If you have a Bible, let me invite you to turn to the last book of the Bible, Revelation, and to chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22, and we'll read verse 12 to 15. I trust you are there. Verse 12, Revelation chapter 22 and verse 12. And behold, I am coming quickly. And my reward is with me, to give to everyone according to his work. I'm the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and sexually immoral, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. We will end our reading for this morning there. This morning, I would like us to consider the scene of lying. And I have drawn your attention to Revelation chapter 22 because it indeed tells us that lying is something that God considers a very serious matter. In verse 15 in particular, the Lord Jesus says, but outside are the dogs, and sorcerers, and sexually immoral, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. Now I'm using verse 15 in some ways like a springboard to survey what the Bible teaches about lying. And I'm drawn to this passage for basically two reasons. First of all, it lists falsehood or lying among the sins which will be the basis for excluding people from heaven. Now, immediately, this tells us that this sin must be serious. We often do not associate lying with the deadly sins which are mentioned in this passage. Sorcery, sexual immorality, murder, and idolatry. And to some who are here this morning, it may come as a great surprise that lying can be a cause of eternal damnation. But in fact, this is not the only passage in the Bible in which lying is condemned or associated with deadly sins. If you have a Bible, turn with me quickly to Proverbs 6, in which this is said, and in particular, This is what it says. Proverbs chapter 6. And verse 16. These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven. are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren. So we see there, that God hates a man who stirs up dissension, a false witness, a murderer, a plotter of wicked schemes, a haughty eye, and a lying tongue. And those sins are put at the same level. So this is a subject that indeed deserves our attention. We may not be concerned about it, but God is very much disturbed by it. Now the second reason why I'm drawn to this passage is that this is one of the closing remarks in God's revealed will. Revelation is the closing book of the Bible, not just because it is the last book in terms of the order in which books are put, but rather it is the only book in the Bible that says explicitly that it cannot be added to or subtracted from without consequences. If you are in Revelation chapter 22, we just need to turn a few verses from where we ended and you'll find what the Lord says. In verse 18, it says, For I testify to everyone who bears the words of this prophecy, of this book, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation is complete. It's complete in every respect. It closes all knowledge about the purposes of God for the future. And in telling us this, God is saying that he will say no more about what is to come until Jesus returns in his glory. In fact, Revelation is one of only a few books in the Bible where the actual words of Jesus are recorded, verbatim, The words which we read in verse 15 are actually uttered by the Lord himself and behold I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me to give a reward to everyone according to his work and it's in that context he says but outside are the dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral, the murderers and so forth. They are spoken verbatim by the Lord. Now in the scriptures The first words which are pronounced about falsehood come in the context of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus chapter 20, the Lord God Almighty, in giving the commandments to Moses, makes this pronouncement, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. And in these closing remarks, as the canon of scripture is being closed, The Lord Jesus pronounces, reiterates what was said in Exodus and says, everyone who practices, everyone who loves and practices a lie shall be excluded from heaven. So this is an important subject that we need to look at. It is something that is very close to the heart of God. Now, lying has many forms and we will not endeavor in this discourse to describe all of them. Rather, we will be selective to only those things that make the point. And in doing this, let us begin perhaps by ruling out what we are not concerned about when dealing with the subject of lie. Now, although all lies are somewhat reprehensible, we are not here dealing with commonplace lies. which we all accept as part of life. Now, lying can be in the form of speech or actions, and the following examples can demonstrate what is excluded from the lies that we are talking about. When a person says to you, the lunch which I had, cost me an arm and a leg. This manner of speaking is not considered a lie. We allow it, and sometimes we are not even conscious that the person is technically telling a lie. In the ordinary course of life, no one pays using their arms or legs for anything. In fact, This phrase comes from a scene of war. But the phrase just means that the lunch was very expensive. It's a form of hyperbole. And in fact, David uses this form of hyperbole in the Psalms quite a lot. And one of them is in Psalm 6. In Psalm 6 and verse 6, David says, I am worn out. from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and I drench my couch with tears. If we had the opportunity of going into David's room, we would not find his bed floating on tears because his room is flooded. We accept that this is a form of speech. So we are not concerned about this form of exaggeration. But we are also not concerned about deception that is understood to be part of the rules of something. For example, in the game of football, footballers deceive. When they are dribbling, they are actually using a form of deception. And some Christians have stopped playing football because they can't