Ninth Commandment: Do Not Lie [Exodus 20:16] | VBPH Sunday School

Originally preached in our Sunday School class on April 14, 2024.

Scripture: Exodus 20:16 NKJV- "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Summary

In this Sunday School Lesson, Pastor Adam Dragoon discusses the importance of truth and the consequences of lying. He emphasizes the need for honesty in our relationships with God and others and the damaging effects of lies on trust and justice. We explore the different types of lies, such as slander and exaggeration, and highlight the connection between lies and the devil. We also address the high price of lies, including the dilution of truth, the destruction of relationships, and separation from God. The sermon concludes with a call to live and worship God in spirit and truth.

Chapters

  • 00:00 Preparing to Hear from God

  • 08:44 The Price of Lies: Dilution of Truth

  • 16:35 The Price of Lies: Connection to the Devil

  • 42:29 The High Price of Lies: Judgment and Separation from God

Takeaways

  • Lies dilute the value of truth and can lead to a decrease in judgment and righteousness.

  • Lies damage and destroy human relationships, causing pain and mistrust.

  • Lies connect us to the father of lies, Satan, and separate us from God.

  • The price of lies includes the potential for judgment and separation from God.

  • Living in truth and worshiping God in spirit and truth brings freedom and a closer relationship with Him.

Important Links:

Full transcript (auto-Generated):

Adam Dragoon (00:00.494)

Thanks for listening to the Sermon Podcast from the Potter's House Church in Virginia Beach. Our vision is winning souls, making disciples, and planting churches. You're about to hear a message that was preached live from one of our recent church services. We hope that you'll open your heart to hear the Holy Spirit speaking directly through this message. Stay tuned after the message for information on how to get connected with us. Thanks again, and enjoy today's message. You know, it's really important that when we come into the house of the Lord, that we're ready to hear from God.

Instead of sitting down and saying, okay, now I need to spend the next 20 minutes focusing my mind, we should have spent that 20 minutes before we came into the house, correct? So I want to encourage you, we come into the house of the Lord prepared, prepared already to hear from God. Let's open up our Bibles to Exodus chapter 20, and we're going to get a few scriptures this morning. Could I get some volunteers to read some scriptures? Miss Maggie?

Proverbs chapter 10 verse 18. Amen. Miss Noelle Isaiah 59 verses 13 through 15. Need a few more Sabin Proverbs 18 verse 8. Amanda Proverbs 25 verse 18. Miss Perla John 8 44.

Okay, so we are continuing as we look through the Ten Commandments and breaking down each one of them and what they actually mean for our lives. And so as we focus our minds this morning, can someone take a moment to remind us what are the first four commandments that we need to remember?

Eight that we've looked at so far, the first eight of the Ten Commandments. Can somebody remind me? Number one, I am the Lord your God and I am one. Okay, number two, no graven images. That's a prohibition of idolatry. Number three, don't take the Lord's name in vain. Blasphemy. Number four, keep the Sabbath holy. Number five, honor your father and your mother and long will your days be. Number six,

Adam Dragoon (02:27.758)

shall not kill number seven do not commit adultery number eight we looked at last week do not steal okay and so we are looking now at commandment number nine what an amazing world this would be if people actually took these things seriously you know what I'm saying? not only so here's the great problem just starting off a great problem is that the church doesn't even know these laws.

today, right? We might, if you asked a random churchgoer today on Sunday morning, do you know the Ten Commandments? How many of them do you think the random churchgoer might be able to name? You know what I'm saying? Like if the church, if the random churchgoer today cannot name even five out of the Ten Commandments, that means we've got a big problem on our hands, okay? That's why this is valuable for us to study, for us to learn, for us to be reminded of.

And so what a world this would be if we would take these things seriously. So, commandment number nine, according to the word of God, Exodus chapter 20 verse 16, very simply it says, you shall not lie. Okay, now there is a lot there to unpack. You shall not lie. Now remember, we've been looking at this from the perspective of these are, this is a list of negative commandments. In other words,

Don't do these things, okay? So some of them are positive, like honor your mother and father. That's a positive action. You have to do this. But in this case, God is prohibiting something. He's saying, do not lie. And so whenever we find a negative commandment, we also find God is fundamentally lifting up or upholding a truth behind that negative prohibition. And so just to get our minds started this morning, if the commandment is,

do not lie, then what is the thing that God is protecting? What is the thing that God is upholding when he says do not lie? Amanda? Truth. Yes, it is the concept of truth. Now there's a lot of interesting discussion that we can have about truth this morning. The Bible says God is truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And we cannot worship him without

