God’s Purpose in a Variety of Testings: Lies and Deception

God's Purpose in a Variety of Testings: Lies and Deception

Please turn with me this morning for our Scripture reading, if you will, to 1 Samuel chapter 19. 1 Samuel chapter 19. I'd like to begin the reading there in verse number 1. 1 Samuel chapter 19, beginning in verse number 1, we read, And Saul spake to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David, saying, Saul, my father seeketh to kill thee. Now, therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee. And what I see, that I will tell thee. And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee word very good. For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel. Thou sawest it. Didst rejoice. Wherefore, then, wilt thou sin against innocent blood to slay David without a cause? And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan. And Saul sware, As the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain. And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past.

And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter. And they fled from him.

And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand. And David played with his hand. And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin. But he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

Let's mark our Bibles, please, to this portion of Scripture for our morning message. And let's look to the Lord again in a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, as we are passing through these Scriptures, that we have been looking at your purpose in the different appointments of different trials in our lives and what it is that you have done for us. And what it is that you have done for us. And what it is that you have done for us. And what it is that you have done for us. And what it is that you want us to gain from these things as we are going through them, as we face these different trials. Some of us today may be facing certain tests, while others are facing a different kind of test, even at this time. Lord, we all are at different places in our walk with you and different stages in the testings of life. But we pray, Lord, that whatever test we may be facing at the moment, that it would have its effectual work in our lives. And that as a result of these things, we would not, even as we saw last week, we would not be bitter, but we would be bettered by the tests that you are appointing for our lives. Bless us now as we meditate on these words that we've read and as we begin to expound them, Lord, in a few moments. We pray that you'll be with us in that time as well. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

This morning I'd like to speak to you in the series of messages we've been looking at, God's purpose in a variety of testings. I want to speak this morning on the subject of being lied to. Have you ever been lied to? Have you ever been misled? Have you ever been deceived? Well, this is something that David certainly experienced. He was deceived by Saul. He was misled. And there's really not anything. There's nothing he could have done to know that he was being deceived. I don't see anything here that we could look back and say, you know, David should have known. David should have known. No, he was in God's path for his life. He was in following God's leading by all accounts, especially at this time in his life. And we could look back at, Eve and Adam in Genesis chapter 3 and say, Eve, you should have known better. You should not have been deceived. God has given Adam and you through your husband. He's given you his word. He told you. In fact, you even repeated the words, at least sort of repeated the words to the serpent of what the Lord has said that you're not supposed to do. We can see from that that it's possible that we might know what's right and still be deceived. But that's not immediately what we're dealing with here this morning.

What we're dealing with here this morning is a situation where David, David trusted the word. He took Saul at his word. He took Saul at his word and that trust was abused. Some people will abuse your trust and they will purposely mislead you as we see here with the case of Saul towards David. And Saul had directly attempted to take David's life. Somebody might say, well, he should have known better because he had already tried to take his life, right? But we see that the first attempt, well, there's a couple of different attempts. He tried to spear him in chapter 18. Look there, 1 Samuel chapter 18, back over in the previous chapter, verse number 10. And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times.

And there was a javelin in Saul's hand and Saul cast the javelin for he said, I will smite David, even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. Two attempts. He avoided the javelin evidently twice here. And then indirectly, the rest of the chapter is basically showing how and whether or not David was directly conscious of Saul's intentions in this. Saul is trying indirectly to kill David by putting him in dangerous situations with the Philistines. Surely the guy, he's going to die. He's going to die, but he didn't. The Lord spared his life. He did not die at the hands of the Philistines. In fact, we see that again in our text this morning, don't we? He goes out and fights the Philistines again and he doesn't die. He lives. And this makes Saul mad. He is upset that David, God's blessing is upon him. This angers Saul.

But sadly, as we said, we probably have all at some time in our lives been lied to. We've been misled. I mean, just in the business world, somebody says they're going to do something, they're going to follow through on their part of the deal, and they don't. They lie to you because of advantage. Because of some material financial advantage, they want to get the leg up and then, they will lie to your face. Just a bold lie. What do we call it? A bald-faced lie or something like that. The lie, they'll just lie to you. And you may have had to take a financial loss at some point in your life because of lies that were told. Somebody said they were going to pay and they didn't pay. You had to have some level of trust in that business partner or customer or whatever it was, and they just didn't pay. They didn't come. They didn't come through. Maybe we've been in a very close family relationship. Someone lied to us. It could be in any number of situations that we've been lied to, and yet, and yet, in due time, the actions betrayed the words, right? The actions betrayed the promises that were made with the mouth. And it became, evident that what the individual said was not really what they meant. It was not the truth of what was in their heart, and so it became apparent.