lie. Now, on the face of it, footballers are not telling the truth. But it is very unlikely that a football team in which there are no deceivers can win a modern match of football. That's why, in fact, we call dribblers wizards. And we go to watch a football match if we can find somebody who really knows how to dribble his friends. But such lies are part of the rules of the game. We have agreed that we can outwit each other for as long as everybody follows the rules. So again, we are not concerned about this form of lies. But we may also bring it to a home. In a home situation, there are toddlers. And when a kid in that home is asking the mother where the baby who has just arrived in the home has come from, the mother often says, we got him from the hospital, or the doctor gave him to us. And I suspect some of our mothers here said this to us. But when we hear this, we don't go to the mother and start accusing her of lying. We know that this is a form of speech. It is called lying to a child. It is an oversimplification of a very complex truth suited to the level of a child's understanding. Some mothers even say, we bought him at the market. Later on, when you grow up, you think, no, actually, I was not bought. My parents bought me. So we're not concerned about this form of lying. We are also not concerned about those lines or actions which are taken in the context in which you need to avoid being an accomplice to a wrongdoing. For example, if murderers are after your wife and your children, and the murderers are asking you to reveal where your family is hiding, Many of us would consider you to be foolish if you start drawing a map showing where they can be located. And you do this in the name of telling the truth. If you are very sure, you are very persuaded that you need to tell them where your family is, because perhaps you have some extraordinary faith which we don't share, by all means go ahead. But most of us would probably find a way of of avoiding being part of this process. And if you cannot find something sensible to say, to buy time, or you think that perhaps you are caught between a rock and a hard place, at least have the courage to say to these murderers that you will not tell them where your family is. This is more honourable than assisting a crime. But there are also situations in which lying is just part of life. If you are an undercover policeman or a spy, suppose in this building perhaps you work for the Red Blick, we don't know you, because it is part of your game not to reveal what your assignment here is. Now, you cannot do your job as a spy without disguising yourself, which is a form of deception. But that is allowed because it is essential for the maintenance of peace and security. You cannot bust a crime syndicate by going to tell criminals, on Tuesday I'm coming to investigate what you've been doing. They will run away. Or if you are a clerk of court and your business is to save Samoans on those who avoid being saved the Samoans. It is foolish for you to go out in the open, I'm coming at 10 hours to save you the Samoan, to appear in court. You have to find a means to disguise yourself so you can go there and save the Samoans. You have to have an element of surprise in this in order to stop people in their tracks. Now, in one of the elections we've had in this country, some people failed to observe this simple truth. And they ended up taking the time allotted to the process of litigation to just saving someone's. And you can guess what happened. Their enemies were far ahead of them. Now, having stated what is excluded, we need to say what we are dealing with here. When the Lord Jesus is talking about whoever loves and practices a lie, he is talking about falsehood. Falsehood which is perpetrated with the intention to deceive or mislead people in the ordinary normal course of life. Now lying is saying or acting out something which the one who is saying knows that this is false. But they want others to believe that it is true. and the sole purpose is deceiving and misleading them. Lying, in other words, has an evil intent, although it is not necessary for one to have an evil intention to lie. All that is important is this, that the one who is making the statement, or acting out something, knows that it is false. but they want others to believe that it is true and often it is to gain advantage over them or to lead them away into a state of mind in which they act contrary to the facts. It is an abrogation of the truth. It is a deliberate, willful distortion of the truth to deceive or to mislead others. Now, we could define this more precisely, but there's no need, because all of us have experienced lying at some point in our life. But two important qualifications are important to make this matter clear. First of all, a person who believes something to be true, they sincerely believe it is true, but it's actually false, is not lying, for purposes of this discourse. Let me give an example. If a friend of yours tells you that your favourite dish, it might be a pizza, I know children love pizzas. A friend of yours tells you now that your favourite dish, the pizza, can only be found in Mpika. This is what your friend believes. And lo and behold, you drive there 800 kilometres to find the pizza. But when you get there, you not only get a very rude service, but when the food is in your mouth, it is anything but good. You can't come back to your friend and tell him, you are lying to me. Maybe at first, you can say, yes, you are lying to me. But when they tell you, no, but me, I got a good service there. Actually, I believe this is where this thing is found. You cannot continue to hold it against them. because they told you just as they believed it was. Some people have refused even to forgive others, claiming he should have verified, she should have verified before telling me. Well, this may be true in some cases, but it is unreasonable. to hold people to account over something they genuinely believed was true, but was in fact false. Because we