Be Truthful, Worship The God Of Truth | Marty Ocaya | May 31, 2026

0:00 Have you ever been lied to? Did people malign you, gossip about you, slandered you, and as a result of that, you've experienced so much pain? You know, the truth is we're living in a world that there's so many liars. We ourselves struggle with lying. That's why today we're going to look at the ninth commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness. So, let's learn how we can obey this and how we can be truthful in today's world. Watch this video. Hello everyone. Can you greet your seatmate? Can you say hi? We're now down to our last two commandments. So, if you're our guest, we've been going through the ten commandments for the past few weeks. And the reason why we're do we're going

0:45 through this because there are a lot of people they don't really know the heart behind this. For some people, they just don't understand why God gave the ten commandments. For some of them, they felt like God was restricting us, was limiting us. For some of them, they may be thinking that the reason why God gave the ten commandments is to protect us, which is partly so. But the reason or the heart of God behind the ten commandments is in the word where we often have been mentioning in this series, the word called worship. So why is it all about worship? In fact, before we discuss the command, we usually show this definition of true worship. Can we read that together? What is true worship? True worship is our proper response to who God is, what he has

1:32 done, and what he continues to do. So that's what worship is. That's why he gave the ten commandments because before he gave it, he described himself to the people of the Israelites. Look at what he said in Exodus 20:2. It says here, "I am the Lord your God. I am the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves, out of the house of slavery." They've been crying before. The Israelites have been crying when they were in Egypt, asking God, "Lord, please could you rescue us? We are so tired with this slavery." And God sent Moses. God rescued them away from slavery and they're on their way to the promised land. Same with us. We were enslaved with sin, enslaved with our own

2:18 desires and then Jesus Christ came. We came to know the Lord. And that's why the best respond to that is worship. So after he said this about himself that he is God, he is the one who brought us out then he mentioned the ten commandments. First, he mentioned the first four commandments which focuses on our vertical relationship with God. So, I'm not going to read that anymore. You know this. If you want to have a recap, you can watch our YouTube videos. But the first four commandments talks about our vertical relationship with God. And then the next six commandments talks about our horizontal relationship, how we could love one another. And now in the ninth command, this is what we're going to talk about. Let's read our topic for

3:03 today. Exodus 20:16. Can we read it together? You not bear false witness against your neighbor. Now, for us to understand here this one, this verse, we need to look at three very important Hebrew words here. The first Hebrew word is the phrase you shall not bear. It's the Hebrew word anna, which means speak, you testify. And the second word is false. It means lie, deception. And the third word here is the word witness. In other words, just you witnessed it. You saw it. You know the truth. You were there. You know what really happened. So you need to tell the truth. So God is saying we should protect one another and love one another by telling the truth.

3:51 Do not lie against one another. Do not deceive one another. In other words, this is not just in a public setting. When it comes to the legal court, when it comes to when you are a witness in front of a judge, that's partly part of it. In other words, God wants us to protect the legal system. God wants us to protect justice. God wants us to promote what is right. So, he's telling the Israelite, "You shall not bear false witness." This definition, this is defined by this phrase. Do not lie or deceive anyone publicly and privately. What does that mean? Publicly is in the legal court. When you're in front of a judge, when you're telling people, hey, I saw this crime. I saw somebody who cheated. I saw

4:38 somebody who killed this person. I was there. That's being a witness in public. But this is also applicable in private. Now again the reason why God commanded this is to protect the justice system there to be fair to anyone so that we will not malign any person slander any person. It's happening all over the world. In fact this commandment is one of those commandments when you say it everybody would rightly say yes I'm guilty with that. I've lied before. I've done many bad things like slandering people like didn't tell the truth. So I did those things. In fact, can I can you raise your hand if you never lied before? If you raise your hand, you def

5:24 you already lied. Okay? Because the truth is all of us we have lied. Tell your seatmate you're a liar. Okay? So that's the truth. All of us we have lied before. Now look at what God said how he protected the people in Deuteronomy chapter 19. This is what he said. If a malicious witness or another translation false witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, let's say for example, you accuse somebody. Hey, I know you stole the money, but he didn't steal the money. You were the one who stole the money. So that's false witness. Then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priest and the judges who will be in the office in those days. And

6:09 then what's going to happen to that malicious witness? Look at the next verse. The judges shall investigate thoroughly. So of course part of this command is telling the judicial system, you have to judge thoroughly. You have to be fair. You have to promote the truth. That's what it also means. If the witness is a false witness, he has accused his brother falsely. What's going to happen to him? You shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Why? Because you want to purge evil from among you. A nation will not thrive in a righteous manner if we allow evil to continue. That's why God made this command, gave this command to the

6:56 Israelites. Again, this is not just about the judicial system. This is not just being in court. This is also applicable privately with your family, with your loved ones as you talk to different individuals in church, in your office, and in your school. And that's why we're all guilty. Why? Let me give you some examples of lying. There are many other examples that I haven't mentioned here, but let me give you some examples. For example, look at this. making excuses. Yeah. What's an example of making excuses popular Philippines? I'm late because of the traffic. But reality, oh, you left home late. Or you're texting your friend.

