Caleb Reed: Okay, why don't you take your Bibles and go to Proverbs chapter 12. Now, last year I did a session on bitterness, and I really enjoyed that session. But it was interesting.

I was amazed by how many people came in because I think it's an intriguing topic. And I don't know if anybody knows the topic that we're going to be dealing with today. But I told my wife, I said, I don't think anybody's going to show up today because, I don't know,

the topic for today is dealing with lying. And no one usually comes to a topic like that unless they think that they have that problem. So welcome, liars.

I'm glad to have you all here. The title today is Black, White, or Shaded. And I was telling one of the fellows here, we're not doing a session on how to draw.

This has nothing to do with artists. This has to do with the public concept of black lies, white lies, or we as Christians, shaded truth. And what does God think of that?

And I'm excited to share this passage, share some of these passages with you. This is going to be a topical message. There isn't just one passage that deals with all of it.

But I do want you to look in Proverbs chapter 12 because I feel like this verse here, as we're going to start out, this really encapsulates what we want to deal with here this morning. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 22.

Look at it with me. The Bible says, Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight.

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight. This is a topic, I don't know how to just explain this, but we all understand this. This is the issue of lying liars is rampant in our culture.

Probably more than we realize. We see lies everywhere. Someone said one time, advertising is just marketing lies.

That's really all it is. You're seeing the advertisement that offers something free and there's a little asterisk on the side.

I love those asterisks because then you find out what really is behind it all. There's rampant lying and liars in our culture.

Someone said this one time, politeness, I love this quote, politeness is half good manners and half good lying. Oh, that's sad, but so true.

Oftentimes, we just assume that if it's not that big of a deal, if it makes someone feel better, we can just tell a little bit of a fib. There's a joke that's told one time about a lawyer

who was deep sea fishing down in the Caribbean, and they're trolling along, and a skipper challenged all the men on the boat, just be real careful.

This is a shark-infested waters. If you fall in, you're a goner within seconds, and they could see the dorsal fins all moving around the boat,

and they're trolling along, and the lawyer's there with his fishing line, and immediately he hit something. Bang!

But it was such a sudden jolt. He yanked him right out of the boat, and the skipper thought, oh, boy, this is the end of him.

So he brings the boat around, and there's the lawyer just calmly treading water. And the skipper brings it around just waiting for him to go onto the surface, just waiting for that slam with that shark.

And they get up to him, and they pull him back in the boat, and the skipper says, I'm telling you, I cannot believe this. You should have been gone in minutes.

And the lawyer just grinned and nudged him and said, professional courtesy. It's just what they do.

See, lying, liars, if you didn't get that, talk to me later. Lying and liars and shading the truth is something we deal with all the time in our, in our,

in public. I was thinking about the political system. I was reading some different quotes and,

of course, people, what they think about Trump and what they think about Hillary and what they say about lying and false news, fake news. It's rampant.

In fact, there was a story that just came out. I In the news right now, it's a big deal because the whole article, according to some fact checkers,

was an absolute bold-faced lie. The entire thing. And so much of our culture today is not who's true and who's false.

It's who can figure out who's true and who can figure out who's false. It's rampant in our culture. But the reality is, young people, it's rampant in our church.

The title of this message is Black, White, or Shaded. And I want to challenge you this morning. What is your character?

What is your reputation when it comes to lying? When it comes to lips of truth, when it comes to a heart of honesty. You know, the judicial system would never work.

Our American judicial system would never work. It would never solve any problems or resolve any conflicts if there was not an absolute commitment to truth.

Because no problem, no conflict can ever come to resolution until someone is willing to be completely 100% honest. Some of us in this room are filled with problems,

filled with conflict in our lives, in our homes, in our church. And there will never be resolution. There will never be a solving, a liberty,

until someone is willing to be 100% honest. You know, a witness comes to the witness stand and he stands before the judge

and he makes a commitment, an oath before God because they know that unless someone tells the truth, there is no hope of resolve.

And young people, I want to challenge you this morning. There may be some of you in here this morning who you look great on the outside

and that has been your whole goal. But underneath the facade, There is a story of lies that you strung for years.

