# The harm of lying

October 20, 2025

Turn your mind to Psalms 119. Psalms 119. Brother Steve is going to stand up and read the whole chapter for us. Actually, he’s preaching for us tonight. I’m looking forward to that. He’ll do a good job, and I’m excited about that. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in all the Bible.

Lest roll off used to have a home, and some of those people in his home would learn that whole chapter. They got me beat, I promise you, friend. That’s pretty amazing.

But Psalm 119, and I’m going to give you the verse here in just a minute. I wanted to preach an encouraging message. You’ve been working so hard all weekend long and doing a great job, and I wanted to just kind of encourage you along those lines.

But the Lord earlier this week just would not leave this subject alone in my mind, my heart. It seemed like yesterday God confirmed it. And so I got to obey the Lord, all right? Now you’re like, “Oh no, what’s about to happen here?”

But I want to talk for just a bit and preach for just a bit on this subject: The harm of lying. The harm of lying.

Now, don’t do this: “Well, you know, that’s so-and-so. I never lie.” Don’t do that. Just listen for a bit and let the Lord work. And don’t think about, “Yeah, so-and-so, that’s dead. That’s it.” Don’t do all that. Just say, “Lord, can I grow? Can I learn something here today?” and let the Lord work in our hearts and our lives.

We’re going to start over in Psalm 119 and verse number 29. Psalm 119 and verse number 29 in the Bible. Are you there this morning? Good. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together just to show it respect? It’s worthy of that, for sure.

Verse number 29, Psalm 119, verse number 29. The Bible says, “Remove from me the way of lying.”

Now, that’s interesting. So he’s battled it just like you battle it, and just like I battle it. Because he says, “Remove.” Is that what the Bible says or not? None of us are above it. We’ve all been there. Remove. Pretty interesting. From me, the way. That’s interesting. The way. Just the way you live your life. “The way of lying. Grant me thy law graciously.”

By the way, you can’t get that last part unless you go through the first part. And there’s a lot there. We won’t have time. There’s so much here. This could be one of those messages where we literally get out at 1 p.m., but you wouldn’t be happy. Now, if I preach till midnight and you fall, I can’t raise you up like Paul did, so I won’t preach to midnight. But you can’t get that law graciously unless you get that first part removed: the way of lying.

Look over in verse number 163, same chapter, but verse number 163. I think they’ve grown here. Look at this thing here, 163: “I hate and abhor it.” That abhor, man, you just want to get so far away from it. Anybody here you don’t like snakes? Anybody here you don’t like snakes? The only good snake is a dead snake. Amen? How many of you spiders are your thing?

One missionary to Cambodia, when he first went over—is he the Cambodia? He’s there, but he’s visited Vietnam. But one of those, he ate one of those—they fry big old spiders sometimes. And he ate one of them. Some of you have abhorred it. And that’s what he’s saying. He says, “I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love.”

Look over in Proverbs chapter 6. Next book of the Bible, Proverbs chapter 6. And God here is giving his hate list: “These six things I hate, yea, seven are an abomination.”

Let’s look at what he says. Proverbs 6. Look at verse number 16: “These six things doth the Lord hate.” Wow, pretty clear. God doesn’t beat around the bush. The Lord hates this right here. “Yea, seven are an abomination unto him. You can’t stand it.”

Look at the first in verse number 17: “A proud look.” Second thing on God’s hate list. Here it is. Read it out loud, would you please? Here we go: “A lying tongue.” Wow. God hates that. I don’t know—of course, I don’t know the mind of God apart from the Word of God—but I think I will touch a little bit on maybe some of the reasons why God hates it, for sure, two different reasons, I think.

Look over in chapter number 12, Proverbs 12, and look in verse number 22. Proverbs 12 and verse number 22 of God’s word. Proverbs 12, look in verse number 22. He says right there, he says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight.”

I like that. They deal truly. They don’t deal manipulative. They don’t deal deceitful. They just—they just—they deal truly. What they’re telling you, there are no ulterior motives. They just deal truly.

And for just a bit, the harm of lying. Would you pray that God will work in all of our hearts this morning? Would you do that?

