(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Men, the title of my sermon this morning is, I hate and abhor lying. This is from, you're there in Proverbs 6 but in Psalm 119 verse 163 the Bible reads, I hate and abhor lying but thy law do I love. Now the Bible says there where you are in Proverbs 6 verse 16, these six things does the Lord hate, yea seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood, a 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. Do you notice the thing that comes up twice in the list of things the Lord hates? The Lord hates a lying tongue and the Lord hates a false witness that speaketh lies. So God hates lying. Not only that but in Psalm 119 this is David speaking and he says in verse 163, I hate and abhor lying. That tells me that if the man after God's own heart hated lying and if God hates lying we should hate lying too. And so the title of the sermon is, I hate and abhor lying. Now flip over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 in the New Testament, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Part of hating lying is that we love the truth. If you love the truth you're going to hate lying. That's why the Bible said, I hate and abhor lying but thy law do I love. Of course God's word is the ultimate example of truth. It is the essence of truth, it is the epitome of truth and so David's love for God's word is connected to his hatred for lies. He also said, I hate every false way. I don't like things that are deceptive or wrong or false or lies because I love the truth. Now we as Christians should be lovers of truth. That should be something about our character that we should be known for. That should be just a part of our being is that if you're a Christian you're someone who loves truth. You seek truth, you love truth, you embrace truth. Truth should be a huge part of our lives as Christians and if we love truth then we're going to hate lying. Now look what the Bible says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 9, this is about the Antichrist. It says, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, watch this because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned to believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So the Bible here is saying that the love of the truth leads people to getting saved. It leads people to salvation. If someone is truly on a quest for truth, if someone's truly a truth seeker or part of the truth movement, if they're a sincere person their path will inevitably lead them to Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the lie. And so those who are damned, it's because of the fact that they received not the love of the truth. And because they received not the love of the truth, God sends them a strong delusion as a punishment so that they'll believe the lie, so that they'll all be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness. You know the famous atheist Richard Dawkins wrote his most famous book called The God Delusion. It really should be called The Delusion from God. The delusion that God sent to Richard Dawkins as a punishment for Richard Dawkins receiving not the love of the truth, God sent him a strong delusion so that he would believe a lie so that he would be damned. That's what is the life story of Richard Dawkins in a nutshell. And here's the thing about that. Richard Dawkins has said, well if there really is a God, he's a really deceptive God making it seem like he doesn't exist. And here's the thing about that. There's a kernel of truth in what Richard Dawkins is saying there because it's true that God has sent Richard Dawkins and people like him a delusion. So in that sense, he's a little bit right there of, well God tricked me. Yeah, because you're a rotten person. You received not the love of the truth so that you could be saved and so God has sent you a strong delusion so that you would believe something that is ridiculous so that you believe something that's crazy. I mean it's crazy to think that this world came from nothing, that this universe came from nothing, that life could begin from nothing, that animals could originate from nothing. It's bizarre. But yet we have seemingly intelligent, educated people who believe that. Many of them are just ignorant and look, don't get this idea that everybody who is messed up into the Big Bang and evolution and thinking that there's no God. Don't get to think that they're all reprobates because a lot of them, you know, they're going to school and they're being trained like this. They're going to college and being trained like this and you know what? Many of them when they hear the Gospel will receive the truth, they'll receive the love of the truth and be saved. But obviously someone like Richard Dawkins, you know, this is somebody who's a reprobate, who's under a strong delusion and so forth and then he's trying to just corrupt as many other innocent people as he can and teach them this atheistic garbage. It doesn't make sense scientifically. You can call it science all you want but trying to explain the origin of the universe or the origin of life on this planet is a fool's errand from a scientific perspective because you're never going to be able to do it with science because it's something that came from a divine act and it's outside the scope of science. It's outside the limitations of science. Science has its limitations. Somebody who actually knows science understands that those limitations exist. And so there's a strong delusion being sent causing people to believe a lie and it's punishing them for what? What did they do to deserve this punishment? Because what could be a worse punishment than God sending you a strong delusion and making you believe a lie? They receive not the love of the truth. So we as Christians, we that are saved, we at least to some degree have received the love of the truth. But you know what? Don't want to just love the truth enough to get saved and then embrace lying in our lives? No. We need to walk in truth. John said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. John loved the truth. If you read 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, he hammers the truth. The truth. The truth. It's like his favorite word that keeps coming up over and over and over again. And of course, we know the scripture is inspired by God. God loves the truth. God is hammering