Telling the Truth

Beautiful. For those of you that are newer amongst us, that's one of everybody's favorites for many, many years. It comes from John 7, 37 through 38. Jesus standing up on that last day of the feast, and then also coupled with the words out of Revelation 22. Certainly lovely. I've heard it sung many ways, many times, and that certainly was lovely praise to God and encouraging to all of us.

As we step into a new calendar year, can you believe it? It's 2014, and it's January 4th. As we step into a new calendar year, there's perhaps nothing more important that I can do as your pastor than to encourage you to be a person of integrity.

A person of integrity. A man of integrity. A woman of integrity. A teenager of integrity. The word integrity comes from the Latin integre, which means whole or complete. Thus, when we use it in our thoughts today, when we speak of a person that has integrity, that is an individual that comes to us with what we might call a value-based consistency. In other words, what you see is what you get as that man or that woman stands in front of us.

There's an old expression that goes like this. He is as good as his word. And his word is no good. That's an individual that just simply does not have integrity. And what a sad commentary. It reminds me of the story of a man who came to himself, just like we remember the words of Jesus in Luke, where it says, The man finally came to himself.

He wanted to repent and he wanted to be baptized. The difficulty here was that this man in this remote village from whence he came was just simply an outrageous liar. Everybody knew him to be a man that could not tell the truth, but seemingly he had come to himself. And so the pastor took him above the remote village and they went up to a stream that was coming out of the Alpine Mountains.

And this stream was coming down. And so that is where they were going to baptize him. They were going to put him under the water in this Alpine stream that obviously was very cold and very chilly. And so the pastor took the man. And all the villagers came out because they could not believe that this man, whom they had known, was really sincere and that he was going to be baptized. They showed up.

And so the pastor took the man and he took him into the stream and he put him underneath the stream. And then he came out of that stream and the pastor asked him, well, how was the water? And the man said, not too bad at all. And somebody that was in the crowd yelled out, pastor, dunk him again! He's still a liar! Interesting. The moral, and there is a moral of this story, even though it might be somewhat fictitious, the story has a point. And that is, once trust is broken, it's hard to regain. You know that and I know that. We've all experienced that in our life. 2400 years ago, there was a gentleman who walked the streets of Athens and that's why I brought up this prop.

The gentleman's name was Diogenes. Maybe you've heard of Diogenes before, but Diogenes was a philosopher in 4th century BC and philosophers were always a little different to begin with. But what Diogenes did, as he went through the polis of the city of Athens, is what he did in the middle of the day during the noon hour. He took his lamp, which he lit. This is a Coleman. We are beyond lighting lamps here.

But he took his lamp and what he did, he went down the streets of Athens. And you know what? It was right in the middle of the day and it looked like he was searching for something. He was searching for something in a darkened society. You know what he was looking for? He was searching for an honest man. And his search took a long time. That was the culture of that day. And unfortunately, more and more, it is becoming the culture of our day in the 21st century.

I think Diogenes' thoughts kind of echoed the sentiments of David's words. Often times, we realize that the Psalms expressed not only David's praise, but sometimes the frustration that he was feeling. And in Psalms 116, verse 11, it seems as if the words just literally bellow out of the Scriptures. He said, all men are liars. All men are liars. I have a question for you this afternoon. What about us? You say, who may? You, you, me, men, women, older folks, younger folks, teenagers.

Everybody that's listening to this, what about us? Why do I ask this question? Every day, we have numerous opportunities to stand up and stand tall for telling the truth. When it comes to our words and when it comes to our actions in various theaters of life. Let's talk about some of those theaters of life for just for a moment, so that it brings everybody into this message. I don't want to leave one of us out of it and recognize I am right there in the midst with all of you. There are many areas every day, sometimes that we don't plan for, because life is what's happening, that you and I haven't planned for.

But there are some things that we might touch upon. What about marriage? Telling the truth, being honest in marriage.

