Session 10 Session 10: Ready Your Heart Do Not Lie The Devil Is a Liar 10 John 8:43-44: “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” When Jesus is addressing the Pharisees in this passage, He is cutting to the core of two things. He is first identifying who they are, and second, He is doing it through the framework of who He is. When Jesus tells the Pharisees in John 8 that they are from their father, the Devil, because they lie about His deity, He points out an attribute of Satan that is important for the believer to understand—he is a liar. Satan lies to believers. He places doubt in our lives. He tells us our salvation experience was a moment of emotion and not a true moment of repentance and change. He causes us to doubt the promises found in Scripture. He tells us we have time to ignore God but not enough time to focus on trivial pursuits. He convinces us not to share the gospel with friends for fear of risking the relationship. Satan also deceives those who are not in Christ. He serves as a stumbling block to them. He keeps them from a knowledge of the truth of their sin and their need for a Savior (2 Cor. 4:4). He is a liar and a murderer. He seeks to keep life away from God’s creation at all costs. We need to understand his true nature so we can endure temptation. The next time fear and doubt about obeying God enter your mind, remember that Satan is a liar. He will do everything in his power to keep you from the truth. Pause and Reflect – Why does Jesus call Satan a liar? – How has Jesus saved you from the lies Satan may speak into your life? – Pray that God gives you the boldness and faith necessary to ignore the lies of Satan. 90 Personal Study Guide | Summer 2014 © 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute within the license agreement with purchaser. Session 10: Ready Your Heart Do Not Lie Ditch the Cocoon Colossians 3:9-10: “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” The process of metamorphosis is seen in butterflies. A butterfly lays an egg. That egg hatches into a larva, more commonly known as a caterpillar. The caterpillar eats leaves and grows stronger. The larva eventually develops into a pupa, also known as the cocoon. The cocoon is where the caterpillar’s body rests, grows, and changes. The change takes place over a different period of time for different species of butterflies. Eventually the butterfly outgrows the cocoon and emerges ready to fly. However, once a butterfly emerges from its cocoon, it does not attempt to climb back into it. It does not try to relive the larva stage of its life. It does not make an attempt to seek out a simpler time when it was merely an egg. Instead, it moves forward, fully embracing this new stage of life and ready to pass life on to the next generation. Think about repentance in the lives of believers. Once we have turned from our sin and are alive in Christ, we should not intentionally seek out sin. Paul addresses the fact that believers should not lie to one another because they have put off the old self with old practices and have put on an entirely new self. We should not willingly lie to one another any more. That part of our life is done with. If you are in Christ, stay turned from sin and do not seek out the sin of the past. We are renewed in knowledge according to the image of God. Pause and Reflect – Are you still seeking out sins from your past? If so, why? – Why is it important that we are new now that we are in Christ? – Pray and ask God to point out sin in your life that you need to turn from now. Do so today through the power of the Holy Spirit. Session 10 91 Session 10: Group Time Do Not Lie God Wants People to Reflect His Character by Telling the Truth During the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, Marion Jones became a household name as she brought honor to her country. She won a record five medals at the Olympiad, specifically three gold and two bronze. Her performance was astonishing and demonstrated a dominance in the sport of track and field that many had never seen. She was the hope and promise of athleticism in the United States for about five years. But then rumors surfaced about her use of performance-enhancing drugs. Jones testified to federal agents while under oath that she was not guilty of using steroids. She would not relent from her pursuit of a drug-free image. All of her hard work, training, and competing, however, would be undone as she was found to have lied. She was convicted of perjury, sentenced to six months in prison, and stripped of her Olympic medals. She also found herself in financial trouble and participated in a check fraud scheme, yet another lie. Lying was not a one-time offense for Marion Jones. Lying destroyed her life. What are some examples of the destructive power of lies? How have you personally experienced the consequences of falsehood, either by lying or being lied to? In the Ninth Commandment, God forbids us to bear false witness against our neighbors. Throughout the Old Testament, He expressed His hatred for lying lips and declared truthfulness to be a requirement for His people. Because of Jesus Christ, who was falsely accused for our sake, we can be forgiven when we repent (tell the truth about ourselves) and believe the gospel (the truth about Jesus). As a truth-telling people, the church now bears a true witness to Christ. 92 Personal Study Guide | Summer 2014 1. God forbids us to bear false witness (Deut. 5:20; Ex. 23:1-3,6-8). 20 “ ‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The first thing we need to know about lying is the specific command from God against giving a false testimony—we should not lie to others. No exceptions are given. We are simply told to obey. However, the law does get specific about certain types of lying in Exodus 23. Take a look: 1 “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious Voices from witness. 2 You shall not fall in with the many to do Church History evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding “And then she understood with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3 nor shall the devilish cunning of the you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. enemies’ plan. By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger.” 1 We live in a world that makes money off of –C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) the kinds of lies this passage speaks against. An entire wing of the entertainment industry has been built on the backs of lies that appear as news. As believers, we must seek out the truth and learn to discern what is news and what is gossip. What kinds of lies are seen as culturally acceptable today? How should Christians respond to gossip in the church? Though we may not be ones who purchase tabloid gossip, we still have forms of lying that we must watch out for: Stretching the Truth. One form is embellishment. Sometimes this is meant in fun during the telling of a story by making the surrounding details more exaggerated than they truly are. However, this can also be done in a malicious manner to tear down someone’s reputation. As Christians, we should make sure that when asked to give an account of a situation, we are not embellishing details that could change the outcome of a person’s punishment or reward. White Lies. Another popular way to lie is the concept of white lies. White lies are seen as minor and harmless and are often used to shelter someone from a hurtful truth or to make them feel better about themselves. White lies may seem innocent, but even the innocence is deceptive. We lie first to ourselves in telling a white lie. Session 10 93 We fulfill the law of God by loving our neighbor as ourselves. No one wants to be deceived by others, even if the truth may hurt. Therefore, since we desire the truth, we should speak the truth at all times. In doing so, we will love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So encourage with the truth in love, not the false encouragement of a white lie. Intentional Deception. One more type of lie is intentional deception—an explicit disregard for the truth in order to convince someone of a falsehood. Intentional deception takes place in the Bible on different occasions with varying motives, most often only leading to turmoil.