the truth in 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John. And so we need to, as 1 Corinthians chapter 13 says, rejoice in the truth. Love it. Rejoice it. Okay, so let me ask this. If you love the truth, if you rejoice in the truth, if you're a truth seeker, then why do you lie so much? Because somebody who really loves the truth isn't going to go around lying all the time. And you know what? Lying is a sin that we as Christians should avoid because we should hate that sin. We should hate, we should be like Dave where we say, I hate and I'm poor at lying. And by the way, when David said that, that doesn't just mean, oh I just hate it when other people do that. It's amazing how sometimes sin looks worse on other people than it looks on us. But you know what? When we hate and are poor at lying, let's not just hate when other people lie. Let's also hate our own lying. Let's hate it when we lie. Let's hate lying so much that we repent of that and we quit doing it, okay? And we walk in truth and tell the truth and obviously, you know, we know that every single person on this earth has lied. But that doesn't mean that you just have to go around lying all the time. And you know what? Not everybody just goes around lying continually. And lying is a bad sin and just because everybody has done it, just because I've done it, you've done it, doesn't mean that we should just act like, oh it's no big deal. Well the reason that it's a big deal is because it's the exact opposite of who God is. He's the truth. So if we love him, then we would have to hate lying in order to really love God. That's why the Bible says, I hate and I'm poor at lying. Go if you would to Psalm 52. Psalm 52, while you're turning to Psalm 52, I'm going to read you some scriptures from Proverbs. He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool. What's slander? Slander is when you lie about someone else. You say bad things about someone else that aren't true. Proverbs 12 19, the lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. 12 22, lying lips are abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight. He loves the truth. He hates lying. Proverbs 13 5, a righteous man hateth lying. Let me say that again. A righteous man hates lying. That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says. He says, I don't hate lying. Well maybe you're not a righteous man, because the Bible says a righteous man hateth lying. But a wicked man is loathsome and cometh to shame. What does that mean loathsome? I loath you. Loath means a poor, means hate. These are just synonyms, right? I hate and a poor lying, I loath lying. You know the Bible says that the wicked man is loathsome, meaning it's the opposite of being lovable. There's lovable and then there's loathsome. And the Bible says here that a righteous man hates lying, but a wicked man is loathsome and cometh to shame. Now stop and think about this. Let's think about this verse here when he says a righteous man hates lying. So hatred is emanating from the righteous man and it's directed at lying. Does everybody understand? So picture like you got the righteous man and you've got lying and there's like an arrow of the flow of hate. Does everybody understand? The righteous man hates lying. So there's hatred flowing from the righteous man directed at lying. Does everybody understand that? The wicked man is loathsome. So he's basically, instead of hating lying, he's hated for lying. He's hated for lying. You say, well Pastor Anderson, I think you're just a hate preacher. Yeah, I hate lying. I have hate in my heart this morning. I must confess the hatred in my heart this morning for lying that I share with every righteous person that's on this earth that also hates lying because righteous people hate lying. God hates lying. Jesus hates lying. Uh, David hates lying. Everybody who's righteous, if you love the truth, you're going to hate lying. It's that simple. But the wicked man is loathsome. He is hated for being such a liar and he comes to shame because you know what? If you're someone who lies, eventually you're going to get embarrassed. You're going to get ashamed. You're going to get exposed. Think about how people who lie, eventually they get caught in a lie and it gets exposed and it gets shown how they, they lied and they cheated and they, uh, deceived and so forth. It happens all the time. The Bible says in Proverbs 17 for a wicked doer giveth heed to false lips and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue. What the Bible is saying here is that, you know, lying people, they like to listen to other people lie. They, they, they tolerate other people's lives, but see a person who tells the truth, they don't like being lied to. A truthful person hates being lied to. They hate lying. They don't want to lie themselves. If they lie, it grieves them and when other people lied to them, it angers them. But a person who lies all the time, they'll tolerate lying in other people because they're a big liar, so they don't care if other people lie. So a wicked doer gives heed to false lips and a liar gives ear to a naughty tongue. Proverbs 17, 7, excellent speech becometh not a fool, much less do lying lips a prince, right? We don't want to have a prince or a king or a president or a ruler who lies, right? This is not comely for a leader. Prince comes from the word, it comes from the same root word as English words like principle or it means basically the first, right? And in fact, the German word for prince is forst. That's how you say prince in German. So the prince is talking about like the top ruler in the kingdom. Now in our language, we'll often use prince differently in modern vernacular to mean the son of the king. But what do we mean? We mean the first son of the king. So it's the prince because he's the first born son. But in the Bible, prince often is talking about the actual top ruler in the kingdom, the top dog, the first leader in the kingdom, the ruler himself. And so we don't always want to just when we see the word prince in the Bible, just jump to son of a king. That's often what it is, but sometimes it could also just be the top guy as well. And so lying lips, we don't want that in our leaders, do we? We don't want a president or congressman or senators who lie to us. We don't want lying politicians, right? So basically we just don't want politicians. Excellent