Father, I believe you have led this way. Lord, I’m trying to follow. Lord, I do pray that you would use it. Lord, I feel like you have already used it in my life. Thank you for that. Lord, use it in all our lives this morning. We need it, Lord. Grow us thereby. Lord, help us not resist, but let you work. Would you work? And help us to be Christians that are growing because of it. And Lord, we’ll thank you for what you do. And we ask for this, Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

I’ve mentioned already, we all battle this. And here’s the interesting part: we all battle it in different ways. We’re all tempted to lie in different ways. All right. It’s interesting. The Psalmist in Psalm 119—they’re debating about who it was that penned it, if it was from God—but he said this: “In my haste, all men are liars.” Wow. He said that quickly.

But we all are tempted. We’ve all told a lie before. We’ve all been there, but we’re all tempted even if you’re 80 years old, 90, 104. We’re all tempted in certain ways. I want to talk about that for just a minute. Let me just give you 10 different types of liars, all right?

Here’s one. I’ll use Bible verses. I won’t have you turn during this time, but listen to this. The first one is the charming liar, the sweet liar. They will smile, and just—it’s so sweet about it. Sometimes they’ll lie to make you look good. We like those kinds of liars, don’t we?

It’s interesting. There’s this guy eating over in Proverbs 23. He’s eating with a rich man, and the rich man says, “Oh, eat up, I love you.” And then he says that’s not really what’s going on in his heart. That’s where we get that phrase, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

And on the outside, he’s saying, “Oh, you’re wonderful, eat up!” But on the inside, he’s saying something different. And as a man thinketh in his heart, and he’s kind of like the sweet liar, if you would, the charmer liar.

There’s a victim liar. They twist every story so they are the one that got hurt. They lie to escape accountability. They’re the justifier; they always have a reason. I think he’s Saul in the Bible, was that? Well, it became that for sure. He always had it. He’s always the victim, always the one that got hurt.

There’s the chronic denier or the chronic liar. They lie so much they actually believe it. By the way, that’s a biblical thing: 1 John 1:8. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” And the truth is, you can deceive yourself. You lie so long and so much, you believe it. And you’ll fight to the left because you believe it because you said it. So Hitler used to say, “You say something long enough and loud enough, and people might believe it after a while.” And just the chronic liar.

There’s the compulsive liar. Lying is a way of life; it’s a habit. Even if it doesn’t bring any value, there’s no reason for it; it’s just automatic. Typically, there’s something deep inside them: they need attention, approval, or sometimes control. And so they just become this compulsive liar. And it damages relationships. And over time, you don’t trust anything they say, or others don’t trust anything you say.

Here’s an amazing thing about that: they lose their sense of reality. They can shift on a dime because it’s just a way of life. Here’s the sad thing about it: I mentioned they have a deep need—using for attention or control or acceptance, you know—and yet because they’re dealing with this by becoming just a way of life, lying about things, here’s the sad thing: Proverbs 17 now, just read it. It says, “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love.” They’re covering it by lying, but watch what happens: they need love, they seek love. But “he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.” So their need for acceptance and several different things, they have these needs, and they’re kind of covering that up by lying, and yet the lie drives them away from people that can help them with their deepest need. It’s a sad thing.

The occasional liar is honest for the most part but will lie when circumstances arise, whether just in their mind they have to. They may be lying to protect someone else’s feelings; they avoid conflict or minor consequences. They don’t lie—here’s a good thing—but they don’t lie very often, so when they do lie, they get convicted about it. That’s a good thing. They still get full conviction over lying.

They’re just the devil. The devil, by the way, we’ll talk about this in a minute. Over there in Acts 5, verse 3, y’all with me here? It’s Peter talking to Ananias over there, and he says, “Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie?”

So Satan can come along. You say, “So-and-so is a good liar.” No, they’re not a good liar; they’re just a good listener to the devil. Because the devil puts that lie right in, and he’s quick; he’s good at it. And he’ll put a lie right there, and you get in the habit of listening to him, and it’s a way of life. What did Jesus say about the devil? He’s the father of lies. And so the devil gives you that lie. We all got lies available all the time because the devil supplies them.

When I do that, I really—in the day of battle, the Bible says, “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” So in the heat of the battle, the devil puts that fall, that lie in there, and we’re not strong enough to say, “No, tell them the truth.” And it’s a sad thing because they’re not going to be able to handle major battles because they’re an occasional liar.

There’s a psychopathic liar. They lie for the purpose of manipulating and controlling others. They do not feel conviction or remorse about lying. Their lives are calculated and for selfish reasons. Here’s the amazing thing: they’re usually very charming. They’re good with people; they’ll win people over to their side. They’re good at that; they’re people people people. And they’re very persuasive.