Marriage itself, between a man and a woman, is based upon one thing, and that is a sacred and an intimate trust that we put all of the cards on the table. And that those 52 cards, proverbially speaking, do remain on the table. What about on the job? Many of us work, many of us are employed. What about on the job? In dealing with facts, in dealing with figures, in dealing with supply reports. Some of us that are going to school right now, college, high school, or younger, what about taking tests at school? Are we putting down our work and our efforts, or are we perhaps going off of a cheat note, or somebody whispering to us the answer because of and by ourselves? We don't have that answer in us. What about, let's take it up a step, what about state exams? That when, because of certification, we have to take state exams, are we honest? Are we a truth-teller? Are we an individual of integrity? What about being truthful with our parents? Please, young people, hear me, that are out there. And even sometimes as adult children, adult parents, are we honest with our parents?

You say sometimes, yeah, but if I am honest, uh-oh, I don't know what's going to be coming away.

What comes your way, one way or the other? Are we honest? Are we a truth-teller? Let's take it a little bit further. What about the aspect of filling out tax forms? April 15th, once again, now faces us. Are we an individual that tells the truth about our life and how we have been blessed and the income that we have? And again, here's another one that perhaps some of you have experienced at one time or another. Are we truthful when the officer, when he meets us at the side of the freeway? And I don't know what it is about those gentlemen or ladies that are dressed in black, but they always come up and ask you the...

I don't know how I know this, but anyway, they come up and they ask you this very same question, and it is, do you know how fast you were going? And then we have kind of a wordplay and a numbers game going on. And you know the rest of the story. And of course, usually the next line, could I please see your driver's license and your registration?

Are we honest? And most of all, perhaps most importantly, are we honest before our Heavenly Father, who already knows what we have done? I hope I brought everybody into this message for a moment to wet your interest so we can take it a step further and understand what the Scriptures before us discuss about telling the truth, which is the name of the message today.

Join me, if you would, for a moment over in Exodus 20, verse 16, to underlie the title of this message of telling the truth. Because this afternoon I want to share with you the value that allows us to be a person of integrity by focusing on the Ninth Commandment. Let's turn over to Exodus 20, verse 16 here. Exodus 20, 16. Understanding that when God called a people out of Egypt, and Egypt had a slew of problems on the banks of the Nile, taking advantage of people, having unjust weights, balance, and measures, it was a society that was apart from God.

When God called Israel out of Goshen and brought them into the land of promise, he wanted to have a people of integrity, a people that reflected his light. That would be different than the other people that were lodged in the way of the sea. And so he gave them these commandments, which is his heart, which is his mind, and which is his love and action. And he says here in Exodus 20, verse 16, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

But wait a minute, Mr. Weber. This really sounds more like this is dealing with trade, or dealing with high flute money, or this is dealing in a judicial system. This is dealing with a lawsuit. And if you do say that, it does play into that as well.

But let's take it a step further and recognize that this is not only about a legal proceeding. Shakespeare, the Bard, once said that the world, the whole world, is a stage. And life plays out in many, many different rooms of life, other than the room of a judge. And it says, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Allow me to ask you a question. As Jesus asked the same question of his audience, Who then is neighbor?

Who then is neighbor? Is your wife your neighbor? Is your child your neighbor? Is your adult parent your neighbor? Is your neighbor your neighbor? Whoever comes into the confluence of our life, indeed is our neighbor. And you and I as Christians, people of covenant, have been called to be a truthful people, to be different than the world that is around us. And so we need to understand that, that we have been called to tell the truth. Ultimately, if you want to use the legal thoughts in this verse, ultimately before the righteous judge, God Almighty himself. With those thoughts and looking at the underpinning of one of God's great moral imperatives, let's take it a step further and just talk simply about what lying and bearing false witness does.

Many people believe that the ninth commandment, when broken, is perhaps the most pervasive of all sins. Maybe you've never thought about it before. That lying is the most pervasive of all sins. It's been said that it's the sin that is the handle that fits all the other sins. I know at times, and we've had this exercise, sometimes in spokesmen's clubs or Bible studies, where we remember what Jesus said, that if you've broken one of the commandments, then you've broken them all.

And so we go through that kind of exercise. But I want you to think about how pervasive lying and bearing false witnesses, that so often, with any breaking of the other commandments, it's usually the handle. It's usually the mitt that holds on to the other commandment. And we're going to show you some examples of that in Scripture this afternoon, which are important.