Adam Dragoon (04:53.678)

worshiping in spirit and in truth. So there's a lot here that we can talk about this morning. When the Bible says do not lie, there are some very powerful ideas that are underneath that truth today. So what I would say about lying, perhaps, you know, it's kind of hard to narrow this down, but from person to person, it is pretty easy, or it is pretty reasonable for us to assume,

that this is probably the most broken commandment out of the ten. Because a lie is something that is so easy to commit. Sometimes we can lie without even realizing that we're lying. And so lying is something that comes so naturally to our fallen nature.

And there's a lot of reasons for that. So let's think about for a few moments the different kinds of lies that got his prohibiting. Okay, so the basic lie I would say is untrue words. Okay, the basic idea of telling a lie is that you are saying something that's not true. Now why would somebody do that? Why would somebody say words that are not true? What are the reasons that go into that?

Adam Dragoon (06:23.374)

keeping themselves out of trouble. Okay, that's right up there at the top of the list, right Chris?

to make people think you know what you're talking about.

Adam Dragoon (06:38.19)

Uh huh. One of the more infamous ones, especially today. I'm okay. Oh yeah, yeah. When things are not okay. Okay, I got a great illustration. July 15th, 1993. When the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ran a help wanted ad for electricians with expertise at using Sontag connectors, they received 170 responses, even though there is no such thing as a Sontag connector.

The authority ran the ad to find out how many applicants will falsify their resumes. Okay, perfect illustration. People will lie to get a job. People will lie to get themselves ahead. People will lie to keep themselves from falling behind. Yeah, Ms. Leanna?

I know for the, during the, after the pandemic, the, a lot of businesses that took the COVID relief, they had the, in order to, I guess, not have to pay it back, they had to prove that they were trying to hire people. So a lot of businesses would say now hiring, but they're not actually hiring at all. They just didn't want to pay back that loan. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yes.

Savannah? To get away from you. What do you mean? Like, they'll be like, hey, do you want to hang out today? And someone's like, no, I'm busy. And then they're just going out with their other friends to get away from you. All right, how about this one? Are you going to be in church today?

That's getting a little too close to home. Well, famously, you know, politicians lie on the regular, make promises that they can never fulfill. And the reason that we have these kinds of basic lies is normally it's a form of protection. We think that we are protecting ourselves or others by telling things that are not true.

Adam Dragoon (08:44.814)

So then you have another category of lie and that's something called slander Okay, the Bible has a lot to say about slander doesn't it and what what what comes to your mind when you hear the word slander? What does that look like to you? Oh? Miss Maggie envy envy okay, I think that's where it comes from but what does slander look like miss Leanna?

Deliberately saying false information in a bad way or a bad light about someone or something in order to make them look bad to others around around them so that they can be pushed away from pretty much Whoever was close to them. Mm -hmm. Okay, so this is this is where social media today has The the negative side of social media is that it's very easy to slander people. It's very easy to say

falsehoods and Get away with it. There's no price right so you can an honest anonymously type in a comment on Facebook or Twitter or whatever and And you can post that out to the world and you can destroy somebody's reputation with just a few words and there's very little price to pay for that but At least in the world, but guess what God is watching God sees what goes on social media doesn't he?

Uh, slander is when we speak lies about someone with the intention of hurting them or their reputation. Chris, want to add to that? Unfortunately, I've seen it actually at my current job that when, um, some spotlights have been put on people that haven't been doing their job well, they'll start, start and talk about it with the others to pull the spotlight off themselves so they continue doing what they're doing so the others get in trouble instead of them. Mm -hmm. Okay.

So have you ever been slandered about?

Adam Dragoon (10:38.094)

How does it feel? You know, this is one reason why a lot of people stay away from leadership positions. Why some people are leery to step up into ministry sometimes. I don't want to be in the spotlight. I don't want to be on the pedestal because people, I don't know what people are going to say about me. How many pastors, how many pastors' wives and families have quit the ministry simply because there's some idiot.

who's uh... slandering and uh... and it just comes to a point i don't want to deal with this anymore and so the enemy uses slander doesn't he? Proverbs chapter ten verse eighteen Miss Maggie had that one.

