L Y I N G

 

“Lying” or “a lie” – (Heb. words “seqer”, meaning deception/falsehood; and “kazab”, meaning lie/deceptive thing; the Gk. word is “pseudos” and its cognates) is the utterance by speech or act of that which is false, with the intent to mislead/delude.  In the Bible the word is used to designate all the ways in which men deny or alter the truth in word or deed.  Essentially, a lie is a statement of what is known to be false with intent to deceive.  Lies may be expressed in words (Prov. 6:19), a way of life (Psa. 62:9), error (2 Thes. 2:11), or a false form of religion (Rom. 1:25) – Unger’s Bible Dictionary, p. 660 & New Bible Dictionary, p. 734.

 

Prov. 6:16, 17, 19       What is something that the Lord hates and considers an abomination (extremely disgusting) – vss. 17, 19?

 

Had you known before this that the Lord considers lying detestable/extremely disgusting?

How do you view or feel about lying, and why?

 

Prov. 10:18     Who has lying lips?

Why do you think this is considered lying?

 

Should you let your hatred be verbally known, or should you deal with it immediately so that you’re not lying when saying nice things to/about the person, and why?

 

Do you ever say nice or flattering things to people, who deep down you really hate?                      If so, why?

 

Prov. 12:19     For how long do lies generally last before they are discovered and exposed?

 

Have you learned yet that lying usually catches up with you and that it only deepens your problems in the long run?

If so, in what ways?

 

Prov. 12:22     What are lying lips to the Lord?

Do you detest (view as an abomination/extremely disgusting) lying in your own life as the Lord views it, and why?

 

What can you do so that you don’t lie about anything (Eph. 5:18; 4:15)?

 

Prov. 14:5       Who speaks lies?

 

Would you consider yourself a faithful or a false witness, and why?

 

Prov. 14:25     How is the person who speaks lies described?

 

Do people see you as being treacherous (dangerously unreliable) because you have a problem with lying, and why?

 

Prov. 17:4       What does a liar pay attention to?

 

Have you noticed that what a person is like (a liar) is what he feeds on or gives attention to?

It’s like the old saying, ‘Garbage in, garbage out”.

 

What are you feeding your mind – lies or truth?                           How?

 

Prov. 19:5       What will happen to the person who tells lies?

 

Have you ever been deceived into thinking that your being a liar will go unpunished (by God or by people)?

If so, then I hope you don’t deceive yourself any longer.

 

Prov. 19:22     What is it better to be – a liar or a poor man?

 

If you could be rich by lying about something (i.e., your age, nationality, citizen­ship, identity, beliefs, etc.), would you lie?             Why?

 

Prov. 21:6       What is getting treasure by a lying tongue described as?

Would you lie in order to win/obtain expensive prizes/money?                   Why?

 

Prov. 26:28     What does a lying tongue do?

 

Have you ever crushed someone (destroyed his/her character or reputation or got him/her in serious trouble) because you lied about him/her?

What can you do to prevent this (crushing someone by lying) from happening (see Eph. 5:18; 1 Jn. 5:14, 15; Gal. 5:22; 1 Cor. 13:4, 6)?

 

Prov. 30:5, 6    Why shouldn’t people add to God’s word (adding human speculation to divine revel­ation, e.g., the rapture is going to take place at midnight, Dec. 31, 2007)?

 

Do you know of religions, cults, churches, or religious leaders who derive their understanding of God and religious teachings (theology/doctrine) from human ideas rather than from a literal interpretation of God’s Word, the Bible, in context?            Do you ever do this?                  If so, when, and why?

 

Prov. 30:8       What is the first thing that Agur (vs. 1) prays for?

 

Have you ever asked God to keep you from lying and being deceptive, and why?

Psa. 31:18       What does David, the Psalmist, say about lying lips?

 

Do you ever speak lies against righteous/godly Christians because of pride and contempt in your own heart?

If so, what will you do about it from now on, and why?

 

Psa. 78:34-37              Why did the Jews lie and try to deceive God – vs. 37?

 

Are you ever disloyal/fickled/inconstant/easily changeable in your love/obedience to God (you talk religiously but are far away from God on your inside)?                What can you do to keep from being a hypocrite and liar to God?

 

Psa. 109:1-5    What does David do because people were telling lies (rumors/slander) about him – vs. 4?

And what does he ask of God?

What do you do when people spread lies about you, and why that?

 

Do you retaliate in some way (e.g., tell lies about them back or do harm to them), or pray for them or do nothing?

 

Psa. 119:69, 78, 87     What does the Psalmist do in spite of the fact that arrogant people were forging lies against him?

 

Have you ever had arrogant, religious people spread lies about you?

If so, did you keep on obeying God and His Word (e.g., evangelize the spiritually lost, build up believers spiritually, and train them) with all your heart, and not get discouraged and drop out of the Christ­ian life/ministry, and why?

 

Lev. 6:2-4       Besides embezzlement, theft, and extortion, what other sin is mentioned – vs. 3?

 

Have you ever lied about finding something that someone lost as though you didn’t find it (especially since you knew who it belonged to or later found out who it be­longed to, but you wanted to keep it)?

What should you have done with the lost item you found, and why?

 

Judges 16:6-15                       Why do you think Samson lied these three times (clue in vs. 9)?

 

Why do you think Samson wanted to hide the knowledge of where he got his strength?

Do you ever lie in order to hide something that you don’t want others to know about, and why?

 

Num. 23:19     Who never lies?                                    Why (Lev. 11:44; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18)?

[“holy” – perfectly separated from sin by nature].