In verse 1 of our text today, Saul was mad enough that he tells his son Jonathan, and he tells all of his servants, he says all of his servants, if you see David, kill him. He was that mad. He was mad enough that he, he wasn't hiding his anger. He wasn't hiding it. He was unstable because he was jealous, number one. He was jealous of David. He was jealous of David because all David was was a shepherd boy. David was a, compared to Saul, who was a man of great stature, head and shoulders, we might say, and I believe in so many words the Scripture does say that, he was taller than all those around him. He was a man built for battle, but David was the one that God had used to go and defeat the giant Goliath. So David, Saul, became jealous of him, not only because of what David accomplished, but because of what people said about David. Remember they sang the song, Saul was slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands. If we haven't figured it out by now, we ought to assume that when we look in the Scriptures, not just in our minds figure it out, but we must understand that God does not use the proud and the mighty.

God uses the small and the humble, doesn't he? He always does that. Time and again, the Bible talked about themes running through the Bible. That's a theme running through the Bible. And it ties into what we said in the Sunday school lesson this morning. Humility. God gives grace to the humble. He resists the proud. It's just a, it's just a pattern. And so we see when Saul began his reign, he had some sense of humility about it, didn't he? He says, basically, who am I that you would choose me? Well, if that was truly the attitude of his heart that was maintained throughout his reign, then we wouldn't maybe be reading about David, right? We wouldn't be reading about this. But now we see that he's jealous instead of being happy for David. What does the scripture say? Rejoice with those that rejoice, right? Weep with those that weep. That is the call that God has placed upon us as believers, is that we are not to be comparing ourselves with ourselves. Who among us is sufficient for anything except by God's grace? There's nothing in any of us. And so we don't need to be comparing ourselves.

But here we see that Saul was. He was jealous. He was jealous. Because he was proud. He was jealous because he was proud. Do we have jealousy in our lives because of pride? You know, if you are jealous of someone, I can guarantee you it will go back to some root of pride in your heart, in my heart. If we're jealous of someone, it's always rooted in pride. It's always rooted in pride. And Saul's pride was hurt. Saul's pride was hurt. Instead of… When the prophet Samuel came to him and said, the Lord hath rejected thee from being ruler over Israel, instead of humbling himself and saying, the Lord is right and I have failed, but like David did, restore unto me a right spirit. Against thee only have I sinned and done this wicked thing in thy sight. Lord, have mercy upon me. No, that's not what we see Saul did. We see Christ… Crocodile tears. We see, oh, you know, this is… I hate that. But I'm… He was not repentant, truly repentant over his sin. And we see that because of this, he was afraid. He lived in fear. He lived in fear. That's how he went day by day. But why?

And it was directly related to the problem he had with God. It was direct… It wasn't… His problem wasn't primarily with David. His problem was with God. And because of his problem with God, he had a problem with David. And that's how it works with us as well. If we have pride in our hearts, we will be jealous in some form of somebody else. And we will have… And there will be the evidence at times that will come out. It can come out in anger. So we must get the matter right with the Lord. That's why David, when he… His thorough repentance, he said, Lord, against thee only have I sinned. I've done this. And I am in the wrong. Now, because of that, he had fear. So we see his disobedience was rooted in pride. It fed his jealousy and caused him to live in a state of paranoia, fear, continually, because of that. But Saul told Jonathan here, and all the servants, kill David. Go, kill David. He's my problem, in so many words. He is my problem. If I… Maybe life will be better if I can get rid of David, you know? If I get rid of David, then things will go better for me. But that was not the case.

Look down, if you will, though. Jonathan goes… He tells David, in verses 2 and 3, I'm going to speak to my father. Maybe he'll change his mind. Maybe… Maybe he'll get right about this matter. And he does. And David… David's… David has a tender heart. David says, I'll go along with that. I'll… I'll commit to go along with that plan, Jonathan, because you know your father better than I do. I'm putting words in David's mouth. He didn't say those words, but I can just imagine him saying something like that. He obviously… He cooperated with it. You hide yourself, David. I'm going to go talk to my father. So he hides himself, and Jonathan goes and talks to his father. Verse 4.