You know, nowadays, they say, “You don’t have to tell the truth; you just got to be convincing,” especially when you put on social network and YouTube and Facebook and Instagram and all that. Just be convincing. And even the myth busters need their myth busted sometimes. You understand? Are they in time? It’s just amazing. And so this is another person. By the way, they’re following the devil on that for sure. The devil—that’s just a good description of the devil.

There’s intentional liars. They lie for fun, for entertainment; they’re trying to get a response. They enjoy it. Now listen, they enjoy the power they gain from manipulating and controlling people. Here’s the classic move: if they’re caught, they’ll say, “Oh, I was just joking.”

By the way, that’s what the Bible is speaking of in Proverbs 10:23: “It is as a sport to a fool to do mischief, but a man of understanding hath wisdom.”

There’s a protective or protecting liar. It was an amazing day to me when I met with a wife—my wife was with me alone—and her husband was having an affair, and she lied for her husband when he was cheating on her. Wow. It took me a while to get my brain untangled on that one there. And it came out a little bit later on. The protective liar. Sad thing, by the way. Sad thing is they’re not helping the person they’re protecting by lying, because “the truth shall make you free.” The truth is Jesus; it’s the Word of God, and it’s just the truth. And the truth is what makes you free.

Two more; we’re going to get a couple of things about lying here. Two more types. We’re listing ten types of liars. Number nine is the impressive liar. Now, they’re not impressive that they lie so good; they lie to improve their image. They stretch the truth to seem more interesting, more competent, and more confident. It often blurs the line between reality and fantasy, and it gets blurred inside of them too, because remember of 1 John 1:8, they deceived themselves.

And they’re just always a little bit making it better than it was and giving that certain angle on every story that makes them look good. By the way, a lot of people say the greatest liars are those that keep silent about certain things so you believe a lot. Pretty interesting. I thought we wouldn’t cover that one, but I guess we did real quickly there.

Here’s a sad thing about that: it usually comes from a deep need for honor. Remember we talked about under the tent that one Sunday, they say that people have four different types of things to become idols in their life: sometimes it’s power, sometimes it’s money, sometimes it’s pleasure, sometimes it’s honor. This person typically is one of those that have a need for honor, looking times because of their childhood, but not always. And so they’re always giving these impressive lies. And here’s the sad thing: the Bible says twice, “Before honor is humility.” Wow. And they miss out on the honor God can give them however he sees fit.

Number 10 on these types of liars: there’s the tactful liar. Often lies to avoid conflict or hurt feelings. Can be enjoyable to be around because they’re going to make you feel good no matter what, but will not be helpful when it comes to you growing in your life.

You know, the Bible talks about “speak the truth in love.” And I’m not saying if you see a flaw in anybody, I go up and tell them what’s wrong with them. That’s not necessarily a matter of truth or being lying; that’s just a matter of keeping your mind and your own—keeping your own business to yourself, maybe I should put it that way, you know. And wise when to talk, when not to talk. But they’re just never going to be—when you ask them the truth, I might as well ask them because they’re not going to tell you the truth about the situation because they’re just a tactful liar. “The truth shall make you free.”

Now look over in Proverbs chapter number 16. Proverbs chapter number 16, if you look over there, please. And we want to just get a couple things real quickly here about this thing of lying. All of us, every single person here, you’re tempted in one of those ways, or maybe a couple of those ways, to lie. Don’t like Holy Joel. We’re all there, friend. We all got a flesh somewhere, form or fashion. We’re tempted there. And the devil’s going to guarantee he’s going to tempt you.

Here’s the sad—one of the saddest things about this to me, and I think to the Lord—look at Proverbs 16, verse number six. It really illustrates this thing. Proverbs 16 and verse number six. And I want you to notice what the Bible says. The Bible there says, “By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged.”

Now, let’s talk about this thing “purged.” When I used to weld, if you’re welding mild steel and you’re going to change to stainless steel or aluminum, whatnot, if you’re using a MIG or a wire welder—Brother Ian’s a welder back there, he gets it. Brother Bill’s a welder, they get it—you have to change what gas you’re using in the welder. And if you just change the gas bottle out and you keep welding—maybe you went from mild steel to stainless steel or aluminum anyway—and you change and you just—you just—you just change the bottle out and you keep welding, it’s going to take a while for that old gas to get out before the new gas gets in the line.

