Proverbs 19, five, a false witness
shall not be unpunished. And he that speaketh lies shall
not escape. Now there's a reason or two that
God hates liars and false witnesses. I can't think of another scripture
in all of the word that singles out a particular evil that is
inherent to sinners the way this one does and pronounces such, such woe upon a false witness
and a liar. And there's in the, In the holiness,
in the righteousness, in the heart of God behind this, we see the gospel. And God does hate liars, Proverbs
6, 16. These six things doth the Lord
hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying
tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood
and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift
in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies. There's a distinction in this
verse and in our text between a false witness and a liar in
other ways. And he that soweth discord among
brethren, often lies are used to do that. Now, it's hard not
to consider my own experience with this. I immediately thought
of, and it's important for us to say and understand that all
men are liars. We're liars by nature. That's
part of what it is to be a sinner. We lie. And let God be true. And every man a liar expresses
how that in every way that we deviate from the truth of God,
we're lying. But have you ever known somebody
Do we not have an illustration of this just in natural things?
Have you ever known somebody that was just characterized by
the fact that they were a ranked liar? I mean, just, and it's
surprising how few that I can think of in my experience that
I would characterize that way. That person's just a liar. You can't believe anything they
say. There's really only two that came to my mind, which is
surprising, and I think it's because the rest of us are better
at it. than some people. Don't you think,
really, that that's it? But just a horrible liar, and
both of them are absolute disasters, absolute disasters. And I'll
tell you this, I'm glad that the Lord doesn't deal with us,
generally speaking, according to our sins. In other words,
when the disciples asked about that blind man, and they said,
who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
And the Lord said, neither. Not that they didn't sin, everybody
does, all the time, and only that. But he's saying there, that's
not the reason that this man was born blind, but the reason
is that you must see the glory of God in him. You're about to
see a miracle. So if you looked at all of us
and said, well, there's something bad happened to him, I wonder
what he did wrong. We'd all be in hell if the Lord
dealt with us after our sins in that sense. We'd long since
been in hell. But I do believe that lying is
such an insidious and despised thing, even among men. that it
will bring you to ruin, even in this life. I've seen it. Unless you're able to hide it
really well. Now lying is an evil that's at the core of everything
that is wrong in this world. You think about this with me.
It's at the very core. Pride is the first thing mentioned
that God hates. because it was in pride. What
was it that Satan said before the garden? I will be as the
most high God. And that was his motivation in
the Garden of Eden. But what was the method by which
he brought sin into this world, into the hearts of men, and sent
an entire race into eternal spiritual death? Lying. Lying on God. That was the method
he used. So it's at the very core of everything
that's wrong. And in his rebellion against
God, he introduced a lie to mankind. And lying, think
about it this way. Lying is an assault on the very
person of Christ himself because Remember what he said about himself.
I am the way, I am the truth. I am the truth. It's a personal
assault on Christ himself because he is the very truth incarnate. And so to lie is contrary to
the person. It's personal with God. And so
he says, I hate. And notice he didn't say I hate
lies. You didn't say I hate false witnessing.
I hate a false witness. Religion loves to say, well,
God hates the sin, but he loves the sinner. I don't know about
that. I don't know about that. He loves sinners in Christ. Apart
from Christ, you've got no reason whatsoever in this book to believe
that God loves you, none. You've got all, every reason
there is to believe he don't. if you despise his son and have
no use for the son of God. Well, that's just the truth.
So it's an assault on his very, listen, it's the truth that sets
sinners free. And think about this, what business
is God in in this world? Setting sinners free. So you
see, what a diabolical thing that lying is. Listen to what
he said in John 8, 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And listen, let me say it again. Why does God have a universe?
Why does he have a world? God's purpose in all of creation,
in all of providence, and in all of salvation, is setting
sinners free. He has a universe because he
has a people. And he sets them free by grace
through faith in Christ, and he does that by means that please
God by the foolishness to this world of preaching. that to save
them that believe by means of the truth, the truth incarnate
and the truth preached shall set you free. That's what God's
doing. That's the business he's in.