And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee were very good, for he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord brought a great salvation. He goes on and tells him all the things that he's done. Don't forget, Father, all that David has done for you, all that David has done for the cause of Israel, and in service to God. He reasoned with his father on the basis of David's merits. Well, that's… I'm not saying that's bad, per se, but that's not even the core of the issue. The core of the problem was not even… You shouldn't do him wrong because he's done you good. You know, that's how the gent… I mean, that's just… That's just…

You could go to somebody on the street and appeal to them that doesn't even know the Lord and appeal to them on the basis of don't treat your, you know, don't treat your so-and-so wrongly because what have they done to you kind of thing. That's the… You know, or maybe they failed, but they still love you. Just, you know, try to work it out. That's just reasoning on that level with Saul, his father, not even from the standpoint of you know that God sees your heart. He didn't even say that. He just said, David's been good to you. Why would you treat him this way? Why would you treat him in this fashion? David hasn't done anything to deserve this. Well, he's done good for you and your kingdom, but Saul listened. Saul had a moment of clarity, I guess we can say, and he at least nodded in agreement with what…

Jonathan was saying to him at this time and he hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan and Saul's swear. He promised. He says, as the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain. Those are dangerous words. He's swearing on the Lord. He's saying, he's using religious sounding speech here and saying, God sees us. God sees it all and I promise. I swear. As God is my witness, as God is watching and God is alive and God is well, nothing's going to happen to David. That's a pretty strong promise. That's a very strong promise. That's as strong as you can get to say, I won't do anything to harm him. Nothing's going to happen to him. And Jonathan, well, he took his father at his word and evidently, obviously, David took, Saul at his word.

If David hadn't taken Saul at his word, he wouldn't have gone back into his presence, would he? Well, I believe he's really changed. I believe a change has happened here. I believe he's telling me the truth in this situation. Well, he, Saul was acting like he cares about the fact that God is watching. He brought God into that statement and pretends that his motives toward David have now been changed. And it may be in a sense that he was remorseful a bit at that moment. I say remorseful. I don't say repentant towards God, but he may have been remorseful for how he had treated David. You know, I shouldn't have done that. I really shouldn't. David has been good to me. And I think sometimes in marriages, in churches, these kinds of things can happen.

But the issue at the root is not addressed. You have pride that's leading you to jealousy and it's leading you to do and say things that are continually hurtful because you're not addressing the root issue that's underneath. We just sort of, you know, kiss and make up. We just glaze it over and we think it's all going to be okay, but it's not. It's going to flare back up again because you have not addressed the root of pride that's here. You haven't dealt with it. And therefore, what you even may in that moment have thought, I'm sincere in this, it became a lie because you still have a problem between you and God. You have a problem between you and the Lord. Verse 7 says, in verse number 7 we read, and Jonathan called David. And Jonathan showed him all those things.

And Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was in his presence. As in times past, you know, the good old days, like the good old times, you know, back like things were before. And I believe David was hopeful. I'd have to wonder whether or not he had a thought in the back of his mind. I hope this works out. I hope he really has changed. I hope. Well, you know, that's the way, I believe 1 Corinthians 13 talks about charity is, isn't it? It hopeth all things. It doesn't keep a checklist, a record, a score of all the wrongs that have been done against it, right? And this, David has a pure heart in how he's coming back. I'm sure, yes, the wounds are still there, but he's trying to heal. He's trying to make it right. But he's being, he's being lied to. He's being lied to here.

You know, love is, love needs trust too, doesn't it? We need to, we love the Lord, but we, because He first loved us, we trust that He, He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will never fail us. He's never failed us. He will not let us down. We, we trust Him. We can trust Him unlike we can trust anyone else. No matter how good they've been to us, we can, we can trust the Lord at all times. We can pour out our heart before Him at all times because He's faithful. His mercy endures to all generations as we saw, as we saw this morning. Well, as, as much as Saul may have felt remorse in that moment when the facts were presented to him, you know, I can't argue against that case, Jonathan. You, you're, you're definitely right. You're definitely right in what you're saying. I should not have done that.