And here’s the problem: if you have a minute of welding with a bunch of holes all in there because you’re using the wrong gas, that equals about three hours of grinding. And I don’t know about three hours, but you understand these welders are like, “Yep, yep, yeah, been there, done that,” you know. And man, you’re just going to be grinding, grinding, grinding, grinding, grinding, and your forearms, if you’re using the big grinders, get tired after a while, grinding, grinding, grinding, and you have to purge the gas lines. You have to get the old stuff out. You have to purge the line of that old gas so the new gas gets in there to flow. You have to purge the line.

Now notice what he says right there in that verse. He says, “By mercy.” Well, praise the Lord, the mercy of the Lord endureth forever. Praise the Lord for that right there. I don’t know about you, but I need it for sure. I’m glad we have a merciful God. By mercy. Praise the Lord for that. But not just mercy. By mercy and what’s the next word? And truth. Iniquity is purged.

It’s amazing to me when I’ve put this into practice more in my life and I’ve seen other people put this into practice in their life. When they mess up, maybe they hurt or they tell a lie or something like that, and not only do they get the mercy of God, they confess it before the Lord, but when they go back to that individual and say, “I’m sorry, I lied. I’m sorry for saying or doing this,” you know, it’s amazing, but they’re much more apt not to do that again when they have to go to that individual and be truthful. I’m simply saying, by mercy and truth, by the truth is you hurt so-and-so. The truth is I hurt you. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged.

And if you’re going to get it out of your system, you’re going to get it out of your life, there must be mercy, yes, but not just mercy; there must be truth involved in that. That’s why it’s good when your kid tells a lie, you just don’t brush it off. You say, “Now Johnny, you’re going to go back and tell your sister, Suzy, you lied, and you’re sorry about that.” By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged.

“And by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.” Now, here’s the sad thing. I’m emphasizing that first part of that. Here’s the sad thing about it: if people don’t get honest, whatever way we’re tempted, you know, we get stagnant. We don’t grow. They stay in the same stage of the Christian life for years and years and years. They’re never growing. Sometimes I want to grow. Well, you’re not going to grow until you get honest about things in your life.

Can I say this? If everywhere you go—workplace, home, church—you always have problems, you’re always fussing, fighting with someone, friend, you better look in the mirror. That’s where the problem is. It’s not your boss because you’ve had 200 bosses. It’s not your neighbor because you had 200 neighbors. Friend, I’m telling you, the problem is lying with you, and you’ve got to get dead honest about that. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. It is so very, very important.

Some people are stuck in the same stage for the rest of their life. That’s sad. God wants us growing. He wants your marriage growing. He wants you growing across the board. It’s in His time, I understand that, but I’m not going to grow until I get honest.

You know, someone will not get saved until they get honest about they’re not good enough. I’m going to go ahead and say this. I’ve been praying. I like President Trump. I think he’s made some wonderful decisions. I think he’s a great president. You can say amen if you like to; the IRS isn’t looking over at you. You’re all right, friend. But I pray for him every day to get saved, and I mean that. The other day when I heard him say, “I don’t think I’m going to heaven,” I thought, “Man, praise the Lord, I’m like he’s getting closer.”

I mean, they’re like questions. He seemed a little bit like taken back, and, you know, he’s not—he usually don’t—not wanting for words. He’s usually got something to say, you know, but a little bit just kind of like, “Oh, praise the Lord.” He said, “I don’t—I don’t think I’m going to make it. This earth may be, you know, the closest thing I have to have down here,” you know. I was happy about that because to me it’s like he’s getting close to getting saved. You never heard it’s sad. You got to get them lost for you and get them saved.

And basically, you know what we’re saying? They’ve got to be honest. You ever try to witness to someone and they say, “Oh, I’m going to heaven,” and they say, “Because, you know, I’m good to my neighbor. I treat people like I want to be treated.” And then later on, they say, “Oh, I’m believing in Jesus.” And you say, “Well, you can’t be both.” Well, friends, they keep going down that road; there’s not that much you can do with them. Jesus had to walk away from a lot of people. They get saved; they got to get honest about that, see?