Adam Dragoon (11:30.222)

Proverbs chapter 10 verse 18. Yes. Whoever hides hatred has lying lips and whoever spreads slander is a fool. Okay. Makes it pretty clear. Chris I saw him. Miss Leanna. I was trying to point out along the lines of slander like how it's evolved today. There's now because of AI technology some celebrities are.

having images of their faces on nude bodies because AI imaging, they've never released it, but some fans be like, oh yeah, totally, yeah, she's such a, it's just like it's slandering via fake images. Yep, yep, something that is going to become a worse and worse problem as time goes by. But okay, that's one example where that could be very dangerous, but what about somebody creating an image of a world leader?

making a speech behind a podium and saying things that are inflammatory. I mean, this could cause war in the future if we're not careful. And if it's done right and it upsets the right people, I mean, missiles could fly. And so, whoever has slandering lips is a fool, right? Yes, Ms. Noh?

Adam Dragoon (12:49.166)

thinking that is.

they could be.

Adam Dragoon (12:58.19)

be twisting.

Adam Dragoon (13:05.102)

Mm -hmm, okay, well that comes into the next category of lies, and that is the category of exaggeration. Okay, have you ever heard the term making a mountain out of a molehill? This is something when someone is telling a truth, but then expands it to a size where it goes beyond its original meaning, right? So an exaggeration is, you know, preachers can do this.

I'm not gonna say I do this. But it is possible for some preachers to want so badly to prove a certain point that we twist the truth. It is possible. And so, you know, isn't it funny that the fishing story, the fish always gets bigger with time. I'm telling you it was this big.

And then the year later, I'm telling you, the fish was this big. And it gets bigger in our mind. But it's not just about fishing stories, is it? We do this in regards to past successes. We want to promote ourselves. We want to think of ourselves well. We want to present ourselves well to other people. It happens on resumes. It happens in job interviews. We take what was probably something very mundane, and we make it into this huge deal.

That's exaggeration, okay? Can somebody think of an example of exaggeration? Yes? Mr. Sabin? An example. Someone taps you lightly. Mom, he hit me super hard.

Adam Dragoon (14:52.878)

That's pretty good. That's pretty good. It reminds me of a soccer game with all the flopping and LeBron James, serial flopper. Yes? One regretful exaggeration is our own mental health will be, will have just the minor inconvenience, but because we've let so many inconveniences build up, that became the straw that breaks the camel's back and next thing we know,

We've practically put ourselves out of commission because of one minor inconvenience that day. And it's just like our brain just starts telling itself, you're never going to get through this. But we got to try to do our best to remind ourselves we can. OK. Yep. Mr. David.

Adam Dragoon (15:38.382)

I firmly believe that there's not one person around that doesn't exaggerate. Yeah. And the reason being is because although it may not be well intended as to exaggerate to make it look better, but in their own mind, they did so much. And a lot of this comes to the workplace. Yeah. Where you think you did so much, you did quite a bit, but you have that tendency to exaggerate, and that's why resumes look like they do too. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Some people build their entire character around exaggeration. I'm thinking of the Donald at the moment. And you know, we can criticize his political, but almost every word that comes from his mouth, he's a salesman. It was the most beautiful, it was the most tremendous, everything. And so what I'm saying is you can build a whole character around exaggeration. And the final, the final,

category of lies that we could think about is the category of silence in the midst of evil. It is possible to lie by saying nothing or by withholding something back at the opportune moment. Okay, so that's not an active lie, but it is the same as a lie in the sense of if you said something, the truth would be made manifest. It's the idea of

So for example, during World War II, the Pope of the Catholic Church at that time was greatly criticized because in the face of the Nazi death camps, the Pope basically said nothing to expose it. He was aware of what was happening, but for not doing more, while millions of Jewish people and others were dying in Nazi death camps, here's a man who could have spoke out, who could have militarized, who could have...

gotten people aware of what was happening but didn't say anything. So when we are confronted with right and wrong, you have an opportunity to stand up for truth. So can somebody give me an example of when silence is a form of lying? Criminals? Plead the fifth, okay.

Adam Dragoon (18:04.046)

You have the right to remain silent, right? Yes, seven.

Pretty much like when you stole something and your parents find out you stole it but you don't want to admit it so you just say nothing when they ask. Sounds like some personal experience there. Shaden? If you hide something from someone and they ask is it here? You just say I'm not telling you nothing.

