What does God say about lying?

The Bible is a beautiful tapestry, with many threads woven through it, one of those threads being God's desire for us to always be truthful.

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.” God hates lying because it breaks trust, destroys bridges, and builds roadblocks on 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 a fruit that proves we are on our way to Him, but liars are on their way to becoming goats and experiencing eternal separation from Him, Prov 19:5, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.” The sheep, not the goats, will enjoy eternity with God and His family, Matt 25:31-34, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:...Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”

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 when 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 pretending faith while lacking repentance; for repentance is not real when we willfully 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.” If we love each other, we do not lie to each other; that is what He means when He tells us to forsake our sins. The very definition of sin is anything that leads us away from God and His way. Since God has told us lying separates us from Him, we know that lying is a sin and that we should confess and repent from it. This means we stop lying, to God, to ourselves, and to others. This is how we repent from lying.

Water reflects our face when we look into it, and our hearts reflect 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, our hearts tell them when we are lying, and eventually, they will come to think 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.” Watching politicians boldly lying, day after day, reveals the depth of the problem we face in America. We cannot allow them to lead us into debates with our brothers and sisters, which are based on their lies. Lying politicians will face their maker, at some point, and until then, we cannot let them lead us away from God. And, if we think only one side in these political debates is lying, we have not truly tested everything they are saying, 1 Thes 5:21-22, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

God allows each of us to decide for ourselves whether we will be part of His eternal family. 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 one another. Lying demonstrates, we have not chosen 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 trust. He knows faith and trust are essential parts of the foundation, which will support our 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 lives on the road to eternal separation from God, Prov 19:9, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.”

Those of us who choose to deny God and refuse His invitation to eternity will attempt to use lies to keep the rest of us 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 jealousy eating at our conscience, which produces these lies, 1 Tim 4:2, “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;” for we know there will not be a place for us within the eternal family if we are liars.

God keeps telling us He never lies, not even small white lies, 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.” Small lies are still lies, and they lead to bigger lies and mistrust. God wants us to believe Him, and He wants us to believe each other. So, He will not condone any lies.

God wants us to test everything, thus verifying its truthfulness, including what He tells us in His Word, 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 His promise of eternal life, Tit 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” The fact is 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 during 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.” When we only want a savior, we miss out on the love He is offering. It is our love of Him that leads to our accepting Him as our Lord. If we love our Lord, we will repent from the lying He hates. If we only see Him as our savior, we will not see the need to repent. He is God, the one who created us, and He only wants the best for us because He loves us unconditionally, Rom 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." His love for us is unconditional. However, He loves all of His children and will not allow any of us to infect heaven, which we would do if we refuse to love others unconditionally. This means heaven will be filled only with people who love God and follow His commandments, Jn 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

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 and enjoy eternity with Him, we must keep our lips from any form of lying, Ps 34:13, “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.”

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