Lying Lips Prov. 12:22 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In Proverbs chapter 12, Solomon writes four things about lying. There is more in the Bible about lying lips than what you find here. But preaching on this subject out of one Proverb is handy. It will probably make this message easier for you to follow and remember. Lying lips:
Are momentary – Prov 12:19. When you tell a lie you are only thinking about the present situation. Lies are expedient. They are for getting something right now or for getting out of something right now. Liars really don’t consider the outcome or the future consequences. If they could see down the road far enough, they would realize that only the lip of truth shall be established forever. Just look what happened to Ananias and Sapphira [Acts 5:1-11].
Are deceiving – Prov 12:17. The whole purpose of telling the lie is to deceive the hearer. In other words, if the hearer knew the whole truth he might come to a completely different conclusion about what you said than the conclusion he came to. And that’s what you want him to do. When an over-anxious young man tells a pretty young girl that he loves her, is he lying to fulfill his lust? [2 Sam 13]. In 1 Ki 13, when the old prophet lied to the young man of God, he wanted him to come home with him. But because the young man ended up disobeying the word of God by believing the old prophet, God killed him. When God killed the young man, the old prophet’s response was “lay my bones beside his bones.”
There are more false preachers and teachers today than there are men telling the truth. And I’ll give you one guess who is going to suffer for believing their lies; you are. Those liars aren’t going to care about you any more than the old prophet cared about the young man of God. It ‘s up to you to know the truth and to discern their lie. Are you sure your preacher or priest or elder or prophet isn’t lying to you? Check him out.
Are a snare – Prov 12:13. The person who lies is the person who is ensnared by the lie. The other person is deceived but the liar is ensnared. Sometimes he is ensnared by his conscience. You lied to your father when you were a kid and you cannot erase the memory of it to this day. You lied to one person and then they found out the truth from another person. And now you have lost both friendships. Or you lied on an application to get a job or to get credit. When the truth surfaced you lost the loan or the job, and you lost your reputation, too. When one man lies to cover for another man, the truth always comes back to haunt the liar. If nothing else, you destroy your credibility. How many ineligible or doped up athletes have been disgraced when the lies came out?
Are an abomination to God – Prov 12:22. For one thing, God knows the absolute truth. So, he can tell when you are lying or when you are speaking to conceal the truth. To keep from being an abomination to the Lord you must first be very sure of the truth. Before you even open your mouth, know the truth. Your heart is deceitful and so it would be very easy for you to say whatever puts you in the best light whether it is true or not. Therefore, get very honest with God with nothing to hide. Then you will know what to say [Prov 10:32]. All of these are abomination to God: exaggeration, false witness, half-truth, manufactured story, white lie, shifted blame, straight up lie, twisted truth, one-sided story, and so forth. And look at the eternal consequences [Rev 21:8].
Conclusion: Next time you get ready to answer a question or tell a story, keep your mouth shut if the first thing that comes to your lips is not 100% true. Get all the foolishness out of your head and then tell it like it really is. You won’t have to answer to God for that.