When Lies Define You: A Warning from Revelation 21:8

For the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually 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.

Let's pray. Father God, I pray you bless this time, Lord, tonight that you'd

help us as we look into your word and just teach us what you want tonight from

your word and help us to receive it humbly and in obedience. In Jesus' name, amen.

So in this verse, I wanted to bring

out tonight, the central issue is not whether a person has ever lied.

How many have ever told a lie? Okay, just making sure, because if you don't

raise your hand, this is your first time. No, I'm kidding.

But the central issue is not whether you've ever told a lie,

but whether falsehood characterizes and unrepentant, unchanged life.

And so here's where I'm going to explain this because Revelation 21a is one

of the most sobering verses in the Bible.

John has just described the eternal state and the new heaven,

the new earth, the new Jerusalem.

And verse seven describes the destiny of those who know Jesus, the redeemed.

It says, he who overcomes will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my son.

And then comes that enormous contrast in this verse tonight.

There's that word that everybody loves, but, right?

Verse 8 describes the people who will not inherit the kingdom.

Their eternal destination is not the New Jerusalem, right? But where?

Where does that verse say that their eternal destination is?

The lake of fire, right? And brimstone, and it's the second death.

But the list that's there describes the character of the people excluded from heaven.

And it's not merely saying that they committed one of those sins sometime in

their lifetime, but rather that these sins characterize them, right?

Their behavior actually reveals an unchanged, unregenerate heart.

In other words, a heart that hasn't been made alive by the gospel.

And strikingly, the list ends with this, and this is where I want to focus tonight, all liars.

You notice it had that list, all those different character traits,

all that thing, and then it said, and all liars.

Well, the Greek expression for that is pacintis sevdicin.

You don't have to know that in Greek, but it just simply means all false, deceitful, lying ones.

That word, fasivdesin, it actually describes somebody who is false or deceitful, right?

And that doesn't mean that anyone, again, who's ever told a lie is automatically

proving that they're unsaved. That's not what it's saying.

If that were the meaning, guess what? None of us would make it,

right? None of us would make it.

First John 1.8 says, if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves

and the truth is not even in us, right?

And Peter lied. Think about it. When he denied Christ, Abraham also deceived regarding Sarah.

Christians also can fall into lying and other sins, obviously.

But the issue here tonight I want to highlight is it's something deeper.

What characterizes, again, your life?

Scripture's dealing with the habitual, ongoing practice. Don't forget that word, practice of sin.

Not sinless perfection. Christians sin.

But sin is no longer the uninterrupted pattern and ruling principle in a Christian's life. Amen?

According to scripture anyway and that distinction is essential for understanding

this verse revelation 21 8 now it sounds like i got a lot of points tonight

i only do three normally i'm going to do about 10 tonight are you ready we'll put it in overdrive,

a christian number one a christian may tell a lie,

a christian cannot be characterized by lying.

There's enormous difference between falling into a lie and being a liar, a practicing liar.

A believer may lie and afterward experience the Holy Spirit's conviction,

then confession and repentance, shame, and desire to make things right.

An unbeliever, here's the difference, can build his or her entire life around

deception and become comfortable with it.

In other words, they lie to avoid consequences, to protect their reputation,

lie when confronted, lie to manipulate other people, lies to make themselves

look better, and lies to cover,

the previous one, right?

And eventually, here's the point with this, lying becomes so normal that deception

is simply part of who they are.

That's a frightening picture here in Revelation 21, 8, because that's what it

presents. Scripture is describing here in this verse a pattern of life,

not an isolated failure.

A profession of faith, don't forget this tonight, a profession of faith does

not override a life that contradicts that profession. Do you understand?

A person may say, I accepted Jesus. I prayed the prayer. I was baptized. I joined a church.

I've been a Christian for 30 years.

But scripture asks another question. What does your life demonstrate?

Number two, Revelation 22, verse 15 actually explains Revelation 21, 8.

Revelation 22:15

One chapter later, Scripture gives us perhaps the clearest commentary on what

John means. Let me read it.

Revelation 22, 15, listen to this. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and

the sexually immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters,

and everyone who loves and practices lying. There it is again.

Notice those words though, loves and what? Practices lying.

That goes far beyond occasionally saying something false.

This person loves falsehood, in other words. They practice falsehood.

Lying has become a part of their settled pattern of life, if you will.

These lists though here are representative descriptions of people who remain

in their sins, is the point, rather than having those sins actually forgiven by Jesus.

And Revelation 21, verse 27 actually says this. It says, nothing unclean and.

