S1: Today on Bold Steps with Mark job, we're learning how
S1: to stay in favor and keep our hearts soft as
S1: we walk in victory.
S2: You show me someone that is a believer and they
S2: have a lot of fog in their mind and hardness
S2: of heart, and they're confused about things that seem very
S2: clear and simple to most people. And I'll tell you,
S2: someone that's either bought into lies or someone that's practicing lies. Why?
S2: Because it's the language of darkness.
S1: Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark job. Mark is president
S1: of Moody Bible Institute and the senior pastor of New
S1: Life Community Church in Chicago. And I'm Wayne Shepherd. Today,
S1: as we move forward in our study, Mark is going
S1: to be taking us to Exodus chapter 20 to show
S1: us why lying isn't simply about the words we use.
S1: Our message is called thou shalt not lie. And if
S1: you've missed any of the previous messages in this series
S1: on rock solid living, you can catch up online by
S1: going to our website Bold Steps. Now, with a brief
S1: recap from yesterday's message, here's Mark Jobe with today's bold steps.
S2: It tells us in Genesis chapter three that the serpent,
S2: the way he wiggled his way into Paradise, was through
S2: the language. What language? The language of beguilement or deception?
S2: Notice what it says in Genesis chapter three, verse one.
S2: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the
S2: wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to
S2: the woman, Did God really say, you must not eat
S2: from the tree in the garden? What the serpent did
S2: is he put in question the truth of God. God
S2: had not said that they couldn't eat from any tree
S2: of the garden. They could only not eat from one
S2: tree in the garden, so he he misled Eve in
S2: his statement. It was only half true. He had said,
S2: don't eat from one tree. Not all the trees. He
S2: lied about the righteousness of God. The serpent said, God said,
S2: you shall truly die. But. But I don't think you will.
S2: He lied about the goodness of God. God doesn't want
S2: you to eat from this tree, because if you do,
S2: you will be like God. Listen, he sowed seeds of
S2: deception before he brought in the culture of darkness. Are
S2: you tracking where I'm going with this? Before the kingdom
S2: of light comes in, truth comes before the kingdom. Before
S2: someone comes to Christ, they hear the gospel, they hear
S2: the truth. And then the culture of the kingdom invades
S2: their life. Before the kingdom of darkness comes the lies
S2: of the enemy come. And as soon as the language
S2: of the enemy is starting to be spoken somewhere, then
S2: the culture of the enemy starts to be present in
S2: that place. Language comes before culture, but it opens up
S2: the door for the culture that follows. Now, why is
S2: this so important? Because some of you love Jesus. Follow God,
S2: carry your Bibles, come to church, raise your hands on
S2: Sunday and worship of God. And you consider yourself a
S2: follower of Jesus Christ. But you where you go, you
S2: speak the language of darkness through deception that you don't
S2: think is an important thing. You're bending the truth, lying
S2: about this, lying about that, and what you're really doing
S2: is you're spreading the kingdom of darkness. You're opening up
S2: doors for kingdom of darkness. Although you follow God, you're
S2: violating the ninth commandment, and you are speaking the language
S2: of the devil. And you wonder why he has a
S2: foothold in your life. Well, pastor, it's no big deal. I.
S2: My wife asked me where I was. I told her,
S2: you know, there's a lot of overtime at work. Because
S2: if I tell her that I'm at my friend's house
S2: playing pool and drinking a Bud Light, she's going to
S2: go through the roof. I want to tell her that.
S2: Where were you, honey? I was. You know, babe, work
S2: is so crazy these days. I'd love to be home
S2: with you and sit down and relax. How they got me.
S2: Why do you smell a little bit like a little
S2: beer on your breath? Well, you know, I got to
S2: do a little something at work. I mean, they gave
S2: me a little break. The boss said here, here, here.
S2: You know, just to keep you awake. And that's what
S2: I did, honey. And you say, pastor. Well, pastor, you know,
S2: it's not a big deal. I'm just protecting her. She
S2: doesn't understand. No, no, let me tell you what the
S2: big deal is. The big deal is that you are
S2: sowing lies. You're speaking the language of darkness. And you're
S2: giving the enemy a foothold in your household. Because we're
S2: the language of deception is spoken. Then the culture of
S2: darkness comes in and you speak lies into your marriage.
S2: You start deceiving one another, bending truth. And I can
S2: guarantee you that you are giving the enemy a huge
S2: foothold in your household and in your marriage to begin
S2: to bring the culture of the kingdom of darkness there.