And I want to challenge us this morning through God's word that God does not see that lightly. And it may not be a black lie.

It may be what you consider a white lie or just me a little bit shaded truth. But God takes this very, very seriously.

And so ought we. Proverbs 12, 22. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,

but they that deal truly are his delight. If you were to look up a dictionary definition of a lie, it's this. A false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive an intentional untruth of falsehood.

Now, I trust, I hope that all of us desire, strive for being someone who is known for truth. I trust that most of us are not going to be committing what could be considered the black lie. the intentional falsehood, an intentional deception, trying to deceive on purpose.

I trust that we are not falling into that trap. But Shakespeare once said, he said, Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying.

He recognized the fact that even though we may try our hardest not to, it comes from somewhere in our heart. And there is a propensity in old fleshly man to be someone who lies.

Okay, so point number one, we're going to go right along with the title, black, white, or shaded. Those are our three points, black, white, or shaded.

Point number one, black lies. Known, bold-faced lying. You know, no one ever says, oh, boy, that is a great guy.

He is a great guy. I love that guy. His character is phenomenal.

That young lady is upstanding. They just have a problem with lying. No one ever says that.

No one ever says, I really appreciate him. He is well-known in his community. He has a reputation that is spotless.

He just struggles with lying. No one ever says that. Because a liar is tainted by his own words.

And a liar's reputation is tainted by his own words. Whether people know it or not. You know, Scripture does not take this lightly.

In Job, the liar is called vile. In Psalms, he's called unrighteous. In Proverbs, he's called a fool.

In Colossians, the children of disobedience. And I think all of us would recognize, boy, we ought not be liars.

I was thinking this through and I was talking with my wife and then with a guy I was working with the other day. And we were up on the roof painting. And he's actually my brother-in-law.

And I called down to him. We were just talking. And I said, you know, Thomas, what is really the core issue with lying?

I mean, where does it come from? What is the essence of it? Because in Scripture, okay, Exodus chapter 20, what does it say?

I think it's the Eighth Commandment, the Ninth Commandment, Ninth Commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Now, shouldn't it be for us as believers that if the scripture says thou shalt not,

that should be enough. Like I should be able to read Exodus 20 and close the Bible and we'd be done. And then we resolve, okay, we're not going to do that because the Bible says not to do that.

That should be the way it is. But the Bible also says honor thy father and mother. And we don't always do that.

The Bible says thou shalt not commit adultery and we still lust. The Bible says thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain and we still do. So what is at the essence of it?

We all understand, everybody in this room, you guys understand, the Bible says thou shalt not lie. We recognize that when we lie, it is a sin.

When we tell an untruth, when we tell someone intentionally deceives them, we all recognize that is sin. But what is the greater issue?

I want us to, well, you don't have time to turn there. I want to notice one thing.

What is God, what does the Bible describe God to be when it comes to truth and error. How does the Bible describe who our God is?

There's a number of different passages we could talk about, but a couple have stuck out to me as I was studying through this. Numbers 23

says this. It describes God as someone who does not lie. God does not lie.

God has never told a lie. But Titus 1-2 says God cannot lie.

Not only he doesn't lie, but he cannot lie. And Hebrews 6-18 says it is impossible for God to lie.

The nature of our God is anything but. It is completely excluded from anything false.

The nature of our God is 100% purity, truth at all times, every time and every time. That is the nature of our God.

In fact, Romans chapter 3, in vindicating God's nature to put God on the stand between man and God, it says, let God be true and every man a liar.

If we were to make a comparison and if someone was going to be called a liar, it's going to be man because God never lies. God is a God of truth and without

iniquity, just and right is he. Deuteronomy tells us that. On the flip side, what's the nature of

the devil? You know this. John 8, 44.

Why don't you turn there? I want you to look at this. John 8, 44.

Many of you know this passage, but this is an incredible description of who the devil is. John 8, 44, a clear contrast. The Bible says this,

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning. Listen to this, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. Young people, you have to understand, this has to be clear in your understanding, in your conscience, and deep in your heart.

