This sermon focuses on the seriousness of lying according to Proverbs 12:22, highlighting how lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. The speaker emphasizes the importance of speaking truthfully and living in honesty to bring joy to God. The consequences of lying are compared to other sins like murder and sexual immorality, warning that those who practice and love lies will face judgment. The sermon concludes with a call to cast off lies, speak the truth, and pray for God's work to remove deceit from our lives.

The word that we are going to read today we find in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 12, verse 22. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. We will read thus far. I like to speak about lying lips. Lies are not noticed very much. If a person sins with sexual immorality, there is a big noise about it, however if a person lies, we do not take that seriously. But the word says that lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. So I would like to speak about lies today. Like I have said, Christians do not take this particularly seriously today, it is something just light. But we have heard that to God it is an abomination. But the one who speaks truthfully is a joy to the Lord. That is why we have to act faithfully and speak truthfully, live in the truth at all times to bring joy to the Most High. When Cain had killed his brother, God asked him, Cain where is your brother? He said my brother ought I to be his shepherd? Instead of acting truthfully, that is how he acted, now we have to live truthfully, otherwise we land in hell. Deception has many varieties. Lies have many shades of colour. There is a manager of a shop, heard a person who was working there talking to a customer and overheard that person, the person working in the shop saying to the customer, it is a long time that we have not had this product and I think it is going to take a very long time too. The manager got angry, went straight to the shop worker and said to the shop worker, I think it is going to take a very long time, I think it is going to take a very long time. And said to the worker, you should never say to a customer that we do not stock this product. Never ever tell a customer that we do not have the product and that we do not know when it will ever be stocked. The manager was furious and he said well to himself, this person does not know how business ought to be conducted. After rebuking him, he then said to the worker, tell me what did that person actually want? To which you had answered, no we do not stock it and we do not have it and it will be a long time if we ever have it. That he had hurt his business. Rather just tell the person, it is on order and it is going to be here very soon. Now tell me, what product was the customer seeking? And the worker said no, he was speaking about the rain. That we have not had rain for a long time and I do not know when we will ever have it. Such mistakes can happen. But lies, deception can happen even in business. Deception happens there too. I remember when I was very young before I began to preach, helping my father and my oldest brother in the shop there and we were selling material. And at that time, we were told how to measure a yard where to put our firm thumb and where we should put the other thumb to slightly adjust it so that it would be a little bit less than the yard. That is what it is like. That is deception. Those are lies. Or if they were buying a can of flour at that time, we would not have it completely full so that we would make more profit. That is deception. There are many forms of deception or of lies. It can happen in business, but it can also happen in a family, a husband with a wife, not being completely truthful or towards the children or the children towards the parents. Just not saying the truth as it is. Lies can be taken so lightly that the person, the liar, afterwards laughs and says, well I really deceived that person. But to God, it is an abomination. It is evil if we do not stand in the truth. In Revelation 22 verse 15 it says, Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. But you cannot speak the truth. Before God, you are like a dog and a sorcerer and a prostitute, a murderer, idolaters. That same category are those who practice and love falsehood. So let us be aware, let us be very careful of that. Woe to us if our lies are not pure and speak lies. Like I have said, even in a family, a wife can say something that is completely untruthful to her husband. Likewise the husband to the wife, he can say that which is not the truth. Lies are a terrible thing to God. And it is said, those who are murderers, those who are an abomination to God, sexually immoral and the sorcerers, together with them, all those who practice and love lies, will have their place in the lake of fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Woe to a person who speaks lies or even has spoken lies in the distant past. Woe to that person. Even if you are in school, it is easy for you to lie. Four boys once arrived late at school. And then the teacher asked, now why were you late? And then said, alright, I hear, but now I want us to write down and answer this question. I want you to write, each one of you, as to what church was going on in the car, which tire was flat. Sorry, completely missed it. Which tire was flat? I had a flat tire. The boy didn't let me move it. For they'd all said, teacher, we had a puncture. So he said to them, now I want you to write individually, on paper, which tire was the flat one. The front left, the