And someone, they’re not going to get saved until they get honest about it: “I’m a sinner, man. I can’t—I can never be good enough to go to heaven.” You know, they say that the number one thing to do if you’ve got addictions in your life—we all got some kind of addictions, by the way, all of us do. I’m trying to get over my addiction of sugar. Oh, boy, I’ll tell you what, if I can just do it for a couple months, I’ll probably go back to it, but I mean, you know, I’m just trying to lose a little bit of weight. That’s hard to do, man. Anybody out there, you folks like me? You’re like, “Man, when I was young, I could lose weight.” It’s different nowadays. I’m getting on some of y’all’s level, amen. I’m with you. That’s me, man. I’m like, “Wow.”

But we all got our addiction. You know, they say that the first thing to overcome an addiction is admitting you have one. And just whatever it is in your life. If you got a temper issue, it’s all right. We’ve got to work at those things. My hand’s up there too. Just whatever it is, you know, just just honesty. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged.

You know when David sinned and messed up with Bathsheba, you know that, adultery and then murder to Uriah and all that, and God finally sends a preacher, Nathan, and he’s pointing to say, “Hey, that weren’t the man.” And David’s getting right with God over there in Psalm 51. You remember that?

In verse number six, I love this verse, Psalm 51. Let me just read it for you. He says, “Behold,” talking to the Lord, “behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” And David said, “Lord, I know you desire truth.” It’s interesting, in the inward parts. We lie to ourselves. David says, “I know you, Lord. You desire truth in the inward parts.”

Hey, this is a good prayer. Let me challenge you to pray this. Pray this for the next six months, sincerely, honestly, before God: “God, show me when I am being dishonest.” By the way, you got to get honest to get there.

I like this. Psalm 94:18. I’ve been working out this verse. Don’t have it down, that’s why I got it. I’m ready. If I don’t have it, I’ll look it up. But Psalm 94:18, he says, “When I said, excuse me, when I said, ‘My foot slippeth,’ by mercy, O Lord, help me up.” Isn’t that in Psalm 94:18? “When I said, ‘My foot slippeth,’ by mercy, O Lord, hold me up.”

I want to grow. I’ve been here forever. I’d like to give the next level. By mercy and truth, it must be involved in the formula for him. I think of a man years ago. He’s a good man. And we were in a storefront, and he drank. He said, “Oh, I don’t drink that much. I’m just a social drinker. It doesn’t affect anything. Hey, you know, my marriage is fine. I’m fine.”

And his wife came behind him a little bit later on when he wasn’t around, and she said, “Pretty sure he drinks all the time. It affects everything in our life.” By the way, praise the Lord, on a Sunday night, he came forward and rededicated his life. And that’s probably been 20 years ago. And as far as I know, he hasn’t touched another drop of it. Praise the Lord. But when he was rededicating, he had to get dead honest. He had an issue. He was a functioning alcoholic. He was an alcoholic. He got dead honest, God helped him overcome that.

Number one, the sad thing is you won’t grow. Somebody won’t get saved unless you get honest. You won’t grow as a Christian unless you get honest, part of it.

Now look over to Ephesians chapter number six real quickly here. Ephesians 6. For all your Bible students, and I hope you are Bible students out there, remember this chapter has the armor of God, the six pieces of the armor of God. And help me out if you know it. Help me out as we said. Well, it starts off with the helmet of salvation, and the breastplate of righteousness, and the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The loins gird about with truth, and feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Man, y’all are—you are awesome. Y’all are on the ball, man. I tell you what, let’s pray and go home. You got it all down pat. But I don’t want you to notice. He’s talking about this armor. By the way, he’s talking to the Ephesian Church; he’s talking to Christians here. There’s a little side note on that. Notice what he says. It starts off talking about the different pieces of armor. Verse 14: “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with what?” Truth.

By the way, I don’t think he’s talking about salvation there. Jesus is the truth, because these are saved folks. Once you’re saved, you can’t lose it. He says, “Hey, he says, I want you to have your loins girt about with truth.” Now, the word is truth. Jesus is truth, and then there’s just being truthful. By that, it’s interesting: your loins, your midsection, your reproductive organs are there. Every affair I’ve ever dealt with with people, whatnot, and all that, cheating and all that, there’s lying going on, just being honest.