speech becometh not a fool, much less do lying lips a prince. Proverbs 26, 28, a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. So lying to someone is a hateful act. It's not loving when you lie to someone. It's a hateful act. And a flattering mouth worketh ruin. You say, well, I lied to someone to make them feel good. Well the flattering mouth worketh ruin. You know, what's flattery? Saying good things to someone that aren't sincere. Telling someone you're beautiful when you don't believe that they are. You're really smart. You're really great and you don't feel that way. That's flattery because it's not sincere. It's not real. It's not from the heart. And often it's wicked people trying to gain advantage with you that will give you compliments that aren't true to try to butter you up, get you off your guard so that they can abuse you. Okay. Where did I have you turn? Psalm 52 verse one, why boastest thou thyself in mischief, oh mighty man. Oh, you're such a mighty man. What a big man boasting about all the sin that you do. And don't people today sometimes brag about how drunk they get or brag about being a whoremonger or brag about stealing, brag about shoplifting, right? He says the goodness of God endureth continually, verse two, thy tongue diviseth mischiefs like a sharp razor working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good and lying rather than to speak righteousness. See, he's saying, look, you love lying more than you love speaking righteousness. You love evil and you love lying. It's wicked. Thou lovest all devouring words, oh thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy thee forever. He shall take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land of the living. So here, this is such a great play on words. Obviously, the book of Psalms, a poetic book. So he's talking to a person and he's saying, you know, God's going to destroy you. God's going to take you away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land of the living. You know, if you're a really wicked person, God could just kill you. And by the way, being saved does not prevent you from being physically killed for your stupidity and wickedness in this life. You're still going to go to heaven and you say, well, how is that a punishment? Well, look, I'm glad I'm going to heaven, but I don't want to take the next train out. I want to continue living on this earth as long as I can. And you say, well, why would you want to do that? Because this is my only opportunity to live for God and earn rewards and win people to Christ and do certain things. Obviously, yeah, I'm going to be able to do other cool stuff when I get to heaven that I can't do now. But you know what? There's some things that I can only do now, like earning rewards. And how I live now is going to determine my eternity. Now obviously, heaven and hell is already decided because I've already believed on Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ. God's son has cleansed me from all sin. I've been passed from death unto life. I shall not come into condemnation. I've been sealed with the Holy Spirit under the day of redemption. He that has begun a good work in me shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. But okay, still I want to earn rewards. I want to work for God. I want to take other people with me. I want to get people saved. And I can only do that right now while I'm in the land of the living. And so it is a punishment from God to be cut short in your life, even as a Christian. Because look at King Saul. You know, I believe King Saul's in heaven. I have no doubt about that. But I will say this, King Saul's life was cut prematurely short because of his sin. God told him, you're going to die on Mount Gilboa. You're going to die in battle. Samuel told him, Samuel back from the dead, who's obviously with the Lord, he says, tomorrow, thou and thy sons are going to be with me. Okay, and that's not what Saul wanted to hear. He's not like, oh, cool. I've always wanted to go to heaven and see what it's like. You know, that's not what he wanted to hear. He doesn't want to die an ignomious death on the Mount of Gilboa and get abused by the Philistines and for them to chop off his head and parade his head around over here and parade his body in this other temple of Dagon and everything. You know, that's not how you want to end your life. You want to finish the course. You want to keep the faith. Hey, I hope to serve God into old age and do far greater works for God in the future than what I've done in the past. I want to keep going. I don't want God to look down at me and say, well, you know, this guy's done great things for God, but now he's just a screw up. I might as well just quit with this guy while I'm ahead here and just kill him, just take him home. Folks, that's what happened to King Saul. And I guarantee you that that has happened millions of times where God basically looks at somebody and says, you know what? You are not taking correction. You're doing more damage than good might as well just bring you home. And it's like, OK, you get to go to heaven because you believed on Christ. You get to go there by grace. But you know what, though, you're not going to have the rewards that you could. You're going to miss out on rewards big time. You know, the thief on the cross is in heaven, but he didn't get the same reward as the apostle Paul. OK. So the point is that God's saying here that, that he, you know, he'll, he'll root thee out of the land of the living. He's talking about killing somebody, right? Land of the living is where we are right now. But there's a double meaning here because in verse four, he's talking to the tongue. He says, thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. So he's talking, it's a poem, right? So he's talking to the tongue as if the tongue were a person. And so when he says, God shall pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, there's also a symbolism here of someone getting their tongue ripped out. Does everybody understand that? Like God getting angry at the lying tongue and plucking it out of its dwelling place and rooting it out. Basically it's a, it's a picture of someone actually having their tongue cut off and ripped out. And you say, well, why would you bring that up pastor Anderson? Because of the fact that that's what God brought up in this passage. And he