People of Integrity

I thought, what could I share with you as we move into this first Sabbath of a new calendar year?

And in considering it, I thought, you know, frankly, there's nothing more important for me to share as your pastor than to encourage each and every one of us to be a person of integrity. A person of integrity. Do you know how beautiful that word is? Integrity. Integrity comes from a Latin word integre, which means whole. It means to be complete. Today, in our tongue, it would speak to a value-based consistency. In other words, what you see is what you get. The person comes to you in a total package of completeness, of wholeness, of value. There's an old expression that goes this way.

He's as good as his word. He's as good as his word. And his word is no good. Folks, we have a problem with that. What a sad commentary. Kind of reminds me of the story of a man who seemingly came to himself. Just like that famous story out of the book of Luke, the prodigal son. And he came to himself. And this man desired to be baptized. Now, his reputation throughout the village was one of literally being an outrageous liar. And many in the village were skeptical when they heard that he was going to be baptized. He lived in the little remote Alpine village.

And so the pastor took him up to a stream up above the village, the stream coming out of the mountains. And that stream was chilly, and it was cold. And the pastor took him, and he dunked him into the water. And then the man came up, and the pastor asked him, he says, how's the water? He says, not bad. And then somebody in the crowd that came up to witness it because they couldn't believe it, and said, pastor, dunk him again. He's still a liar.

The moral of the story is simply this. Once trust is broken. It's very, very hard to regain.

2400 years ago, there was a man, and his name was Diogenes.

And Diogenes lived in Athens in the 4th century BC, and some of you already know the story, but Diogenes lit his lamp.

And he started wandering through the streets of Athens.

Why was he wandering through the streets of Athens? Does anybody know the story?

He was wandering through the streets of Athens during the noon hour, in a darkened society, looking for an honest man. Interesting story. Stephen has stories. Mr. Weber also has stories. His stories are true, and seeing I'm giving this message, it had better be true. And Diogenes did that. And Diogenes did that. His actions coincided with the words of David that I would like to share with you. David seemingly roared out of the Scriptures, roared out of the Psalms, out of Psalm 116, verse 11. He said, All men are liars. He was frustrated with dishonesty. He was frustrated with tailbearers. He was frustrated with people that were lying. What about us? What about us? Every day, you and I have numerous opportunities to stand up for telling the truth when it comes to our words and when it comes to our actions. Let's think of some of the venues that it comes to when it comes to telling the truth. Telling the truth in marriage to our mates, to those that are supposed to be nearest and dearest to us. Marriage between a man and a woman is based upon intimate trust. Intimate trust, and when that trust is broken, it's just simply hard to get back. Telling the truth on the job, in dealing with facts, in dealing with figures, in dealing with supply requests, telling the truth, teenagers, college students, telling the truth when you take a test. That those are your words, those are your thoughts, those are your knowledge. Not somebody whispering in your ear, not somebody passing you one of those famous little cheat notes coming from behind, passing them like a baton, so that you can share something that you haven't studied for.

State exams, being truthful with our parents, even when we know that when we're going to tell the truth, it might cost us for the moment, it may even hurt. Mom and dad might be really mad. Upset their voices may go up. See, these are things that all of us face. Telling the truth when it comes to holding confidences. When somebody says, I need to tell you this, and do you promise that this will go no further than your ears and your heart? Telling the truth when it comes to filling out tax forms. Seeing April 15th is now coming our way. Telling the truth what speed you were really going down the interstate 10 when a man comes up to your side window and says, do you know how fast you were going?

And you give him a number and he says, can I please see your registration and your license? And most of you, I don't know why I'm saying, do I have experience in this? Anyway, and so that we recognize that we have all of these challenges before us, and telling the truth to our heavenly Father when He already knows the facts that are on the ground. With this intro, then, what I really want to talk to you is every man and woman in here, every age, this affects us that whether we're older, middle age, whether we're younger, college students, high school students, young people in elementary school, it affects every one of us. So this afternoon, I would like to share with you the value of the Ninth Commandment. Join me if you would. Exodus 20.16. Let's look at one of the cardinal principles of God's mind as laid out in Exodus 20.16. In Exodus 20.16, the Ninth Commandment, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Well, you might say, well, actually, this commandment is perhaps best understood as a principle dealing with legal proceedings in a court of law. And if you stated that, you might be right at the highest level. But allow me to stretch this for a moment. Shakespeare said that the world is a stage. The world, the entire world, is a stage to be played out on.