7:42 You're still in the shower. Okay. You're still dressing up. I mean, you might argue that's also I'm still on my way to go there, but I didn't leave the house yet. But again, that's lying. That's making excuse. How about this one? White lie. A minor, harmless, untruth. Told to be polite or spare someone's feeling. For example, your best friend asks you, "Oh, what? How do I look like? Oh, you look you look slim today." But the opposite is what you're thinking about. Oh, that's lying. Okay. Of course, we need to be kind to one another, but at the same time, we need to be truthful as well. Here's another one. Blameshifting. What's blameshifting? This is quite popular in school and in work. Let me give you an example of this. I submitted

8:28 the report. Sorry, boss. I submitted the report late because of my internet connection. But the reality, you forgot to finish the report on time. That's lying as well. How about this one? Exaggeration. Intentionally stretching the truth to deceive, manipulate, or misrepresent reality so that you gain advantage. Because usually the reason why you lie is is for yourself. You want to protect yourself. You want to gain advantage. One example of this is lying about your achievements so that you can get into the work when you got interviewed. You lied about your success. You lied about what you've done. Or maybe you took credit from someone else. He should have been the one who got promoted. But because you lied and you deceived the

9:14 person, you are now the one who got promoted. That's another example of lying. How about this one? Lying by omission. What does that mean? Deliberately leaving out important or qualifying information. Now, don't get me wrong. There are moments that God will allow us not to tell all the details. Definitely. For example, there's a biblical example of this one. When Samuel was crying before the Lord, the prophet Samuel was crying before the Lord because he felt sad that he anointed Samuel as king. I Saul as king. And Saul became a bad king. So he was crying before the Lord. And God told Samuel, "Why are you crying? Go now to the house of Jesse. Anoint the next king." And then Samuel said, "But Lord,

10:00 if I go to the house of Jesse and Saul hears about it, he's going to have me killed. I'm scared. I can't do that." And then God told him, "Okay, okay. Here's what you're going to do. Go to the house of Jesse. tell Jesse to bring his family because you're going to offer a burnt offering sacrifice to the Lord. He didn't say right away that he's going to anoint the king. He just said, "Let's meet together. I'm going to burn a burnt offering sacrifice to the Lord." He wasn't lying because he did that. And eventually in that burnt offering sacrifice afterwards, he told him that he was there to anoint the next king. So there's timing. Definitely at first there are moments that God will not it's okay not to tell every detail right away because timing is also very important

10:47 but there is what we call lying by omission for example I remember this story of this young man um her his dad he knew that his dad told him that you cannot have a romantic relationship when you are still studying it was crystal clear the dad told this young man oh you're still studying you cannot be in a romantic relationship yet but then the Dad noticed that this guy is so close to the to his classmate. So the dad called the attention of his son. Hey, what am I what am I seeing here? How come you're so close with this girl? Are you in a relationship? And then the guy said, "Daddy, no, no, no. We're not in a relationship. We're just good friends. We're really close. In in fact, we're project mates sometimes. We we we are just so close. Best friend, but not best

11:33 friend." But the truth is this. So he lied some about something. He omitted a very important detail. What's the very important detail? That him and the girl already knew that they like each other. They've been holding hands, but they agreed to say to people, "Oh, let's just say to people, we're just friends. H we're not yet in a romantic relationship. This is just friendship. Wow. Holding us friendship." So that's what they agreed upon. So they tell people, you know, we're not in a romantic relationship. We're just friends. They omitted a very important detail. That's lying. Here's another one. Lying by denial. What's lying by denial? Denying the truth to escape

12:18 consequences, protect image, or gain advantage. And how about this one? Selfdeception. What is the lying of selfdeception? inventing logical or acceptable justification for behaviors or beliefs that are actually driven by hidden often selfish motives. For example, telling your parents, you know, my my telling your D-group leader, you know, my parents already gave me the blessing to go and have a relationship. pala the parents only said but then you inter in English it means it's up to you if you want to have a relation go ahead but the reality is they didn't give you the blessing you

13:04 just assumed that because they said ah maybe that's yes okay maybe that means yes I can be in a relationship that's selfdeception that's not the truth you're twisting what was said so that to to justify what you want. That's selfdeception. Another self deception is telling yourself sorry there are many examples when it comes to the relationship because I've heard many stories like this. For example, there are people they're deceiving themselves and saying you know I don't like this person I don't like that person but your action tells you otherwise. Oh m singles do you know of those stories you keep telling people I don't like him I don't like her but then you get keep texting

13:50 you keep messaging that person you keep spending time I don't like that's selfdeception right and then you know the feelings are already going there but then no this is nothing right and then we tell other people no this again that's selfdeception another way of self-deception is this that when we start believing the lies of Satan about us, for example, you believe that when when Satan tells you that you're worthless, you you don't have a chance anymore, you will keep repeating the same mistake, you're not going to change, that is also selfdeception. We're deceiving ourselves because we're starting to believe the lies of Satan. Another lie that affects the community and in fact it affects nations is what we call lying propaganda. This is the

