BELIEVING A LIE
The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans 16:16)
In Second Thessalonians chapter two, the Bible speaks of: "All
unrighteous
deception in them that perish; because they received not the love of
the truth,
that they might be saved. And for this reason God shall send them
strong
delusion (or a working of error), that they should believe a lie: that
they all
might be damned (or judged) who believe not the truth, but had pleasure
in
unrighteousness" (2 Thess.
A person may lie by telling an untruth or by being silent
under certain circumstances. Sometimes good people believe these lies.
We can
be deceived with vain words if we are not careful (Eph. 5:6). Lying and
believing a lie are both condemned in the scriptures. Notice these
powerful
passages: "Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak
truth
with his neighbor" (Eph.
Lies the World Believes. The world accepts
the false
notion that religious liberty means we may believe whatever we desire
and it
will be acceptable to God. This is believing a lie! Yes, we do have the
liberty
to believe and do as we please, but that does NOT mean that it is
acceptable to
God. Some are saying that if we honestly believe something, then that
will save
us. The denominational world has largely accepted this philosophy about
salvation. Religions other than Christianity have accepted this premise
also.
The Romans of long ago believed in many gods, and some still do today.
They
were honest and sincere! Were they saved? The Bible points us to ONE
true and
living God. It also points out Jesus Christ as the only Savior, for
Jesus said:
"Except you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins" (John
Christian liberty is not a license to believe and
obey lies,
expecting to reach the same result as believing and obeying truth. "For
you, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for
an
occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another"
(Gal.
Again, the popular idea says that it makes very little (if any) difference in religious matters what a man believes, so long as he is sincere in regard to it, and faithfully lives according to his belief. But while men thus think in regard to religion, no man has the same thought in regard to any other human interest. For instance, a man may believe in the soundness and good management of a bank. Yet, does anyone think that the sincerity of his belief, backed up by large deposits and the purchase of large blocks of the stock, make safe his investment when the bank is about to break? Does not everyone know that the more sincerely a man believes in such a bank, the worse it is for him? The hand of a young lady is sought by a designing man in whom she has the most unlimited confidence. Will the sincerity of her faith in him prevent the lifelong misery which he is sure to inflict if she marries him? The more sincerely she believes in him, the worse it is for her.
The same is true of false beliefs in every department of human life and
interest. The same is true in matters of State, of science, and of war.
False
theories of government work evil continually; false theories in
science(evolution as an example) are
clogs in the way of knowledge; and the belief of a lie has caused the
defeat of
many a brave army and the sinking of many a gallant ship. If believing
a lie
causes destruction in science, government, and war, do not we think it
strange if
it is not also true in matters pertaining to the soul? Strange, indeed,
if the
belief of an error in religion is just as well as belief of the truth!
Our Text. Paul
was very far from entertaining this opinion. In the passage before us,
he
represents certain persons as perishing because they received not the
love of
the truth, that they might be saved. It seems that the ones spoken
about
desired to be deceived and God allowed it to be so. These people did
not want
to receive the truth because their minds were corrupted with false
teachings. In
another place Paul referred to "perverse disputings of men of corrupt
minds and destitute of the truth" (1 Tim. 6:5). He said, "Now as
Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth:
men of
corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith" (2 Tim. 3:8). Such is
the
description of people who believe falsehoods, whether spoken or
implied, and
who may then repeat such falsehoods to others.
In our text, "delusion" is given for the purpose
of deceiving or allowing one to be deceived. Paul says, that "for this
cause," that is, because they receive not the love of the truth, "God
sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie." He
cannot mean that God causes them to believe a lie by any direct
exertion of His
power; for He never interferes in that way for the injury of any human
being;
but that in the workings of His providence He allows those who do not
love the
truth to be worked upon by error, so that they shall believe a lie. And
the
result of this he declares to be, “That they all might be judged who
believe
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." He uses the word
judged here, as in many other places, in the sense of being judged
adversely,
or being condemned.
The result, then, of believing a lie, in the case under consideration,
is not
salvation, but condemnation. And that condemnation will be eternal,
unless in
the tender mercy of God it be forgiven before death intervenes. Notice,
too,
that Paul connects this belief of a lie with a failure to love the
truth, and
with taking pleasure in unrighteousness. It is but a natural
consequence that
the belief of a lie is injurious in some way; and especially that it
leads away
from the love of the truth, and from the paths of right doing. Belief
of the
truth alone leads to love of the truth, and to the practice of
righteousness
which truth always demands.