David has been very good to me in my kingdom. He's been very good. He's only done good to me. Yeah, I can't, I can't argue with that. But, what does Jeremiah 17, 9 say? It says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The heart of Saul is deceitful. The heart of Saul is deceitful. The heart of Saul is deceitful. The heart of Saul is deceitful. The heart of Saul is deceitful. The heart of Saul is deceitful. It certainly proved to be deceitful here, didn't it? It proved to be deceitful. But, I, I think the Lord, that when we look at David's life, we don't see that he grew bitter as a result of the deception that happened to him. He did not grow bitter and angry and, and, and fearful over all these things. He, he was very transparent in saying, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

And he, was afraid. We all get afraid, don't we? But, at those times, what do we do with that fear? Do we just wallow in it? Or do we take it to the throne of grace and we say, Lord, I'll trust in you with these things that I'm facing. With the things that are happening to me. I think about Laban and how he tricked Jacob into marrying Leah when he had the understanding that he was marrying Rachel. He deceived him. He lied to him. And yet, all things work together for good, don't they? To God's people, to those that love God and are called according to his purpose. There was a purpose in the deception that God overruled. In the overarching reality of things, he overruled the purposes and the intentions of Laban and the purposes and the intentions of Saul in this.

God, as we've said before, can work through you, he can work without you, or he can work in spite of you. And I think in this case, we see that he worked in spite of Saul in this situation. In spite of Saul's intentions, the Lord had a greater plan. He had a greater purpose in this deception that he allowed to come to pass. And so, had it not been for this intense test of being deceived, I don't think we would have had, nearly as much of what we benefit from in the book of Psalms from David's heart had it not been for the fact that he walked through the test that God put him through with Saul, with King Saul. David learned through this test that actions speak louder than words, didn't he? I'm sure he did. That actions speak louder than words. He learned what not to do, as king. Now, that doesn't mean that David was sinlessly perfect in his reign. We have certainly taken the time as we've gone through the study of the kings. I could not help but think of this passage as we were looking at the matter of deception this morning. This is a perfect example. But David learned what not to do. Has God put people in your life that you look at and you say, well, thank the Lord for that bad example. Thank the Lord for that deception. As I look back on it, that lie, that person that lied to me, because I can learn what not to do. But you know it's not good enough just to know what not to do. I know that a child can look at his parents and say, well, I don't want to be like them and that.

But if there's pride in the heart, they'll end up being twice as bad as their parents were in the thing that their parents did. There must be humility in the heart. Lord, not I'll never do that or I'll never be like that. No. Oh, Lord, keep me from that. I'm weak. I will do the same thing without your grace. And I believe that was the difference. That's why David, it was said of him, he was a man after God's own heart. He was a man after God's own heart. Look at some of the prayers that David prayed. I think he learned many of the lessons here that the Lord wanted him to learn. Let's look over in Psalm 19, verse 13. Psalm 19. Verse number 13. He says in Psalm 19, verse 13, keep back thy servant, me, David, keep me back from presumptuous sins, those sins of arrogance, willful pride.

Keep me from them. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright and shall be innocent. From the great transgression. We know the next verse very well, don't we? Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. But the previous verse and so many words, keep me from pride, Lord. Keep me from pride. He prayed the Lord would keep him from anger. Look in Psalm 39, verse 1. Psalm 39, verse number 1. I said I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. We might say that can apply to a lot of different sins, right? But keep my tongue. Keep me from saying.

My heart, he says in verse 3, was hot within me while I was musing. The fire burned. Then spake I with my tongue. Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how frail I am. Lord, keep me in my place. Help me not to use my tongue for sin. Help me not to lash out in anger. Help me not, well, even we could say to speak arrogant words or lies. Lying words or any words, any corrupt communication as the New Testament says. Let it not proceed out of my mouth. We see also in Psalm 141. Look over there with me. Psalm 141, verse 3. He has a lot to say in his prayers to God about his tongue. Psalm 141, verse 3. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Keep the doors of my lips.

Incline not mine heart, but incline not mine heart, as he says here, to practice to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity. And let me not eat of their dainties. Let, listen to this, let the righteous smite me. It shall be a kindness. And let him reprove me. It shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head. For yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. David is admitting his need and praying for the Lord to keep him from the very thing that he hates in his enemies. It's important, and we see it with David, it's important that we not only hate, what someone's doing to us because of how it makes us feel. We must hate the sin itself. Because if we don't come to hate the sin, and just the sinner, or the one that's perpetrating the action, or the words, or whatever it may be, upon us, it's lied to us.

