Gehazi - How to Identify a Liar

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings 5. This will be my third message in a row from 2 Kings. I just so happen to be getting some food from there. So you've got to bring what you're able to prepare for the spiritual meal. 2 Kings 5. I'm going to look this morning at Gehazi, by how to identify a liar. How to identify a liar. And we'll read the passage. I'll have a little introduction, and then we'll look at basically 15 things from the text on how to identify a liar, and then some closing application. So let's read 2 Kings 5. We're just going to read v. 20-27. And so if you're not familiar with everything leading up to that, Naaman, the Syrian commander who had leprosy, came and the Lord, through Elisha, healed Naaman of his leprosy. And Naaman had offered an enormous amount of money and different things to Elisha. Elisha adamantly refused all of those riches. He did not want to take anything of that at all, even though Naaman had asked him to please take this present from your servant. But you can see in v. 16, he says, as the Lord lives, He's taking an oath, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. So Elisha in all of this is really a man of character. You could look at Elisha in an entirely separate message. The man was a man of character. He's a man to imitate. But v. 19b, But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, Jehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, it seems like he's speaking to himself. He's thinking. He's contemplating. See, my Master has spared this Naaman, the Syrian, and not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him. So Jehazi followed Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, is all well? Jehazi said, all is well. My Master has sent me to say, they have just come now to me from the hill country of Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing. And Naaman said, be pleased to accept two talents. And he urged him and tied up two talents of silver and two bags with two changes of clothing and laid them on two of his servants. And they carried them before Jehazi. And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house and he sent the men away and they departed. He went in and stood before his Master. And Elisha said to him, where have you been, Jehazi? And he said, your servant went nowhere. But he said to him, did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? There's a spirit of prophecy upon Elisha. It happened. Was it a time to accept money and garments? Olive orchards and vineyards? Sheep and oxen? Male servants and female servants? Therefore, in view of what you've done, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever. So he went out from his presence a leper like snow." Let's pray. Father, Lord, here I am this morning talking about a subject that can seem somewhat, Lord, on the negative end of things. It's not exactly an encouraging message. But Lord, Your Word is profitable. I pray You'd use this in all of our lives. Lord, in ways even that we don't even recognize, we need to examine ourselves in the area of whether we're being deceitful right now in our present life. And maybe we don't even recognize it. So Father, I pray, Lord, if anyone here is in the middle of some sort of deceit, some sort of lie, would You even use this, Lord, to smite them with Your loving hand of discipline? And Lord, we just thank You for Your goodness to us today. In Jesus' name, Amen. So what is first? What is lying? Just a few introductory thoughts. What is lying? Lying is when you intend to deceive someone. You're trying to deceive them. You're trying to get them to think one thing when it's actually something entirely different. And often we lie with this member right here, this mouth and this tongue, and we speak words that communicate something, and it can create a deception. We see in the book of James, it talks about the tongue and how this little member can even burn down an entire forest. Gehazi 22, he says, All is well, my Master has sent me. That's a flat-out lie. Elisha did not send him. My Master has sent me. There he is trying to deceive. So you can deceive with your mouth. And you can deceive with your actions. Lying does not just happen with the spoken word and words coming out of your mouth. You can deceive with your actions. Look at v. 25. He went and stood before his Master. The guy's living in a lie at this point. And he goes and stands before his Master after doing all this lie, acting like all is okay, all is fine. It's not fine. You can lie with your life. It's not just done in speech. Jeremiah 23 says people walk in lies. Well, how do you walk in lies? Isn't lies just something you speak with your mouth? No. You can walk in the midst of deception, deceiving others, deceiving yourself. Somewhat like the criminal, they've robbed the bank, they've got the money, they apparently got away with it. And they go for 20 years, no one knowing who robbed the bank, and they're living as a fugitive. And in the back of their mind, they know they're living a lie. They know they got away with something. They've yet to be exposed. They're living a lie. So this man Gehazi right here on this day in his life, and isn't it amazing how fast all this happened? It all happened on one day. Your life can radically be flipped upside down on its head in one day. One day. It's incredible. It's terrifying. And as you can see here, Gehazi, when you think about what is lying, Gehazi is lying. It's a selfish act that he is doing to protect himself and to try to get his own way. He has riches he wants to obtain, and in order to get those riches, he's using deceit and lying. And it's amazing what the Scriptures have to say about lying. I mean, it's absolutely incredible. When you think about the Bible, it talks about sins of sexual sin, idolatry, and it talks about sins of lying. I mean, again and again and again. From the garden all the way to the end in Jezebel, you've got people lying and deceiving people. And I by no means am going to deal with every situation like Rahab and others who I would say lied, and they sinned by their lie. And you don't want to go to the Old Testament narrative and go to these accounts to justify lying. You don't go to the Old Testament and say, well, look, it records here Samson lied. It records here Rahab lied. Therefore, that must be justifiable for me to lie. Remember, everything in the Old Testament historical narrative is not