Our Lord taught in person the same doctrine on this subject that is
here taught
by Paul. He said of the Pharisees: "They are blind guides. And if the
blind guide the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch" (Matthew
15:14). According to this, the blind guide will not escape falling into
the
ditch because he is blind; on the contrary, his blindness is the very
cause of
his falling in. The same is true with the blind man who is guided by
him. We
know that this is literally true of the physically blind, and the
Lord's
purpose here is to teach that as it is with the physically blind, so it
is with
the mentally and spiritually blind. By the ditch into which they fall
is meant
the evil consequence into which misguidance naturally leads men in
Spiritual
matters.
Scriptural Examples of People Believing Lies.
In Genesis 3, Eve heard the lie of Satan, believed his lie was truth,
obeyed
the lie and was punished according to God's truth. In Genesis 27, Isaac
believed Jacob was Esau, but it was a lie. In Genesis 37, Jacob heard
his sons'
lies and thought Joseph was dead. He believed them because of the
evidence of a
bloody coat of many colors, and wept bitterly. Many years later he
learned the
truth of his sons' lies. How sad that believing a lie caused him many
years of
sorrow! In 2 Samuel 6, Uzzah believed he could touch the Ark of the
Covenant,
but he was struck dead. In Acts 10, we learn that Cornelius was a good,
god-fearing man. He thought he was doing the right thing. He evidently
believed
he was pleasing God. However, the new law of salvation in Christ Jesus
had not
been preached to him. Therefore, he was NOT a saved man. To the extent
that he
thought he was saved, he believed an untruth. When he heard of Christ,
he
believed the preaching of Peter, accepted the Gospel and obeyed the
"words" preached (Acts
There
is an incident in Old Testament history which must have been brought
about, so
far as God directed it, for the very purpose of illustrating this
great lesson
to us, as well as for teaching it to the generation in which it
occurred. It is
the incident of the young prophet from Judah, who was sent to rebuke
the image
worship set up at Bethel by Jeroboam (1 Kings 13). Having established
himself as king of
the ten tribes after their revolt against Rehoboam, son of Solomon,
Jeroboam soon
concluded that if his subjects should continue going to Jerusalem to
worship,
as the law required, and especially if they continued to attend the
annual
festivals, where all the twelve tribes were accustomed to meet in
religious
fellowship, they would eventually grow discontented with their divided
state,
and would kill him and return to their old allegiance under the house
of David.
To avoid this disaster, Jeroboam made two calves of gold. He
set one up at Bethel, and the other at Dan, and said to the people, “It
is too
much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold thy gods, O Israel, which
brought
thee up out of the land of Egypt." He was the first king of whom we
read
who set up a religion of his own to support the throne, but he has had
a
multitude of followers; for this is the real purpose of every State
religion
down to the present day. He also appointed a feast on the fifteenth day
of the
eighth month, in imitation of the Feast of Tabernacles, which was held
in
Jerusalem on the same day of the seventh month; and on the first day of
that
feast he went up to his new altar to burn incense for the first time.
God was of course beholding these proceedings, and He sent a prophet
out of
Judah, who arrived in Bethel just in time to witness this first burning
of
incense. He made his way through the great crowd, close up to the king,
who
stood before the altar, and cried out, "O altar, altar, thus saith
Jehovah: Behold, a child shall be born in Judah, Josiah by name; and
upon thee
shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense
upon thee,
and men's bones shall they burn upon thee." And he gave a sign that
these words
should be fulfilled, saying, "Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the
ashes that are upon it shall be poured out." The altar was immediately
rent asunder, and the ashes, including the incense, we suppose, were
spilt upon
the ground.
The king in great wrath put forth his hand, and exclaimed to those
about him,
"Lay hold on him." But the moment he uttered the words he felt a
stiffening of his arm, and realized that he could not draw it back to
his body.
The bystanders saw this, and not one of them dared to lay hands on the
prophet. The king's tune changes. He says to the man of God, “Entreat
now the
favor of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be
restored."
The Prophet did so, and the hand was restored as suddenly as it had
been stiffened.
The prophet is now a wonderful man in the eyes of the king. Wrath is
turned
into admiration, and he says, “Come home with me, and refresh thyself,
and I
will give thee a reward.” What a surprise to the poor prophet! Invited
to dine,
and to receive a reward, yes, a royal dinner and a royal reward, where
he had
reason to expect only hatred and threats! How glad he would have been
to go!
What a feast he would have enjoyed, what a reward he would have
received, and
what honor he would have had in the eyes of the people! But he
answered, “If
thou wilt give me half thy house, I will not go in with thee, neither
will I
eat bread or drink water in this place: for so was it charged me by the
word of
God.” He turned on his heel, and started home by a different road.