You know, I can't stand that person. They lied to me. Well, that's not good. But it would be even better, and it would be right and pleasing to the Lord if we would move past that, even like our Lord said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Now, some people know what they're doing, but Father, forgive them. But Lord, help me not, help me not to commit the same sin. Keep me. And we see that humility, and God gives grace, as we've already said, to the humble. God gives grace to the humble. Well, we notice that all these prayers, I believe these prayers we've just read by David here, were born, they were forged in the trial. They were forged in the experience of testing that he had in his life. God wants us to know more about his grace through the things he puts us through.

He wants us to know him better. That's why, ultimately, he's putting us through those things. He doesn't just like to say, I like to see you squirm a little bit. You know, I really get enjoyment out of watching you squirm in the trial. No. But those that he loves, he chastens, right? Those that he loves, he teaches, even through difficult circumstances. He does it. And if we come away from being lied to, and don't hate the sin of lying, but just see the sin of lying, and don't hate the sin of lying, and don't hate the individual, then we miss the point of the testing. We miss the reason why God was putting us through that in the first place. We miss the whole point. And so, the common response is, I'm not going to trust anybody anymore.

I'm just not, you can't trust anybody. Everybody is a liar. I think, wasn't it David at some point, that I said, all men are liars. Well, sometimes you might feel like that. You know, you might feel that way, but no, that's not the conclusion we need to come to. Everybody's a liar. Well, everybody's heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. In and of ourselves, apart from God, there is no hope. But thank God, that he has his people, he has his plan, he has his purposes, even when he puts us through things that we may not understand, why did that happen? Why did that person, why was I allowed to go into a situation where I did the best I could to discern whether or not I was being lied to and I was still lied to and taken advantage of? No, I can trust the Lord.

We can come through it and say, well, how many hymns? How many hymns do we sing that says something to the effect of, you know, earthly friends may fail and flee, earthly doubts, earthly fears, and fears of sale, things like that. You know, but Jesus never fails. The contrast there of men may fail, but the Lord never fails. Isn't that the point of the testing we need to come to? The Lord will never, I may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I have come to the conclusion that I can always rely on the Lord. Don't focus on what I can't rely on, but say, I can rely on the Lord. And you know, and David's burden, I mentioned this this morning, David's burden, even as a man, as he was getting older and older, and he knew his days were limited, he said, Lord, forsake me not until I've showed thy strength.

I don't want to be a failure, Lord. I know I've failed you in many things throughout my life, but Lord, I want to end my life strong. I want to end my life, and I want to be able not to be the hypocrite, but to point people to you until they may see your strength in my life. That is my prayer, because I know I'm weak. I know I need you. I know that, I know that, I know that, I know that, I know that, I know that, I know that, I know that, I know that, I know that, I know that without you I would be proud and boastful. So, even as we, as we read, turn over with me, if you will, to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1. And let's pick up the reading there in verse number 5. 1 John chapter 1, verse number 5. It's there in verse number 5.

We read, This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The conclusion we must come to is that God is light. That's synonymous with truth here. He is, he cannot lie. There is no darkness in him. There is no lying in him. There is no deception in him. He is truth.

And we ought to walk in truth and walk in light, right? We ought to walk in the light. The only way we can walk in the truth is to walk in his light. To walk in the light of his word, right? The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, right? And David prayed, order, I believe that he said, order my steps according, according to thy word. Let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Lord, if there's this continual dependence we see in David, don't let any sin, let any iniquity have dominion over me. Because I know it will if I, if I'm not leaning on you, I'll just be deceiving myself. How many times have we heard that's the worst kind of deception, self-deception, to be self-deceived into thinking, well, I'm doing pretty good, you know? I'm doing pretty well. No.

God cannot lie. There's no darkness in him. If I've been lied to and I don't grow closer to the Lord as a result of that experience, I'm missing, once again, I'm missing the point of the trial. Who lies? The devil lies. He's the father of lies, isn't he? Year of your father, the devil, Jesus said of the religious hypocrites of his day, Pharisees. He said, year of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it. And the devil motivates liars, but God motivates truth-tellers. He empowers us to tell the truth, doesn't he? He empowers, he empowers Christians to speak truth.