And the world has many, many different rooms other than simply the room before a judge. And it says, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. And I ask you then a simple question. As Jesus asked in his earthly ministry, who then is neighbor? Who then is neighbor? Is neighbor only the person that you are in front of a judge with? Or is the neighbor your wife? Is the neighbor your child? Is the neighbor adult children your senior parents?

Is the neighbor the officer that pulls you over? Is the neighbor your boss that you have responsibility towards? The question then comes in. Who is neighbor? The bottom line principle here is you should, as a covenant individual, give an accurate account, accurate account, of your actions and your words and not lie about them.

For all of us that understand these words understand that ultimately we are being judged by a righteous God. If you want to talk about proceedings and to judge. And that judge says, you shall not lie, but tell the truth. It's amazing that God gave this covenant people these Ten Commandments. He wanted them to shine like that bright light.

He wanted them to be an example for the nations around him. He knew that if Israel that was placed right in the way of the sea, right in the midst of the fertile crescent, with Egypt to the south and Babylon to the east and the Syrians to the north, that they needed to be a people of integrity. Well, here we are today, dear friends. We are in Egypt. We are in this world that is called Babylon. And God is still calling people to be a light and to be a man and a woman of integrity.

Let's talk about the ninth commandment a little bit. Many feel that when the ninth commandment is broken, we'll just say, thou shalt not lie. We'll make it simple. When the ninth commandment is broken, it is the most pervasive of sins. It's the most pervasive of sins. It's been said that it is the handle that fits most other sins. It's the handle that fits most other sins. It's the one that kind of is attached. And you can kind of do a spiritual mental exercise through that. Sometimes, just like the same way when we say, if you've broken one commandment, you've broken them all.

Well, think about how often lying comes into play with all the other ninth commandments. That's why God despises lying. It's like a small fissure in concrete. And I'm sure all of us in Southern California, we that have homes or a patio, you spend money and you have this beautiful patio. And at first, it's all one piece. But then a small fissure starts and, you know, some dirt gets in there and a weed gets in there.

You know, it's like the Gordian knot. That weed will not come out, cannot be cut. And what happens is slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, it creates a chasm. It creates a rupture in that which was beautiful. That's just exactly like lying. It creates a fissure and a crevice in the character that God wants us to develop. In Psalm 119 and verse 163, I'll just allude to it. I'll just take to the main principle, but I want to share something with you.

David said this. I hate lying. Speaking of God, I hate. In other words, I abhor lying. Why is that? Again, let's move down below the surface and understand why God hates lying. Because trust is lost and relationships are broken. Trust that is lost is twice as hard to regain and it takes three times as long to come back. I know and I speak as a parent and as a grandparent.

I realize sometimes that you raise children and you raise them, hopefully, to not repeat some of the mistakes that you made when you were young. You're hoping that maybe human nature has taken a vacation with the next generation, but I haven't quite found that yet, have you?

And the first time that your child tells you something that, how shall I say it, is not true.

They, I'll use a polite word for a moment, they fibbed. They left something out of the picture. They changed the picture. Can we be blunt? They lied. And what that does with our relationship with our children, please understand children that are listening to me right now, we love our children and we love our grandchildren, but there's a hurt that comes and you're not quite as easy to step right back into that relationship because a trust has been trampled upon. There's been an untruth. There's been a break in the relationship and that's why God hates lying. We need to understand that. Lying of by itself, it wastes so much precious energy. It's a time waster and, frankly, it puts opportunities on hold.

Why does God hate lying? God witnessed his heavenly spiritual realm before there was man, divided by deceit. One third of the angels rebelled against God over a lie, believing a lie, and joining forces with the author of all lies. Join me if you would in John 8 44. In John 8 and verse 44, let's take a look at this for a second. Jesus speaking, speaking to the religious community. Very interesting. It's always, I find, interesting, and I know you've heard me say this before, that how strong Jesus comes in his words and his concern for those that pretend to be religious or pretend to be people of the book and or claim to be covenant people but are not acting like it.