Revelation 21:27

No one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it.

But only those whose names are written where?

In the Lamb's book of life, right?

So as we look at that and we think about that tonight, again,

we see those words jump out. Practices, lying.

That pattern matters, right? Leads us to number three quickly.

Habitual lying reveals who your spiritual father is.

Jesus makes it even more serious speaking to unbelievers. John 8,

44. Y'all probably have heard this and know it when I read it.

You are of your father, the devil.

Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

So Satan's kingdom is built on what? Is it built on truth or deception?

God is the God of truth. Christ said in John 14, 6, what? I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And the Holy Spirit in John 16, 13 is the spirit of truth.

God's word is truth, John 17, 17. but Satan is the father of what? Lies, right?

And so therefore, habitual lying is not merely a personality flaw.

It's displaying, hold on, the character of Satan himself. First John 3,

8 says this, it's very sobering.

The one who practices sin is of the devil.

Scripture can't make it any plainer, you know. If you're a Christian,

you will not practice any sin.

It will not be a pattern of your life. Doesn't mean you don't sin,

but it's not what characterizes you, right?

Habitual sin signifies spiritual identification with who?

The devil rather than Christ. That makes habitual lying an enormously serious

spiritual diagnostic, you could say, like a test, right?

To see whether you're in the faith or not.

Number four, I know y'all are counting down.

Salvation produces a love for the truth. When Christ saves someone,

he doesn't merely change that person's eternal destination.

He actually changes the person.

Ephesians 4, 22 and 25 through 25 says, lay aside the old self and put on the new self.

Therefore, laying aside, get this, falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor.

So old man equals what? Lies or falsehood. New man equals what? Truth.

Colossians 3, 9 and 10. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the

old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self.

Why should Christians and it's not live in lies.

According to these verses. Lying belongs to who? The old man,

right? Truth belongs to who? The new man.

A transformed heart produces a transformed relationship with truth.

So true Christians know truth, believe truth, love truth, live truth,

defend truth, and proclaim it.

The evidence of salvation is not merely remembering a religious experience in

the past, but seeing the transforming work of God in this present time,

right? Number five, we're halfway there.

The terrifying danger of being comfortable with lying.

One of the greatest warning signs is not merely that somebody has lied,

it's that he can lie without repentance.

A Christian's response to sin should increasingly be, I have sinned.

I have, I was wrong. That's some big words, right?

What I said wasn't true. I need to confess that. I need to make that right.

I need Christ's forgiveness.

But the habitual liar reacts differently. What do they do? He justifies it.

He minimizes it. He changes the story.

He blames somebody else. He creates another lie to protect the first one, right?

And when confronted with all the evidence, rather than repenting,

becomes angry that somebody exposed him.

That, y'all, I want y'all to see this, is spiritually terrifying.

Repentance is one of the marks of being born again, of regeneration.

A hardened determination to actually continue deceiving people can be evidenced

that the heart itself has never been transformed by the gospel.

So that larger biblical principle is really sobering.

No matter what somebody professes or what religious experience they point to,

a life characterized by unrighteousness gives reason to question whether that

person truly belongs to Christ.

Number six, Revelation 21.8 does not say liars receive a lesser heaven,

does it? That's important.

God does not say habitual liars will lose rewards, occupy a lower level of heaven,

or receive some temporary punishment.

Revelation 21.8, what does it say? Their part will be where?

Lake of fire that burns with brimstone. Fire and brimstone. which is the second death.

That is hell if you needed an explanation what that is. And John adds that,

which is the second death.

You see, Revelation 20, 14, and 15, listen, this will be familiar.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found

written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Physical death is the first death, right? The lake of fire is the second death, eternal punishment.

Revelation 21.8 describes those whose eternal portion is the lake of fire,

the second death, in other words.

Don't miss it. Scripture leaves no room for treating habitual dishonesty casually.

Number seven, but I'm a Christian, is not the final test. Did you know that?

This is where the passage, I think, becomes intensely personal.

Somebody might say, but I believe in Jesus.

James 2 19 the demons also believe in shudder somebody might say I prayed the

sinner's prayer somebody might say I've attended church for 40 years.

Somebody might say, again, I was baptized. None of those things permits us to

ignore the evidence of an unchanged life.

Matthew 7.21 says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7.23, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness or sin.

Again, there's that idea of practice, right? Practice.

Profession without transformation is not saving faith.

I got to say it again, y'all. Profession without transformation is not saving

faith. Number eight, we're almost there.