If you are someone that is prone to stringing a long list of lies to get yourself out of trouble, or to make yourself look better, or to explain away a character flaw, if you are known to have lying lips,

the Bible does not describe you, according to these passages that we read, the Bible does not describe you as being in union

and in fellowship and in unity with God in heaven. The Bible very clearly describes those who are children of disobedience who lie

are of the father of the devil. It says, he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. His very nature is to lie.

And though you may be a believer, though you may be saved, if you are known or if you in your heart know that you lie, the scripture says that you are aligning yourself and your loyalty with the devil. And that's a serious matter.

But we all know this, don't we? I mean, deep inside, we know this, and yet we still lie.

Now, you may say, preacher, I don't tell black lies. I don't give the bold-faced lie. You know, if I'm at a party that I wasn't supposed to be,

and my parents ask me, where were you? I'll be honest with them. Some of you in here are good kids.

You wouldn't tell a black lie. There may be some in here who have challenged, where were you last night?

The first thing you're going to do to protect your reputation is to tell a bold-faced lie. And the devil is the father of all of that.

And the Bible says that if you are to be one who has lying lips, you're not only unclean, but you are an abomination to the Lord. As a believer, you can still be an

abomination to the Lord. And I want to challenge you young people. What is your character and

reputation when it comes to truth? Okay, we looked at black lies. We're going to keep moving because

I trust that's not one of our struggles. First point, black. Second point, white.

Well, that's an interesting statement, a white lie. Now, I looked up the definition of this.

This is interesting. This is how the dictionary defines white lies. A minor, polite, or harmless lie.

A fib. That seems like an oxymoron. A harmless lie.

Do you know the Bible actually says in Proverbs 26, 28, a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it. You know the Bible explains here in Proverbs 26

that if you tell a lie to someone, white lie, black lie, shaded truth, you tell a lie to someone,

it's as if you hate that person. In fact, you are hating that person by being willing to tell them something that is false.

In today's culture, like we said at the beginning, it is so rampant that we don't see it as a big deal. But the Bible says it's an abomination to him.

And you are stating that you hate the person you were lying to. Young people, do you love your parents?

Absolutely. Don't lie to them. Do you love the Lord?

Don't lie to Him. You say, what do you mean? God knows everything.

Yes, He does. He knows everything. But oftentimes, we dedicate and consecrate ourselves in a service

or in our own prayer time, our own devotions, and we tell the Lord we're going to do something, or we tell the Lord we're going to tell someone,

we're going to confess, we're going to give the good news, whatever it may be, and we back down. We choose not to.

who were you lying to who do you love who do you hate your lips tell you who you love and who you hate you know the bible describes and you know these passages but the bible describes there's a penalty for lying the bible describes uh proverbs 19 it says a false witness shall not be unpunished

and he that speaketh lies shall perish revelation 21 8 you know this one and all liars okay describes this whole passage describing abominable people. It talks about sorcerers,

it talks about fornicators, it talks about adulterers, and all liars

shall have their place in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Lying is a serious thing.

I was reading Colossians the other day, we're going to look at this at the end of the time, but I was reading in Colossians the other day,

and I was amazed how it gives a list of incredible sins that are known to unregenerate people,

those who are unsaved. And it lists off two verses worth, one after another, of these quite heinous crimes.

And at the end of it all, it says, and liars. You know, our culture says it's just a white lie.

It's just a fib. It's really not that big of a deal, as long as it makes them feel better.

You know, I was working with a guy back last summer who was working back in Maine where I grew up, and if it seemed to him that it would make the person feel better about themselves, about the price of the job we were doing, whatever the case may be, if he felt

like it'd make that person feel better, he would tell a lie at the drop of a hat. And it amazed me. We'd work together, and I think, this guy, man, this guy's got a terrible

reputation, and then he'd tell me, oh man, I'm gonna, you know, let me tell my brother, I'm gonna give you this iPhone.

We were all like, yes, he's gonna do it. And we should have known because he didn't give us the iPhone.

Oh man, we're gonna go to a Red Sox game. I'm gonna buy you tickets.