put in there for an example. You have to test these things to figure out what should be imitated, what should not be imitated. But some of these questions I'm just not going to get to. It's not dealing with Gehazi. But we know from Proverbs 6, it talks about seven things the Lord hates. Seven things that are an abomination to the living God. It's interesting for something to make the list of abomination, and one of those things is a lying ton. It's an abomination to God. So that's what is lying. Secondly here in the introduction is who was Gehazi? It's interesting who is doing the lying here. And first thing with Gehazi is he's a man who failed to benefit from his great spiritual privileges. We see a man here who lied, who had immense spiritual light and privileges, and that did not prevent him from lying in the manner he did. You would think, you would hope even with our own children, all the immense spiritual light they have would cause them to recognize God is present everywhere. I should not lie. Yet even with Gehazi, it doesn't matter. I mean, this is a man, he'd witnessed the Shunammite's son being raised from the dead. Wouldn't that help you not lie? I mean, someone was raised from the dead. I saw it. This is a man who had just seen Naaman healed of leprosy. The only leper healed in that entire era of human history. Did that prevent Gehazi from lying? It did not. You could say Gehazi was a servant of a famous preacher who was on staff at a well-known ministry who apparently thought his salary was too low. And there's a lot of that happening today in our world. It's amazing people in well-known ministries who are flat-out liars. We don't want that to be said of us. I don't want that to be said of me. And a lot can happen in one day. In one day here. Obviously, stuff happened previously to this one day, but all this unfolds in one day. But Gehazi was a man of great spiritual privilege. It talks in these chapters about there are the sons of the prophets. And now Gehazi is called a servant. Was he one of the sons of the prophets? Was Gehazi the man who was going to come after Elisha as Elisha came after Elijah? You can't say. It looks like he was more so a servant. But despite all he had witnessed, it didn't restrain his deceit. Who's a New Testament parallel of this? Who had a whole lot of light in the New Testament that you thought would have prevented them from being a liar and it didn't prevent them? Judas. You want to talk about having the greatest amount of light? You have the light of the world. You've got Jesus. And you witness all these things, and yet, not only do you lie, he didn't lie to get riches. I mean, he did. He got some money. But he lied, deceiving, leading to Christ's very own crucifixion. He lied to have Christ murdered. Second thing here about Gehazi. We're thinking about who's doing the lying here. Gehazi was a man who didn't just entertain a greedy desire, but he actually sought out to satisfy that desire. That's important because there's a lot of people who inwardly desire these things. Maybe it's for a few weeks of their life. Maybe they never have access and an opportunity to lie. But they're harboring the desire. You know what? It's somewhat scary. You know, when you think about it, you struggle with this inward temptation and this lust and you say, well, I can be slow to kill this because there's no access to it right now. You don't want to have that mindset. Because in one day, Naaman ends up being there and all of a sudden, this man is lying. We've got to kill these desires when they start to tempt us in our heart. It looks like even Elisha says the very purpose behind what Gehazi was planning to do with the money. Look at verse 26. In Elisha's calling out of the liar, he says to him, was it a time to accept money and garments, all of orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants? It's as if Elisha knew what he was already going to plan to do with all the riches he had just gotten. I'm going to get this vineyard. I'm going to get these servants. I mean, I'm a servant. Well, now I'm going to have people serving me. It's not worth it. Another thing about Gehazi. Gehazi was a man who rushed into his sin apparently without really contemplating the consequences of his actions. There's nothing here that he doesn't go away for a moment and think about it. He starts to think about this door is about to close. If I don't do something right now, I will fail at my one opportunity in life to become a millionaire. So he acts. He lied. And who did he lie to? Elisha is the man who just... what did he just have happen a few chapters earlier? He got a double portion of the Spirit of God that Elijah had had. You want to talk about lying to Elijah. Here Elisha is who has a double portion of the Spirit of God upon him. And you're lying to that man. Gehazi, in essence, lied to the person on earth who had the greatest discernment of anyone alive who the Spirit of God and of prophecy was upon. Gehazi lied to that man. Wouldn't you contemplate that for a moment? Is this really worth lying to this guy? Maybe I can lie to that guy and I'll get away with it. I'm lying to Elisha. Incredible. Kind of like Judas. Christ knew. It was all God had a plan. Judas chose to do what he did, but the Lord worked it all for good. Another thing about Gehazi here. Gehazi was a man who suffered the due punishment for his sin. There are certain people, they don't suffer... let me restate that. Maybe he didn't suffer the due punishment. Maybe the due punishment right there was being killed. I don't know. But he got leprosy. And it says that his punishment, verse 27, was to his descendants forever. He didn't get away with this. There's many people, they lie, they get away with lying. They deceive, they get away with it. They don't have any punishment come upon them. But this man, he didn't get away with it. He thought he had accomplished his plan, but he was dead wrong. And in return, he laid up this curse of leprosy upon his descendants forever. Another thing about Gehazi. Gehazi is a man of whom we don't clearly know the end of his story. We see him in a few places. The one time after this is in chapter 8 when he is before the king talking about the Shunammite woman. That's the one time we clearly see Gehazi after this narrative. And it describes him as a servant of God. I don't necessarily think that means he was still a servant of Elisha at that point. It's describing what he was known as possibly, but