S2: Each time you lie, you speak the language of darkness
S2: into your world. So therefore you may consider it a
S2: petty lie or a white lie. But from God's perspective,
S2: you're giving the enemy a landing place into your household.
S2: You say, well, I never lie to my wife, but
S2: you lie at work. You're giving, you're speaking darkness. You're
S2: giving the language of darkness into your work and giving
S2: a foothold there. I never lie to my wife, but
S2: you know, with my kids, you're speaking into your kids
S2: life deception. Listen to me, teenagers. You say, well, I
S2: don't want my parents to know everything that I'm going through.
S2: They won't understand. They're old fashioned. They just, you know,
S2: stuck in their ways. And they think we're living in
S2: the 1920s still. But this is the modern world. And
S2: so they just wouldn't understand. So I just lie to
S2: them about what I'm doing and how I'm involved and
S2: what's going on in my life. And and so they
S2: kind of questioned me. They interrogate me and but they
S2: just don't understand. So why would I tell the truth?
S2: Let me tell you what's happening. Every time you lie
S2: into that relationship, you're sowing Kingdom of darkness culture into
S2: the relationship. And you wonder why the relationship with your
S2: parent is poisoned. You wonder why there seems to be
S2: a confusion, a disconnect, a soul that can't connect there.
S2: Because if you have deceit and lying that you sowed
S2: into that, then it begins to cloud the closeness that
S2: can be there, the vulnerability that can be there. And
S2: it begins to it begins to cloud what God is
S2: trying to do until there is honesty and truth that represents.
S2: Because as soon as you start becoming honest, as soon
S2: as you start speaking the truth, then you clear up
S2: the environment and it allows room for the Kingdom of God,
S2: atmosphere and culture to invade your parent child relationship as well.
S2: Four things happen every time you tell a lie. Number one,
S2: each time you lie, you step out of God's place
S2: of favor. Favor. I don't know about you, but listen,
S2: the older I get, the more what I want is
S2: God's favor. Well, this person's not going to like you, pastor. Well,
S2: this guy's not going to like what you do. You know,
S2: more and more the older I get, the less I
S2: care really about that. And the more I just want
S2: to know, God, am I walking in your favor? Because
S2: if I have the favor of God, if I know
S2: the favor is man, the favor of God is worth
S2: a lot of friendships. The favor of God. When I
S2: know that God is happy, God is content. My spirit
S2: is clean and he knows the favor of God is
S2: the blessing of God. It's the goodwill of God flowing
S2: towards us. I want God's favor and to be honest
S2: with you, I don't want anything that will mess with
S2: the favor of God. Seriously. So listen to what God
S2: has to say about about, uh, petty lying or about
S2: bending the truth. Proverbs chapter six verse 16 says, the
S2: Lord hates. Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. You say, pastor,
S2: is God allowed to hate? Did you know God hates
S2: certain things? Let me say that again. Did you know
S2: that God hates certain things? He says I hate it.
S2: And hate is a strong language, isn't it? Hate is
S2: one of the strongest emotions that you can have towards something.
S2: And that's the language that God uses in Proverbs chapter 616.
S2: It says the Lord hates. It's detestable to him. Haughty
S2: eyes and a lying tongue. Haughty eyes are proud, full
S2: eyes that look down at other people. Oh, you're. Who
S2: are you? Sit over there, please. Haughty eyes are people
S2: that look down at others that you don't feel like.
S2: Measure up. You're not my education level. You're not my
S2: skin color. You're not my economic status. You're kind of
S2: lower class. Please don't bother me. It's hot. God hates that.
S2: Hates it. But you know, just as much as God
S2: hates that, God hates a lying tongue. God hates deception.
S1: That's Mark job on bold steps. And we'll get to
S1: the final half of our message in just a moment.
S1: But let me remind you that all of these daily
S1: messages are available for listening anytime on our website. Bold steps.
S1: And if you'd enjoy hearing these Bible lessons on the move,
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S1: biblical insight to help you grow in your faith and
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S1: Bold Steps TV on March YouTube page. A behind the
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S1: So visit youtube.com to subscribe today. That's youtube.com. Now let's
S1: jump back into today's message. Mark gives a few more
S1: points you'd like to make about not bearing false witness
S1: against your neighbors.
S2: It tells us in Proverbs chapter 12 verse 22, the
S2: Lord detests. That's another strong word. The Lord detests lying lips,
S2: but he delights in men who speak. Speak truthfully when
S2: God sees a lie. Even a petty lie. Small lie.
S2: White lie. Pink lie. Blue lie. Come out of our mouth. God. just.