If the shoe fits, what are it? He says here, you are of your father the devil, speaking to that religious community of that day, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand into the truth. He does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. And when he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources. For he is a liar and he's the father of it. In other words, lying is the native tongue of our adversary and that human nature that is within us that resembles him rather than God above. It's very interesting to show the the folly of lying. God shares a lot of information in the book of Genesis with us about how insidious this human weakness of lying is. And it's not only insidious, but I'm going to show you. We're going to go below the top soil here, and we're going to get down and to understand why people do lie and why at times in my past I've told falsehoods. And you have too when there's been the squeeze on us and we need to understand that. Join me if you would in Genesis 3.

In Genesis 3, let's pick up the thought in verse 2. It's that very famous story about the encounter between Mother Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Now there was a serpent more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

It's a question. That's what we call an if-er. It gets the mind to wondering. And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. See, Satan started with an untruth. He started with a lie based as a statement as if at work. God had not said that you can eat of every tree. He was leaving out information, which we'll talk about a little bit later. Leaving out pertinent information is also a part of lying.

Verse 4, then the serpent said to the woman, Oh, you will not surely die, for God knows within the day that you eat of it, and your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

So we go right to the very beginning of humanity's experience, and we recognize that a gigantic whopper, a lie, and an untruth was told to Mother Eve, and saying that you shall not surely die is exactly what caused her death. And we also recognize then that Adam, as it were, also bit into what we might call the proverbial apple. Not that it was an apple, but we'll call it the proverbial apple for a second. And in that lie, and what was spawned from that lie, was the breaking of the first commandment, and the breaking of the tenth commandment.

The first commandment, you shall have no other gods before me. I'm going to show you how it works. You shall have no other gods before me. And Adam and Eve chose two other sets of gods. The adversary, number one, and number two themselves, that they could be like God and think like God. And they broke the tenth commandment. The tenth commandment is you shall not covet.

You shall not desire that which is not yours. So I'm trying to show you a practical example of how a lie is that insidious sin that is the handle on all the other commandments that can be broken. So that's why we're talking about it. That's Adam and Eve. Let's go to chapter four. Let's deal with her sons. Chapter four. Now, Adam and Eve, verse one, knew Eve's wife, and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I've required a man from the Lord. See, she thought that Cain was the solution. Because, after all, she remembered what God had said to the serpent, that out of her seed would come the one that would stomp on the serpent's head.

So what is she to think other than her firstborn is that man? So I have, it's basically, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again this time his brother Abel. It seems as there is a tradition that Cain and Abel might have been twins because there's a tight sequence here.

Now, Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground, and in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground of the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat, and the Lord respected Abel and his offering. But he did not respect Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

He had a pooped-out face. He had a sad face. He had a scowl. Nobody loves me. I'm not appreciated. I'm being left out of the loop of opportunity. God doesn't know I exist. He's not fair. You know how that goes. You've heard those voices. Let's talk. And that's when sin begins to fester when we feel that somehow God has left us out of the loop of opportunity and that there's a squeeze play going on. So therefore, just like Mother Eve and Father Adam, take matters into your own hands.

So it says here, he did not respect Cain. So the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies to the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Now Cain talked with Abel his brother and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Murder! Notice what happens. Then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? And he said, I don't know. Who me? I don't know. Good question. Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. What's going on here, friends? We find that again. We find two commandments here. There is murder and the handle that fits it is lying and lying to God.

Why did that occur? Because he felt left out of the loop of opportunity. I am going to take matters into my own hands. Here's the other part. And for you that are grandparents, because we're going to talk all sorts of different generations. Why did he do that?