And we didn't go to a Red Sox game. We're gonna go to a Celtics game. I'm gonna buy you tickets.

And we didn't go to a Celt want to go is this last point.

This is what I'm most burdened about. Shaded. Black lies.

Young people, I really hope, I really hope that there's no one in this room whose reputation behind closed doors is to string out a long list of lies to try to keep your reputation intact. To lie to your parents' face when they ask you what you're doing.

When your parents ask you no one in here like that. I hope there isn't because I've been there.

Some of you have been as well. And I trust you're seeking a victory, but I hope that's not where we're at today.

Young people, you have to realize if that's where you're at, you've got a problem and you need to deal with it. It will come to an end.

Your sin will be discovered. Your reputation will be ruined. It is better to come clean now in this week

than to go home and continue telling the string of lies. And you may think, I can keep it up. I can keep stringing them.

I've strung them this long. I can keep making the stories work. You know, Mark Twain said this.

Mark Twain said, if you tell the truth, you never have to remember anything. If you tell the truth, you never have to remember

which story did I just tell last time, and I have to keep in line with that. If you tell the truth, it's a stress-free life.

You know that? I hope that there's no one in this room right now that is struggling with a bold-faced chronic lying. But there may be, and I want to challenge you to deal with that.

I hope that we are above being polite and just lying to anybody's face if it makes them feel better. I hope we're above that. I hope we're walking more in truth with that.

But you know the place that convicts me the most? It's right here. Shaded.

It's not black. It's not white. Kind of in the middle.

And people, did you know that you can tell truth and not tell the truth? You know you can tell a story that is 100% true, but it is not the truth? And this, as a good Christian kid, is where I fell over and over and over again.

Let me give you an illustration. Maybe you can identify with this. Okay, you're driving to work.

10 minute drive to work and you left the house too late. Man, you didn't have character. You were late getting up.

Breakfast was rushed. You're grabbing your boots. You're grabbing your lunch and you're running out the door.

You realize, man, I am five minutes late. And it does not matter how much I go over the speed limit. I am not making this time up.

And even if you try, you hit all the red lights. Okay, this has happened to me. You hit all the red lights.

Man, this is not going to work. And so you're racking your brain trying to think, how am I going to explain this to my employer?

because this is the third morning in a row that I've been five minutes late, and he's starting to get a little bit irritated. And the reality is, honestly, the reality was I didn't have character this morning.

I didn't wake up when I should have. I didn't get up when I should have. Hit the snooze, whatever it may be, and you're driving to work,

and you're racking your brain, and then you whip into the driveway at work, and he's waiting for you, and you haven't even tied your boots yet, so you pull your feet out of the car, and you go to quick time,

and your shoelace snaps. You've got to be kidding me. I've got to have a shoelace here.

and you dig underneath your seat, and you pull out the shoelace. And so you run to the work truck, and you jump in, and you're like, man, boss, I'm so sorry.

I was on my way to work this morning. I was going to come to work. My shoelace broke this morning, and I had to find another shoelace.

I'm sorry I was late. Did you just tell truths? Did you tell the truth?

But you know how often my heart concocts a story that is so full of truth that is the greatest lie? And the first person I've lied to is I've lied to myself. I've listened to the father of lies, deceived myself that I can somehow get away with most of truth and not tell the truth and still be okay.

Young people, I'm afraid that this is our biggest challenge. This is where we often live. Telling most of the facts, but not all the story.

You know, when a witness comes to the witness stand, and the officer comes with God's holy word, and they put his hand out, and he puts his right hand on it, left hand up in the air,

and he says, say it with me, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Why couldn't they just say, tell the truth? I told the truth to my employer, or I told a truth,

but I didn't tell the whole truth. I told maybe more than the truth. There is a reason why all three qualifying statements are in that oath before a judge,

because they know the propensity of our wicked heart, and that is maybe to tell some truth, but to shade the truth. And young people, I want to challenge you this morning.