it's just not clear what happened after this point. What happened after he got leprosy? It says in v. 27, he went out from his presence, a leper. Out from his presence, meaning isolated from Elisha. But we don't know the clear end of him as clearly as Judas, right? People compare Gehazi and Judas. Judas we know went and committed suicide, painted himself on a tree. We know he perished. We don't have enough light in Old Testament historical narratives to know what happened specifically to Gehazi. Now this is a warning to us when we think about Gehazi. This is a warning. We're going to look at in a minute 15 brief characteristics of how to identify a liar. And here you see, the man who's lying had great privileges and that did not prevent him from lying. And we should be warned, the one who lives in lies and is a slave of deceit is no Christian at all. Revelation 21, in the list of who will be cast into the lake of fire, it says all liars will have their portion and will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death. That's a lot worse than leprosy in this life. It's having fire on your flesh that is unquenchable for all of eternity. In Psalm 5, it says you destroy those who speak lies. Okay, that's who Gehazi is. Why did Gehazi lie? Why did Gehazi lie? I have three quick things. A bad heart, a bad theology, and bad discernment. Those are three reasons here that I can gather. Obviously, greedy desires. He sees an opportunity and greed is entering his heart. He's desiring these riches. It reminds you of 1 Timothy 6. Those who desire to be rich. Again, riches are not bad. Money is not evil. But here a man is desiring to be rich, falls into temptation, then he gets snared, right? It's like the cowboy lashes him up. That snare. And he gets pulled into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root. There's many roots of all sorts of evil, but love of money is one of them. A root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. We can see this is scary. Lying because of greed? There's a path you don't want to go on. So he had bad desires. Second thing, bad theology. Look at v. 20. Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God said, see, my master has spared this name in Assyria and not accepting from his hand what he brought. You've got some bad theology here. Elisha just healed him and was very clear it's free. Gehazi's upset. Why didn't you get some money off of this man when we had the opportunity? It's like he doesn't understand the free mercy and grace of the Lord to a non-Jew. And he thinks that this man, being a man who had killed many Jews, a Syrian commander, he thinks this man, he better pay up. So, Gehazi, he's got a wrong view. With your greedy desires, you're going to distort mercy and you're not going to understand correctly the Lord and His character. And the same thing we see with Judas. Judas was mad at the expensive oil being wasted on Christ. At least, wasted is how he termed it. You see, men who give in to lies and to greed, they start to have a distorted perspective on God and mercy and kindness. And the third thing here, he had bad discernment. Elisha says, v. 26, but he said to him, the second part, was it time to accept money? There is a time, Elisha's saying. There's appropriate time for the prophets to accept money, but you missed it, Gehazi. This was clearly not the time. I was clearly leading and showing you this was not the time by rejecting this guy's offer two times. Was it time? You see, there is a time to accept money, but not in this situation. In this situation, you needed to be content. Be content. Greed leads a man to act at the wrong time. Don't proceed past the warning. Okay, that's my introduction. So I want to look real quick at 15 ways to identify a liar that we see from Gehazi here. Number one, a liar's true identity is often not revealed until they are put in a trial that reveals their true character. You tend to not know who someone really is until they face a serious trial. What would have happened if Naaman never came? What would have happened? If Naaman never came that day, Gehazi never would have lied, and when would he have been exposed? When would that have come out to the surface? This trial set before him exposed him for who he truly is. And on the positive, who did it expose for who they truly were as well? Elisha, right? I mean, you go away from this encouraged. Man, Elisha refused all these riches even though he got asked twice. What a man of God. What a man of character. And it's interesting, God will use tests and trials in your life to see what's really there. And that's what a trial often does. Deuteronomy 8, talking about the Israelites. It's interesting, one of the purposes of God for the Israelites. God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, testing you to know what was in your heart. Isn't that amazing? God was testing them with trials to bring out what was in the heart. That's one of God's purposes behind what He does. Whether you would keep His commandments or not. If we had no trials? If it was all just peace on earth? There'd be all sorts of things happening internally that would never be exposed externally. But the trial comes and you see who someone really is. So first thing, how do you identify a liar? You look at a serious trial and you see how this person responds in this situation. Here, Gehazi, it happened so fast, all of a sudden he became aware of an opportunity and he could not resist that opportunity. He saw it. There's access. I mean, I've got the ability to get all sorts of funds. I can't let the door shut. I mean, this isn't an everyday opportunity. I'll tell you, lust, it says act now, act fast. That's what lust always says. Love can wait. Lust cannot, as they say. You make Judas the treasurer. You give him access to the money. Access. Opportunity. What did it reveal about Judas? It revealed what was inside of his heart. Elisha was the blessed man who remained steadfast under trial. Okay, second thing on how to identify a liar. A liar is given an opportunity to get out. But, rather than get out, they harden their heart. The true person who's going to live a life of lies, they're going to fight against all exposure, all opportunity to confess. You know, the true Christian, they might lie like David did, but eventually, it's going to get brought to the surface. They don't want to be in deceit. How did David feel when he was in the midst of his lie? Psalm 32, God's hand was