right left, the back left, or the back right. And so... And so they were caught out, because one wrote it was the front left, one the back right, and each one was different. They had lied. All four. Were an abomination to God, for they had lied. Now the word in Revelations, that text refers to them. Outside are the dogs. And the sorcerers. And the prostitutes. And the murderers. And the idolaters. And those who worship the dead. And those who lie and love the practicing of a lie. Whether it's a small child. Whether you're in the third class or the fifth class, no matter, lies are commonplace. You'll find in every facet, people love lying. And they practice lying. Lies have a terrific speed as well, in this world. It spreads with a terrific pace. Lies are told easily, truth is difficult to speak. The Bible has a lot to say about lying. I'll ask you children, are you practicing falsehood, lying to whoever, your mother and father? The Bible has much to say about lying. And how God hates falsehood. The lips that do not express the truth. Or an accursed thing to God. The one who speaks the truth, God rejoices over that person. Now since we're speaking on the topic of lying, where does lying originate? What is the source? Lies originate from Satan. Jesus said to people, your father is Satan. Who is the father of lies and the father of liars. From the very beginning, Satan has lied. If Satan speaks lies, he speaks it according to his nature, for he is the liar. Whenever he opens his mouth, he speaks lies. It's just his thing. I thought I'd speak about angels today. And if the Lord wills, one day we can speak on that. Now Satan, there were different levels of angels, like Gabriel being one. Quite a few are even mentioned in the Bible. And so Satan, being one of the chief angels, he was close to God. Lucifer had a great high position of the highest. But he fell and became Satan. And today, Satan cannot speak a word without lying. Anything he says is falsehood. And if you lie, you are the child of his. And you are identifying with Satan when you lie. You are saying, I am in him and he is in me. I don't know how to express it, so that each one of us would begin to hate lies. When Satan spoke to our first parents, he entered into the snake. He was the most cunning of all. And then asked, did God raise you from the dead? Did he really say you should not eat of the tree? For God knows that actually, if you eat of this tree, you will be like him. God is the God of righteousness. But Satan said to Eve, you will never die. You can read the whole Bible. When it refers to Satan, it speaks about him lying. And many people are like Satan in that they lie like him. When you ask them a question, they cannot speak the plain truth. They lie. So when Satan spoke to Eve, Satan accused God of lying. When he spoke of Job in the Bible, he accused him of lying. Realize this about Satan. His character is lies. When God said of Job that he is righteous, Satan came and said no. The reason why you call him righteous is because you have blessed him in so many ways. That's why. The crucifixion was all about liars. People who lied about the Lord Jesus and accused him. Satan planted lies in the hearts of people. From the beginning of the Bible, you will see that whenever Satan enters the picture, it is lies. Right to the end, the Antichrist is full of lies. So from the very beginning to the end, Satan is the liar. And if we lie, we are identifying ourselves with him. Bringing upon ourselves a curse and destruction and condemnation for lies bring us into death. Sin entered this world through lies. So never take lying superficially or lightly. Or lightly. There are those who say, and the English even say that no, I didn't really lie. They were just white lies. God is the truth. He is the truth. He cannot lie. And when you lie, you are showing yourself and exposing yourself as a child of Satan. I've said that there are many different forms of lying. It might be through gossip. You speak about a person and yet you lie and they hurt and cause damage. The Bible says, Woe to the one who lies and gossips about his neighbour. I will cut him off completely, says the Lord. For if you lie, you are trying to break down the next person while you are forgiving yourself and excusing yourself. Now there are different categories of lies. There are those of sins. Even though we might say lies are in the bottom rank very lightly, no, they are all evil. If I steal somebody's money, that's sin. However, if I repent, I can take that money and return it to the rightful owner. But if you have lied, you cannot recover all the damage and repay. Remember the woman? She was a church member who was known for being the main gossiper. For this is a sin that is typical of women. Even though men have their types of lies too, by doing that it's like they are putting on a dress to be women. The whole congregation and the pastor were very troubled about this lady. She brought about much friction in the church through her gossiping. They tried to correct her, they tried to put her right, but some people just don't seem to understand. And where one says eventually, is this person made for hell? One day, the pastor called the lady and gave her a chicken and said, now lady, here is a chicken. I want you to pluck it and I want you to pluck it from here as far as Mapumula, about 20 k's away. I want you to pluck it all the way there and by the time you get to me, I want it to be totally plucked of feathers. So off she went and she got back and she said, preacher, I've done exactly as you told me. Just