can all have our facts wrong at some point. But second qualification is this. A person who believes something to be false, you believe you know this is false, but it turns out to be true, is still guilty of lying. There's a story of a man who was told that his friends were being pursued by the policemen. And indeed, the policemen came and were asking him, where is your friend? Now, his friend had committed a crime. Now, sensing danger for his friend, he told the policemen, you can find him in the cemetery. He's in the cemetery. His friend knew that John was not in the cemetery. But the police believed. And they went to the cemetery. And they found John. And they arrested him. Well, it turned out to be true in the end. But the man had been lying. Let me quickly proceed to ask, why should we talk about the sin of lying? I suppose we can find many reasons why lies are bad and why we should not be telling them. But I want us to restrict ourselves to only two reasons. It is the effect that lies have on society and our relationships, that's the first one. And the second one, it is because of the effect that lies have on our relationship with God. So let's begin with the first one, the effect that lies have on society and our relationships in general. It cannot be overemphasized that God wants us to live in an orderly and truthful community. especially among believers. The ninth commandment which I referred to earlier says, do not bear false witness against your neighbor. It is found in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 16. That statement envisions human relationships based on truth and justice. A society in which everyone considers it their personal responsibility not to manufacture lies against a neighbor invariably leads to the respect of human dignity. In fact, it's a recognition that human life is dignified. It promotes peace. It promotes due regard to the interests of others. The Apostle Paul, when he's talking to the Ephesians in chapter 4, and I'd like you to turn to it very quickly. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 25. The Apostle Paul says this to the Ephesians. Therefore, each of you must put off all falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are members of one body. The people of God must live in a community in which there is mutual respect and a sense of due care for one another. They must deal with each other truthfully because that is what promotes their common interests. The people of God belong to each other. If they do this, there will be peace, there will be harmony, their bonds will be stronger, their testimony to the world will be much more elevated, and indeed it will attract others to the Lord Jesus. But lies militate against this. Lies, lies, falsehood destroys. In Proverbs chapter 25 and verse 18, we are told, like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow, is the man who gives a false testimony against his neighbor. Now, the sin of lying can become a couch In fact, a society can have a catch where a line becomes so pervasive and so entrenched that nothing is really believed unless it is checked. In this country, you and I cannot report an accident. You have to wait for the spokesman of the police. to confirm there was an accident next to you, where you are standing. Now, this has not come about because people just wanted information to themselves. It came about because people were perpetrating lies. No, there was an accident in Chibombo and one million people died. If we all told the truth, the best people to report an accident could be the people on the scene. But this is not the case. Lying brings about mistrust and disharmony. And in fact, for those of you who think in economic terms, actually lying increases the cost of doing anything. For those of you who think in terms of justice, lying makes justice become all the much more harder. In fact, it has become an elusive concept because nobody knows the truth. The witnesses, the plaintiff, the defendants are all just committed to saving their own skins. The judge was not there. So it has depended on who among these two people could possibly be telling the truth. And sometimes even evidence can be so muddled up that it is difficult to tell a fairy tale from the fact. If, as a country, as a society, we do not pay attention to the truth, our courts can become the arena for the most crafty, the ones who can embellish their stories with the most grandiose of fabrications and misrepresentations. And even swearing on the Bible can mean nothing. It can become just an inconvenient procedure. In the end, no one wins. In Titus chapter 1 and verse 12, the Apostle Paul quotes And he says this, Cretans, he's speaking about the people of Crete, Cretans are always liars. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine if Zambia was in the Bible and the Apostle Paul say, Zambians are always liars. Sometimes we read these statements and we think, you know, we don't pay attention. Can you imagine all the members of Lusaka Baptist Church who stay in North Mid are all liars? Can you imagine that? All the people in Nilai who come to LBC are liars. Can you imagine? But this is what is being said about the society. All Cretans are liars. They are evil brutes and lazy gluttons. He was quoting one of their prophets, and based on his experience, the apostle said that testimony was true. This is a serious indictment, but it can happen to all of us. It can happen to our society, to the detriment of all. The great theologian Augustine once said, a society which is married to lies, wallows in filth and in pain. Lies are harmful. They are very harmful. they do harm to our society. Let me just give us a few examples of this. Take the example of bluffing. Bluffing is when we pretend that we have capability or intention to do that which we do not actually possess. This is a form of lying in which we engage very frequently. Now, I'm using the word bluffing as different from joking or acting which are not lies. But perhaps in a desire to please people, we