pressed down upon him and his strength is dried up. He's being crushed by the hand and the discipline of God. But Nahum, Gehazi, he has an opportunity. Look at v. 22. Gehazi gets to Nahum. Listen, he's running there. It's all well. That's the first question Gehazi gets asked. It's all well. Right? They walk in their child's door. They have some suspicion something's going on. It's all well. Is that the question you want to get asked when you're trying to hide, when you're trying to lie? Hey, brother, is everything okay with you? Oh, man, why did they ask that question? How am I going to answer that? That's like the worst question. Is everything okay? Is all well with you? It's amazing, the simplest of questions in this passage is all well, and then when Elisha said, where have you been? Those are really simple questions. Is everything okay? Where have you been? Like those two simple questions when you're lying are turned into daggers that will pierce you. Just little questions like that. When you're not lying, it doesn't bother you at all. You could ask me all day, where were you at? It doesn't matter. But little questions like that to the liar. They have the possibility of penetrating that armor of deceit that he's trying to form to hide what he's doing. It's incredible. It's all well. You think about Acts 5. Ananias, it says there, the husband died and in a way, he had no chance to repent for his lying. It says he kept back for himself some of the proceeds. His wife, though, was aware of what he was doing. And so she had an opportunity to go before them to confess to what she had done or what she knew of in Acts 5. A very simple question is, Peter said to her, tell me how much you paid for your taxes. That's not what it says. Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. Simple question. But if you're lying, a simple question like that is the worst and the last thing you want to hear. And she lied. Her and her husband had talked clearly ahead of time. They knew we're going to keep this little secret together. You're going to say this. I'm going to say that. Let's not uncover it. We've got to be in unity together or else we're going to be exposed. We want everyone in the church to think we gave everything for the land because we're really concerned about our reputation of being big givers in the church. And fill in the blank. Peter says, how is it you've agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? And then she went and walked out of the room. Right? I mean, lying is no big deal. It's not that big of a deal. She got out free. A little slap on the wrist. Is that what happened? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. Immediately, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. God killed her on the spot for lying. Gehazi gets struck with leprosy to his descendants and generation forever. On the spot. He went out from his presence a leper like snow. It didn't happen a week later. It happened right there. You see, God takes lying and deceit very, very, very, very seriously. I'd ask you this, are you aware of someone else lying and trying to cover up something for them? Think again. This woman died trying to cover up her husband's lie. Achan. Joshua 7:19 It's amazing. They pleaded with Achan. Tell me now what you've done. Do not hide it from me. Don't hide it. Stop trying to conceal it, Achan. Third thing on how to identify a liar in regards to Gehazi. A liar starts with one lie and then quickly has lied more than they can count. Right? That's what happens. The lies just compound. As J. Williams said, one sin breaks down the fence, and then others like cattle go in more easily and by a kind of license, one sin renders another sin necessary to execute it, and then one sin often renders another necessary because now you need a sin to conceal what you just executed and did. Isaac Watts, for he who does one fault at first and lies to hide it, makes it two. Daniel Rowland, by allowing one sin, we receive thousands of sins. They are like beggars. Once you receive one, you must receive many. The second more persistent than the first was. So there's no way to get rid of them, but to close the door against them. A thousand sins lie in the womb of one sin. I'm telling you, if you've let one sin in your life, if your conscience isn't clear, stop trying to just get one or two out. You get them all out. You shut the door. You get your conscience clear before the living God. Okay, a fourth thing here characteristic of how to identify a liar. A liar will try not to be seen and to conceal themselves to cover their tracks. I realize this is pretty obvious. That's basic line 101. You try to hide what you do. You don't make it obvious. If you want to get away with it. Verse 24, when He came to the hill, He said to the servants, hey guys, come back to the house with Me. Let's all have a nice meal with Elisha. Let's show them what we brought back. Well, if you were being honest, you could do that. But what does He say? When He came to the hill, He took them from their hand and put them in the house and He sent the men away and they depart. They didn't go depart on their own. He sent them away. He sent them away. Why dismiss the servants? Well, you don't want anyone there who might know the truth and then they must accidentally tell people. You know, they accidentally blurb it out. It's kind of like your kids over here in a conversation and you're at someone's house and the kid just blurbs it out. And you're like, oh no, why did they say that? Now, they might blurb something out embarrassing. Nothing deceitful or a liar or whatever. But here, these servants, these adults, get rid of them. Get rid of the only witnesses. Guys, you know what? Here, a fast-track ticket is back to Syria. Get you guys out of here. You didn't see anything here. Incredible. A liar will often appear entirely fine on the outside, but inwardly full of deceit. You know, you see that with Gehazi. He's trying to act like he's fine on the outside. It says in Psalm 62, they delight in lies, they bless with their mouth. Bless with their mouth. But, they curse inwardly. You see, you can appear to be totally fine on the outside, but inwardly you're full of lies. Number five, a liar seeks to justify their actions by trying to convince themselves that others are wrong and they are doing what is right. That others are wrong and they're doing what is right. Look at v. 20 again. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said... So here, he's about to try to justify himself. He's trying to calm his conscience. Right? Before I do this really deceitful lying thing, I need to reason with myself to figure out how I can determine that it's right. I mean, if I use illegal software for this purpose, it must be right. Even though I didn't buy the software, I can reason with it, but I can use it because this reason. Really. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, see, my master has spared this name in the Syrian. I mean, he's been spared. As the Lord lives. Oh, you're going to take an oath. I will run after him and get something from him. Isn't Gehazi helpful? He let us all know here Elisha was undiscerning and wrong to reject the money. I mean, boy, in view of that, let's go get all the money we can get. I mean, Elisha was wrong. He was being too spiritual and not taking the money. And so let's forget about his error and let's go get some for ourselves. We're totally fine in what we're about to do. That's scary. Gehazi saying to himself, what harm has Aaron taken from Naaman? I mean, he was so anxious to want to give anyways. I mean, I think of all the uses we could use this for. Man, we could build this and that for the school of the prophets. I won't even let Elisha know where the money came from. It would be an anonymous gift, because if he knows, then he'll know I still got the money and I don't want to be exposed. Incredible. Incredible. Sixth thing here, how to identify a liar. We should all be asking ourselves as we're going through these, is there any way in my life right now where I've let any type of deceit and lying into my life that is not dealing with in a radical way? Sixth, a liar will make it appear like they have someone else's interest in view. Look at v. 22. He said to them, at the end of the verse there, he says, please give them a talent of silver. So who's Elisha going to get the money for? Is it for himself? No. He's helping out these two poor seminary students who just came and they have no money. They need to be supported. I mean, this has to be something justifiable by which I can lie. I mean, the two students are non-existent, right? They don't exist. He made that up. He made that up. He made up this story. But he makes it appear like he has someone else's interest in view. The liar tries to appear not self-interested, but they are entirely self-interested. And the classic biblical example of this is who? Judas. Judas. John 12. It's amazing when you think about it. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was about to betray him, said, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? So he's really making it look like I'm so interested in the poor getting helped. Is that why he wanted that money? Was he concerned about the poor getting money? Thankfully here, the verse doesn't end. It has a clear explanation of Judas' motive to completely condemn him. Verse 6, he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. And having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put in it. You see, he said one thing that made him appear like he was very interested in helping the needy, but the truth be told, he was completely interested in helping himself. So it is with the liar. They want to make it appear like they're helping others. They want to make it appear like this has nothing to do with me. Please give them, oh, them, the invisible two students who came. They don't exist. Incredible. Seventh thing, a liar lies about others to protect their own lie. I mean, who's he lying about primarily here? He lies about Elisha. I mean, your servant's over there lying about you. He's making up this story. And he's making it appear to Naaman that the man who adamantly denied any money now wants money all of the sudden. I mean, if you're Naaman, how are you processing that? Elisha really strongly said he didn't want money. I asked him again. He didn't want money. And now his servant comes and all of a sudden, a need out of nowhere. I mean, this guy seems a little unstable. You see, you lie about someone else, it can make others believe their character in a distorted way. You can poison the mind of someone else against someone's character by lying and misrepresenting them. You can do that in a conversation after church. You can go talk about someone, distort something and slight the perspective, and all of a sudden, the people who heard that, they leave with a distorted perspective of that individual. He lies about Elisha. He attributes what he's doing to some idea that it's Elisha's idea. And that's helpful if you're Gehazi, right? Because you're not there on your own authority. Elisha sent me. You see, I've got the big guy backing me up. I'm here on his authority. The liar wants to appear like they have some big authority behind them. It's like the classic example, why do our kids ever have to do it? Why do they do it? Daddy said I could do such and such. And then Daddy didn't actually say. They're lying and using their daddy's name to have some sense of authority that they can get and do what they want to do. But you lie, you can misrepresent the truth about someone's ministry. Okay, an eighth thing. A liar will use real spiritual terms to make their deceptions seem believable. A liar will use real spiritual terms. We see that here. He took an oath just like Elisha. Elisha had. Look at v. 16. This is Elisha, but he said as the Lord lives. I'm going to copy the guy I'm under. I'm going to speak like him. V. 20, there Gehazi says as the Lord lives. He makes an oath. As long as the Lord is alive, I'm going to go do this thing. I've got God's blessing on this. Elisha has bad discernment. I know this is right. As long as the Lord lives. That is a type of swearing and making an oath. Jeremiah 12 says to swear by My name as the Lord lives. Jeremiah 5, though they say as the Lord lives, yet they swear falsely. This man took a false oath as if he was doing it for the Lord. And it was a lie. You know what the liar does? They degrade spiritual terms and use them while having no meaning at all. They just take spiritual terms and they gut them of all meaning. They go and abuse them and they put them out there in a way where people start, I don't want to hear that. The charismatics use that type of language. Those words meant something for Elisha. But they meant absolutely nothing for Gehazi. You know what this reminds you of? Someone who used very spiritual terms was the old prophet. 