And why is lying and its sins so insidious? Again, I want to bring you back to something, and I want to jolt you, if I may. And that is simply that, is this, that lying breaks trust, breaks relationships. Everything about the commandments is about bringing people together with God, and people together with one another. And when somebody lies, somebody stretches the truth. We'll talk about that later, stretching. It breaks relationships. I know sometimes all of us, with that have homes, perhaps we've laid a porch, spent a lot of money on that cement to lay a porch, and boy, does it look beautiful.

It's gorgeous, and it's all in one piece. But given time, given time, what happens sometimes is a little crack begins to develop. And into that crack goes some dirt, goes some gravel, some grass begins to grow into it, perhaps even maybe you've been gone on vacation for two years. A bush grows, I'm just teasing, a bush grows into it. And you know what happens? What started out so smooth and so beautiful, a work of art begins to develop, a fissure begins to crack, begins to widen, and is just not simply the same thing.

That's what lying does. That's what not telling the truth does when it comes to relationships. It begins with a small crack, it moves into a fissure, and it moves into a crevice, and it moves ultimately, proverbially, into a canyon between two people and or peoples altogether. It affects individuals, it affects families, it can affect, are you with me? It can affect congregations. And that's why God has called us as a covenant people, people of the book, to tell the truth. David said in Psalm 119.163, you might just want to jot it down, speaking on behalf of God, echoing God's sentiments, he says, I hate lying.

I hate lying. Why again? Because trust is lost. Relationships are broken. Let's take it a little bit further with the sweep of scriptural history for a moment. Consider some of the background of situations where individuals have borne false testimony or have lied. And why God does hate lying. God hates lying because, well, He witnessed His spiritual realm being divided by the master liar.

As much as we can tell from the accounts of Isaiah, the accounts from Ezekiel, we recognize before man that there was an angelic rebellion, and that the author of that rebellion, one that was a created spiritual being, separated himself from God and deceived the other angels. One third of the angels rebelled against God because of what Satan was feeding them, which was falsehoods and lies and bearing false testimony.

Jesus comments on this because, well, after all, He was there. He's the I AM. Join me if you would. In John 8 and verse 44, let's open up our Bibles together now as a congregation. If you haven't had a chance to crack the book, let's do it now. John 8 and verse 44, and let's notice Jesus' own words here in red. It is interesting if I can bring you to attention here for a moment. Jesus is speaking to church folk of that day. He's not speaking to atheists. He's not speaking to agnostics. He's speaking to the people of the book.

He's speaking to those that thought that they didn't have any problems, that the problems were upon Him. And Jesus, being the wise rabbi, turned it right around. John 8 and verse 44, it says here, You are of your Father, the devil, and the desires of your Father you want to do.

He was a murderer from the beginning and doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth in Him. When He speaks a lie, He speaks from His own resource. For He is a liar. And notice what it says. He is the Father of it. Basically, what Jesus is sharing here with you and me is that the adversary, the one who is still around and whose spirit permeates so much and so far, His native language, His native tongue, is lying. Now, this was not only in Heaven with that rebellion, but we find some news on the ground I'd like to share with you. Join me if you would in Genesis. Let's go to the book of Genesis, where it all starts, in Genesis 3.

There are some interesting scenarios that I want to share with you when it comes to the aspect of bearing false witness and lying. Not only the act, but let's discuss the motives. Let's get under the skin and understand why people do bear false witness and lie. In Genesis 3, the great incredible story of this encounter between the woman and the serpent. Genesis 3 and verse 1, The serpent was 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?

That was a standing statement. And very interesting, God is mentioning it too. So if it's God, it must be alright. We always want to separate God from what God actually says to do. A lot of people use God's name. We have to understand what is it attached to and is it what God said.

And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden. She came back. 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. So she actually passed the exam on the first assault by the serpent. But never think that Satan is just going to give you one punch. Notice what it says here then. Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

And you know what happened with the rest of the story. She bit into that proverbial apple. Now it's very interesting what happened here. What happened here was that Satan came with a doubt. And then he came back with an outright lie that he knew about. And the woman bit into that.

And it's very interesting that Satan's act of lying ultimately caused that woman to break two of the great commandments along with her husband. Number one, you shall have no other gods before me.