as you told me to, I have plucked it from every angle, there is not a feather left. And then he said, well done lady. I want you now to go back to that area as far as Mapumula and then come back to me having picked up every single feather that you had plucked. She said, preacher, that's impossible. He said, why so? She said, well it will have gone with the wind and they will have gone in every direction. He said, now lady, you see your speech and your gossiping your falsehoods with your lips. It has spread, all this falsehood has spread throughout the whole world and like the feathers you can never recover those lies back again. You say you lie. When you lie, that has the potential to cover the whole world and to come right back to you. There is nothing that has a speed like a lie. When you lie, that has the potential to cover the whole world. There is nothing that has a speed like a lie. When you lie, that has the potential to cover the whole world. soul. A person who comes to you and gossips about another person, you might even be quite impressed that you have been taken into the confidence of that person that they've told you a secret. But I'd like you to know that that same person that seemingly took you into their confidence will go to another person and gossip about you in the same manner. And well, if you go to a person and you tell a half-truth, maybe you say, a person says, I'm going to visit this person, Andy. And although you think you technically correct, you have concealed the rest of the story that you're going to meet with that person and the other person and what you're going to do there. It's a half-truth. In fact, a lie. For you have not been completely truthful, just told apart. Do you hear you school children? If you lie like this, you will have a terrible end in the lake of fire. For Satan is your father. Some people lie so often they are addicted to lying. They just cannot tell the complete truth. Like a tobacco addict, a person can be addicted to lie. But blessed is the person who can tell the truth without trying to pretend and be crooked like a snake. You might go to a person and say, now tell me, this is the situation, what do you think I should do? And then that person maybe advises you to do what you feel in your heart. And then you go after having sought that counsel or advice, you go to another person and say, I was told to do this and that. Do you hear you liars? And you even mentioned the name, he told me and you asked him what you should do. And then you go and twist the thing and said, he said so. You are a liar and a child of Satan. If I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I David said, Lord, create in me a new heart that I would love the truth. Make me anew, that inside me I would be truthful and pure so that I would not lie. That's why the Bible says, cast off lying and speak the truth to one another. Since we are members one of another, live the truth. If you have not lived a life of truth, then repent today. I call upon the Lord to forgive you, to cleanse you and to change you from being a child of Satan to being a child of God. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 25 it says, therefore cast off lies and speak the truth. Each one with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. Even right now as you are listening to this, Satan is close by to inject into you lies. I remember a certain boy who was walking with a lot of money in his pocket and had a big jacket. And it put the money inside the jacket. And on the way he met up with some criminals. And they said, take out all the money you have. If you don't, we will kill you. And then they put their hands into his pockets. And they found inside a bag full of money. 100 Rand notes and 200 Rand notes. They felt in every pocket in his trousers, in his shirt. And they then asked him, is it all now? He said, that's all. And so off they ran with the money. And he saw them running off in the distance and turning off in another direction, another road. And at that moment he felt in his pocket and he noticed there was still 5 cents. Until he called out at the very top of his voice, hey come back, come back. Until they stopped. When they got to him, he said, please forgive me, I sinned. I thought, because all the money, I claimed that that was the complete amount. But when I put my hand in the one pocket, I found a 5 cent coin. Please forgive me. They looked at each other. Till the one said, no man, we cannot take this guy's money. Let's return the complete amount to him. They took out the whole bag and they returned the complete amount to him. He conquered through truth. He didn't say, thank God, he's helped me, I've still got 5 cents at least. He called out. He said, come back. He even asked, so forgive us. He said, I had lied when I told you it was the complete amount. I found now the 5 cents and then they just couldn't contain themselves. They'd never met with such a situation before they returned the complete amount. Therefore, cast off lies and speak the truth. Each one with his neighbour. For we are members one of another. Are you going to leave the service with your lies or will you leave them here rather? Shall we pray? Standing to our feet. We pray. We pray. We pray. Lord, we've heard that you hate lies. You don't want to even see them. You've told us to cast them off. Put them away for they belong to Satan. Lord, work in our midst that there wouldn't be one who remains with his lies but rather brings them out and exposes them. So that he and she would truly be a child of God and not of Satan. Amen.