S2: It detests it. It makes him. It makes him sick.
S2: He can't stand when lies come out. It. God detests
S2: those lies. So Psalms 101 seven says, no one who
S2: practices deceit will dwell in my house. No one who
S2: speaks falsely will stand in my presence. What I want
S2: you to understand is that the language of God is truth,
S2: and therefore, when truth is not there, God says, I
S2: hate it. Why? Because he hates it. Because he knows
S2: what follows. It's not the language of God. It's the
S2: language of the enemy. And all of the garbage that's
S2: in the enemy's camp comes in via, uh, words of
S2: deception or lying. Number two, jot this down. Each time
S2: you lie, you harden your heart and lose spiritual clarity.
S2: It tells us in Romans chapter one, verses 24 through 25,
S2: that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie
S2: and worshiped and served, created things rather than the creator,
S2: and as a result of that, their minds became depraved
S2: and they became confused about who they should worship and
S2: about their sexual identity and about their values and everything
S2: else in life. Why? Because they bought into lies and
S2: they spoke lies. It's the language of the enemy. The
S2: moment you start lying. Listen to me. Well, this is huge.
S2: Hear me well. The moment that you start lying, you
S2: bring in a hardness to your heart and you start
S2: losing spiritual clarity. Fog starts to set upon you. You
S2: can't tell right from wrong anymore. Why? Because your heart
S2: becomes hard and because clarity and spiritual discernment become foggy.
S2: You show me someone that is a believer and they
S2: have a lot of fog in their mind and hardness
S2: of heart, and they're confused about things that seem very
S2: clear and simple to most people. And I'll tell you,
S2: someone that's either bought into lies or someone that's practicing
S2: lies because it it fogs the clarity and discernment of
S2: your mind. Why? Because it's the language of darkness. Second
S2: Timothy 313 says, while evil men and impostors will go
S2: from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived, it's talking
S2: about the end times that the language of the end
S2: times will be the language of deception. So number one,
S2: each time you lie, you step out of the place
S2: of God's favor. Number two, each time you lie, you
S2: harden your heart and lose spiritual clarity. Number three, each
S2: time you lie, you set yourself up for future failure.
S2: How does it work? Well, look at what it says.
S2: Proverbs has a lot to say about this Proverbs 12
S2: verses 13 through 14 evil men are trapped by sinful thought.
S2: Proverbs ten verse nine. The man of integrity walks securely,
S2: but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.
S2: In other words, when you cheat, lie, you will eventually
S2: be found out. Number three Proverbs 1720 he whose tongue
S2: is deceitful falls into trouble. Have you ever seen someone
S2: that lies and thought they are absolutely 100% getting away
S2: with it? That ever happened to you? Someone at work
S2: just straight out lies. I mean, just blatantly lies. And
S2: they just get away with it and you're like, they're
S2: getting away with it. They straight up lied and it
S2: seems like no one's catching them. Makes you want to lie, too,
S2: because you think if they're getting away with it, it's
S2: a shortcut. Cut. Maybe I should lie. Have you ever
S2: seen someone just totally fabricate a story? And you think, whoa,
S2: look at them. They're lying. I'm going to tell you something.
S2: They may temporarily get away with it, but eventually every
S2: lie that we speak entraps us. It'll eventually come back
S2: to us. That's the word. The Word of God says
S2: that eventually it becomes a pitfall to us and it
S2: comes out like a boomerang. It comes back to get
S2: us people that may seem to be getting away now.
S2: They don't get away in the long term. So. So
S2: don't envy liars. Don't be tempted to play their game, uh,
S2: or to cheat like others are doing because they seem
S2: to be getting away because the Word of God says
S2: ultimately it will entrap them. And number four, lastly, each
S2: time you lie, you open up the door for darkness
S2: to invade your situation. Proverbs 11 verse three says the
S2: integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are
S2: destroyed by their duplicity. I was talking to my son
S2: this morning, Josiah, and he reminded me of the story
S2: in the New Testament of Ananias. Ananias and Sapphira. Does
S2: anybody remember who Ananias and Sapphira was? You want to
S2: read a story that scares you about lying? Read Ananias
S2: and Sapphira in the book of acts. Ananias and Sapphira
S2: were a married couple. They decided because a lot of
S2: people were giving to the cause of God, they had
S2: a piece of land, and they decided that they were
S2: going to take their piece of land and sell it
S2: and bring it to the apostles and say, listen, we
S2: decided because God led us, that we're going to sell
S2: all this and give it to the church. It was
S2: a noble cause, but they decided that they wanted to
S2: keep some of it for themselves, which was totally their
S2: right to do. They didn't. No one was telling them
S2: they had to say, but because they wanted to act
S2: like they gave everything, they decide, they made up a
S2: story together and say, we're going to keep some of it,
S2: but we're going to lie and tell the apostles that
S2: we're giving all of it. So Ananias comes to Peter
S2: and he says, hey, we were so touched by your message. Oh, man,
S2: we're in this all the way. Consecrated. We took our
S2: big piece of land. We sold it. Here's all the
S2: money from the prophets. Here it is. Because we are 100%
S2: for this cause. Peter looked at him, inspired by the
S2: Holy Spirit, and said, what has caused you to lie
S2: to God and to the Holy Spirit? And immediately when
S2: he talked to Ananias was struck dead. Boom, pass. And
S2: he says he called the young men to come and
S2: drag his body out. I'm thinking, God, that's a little harsh.