brings up stuff like this because he's trying to send you a strong message. I hate lying. I hate lying. And you know, when I think about the lying tongue that just loves lying and brags about lying, you know, it just makes me want to grab that tongue and just rip it out. You know, obviously God's using some extreme language here. But also there's the meaning of, he'll just root you out of the land of the living if you're somebody who brags about mischief and loves lying. And you say, well, how can you even talk about that, Pastor Anderson? But look at verse six, the righteous also shall see and fear and laugh at him, right? So what's, what's the response when we see this? The first thing we should do before we start laughing, we shouldn't just see it and start laughing. We start to fear first. We see it. We see someone get wiped out and then we fear like, whoa, I better make sure that doesn't happen to me. I better not be that guy. And then we laugh at him like, hey, where's all your bragging now, buddy? Hey, big mouth. Now you're dead because God shut you down. A lot of people that, you know, this preaching is foreign to them. Maybe you're sitting there this morning and saying, well, I've never heard preaching like this. This preaching is foreign to me. Well, you know, welcome to Bible preaching. Welcome to a church where we actually look at what the Bible says and we go verse by verse and we don't just skip over verses that are a little bit unsavory. You know, God's got some gnarly things to say about the lying tongue, how he wants to rip it out of your mouth and laugh about it. Okay? Do not lie. I want you to walk out of here this morning saying, you know what? I'm going to walk in truth. I love the truth. I hate lying and I'm going to be a person who tells the truth. Honesty is the best policy. Psalm 119, 29, you don't have to turn there, it says, remove from me the way of lying. That's what we should pray to God, right? We should pray to God and say, God, remove from me the way of lying. God help me not to lie. Help me to tell the truth. And you know who lies? Children lie. Children lie. Hey, did you do this? No. Did you take this? No. Did you break that? No. Kids lie, don't they? But you know what? They need to be punished and taught to tell the truth or they're going to grow up and be like Bill Clinton and everybody else, right? Sorry if that's before your time, young people. They're going to grow up and be like Joe Biden, right? He's got three college degrees and top of his class, sure, but you know what? You've got to teach your kids not to lie. You've got to discipline them when they lie, but you know what? At the end of the day, every kid has to decide like I'm going to quit lying. I'm going to tell the truth. Now why do people lie? People lie because they're more interested in what other people think than what God thinks because you're never fooling God when you lie. God's not like, well, he said he didn't do it, so I'm just going to give him the benefit of the doubt. You know, what you're basically saying is I'm willing to offend God. Let's say you did something bad, right? You're going to offend God a second time by lying about it, offend God by lying about it versus tell the truth about it and you're going to offend man, but God would be pleased with you telling the truth. So you have to ask yourself, do I now persuade man or God? That's really what lies behind lying in many ways. Go to John chapter 8 in the New Testament, John chapter 8. This is a verse that should help us to hate, I want to help you hate lying this morning. You know, the devil is the father of lies. He's a liar and the father of it. You know, is that what we want to do? Do we want to do something and participate in something and love something that comes from the devil? Because the Bible says in John 8, 44, year of your father, the devil, speaking to the unbelieving Jews that have rejected Christ, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth. Why did he not abide in the truth? Because there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he's a liar and the father of it. What does that mean when it says when he speak of the lie, he speaketh of his own? Basically he's in his most natural element when he's lying. The most natural thing to come out of his mouth is a lie. If he opens his mouth and starts talking, the default is lie. Does everybody understand that? You know there are people like that? There are people that are called pathological liars. They lie so much that they start even believing that their own lies are true. And they just lie and lie. And you know how you can spot one of these people that's just a pathological liar? Is someone who lies when there's absolutely no reason to lie. That's when you know someone is really having a serious problem with lying. Because the typical lies that people tell, and of course all of it's wrong, all of it's wicked. I'm not condoning any of it. But typically people will lie, they get in a bind, they get into trouble, they get busted, and so they lie to get out of it. That's what little kids do. They lie. I didn't do it. But you know, I've known people that were so deep into lying, they'll just tell lies just for absolutely no reason. Like there's no reason not to tell the truth and they just lie about it. That is, folks, if that's something that you do, you're a very wicked person, you need to get right with God. You should not be a person who delights or enjoys lying, even just for the heck of it, you're just lying. Folks, that's way over the line. That's like, then you're going to become a person like the devil where it's just lies just come out of your mouth, just like breathing air. It's just natural as rain. You just tell lies, tell lies. You know what? Obviously every single person has lied before and people are going to lie from time to time. But you know what? Any time you lie, it should grieve you, it should hurt you, you should feel bad about it, and you should make it right and fix it and tell the truth and say, look, I lied about that. I'm sorry, here's the truth. That's called having a tender heart. When the Bible talks about being tender hearted, having a tender heart, what's the opposite of being tender? Well, think about meat. Meat can be tender, right? What's the opposite of tender meat? Meat that's tough and hard. So the opposite of being tender