And by biting into that fruit, they proclaimed that they wanted to be, in that sense, their own gods and make up their own commandments and make up their own rules. Number two, lying is the handel that fits all the rest of the sins. Number two, the tenth commandment says, you shall not covet. That means you shall not desire to possess that which has not been granted to you. And thus we find, from the very beginning, why Jesus said what he said and what occurred. Now, let's take it a step further because it's actually going to draw you in more as we go to Genesis 4.

In Genesis 4, we have another part of what we call the Adam family. Now, Adam knew in chapter 4 and verse 1, who his wife and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, and this time his brother Abel. 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. And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fad. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was angry and his countenance fell. 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 at the door.

And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. God was very, very fair. He came straight on before Cain and let him know that he was at a decision-making moment of his life. 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, trust was broken, relationships were off the table. And then the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? It's probably the last question that Cain wanted to hear.

Do you remember that when you were a teenager? And maybe, shall we say that you had done something that, well, you shouldn't have done? And so you were, why are you all looking at me like I'm the only one that did that when I was a teenager? I guess, okay, anyway. Your pastor is very human. Anyway, will they ask me questions? And will they ask me the right questions?

Or are they questions that I might be able to dodge and just leave alone? Well, God came right at him. He said, where is your brother? And he said, I don't know. 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 up its mouth, to receive your brother's blood. What you see in Genesis 3 and Genesis 4 is you find people, both Adam and Eve, and also Cain, that took matters into their own hands.

Somewhere they felt that God was unfair. Somewhere they felt that God had left them out of the loop of opportunity. And therefore, they had to take matters to themselves. Now, the point I really want to make in all of this that brings us all to, hopefully, attention and to examine ourselves as we move into this new calendar year is, why was Cain so ready and so able to lie? I suggest to you that he was comfortable with lying because that's what he had experienced in his own household. With Adam and with Eve. Adam and Eve had no difficulty playing games with God.

Adam and Eve were not truth-tellers. Remember when God came walking through the garden, as it says? He's looking for Adam and Eve, and they get into this jostling and, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They were not truthful. They were not straight-on. Brethren, Adam and Eve, Cain, were not people of integrity. We've been called to be different. We have been called not to follow the first Adam, but the second Adam. Not the problem, but the solution.

Now you say, okay, I know about Adam. I know about Eve. What else do we expect? We know that they rebelled against God. But now allow me to take you a step further. What about people of the book? What about a family of faith? Let's take a look at an example here for a moment of Abram. Abram was a biblical hero. And the reason why I'm bringing this story out to all of you to hopefully spiritually wake us up and encourage us is that we need to come to recognize that even God-fearing people can succumb to not telling the truth, bearing false witness of lying.

Join me if you would in Genesis 12. In Genesis 12, let's take a look here for a moment and let's pick up the thought, if we could, in Genesis 12 and picking up the thought here in verse 10. It's the story of Abram and Sarai going down to Egypt. Now there was a famine in the land and Abram 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. You can see he was really concerned about his wife. Right, ladies? Very interesting. What about poor little me? You're going to live. I'm going to die. We've got to make a note like the television games. Let's make a deal. And Abram made a deal with Sarah. I said, I'll tell you what you can do.

You're going to tell everybody that you're my sister. Now I have a question to ask the audience because I know you're all biblical scholars out here and you study the word. Was Sarai a Brahms sister? You're sure of that. You would not do good on radio. You can't see nods on radio. It was his half-sister. And that half-sister line was a half-truth. Ladies, you that are married here, how would you like your husband to introduce you as your sister? They would probably get a big kick in the...

At that time, it's interesting that in the marriage compact that men could still marry half-sisters. This is still a couple hundred years after the flood. And so the human population was still growing and there were allowances two or three hundred years later, certainly under the time of Moses and when you read the Levitical law or the law that's in the Torah, is that you could not marry your sister. The human population had grown that much bigger. So that's the story that's happening there. But what happens here, which is interesting, it's not what he said, which is a cardinal point when it comes to bearing false witness or lying, it's what you don't say.

It's the cards that you leave under the table in dealing with your wife, in dealing with your boss, in dealing with your neighbor, in dealing with your teacher, in dealing with your brethren. Christians have been called to be card players. Some churches don't even allow cards. We have been called to be proverbial card tables. That means to have, not card tables, card players. We have been called to have all 52 cards out on the table. Notice what it says here. So it was when Abram came to Egypt and the Egyptians saw him. He was right. She was beautiful. The Pharaoh took him, took her, and the woman who was taken to his house, he treated Abram well for her.