Adam Dragoon (18:41.358)

God's going to help that back row. Hallelujah. Yes, Savannah?

What? The Big Bang? What do you mean? You mean that it's a lie? Oh, okay.

Adam Dragoon (19:05.934)

Okay, so how about Peter denying Christ three times? Okay, you're the one, aren't you? Aren't you one of those guys that was with Jesus? I hear it in your accent. You're from Galilee, aren't you? And I swear, I don't know the man. Okay, that's like a denial, yes, Ms. Leanna?

One I guess is not saying something to someone because you're afraid of how it might affect their mental health when they're going through a hardship and you don't want to say something that might make it worse or turn it into a full -blown argument because you're just tired of arguments. So this is a fear of confrontation. I don't want to rock the boat. I don't want to upset the apple cart. I don't want to risk the relationship by saying something that is true.

And so yes, absolutely, this can cause great damage. Okay, let's think about one other aspect. So far we've spoken about lying in the context of relational, meaning a lie happens between two people. It's a word that is either spoken or withheld in the context of conversation. Is it also possible to have lies or to commit the sin of lying without...

more than one person. What I'm getting at is, is it possible for us to allow lies even in our own mind? That there is an aspect of lying to ourselves that is just as deadly and just as dangerous as lies passing between two people. Chris? I actually had a question on something that might fall under that. I don't know if you would. If someone has something that's happened to them but they've never told someone close to them about it.

because they're afraid if they did, it would actually hurt that person to hear them and they would blame their self. Would that be considered keeping one of those silent lies? I think keeping secrets. Any kind of skeleton in the closet, things that still can affect present day realities, relationships, I think that is something to consider for sure. Megan, did you want to add to that?

Adam Dragoon (21:26.382)

I can think of two examples.

inwardly we believe the lies from our own insecurities or our own baggage things either

we allow the devil to come in and put things and we make assumptions or if we're insecure about situations. I think one of the biggest lies and things that people can struggle with is making assumptions instead of clearly communicating something and that can lead to misunderstands or exaggerations or even lies that you might think somebody thinks that way or feels some way. In reality, that may not be the case or there's something going on that you may not even realize that they're dealing with and it could.

that person to go this way instead of coming together and talking to each other and dealing with the issue appropriately or yourself, you're maybe avoid people because you're believing the same kind of thoughts or assumptions in your own mind and you're upset at somebody and you realize, wow, they didn't feel that way or they didn't think that way or if I would just simply talk to them, like wow, that whole situation I was making in my mind was really not the real thing.

Okay, so there is the idea, and maybe you've heard this, what's the problem with a little white lie? What's the problem, is there a price to pay? So I want to talk with you about the price of lies. So yes, there is such a thing as big lies and little lies. And you can see that in the consequences of those lies. So if it's,

Adam Dragoon (23:04.27)

And so the question is, okay, is it possible that there's a lie that's so small that it doesn't have any effect at all, that there's no price to pay? So let's look at the high price of lies. Let's read together Isaiah 59 verses 13 through 15. Who had that one? Miss Noelle.

Adam Dragoon (23:25.902)

In transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood, and judgment is turned away backward and justice standeth afar off. For truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth, and he that departed from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

Okay, this is very interesting scripture. So Isaiah is describing a time in Israel where there is so much sin, there is so much lying that's going on, there is so much turning away from truth and turning toward falsehood, is that he says that the effect of that is that justice is turned away and righteousness stands afar off. So,

When there is a individual, a person, or a family, or a neighborhood, or a culture, or a whole nation that begins to believe lies, the effect of that is that there is a decrease in judgment and righteousness. Do you catch that connection? So what is the price of a culture, or a people, or a person who allows lies to go unchallenged?

It causes the truth to be diluted, to lose its value. Is that making sense? There was a big battle in this nation, in the culture of this nation back in the 90s and the early 2000s regarding marriage, whether marriage should be considered between one man and one woman. Well, we thought we won that culture war when they passed in Congress the Defense of Marriage Act, signed by Bill Clinton, I believe the year was 1996.