hearted is having a calloused, hard heart. How about having a conscience seared with a hot iron? The nerves are dead. You don't feel anything anymore. It's pretty sad if you can just lie and you don't feel bad about it. You don't feel guilty about it. You don't hate lying and say like, oh man, I can't believe I lied. I'm so sorry. That was bad. I shouldn't have done that. Instead, you're just lying, lying, lying, not even thinking about it. Doesn't even bother you. Go to bed at night and sleep like a baby and you don't even care that you just lie over and over again. Folks, you are acting in a devilish manner because the devil is a liar. He's the father of it. When he's speaking lies, he's speaking of his own. Have you ever known people where it's like, hey, here's how you can tell if they're lying, their lips are moving. That's basically what it's saying about the devil here. And it says in verse 45, because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. So isn't it interesting, the people who lie so much, they don't want to hear the truth. But they love, and remember we saw in Proverbs, people who lie love to listen to lies and hearken to lies and they give heed to the false witness. They give ear to the naughty tongue. He said, which of you convinces me of sin? He's saying you can't prove that I've committed any sin. You have no evidence against me. You can't convict me or convince me of sin. You cannot show me or demonstrate me to be guilty of sin. I'm not wrong in what I'm saying, is what he's basically saying. And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? Why don't you believe me? You can't demonstrate that what I'm saying is false. You're a liar. Your father's the devil. He's a liar. I'm telling the truth and you don't want to hear what I have to say. You can't point out what's wrong with what I'm saying. You can't demonstrate the error of my words. You can't prove me wrong. But yet, you don't believe me. Why not? Why not? Because you're not a lover of truth. Because you love lies, is what he's basically saying. And then he says in verse 47, he that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God. Now if you would, go to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4. While you're turning to Ephesians 4, I'm going to read for you from Colossians 3. Lie not one to another. He's telling Christians, don't lie to each other. Lie not one to another, seeing 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. Colossians 3, that was Colossians 3, look at Ephesians 4 verse 22, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man. Put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God, patterned after God is what that means there, right? Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying. So he's saying look, you need to put on the new man. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, right? Be patterned after God. Be conformed to the image of Christ. Okay step one, put away lying. First thing, because the devil is characterized by what? Lying. That's who he is. He's a liar. He's the father of it. When he's speaking the lie, he's speaking of his own. And then on the other side we have God who said I am the truth. I am the truth. And so he says put away lying. Look one of the first things about putting on the new man, right, is okay if I put on the new man, I'm putting away lying. Putting off the old man with his deeds, well what is one of those big deeds that we need to put off concerning the old man, lying? He said put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. Verse 25, wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. He's saying look, love each other. We're members one of each, one of another here. So don't lie to each other. Why? Because the lying tongue hated those that are afflicted by it. Charity, 1 Corinthians 13, rejoices in the truth. If we're members one of another here, let's not lie to each other. Let's speak every man the truth with his neighbor. So you know what? Love your neighbor means speak the truth with your neighbor. That's what that means because if you're, if you lie to your neighbor you're not loving your neighbor. If you speak the truth with your neighbor that's a way of showing him love. Now if you would go to Revelation chapter 21, Revelation chapter number 21. So there's a lot of scripture about how God hates lying, we should hate lying, we walk in the spirit, we got to put off lying and not be a liar. But of course like I said earlier we know that every single person has lied. You know when we go out soul winning and we give people the gospel, one of the questions that we ask almost every single person when we're just kind of talking about the fact that we're all sinners and that we all deserve to go to hell which is why we need Jesus as our savior. Because if you don't understand that we're all sinners and we're all going to hell without Jesus well then what do you need Jesus for? So first we got to show people the need. You're a sinner, you deserve hell, that's why Jesus Christ even came and made the ultimate sacrifice. It's not like he just made that sacrifice, well he just showed us a better way of life. Is that why he's in the Garden of Gethsemane sweating as it were great drops of blood saying if it be possible Abba Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt. You think he's just begging to get around this and just sweating and just struggling and it says he was in agony in the garden, he's in agony sweating and agonizing and can't sleep and upset just to show us you know how to live our lives. No he's doing it because it's the only way. If there's another way, he said look I could just call for 12 legions of angels right now but then how would the scripture be fulfilled? How then could I redeem mankind he's saying? How could I be the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world if I don't go through with this sacrifice? He could have just said that's it I've had it. He could have been on that cross, people are making fun of him, spitting on him, he's in utter pain and mock he could have just said nuts to this go to hell humanity right? But he did it so you think he you think that the bloody beaten Jesus hung on that cross so that you could earn your way to heaven by living a good life? That's madness. That's what's being preached right now all over America a bunch of liars behind the