He gave him a lot of livestock and a lot of property. 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 it that you have done to me? What did you do? Why didn't you tell me that she's your wife? And this is a pagan! This is a non-believer! Chastizing! The man of God.

Why did you say she's my sister? I might have taken her to be my wife. Now therefore, here's your wife. Take her. Get out of here! I have a question for you. May I? Do you think this great king of the earth called Pharaoh thought that Abram was a man of integrity?

I don't think so. It's very interesting that what happens, and there's a story, and we're not going to have time to go into it. You can do your own Bible study on this. It's always remember that church is a starting point of study, not an ending point. It's very interesting that Abram did this again. There's a point why I'm bringing this out. Abram did this again. When he was Abraham, this is after covenant, not before... He was Abraham.

He was in the land up in Palestine. And again, he asked his wife to play the sister role with a bimillac. And a nation was almost destroyed because of a lie. Here's what I want to share with you. Lying doesn't go away. It can be a bad habit. It can be a lifestyle. It can be a pattern. And it can run in families. Our children are watching us. If you follow the story later, Isaac, about 20 years after that, does the same thing with his wife that Abraham did with a bimillac. Just like Cain, who was raised in the family that... Here's the thought. You might want to jot this down. That was sloppy with the truth.

And if you as a grandparent, and as a parent, or an uncle, or an elder in the church that has the responsibility to set an example to the brethren, are sloppy with the truth, people are going to rise to the level of the slop that they're around. Allah, Cain, Adam, and Eve. Allah, Isaac, son of promise, who lied and tried to make a deal. And a nation almost was crushed and destroyed because of the lie of one man. Now, Abram, later Abraham, had many great points. He was a man that when God said go, he went. But that was his strength. But he had other challenges. And he had overcome this. And in his weakness, had to be made strong. I have a question for you. Is there any reason why Abram thought, why did God have Abraham go up to Isaac on the top of a mountain by themselves? And why did God finally say, okay, now I know.

Now I know about Abraham. I now know that he is a man of integrity. I know that there is no facade. He is not a chameleon. For those of you east of the Mississippi, a chameleon. I know he's a man of integrity. He passed the test. You and I have been called to pass that same test, brethren, following the Father of the Faithful, who was the Father of the Faithful, but had, as we say today, some issues that he had to contend with.

How about us today as Christians? I want you to join me, if you would, in the Book of Titus here from him. The Book of Titus. Because I think it speaks to our world that more and more is moving away from God, apart from God. A world that no longer allows the Ten Commandments to be posted in different spots or in schools. A world that no longer allows prayer to be given in the United States of America in so many segments. And this is the world of antiquity. This is the world that Titus was facing. Titus being one of the two adopted sons, as it were, two of the disciples of Paul.

And Titus is riding from the island of Crete. Crete's that little island that's out there in the Aegean Sea. And you notice, you get a feel of what is being talked about here. That just as today, certain countries or certain regions of countries are known for this, for that. We say, the people here do this, the people do here do that. And basically what happened is there were two different terms in antiquity that were basically not nice terms to use. One was to Corinthianize, which was meant to prostitute yourself. Because it was a port town. And number two, it was to, maybe you've never heard this one before, Cretis.

To Cretis. Now, to Corinthianize was to prostitute. To Cretis was just to be a bloody liar. It was just to not tell the truth. The culture of Crete was known throughout the world to be frankly, or I'm sorry to say this, they were just known to be a pack of liars. And this is what is being addressed in Titus as we look at Titus 1, verse 1, where it says, Paul abounds the servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledgment of truth, which accords with godliness, in a hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

So that is why that term is right up in the front. Here's Titus in Crete. And it's like we can only envision, because of Paul's writings back to him, the telephone call, as it were, going out from Crete to Paul, basically, Titus is saying, not beam me up, Scotty, but beam me up, Paul, get me out of here. I'm surrounded by a pack of liars. Notice verse 10. For there are Paul commons here. He knows what Titus is going to be for. There are many insubordinate, both idle 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.