What is your reputation when it comes to black lies, white lies, but what about shaded? What's your reputation when your parents challenge you and you think of enough true statements to get yourself out of a bind,

but you know full well that that wasn't the truth? And even though you might have told some truth, by not telling all of the truth, that is as good as a black lie,

which is as good as an abomination according to Proverbs chapter 12. Verse 22. And young people, we have to recognize,

you know how many times we try to explain away something to protect our character that we never had? I want us to think about a couple different things.

What are the consequences of my lying? What are the consequences of my fibbing? What are the consequences of my shading the truth?

You know, one of the things you lose is you lose trust. One of the things you lose is you lose credibility. You lose respect.

You lose your reputation. But how many times, this is interesting, how many times are we willing to shade the truth in order to try to save our reputation

when the very act that we're doing is wrecking our reputation? And young people, we need to recognize that shading the truth is just as bad as a bold-faced lie.

because it is still a lie. You know, some of us, we struggle with exaggeration or embellishing.

And I'm telling you, preachers are known for this and it's terrible. I said to my wife this morning,

I said, you know the convicting thing is how many times I've told a story and I made the details a little bit bigger

because that would make it a little more funny. That's not truth. This is convicting to me.

How about exaggeration? Are you known in your family as someone, okay, well, when they said that to me, take three quarters off the top, half off the bottom, left in the middle, probably true.

Do you have that reputation? I had a friend when I was growing up that whenever Justin told a story, if he told you a story, oh, Justin told you that?

Okay, well, scale back the proportions by about half, reduce the cost by three quarters, and that might be close to what's true. Or someone would even tell you, there'd be a story that Justin would tell,

And someone would think to themselves, or I thought to myself, or even heard people say things like this, oh, Justin said that? Well, we all know.

What's your reputation? Are you known for exaggerating? A mother once told her children, she says, I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.

If you didn't get that, come to me afterwards, too. You know, exaggeration is something we do so easily. And yet, if it's stretching, elongating, embellishing, it's not truth.

I was working the other day. We were doing an inside painting job. We were working at a condo.

And I was in the living room painting, and there was an electrician down the hall in a bathroom, and he was working on putting in some lights or whatever it was. And the main contractor that we're working with, he was down there talking to them,

and I could hear their conversation pretty clearly. and I'm working away and the electrician, he said, he was talking about some case where they had, somebody had done a job and someone wasn't happy and there's gonna be a settlement and a court

suing and all this kind of stuff. And he was explaining it. And he was talking about the

amounts, the total amounts of money that we're dealing with. And he's, and I, and I didn't catch all of it, but here's what I did catch.

He said something like, oh, this was 325. Ah, no, it was like 315.

And he kept going. And I thought to myself, you know, that electrician took the time to, would the contractor have known the difference between 325 and 315?

Would he have known that there was a difference in the real story? No, he wouldn't have.

But the electrician took the time to stop his story, change the numbers so that they would be more accurate. And I thought to myself, when I overheard this, because I was preparing for this message,

I've been thinking a lot about these things. And I thought to myself, you know, I really appreciate that guy. Because I feel like I can trust his word.

Young people, can someone trust your word? When you tell a story, do they feel like they have to fact check you? Can they trust you when you tell your hunting story or your fishing story?

Or do they feel like that's just another fisherman's tale? You know, as I was wrestling through this and thinking through, And I mentioned earlier, okay, Exodus 20, thou shalt not bear false witness.

Boy, we know this. Okay, it's sin. And I was talking to my wife about this and just trying to think it all through

and thinking about the fact that, boy, when I tell a lie, you can't trust my word. I lose trustworthiness. I'm not respected.

I'm not respectable. I lose my reputation. I began thinking, okay, yes, Scripture says that lying is wrong.

Lying is a sin. But what really is the biggest issue? Why is this such a problem?

What is the greater reason for God being so against this? As I began to dwell on this, and those verses I read to you earlier from Numbers and Titus and Hebrews describing who God's character is, who God is, what He is,

I began to realize that God in heaven, who does not lie, who cannot lie, who is impossible to lie, gives us His word, and His word is called truth. And if God was ever known to or was ever recorded as telling, embellishing, exaggerating, or just straight out lying,

I could no longer trust his word. Now follow with me. If I can no longer trust God's word, what do I have to live by?