Well, fast forward another 10 years, and turns out we actually lost that battle. And now we can define marriage however we want to define it. Where homosexuals can be married, two men can marry, two women can marry, you can marry a donkey if you want to. The laws have been lost, okay? And what is the result? Why were those of us who were defending marriage at the time, what was the argument? The argument was,

Adam Dragoon (25:50.222)

If we allow marriage to be defined however we want it, then what is the effect? It devalues what marriage is at the core. And now we're seeing the results of that as the culture is now not only questioning what is a marriage, but now we're questioning what is a woman? What is a man? What is gender? And so this is the slippery slope.

that many people predicted back in the eighties and the nineties we're seeing it happen when we begin to question when we begin to allow these lies to be proliferated every day then it is diluting the very idea of justice and truth and you know uh... any comments or questions about that yes miss leana

I guess the first slipperiest lie that's left us to the path we have today is, go ahead and eat it. You will not surely die. That is the original lie, right? You will not die. So taking what God said and questioning it. So God said, you eat that fruit, you're going to die, period. But the enemy came in and said, if you eat that fruit, will you surely die? He took the period statement from God.

and turn that into a question mark. And by doing so puts a question in the mind of all of us. And this is what the enemy loves to do. He loves to take God's declarative statements and turn them into questions. And when they become questions, it means it's possible to answer incorrectly. Sabin, did you want to add to that?

So in that Isaiah scripture in 14 at the end it says, in the King James, equity cannot enter and that translates to uprightness. But it's like when we lie, we're obviously creating a false reality. But the real danger in that is that, let's say reality is a puzzle piece, but when you lie, the puzzle piece doesn't look exactly as it should. So if I'm trying to give you something you need based off a lie,

Adam Dragoon (27:58.414)

it's not actually what you need because I'm operating towards a false puzzle piece. So then that just continues and then it just all gets janky and that's the slippery slope. That's right. And that's that's why someone who lives their lives by lies is a very difficult and stressful life because you have to keep in your mind all these disparate realities. It's like living in the multiverse in the MCU. It's like you have all of these.

Reality and with this person over here. I got to remember that I told them this and that and the end this and I was with them at that time But even though that wasn't true I have to I have to remember that when I'm around them because otherwise I'll get caught in my lie and that's just that one person and like you know when I hear about somebody who has You know who has like five girlfriends at the same time. I'm like you must be the most miserable man on earth You know what I'm saying like trying to? Keep all those realities suspended in the air at the same time

It causes nothing but stress and anxiety. That's why the, what was that proverb? It said, whoever hides hatred has lying lips. Whoever spreads slander is a fool. It's foolish. That's why the most rewarding life is a life of truth. Where I'm with people, they know who I am. I know who they are. I trust them, they trust me. I trust God, he trusts me. You're set free. It's a life of freedom, isn't it? Do you want to add to that?

Adam Dragoon (29:27.054)

I was also reading in this book, ironically titled, The People of the Lie, and in it it says, one of the things about lying is that when it pushes you deeper, since you had to keep up with it, it self -perpetuates itself, because then you're afraid of being revealed, so you have to continue to lie, because once you get caught, you have to go all the way back to square one and undo five years of lying, 10 years, so it's just, it's horrible. Absolutely. You get down the road. Yeah, and it's like, if you would have turned around,

when it was early, when it was early on, if you would have taken five minutes to say, you know man, what I just said five minutes ago, that was actually a lie, and I'm really sorry, would you please forgive me. Like that is a lot easier than five years down the road, saying this whole reality that I've been telling you for the last five years is really embarrassing. And that's what you're saying. It self -perpetuates, it's like driving on the road and you get all the way to the Rockies, you know? Like.

I should have made a right turn back in Delaware. Instead I made a left turn and I got to the Rocky Mountains. You know what I'm saying? Like that takes a lot of correction to get back to the right place. Yeah.

And some of the worst lie moments though is because medically lying, like lie about an ailment so long that your body starts believing it and it starts punishing itself. Yeah, there are physical effects, absolutely. There's a name for that. Hypochondriac, that's right. And someone who believes that I have a tummy ache. Well, if you believe that long enough,

Your tummy will begin to ache. You can convince yourself of these things. Megan, did you want to add?

Adam Dragoon (31:15.278)

So on the other side of it, if for example you've had a few situations in your life where you have people saying stuff about you and you know for a fact it's not true, like you're on the receiving end of... Slander. Slander basically.

Adam Dragoon (31:35.918)

especially when it revolves, people that are not around you on a daily basis, and you're trying to keep your heart right and forgive.