He came out of a background that was comfortable with not telling the truth. Cain came from an environment of liars. Adam and Eve, his parents, did not set an example of being straight with God. They were as good as their word, and their word was not good. Adam, where are you? What are you doing in the bushes? Oh, we're just following up on Stephen Richardson's study on light and earth and plants and why there are plants on earth and nowhere else. We're just kind of out here having a field trip. Grandparents, parents, and aunts and uncles, friends, do you see how important it is to have a collective atmosphere of telling the truth, of being straightforward, of setting an example for those that are going to come behind us? We say, Mr. Weber, but that's the family of Adam. What do you expect? The Adam's family. What do you expect coming out of Adam and Eve? Well, you know, people that are people of covenant, people that are, shall we say, people of faith, they also have challenges with telling the truth, and that's why I want to take you to the story now of a great biblical hero, a Brahm, because even God-fearing people can succumb to not telling the truth. Genesis 12, join me there. Lest we beat up on Adam and Eve and came to me much, but they are an example there. In Genesis 12 and verse 10, let's take a look here. Genesis 12 and verse 10, it's the story of a Brahm and Sarai going down to Egypt. Now, there was a famine in verse 10, and a Brahm went down to Egypt to dwell there for the famine was severe in the land, and it came to pass when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai, his wife, indeed, I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say, this is his wife, and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Oh, he's nice. You read this story, you have to kind of, I'm gonna die, but you get to live. Ladies, I'd like to have a husband like that, you know, so poor me. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Because I'm married to you. Kind of goes back to Adam, and he, you know, pointing finger. Because I'm married to you, and you're so great-looking, I'm gonna be a dead duck.

That is the Weber paraphrase. Anyway, the princes of Pharaoh also saw her and committed her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house, and he treated, oh, he said, well, so say, verse 13, probably, he said, tell him that you're my sister, that it may be well with me, for your sake, that I may live because of you. Now, was that a lie or not a lie? What's happening here, you have to understand, is that at that time, Sarai was a Brahms half-sister. So, in that sense, it was his sister.

Are we all agreed on that? You say, oh, that's weird. But you've got to recognize that this is after the flood. There were not as many human beings then as now, and to that point, it was still all right to marry at least a half-sister. By the time you come to Moses a couple hundred years later, that is foreboden.

But here, it was all right. Yes, Sarai passed as a sister and was, but what's the problem here? Can somebody help me? What's the problem? It's not what he said. Thank you very much, Bob. It's what he didn't say. Have you ever done that when you were in school or at camp and you knew that you had to face the instructor? See, Dean and I were very bad boys growing up. So, anyway, you know, you face the instructor, you're saying, I wonder which questions he's going to ask, and I wonder which questions he's not going to ask. How can I move this around?

Because you're all with your parents or with your grandparents when you're out on the farm. Okay, I got caught with my hands in the cookie jar. Now, let's see which questions they're going to ask. Now, if they ask a question, I'll have friends, but if they don't ask the question, well, we'll let that one slide. I have a question for you. Who lost in that? We lost. We were not people of integrity. And that still can write out whether it's in the home, whether it's in the office, whether it's in the church, or whether it's at school.

So, Abram is playing this game. And the princes of Pharaoh also saw and committed to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to her house, and he treated Abraham well for her sake and gave him all sorts of livestock. But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai. Abram's wife and Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that you have done to me?

Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say she is my sister? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your take her back. Is what he's saying. Take her back and go your way. So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had. I have a question for you. Was Abram being human?

Yes, he was being very, very human. My question for you was he being a good example? No, he wasn't. Was he being an example of a covenant person? No, he was not. You know, it's very interesting that years later we find Abram, now Abraham, in the same set of circumstances, same wife, different rulers. The story of Abimelech. And he does the exact same thing and the entire nation almost goes down the drain because of this man.

This man who then is a covenant person. Is it any wonder then that God had to take Abraham and Isaac up to the top of a mountain where Abraham could not squeeze out at all? And then it is where God says, now I know. You're not going to be a chameleon. You're not going to be tricky dicky. You're not going to be smoke and mirrors. I know you as the man. You are a man of integrity. You are whole. You are complete. What I see is what I get.

There are reasons why Abraham had to be taken up on the top of the mountain. Divorce from any way of getting out of it, other than being utterly honest with God by his actions. You know, it's very interesting and I don't have time to share. You can go in the book of Genesis. 20 years later, Isaac is also facing a bimalek. And guess what? He's trying to trade off his wife as his sister. Lying falsehoods is a way of life.

At times it's a hand-me-down in families. And so I'm just trying to rivet you a little bit as we enter this new calendar year to encourage you to be a person of truth, not only for yourself and before your God, but for your children and for your grandchildren. That we are setting them an example of truth and of honesty. Now, let's understand something. Abraham was strong in obedience. He's the guy that left her when everybody else was coming into that city. He went where God told him. That was not his problem. His problem was he lacked faith in another area. It's what he told others that got him into trouble. It's not what you're telling God, but it's sometimes what we're telling others that get us into trouble.