pulpit, liars in the Catholic Church, lying Lutherans, lying Presbyterians, lying Methodists, a bunch of even lying Baptists, lying fun centers, and lying Charismatics getting up and teaching hey you got to live a good life. You got to turn from your sins in order to be, you got to clean up your life. You can't have your sin and Jesus you got to pick so you got to leave all the sin behind and embrace Jesus. That is teaching a work salvation and so stupid to think that that's why that's why Paul's is like you foolish Galatians are you that stupid or no you can't be that stupid who bewitched you who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth. Like no one's this stupid. You really think that Jesus Christ came and was beaten and died on the cross so that you could go to heaven because you're such a good person because you stopped sinning. But you know what's funny is you didn't stop all your sins. No one did. No one did. You know people say hey you know if you're living in fornication you're not saved. You can't go to you know because you can't be living in sin and you say wait a minute don't we all sin? Well yeah we all sin but we don't all live in sin and I'm thinking to myself which sins are they that damn us as opposed to others because it seems like people will pick out certain sins like well if you're living in this sin you're not saved okay and they'll say something along the lines of well if you're if you're living in fornication you're not saved or if you're living in drunkenness you're not you know I mean it's one thing to get drunk but if you're living in drunkenness but here's the thing what about other sins? No just you can't live in them. Okay what about sloth and gluttony? How about this Bible verse? No fat man shall enter the kingdom of God. That's not in the Bible. Thank God tons of fat people are going to heaven amen. I don't care how fat you are you can go to heaven and you can stay fat all the way to the bitter end and you can still go to heaven. But it's funny I've never heard any preacher preach a sermon called no fat man shall enter the kingdom of God but yet if someone remains fat for decade after decade after decade doesn't that show a continual living in sin? It's amazing how you pick out one person's sin and they give and look I'm not I'm not down on you because you know what I've got other sins being fat is not one of them but I've got other sins so I'm not going to get up here and say oh you horrible sinner look at you you glutton because you know what I've got my own sins. I'm just as sinful as a fat person any day. It's just I just sin in different ways. You know I've got my sins you've got your sins they've got their sins out there. Folks if the Lord marked iniquities none of us would be able to stand. If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquity oh Lord who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin and so no yes there could be someone who who continually falls off the wagon and drinks and still goes to heaven continually continually is is slothful or gluttonous or whatever and still goes to heaven continually struggles with this sin or that sin or the other sin. Hey Jesus Christ came to save sinners and you know what we're all sinners and you know what all of us probably have sins that if we're not doing it right now at other times we've lived in that sin whatever that means. What does that mean lived in? So what if you just do something for months on end? Isn't that living in it? Do you understand what I'm saying? And I'm not up here excusing sin. Okay I'm not sin when it's finished bringing forth death and we don't want to ruin our lives we don't want to ruin the lives of people around us. So folks we better make salvation crystal clear because there are so many work salvation teachers out there today. There's so many people that are mixed up on this even saved people who will act like well you know yeah it's by grace through faith and it's just believing but then they'll say all these confusing things that can confuse people and cause people to think it's works when you start get hey let's just cut through all that stuff and just make it clear folks salvation is by faith alone by grace alone to God alone be the glory. That's salvation by grace through faith God gets all the glory and it's not anything and to sit there and say well but if you're still struggling with sin oh you mean like the apostle Paul in Romans 7? You know what I mean? Some people have a sin. Look I've known people who were godly soul winning Christians for years and still smoke cigarettes they just couldn't stop. I'm not condoning it and eventually they did stop amen because I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me if we want to we can quit any sin and God can help us overcome sin and we should constantly be striving to overcome sin and live a cleaner life but let me tell you something overcoming sin is not a prerequisite to getting saved. Overcoming sin is not something that you have to do to prove that you're saved. It's something that you should do but you know what if you're constantly walking in the flesh you're going to fulfill the lust of the flesh and so we need to not pick out a certain sin and hammer that one sin and oh by the way you know since you didn't like my illustration about being overweight how about this illustration? How about going to church? Isn't it a sin not to go to church? Is it not a sin to skip church? I mean the Bible says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as we see the day approaching so therefore what if I go six months without going to church, a year without going to church, two years without going to church then I guess I'm living in sin and so now what you've just done is said well if you don't go to church you're not saved. Isn't that what you're basically saying? You could pick any sin. Well okay not tithing is a sin therefore non-tithers shall be damned. It's funny I've never heard that preached. I never hear anybody preaching that. I never hear anybody preaching that being overweight is going to send you to hell. I never hear anybody preaching that not tithing is going to send you to hell. I never hear anybody preaching you know these other things but but the bottom line is any sin any sin would convey me to hell if you're not saved but if you're saved all your sins are forgiven. Oh so we just do