What does God say about lying?
God has told us the things He hates and lying is one of them, Prov 6:16-19, “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” The reason God hates lying, so much, is that it breaks trust and puts roadblocks along the path to Him, Is 32:7, “The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.” God delights in our decision to be truthful, Prov 12:22, “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.” Our truthfulness is the fruit, which proves we are on our way to Him, Prov 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” But, liars are on their way to becoming goats and experiencing an eternal separation from Him, Prov 19:9, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.”
How do we know liars are separating themselves from God? Because He told us, Ps 101:7, “He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.” We cannot be fooled by the lie, which says this is Old Testament thinking and does not apply to us,Col 3:9-10, “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:” Nor can we think that we are covered by grace and therefore somehow shielded from our sins, Lk 8:17, “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.” For God told us many will be surprised they are not admitted into heaven, Matt 7:22-23, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” God’s grace cannot be cheapened by faith without repentance and repentance is not real when we continue to live in our sins, Prov 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” We, therefore, need not envy the treasures of those who lie to gain them, Prov 21:6, “The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.” When measured against eternity, those treasures will be short-lived.
Water reflects our face when we look into it and our hearts reveal the truth when we tell lies, Prov 27:19, “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.” People watch what we do and say; and eventually, they will call us liars, 1 Jn 2:4, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
God is allowing us to decide whether we will be part of His eternal family and lying is one of the ways we are making this decision, Eph 4:25, “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.” Lying erodes trust and dissolves the glue that binds us to each other. It is lying that demonstrates we have chosen not to be “members one of another.” Lying is not from God, but rather from the father of lies, the devil, Jn 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye 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: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Who then do we imagine we serve when we lie? Notice that God considers lying to be on the same level as murder, because it is the murder of the trust, which leads to faith, and is the foundation required for relationships in the eternal family, Matt 15:18:20, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” He continues to make it very clear, lying is on the road to eternal separation from God, Prov 19:5, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.”
Those who choose not to accept God’s invitation to eternity will use lies to keep others from finding God’s truth, Ps 109:2, “For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.” It is their jealousy eating at their conscience, which produces these lies,1 Tim 4:2, “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;”
God keeps telling us He never lies; are we listening? Numb 23:19, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” He tells us this so we can know His promises will be fulfilled, Eze 12:28, “Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.”
God wants us to test everything we hear, to see if it is the truth sent by Him, even when He tells us something,1 Jn 4:1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” This is how we can have faith in the promise of eternal life, Tit 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” The fact He never lies and asks us to never lie to each other, Col 3:9, “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds” allows us to measure our progress in our transformation, Eph 4:15-16, “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
Jer 23:32, “Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.” If we want to be on God’s side, we must keep our lips from lying.
Comments, opposing opinions and suggestions for future topics are all welcome at bill@reasoningwithgod.com.