And God supplied his lack, worked with him, as it says in Paul's, he was weak that he might be made strong. How about you and me today as people of covenant? What about us as Christians? Adam and Eve, a Brahm, Sarai, either time has come and gone. What about us? Join me if you would in the book of Titus. Book of Titus. Titus is an interesting book. Titus is one of the famous two, shall we say, sons in the Lord of the Apostle Paul. The other one is Timothy. Titus had an assignment that was kind of interesting. It was called Crete, that island that is in the Mediterranean Ocean.

And I turned us to Titus because I think it's the world that we live in, in a world that is more and more dear friends becoming sloppy with the truth. Where anything goes, where we are moving from a world of immorality to immorality, where people don't even know right or wrong and just say anything that they're going to say and think they can get away with it.

So the world of Crete is our world. Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Chapter 1 verse 1, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie. He puts it right up front. He said, well why does Paul say that to Titus that God can't lie? Sometimes we have to be reminded of that. God is holy. He's pure. He's perfect. There are verses in the Bible we may allude to later that says it's impossible for God to lie.

And because it's impossible for God to lie, that is why you and I surrender our lives to him in confidence. When our human nature is saying to go the other way, he said, no, God says he cannot lie. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. And therefore we have trust and confidence and relationship because God tells the truth.

So Paul puts this right up the top. You, Titus, remember this is what you were to preach about a God that cannot lie. Why is that? Verse 10. Because the environment of Crete was to be surrounded by liars. In the ancient world of antiquity, that's a double thought, in the world of antiquity, in the world of antiquity, there were two synonyms or two adjectives. One was to Corinthianize, which was to prostitute yourself, and the other which was immoral, and the other was to crete eyes. That was just to be a liar.

To use the term to crete eyes was just to label somebody like the guy that was up in the chilly stream in a remote village getting dunked for baptism. The cretins were known throughout history as being liars. Join me in verse 10. For there are many insubordinate, both idol-talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain.

One of them, verse 12, a prophet of their own said, cretins are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. Notice what Paul says in verse 13. This testimony is true. Now, the philosopher that wrote that wrote that in the seventh or eighth century BC. So this reputation about the cretin... I hope nobody's from Crete here, but anyway... This reputation about the cretins was 800 years, seven to eight hundred years, in the making.

Don't trust them, they're liars! And Titus is saying, I can't take it anymore. Let me out of here. Beam me up. Paul, give me another assignment. Notice what it says. This testimony is true. No, you stay there, therefore rebuke them sharply. You stay right where you are. You do that work that they might be sound in the faith. I know sometimes that's how we can feel in today's world.

This world is going to, you know, wear in a handbasket. And it's not the world that we grew up in, but I have a point to ask you, when was the world ever right since the Garden of Eden? You ever thought that through? You know, you say, well, things aren't like they used to be. I'm sure we as parents or grandparents have said to our children, when I was a kid, it was a really great world. Oh yeah? The world has been dysfunctional since the Garden of Eden, since the time that humanity has been without their father.

When you don't have a father as the head of your family, it's a challenge. So we have to be very careful about being prideful about the 60s. I don't know if there's anything to be prideful about the 60s, but anyway. Or the 40s, or then, or there. And we realize that we are on a toboggan slide of where humanity is moving away from God's commandments. We know that today in America you can't even have the commandments in school. You can't open up school with prayer anymore, as many of you experienced when you were growing up. So therefore we are left to being our own gods, and our word is truth, even when it isn't true.

What do we do as Christians? And that's what I want to draw us upon. How precious is telling the truth to God, our God, the one who gave his Son for us to be able to live. He remembers that lying is what caused Jesus his death. In Mark 14, verse 55 through 65, I'll just give you those words now, verse now, and you can look it up later for sake of time. Lying is what sealed the deal for Jesus to be crucified. They went out and found people that bore false witness before this anhedron. And because of lying, our Savior was nailed to a piece of wood. It also cost the life of his very special creation called humanity, man and woman.