14:37 deliberate and systematic use of false information by an organization to influence public opinion. I don't think we can find that in the Philippines. I'm just kidding. I don't know. Okay. But before we dive into our topic today, we also need to discuss the question, is there a lie that is acceptable to God? Why do we need to answer that question? Because if you read the scriptures, there are examples there of people who lied, but God blessed them. Let me give you some examples. Number one is Rahab. What did Rahab do? Rahab lied to the authorities of Jericho to protect the Israelite spies. You remember that story, right? So Joshua sent the spies to go to Jericho just to

15:25 check out the land. But of course, the soldiers of Jericho, some of them saw these spies, but they hid themselves. And Rahab was the one who hid them. When the soldiers went to Rahab, Rahab said, "I don't know where they are. I think they left. You You just need to run and go there. You will catch them." But he she hid them. She lied. And God did not punish her. She lied and God blessed her. God protected her. I mean, that's a blessing. Another one is the Hebrew midwives. They lied to Pharaoh to protect the newborn Jewish boys. Why? What was happening here? In Exodus chapter 1, Pharaoh was quite alarmed because there is an increasing number of Jewish people in his country in his empire. So he was so alarmed that he

16:11 doesn't want the Jewish people to increase in number. So he told the Hebrew midwives, the one who helps the women to give birth, if it's a baby girl, you let it live. But if the baby is a boy, you kill it. But since the Hebrew midwives feared the Lord, they didn't do it. So when Pharaoh approached them, "What are you doing? HOW COME THERE'S no boy that died?" And then the Hebrew midwives would say, "You don't understand, Pharaoh. The Jewish women, they're very strong. Before we go there, they already given birth, so we're too late. That's why we cannot help you." That's a lie. But what happened to the Hebrew midwives? God was good to the midwives. Look at that verse. Exodus

16:57 1:20. God was good to the midwives. The people multiplied and became very mighty. Here's another example. Another example is Corey Tenboom. Cory Tenboom. He wrote this auto she wrote this autobiography, The Hiding Place. It's about the details of her family's effort to hide the Jews from the Nazis who were in Netherlands. So what she did, she and her family, they were hiding Jewish people because the Nazis were there. And whenever Nazis would come knock at the door, they would say, "No, there are no Jewish people here. There are no Jewish family here." In that autobiography, they also shared their struggle because they are Christians. They knew lying was bad, but at the same time, they wanted

17:42 to save many Jewish people. So they eventually continued the lie, but saved a lot of people. They were blessed. But why did God allow those things? Is there a type of lie that is pleasing? It's okay to the Lord if God is the God of truth. Let me explain this to you. Let me summarize this in one very important biblical statement. Lying in whatever form is a sin because God, our God, is the God of truth. Lying in whatever form, okay? Because you cannot say that it's okay for God to accept lying when he is the God of truth. It doesn't connect. However, there are specific

18:29 cases where God does not punish the person who lied. Not because it's a sin or it's not a sin, but because his grace abounds. God knows our hearts. God knows our motives. God can accomplish his great work even though we sinned. But ultimately his grace abounds. So I hope it clarifies that question that yes lying in any form is a sin. However, there are cases where God's grace definitely abounds. Our role now is to be truthful. So what's our message today? Let's read our message. 1 2 3 go. Be truthful. Why? Because we worship the

19:14 God of truth. Can you tell your seatmate? 1 2 3 go. be truthful. >> We worship the God of truth. Now the question that I want to answer is how can I be truthful in a world where there is so much lying? How can I do that? How can I be truthful if I'm living in a world that people slander people left and right? Maybe some of you have experienced being slandered on too. Maybe some of you have experienced somebody gossiping not a true story about you and you got hurt and it affected your career. So, how can I be truthful? And not just that, to make matters worse, look at this. How can I be truthful when this is my struggle? You know why we lie? Let me give you

20:00 some reasons why we lie. Number one, we don't want to face the consequences of our actions. That's why we lie. That's why we keep hiding it. I don't want to expose this because the moment I expose it, I might go to jail. I might get fired. I might lose my family. I'm gonna get affected negatively. I don't want Pastor Marty. So that's one reason. Another reason is why we do lie is because we want to get our desires the wrong way. I need that position. That's why I slandered that person. I need this this increase in my in my salary. That's why I did those things. That's why I said those words. That's why I lied. I need this to protect me. So I want him to be the one to get disciplined, not me. That's why I lied. We want to get

20:47 our desires the wrong way. Another one is this. We don't want to give up the wrong things we do because of the pleasure they give. Cuz once you expose the lie, for example, you're lying about your relationship with someone. Nobody knows except the two of you. The moment it's exposed, you know, your parents might say you cut off that relationship. Or maybe you're lying with your addiction of gambling. Your family member doesn't know where you're going at a certain time. So you keep lying about that. The moment it's exposed, they won't give you the money. The moment it's exposed, you not be able to do it. That's why we lie. Because we still want to do the wrong things because we're scared of the consequences. But the ultimate reason why we lie, let's read the last line. We

21:34 don't trust God. That's the ultimate reason. Because if I trust that God is good, if I trust that he is the God of truth, that he wants me to live out the truth, then I am going to be truthful. That's why this is our message today. So going back to that question, how can I be truthful? Because I know all of us, we know that lying is bad. And I know that all of us know that we all struggle also with this thing. We struggle with lying and especially with what's happening in our country. When I was preparing for this, I really thought of our our country. There's so many lies going around, so many slander going around. How do we show we love? How do we show love to one another if we keep slandering one another? Where's the

