1. A LYING TONGUE

2. “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” (Proverbs 6:16-19)

3. 47 % of the Canadians surveyed rated the church as credible, compared with 71 % who believe newspapers and 81 % who trust television.

4. God finds “a lying tongue” detestable.
By understanding that God hates a lying tongue, we can see that He desires his people to be honest, free from deceit, genuine and pure, but we live in a world that looks little like any of those qualities.
Though this concept of a lying tongue might sound quite simple and straightforward, there are a number of nuances that we need to consider so that we come away with a full view of what the writer of Proverbs is presenting.
The Hebrew words translated as “lie” can be broken down into three categories – lies, deception, and hypocrisy.

5. The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful
The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful. (Proverbs 12:22)
Arrogant lips are unsuited to a fool— how much worse lying lips to a ruler! (Proverbs 17:7)
A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin. (Proverbs 26:28)
God’s position on lying is not vague – it is detestable to Him and carries significant consequences with it.

6. Category one - Lies
When you hear the word “lie”, what kinds of things jump immediately to mind?
In the simplest of terms, a lie is an untruth, something false.
We tell lies, believing that no one really gets hurt when we do so, but if you’ve ever been the victim of a malicious rumour, you know the true pain lies can inflict.
As a people we are often pretty soft on lying.

7. Category Two - Deception
Deception involves the use of language to bend the truth; it involves using half-truths, leaving out certain details or cloaking true actions or attitudes.
We live in a culture that has nearly perfected the art of deception.
Little by little we fall prey to deception, until often times we wake up and realize that we have been swallowed by our own deception; we find ourselves living a lie.

8. Category Three - Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the act of persistently professing beliefs, opinions, feelings, qualities, or standards that are inconsistent with one's actions.
The word hypocrisy comes from a Greek word which means "play-acting”.
Most of us probably know that lying, deceit and hypocrisy was one of Jesus’ most common charges against the religious leaders of his day.
What might a truthful tongue look like? Back to the question … what is truth?

9. 1 John 5:20 provides us with a purpose for his letter; there seemed to be a fair deal of confusion in these churches over what was the “truth” of the gospel.
John examines this issue and reduces it to this conclusion; we either “know” him who is true and experience life “in” him or we do not.
Christianity’s unique claim is that we find truth, not in a set of rules and regulations, but in a person, Jesus Christ.
If we’ve allowed our fields to go fallow we cannot evidence Godly produce. We either evidence the sound doctrine, obedience and love of Christ in our lives, showing we have encountered truth or we don’t and we find ourselves on very shaky ground.

10. “If we claim to have fellowship with [God] yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6-7)
We are either people who walk in the darkness of this world or we are people who walk in the light.
If we desire to be people of truth, we must first examine our walk, the condition of our soil.
Am I a person who walks in the darkness or am I a person who walks in the light of truth?

11. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:8-10)
Claiming “sinlessness” makes us a liar.
Like the religious leaders of Christ’s time, we often find ourselves acting godly in certain settings, while in other settings the evil within is painfully evident.
We are sinners saved by the truth; people claimed, redeemed and justified by Jesus Christ, not by our own inherent goodness.

12. “The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 John 4:4-6)
Not keeping God’s commandments makes us liars.
Knowing God creates in us a desire to please God, a desire to walk as Jesus did.
When we claim to know God, yet knowingly, consistently and willingly break his commandments, we are in essence offering evidence that we really do not know God.

13. “If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar
“If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21)
Hating others makes us a liar.
When we claim to love God, yet hate others we make ourselves liars.
There are people in our community right now basing their opinion on Jesus on how we treat one another. If all they see is the same bitterness and dissention, the same hate and partiality they see in the world, then why would they even consider Christ?

14. Do you want to be a person of truth?
We must first learn to love one another, speaking the truth in love – compassionately and consistently bringing sin to light in our relationships with one another – so that we together can become more Christlike, living holy and pleasing lives.
Do you desire a truthful tongue this morning?
We must ask God to change our attitudes, to guide us out of the darkness and into the light of truth, to protect us from our own tendencies to feign sinlessness, to strengthen us to obey his commandments, and to enable us to truly love one another.

15. When we acknowledge our lying tongues and turn them over to God, He will transform them from deliverers of poison to deliverers of the Good News of Jesus Christ. When we allow His truth to wash over us, He will transform us.