But here’s the thing I want to talk about: your loins girt about with truth, it’s the first thing. And he lists these six pieces of armor. I went from top to bottom, you know, but the Bible starts with your loins girt, or your belt girt about with truth. They say typically those Roman soldiers, their belt would kind of link their breastplate and everything; it would kind of link it all together. And so when they would cinch that belt tight, it would keep everything together, or else if they didn’t have that belt of truth on as they’re trying to run or battle, you know, can you imagine having all the armor on and it’s kind of just loosely clanking and you can’t move very freely and you can’t run very fast?

But the belt is the thing that kind of cinched everything together, and he starts off talking about the belt of truth. Now here’s the thing I’m trying to get at: it’s the first thing he mentioned because you are going to battle the devil. He’s our adversary. If you live in this world, you’re going to have a battle everywhere you go. And if you’re going to win in that battle, the first thing he lists—you’ve got to get honest about things. Stop blaming everybody else and everything and justifying and exaggerating all that. Just get honest about the situation. And if you’re going to have the armor on that you can run with in the battle for the Lord—by the way, we need some good strong warriors in our day and time. We need some people that are willing to get involved in the fight and they can handle the fray, they can handle the battle fatigue, and they can handle it because they’re honest about their life.

By the way, let me just say something here: if you’re in debt up to your ears—and I’m not talking about medical bills; we’ll take medical bills out of the thing—it’s usually not everybody else’s fault. It’s your fault. You see, why do you do that? Because the truth shall make you free. That’s why. And just get honest about things, friend. So very important. I’m going to be able to battle. You’ve got to have that truth. Satan will try to give you lies. He’s just quick at putting—“Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie?”—and he’ll do it before you even think about it. He’s got a lie right there. That’s why—that’s why little Johnny and Susie used to say, “Where in the world did those kids learn how to lie so good?” The devil, father of it. That’s why you have to teach them not to lie. And when you lie, there’s going to be some consequences. I mean, what do they say? Canoes are paddled best from the rear. Hey, me? Boy, you are dead this morning. Oh, my goodness. You didn’t get that, did you? Yeah. Truth. Truth. Truth.

Oh, I don’t know what it’s been—five, six years ago, a Sunday morning, I believe it was, maybe seven years ago, I don’t know. But someone came, and they’ve been in and out of the church for years and years and years and years. And they shook my hand at the door, and they said, “Pastor, I want you to know I’m an alcoholic.” And I’ve been sober for—I can’t remember how long at that point. By the way, I had no idea. Very good job. Pretty wealthy.

But since they got honest about it, they’ve grown. And I believe they became a great warrior for the Lord. Because one time, one service, they came to me and said, “Pastor, I want you to know I’m dying for just one drop of alcohol. I’m kind of down right now. I just want one drop.” And the first thing I said is, “Thank you for being honest.” By the way, I don’t think they failed. They won, but they were honest about it. By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. Don’t twist it. Don’t manipulate it. Don’t make everybody else’s fault. Don’t make you the victim. Let’s be honest.

One more thing, we’ll move on. Look over in John chapter number eight. John chapter number eight. John chapter 8, look in verse number 31, would you please? John 8, verse number 31. We’ll get down to a verse we hear often, but I want you to see the context. John 8, verse number 31.

I want you there. Would you say, “Amen”? Good, good deal. Look at John 8:31: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.”

By the way, and I haven’t emphasized it, but “Thy word is truth.” “Sanctify them through thy word; thy word is truth.” But he says, “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

To grow, though, you’re going to have to face the truth. Can I say this? Yes, I’m for honoring your parents; that’s one of the Ten Commandments. But sometimes you’re going to have to get honest about your parents. Not so you can be the victim the rest of your life and complain about your parents and all the rest of that, so you can grow, so you can forgive, so you can get healing. The truth—the truth shall make you free. God wants to take you on the journey of truth. Truth about your life, truth about you—truth. Just honesty is so, so vital.

I love this verse. We’re going to quit here in just a second. I’m not landing, but I am circling the airport, all right? Now you know.

Psalm 145:18: “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.” All. He’s nigh unto all that call upon him in truth.

You ever heard the phrase that they don’t want to face the music? It’s where it came from. Back in China, years ago, the emperor’s symphony. And a man was in the symphony, and he played the flute. But there was a lot of flute players in the symphony. And the honest truth was, he was a good actor of playing the flute. And man, he could act the best that he’d get up there and act like he could play, but he never really blew, and he never really played the flute. He was so good at it, he became part of the symphony to the emperor. Made good money. I mean, he was—he was pretty wealthy. Yeah.