Now notice verse 12. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars. They're evil beasts. Lazy gluttons. That may make a comment, please. That is fairly harsh condemnation, isn't it? It's more than I've ever written in a letter. But what Paul is doing is he's quoting Greek philosophers from the 7th century BC. They had had this reputation for 600 years. So what is Paul saying? Okay, Titus, you can come home. You've done your due diligence. Notice what it says here in verse 13.

This testimony is true. Paul is saying the Greeks know their own, and it's true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Don't give up, Titus. Yes, we understand the situation. And that's where we need to be today, brethren. We need to recognize the world that we're in. We need to understand the direction that it's going, but not give up in being people of integrity. Telling the truth, no matter what comes our way.

Now, there are some very real points that I want to give you in conclusion. To flush this out, to put some flesh on the bone, they're going to go very quickly, so please stay with me. The first point I want to give to you as a person of truth, or one that perhaps recognizes that I need to tell the truth. I need to be a person of integrity. Point number one. Spiritual reality is to understand lying lies around the corner.

Spiritual reality is to admit and to understand lying lies around the corner. We've all heard of Parson Weems' famous fable about George Washington and the cherry tree. I cannot tell a lie. Parson Weems came along after the death of George Washington and tried to raise this classical man up to a mythical image, and both of us in America have learned that story. I totally do respect George Washington. He's one of my personal heroes. But I don't think he made it all the way through life, even past the cherry tree.

But we notice here what it says here about him, about us. Spiritual reality is to know lying is never more than an unfaithful, unbelieving, uncontrolled thought away. Now, why do I say that? That sounds kind of... Wow! What I'm saying here is simply this. I'm not asking you to go out those doors this afternoon and say, Man, Mr. Weber said that it's out there. It's lurking. It's ready for me. It's going to swallow me up. No, I'm not saying that at all.

I'm not saying to be afraid or fearful. I'm saying to each and every one of us, be respectful. That while we lean towards God and we lean towards practicing righteousness, is to recognize that we are still in these human tents. We are still affected by self, by society, by Satan. And remember what the Scripture itself says to him, that things he stands take heed lest you fall. So what I'm asking all of you to do in spiritual reality is to recognize while our heart is with God, to recognize the rest of us is still in this human tent, and to recognize that there is still unconquered territory that God wants us to deal with in 2014.

Again, remembering, Abraham had issues that, boy, you can just hang your life on. When God said, Go, he went. It's not the direction that he went. It's the information that he tended to leave out that got him in trouble. It's not what you're doing right that I am talking about. I'm talking about where do you and I as people of covenant and people of the Book and lights, where do we grow and where do we understand how we ought to be this year? I'd like to share a thought with you because you say, well, how do you bring it?

Go to Genesis 18 here for a second. Genesis 18. You say, well, Mr. Weber, you're being kind of hard on me as Christians because we know we're not supposed to lie. Well, here's a person in the book, a pretty good gal. If Abraham is the father of the faithful, I know that I believe it's in the word that says, where it's in the words of Paul, Peter, whose daughters you are as you do well, being Sarah's daughters.

But Sarah had some issues here. Notice Genesis 18. Genesis 18. And let's pick up the thought in verse 9. This is where the angels come and they find out that they're going to have a child, a promise. Then they said, and where is Sarah, your wife? So he said to him, here I am in the tent. So here I'm in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah, your wife shall have a son.

Now, Sarah was listening in the tent door, which was behind him, just yards away, feet away from this angelic message. And therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, oh, come on, you've got to be kidding me. After I've grown old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also? And the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh, saying, I shall surely bear a child since I am old?

Is anything too hard for the Lord? At that point in time, I will return to you according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Stay with me. Notice verse 15. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh. Why didn't she laugh? Or why did she lie? Because she was afraid.

Lacked faith, fear is a result and a byproduct of a lack of faith. And he said, can you imagine this, the angel coming back saying, no! But you did laugh. Now, why am I sharing this with you? I think if I asked you for a raise of hands, how many of you like Sarah, everybody's hands would go up, we love Sarah.