So when you lie, you set yourself up in opposition to everything
that God does in this world. All of his purpose of grace toward
his people. A false witness is a particular
kind of liar. There are a lot of ways to lie,
and this one is pointed out specifically at least these two times in the
Word, apart from just being a regular old liar, to bear false witness. This is particularly hated by
God. Someone who claims to have witnessed
something, seen or heard something, and deliberately gives false
testimony. to save their own skin for personal
gain because of being a respecter of persons in some form or another? And why is being a false witness
so particularly wretched in the sight of God? Because it is about
testimony. Testimony is the very fabric
of the word of God. Think about that. Listen to 1
John 1.1. That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. We were
there, John said. We saw him. We experienced his glory as much
as we could in this world. We saw him. And listen, For the
life was manifested, and we have seen it. And that word it is
in italics, we've seen, we've seen life. And bear witness and
show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and
was manifested unto us. False witness particularly, and
particularly regarding spiritual things, the son of God and who
he is and what he did. That which we have seen and heard,
declare we unto you. That's true of all the scriptures,
by the way. If the Lord hadn't spoken to the prophets, what
would they have spoken? Opinions, theories? The gospel is a testimony of
the truth. That which by God's free, eternal,
sovereign grace I have seen with an eye of faith, that which I have heard by ears
that only God can give, I testify unto you. Otherwise I would have
nothing to say. that which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship is with the father and with his
son, Jesus Christ. You see, lying on your resume
is one thing. And giving false witness concerning
God, who he is and what he did is another matter altogether. Listen to 1 Timothy 1.8. Paul said to Timothy, we know
that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. We don't despise
the law of God, though it slays us, though it condemns us, though
we are dead in trespasses and sins because the law itself has
pronounced that death upon us by nature. But the law's not
our enemy. The law was a schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ. The law shows us our need of
the Son of God. Paul said, I love the law of
God after the inward man in Romans 7. Now how to perform it, I find
not. What about you? You kept God's
law this week? Or are you like Paul who said,
the things that I would, I do not. The things that I would
not, those are the things that I do. But we know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made
for a righteous man. The law wasn't given so that
you could, you know, dot your I's and cross your T's and be
fine with God. No, the law was made for the
ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind. Could there be
a blacker list? In all the world, you know what's
next? For liars. for men stealers, for perjured
persons, false witness, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound, doctrine. Do you know what the next verse
of scripture is? What does our text, this one, have to do with
the gospel? We've seen it all through, haven't
we? The truth of Christ is what sets sinners free. That's why
God hates a lie, a false witness. But you know what the next verse
is? The law is made for the ungodly in this horrible list, whoremongers
and murderers of mothers and murderers of fathers. Verse 11,
according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was
committed to my trust. You can't preach the gospel without
preaching how badly we need the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to John 18, 37. Pilate therefore said unto the
Lord Jesus Christ, art thou a king then? And Jesus answered, thou
sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world. You wanna know how bad God hates
liars? For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth. You are the enemy of the Son
of God, as a liar before him. By nature, Everyone that is of the truth
heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, what is
truth? There's a man sitting there speaking
with him who said, I am the truth, asking what is truth? When he had said this, he went
out again unto the Jews and said unto them, I find no fault in
him. Christ himself is the truth. He came into this world to bear
witness unto the truth. Even the very cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ is an eternal beacon of the truth of God's holiness. You wanna know what's true about
the holiness of God? Look to Calvary. It's a beacon
of truth concerning the justice of God, All sin is punished, even when it's found on his darling
son. The wrath of God? You and I are never gonna know
what the wrath of God is except by looking to the cross. If you know him, it's a beacon of truth concerning
the love of God. Herein is love, not that we love
God. You're not gonna measure love
by me or you, guarantee you that. But that he loved us and sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. It's an eternal beacon of the
truth of God's grace. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace,
free. How can God be just and freely
justify a sinner? By the substitutionary sacrifice
of his Son on Calvary. By the precious blood that has
washed us from our sins. I would to God that we could
hate a lie as much as our Savior does. But I thank God that he
has mercy on liars. We have not gone unpunished.
He said a liar will not go unpunished. We have received of the Lord's
hand double for all of our sins, for all of our lives. In our substitute, when our redeemer
bore God's wrath in our place, praise his name forever that
he set liars like us free with the truth of himself. Amen.