1 Kings 13, he said to him, I am a prophet also as you are and an angel spoke to me by the Word of the Lord. And that prophet stays, ends up getting killed by a lion on the way back. Why? Because he believed a made-up story that someone had an angel speak to them. And I bet they did have an angel speak to them. An angel disguised. A demon disguised as an angel of light. But people speak in those ways. Number nine. The ninth way to identify a liar. A liar often takes advantage of the naive. They pick easy targets. If you're going to keep lying, you have to get away with it, so you've got to pick easy targets. And so he picks Naaman. Obviously, Naaman had the riches, so he's kind of forced to pick Naaman. But it just worked out that this was a recent convert, and this is someone who clearly he saw was wanting to be very generous with his wealth. So he saw right for the picking. Right for the picking. Oh, just look at the providence there, you could say. Tenth thing, a liar will make up an elaborate and often believable story in order to get what their lust craves. Verse 22, it's amazing. It takes us out of thin air. All is well, this is why he's coming. He's describing to Naaman. My Master sent me there. There have just now... Wow, what providence. They just came to me from the hill country of Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a towel. They just happened to come. They just came and knocked on my door just after you left. I mean, what an opportunity to serve them. Naaman, you're going to be doing something good. Naaman, right? The liar wants the person they're trying to deceive to feel good about what they're doing. You're helping this poor little orphan who's in need. And in that ministry, they take all your money to the Internet and they go use it in a way to build some massive big compound in Texas and that money doesn't make it over to India and it doesn't get used as they said it would do. And the evangelical society that stamped their ministry for 20 years removed that stamp of approval because they were distorting their finances. There's ministries like that. They're being deceitful. They're tugging at your heart to get you to give and they're subtly lying. A liar makes up a big story. And it's interesting, the story was religious in nature, right? Those two students of the prophets. Two poor seminary students. I mean, they're just wanting to get good at the ministry. They're wanting to learn the Word. You can help them out, can't you? Sounds legitimate. Joseph's brother's story sounded legitimate. Right? Then they took Joseph's robe, they slaughtered a goat, dipped his robe in blood, they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and they said, this is what we have found. Please identify whether it is your son or not. It's somewhat believable. We have a robe and it has blood on it. It must be true that my son is dead. It was a lie. They made it up. And they all made it up together and they kept the lie covered for two decades. Oh, I would hate to have a burdened conscience like that. Twenty years. And to lie to your own father for that long. Yes, that's painful. When you can confess and get in the light and be free, and all the fears of what those are going to think about you, who you lied to, you find out they instead love and care about you. There might be consequences for your sin. Get in the light. Eleventh thing on how to identify a liar. Characteristic of a liar. A liar will often have others unknowingly support them in their lie. Ananias had his wife knowingly support him. But here, Naaman is actually urging Gehazi to take the money. He's even going to give more than what he originally planned. And he says in verse 23, he urged him. Did Gehazi need any urging to take the money? No, he was ready. He was like, oh, two talents, let's just go. But you know what, I need to make it appear like I'm not really interested, right? Are you sure about it? Yes, I'm so glad he's wanting me to take two talents. Okay, I guess I will. Alright, I'll take the money. I'll take the money. A liar will not appear excited about the very thing they're truly excited about because they're trying to pull one over your eyes. Twelfth thing, how to identify a liar. A liar will isolate themselves and be missing at times when they clearly should be somewhere. 520, he says, I will run after him. Right, I better get out of the house, come back. I mean, for one, Naaman's heading out of the country, that's why I've got to run. Number two, I've got to get this done fast. I've got to get this done fast. And you know, maybe get Elisha. I don't think Elisha walked into Gehazi's room and saw he was gone. I think it was the spirit of prophecy is what revealed to him what had happened. I don't think Elisha was looking over the hill and saw Gehazi's shadow running over the hill. No, God showed it to him. And we see that repeatedly through the Bible, through spirit of prophecy. God reveals something to Elisha. But you imagine, the parents are walking in the room, their kid's not there. Where should the kid be? You just get the sense something's not right. Right? You know the person who says they'll be at church and they're not there? And then they don't get your call? You're right to assume something there. You want to assume the best? The best is they didn't sleep for many days and they're sleeping for two days and they turned off their alarm. Or something crazy like that. You can assume the best, but you know what? You should be concerned. And then you go drive to their house and they're not there. Where are they? They gave my word. They said, I will see you tomorrow, brother. And then they're not here. And then they don't even answer their phone. Is something going on? Right? I mean, their Gehazi is out there lying, making up an elaborate story. So isolate. They isolate themselves. They hop out the window, you don't know where they're at. The thirteenth thing, how to identify a liar. A liar will try to move on and act as if all is okay. Right? I mean, Gehazi, you get back from doing all this. In verse 25, he went in and stood before his master. I mean, you can just kind of picture him cracking the door and coming in, I'm back here to serve you. What's the next task for the day, Elisha? What do you want me to do next? I've got to keep a straight face. Got to go right back to work. Isn't this sad? I mean, I see it with my little kids. The older you get, the more you lie, the easier you could to deceive people. But