God loves Sarah. But to recognize the human condition and to recognize that if we are not prepared, if we are not on guard, if we are not close to God, we are an uncontrolled thought away from bearing false witness. That sometimes comes when we're in a rush, when we're in a hurry, when we haven't been studying God's Word, when we haven't been praying when we go out the door, when we've removed ourselves from the ways of God. These things can come up. We need to just understand that. Point number two, when you tell the truth, when you tell the truth, you don't have to remember what you said. When you tell the truth, you don't have to remember what you said. If you tell a falsehood, if you tell a lie to your boss, to your wife, to your child, to the officer, to the member in your church, when you tell a story, you have to keep the story going. You have to prop it up. You have to really use your imagination.

It has to have stilts to keep it going. Remember the story of Jacob and his mother, when they are just lying and lying and lying and lying to the old man, Isaac.

Each story led to another story. All of those stories, when you move away from the truth, which is pure and absolute and beautiful and wonderful, when you move away from the truth and you start telling stories, you are on a house of cards and they will fall.

The truth always stands. And I'm here to encourage you through the Book of Truth that God will reward you. We need to understand that. It's very important.

What happens is, at times when we are in the squeezed place of life and when we are afraid as it were, we begin to alter the facts. We begin to change the story.

If we are altering the facts, changing the story, it's going to make it very simple, brethren.

What we really need to do is alter ourselves and change our story. Don't change the facts. Don't change the story. Change yourself.

Ask God to help you. Ask God to help you to see through the stories in Genesis. Ask you to see the stories of even righteous people like Abraham and Sarai. Later Abraham and Sarah, that we are still in this human tent. And, nonetheless, so you and I have been called to be persons of integrity.

Point number three. In telling the truth, it does not always mean that you are going to always have immediate, happy consequences here below.

Blessings are not just going to shower down upon us immediately. Hear me, please, young people.

If somehow you get your hand caught in the cookie jar, just because you fess up as it were doesn't mean your head is going to start glowing like a halo.

For every cause there is an effect. For every cause there is an effect. But to recognize how proud, how proud even in that moment, your parents or your grandparents or your friends are, because you have become a person of integrity.

Show me if you would in Proverbs 12-22. In Proverbs 12 and verse 22. Let's take a look here. Proverbs 12-22.

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight.

If you have this situation where something has occurred and as hard as it is, somebody comes up and tells the truth and is honest.

While there may be a cause and effect situation, let the young person, the young man, the young woman know that while perhaps you did not like what they did, you are proud of them. Proud of them. You delight in them that they have stood firm. They have stood up for the truth. They are becoming a person of integrity.

Point number four. You are responsible for what you say and for what you don't say. You are responsible for what you say and for what you don't say.

There's a very famous verse out of Jeremiah 48 and verse 10. I'll just quote it. It says, It says, But it also says, In other words, we have a perfect Biblical definition of the sin of commission of what you have done.

But God labels sin or cursedness not only based upon what you have committed or what you have done, but also what you have not done. As it says later in the New Testament, where it says that, It's coming to me. It was on my mind for a second. It skipped it right now. To him that knoweth to do good, and does it not. The same is sin. So we've got to recognize that we are to be people of integrity, all 52 cards on the table. Another story, and I'll just give you homework for some of you that are new to the Scriptures and for the rest of us that need to go back into our homework. Go to Acts 5. Read the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who were fakers.

They pretended to give all that they had. Why did God strike them dead? Isn't that a little harsh? No. They came and they were playing, let's make a deal with God. God had to make a statement. The church was going somewhere. The church was headed towards promise. But God wanted to make sure that along with the blessings, along with the Spirit that had been granted, that there was also discipline, and that there also was judgment, and that there was also no fooling around with the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments, brethren, are so very, very important for us to uphold. Point number five. There's only ten more points. No, that's just teasing. That's going to make you feel good because there's only two more. We need to be careful with whom we keep company. We need to be very, very careful with whom we keep company. 1 Corinthians 15, 33, very short verse. It's a proverb, as it were, in the Epistles of Paul. It says that bad company corrupts good manners. Bad company corrupts good manners.

There is a definite cause and effect. When I was a teenager, and for some of you that are younger, you say, was he ever young? Yes, I was. But when I was a teenager, my mother, when I came home from school, my mother was a clever woman. Wise, discerning. She knew who I'd been hanging around with, by how I acted, by how I responded to her. And she said, I need to be careful with her so the innocent names are.