In Ezekiel 18, in verse 4, it says, the soul, in that sense, it shall die. For every cause there is an effect. So what do we do as Christians? I'd like to give you just some very simple points. This is going to go very quickly for sake of time. Allow me just to give you some points. They won't be long in nature. So often people say, well, well, that's fine. We understand we're not supposed to lie. Give us some flesh to put on the bones. Here comes the flesh. Here comes the what to do and what we can be before God.

The first point I want to share with you is this. The spirituality is to understand lying lies around the corner. Spiritual reality. I mean, getting real that while we are covenant people, we are encapsulated in this human tent. And while our desire is to lean towards God is to recognize that we are still in this human existence. I know all of us have heard the famous story by the Parson Weems. You know who the Parson Weems was? He's the one that invented the story about the cherry tree and George Washington.

Who cut down the tree? And you know what George said? I cannot tell a lie. That was made up after George Washington died, the father of the country to kind of elevate him up, up, up, up. It's a fable. It's a myth. Spiritual reality is to understand lying lies around the corner. Spiritual reality is no lying is never more than an unfaithful, unbelieving, uncontrolled thought away. Now when I'm saying all of this, friends, please understand. I'm not saying to walk out of this room this morning or this afternoon now and say, oh no, Mr. Weber says I'm bound to lie.

Lying is around every corner. It's probably in that restroom right now waiting for me. That's not what I'm talking about because love is the keeping of the commandments and love cannot be perfected in fear. What I'm saying is respect the reality. That while we are leaning towards God and while we want to practice his righteousness is also to recognize that we also have unconquered territories still within us that need to surrender to him.

Why is that? Because at times telling the truth interferes with our own agenda. With a fancy term it's called saving our own skin. The reason I bring this up is even being close to God today. We're opening up his word. We praise God in song. You know, just having God around doesn't mean that we're gonna lie.

I want to show you a really interesting story in this regard. Genesis 18. Let's go to Genesis 18. It's a story that you're acquainted with but maybe you've never focused on this before. So often we kind of focus on Father Abram and his challenges. Ladies, equal play here. We're going to talk about the women for a moment. We're going to go to Genesis 18 and starting in verse 9. It's the story where the story of Abraham and Sarah being given the story of the blessing that is going to come through Isaac.

Then they said to him, where is Sarah, your wife? So he said here in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life. Behold, Sarah, your wife shall have a son. Now notice, Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him. So she was really in close range. I'm looking out here and I see Elaine. Elaine, I'm not saying you're Sarah. I'm not going to have any more kids. I don't want to get you scared here. Is that? Is that? But the point is that probably in that range, you know, there's a tent in between or a tent canvas.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well advanced and Sarah had passed the age of child-bearing. And she's listening in. Therefore, verse 12, Sarah laughed within herself saying, after I have grown old shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also. And the Lord said to Abram, why did Sarah laugh saying, shall I surely hear a child? So I shall bear a child since I'm old. Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I'll return to you according to the time of life.

And Sarah shall have a son. Now notice verse 15. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh for she was afraid. And he said, no, you did laugh. Interesting story. I don't know if you ever looked at it that way. God wants to bless us. God wants to give us a future. He wants to give us beautiful things. And it says that she laughed in herself. Sometimes we're playing this outside game rather than recognizing that God reads our hearts.

And what is in our hearts is just as loud as our words. It's called unbelief. Disbelief. And Sarah was called on the carpet for it. So the first point we need to recognize, even as people of faith, people of covenant, people that love God and are desirous of his blessings, that even when God is near, we need to recognize that lying lies around the corner.

Point number two. Point number two. When you tell the truth, you do not have to remember what you said. When you tell the truth, you don't have to remember what you said. You live a life of integrity and of consistency.

If you are ashamed of the facts, then you are ashamed of yourself. So often we want to change the facts when God wants us to change ourselves. You change yourselves, you won't have to change the facts. When you live a life of integrity, when you keep the commandments, not the ten suggestions, but the ten commandments, when you honor your father above, and you honor your parents below, and you honor your grandparents, you honor your aunt, your uncle, you honor your boss, you honor your teacher, you honor the make that you've said that in truth, that you trust, and that you will have this intimate relationship between you that should not be broken by deceit or by lie.