S2: I mean, it seems like. Whoa. To strike him dead
S2: seems pretty heavy, Lord. I mean, how about the mumps
S2: or measles or something like that? How about a broken leg? But, dad.
S2: And they're dragging him out. And by the time they're
S2: dragging his body out, the Bible says that Sapphira, his wife,
S2: came in and said, hey, Peter, here we are. Oh,
S2: we love Jesus so much. Guess what? We sold all
S2: our property. Did my husband tell you? And we're giving
S2: everything to the church, man, because we love Jesus so
S2: much and we're so committed to this cause. And he said, Sapphira,
S2: your husband was just dragged out of here dead. And
S2: then she starts choking, convulsing, falls dead, and plops dead
S2: the same way. Both of them killed dead the same day.
S2: For what? For lying. And I look, I read that passage,
S2: and I thought, God, that just seems like out of control.
S2: Here's knocking people down, left and right. You started doing
S2: it at our church. We'd all be dead in this place.
S2: I mean, we'd we'd have there'd be no one left
S2: to do funerals. I'm like, hey, can the pastor know
S2: they're dead, too? Everybody's dead in this place. God, that
S2: seems like. Wow. Very harsh. Why would you do that?
S2: And here's what here's what I, I started understanding the
S2: reason that God did that is that the church was
S2: at a point where they were about to do some
S2: incredible things. They were expanding, and God wanted purity at
S2: this time. He wanted there to be integrity of heart.
S2: And so he came down strong on lying because it
S2: brings in a culture of darkness. And God knew that
S2: he allowed a culture of darkness to invade the early church,
S2: that it would it would it would crash all the
S2: plans that God had for the mighty harvest that he
S2: wanted them to experience. The language that we speak invites
S2: the culture to follow it. Listen, I believe God has
S2: plans for us. Oh man, I do. But I believe
S2: we're at a time of huge harvest. Great opportunity, probably
S2: more than ever before. I there's visions in my heart
S2: greater than I've ever sensed it before. Challenges in our
S2: heart than ever before. And at the same time, with
S2: these great challenges and visions that God has placed on
S2: my heart, there's a, a a growing sense that along
S2: with great passion, great vision, there needs to be great
S2: holiness among us. And that doesn't happen on our own power.
S2: It happens when we come to God and say, God,
S2: help me to walk in holiness, I want integrity. God
S2: uses a church that rises up as our passion grows
S2: our holiness for God has to grow as well. And
S2: as we begin to pursue great things for God, the
S2: the fire of holiness begins to grow amongst us as well.
S2: I can hear some of you saying already, pastor Mark.
S2: A little white lie shouldn't be a big deal. But
S2: I want you to hear the heart of this message.
S2: Holiness is a big deal, and compromise and deception of
S2: any kind will start to pollute your soul and start
S2: to compromise your conviction and silence the voice of the
S2: Holy Spirit in your life. So what you consider a
S2: small maneuver on your taxes that's not quite honest, or
S2: a compromising of the truth at your job, or what
S2: you've told your spouse? It may not seem like a
S2: big deal to you, but it has consequences on your soul.
S2: So I want to challenge you to make a commitment.
S2: By God's grace, I will walk in integrity and truth.
S1: That is an important challenge. Thank you for that, Mark.
S1: And maybe you are not fully engaged as you should be,
S1: and God is calling you to do something more this year.
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S1: share the life changing message of the gospel. Mark with
S1: those who need to hear it. We need to be
S1: that conduit.
S2: Yeah, God has opened up so many doors for us
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S2: on Sunday tell me, he said, you know, my sister
S2: is listening in new Jersey.
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