She said, I know you've been hanging around with, when I didn't let her know, but I knew that she knew. How does she know that? Parents, grandparents. Do you know who your child is hanging around with? Are they children? They're kids, absolutely. They're teenagers. They're going to make their mistakes. And we're not only recycled teenagers, ourselves, growing up. But do you know who your child is hanging around with? Are they hanging around children of integrity? You know, in Revelation 22, it speaks of people that practice lying.

Practice lying. It's a way of life. They just practice it. It's called a habitual liar. And what happens is, it's these people that, you know, they keep playing notes. It starts small like that fissure where you're talking, you know, we dress it up with a white lie. Well, we're just going to tell a white lie. You tell enough white lies in your life. You know what happens? You become colorblind. You lose any semblance of the truth. What I'm asking all of you, and you think about this too in our world, which has expanded with the internet and this intrusion.

And there's a blessing and there's a downside to it. Not against technology. But recognize how much information and how many people now that we're living into our life, and how many people that, in turn, that we are communicating. And in our communications that go out, because once it's out there in cyberspace, folks, it's out there.

It ain't coming home, right? It's out there for good. I'm encouraging the San Diego congregation to be people of integrity in every word that we say. Every word that we say, not only on the telephone, but on the internet, on our messages, so that people will know that we reflect the values of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Let me take you to point number six. We'll conclude. You take your values into the arena of life.

You take your values into the arena of life. You don't find your values in the trial, sorry, that does not work. You take your values into that arena, starting by hearing this message and saying, I am going to be one that tells the truth. I'm going to be a person of integrity. I am going to reflect the one who says, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I am going to reflect God the Father, in which it says in the book of Hebrews, it is impossible for God to lie.

Isn't that wonderful? In Hebrews, it says it's impossible for God to lie. And because we believe Him and because He does tell the truth, we therefore surrender our lives. In faith and in confidence. Because we've come to know that it is impossible for God to lie. So that when He says in Isaiah, that I declare the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end, and that my purpose shall stand and you shall be indeed a part of it and I will do it. We know He's not fetching one. We love God with all of our heart and all of our mind and all of our soul.

Because we know that God does not lie. You take your values into the arena of life with you. Let's conclude by going to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. I've stretched you just a moment. I'm sorry, but let's complete this thought. Psalm 119. And let's pick up the thought in verse 25. Psalm 119 and verse 25.

My soul clings to the dust. Revive me according to your word. Father, help me. Revive me. Allow me to be that person of integrity that you've called me to be. Revive me according to your word. I've declared my ways and you answered me and teach me your statutes. And that's what we've been doing this afternoon. Teaching the commandments and the statutes of God. Make me understand the way of your precepts. Help me to understand that by telling the truth, the truth shall stand. But if I don't tell the truth, if I do not tell the truth, my life will wash away because it's not built on the foundation. So shall I meditate on your wonderful works? I'll think about it. I'll recognize that I need to take my values and the integrity that you've given me out this room, into this world, into the classroom, into the office, into the bedroom, on the freeway. I'm going to be a person of integrity. My soul melts from having to strengthen me according to your word. Remove from me the way of lying. And grant me your law graciously. I've chosen your way of truth, your judgments I've laid before me. I cling to your testimonies. You don't find the testimonies. You cling to them. You take them into life with you. A beautiful thought. O Lord, do not put me to shame. I will run the course of your commandments, and you shall enlarge my heart. Brethren, as I conclude this first message to you this year, as we turn a calendar page, a new opportunity, a new challenge, a continued way. Let's be committed in every thought, every word, every step in life. Be persons of integrity. Remember the famous line that comes when perhaps you're giving testimony, and the bailiff is up there with you, and he asks you to either swear and affirm. And he asks you a very, very simple question. Will you tell the truth? The whole truth, and nothing but the truth, shall help you God. And it is by God's help that we go out and be people of integrity, and to tell the truth. And not only in the courtroom, because as the bard once said, the whole world, indeed, is a stage. And it's waiting for us. Let us rejoice in God's word. Let us rejoice that we've had this day together, and looking forward to seeing you afterwards.