22:20 truth there? So, how can I be truthful when all of these things are happening and I'm struggling inside? Let me give you three powerful reasons to convince you to be truthful. Number one is this. Truth you have to understand sets us free. The second one is truth strengthens relationship. And the third one truth saves. So let's look at the first one. Truth sets us free. Now Jesus clearly pointed this out. Since lying is a sin and sin enslaves us. Therefore lying enslaves us as well. So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in him if you continue in my word then you are truly my disciples. And what's going to happen and very famous statement you

23:07 will know the truth and the truth will make you free right so if you know the truth the truth will make you free and of course they argued what do you mean Jesus we need freedom we are Abraham's descendants we have never been enslaved so Jesus explained that what was the next verse Jesus answered them truly truly I say to you everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin right because sin enslaves us so the slave does not remain remain in the house forever in the presence of God. It doesn't remain. The son does remain forever. So if the son makes you free, what happens to us? You will be free indeed. And this is what that this is what Jesus is saying to them that he is the truth. And we're going to explain that later on because truth sets you free. The son makes you

23:54 free. You will be free indeed. And the reality is this. When we keep on lying, it enslaves us. It doesn't give us freedom. In fact, the first sin ever recorded in the Bible and most probably the first sin that happened in the world. Do you know what that sin is? The sin of lying and deception. Where can we find that? Genesis chapter 3. Let's look at what happened here. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord had made. He said to the woman, "Indeed that God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden." The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the tree of the garden we may eat, but from the tr fruit of the tree

24:39 which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, "You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die." Now, let's see the deception and the lie. Here's the lie and the deception. The serpent, verse four, said to the woman, "You surely will not die." And look at the next verse. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be open. You will be like God, knowing good and evil. There are three lies that happened here. Lie number one, you surely will not die. You know what that lie is? The lie of no consequences. That's what Satan would do to us. Satan would tell us, you will not get caught. Nobody will know. Just keep doing that. You will not experience pain. You will

25:26 enjoy the lie of no consequences. Second lie. For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be open. What is that lie? The lie that maligns God's character. What does that mean? Satan was telling Adam and Eve, you know, Adam and Eve, God knows that if you eat it, your eyes will be open. But he didn't tell you because he he doesn't want you to enjoy. He doesn't care for you. He didn't tell you this. God knows this even before. He's not a good God. It's maligning God's character. And Satan does that to us until today. The third lie was this. You will be like >> God. What does that mean? It's a lie of

26:12 authority, power, false freedom. You'll be like God. You can do whatever you want. You don't need to listen to God. You are in control of your life. You're the master of your life. These are the three lies that Satan did and he's still doing today. And as a result of this, sin entered the world. As a result of this, Adam and Eve sinned, death entered, sacrifice entered, the sin entered the world. We are now enslaved to sin. That's why there are consequences when it comes to lying. Let me give you some consequences when it comes to lying. Consequence number one is this unnecessary fear. What do you mean, Pastor Marty? Unnecessary fear. You know, when you keep lying, you're

26:59 guarded. You're insecure. You're you're you don't have peace. For example, let's just say the husband is committing adultery and hasab she has another he has another relationship. So does this husband has another relationship with a girl named Mary. But for the wife to not find out, he changed the name of the word Mary to Mario. Okay, change that. Of course, the husband is quite still paranoid. What if my wife sees this? So eventually the wife saw the phone. Honey, who's this guy, Mario? Oh, that's my best friend. Wow, you're so sweet, huh? How come there's Muam Mwa here? Oh, no. We're just That's how we greet one another.

27:45 Mama, what? You're now paranoid. You're now scared. There's no peace. So, and then the WIFE WOULD SAY, "OH, HOW COME YOU ALWAYS MEET?" He said, "No, that's how close we are." Okay? Can I meet Mario? No, you don't need to meet him. Okay? And if the wife keeps smooshing it, now you're going to ask one of your friends, "Please be Mario. Please be Mario. Please be Mario." And when we greet each other, say, "Wa." Okay? You know, you get what I'm talking about. It's there's no peace. For example, you're a student. You cheated in that exam. The teacher found out somebody cheated. Your best friend knew that you cheated. Now you're going to tell your best friend, "Pare, please, please, huh? Don't tell the teacher. Please, I'm going to treat you every day. Starbucks, just don't tell the teacher or else I'm

28:31 going to be kicked out." You see the unnecessary fear. Why would we want that in our lives? Just because we want to keep the lie. It's not helpful. Another one is this, the web of lies. What does that mean when you say the web of lies? You and I would need to add more lies in order to protect the previous lie. We need to add more lies in order not to be caught. You keep adding lie upon lie upon lie upon lie just so that nobody will knows. But you know what? Eventually, God will expose our lies. That's the promise of God. We cannot hide anything. And when it's exposed, then the third consequence happened.