When you tell the truth, you don't have to remember what you said. And you know what happens when you start trying to tell a story? It gets just worse and worse and worse because you know what happens is basically lies fall on their own non-foundation. A truth, truth always stands. God recognizes this. Point number three, telling the truth does not always have immediate positive consequences here below. Telling the truth does not always have immediate positive consequences.

Well, I want to tell the truth and I'll get out of this then. You may and you may not. I remember that growing up. I remember that in school. And there are times when you have to deal with the consequences as painful as they are. But it is more painful that you are a hypocrite and that you are a liar and that relationships are being broken. Join me if you would in Proverbs 12 and verse 22. Proverbs 12 verse 22.

Let's notice what it says here. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight. And when our children do tell us the truth, even though there may be consequences, there may be punishment. You heard me, kids. Even if there is punishment involved, let's also remember to let our children know that we were thankful that they told the truth. Point number four. You are responsible for what you say as well as what you don't say. You are responsible for what you say as well as what you don't say.

There is a sin of omission and there's a sin of commission. Jeremiah 48 verse 10 says this. Jeremiah 48 verse 10. Curse it as He who draws the sword deceitfully. And curse it as He who does not draw the sword at all. It's not always what you do, but are you with me? It is what you don't do. Not just simply the sin of commission of what you've committed, but the sin of omission, what you left out. You say, well how does that work? I have some homework for you. Just jot down Acts 5 and meet Mr. and Mrs.

Ananias. It's not what they said. It's not what they gave. It's what they left out. And God was saying right then and there, you know, I've got promises for this New Covenant people and they're marching towards this promised land. But you know what? There's not going to be any hanky-panky. There's not going to be things underneath the cover. There are blessings, but there is also going to be responsibility. Number five. We need to be careful with whom we keep company. I'm almost done. We need to be careful with whom we keep company.

1 Corinthians 15 and verse 33, a very basic proverb in the book of 1 Corinthians 15, bad company corrupts good manners. Bad company corrupts good manners. When I was growing up, my mother, who was an astute lady, you all knew her. She knew who I was keeping company with by the way that I acted. And by the way that I responded, it's like glowing in the dark. When I wasn't hanging around Mr.

Dean May, she said, anyway, we were all 14 at one time and 15 and 16. She said, I know exactly who you've been, you're acting like them.

Monkey see, monkey do. Bad company corrupts good manners. Make sure that your children are not around people that practice lying. In Revelation 22, verse 14 through 15, I don't have the time to turn to it. Revelation 22, verse 14 through 15, it speaks of people that practice lying. They love practice lying, and there is no future for them in God's kingdom. There are people that get so engrossed in lying. What happens is, even when you tell white lies, you can tell white lies so long that you become colorblind, and everything becomes a lie. So parents, we have, and grandparents, we have a double responsibility to create an atmosphere of truth and honesty and integrity in our own homes as to how we approach life, because those little eyes are watching us and desire to imitate us. And we also have to recognize to the world that we're out there, that there is a world that practices lying. Practices it. Point number six. You take your values into the arena of life. You do not find them in the mix. You take your values into the arena. You don't all of a sudden have a wonder kind, and you find the sort of truth in the arena. Join me if you would to conclude in Revelation, Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 25. It is in Psalm 119 and in verse 25. My soul clings to the dust, where you vie me according to your word. We've heard God's Word spoken today. It says, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. I have declared my ways, and you answered me. Teach me your statutes. Make me understand the way of your precepts. So shall I meditate on your wonderful works. My soul melts from heaviness. Strengthen me according to your word. Remove from me the way of lying. Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me your law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth. Your judgments I have laid before me, and I cling to your testimonies. O Lord, do not put me to shame. I will run the course of your commandments. For you shall enlarge my heart. We do not lie because God is holy, and he tells us to be holy. He's given us an example of Jesus the Christ, who says in John 14 verse 6, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. With that stated, remember that famous phrase that is given in judicial proceedings. When somebody looks at you, and you either swear or you affirm that you are going to tell the truth of the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And we can do that because, indeed, we can ask God and lean on God to help us. As we move into this calendar year, friends here, family in Redlands, let's just look at this one aspect of God's precious law to more than ever become people of integrity.