If I can no longer trust God's word, what do I have to base my faith in? You know, young people, going through college, I don't know how many times conflicts came up, school bills came, different situations where I had nothing to rest upon but God's Word.

There was nothing for me to go back to. I remember one semester, well actually I was graduated, coming back home and I just sold my one truck that I had. It wasn't much of a truck, so I was having to get rid of it.

But I needed to get a car. It was a Chevy S10. I don't know if anybody knows what that is, but they're not mature trucks, okay?

The mopeds faster than those things. So I sold that and I needed to get a car and I was wrestling through this, asking the Lord what I was supposed to do.

And the Lord led me clearly in his word, not through a man, but in his word, by his Holy Spirit to a passage of scripture and led me to believe him, uh, how to pray for a new car.

Well, not a new one, but new to me. And I went to his word and it's a long story.

I don't have time to tell the whole thing, but it was over and over time over again that summer, the Lord brought me back to his word. And when I read my dad on a

Friday night, man, a deadline's coming up. I'm needing to leave for the summer and I don't have a car yet.

And I'm trusting the Lord and thinking this is ridiculous. And I haven't even looked on Craigslist because I didn't think the Lord wanted me to.

And I'm wrestling. And my dad comes to me, he says, are you sure God told you to do this?

I said, well, I think so. He says, because if not, this is really dumb.

I said, I know, but I'm sure this is what God told me to. And that night I went to his word and the Lord so encouraged me that night, three different passages from Psalms.

The Lord so encouraged me, the fact that I can bank on His Word. And the whole story is incredible how the Lord just brought it all together. That was Friday night.

I was supposed to leave Saturday morning. Didn't leave Saturday morning because I didn't have a car. Saturday night, my uncle calls me and says,

Caleb, Thursday night, the Lord laid it on our heart to give you our car. I said, boy, I wish you could have told me Thursday. But, you know, the reason the Lord brought me through to confidence,

though I'd passed a deadline, was because of His Word. Young people, if God ever told a lie, embellished a truth, exaggerated, was known to be a liar, you could not trust Him.

But God's reputation, His character, His nature is absolute purity, complete abandonment of anything false. And the reason we have such explicit trust in God is

because he is not a liar. Young people, you were saved by him. You were redeemed by him.

You are called by him to live as the one you were named after, a Christian whose reputation is to be one of truth and not lies.

Young people, if you want your reputation to be trusted, to be banked on, if you want your word to be something

that people can know is truth, you have to live as Christ did. What's the greatest reason why we should not lie?

Because our Lord and Savior does not lie. I have to wrap this up soon. I want to talk about one more thing.

Well, let me just give this quote. I'm kind of past this, but I love this quote. This is great.

Josh Billings. I don't know if anybody knows who Josh Billings was. He was a humorous writer in the late 19th century.

And Josh Billings wrote this, and I thought this was great. There are some people, listen closely, there are some people so addicted to exaggeration

that they can't tell the truth without lying. I thought that was kind of funny. They can't even tell the truth without lying.

They're so addicted to exaggeration. You know, we ought to recognize there is a problem with that. You know, there's a German philosopher, and I can't pronounce his last name, but he said this.

He said, I'm not upset that you lied to me. I am upset that I no longer can trust you. The issue is not that you lied to me.

The issue in his mind was that you no longer have a reputation that is credible. You no longer can be trusted. Anytime you tell me something, I'm going to have to fact check it.

I cannot trust you. And that is a reputation that takes years to build back up. But the last thing I want to deal with is this.

What is the root cause of lying? Where does this come from? Why, when put in a spot, when put in a bind, when someone asks us, what are you doing on your phone?

When someone asks you, where were you last night? When someone asks you, why did it take you so long to get home? When someone asks you, what were you just listening to on the radio?

When someone challenges you with who that note in your pocket is from, or who you've been writing, or where you were, or what you're doing, when someone challenges you, or as simple as our lack of character, why were you late?

Why aren't you here? When are you going to be here? You know how easy it is when someone says,

when are you going to be here? You know full well it's going to take you 12 minutes to drive there, but you want them to feel better.