This does not teach salvation by works. That distinction, I think,

has to be made carefully because Revelation 21.8 is not teaching that you stop

lying enough and God will let you into heaven. That's not what it teaches.

You know why? No, salvation is entirely by grace through faith in Christ alone.

Ephesians 2, 8, 9, for by grace you've been saved through faith, not as a result of works.

Ephesians 2, 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

We're not saved by transformed lives.

We're saved unto transformed lives.

Big difference. Good works, don't miss this, are not the root of salvation.

They're the fruit of salvation. Repentance doesn't purchase salvation,

but the absence of repentance may reveal that salvation never took place.

Number nine, the question is not, again, have you ever lied?

Every person that read that passage or heard it read tonight,

Revelation 21.8 has lied.

We're all liars, right? We don't like to admit it. We are liars by nature.

But if you've come to faith in Jesus Christ, that is not your character anymore.

You're a new man, a new creation in Christ.

And you have to ask the better question.

The better questions are these. Is lying the pattern of my life?

Do I habitually deceive people? When confronted with my lies,

do I repent or create another lie?

Do I love truth even when the truth makes me look bad?

Is there evidence that Christ has changed my relationship with truth?

When I sin, does it make me sad? Does it grieve me? Am I fighting my sin or am I protecting it?

That's the distinction, y'all, between struggling with sin and settling into sin.

You see, I like it when people say, I have a problem with such and such.

That means you're struggling, you're fighting it, right? But when you settle

into it, it's no longer a problem. It becomes a way of life.

That's the issue. The genuine Christian struggles against sin.

The false professor makes peace with it.

Last one, you ready? Number 10.

There is gospel hope for the liar. Aren't you thankful? Yeah, right?

Revelation 21.8 is terrifying, but it's not written merely to condemn.

It's a warning to drive sinners to Jesus.

Let me say this tonight. It's just so important. Hell is full of liars.

Heaven is full of forgiven liars.

The crucial truth is that the forgiven are transformed. into people of truth. That's Christianity.

The liar can be saved. The adulterer can be saved.

The idolater can be saved. The drunkard, I should say, can be saved. The thief can be saved.

But Christ does not merely forgive sinners and leave them comfortably enslaved

to their old identity, does he?

We're new creations. Old pass away. All things become new.

1 Corinthians 6, 9 and 11. do not be deceived you know this one such were some of you.

But you were washed come on you were sanctified you were justified those three

words matter right such were you,

Not such are you, and nothing's changed, right? But such were.

That's the miracle of the new birth, y'all.

That is a miracle. And so the critical warning as we close of Revelation 21,

8, it should destroy the idea that somebody can habitually lie,

deceive, manipulate, and cover their deception with more deception,

and yet rest comfortably in professing their Christianity simply because they

once prayed a prayer or joined a church. You hear what I'm saying tonight?

This applies to any sin, though. A true Christian can fall into lying and various other sins.

They can struggle with honesty. A true Christian may even grievously fail at times.

But he cannot, she cannot ultimately be at peace with a life of deception.

Because the spirit of truth now is where?

Dwelling inside of them, right? there's going to be conviction.

There'll be confession. There'll be repentance. There'll be warfare against sin.

And increasingly, there's going to be truth. But when a person loves lying,

practices lying, protects his lying, refuses to repent of lying,

and lives habitually in deception,

Scripture gives that person no basis for assurance of salvation.

It just gives him or her a warning. Revelation 21, eight, all liars,

their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone,

which is the second death.

And I have to say this tonight before we pray, that's not man's opinion. That's not my opinion.

That's not just rhetoric from Pastor Judd.

This is God's verdict in his word.

And the proper response is not merely, I need to stop lying.

You know what it is? I need Jesus.

Repent, turn from the lie, run to Jesus Christ, trust his death and resurrection,

ask him for mercy, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.

He can take a child of the father of lies and make him a child of the God of truth.

Come on, y'all. Aren't you grateful for salvation? Aren't you thankful that

we are no longer, we're in Christ, we're no longer slaves to sin?

We're made new. We war with sin in our rogue flesh that we live in now,

but we're brand new. We have a new heart.

And it no longer, sin no longer rules us. You're no longer a slave to sin.

Before Jesus, we were dead spiritually in our sins.

But after Jesus, he says he makes us alive.

That's what that fancy word regenerate means. Bring to life.

He makes us alive in him. We're regenerated.

We're brought to life spiritually. And then we walk in a new life.

We have a new man that's in us or a new woman, right? In Christ.