Discover The Word

IDEA: We lie to ourselves about ourselves before we lie about others. TEXT: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).

PURPOSE: To help listeners recognize the danger in not admitting their lies.

Have you ever talked with a woman who has been physically or verbally abused by her husband? How does she explain why she has allowed this to go on?

Have you ever talked to the abusive husband about what he has been doing? How does he justify it?

I. The most fundamental lies we tell are those we tell to ourselves about ourselves.

We suffer from cognitive dissonance.

We can often see things in others that we refuse to see in ourselves.

Do you think that we lie to ourselves very often? Why?

II. When we fail to confront the false testimony we give to ourselves, we will find ourselves denouncing sin in others that we cultivate in ourselves.

We can punish our children for what we allow in ourselves.

We can see sins in others.

“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’ and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).

III. The only way to deal with the lies we tell to ourselves is to face them.

We must face the truth about ourselves and then confess our sins to God for what they are.

Because we find it easy to lie to ourselves about our offenses, we may need to confess those sins to others whom we can trust and who will confront us and pray for us.

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16)