take on commitments which we have no intention of fulfilling. Now I'll meet you at 17 hours. At 17 hours, you have not even called the people whom you told you'd be arriving at 17 hours to apologise that you will not arrive on time. And when others take us on our word, and entrust something to us, we fail to perform and everyone loses. Look at how much money, I'm sure some of you here are building structures of one kind or the other, look at how much money and time you spend having to supervise people who said they were experts. When you go there, the towers are rising. from the front door, they are rising into the bathroom and the doors maybe sometimes have to be cut because the mortar was like this. These are the experts. Can you do a roof? Yes. One year after living in the house, your whole bedroom, so to speak, is flooded with water. They were bluffing. When you say you are a mechanic, Make sure you are a mechanic. Don't go and destroy people's lives just for the sake of what perhaps you consider as a joke. If people come to your house and invite you to a function, or we have a church service, we would like you to come and attend. Are you coming? Most Zambians will say, yes, we are coming. On Sunday, you stand there at the door. None of them appears. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. They were bluffing. 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You know Mama had said, don't take this from the house. You went and lost it. And then you come home, pretending to be a good girl and say, where is the brown cup? I left it here. But you're the one who has lost it. You're covering up. And in the process, mum begins to suspect others. We're not even part of this whole thing. But it can lead to more serious things. You remember the case of David and Uriah? David lied to Uriah. in the end, because he could not succeed with the lies, what does he do? He murders a man. Take the example of exaggerations. We lie when we exaggerate. This is called a lie of over-amplification. It's very common, but its effects can be very deadly. When the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, you recall, They sent spies to go and check out the land for them. And the report came. Those who thought that God really wanted them to possess the promised land said, we can do it. But those who were meant on discouraging others, this is what they said, the land we explored devours those living in it. Can you imagine? How possible is it that the land eats those who are living in it but you found people there? But they were exaggerating. All the people we saw, in the next statement they are contradicting themselves, all the people we saw were of great size. We saw the Nephilim there, we seemed like grasshoppers to them. Rather, we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked like the same to them. The Nephilim were giants, it's true. But before them, you could not be like a grasshopper. There is no man who has ever lived to whom Mr Nyambe would be a grasshopper. You know what I mean? We are of normal size, aren't we? There would be no such a giant. And the effects were deadly. The whole community's morale was broken, people started wailing and asking why God was being so cruel to them, and a motion was even put on the table that we should elect another leader and go back to Egypt. Exaggerations can be very attractive, but they can be very deadly. But we can also lie by misinformation. Misinformation is a very powerful tool in the hands of politicians. It's called propaganda. And today in this country, our main sources of news are not meant for real news. They are just sources of misinformation. Sometimes you wonder, do people have consciences? How can you be broadcasting lies to 13 million people when you know that this thing is false? Or at best, it's only half true. So what has happened now? That most of our newspapers are just junk. They're just junk. And this leads me to the scene of fabrication. People can fabricate stories. When you say something you know very well is untrue, or whose veracity you don't care to establish, But you say it as a matter of fact, you are fabricating. About 1975-76, I had an experience that still remains very fresh in my mind. We got off the Tazara train at Kayambi Mission on our way to visit an uncle in the village in Nimbala. I was then a teenager. And we asked for directions. Which road do we take? They said, no, this place, it's this one here. And the direction was correct. How long will it take for us to arrive? They told us that it was a very short distance and we'll soon be there. If I can remember correctly, we walked from four hours in the morning to almost 18 hours. A very short distance. When we got there, our feet, at least mine, were swollen. Quite likely, the person who was telling us it's a short distance was just fabricating. It was not true. But we can also lie if we tell half-truths. We are obviously not under an obligation to tell everybody everything that needs to be said. But we should be careful not to tell only part of a story for the sole purpose of deceiving. Sometimes we can withhold information in a wise way because the people are not entitled or they are wrong, whatever, or they are too young to handle it, so we tell only half the story, but we are not trying to deceive them. But if you tell a story for the purpose of giving a wrong impression so that a person is misled, that is a sin. We can even go to an extent of even wanting to create an impression that something never happened. It's called a memory hole, a memory hole. Recently, a man whom many people believe is a prophet, but who in the minds of right-thinking people is just a businessman, taking advantage of gullible people, made a statement on television about some election in some country. After the prophecy turned out to be false, the prophet pulled down the prophecy from his website. But perhaps he had forgotten that the prophecy was all over the internet. And when I think they realized it could not work, the video was