Is it possible for us Christians to not lie (1 Pet. 1:15, 16; 1 Jn. 3:6)?       If so, how (Eph. 5:18; 4:22-25)?

 

2 Ki. 5:21-27   What did Elisha’s servant Gehazi lie about – vs. 25?

What punishment did Gehazi receive for his lying – vs. 27?

Does the punishment seem too harsh for simply lying just once?

[Consider Prov. 6:16, 19; Habakkuk 1:13; 1 Jn. 1:5 for God’s reasons.].

Have you ever lied about not going somewhere when you really had gone?           If so, why did you?

 

1 Ki. 13:7-24   What had the old prophet (vs. 11) lied about to the man of God – vs. 18?

 

What was the result of the man of God listening to the lie of the old prophet and by doing so disobey the word of the Lord – vss. 21-24?

What does this true story warn you about regarding listening to religious lead­ers/people who tell you that God told them to tell you something, when in actual­ity the word of the Lord told you the exact opposite?

 

Had you ever thought that religious leaders would lie to you about what they had “supposedly” been told by God to tell you, and why?

 

Isa. 57:11        Why hadn’t these Jewish leaders feared God when they told lies?

 

Is the reason you tell lies because you blot God out of your mind when you lie, or because when you’ve lied in the past, God didn’t punish you; therefore, you think that you can get away with it again or that He doesn’t care?

 

Jer. 14:14       What were these prophets prophesying in the Lord’s name?

 

Have you ever said to anyone that the Lord spoke to you when, in fact, He didn’t, or that the Lord told you to say a certain thing when He hadn’t?                Why?

 

Jer. 37:11-16  Because of the lie of a governing authority, what happened to the prophet Jere­miah (vss. 14-16)?

 

Have you ever been punished or in serious trouble because someone lied about you?

If so, how did you feel, and why?

 

Jer. 43:1-4      What did the people say when the prophet Jeremiah told them what God said?

 

Have people ever told you that you were lying because you told them something from God’s Word, the Bible, that they didn’t want to hear or believe?               If so, what happened?

 

Ezek. 13:6-9   Who saw false visions and lied about divinations (future events) – vss. 2, 3, 9?

 

What does this tell you about the potential of religious people/leaders who say that they had a vision or prophecy from God?

[If what a religious person tells you contradicts the clear teachings of the Bible, then you know that the religious person is lying.  Also, God is no longer giving prophecies to anyone since the Bible was completed/perfected (1 Cor. 13:8-10) in A.D. 95.].

 

Jn. 8:52-55      What does Jesus call these Jews – vs. 55?

 

Have you ever called anyone a liar, and why?

 

Jn. 8:44           What is the devil?

 

Can evil spirits (demons) so control religious leaders/prophets that they are made to lie (see 1 Ki. 22:21-23)?

 

What do you learn from this?

 

Acts 5:1-10     Whom had Ananias and Sapphira lied to – vss. 3, 4?

 

How did they lie (in what way)?

 

Who had filled/controlled their hearts/wills to so lie to God, the Holy Spirit?

What does this tell you about what Satan can do to church or Christian people?

 

What did lying result in for this married couple?

Is God serious about His hatred for lying?

Aren’t you glad that God is more patient with you than He was with them?

 

Rom. 1:25       What do those people who have exchanged the truth of God for a lie worship and serve?

 

If you are believing in any religion other than true, biblical Christianity, then you are believing a lie (that even includes those religions which worship statues of Mary, saints, the Pope, Buddha, etc.).

What can you do to make sure that you never exchange the truth of God for a lie?

 

Eph. 4:20-25               Because we Christians have a new nature, which has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth, what should we lay aside?

 

And do what instead, and why?

 

And why should that make a difference or matter?

 

Is telling only part of the facts/story lying (e.g., Jer. 37:20 with 38:24-27; 1 Sam. 16:1-3)?

 

Col. 3:9, 10     Why shouldn’t we lie to one another?

 

Do you ever tell someone that you’ll meet them or show up for a meeting when you really don’t plan to just so you can get them off your back?

Have you ever lied about your age so that you could either get cheaper rates on something, buy something, or enter some place that you otherwise couldn’t get in?   

Have you ever told someone that something looks/tastes good when it really didn’t, but you wanted to be polite and not hurt his/her feelings?

Have you ever said that you’ve seen/heard something or been some place when you really hadn’t just so you wouldn’t appear dumb/naïve?

Have you ever called up your employer or friend and told them that you were sick when you really weren’t because you just didn’t want to go?

Have you ever answered the phone and told the person that someone wasn’t home when that person really was?

 

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, do you realize it’s sin?

What will you do about it in the future, and why?

 

1 Jn. 4:20        Who is a liar?

 

Have you ever hated another Christian, yet said you loved God at the same time?

 

[Remember that love is not self-seeking and rejoices with the truth – 1 Cor. 13:4-6, and one of the fruit/qualities that the Holy Spirit produces in the Christian is love – Gal. 5:22, and God commands us to be filled/controlled by the Spirit – Eph. 5:18, and anything we ask according to God’s will He will answer – 1 Jn. 5:14, 15, and then act/do/practice/live/apply the ability/po­tential we now have in the Holy Spirit to love – Col. 3:14; Phil. 2:12, 13.].

 

1 Jn. 2:4          Who is a liar?

 

The word “know’ here in the Greek language as used by John is to experientially know and as a present result is in that state; to be in continuing fellowship with – Wuest’s Word Studies, vol. 4, p. 113, and Richard’s Expository Dictionary of Bible Words, p. 385.