And one day the emperor said, “I want to hear all of my symphony play a solo.” And that man said, “Oh, no, boy, this is not good.” And so he thought, “Well, maybe I could learn to play.” So he began to take lessons. He quickly learned it’s a lot harder than it looks. Faking’s a whole lot easier than really doing it, you know. After a bit, he said, “That ain’t going to work. Hanging, I ain’t got enough time, and I ain’t good enough. I can never fake that thing there.” So then…

Then he said, “Well, I’m going to get sick.” And he got sick. And the emperor wanted his musicians to play so bad that the emperor sent one of his doctors to check up on that man. And that doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with him. He looked pretty good to me. Dates Kevin? I’ll talk to the emperor. You’re ready. I can’t find anything wrong with you. He stood over the stove with the thermometer in his mouth too many times. Come on now. A penny underneath your tongue with it? I’m giving you too many. Yeah, yeah.

And the doctor—he saw all those tricks. He was just all about that. And he couldn’t make excuse me out of town. No, the emperor gave you plenty of time; you better be in town. And the man, true story, drank some poison and killed himself because they didn’t want to face the music.

Friend, the best thing to do—just we all got problems, and we’re all tempted to lie from here and there—just say, “You know what? I want to be truthful. I want to deal truly.” Will you bow your heads and close your eyes, please?

Heads bowed, eyes closed. Three questions, and we’ll move on, have an invitation. But if your heart, in your heart, you say, “Lord, help me in my battle for honesty. I want to be totally honest. Help me, Lord, help me in my battle for honesty.” God spoke to my heart about that. Lord, I’m just saying, would you help me in my battle for honesty? I want that. If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand in that preacher, that’s me. “Help me, Lord, in my battle for honesty.” Me too. My hand’s up. I battle it too. I battle it too. Good, good, good. That’s so important. Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down.

You say, “Lord, I want to grow. And if in my growing, I’ve got to face some truths that are hard to face, I’m willing to face them because I want to grow. Lord, grow me by mercy and truth, and I want to get that iniquity purged. I want to get out of there.” Lord, just help me to grow. That’s my prayer, Lord. I’m asking you, no matter what, if I’ve got to pay some things about myself, I’m willing to face it because I want to grow. And my heart, Lord, before you is: help me to grow. That’s you this morning, just lift your hand in a preacher. “Lord, before the Lord, I want to grow.” Just slip it up, slip it up. Me too. Friend, it’s amazing what—just truthfulness, total honesty in a marriage will do. It’s amazing. It’s amazing.

Last question you’re here this morning. You said, “Preacher, the honest simple truth is I don’t know I’m saved. When that day comes for me, I don’t know that I’m going to go to heaven.” Or maybe you say, “I know I’m not going to go to heaven. I want to get honest about that. I want to face that. I know the honest simple truth is I’m a sinner. I can never be good enough to go to heaven. I need to get saved.”

And God spoke to my heart about that with our heads bowed and eyes closed. I’m not going to call your name, not going to embarrass you, anything like that. If you’re there and said, “Preacher, I need to get saved,” and that’s you, just slip your hand up, just slip it up, just a little bit, just a little bit. “I need to get saved.” Am I like that?

Hey, Christians, we’re going to grow by mercy and truth. Let’s just be truthful. Hey, if I ask your spouse, your kids, “Are they always honest?” What would they say? Would you please stand? Would you please stand? We’re going to have a quick word of prayer. Just be obedient to the Lord. Maybe come to an old-fashioned altar call. “Lord, help me to grow. Help me to grow. I want to grow. Next year, I’d like to be grown from where I’m at right now.” You let him know that.

Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your word. It’s amazing. Lord, help us to grow from the truth of your word and the truth of our lives, and through Jesus. Well, thank you for—in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Would you be obedient? Have the Lord guide you. “Lord, I want to grow. I want to grow. I want to grow. I want to grow. I want to grow. I want to grow. I want to go. I want to be here for 20 years, 30 years.” What a sad thing. Someone never grows. They’re just there for 30 more years. All by mercy and truth. Truth. Men of God said, looking forward to tonight. Brother, go for it. You’ll do a good job. It’s always a blessing to hear these men of God preach. Looking forward to that tonight.

Original File: 2025-10-20 - Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂The harm of lying＂ - Sunday AM 10⧸19⧸2025