Jump Start # 2770
Hebrews 6:18 “So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”
Our passage today tells us that it is impossible for God to lie. It is not in His nature. He cannot be God and lie. He cannot be holy and lie. Lying is something that God doesn’t do. Unlike God, we lie. We lie a lot. The stats on lying are scary, sad and very revealing.
- 60% admit to lying at least once during a ten minute conversation
- 31% lied on their resumes
- More than 50% said if their tax returns were audited, they would owe the government money
- Nearly half surveyed said that if they scratched another car in the parking lot, they would drive away without leaving a note
Lying has become acceptable in our culture. Athletes cheat to win. Students cheat to pass. People lie to the police to avoid getting a ticket. It is believed that one must lie to survive. And, this culture of lying leads us to believe that we can fool God, hide things from God and slide our way into Heaven.
It is impossible for God to lie. Three things can be built upon that statement.
First, when God makes a statement, He means it. There are way to many who will read the Bible but somehow think that God didn’t mean what He said. God doesn’t lie. God means what He says about salvation. God means what He says about worship. God means what He says about marriage. God means what He says about divorce. God means what He says about Heaven. Our fickle society wants to believe that every celebrity who dies is up in Heaven. There has been many famous baseball players who have died in the past few months. Someone posted on Facebook, what Heaven’s team must look like and it listed all those players. Does a person go to Heaven simply because they were famous? What did God say about Heaven? When God makes a statement, He means it.
Second, when God makes a promise, He keeps it. Breaking a promise is a form of lying. We may not look at it that way, but it is. It is impossible for God to lie. God keeps His word. Biblical history shows that. Trust in the Bible proves that. Peter said that God is not like us when it comes to promises. We make promises and forget about them. We make promises and then find ways to wiggle out from keeping them. We make a promise and then make other promises that cancels out the first promise. You can trust the Scriptures because God’s character stands behind it. It is impossible for God to lie. If he has promised to forgive, you know He will. If He has promised to take us home with Him, you know He will. If He promised that nothing will destroy His kingdom, you know that nothing will.
Third, when God proclaims something, you can believe it. You can believe it because God said so. God doesn’t lie. Ever. So, when God proclaims that the world was created out of nothing in six days, you can believe it. You don’t have to have a PhD in science to know that. When God says that Jesus will return, you can believe that. When God says that He loves everyone, you can know that. We live in times that unless we find proof in science, archeology or history, a person won’t accept what the Bible says. They must have verification from mankind before they will trust what the Bible already says. It shouldn’t be that way. God never lies. If He said it, it’s true.
There remains one final lesson for us. God expects us to be truthful. The Ephesians were told, “Speak truth each one of you with his neighbor. The Psalmist prayed for God to guard his mouth. It’s hard to confess sin, when you live a life of dishonesty and coloring your picture so you look better than what you are. It’s hard to build trust, when one isn’t honest. And, worse of all, we can deceive ourselves and begin to believe the lies that we tell others.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it were impossible for us to lie? We are faced every day with the choice of being honest and walking in integrity or hiding in the shadows of a lie. Some of the lies we make are found right in the church building. We sing, “standing on the promises,” but we bend and break the commands of God. We sing, “Bless be the tie that binds our hearts,” yet on the way home, we trash talk the members. We sing, “I’m satisfied with a cottage below,” but, we’re not. We want our mansion and we want it now. We tell the preacher, “good sermon,” even though we slept through it. We say to one another, “Great to see you,” but we really aren’t thrilled to see that person at all.
It is impossible for God to lie. I’ve found that the less you say, the less likely you will find yourself telling a lie. A team lost a big game. It wasn’t even close. In the press conference, the losing coach declared, “I have nothing to say and I’m only going to say it once.”
Impossible to lie. That sure gives us a lot of trust and hope and confidence in the word of God.
Roger