29:16 We're going to hurt other people. And you know when we hurt other people because of our let's say we made a mistake. We said bad things about them. So we hurt them. And then of course through time they will forgive us. But do you know it takes longer to forgive somebody who lied to you? That's why look at this statement. When our lies are exposed, trust is broken. And broken trust takes a long time to heal. I know you've experienced that. You've you know of certain people that they were lying to you and until today you don't have a good relationship with them. Maybe you have forgiven them. But forgiveness is different from trust. It takes longer time to heal. That's why it's not worth

30:01 it. We need to be truthful. Another consequence is this. You lose yourself. You don't know who you are anymore. Why? Because you keep believing in this lie. And you thought now or you think now that this lie is the truth. This lie about yourself. This lie that you're living, this is the truth. Now you don't know who you are anymore. You lose yourself. You don't know your purpose. You don't know your direction. You're not in the right path. It's not worth it. That's why I like this message because it's really for all of us. It's not just that we are there are people who slander us. And I know sometimes that's what we think with this verse. And that's what the verse is talking about that this verse is talking about. We shouldn't slander other people. Do not become a false witness about the on them. But it's also talking about us. We

30:48 shouldn't lie. We should be truthful. Let me give you this example of this girl. I think some of you are familiar with this. Her name is Belle Gibson and her story is actually in a Netflix series called Apple Cider Vinegar. So what is this? What is her story all about? Bel Gibson is a former Australian wellness influencer. She faked her terminal cancer and then she recovered and she told her secret why she recovered through the whole pantry app but eventually it got exposed. She deceived so many people but it got exposed. Three consequences because of that. Number one, media disgrace. She was cancelled left and right. Her her face was all over the news. Nobody

31:35 wanted to trust her anymore. And then she lost a lot of money and they were fining her 410. She needed to pay a fine of $410,000. Of course, she couldn't pay that. So what did she do? She hid herself. She distanced herself from public and actually she tried to appear again in one city on Australia pretending to be someone else. Pretend eventually she got caught. The pe the people in that city knew that it was her and they said, "Hey, that's the same girl." So what did she do? She left again. Imagine that. The more she lied, the more she didn't want to accept the consequences of her lying, the more she's lost. It's not

32:22 worth it. But you know the worst kind of consequence. But before we go to the worst kind, let's read this statement. Lying does not make us escape the consequences of our actions. It makes the consequences worse. It's not worth it. And this message is really for all of us because if there are some people who are here still living a life of lie and you say you're a Christian, then you're going to experience these consequences. And the worst consequence that we might experience if we continue living a life of lie is this separation from God. Why do I say that? Let's read that verse. And we read it earlier. John 8:44. You are of your father the devil.

33:08 You want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning does not stand in the truth because because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature because what is Satan? He is a liar and the father of lies. That's why if there are people today that keeps deceiving other people, keeps lying to people, keeps slandering people, then the best question to ask that person is who's your father? Seriously, I know that's what the verse is saying. I mean, I you don't need to ask that person that who's your father? Let's say somebody deceived you. No, you don't need to say that. But the

33:55 question is a personal question to us. If you keep on living a life of lie, keep deceiving people, keep slandering people, gossiping about somebody and it's not true, then the question is who's your father? Because that's what Jesus is saying here. Satan is the father of lies. It's connected to Revelation 21 Lord, but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominables, the murderers, the immoral person, the s sorcerers. Idolattors and >> all liars. >> All liars. Where will they be? Their part will be in the lake that burns with fire in Binsson, which is the second death. That's where we get the famous phrase, liars go to hell. Can you tell

34:41 your seatmate? Liars go to hell. Okay, so no, this is really serious, guys. I know this message is, you know, you know lying is bad, but that's why I focus on that question. What will make us be truthful in a world that is full of lies? Because we can counter what's happening here. God wants us to be truthful. That's why this is the first point. We need to understand the consequences. You know the greatest consequence. Look at this statement. Here's the greatest consequence. No one who lives a life of lies and deception is a child of God. I know this is a hard truth to take, but this is serious. No one who constantly lives a life of lies

35:29 and deception and doesn't want to change is a child of God. That's why it breaks my heart when I see that there are Christians today in your in the business sector, in the church, people who claim to be Christians, even even in the in politics. And if you're still living a life of lie for the rest of your life, I don't know. I just don't know because it's crystal clear in the scripture. That's why this message is very important. What's our message again? Be truthful. Worship the God of truth. Can you tell your seatmate one thing they go? Be truthful. Worship the God of truth. So what will convince me to do that? Number one, truth sets us free. Number two, truth strengthens

36:16 relationship. Do you know that it's hard to build a strong relationship with your family members, with your friends, with your office mates if we are not truthful? In fact, if we slander them, if we gossip about them, it's going to destroy that relationship. If we lie to them, it's also going to destroy. I like this statement. Truth and tr trust and truth, they go together. You can't trust someone who is not truthful. Tama, you can't trust someone who's not truthful. And you cannot be truthful to someone you don't trust. That's why the message is you need, you and I, you need to be truthful. We need to be truthful because if you are not truthful, people around you will not trust you. And we know that in the workplace there are people there that are not truthful. We don't want to