I'll be there in five. And then you speed to try to make it to five. Why do we do this?

And I had to, there's two reasons. As I studied through, there's two reasons I have come up with. One, fear.

We are fearful of losing our reputation. But one of the things I mentioned before, I might lose my reputation.

That's what we're fearful of. But by telling a lie, we have already automatically lost our reputation. Fear.

What if my parents find out who I really am? What if my parents really know what's been going on? What if my teacher, what if my pastor found out who I really am behind closed doors?

Young people, before you can be honest with anybody else, you have to be honest with yourself. And if you're lying to yourself, you have no hope. Young people, you have to, Dr.

Jim put it this way. I thought this was great. He said, why would you tell someone you're not who you really are when that's not who you really are?

In other words, if that's not who you really are, don't try to fake it because you'll never be who you're not if that's not who you really are. You kind of have to follow the logic, but it makes so much sense. If I don't have character to show up on time for work, let's just be honest and say I don't have character to show up on time for work.

And I've got to do something differently. instead of stringing a long line of lies to our parents trying to make up something who we really aren't.

But how many times in exaggeration, in elaboration, the root cause is just simply pride. We want to look richer, cooler, more beautiful.

You know, Facebook is an incredible place for this. I don't know how many times I've seen someone's profile and pictures and I've thought, wow, they have got it all together.

And then you realize, no, they don't. he lives next door to me, and I know that guy, and he's in debt, and he's going to be paying off that house and that car for years, or they really, that makeup, oh boy, there's a lot of makeup,

you know, I'm not going to go there, that's like lying in a bottle, no, I'm just kidding, the, one of the greatest, one of the greatest wrestling, don't tell you that too far, Maybe I shouldn't have gotten there.

The reason I don't wear makeup, the Bible says there's no foundation that any man hath laid. One of the greatest root causes for my heart of lying is simply pride. I want to appear something that I am really not.

And this week, as I've been studying through this, I have had to come to the conclusion that I, Caleb, you just got to be honest with who you really are. You got to be humble and be honest with who you really are.

simply admit, if I've got a problem being late, let's admit it and let's deal with it. Instead of trying to fabricate some reason that seems sort of true, let's just be honest. Let's just be humble.

You know, that electrician I have a lot of respect for because though his story might not have been as cool, I know I can trust his word. Young people, would you rather have a great profile picture and be a sham and be a fraud?

Or would you rather look not as cool and everybody know that they can trust you implicitly? I want to finish with Proverbs chapter 12, verse 22. We read at the very beginning.

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are His, that's God's, are His delight. You know how you can find delight in the Lord and the Lord can find delight in you? Is to be someone who tells truth.

Not a black lie, not a white lie, not even the shade of truth. Are you going to be someone who is known to be a person of truth? As I've been studying this through, the Lord has convicted me over and over again

that I need to make a personal commitment, no matter if it wrecks my reputation. You know, I'll finish this. Psalm chapter 15 describes the person who's going to dwell with the Lord,

dwell in his presence. And it says, someone who swears to his own hurt and changeth not. Someone who, and that's not necessarily specifically dealing with lying, but it's dealing with the

entire principle that someone who is willing to, even if it hurts his reputation, stick to his word. And I've had to come to my own conclusion of, Lord, I got to be honest with myself. There's times where I embellish.

There's times where I just lie. And I got to be honest with this. Let's change.

Let's make a personal commitment, even to our own hurt, to be those who tell truth. Not black, not white, not even shaded.

Let us be truth tellers. Let's close in prayer. Oh, Lord, I just ask that you would challenge our hearts, Lord,

that you would convict us, Lord, as you've been convicting me as I've been working through this. Lord, that we would just be people of our word.

Lord, if there's any young person in this room right now who knows that there is so much back home that is not true. There's so much back home that's been fabricated.

Lord, I ask that you would give them the grace, that you would first convict them, that you'd give them the grace to go home and make that right.

But Lord, would we all in our own hearts make a commitment, Lord, even if our reputation is hurt temporarily, to be truth tellers. Lord, would you just bless the rest of this time as they go into the next session.

I pray this in your name. Amen.