reinstated. Now there are attempts by the followers to explain the prophets, and one of them is that those of us who think he's not a prophet are just working for the devil. We can lie also when we defame others. We do a lot of harm when we defame others. When we say things about others which we know are not true, We do it anyway, we destroy their good reputations. Slander has become a national pastime in this country. We have reached a point where if I were to mention in this auditorium any public figure, it is very probable that someone in this auditorium has a belief about that person which they have not even cared to establish whether it's true or not. What they believe about the person is not the official information, but the false story they have heard, that is what is informing their judgment. Sometimes, even saints have believed unimaginable stories about other believers, which stories they quote from their so-called reliable sources. I remember listening to a story, I had started to get a small snack at lunch somewhere, and I was sitting next to this man, and the things he was saying about one of you whom I've never told, I couldn't believe. I couldn't believe that this is a person I know, but they really believed. They have the informed sources and they were talking and talking. Slandering people, defaming them. Defamation, in fact, is punishable under the law. But even that does not deter some people from engaging in it. There are some people who seem to be uncomfortable living in the plain and simple world. They are always looking for the story behind the story. So if facts are presented to them, they are not enough. There must be something behind. But we can also lie by committing perjury. Lying under oath in some jurisdictions This is called a form of obstructing justice, and it can land you in jail for many years. Lies can destroy our judicial system. When men and women give evidence, they are expected to tell the truth, and nothing but the whole truth. But this is not happening. Like the scoundrels at the trial of the Lord Jesus, people lie on earth, and that without shame. And in the end, the truth eludes us. So you can see, these are just but a few forms in which we lie. And the sum total of them, if each one of us is practicing, even just one of them, what society are we going to have? What relationships can we have among ourselves? Secondly, let me talk about the effects that it has on our relationship with God. First of all, we need to establish that falsehood is a breach of the ninth commandment, which simply states, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Now, although this commandment is concerned first and foremost on protecting an individual against a malicious testimony, All lies are a violation of this commandment. And we get this support from a number of passages. Our time is gone, so let me just rush through them. In Exodus chapter 23 and verse 1, the Lord says to the Israelites, you shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. In other words, do not tell lies. In Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 11, this is what is said. You shall not steal, nor do falsely, nor lie to one another. And you shall not swear by my name falsely. This passage is even more explicit in that lying in general is disapproved by God. In Proverbs chapter 6 verse 16, again which we read earlier, this is made very clear, that a lying tongue or a false witness are disapproved by God. And in this passage in particular, which we read in Revelation chapter 22, the Lord says, whoever loves and practices a lie shall be outside of the kingdom of God. Now, everyone who fails to keep the Ten Commandments is a lawbreaker. and is accountable to God who gave the law. The testimony of the scriptures is that all law breakers will be punished by God. So when you are lying, when you are perpetrating falsehood, consider the wrath of God. God is always angry with you as we engage in breaking his holy commandments. In fact, Proverbs tells us that anyone who lies is an abomination to God. Now, an abomination is something so outrageously repugnant that it cannot be stood by a normal person. And what God is saying is that as far as I'm concerned, if you engage in lies, you are repugnant to me. I don't want you to be in my presence. God really hates what you do. When you are alive, God really hates what you do. Except for his mercy, you hang on a very thin thread. It can break any time and usher you into the lake of fire where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Please remember that you are a mere creature and the one whose law you are breaking is the Lord of the universe. Is it sensible for you to fear the police more than you fear the one who can destroy both your soul and body? You should come back to your senses and stop sinning. If a man or woman embarks on a life of lies, he demonstrates to others that in fact he has a problem with truth generally, the whole truth generally. God is truth and in him there is no darkness at all, the Apostle John tells us. The Bible clearly tells us, God is not a man that he should lie. Therefore, if you as a person love falsehood, you cannot have a real relationship with God. Unless, of course, you repent and you are cleansed from your filth. When the Jews were arguing with the Lord Jesus in John chapter 8, that they were children of Abraham. The Lord Jesus says, no, you're not. Your father is the devil. He has been a liar from the beginning. He is the father of lies. Because if you were not children of the devil, you would be hearing what I say. You would know no problems with me. In other words, I represent the truth. Why have you got difficulties believing what I'm saying? It is because you belong to the evil one. So if a man or woman lies, loves lies, they have a problem with the truth generally or truth. Thirdly, the essence of a life of falsehood or lies consists in a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness. Let me repeat that. The essence of a life of falsehood