whatever we want? Well if you want God to chastise you and chasing you and whip you yeah but you know what I love God I want to do what's right anyway and I don't want God to whip me and I love God so I want to do what's right because I want to not because I'm scared of hell because I couldn't go to hell if I tried. There's nothing I could do to go to hell because if I go to hell then God is a liar and has to stop being God and we know that God cannot lie. The Bible says impossible for God to lie in Hebrews chapter 6 and so there you go. Now here's a great verse in Revelation chapter 21 and what's funny is people will pull out verses that say well no whoremonger no fornicator has any inheritance of the kingdom of God no drunkard has any inheritance of the kingdom of God but you can look up that same verse in Galatians chapter 5 and it will list every sin that you can think of and then just in case he misases and such like shall not inherit the kingdom of God and I don't care how spiritual you are you get that list in Galatians 5 you've done something on that list or are doing something on that list or from time to time do stuff on that list and if not then we'll put you in the such like category because you did stuff like that. Any sin will send you to hell. Now here's the famous verse I want to focus at the end of Revelation 21 but first let's go to the famous verse in Revelation 21 8 which by the way every single time I go soul winning and preach the gospel door to door I use this verse 100% of the time I show people that we're all sinners and that we all deserve hell this is my text for that point. Verse 8 but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers is well I'm not a murderer I'm not I've never done sorcery I'm not an idolater okay but let me ask you this what about this and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death and people will say well you know a liar somebody's living in that you know continually lying lying all the time. Okay really because what does it say in verse 27 and there shall no wise enter into it what's the it heaven he describes the heavenly city and so forth and he says that there shall no wise enter into it anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh how many lies or maketh a lie a lie one lie or maketh a lie but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life now what I want you to see from this is a couple things the first thing I want you to see is that God hates lying so much that he'll send you to hell for lying okay so that's a big sin because a lot of people just think like oh well what's the big deal about lying well lying so bad that it causes you to deserve hell now if you're saved you're not going to go to hell no matter how many times you lie but God's still going to punish you you're going to you're going to hurt yourself you're going to hurt other people you're going to be ashamed you're going to be loathsome and God's going to whip you and might even eventually kill you okay if you're saved you're going to heaven in spite of that but shouldn't we stop because we often look at these verses and say yeah see even lying will send you to hell any sin will send you to hell and that's true amen that's a great point to be gathered from this but we should also stop and think about whoa lying offends God so much that it earns you a spot in the lake of fire that tells me that God hates lying amen now you say well I don't lie I've never lied and you know what's funny is when I go out soul winning 99% of people when I say have you ever lied before oh yeah sometimes they're like every day and I'm like whoa buddy I'm like man that's bad I was like you don't have to say that like that's not normal but usually it's like hey have you ever lied before and they're like yeah you know I've lied before I've only like maybe one out of a thousand people right you guys go soul winning what is it one out of a thousand that'll say like no I've never lied and you're just like I'm out of here bye yeah you just lied right now you're lying as we speak oh I've never lied I'm like come on you've never lied before and what about when you're a kid no no I don't think so yeah right so so get two things from this number one any sin will send you to hell even lying but what else it says the fearful the fearful I mean who here has been afraid at some point lately you were afraid I mean everybody experiences fear right it's like I'm never afraid I'm too manly to ever fear and hey we all experience fear well fear if it's not directed toward God that's not God's perfect will it falls short of the of the mark it's sin to fear and be fearful and obviously unbelieving shows that somebody could live a perfect moral life but if they don't believe in Jesus even that's a sin that damns them just you didn't believe in Jesus you made God a liar that's a pretty big sin you slandered God with the accusation of being a liar so here's here's what I want you to understand here in Revelation 21 24 it says and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it the the light of the celestial city right it's talking about the paradise heavenly new earth and so forth and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it and there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie this is bad news because we're like oh man it sounds great I can't wait to get there oh and by the way if you make a lie you're not going and it's just like you know it's like hey we're going to heaven oh whosoever maketh a lie but then here's the good news but this is a big but right but he's saying like you know nobody's going who's who tells a lie but thank God for the exception without this exception we're all doomed but but and again you know I've been teaching you some grammar lately they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life that's not a complete sentence it's another one of those dependent clauses and this dependent clause but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life shall enter into it is what this is saying that's the complete thought okay now here's what this is not saying this is not saying well these people who have told a lie and stuff they're not going but the Lamb's Book of Life people over here are going you know because they know they don't lie they don't sin is that what this is saying no no he's saying nobody is going into heaven who tells a