my little kids, when they've tried to lie to me, sometimes they say the dumbest stuff. And it's just obvious they're lying. And this is an adult talking to the most discerning person alive, and he says one of the dumbest things you could possibly say. Look at verse 25. Where have you been, Gehazi? Okay, I'm asked that question, so clearly he knows I went somewhere. So I need to lie and at least say I went somewhere. I went out for a run. He didn't even do that. He says, your servant went nowhere. He just said you went somewhere. He knows you went somewhere. And you're going to adamantly deny that and say you went nowhere? Look, it happens though. You're conscious you can't take it. You're trying to keep a consistent story. You're trying to lie and keep it all together. And then all of a sudden you say something really dumb and it exposes yourself. That's actually a mercy of God. That the mind slips. Or they say a contradiction in their story. But he wanted to move on. It all was okay. David wanted to do the same. David said to the messengers who reported Uriah's death, oh, don't let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now and another. Really, David? Just shrug it off. Saul, same thing. After disobeying an offer and a sacrifice, Samuel came to Saul and Saul said to him, well, blessed be the Lord, I've performed the commandment of the Lord. I did what you wanted me to do. You liar. You didn't do what I wanted you to do. You outright disobeyed me because you had impatience and you couldn't wait for me to be here to offer the sacrifice. Judas, he's in the middle of betraying Christ and he's going to sit at a table and have dinner. There might be someone sitting at your table, they're lying about you, they're going to go out that door and stab you right in the back with a knife. Incredible. Jeremiah, your trusted friends have deceived you. 3812. Fourteenth thing, how to identify a liar. A liar is bound to eventually get caught by misspeaking and revealing an inconsistency in their story. We just somewhat looked at that. It's amazing the pathetic, unthought out, knee-jerk responses people give when they're not being truthful. Fifteenth thing, a liar will try to act like they're ignorant and don't know what you're talking about. And this is repeated throughout the entire Bible. It's incredible. I mean, what does Gehazi say? I went nowhere. Oh, what do you mean, where did I go? I didn't go anywhere. What are you talking about? I didn't go anywhere. I was in my room. You know, you get evasive, defensive. Think of Cain, Genesis 4. The Lord said to him, where's your brother? What did Cain say? I don't know. Really? Really? I don't know. And then defensive. Am I my brother's keeper? Why are you asking me? It's not my business. I don't know. Get defensive, right? Plead ignorance and then get defensive. I mean, that's the classic liar. Classic trying to hide what has happened. An evasive answer to avoid a direct question that was being asked. Think about Judges 18. I had this in my morning reading the other day. Micah's priests and idols are taken and they go after them to get them, and the people respond, well, what's the matter with you? What's the matter with you? Why are you guys coming after us? What's wrong with you? And then he says, you take my gods that I made a priest and you go away and what have I left? How then do you ask me what is the matter with you? Right? But trying to be ignorant. The Pharisees, same thing. Matthew 21, they contemplated, if we say this, then Christ will rebuke us. If we say this, He's going to find us out. So we can't say A or B. We better lie. And they lie there. They say they answered Jesus. We don't know about John. They knew about John, but they knew if they answered the truth, it would condemn them, so they lied. Peter, after he denied Christ with an oath, he said, I do not know the man. I don't know. Any parent here has heard their kid say that. I don't know. Which one of you kids did that over there? Doesn't it bother you how some of the kids right away, not me! I didn't ask who didn't do it. Which one of you did do it? I'm looking for a confession, not a defense. Sixteenth thing. How to identify a liar. A liar may no longer clearly realize they are lying because their consciences have been so seared by a branding iron, they don't even recognize all the deceit and all the lies that is happening in their life. 1 Timothy 4, to insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared. And you think about Joseph's brothers. When they went before their brother after those 20 years, they told Joseph, we are honest men. Really? You're telling that to a brother who you sold into slavery? They thought they were honest men. And maybe they were in many areas of their life. But they had a lie that had never been exposed. A secret. So, some application here in closing. If you lie, you will not truly get to enjoy what you have stolen. Second, we see here the certainty of sin's detection. Certainty. 1 Timothy 5. Some people's sins are obvious going before them to judgment, but the sins of others surface later. Look, whether your sin surfaces now or at a later point, you and I are responsible to expose our sin and get it into light. A third thing, we see how we must resist evil in its beginning phase. It should scare us to see what one little lie led to. One little lie led to. And that one wrong thought. Right when Gehazi started to think, oh, Elisha was a dummy to refuse the riches. He should have repented of that thought right there. Because that thought of thinking your Master is incompetent for not taking the money, and you greedily wanting the money, and thinking this is the providence of God to give you riches, you killed that thought right there. You should have killed it. That opened the stream and the floodgates. Fourth thing, ask yourself, what are you and I's spiritual privileges doing for us? You can have a godly family, a solid church, conversations with godly preachers, and you can walk in a lie. A fifth thing, we see here our need to be content. Discontentment can be the root sin leading you to lie. 1 Timothy 6 talks about contentment with godliness. There may be opportunities before you, but deceit, if it's involved, run away. Run away. Sixth thing, oh, it was just a white lie. White, meaning pure. Is there such a thing as a pure lie? A pure lie. Well, it was a lie about a small, important matter. You know, something to help avoid hurting another person