Now here is a man to be admired. He was so courageous that in obedience
to the
command of God he defied the power of the king. He was so free from
ambition as
to resist the flattering invitation of the king. And he was so
unselfish as not
to be influenced by the king’s money. He was proof against fear of
danger,
against flattery, and against avarice. The way in which he resisted the
temptations
of flattery and avarice is the more remarkable from the consideration
that he
certainly could not have seen a reason why he should not eat and drink
there if
he was hungry. Moreover, if he had been disposed to resort to pleas of
expediency, he might have thought that the unexpected invitation of the
king
should be accepted as a step in the direction of gaining his good will
and
thereby winning him back to God. But with the plain command of God
before him,
he made no parley with expediency. Implicit and unquestioning
obedience was
evidently his rule of life. A man with such a rule may be a hero; a man
without
it never leaves the world better than he finds it.
In this same city of Bethel, almost under the shadow of Jeroboam's
golden calf,
we are told that there dwelt another prophet, an old one. He, of
course, was
opposed to this false worship; but he had consulted expediency, and had
kept
his mouth shut. His own sons had been in the crowd which assembled to
witness the inauguration of the new altar; for the children will go to
see the
sights, especially if their fathers do not sternly restrain them. The
sons ran
home when the young prophet had disappeared, and told their father all
that had
been said and done. Though too cowardly to act such a part himself, the
old man
was instantly fired with admiration for his daring fellow prophet, and
he felt
that he must have him in his house to break bread with him. Therefore,
he
ordered his sons to saddle the ass, and he hurried off to bring the
prophet
back.
He found him dismounted, and sitting under the shade of an oak.
Hurrying up to
him, he said, "Come home with me and eat bread." The young man
answered him as he had answered the king about eating and drinking in
this
place. But the old man was so eager to have him come that he made up a
lie, and
said to him, "I also am a prophet as thou art; and an angel spake to me
by
the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thy house,
that he
may eat bread and drink water." This lie prevailed. The man who was
proof
against danger, against flattery, and against avarice, was overcome by
the
plausibility of a lie. Notice, now, that it is not a bad man, but a
brave and
good man, who is thus overcome. Even such a man is not free from
danger at
this point. Many a man just as brave and true in many particulars has
been led
to his own undoing by the belief of a lie.
No doubt the old man's table was spread with the best the house
afforded, and
the two were enjoying themselves to the utmost when the Spirit of God
came upon
the old prophet and forced from his lips this solemn sentence: "Thus
saith
Jehovah: Forasmuch as thou hast been disobedient to the mouth of
Jehovah, and
hast not kept the command which Jehovah thy God commanded thee, but
hast come
back, and eaten and drunk in this place...thy carcass shall not come to
the
sepulchre of thy fathers." The joyful feast ended in gloom. The young
man
departed with a sense of guilt weighing him down; and he wondered, no
doubt,
what mysterious fate was involved in the words which had come from the
Lord. He
was not long in finding out; for he had gone but a short distance
toward home
when he saw a lion rushing upon him. He sees the glare of the lion's
eyes, he
feels the powerful claws as they drag him to the ground; the horrid
mouth of
the beast is opened upon him, he feels the crushing in of his ribs, and
then he
feels and sees no more. What do you suppose was uppermost in his mind
as his
life was being crushed out of him? Was it the thought of the lion, or
was it
the thought of his sin? Loved ones, what can be the thought of danger
or pain
when we are dying, compared with the thought that we are dying in sin?
God
grant that no one of us shall have such an experience.
The same day there came into the city from that road some men who said
that
they saw the strange sight of a lion standing by the side of a dead
man, whom
he had slain but had not eaten, and the man's ass standing by unharmed.
The old
prophet knew what it meant. He ordered out his ass once more, hastened
down the
road, found it as the men had said, brought the carcass home with him,
and
buried it in his own sepulchre. When the sad work was done, be said to
his
sons, "When I am dead, bury me in the sepulchre where the man of God is
buried; lay my bones by the side of his bones." This was a poor
atonement
for the ruin which his lie had wrought, but it was the best that he
could do.
You can now see very plainly that this incident happened for a type,
as Paul
said of many other Old Testament incidents, and that it was written
for our
admonition (Romans 15:4). It was written to warn us against the belief
of a
lie (cf. 1 Cor. 10:6, 11). The fate of the young prophet cries out like
the
blast of a trumpet to startle us from our fancied security, and makes
us look
around to see if we, too, are in any such peril. Perhaps you are ready
to say
that the sin of the old prophet in this case was greater than that of
the young
one; and you think it strange that the less guilty was the one who
perished.