lie or any of these other things except for those whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life they are going to heaven in spite of the fact that they have done these things they will go to heaven that's what that but means there he's saying hey you're not going to heaven if you tell a lie unless your name is written the Lamb's but why is it called the Lamb's Book of Life why not just call it the Book of Life what's the why is the Lamb's Book of Life because it's the Lamb's Book of Life guess who's basically the one who gets you in the one who keeps you in the one who decides who's in the owner of the book look folks without the lamb none of us would have life right we would not be able to escape this punishment of hell except for the lamb so this isn't the good person Book of Life this isn't the church members Book of Life this is not that I repented of all my sins Book of Life this is not the Buddha Book of Life it's not the Hindu Book of Life it's the Lamb's Book of Life because that's how you go is through the death of Jesus it look it's not even just called it could just be called Jesus Book of Life right couldn't even just call it God's Book of Life the Lord's Book of Life Jesus Book of Life Christ Book of Life but that's not what it's called it's called the Lamb's Book of Life what specifically any name that God has is referring to something specific about him why is Jesus called the lamb is because he was such a good example was he called the lamb because he taught us how to live a good life did he teach us how to live a good life yeah he did he leave us a good example that we should follow in his steps yeah but is that his role as a lamb is it because he's coming back someday to rule with a rod of iron is that why he's called the lamb is he called the lamb because he's the creator of the world who just sort of spoke the world into existence as a of course a lamb would do folks he's called the lamb for one reason he's called the lamb because he's the sacrifice he's called the lamb because he died he's called the lamb because it's his blood that saves us and so therefore it's the Lamb's Book of Life because the only thing that's going to allow you to be found in that book on that day is the blood of Jesus the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world folks he doesn't have any sins to take away if you don't have any sins you say well that's before you were saved you know he takes that away okay then explain this to me well that's before he said okay well you lied but then when you got saved you quit lying okay well then explain this to me why does the Bible say whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth every son did he spank us for being good think about how stupid sinless perfection is in light of that verse well now that I'm saved I don't sin anymore but God just keeps spanking me you just keep getting a whipping and getting a whipping and getting a beating and a scourging and a scourging and a scourging and it's just like yeah you know yeah you're just like I don't sin still not sinning I don't lie anymore amazing it's like how in the world can you claim that Christians don't sin when they're constantly getting scourged why would you chasten or discipline someone who does everything right that makes no sense and so we see here from the scripture that lying is a serious sin lying is so serious that it damns one to hell lying is something that God absolutely hates he's like here's a list of things that I hate number one lying number five lying it's like there's not a little redundant yeah pay attention lie I hate lying I and I also hate lying too by the way God hates lying doubly we should hate lying but thank God that even though we've lied and even if we lie in the future we can never lose our salvation because it's purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ we have everlasting life no man can pluck us out of his hand we've been passed from death unto life we're sealed unto the day of redemption nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord he will never leave us nor forsake us even in spite of our sins but you know what let's not take that and turn around and say okay well let's go do whatever we want no because God hates lying I hate lying your godly friends hate lying our church hates lying your parents hate lying you need to quit lying and love the truth or God is gonna rip your tongue out of your mouth and you say well I don't want that well maybe he'll just rip your whole body out of this planet right but he is gonna cloud up and rain on you because this is a bad sin so we don't want to get the wrong attitude of saying oh yeah everybody everybody's lied we use revelation 1-8 so much that's all winning that it's not a big deal it's still a big deal be a truthful person and you know what you you bunch of stupid kids do lie all the time let me tell you something you'll get in less trouble if you told the truth you constantly lying to get out of trouble but you know what if you actually went to your parents humbly and said mom and dad I lied I'm sorry you're gonna get in less trouble because if you confess and forsake your sins you find mercy but if you cover your sin you're not gonna prosper and so it's worse to just dig yourself deeper in line and oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we practice to deceive and how many times do people who lie end up getting caught a lot not all the time but you know what if you're a Christian though and that could fall under chastening and chastising God might push the chastise button of like get caught get caught in a lie get busted for lie and then you're gonna be ashamed and loathsome I hate and a poor lying so does God and I hope you walk out of here and decide you know what I'm gonna hate lying I'm gonna love the truth let's buy rides and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for the ultimate truth Lord that we can read in your word every single day and Lord help us to be honest and tell the truth even when it's it's not fun even when it's not flattering or when it's not something that it makes us look good Lord help us to be truthful and honest and not to get in the habit of lying Lord and when we do when we do lie Lord I pray that we would feel bad about it and make it right and and and not be callous but rather be tender-hearted in Jesus name we pray amen