consists in a refusal to commit oneself to a life of moral uprightness. If you refuse to respect the truth and instead choose to bear false witness against innocent people, if you spread reports that you know are false, if you embark on and sustain a life of deceit, how can you keep the other laws that God has given? Can you love your neighbours yourself if you lie about them, if you defame them? Can you love God? whose truth you are perverting every day? It's not possible. So we see that falsehood is a fundamental infidelity against God. And it breaks the foundations upon which anybody can live a moral life. If you engage in a life of falsehood, you will involve yourself in all other sins. You will steal. You will murder. You will commit adultery. You will be involved in idolatry. They go together because you have destroyed the foundation. God is truth. And the foundation upon which we can do anything right is the truth. If we despise the truth, we cannot live a moral life. So there is no such a thing as a good Christian who lies. There is no such a thing. A life of lies, a life of falsehood, leads to moral depravity in all other areas of life. Firstly, a person who hides behind falsehood cannot accept the claims of the gospel. Lies shield sinners from the truth, which they are supposed to know so that they can be saved. Of course we know that the chief architect of this is the evil one. In 2 Corinthians 1, verse 4, the apostle Paul says, the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they will not see the glory of Christ. The devil has been lying about God and continues to lie about God and will be lying about God into the future. Like he did to Eve in the garden, the devil paints God as mean and minimizes the seriousness of sin. And if you cannot paint God in the correct way, how can you believe what he says about the need for you to get saved? The Bible says that God is holy. But a liar says that this is not true and instead finds fault with God. So making God to be a liar. The truth that is from God tells us that we have sinned and we have fallen short of the glory of God. But a man who is a woman wearing a garment of falsehood thinks that he can please God with his own acts. He does not accept the verdict of God that all who do evil will be punished by God. Today, false teachers of every shade and hue are deceiving many into believing that, in fact, hell does not exist. In fact, some preachers, the majority of our preachers today, are deflecting their listeners from the fundamental truth of of knowing who God is and how we can be right with Him. Instead, they are telling their listeners every Sunday that what they need is their personal success and their well-being and all will be well. My friend, if there was another way for people to go to heaven other than repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, God would have shown you that way. If our personal comfort in this life was all that we needed, Jesus would have ensured that he established those conditions while he was on earth. Why don't we ask ourselves, Jesus could say to the sea that is raging, calm down. And yet in the same breath he said, the poor you shall always have with you. In the same breath. He could say to Lazarus, come out. And yet in the same breath say, the poor you shall always have with you. There were many people who were sick in Israel at the time of Jesus, but only a few got healing. The Bible makes it very clear to us that God's prescription for the cure of our greatest ailment is the shedding of the blood of the Son of God. And where there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. Salvation is only in Jesus Christ. men who are wedded to falsehood. They mock the resurrection. They mock the second coming of Jesus. They say, where is this coming which he promised? Ever since our forefathers died, everything goes on as it has from the beginning of creation. And they completely deny that there will be a last day on this earth. that Jesus will come back and there will be a resurrection. And so the apostle Paul says to them, if there is no resurrection, if it is preached rather that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection? The resurrection will be there. But liars are uncomfortable with this truth and twist it and deceive many. How can we end this? a major service. Falsehood alienates us from God. We cannot have a real relationship with God while we live a lie. We cannot live as a Christian community and have a testimony as a church if many among us find lies as their dwelling, their playground. The only way to restore the dignity of life and harmony and peace and to restore our relationship with God is to do in truth. We are called to run to God in repentance and faith. Let me say this. If today you confess Christ as your Savior, if indeed you know Him, then you know the truth. And if you are living a life of a lie, you must go back and repent and recommit yourself to dealing truthfully with your neighbors, with your wife, with your children, with God. You need to pray that God may assist you to overcome the temptation to fall into lying and falsehood. so that you may live at peace with God. But if you are not a believer this morning, you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, then you don't know the truth. Your starting point is to know the truth first. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. You will know the truth and that truth is what will set you free to live a life free from falsehood, free from lies. And on that day when Jesus comes, you will not be among those that are outside. You will not be among the dogs You will not be among the sorcerers. You will not be among the sexually immoral. You will not be among the murderers. You will not be among the idolaters. But you will be where the saints who have been cleansed from all their filth will be in the presence of God and his people. May God grant you this morning ability to believe in Jesus and indeed take hold of the hope which he offers. Amen.