37:02 spend time with them. We don't want to entrust any projects to them because we know they're lying. Or if you want to be truthful to one of your office mates, one of your droup mates, one of your friends, but you know that person is someone you don't trust. It's just so hard to tell the truth. You're scared to do that because you don't trust this person. That's why trust and truth, they go together. So what is our responsibility? Let's look at what Paul said in Ephesians chapter 4. Let's read this together. Verse 15. But speaking the truth in love, what will happen? We are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even Christ. In other words, if we want to grow in our relationship with one another. If we want to grow and become more and more

37:49 like Christ, part of that is to speak the truth in love. Do not slander others because that's lying. And you also need to be honest. And I know what some people are saying. But what if if I say this, they're going to get angry at me? They're going to leave me. Now don't get me wrong. Definitely we need God's wisdom when we speak the truth in love. We need God's timing. We need God's wisdom. But the principle is this. We still need to speak the truth in love. That's why you know sometimes I tell parents for example there are parents who are here. Your let's say your son or your daughter is in a relationship but you don't agree and until now you don't have peace. Speaking the truth in love

38:35 is telling them, "I cannot stop you because you're an adult, but I don't and I will not give you this blessing because I don't agree with that relationship." That's speaking the truth in love. Some parents would feel bad. No, what what if they will get angry? What if my son will will not love me anymore? You have to understand speaking the truth in love, you are trusting God that he's working in the life of your children. If you don't agree with something, you have to be honest in a loving way. Don't just agree just because you feel bad. That's not truth. And that's not love as well. Love is telling them, "I don't agree with this relationship. I don't agree with what's happening. So, please, I know you have

39:21 your own life. I'm praying for you, but I just want to be honest with you. I don't agree with that. I'm not going to give the blessing." That's speaking the truth in love. Even in companies, if there are workers, fellow workers, your office mates, they're not working hard. They're lazy. And then you're the boss and you don't say anything about it, that's not love. That's not caring. In fact, your company will get affected. Your department will get affected if there are workers that are lazy. What's the loving way to do if you're a Christian and he's a Christian? You tell them, "I think I think you need to improve in this area." in a loving way. The timing is also very important. Let me give you another verse that's connected to that. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, what do we do? Speaking

40:09 truth each of you with his neighbor. Why? We are one family calling drgroup leaders as well. Sometimes we're scared to tell the truth to our disciples. We shouldn't be scared if it's the truth. As long as you know it's the truth, you have to also be diligent in knowing the truth. Not just that you heard something and now you're going to tell your D-group member, hey, I heard about this. You have to confir confirm it. You have like the judge that God is telling us about during in Deuteronomy chapter 19. They will thoroughly seek the truth. It the same it's the same thing. That's what it means to become truthful. So could you tell your seatmate, speak the truth in love. Okay? Speak the truth in love. If I have a mistake, give them the

40:55 authority to speak to you the truth in love. Even us here, the pastors, the leaders, we allow ourselves to speak the truth in love because truth is very important. Let me give you the blessings of telling the truth. There's going to be peace. There's going to be comfort. There's going to be relief. You know, the relief that okay, I've said the truth. I've confessed everything. I'm not hiding anything anymore. Okay, I already said the truth about this person where he needs to improve. There's that relief. Of course, at the at the start, it may be painful. There won't be joy, but eventually since you said the truth, eventually you are in the process of restoration and healing. How can there be healing when there's no truth? How

41:42 can there be forgiveness if you're not willing to admit your mistake? For example, you're a husband and you committed adultery and until now you have that, but you haven't confessed. I know there's a right timing, but God is saying we need to tell the truth. You cannot experience healing and forgiveness if we don't tell the truth. What if we're still struggling with any struggles like pornography or addiction and gambling, whatever that is, and with when it comes to handling your money and you don't handle it really well, it's affecting your family. You've invested in many things and you know it was fake, it was a scam, you never told your family members, what's going to happen? You keep doing those things over and over again. There's no healing. If you

42:28 want freedom from these struggles, we need to tell the truth. Yes, timing is very important. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying now, okay, right away I'm going to say it. Ask God for wisdom. You know why telling the truth is very important. I love this verse. Ephesians chapter 5. Let's read this together. Let no one deceive you with empty words. Because these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. because of the lying, because of the deception, the wrath of God came. Do not be partakers with them. Do not follow what other people are doing. If they're slandering, don't slander back. If they're lying, don't lie back. If you if they are gossiping, don't do that as well. Do not be partakers with them.

43:13 What's the next part? You were formerly, he's talking to Christians here. You were formerly darkness. You're in the place where the truth is not there. Cuz when you're in the dark place, you don't know the truth. You don't know where you're going. You're not in the right direction. But now what happened? You are light in the Lord. So what's our responsibility? Walk as children of light. What does that mean? Light consists all goodness, righteousness, and what's the last one? Truth. Oh, that's light. trying to learn what is pleasing to God. Look at the next verse. Verse 11. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness. Do not copy them. Paul repeated it again.

44:00 Instead, what's the solution? Expose. Mo. Do not keep on lying. Expose it. If you know the truth in your company, somebody's hiding it and they won't tell it. But you know the truth. You have to tell the truth to the right people. right timing. But you have to tell the truth. Expose them. Why? It is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. It's disgraceful when you know the things that they're hiding. When you know the immoral practices that they're doing, the corruption that they're doing, all of these things. And even if you're part of that and you know it, guess what? It's disgraceful. That's why you don't want to say it because it's disgraceful. But look at verse 13. Let's read to all together verse 13.