Well, there was an abundance of texts and incidents to show the sin of
lying,
and the evil consequences which must follow it. And nobody, either then
or now,
needed any particular instruction about the sin of the old prophet. But
the
world needed a lesson on the subject of believing a lie; so the young
prophet
was slain to teach this lesson, while the old man was left to God's
ordinary
method of dealing with liars. No doubt he got his deserts sooner or
later.
Friends, this very singular piece of inspired history confirms most
strikingly,
and illustrates most aptly the teaching of Paul and of Jesus on the
subject of
believing a lie ‑ of being guided by blind guides.
Shall we think, then, that every man who believes a lie in regard to
God's will
shall perish? We think not. If a blind man is guided by another blind
man along
a smooth road, where there is no ditch, neither of them will fall into
a ditch.
It is only when there is a ditch in the way that they will fall into
it. So, if
this young prophet had been told to do almost anything else than what
he was
told to do, we have no reason to think it would have been fatal. If,
for example,
the old prophet had said, An angel sent me to tell you to get from
under this
tree and run for your life, and not to stop until you get home, the
young man
would have been scared, and would have run himself out of breath; but
the lion
would not have killed him.
In like manner, we can imagine a man believing some lies in religion,
which,
though they may injure him some (and there are very few that would
not), might
yet fall far short of proving fatal to him. We think that the doctrine
of
election as taught in the old creeds is false in the extreme; but many
a man
has believed it all his life, and then possibly gone on to be with God
when he
died. What, then, is the distinction? It is to be traced out by
remembering
that there is only one thing that can keep men out of heaven, or keep
them
estranged from God in this life. That one thing is sin (cf. Isa.
59:1-2).
Nothing else does or can stand between God and any man. If the belief
of a lie,
then, leads a man to commit sin, it will prove fatal unless that sin
shall be
forgiven. It was thus with the young prophet. The lie that he believed
led him
to disobey God. His disobedience was the immediate cause, while the
belief of
a lie was only the remote cause of his death.
How
Can We Determine Truth? Sometimes lies have the same effect as
truth. If
one hears the truth and obeys it, he then feels secure and safe.
However, some
have heard a lie, believed the lie, obeyed the lie, and felt safe and
secure. In
view of the solemn lesson now before us, taught both in the Old
Testament and
in the New, it becomes a question of transcendent importance: How shall
we be
sure that we are NOT believing lies; that we are not being led by blind
guides?
How are we going to determine truth from a lie concerning our soul's
salvation?
If I am a blind man myself, I should have more sense than to let
another blind
man guide me. He may guide me a little way and not lead me into a
ditch; but
when I start to follow his guidance, I cannot know but that the second
step I
take will be a sudden plunge into a ditch from which I cannot get out.
I must,
then, take pains to let no one guide me but those who can see.
But
how can I determine who among all those proposing to guide me in
religious
matters are the men who can see - who are not blind men? There is only
one
answer: Search the Scriptures! There is one set of men, and only one,
whom we
can trust implicitly. Trust no man other than Jesus and His
Apostles.
We know that they are not blind. We have their written instructions
on the
way of life, and they are not so voluminous or so obscure as to be
unintelligible in regard to what is sinful. We may be in doubt, as we
study
them, over many questions of history and of exegesis, but rarely can we
be in
the least suspense, if we have a willing heart, as to what is sinful.
Having
found this, we ought to be able, and we shall be, to prevent any man
from
leading us into such error as shall cause us to commit sin ‑ sin of
omission or sin of commission.
In the actual experiences of life, we seldom encounter a
severer trial than did the young prophet of whom we have said so much.
The lie
which deceived him was told by a prophet, and told as coming from God
through
an angel. It would seem at first glance, that he could scarcely have
failed to
believe it; that he could scarcely be blamed for believing it. His
respect for
the prophetic order to which he himself belonged, and his confidence in
the
veracity of the holy angels, seemed to require him to believe the
story. Why,
then, was he censured for believing it? The answer is at hand.
He knew that a
prophet told him to eat and drink in Bethel. He knew that if the
prophet told
the truth, an angel had commanded him to do so. But he also knew,
beyond a
doubt, that God Himself had told him not to eat and drink in that
place. His
obvious duty, then, was to answer the old prophet according to this
knowledge.
He should have said to him, I suppose that you are a prophet, as you
claim to
be. It is possible, as you say that an angel has sent you with this
message.
All this may be, or it may not be; but one thing is absolutely
certain, and
that is, that God has commanded me not to eat or drink in your city,
and I will
obey Him, even if all the prophets on earth and all the angels in
heaven were
to countermand His order. Such a determination to obey God at all
hazards,
would have saved him from sin, and from an untimely death.
It is just such faith as this that is enjoined in the New Testament.