Okay, so yeah, we're gonna we're gonna get to that at the end but we have to be people of truth and If we are people of truth that is where we can connect with God and we have to believe that God is the God of truth He's the God of justice

that he will expose lies, that that's what Jesus promised, those things that are whispered in the secret place will be shouted from the rooftops, where that there will be a day of reckoning and we've got to trust him. We've got to have that faith. Andre? No, I just wanted to add something, piggyback off of Saban. Okay. There are many people in prison for murder because they have tried to cover up those lies and it led them to actually kill to keep their lives from being exposed.

Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, so this is this is one of those fundamental sins that definitely leads to worse sins down the road Chris I Mean even in scriptural David pretty much that when he got Bathsheba pregnant He tried to get her husband to come back so that can pretend that they slept together and that it was his baby and did it So instead he killed her husband. That's right. He's willing to kill because his lies didn't work

Absolutely, okay, so so the what we're looking at then is what is the cost of lying and the first cost is that in Allowing a pattern of lying to happen it degrades or it dilutes Truth on a large level that's that's very important. You there's the old fable about the boy who cried wolf There's a wolf. There's a wolf. There's a wolf and he's doing that to get attention But then the whole village comes out to protect him

Adam Dragoon (33:38.51)

and there's no wolf. Okay? And the idea is he does it again, he does it a third time, and by the third time, there's a wolf, there's a wolf, but this time there's really a wolf eating his sheep, but now the whole village says, oh, he's just telling a story again. So by telling lies, his words began to be diluted. The truth. So this is the effect of a culture that allows lies to go unpunished or to go unchallenged even.

is that the truth becomes diluted. That's what we're seeing. We're coming to a day where good is called evil and evil is called good. And it's because that when God said he created the male and female, that's a period statement. And now our culture is putting a question mark there. And so when that goes unchallenged, that has the consequence of diluting truth. And I hope you can see the danger of that. Okay, let's look at the next one.

So by diluting truth, the next thing that happens is that it can damage and destroy human relationships. Let's read some scriptures, Proverbs 18 verse 8. Say even had that one. The words of a gossip are like choice morsels. They go down to the innermost parts. Okay, words of a tale bearer are like wounds. They go down into the inmost body. Have you ever felt that? Someone telling stories about you?

It feels like a personal attack. You would almost rather have somebody punch you in the face than have somebody telling you stories, telling stories about you. And this is why mental health is such a problem for young people today because they feel that from social media. They feel that there are stories being told. Even teenagers that suicide is off the charts these days because of this. Somebody tells a story about them that's not true.

But because it's online, they can't defend it. They can't face their accusers going back to school becomes an option that's out of the question, and so they'd rather just die. Right there. They go down into the inmost body, an attack of that kind can truly destroy people. Proverbs 25 verse 18. Amanda.

Adam Dragoon (36:04.75)

Have you given?

I don't think so. Okay, so I'm gonna read that one.

Adam Dragoon (36:14.83)

I'll just write it in my notes here. Did you hear that? A man who lies against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow. Those are weapons of warfare, right? What do you use weapons of warfare for? To kill, to destroy, okay?

Adam Dragoon (36:44.654)

It says, a lying tongue hates those who are crushed.

Adam Dragoon (36:51.982)

Absolutely, yeah, yeah has goes right back to Well with when with Jesus said

He connected the sin of hatred to the sin of murder. When the commandment said, you've heard it all, you shall not murder, Jesus, he comes and he says, don't even hate your brother. And that's connected with lying. So these are working together. Okay, so the cost of lies. Number one is that they cause truth to lose its value. Number two is it can damage and destroy human relationships. The third thing,

that lies do is that it connects us in a very fundamental way connects us to the father of lies who is Satan. We are never more like the enemy of our soul than when we are telling lies. John chapter 8 verse 44.

Adam Dragoon (38:10.574)

Okay, so Another translation when he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources The idea there is that when Satan lies he's speaking his mother language, right?

every other language truth to him is a foreign language he can understand it it's like when you go to another country and they're speaking uh... a language you don't understand you know you're like confused in days and you're playing playing pictionary all the time and and the devil when we speak truth he can understand that right uh... but when we are operating in lies and deceitfulness oh the devil knows how to talk that language doesn't he?

that is his language. So a person who allows lies to go unchallenged is showing that he agrees more with Satan than with God the Father. We are connected to him through lies. A person who has a lying habit is speaking the devil's language and participating with him in challenging what is true. Okay? That's a high price to pay, isn't it? We don't want to be...

connected to Satan. Why? Why don't you want to be connected to him?