44:46 Very important verse. 1 2 3 go. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light and everything that becomes visible is. >> What does that mean, Paul? What do you mean when you say all things become visible when they are exposed in the light? Let me explain this to you. Then this is very important. When we keep living a life of lie and sin and we don't expose it, we are still controlled by the lying and by the sin. Once you expose the lie and you expose the sin, it loses its power. When it's not exposed, it has power over us. When

45:31 it is exposed, it loses its power because it's exposed by the truth in the light. Everything becomes clear, visible. Everything eventually becomes beautiful when it is in the light. That's why we encourage people to confess. That's why we encourage people to be truthful. And that's why the message here is be truthful. And I know what some of the people are saying here. But Pastor Marty, you don't understand. I'm scared. I don't know if I can say this again. There's a right timing. We seek God's wisdom, but I'm scared. You know, when I was preparing for this, and I know I've mentioned this many times, one of my prayers for our country is if is for leaders to eventually be convicted by God, if they are doing

46:18 certain things that are evil, corrupt, they stole money, that they themselves will expose it. That's one of my dreams. That's one of my prayers that they would say, "Yeah, I actually stole money and I'm willing to face the consequences." And I know they're scared. Why? Because they're going to lose faith. Media disgrace. They need to pay that amount of money. They might go to jail. Their family might get affected. Yes, the consequences might happen. But I truly believe healing also happens. You know why I truly believe that? Let's read this passage in 1 John chapter 1. Let's read this together. Verse 8. If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. A lot of people in this world are like that. It's not my fault. Actually, there

47:04 it's their fault. They have stolen more money than me. Look at them. Why me? We're deceiving ourselves. But verse 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful, righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's how loving God is. I know you're scared, but God is faithful. He is true. He will forgive, and I promise you, he will restore. Our role is to be truthful. Can we just applaud our God for being gracious, forgiving, good? I know. I know the fear. I've been there. I know it's scary. But I promise you, restoration happens. But it's not

47:52 going to happen if we're not going to do our part. Restoration happens when lies are revealed and truth prevails. That's why this message is really for not just for our country today but for all of us because the bad things, the lying, the slander, the gossiping, all of these things are happening in our country, in your office, in your school, in your family, with your loved ones. It's even in church, sad to say. And if we want restoration, then our part is to be tr truthful. Now, I want you to listen to this testimony of one of our full full-time workers that before she lived a life of lying, but God eventually rescued her from that slavery. She

48:39 experienced freedom. And I want you to be blessed of how God restored her and how God is using her now mightily. Let's all welcome Meg Monte. >> For most of my life, lying came naturally to me. Not just small exaggerations or the occasional white lies, but a constant pattern of pretending someone I to be someone I wasn't. Over time, it became so normal that I struggled to keep track of what I told different people. I became a habitual liar because I believed the real me was not enough to be loved. As a young girl, I constantly compared myself with my siblings and felt pressure to prove that I was worth noticing. I felt like everyone else naturally had something that made them special. I

49:27 wasn't the athletic one, the responsible one, or the pretty one. And as I got older, comments about my appearance and weight stuck with me until I started seeing myself as mainly the fat one. Slowly, I started believing that who I really was wasn't enough. So, instead of being honest about myself, I became whoever I thought people would like more. I lied about my family, about my accomplishments, my skills, my experiences, even where I was from. When we moved abroad, I lied about being from the Philippines because I thought it sounded boring. At the time, I believed those lies made me more interesting and acceptable. But it didn't stop there. When I was mad at people, I lied with the intention to

50:13 harm them. I even created fake profiles of men to try and catfish my friends. But lying never gave me security and it became exhausting. The more lies I told, the harder it was to keep up with all of them. I was constantly adjusting myself, depending on the people around me. And deep down, I knew I wasn't being real with anyone, including myself. Things became even harder when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Although she recovered, she eventually left our family. My younger sister and I stayed with my dad. And around that time, my need for attention and validation became even stronger. I started making unhealthy choices and surrounding myself with people and environments where I thought I could finally feel accepted.

50:59 In 2006, I lost my dad to kidney disease. And unable to process my grief, I looked for comfort and validation almost anywhere I could find it. I entered a fast-paced, image-driven industry and lived a lifestyle filled with drinking, smoking, unhealthy relationships, sexual immorality, and people pleasing. The lies continued, and every time I got caught, I would simply leave that group of people and start over somewhere else. Later, my best friend invited me to attend Sunday service at CCF. We kept coming back week after week, mostly because I like to spend time with her. And although I listened to the messages, I didn't fully understand what it meant to surrender my life to God. Then one day, I heard Revelation 21:8 being

51:46 preached. And when the verse mentioned all liars being destined for the lake that burns with fire, it immediately caught my attention. Hearing that verse convicted me deeply and made me want to know more about God. A few months later, I attended a true life retreat where I finally understood the gospel clearly. I realized that lying wasn't just a bad habit. It revealed something deeper in my heart. I had spent most of my life trying to create a version of myself that people would love while hiding the parts of me I thought were unworthy. Yet, despite all of that, God still pursued me. He already knew who I really was and he still loved me. That was when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. And in 2015, I was baptized.