Paul says,
in one of his outbursts of eloquence, "Let God be true, but every man a
liar" (Rom. 3:4). And again he says to some to whom be had preached the
gospel: “Though we, or an angel from heaven should preach unto you any
gospel
other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema." He
says
this, and lest any man might think he had gone too far, or was speaking
at
random, he immediately repeats it (Gal. 1:6-9). He was speaking of men
who
were perverting the gospel, and were thus making it a different
gospel. They
of course claimed to be preaching the true gospel, and this was the lie
that
they were propagating.
Farther on in the same epistle we find that some of the
Galatians had believed the lie, and that in consequence, they had
become
alienated from Paul. They had come to regard him as an enemy (Gal.
4:16). They
were desiring to go back under the law, where Christ would profit them
nothing (Gal. 5:4).
They knew very well what Paul had taught on the subject, but, deceived
by blind
guides who had come among them, they were knowingly departing from
Paul's
teaching.
These blind guides did not die without leaving a progeny behind them.
Ever
since their day, and even in ours, there have been teachers who knew
more than
Paul did, who could criticize Paul and tell wherein he made mistakes in
his
teaching, or taught things not adapted to a more enlightened age. Some
of the
breed, both male and female, are still alive, and you will do well to
steer
clear of them if you would guide your own steps in safety. All sorts of
doctrines are being taught by all sorts of men and women; and it
becomes a man
who wishes ever to please God, to keep his head level, and his eye
fixed on the
plain teachings of the Lord and the apostles, if he would not believe a
lie and
be condemned.
Denominational Lies. There are theories taught in regard to the
first act of
consecration required of a believing penitent sinner, the ordinance of
baptism, which
are simply lies. We are told, again and again, that baptism is nothing
but an
external ordinance which cannot be a matter of great importance in a
spiritual
religion; and that; therefore, it may be neglected, or changed in
form,
without peril. If we insist upon its strict observance, we are called
ritualists or something else that is supposed to be a reproach to us.
And if
we exhort men, as Peter did, to repent and be baptized for the
remission of
sins (Acts
We hear the claim that baptism is not necessary
for
salvation because the Greek word eis ("for" in Acts
Those who claim that salvation comes BEFORE water
baptism
have mistranslated the word eis. It means "for" or "into"
(cf. Matthew 26:28). It points forward, not backward. Think about it:
if our
sins are forgiven before baptism, they are forgiven before we are in
Christ.
That would mean that we could be saved without Christ and His blood. If
that is
true, Christ died for nothing. Such a terrible sacrifice would then
become
unnecessary! We all know that is not so. The belief of any lie leading
men to neglect
this ordinance will be fatal from the fact that the forgiveness of all
our past
sins is connected with it (Acts
Now let's consider another denominational lie. We
hear of
many churches in the world today. These are differing denominations,
based on
many beliefs and doctrines. The world may ask, "What faith are you?"
The scriptures teach that there is only ONE faith (Eph. 4:5).
Additionally,
"there is one body" (Eph. 4:4). The body is the church (Eph.
Finally, there is one lie which has been
propagated wherever
the Gospel has been preached, and more industriously, perhaps, than any
other. It
has proved more fatal, at least in Christian lands, than any other lie
of
which we can think. This lie has the inevitable effect to breed a
neglect of
duty. It is the lie constantly palmed off on sinners. It says: "There
is time
enough yet!" It comes from the father of lies; it bids a man to neglect
his surrender to Christ, to continue in sin, and to flatter himself
that in so
doing he is neither doing himself injury at present, nor endangering
his
eternal welfare. Under this fatal delusion, men and women are dying by
the thousands
without God and without hope.
Have any of you been victims of it? We doubt not that you have. We beg you now to cast aside this fateful falsehood, and take into your mind the unquestionable fact, that if you are to prepare your sinful soul for dwelling with God and angels, you have not a moment to lose. You know this very well, when you stop to think. It is only in your unthoughtful moments that you believe, or try to believe, the lie. It is in the neglect of duty, rather than in overt acts of sin, that the belief of this lie, and of some others, shows its most baneful effects. How many there are, among even those who have made a surrender to the Lord, who still neglect important duties from day to day, under the delusion that it is a small matter to do this for awhile, and that there is time enough yet in which to become punctilious servants of the Lord! We beg of you to cast aside the fatal delusion that there is time enough for you to surrender to the authority of your Lord.
Conclusion. Friend, search through the
doctrine
(teaching) or faith of the religious body of which you are a member.
Then
compare that to the Scripture. Jesus asked God to, "sanctify them [set
them
apart] in
the truth: your word is truth" (John