make music today.

And when God does that, God doesn't do things

halfway. I just promise you to take this right

to the end. It's going to be with you, renewing

your mind daily. Will you possibly still make

mistakes? Sure, maybe. But it won't matter. Because

your mistakes will belong to the one coming along.

Stand with me and sing this song. If the Lord

leads you to respond, you do that either through

getting saved for the first time or renewing

your commitment to Christ in the area of falsehood.

Just as I am without one thing, but that thy

blood was shed.