Yes, Ms. Noelle? Why would you not want to be connected to him?

Adam Dragoon (39:52.654)

Well, yeah, because Satan is going to be judged he is going to ultimately God is going to destroy him and so Whatever he is connected to if we are connected to him that destruction will come to us as well. Okay, and finally the last price well, there's there's plenty of prices that we can talk about but The price of telling lies and allowing lies to to live is

is that we separate ourselves from God. So not only are we connected to hell, but we're separated from God. Psalm 101, verse seven. Is that you, Taya?

He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house. He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. That was so good you better read it again. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house. He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. So here's what I can't get. I can't get people who lie straight to my face. I can't get that. In the house of God. In the church. People who...

claim to be born again believers and I've had the experience not once, not a few times, I've had it many times where people who otherwise are good and godly people but will lie straight to my face and I know they're lying and they know they're lying and they know that I know that they're lying. Try to figure that out in your brain. Why would you do that? And so God is saying, this doesn't happen in my presence. So God is a God of truth, right?

That means that lies cannot exist in his presence. How do we come to God? How do we even begin a relationship with God? We have to be honest about ourselves, about our situation, about who he is. We have to say, God, you are holy, I am broken, and God, I desperately need you. Like that's step one with God. We're not gonna get anywhere with God without being honest. I'm messed up and I need a savior. And there's a lot of people who won't even,

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who won't even consider telling themselves the truth in that way. Defending their own honor, defending their lives, defending, well, I'm not such a bad person. And God says, I don't have any part of that, right? Okay, so God is a God of truth. We gotta wrap this up quickly. But the Bible says that the highest price that we pay for lies is ultimately in hell. Revelation 21 verse eight.

The cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the sexual immoral, the sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. That's interesting to be listed among all those things, right? All liars is right up there with sexually immoral, sorcerers, murderers, cowardly, unbelieving. Proverbs 19 .5, a false witness will not go unpunished. He who speaks lies will not escape.

judgment. So you might think that there is just a white lies. Who's going to get hurt by me telling a few lies? God is listening. And even every idle word that we speak is heard and recorded by God. Do you think that God is forgetful of the things that we say? Do you think that God keeps good books? Do you think that there is a record in heaven of your lies? And do you think that one day he will confront you? Why did you say that?

pretty serious, right? Okay, good news is we serve a merciful and a forgiving and a righteous God that when we are honest, he is faithful and just to forgive us even of our wickedness in lies. He is a God of truth. John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. In other words, not just that Jesus

has the truth, but Jesus is the truth. We don't come to him just to obtain truth. We come to him to be in his truth. We who are in Christ. John 4 verse 24, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. How about you? Maybe God would challenge you to walk in truth. Maybe there's something that you've been hiding, something that you've been lying about.

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something that has been withheld from people that you care about. And maybe like what Saban explained, maybe it's years down the road now and it's embarrassing. I ended up in a very wrong place because of a lie that I told 20 years ago, or 50 years ago. And so I would say to you this morning that the embarrassment of telling the truth is worth it. It's worth it. It might be painful, but it's worth it. Jesus said, the truth shall what? Set you free.

Wouldn't it be amazing to not have to live a lie? The truth will make you free. Amen. We come to him in spirit and in truth, and that's what we are gonna do in this service today. We're gonna worship him in spirit and in truth. Let's close in prayer this morning as we get ready for our service. Thank you for listening to this message from the Potter's House Church in Virginia Beach. If you sense the Holy Spirit drawing you out of your sins and into a new life with him, pray this prayer from your heart today. God in heaven, I know I've sinned against you. I've hurt people, I've hurt myself.

and I've broken your laws. Today I turn from my sins as I surrender to your perfect will. I believe Jesus Christ is your son and that he died and rose again for me. I receive him today as my Lord and Savior. May the old things of my past pass away as you make me a new creation. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit to give me strength to live for you for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We want to help you live for God. Please join us in person for one of our upcoming church services.

We are located in the heart of Virginia Beach at 1045 Lenhaven Parkway, about one mile from the Lenhaven Mall. Please check the show notes for links to our website and social media. You can also find a link to support this ministry with a generous donation. We would be so grateful. We look forward to sharing future messages here on the VBPH Sermon Podcast. In the meantime, we pray that God would strengthen you to serve Him with all your heart.

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