Sometimes speaking truth is not easy, is it? Sometimes truth is unpopular. Many times it's unpopular, but to speak what is true and not shy away from speaking truth is something that we'll need the Lord's help to do. Before we close, let's look in Ephesians chapter 4, please. Ephesians chapter 4. And let's look there in verse 11. This well-worn passage of Scripture, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, says in verse number 11 that our Lord gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. We've mentioned before that word for perfecting is the idea of completing, I believe it's, the same word that was used of the disciple fishermen mending their nets.

They were making whole again and completing that which was needing mending and to be brought back to a state of wholeness. That's what the Lord's doing in our lives. He's perfecting the saints. He's given these ministers of the word for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Why? That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. So we're living in a world that is full of deception. We're living in, a world where there's a lot of different winds of doctrine, teaching.

There's the slight of men, the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, intentionally so. And yet, we are to be doing something far different, aren't we? We are to be speaking the truth in love. How do we even do that? How do we speak the truth? Well, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, right? Where does he speak? Speaking one to another of the Lord because he is the true one. He is the one that, whose word we can trust. His word will not fail. We, our children, we taught them that little song from a child. I learned it when I was a child. God's word will never fail. Never fail. We know that. We've heard it since a child.

And I think one of our children liked the part that said, no, no, no, at the end. God's word will not fail. We can trust his word. And if we can trust his word, then we ought to be speaking the truth of his word to one another, right? We ought to be sharing what is true. We ought to be, Philippians 4, thinking on what is true. So if the meditation of my heart, as David prayed it would be, and the words in my mouth are truth, how can I not through the Lord's strength be a blessing to another? And that's what we are called to be. We are called to be a blessing, to inherit a blessing. We are called to speak the truth in, as it says here in this passage, speaking the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love. Well, if we're going to hate sin, not only in other people, you know, even sinners hate sin in other people.

They hate how it affects their lives, right? You know, the few ruin it for the many. How many times have you heard that, right? The few ruin it for the many. Well, it's true. It's true. But is that all we're going to learn in life? The few ruin it for the many. Well, why is that so? And is that also a problem with me? As Christians, why? Why should we hunger after God's Word? Because we know how weak and nothing we are without God. Lord, fill me with Your grace. Fill me with Your Word so that I can be a channel of blessing. That the love of Christ may be seen flowing through my life. Because if left to my own self and my own imaginations and my own desires, apart from You, Lord, I know where I'd be. And so, I love Your Word. I meditate on Your Word.

Blessed is the man. He doesn't walk, sit, stand among the ungodly and their counsel and all of that. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. He meditates in it day and night. He'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Well, you know, I've had so many bad things happen to my life, I just can't really spiritually get victory. Well, God brought those things in order to help you to see your need, so that you might have spiritual victory in your life. Meditate on God's Word. Speak it. Walk in the truth. Don't just say, I'm walking in the truth, but let us walk in the truth and speak the truth and love one to another. May once again, and I know I said this last week, but may the trials of life, the test of life, not make us bitter.

May they make us better because we're looking to the Lord We're looking to the one who is true, who tells the truth always, who doesn't lie to us. And may that be true of our lives as we go forward. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the reminders of your word this morning. We thank you that we have this vivid example with David and how he was lied to by Saul. That's a very serious lie. All lies are serious, but when we invoke the name of God in our lives, in our lying, when we invoke God and say, as God liveth, he will not die. That is a very fearful thing. And Lord, we pray that you would help us to help us to recognize deception when we see it and lies when we see it. And Lord, help us to humble ourselves and truly desire with all of our hearts like we have a wonderful example that we see in David of doing this.

That we may, like David, we can even pray the words of these prayers he prayed. If it's from our hearts, Lord, help us set a watch over the door of our lips, of our mouths. Lord, help us, keep us from arrogant and presumptuous sins. Keep us from corrupt communication proceeding out of our mouth. Help us, Lord, to identify, with your help, as you search us and try, see if there be any wicked way in us, Lord. Identify any pride there that would lead to all these other things that are manifestations that issue forth from a proud heart. And instead, fill us with your grace. Fill us with your love. Fill us with your truth that we might be truth tellers and we might tell the truth in love. We pray these things now. We ask them in Jesus' name. Amen.