or to protect yourself. Look, are there things that people don't need to know that it would be wrong to tell them? Absolutely. There are things love conceals. That's different than lying to someone. A white lie is an excuse used to avoid a harder truth that would get exposed if you're entirely honest. Just the other day, my kids and I were watching one episode of Andy Griffiths. And Andy Griffiths, mind you, is a show shot when? 1960s. You'd hope there'd be a lot of encouraging things there to learn about character, right? Well, the whole basis of the episode was Aunt Bea got a cooking show, and therefore, they needed someone to cook for Andy and the kids at night. Well, he couldn't find any cook. So you know what Andy the father decides to leave his family in doing and be a bad testimony to his son? He decides to lie to his aunt and say we found a cook. And then Andy's the one cooking the meals. I couldn't believe it. The dad is lying, making it appear like it's okay to the kid, all because it's a pure lie. And then the episode of all things ends without them being exposed. And I'm thinking, that's being taught in the 1960s? What's being taught in the 2020s? It's incredible. George Verwer, I've mentioned this many times. Keith Green asked him, hey, did you hear my music album? George Verwer said, yeah, it's great. Well, Verwer said, later on, I had listened to some of Keith's music, but I had not listened to that album. So in comes Keith to prayer time, and I was so convicted that I had not been honest about that little detail, I pulled Keith aside and said, Keith, I need to repent for what I said to you yesterday. I broke down in tears of repentance because I could not be dishonest even in a subtle little thing. That should be you and I. We should walk so near to the Lord, so full of the Holy Spirit of God, that we are convicted over the slightest little lie, our conscience remains sensitive and not seared. Seventh thing here in the end. Are you saying I'm lying by concealing something all of the time? I mentioned something at the last point. No, I'm not saying. There's a difference between omitting of saying something and directly lying to someone. You should be well able when someone asks you a question where you can't give them the answer, you don't lie. You should be able to say to them, I can't tell you that. Right? Don't lie to them. Eighth, is there anything you're currently lying about? Proverbs 28, whoever conceals his sin will not prosper, but if he confesses and forsakes him, you will obtain mercy. You will not prosper in this life if you're lying and living in deceit. You want to expose yourself. You don't want to be like David. You don't want to be like Peter. Peter went and wept bitterly. His whole turnaround was very fast. David, it was a longer period of time. But they both got in the light. And if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, guess what? The Bible says you call him a liar. John 1, 1 John 1, 5, whoever believes in the Son has testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son. And you know what we also need to recognize? If this world is so full of liars, people are going to lie about you and me. They're going to lie about you. People are going to speak things that are false about you. That happened to Christ and He was perfect. 1 Peter, He who committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. Oh, that that would be so of us. I found no deceit in James' mouth. In this week of his life. And Jesus was reviled. What did He do? He did not revile in return. He suffered. He didn't threaten. He continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. Look, they lie about you. One day, there's going to be a judge and all justice is going to be done. All the wrongs are going to be made right. Everything that was said that was slanderous is a lie. It's all going to be on the display and the jaws are going to drop when they realize that was not true. Or they realize that was true. The thing that you hid. The chief priest accused Him of many things. Pilate just falling over his feet thinking, have you any answer to make? I mean, see all the charges they bring against you? Jesus made no further answer. So Pilate was amazed. He was amazed. Why is He not defending Himself? So, be encouraged. God does not lie. God who promises you eternal life. Titus 1 says God who never lies. Second thing, you don't ever have to lie. You don't ever have to lie. You need to believe that. Colossians 3 Do not lie to one another. Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, you've put on the new self which is being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its Creator. I don't have to lie. As a Christian, I don't have to have deceit. As a believer, there's the power of God through you being recreated by the Lord. You don't have to lie, believer. You could say as Paul that we have practiced no deceit. And we want to do the positive. Don't just not lie. Go speak the truth. You and I want to be honest people. Honest. Thirteen years ago, when by God's grace, I started the I'll Be Honest website. Why did I even name it I'll Be Honest? I was so fed up with people who lied. In the old church, people would tell me things like they'd come to me weeks later and say, I'll be honest. Well, that means you weren't being honest before. What you said then was a half-truth. Now, look, they might have forgotten something. They might have clarified it more in their own thoughts and they weren't lying when they came back and said that. We should be able to say, I'll be honest. I'm being totally honest, transparent with you in what is necessary for our relationship. I have no deceit. I have no lies. Amen. Let's pray. Father, please, Lord, help us to walk in the purity of Your light exposed by the rays of You who see everything. Lord, You see all of it. Father, I think of my own life as I prepare this message, Lord, even as I've preached it. Lord, I don't want to be deceived. Father, if there's anything in my life that has any form of deceit that I have committed that I am unaware of, Lord, I pray You would show that to me. Lord, that I not be a hypocrite. Lord, that I not let that one point about one thing leading to another. Lord, if there's any crack in my own foundation, in my brothers and sisters, Lord, show it to us. Lord, help us. Help us by Your grace. Lord, thank You for making us new. Thank You for being a God of truth. Lord, we trust You. In Jesus' name, Amen.