52:34 Even after becoming a Christian, I still struggled with insecurity and wanting approval from people. I wanted recognition in ministry and to feel important and affirmed. Even if I was able to res to resist the desire to lie, my heart still wasn't right. Through disciplehip, God slowly showed me that I was still trying to earn a kind of love he had already freely given me. One question kept coming back to me. If the God of the universe already knows every lie I've told, every insecurity I've hidden, every version of myself I tried to create, and he still loves me completely, then why am I still pretending? That realization changed the way I lived. I eventually surrendered unhealthy relationships, including a long-term boyfriend, and began following

53:20 God more seriously. Over time, he worked through the insecurity, dishonesty, and people pleasing that had shaped so much of my life. He taught me that my value was never based on how impressive or accepted I was, but on my identity in him. He also began restoring relationships in my life, starting with my mom and teaching me how to serve him with the right motives. In turn, God allowed my ministry and disciplehip to grow rooted in truth, acceptance, and love for one another. Today, I joyfully disciple a mixed group of married and single women. And next year will mark my 10th year of working in CCF's communication team. God also led me to his best for me. And

54:06 together we pray to raise our daughter in a way that cements her identity in the love of Jesus. I'm still Thank you. I'm still imperfect and still growing. But one thing that's different now is this. I no longer feel the need to create a fake version of myself just to be loved. Because through Jesus, I've learned that being fully known by God is far better than being falsely admired by people. My name is Megan, and a sinner saved by grace, redeemed by Jesus Christ. To him alone be all the glory. What's our message again? Be truthful. Worship the God of truth. Again, the message answers the questions, what will make me become truthful, Pastor Marty? How am I going to do that in this world?

54:51 That is so hard and my lie is so convincing. You see, that's that's what Satan does. He keeps lying. He keeps telling us, "No, you don't need to tell the truth. You don't need to be truthful. Just keep doing what you want. You're enjoying it anyway." That's why we need to know what truth is. The truth sets us free. Whatever lie Satan is saying, it's not going to grant us freedom. It's always slavery. Only Jesus can set us free. Whatever lie Satan is saying, it's not going to heal relationships, but truth strengthens relationships. And finally, whatever lie Satan is saying is not going to save us. It's going to destroy us because only

55:36 truth in Jesus saves. That's the third reason why the most important reason truth saves. Remember that verse in John 8. Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, but the son will remain forever. Because if the son, capital S, Jesus himself, who is the truth, makes you free, what's going to happen to you? You will be free indeed. It's only found in him. Eternity is only found in him because Jesus is the truth. Where can we find that very famous verse? John 14:6, I I am the way. Jesus said, I am the way and there you go, the truth and the life. No one goes to our

56:21 heavenly father. No one goes to heaven except through Jesus Christ. And I know we know these things. The reality is a lot of people who attends church and those joining us online, they heard about these things. They know Jesus is the truth. But the problem is how come there's still a lot of lying not just with people who don't know Jesus but even people who know Jesus. That's what breaks my heart because maybe we don't trust God enough. Maybe we don't have Jesus at the center of our life because I cannot pursue the truth without Jesus at the center of my my life. I cannot do that. A lot of people, they attend church, but Jesus is not at

57:08 the center. He's not the king. We don't trust him. Because if I trust him, I'll be truthful. If I trust him, I will confess the right timing, the right way. I'm going to do it. If I trust him, then I am not going to slander other people. I'll protect other people. I will not gossip about them. I will do what is right. I'm going to be truthful. I'm going to practice truthfulness at work, in school. And if you are a leader in your company, a leader in his country, a politician, then definitely you will also be truthful if Jesus is at the center of your life. You know, the reality is this. Even people who hear about this message, if it doesn't sink in in their hearts, they're not going to do it. Let me give you an example.

57:53 There's a man named Ananas and his wife Safhira and they know Peter in a close manner. They know Peter. They talk to Peter, the Apostle Peter. They hear messages about Jesus from Peter himself, from the other apostles. They know all of these things. But what is their problem? Look at the next part. Ananas with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property. And then they told the church leaders, "Hey, we're going to sell this property and we're going to give the entire amount which it was sold for. We're going to give it to the church. We want to give back." But what happened? Verse two, he kept back some of the price for himself with his wife's full knowledge and he only brought a

58:39 portion. So he so he told Peter and the disciples, "This is the amount. Let's say it was sold for 10 million." They just said, "5 million. This is how much we sold it." They lied. Now look at this. You cannot hide anything from God. Look at the next verse. Peter said, "Ananas, why has Satan filled your heart to lie?" Why has Satan, the father of lies, filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? In other words, Peter knew that the Holy Spirit was convicting the both of them. You know why I knew that the Holy Spirit was convicting the both of them? They were in the church. They were in the early church. They hear messages about truth, but they decided to deceive the body of Christ. They

59:26 decided to deceive the church. They knew in their hearts, "I know this is a lie, honey, but let's just do it." It was really wickedness. That's why Peter knew, "We cannot hide anything from God. It will be exposed." Look at what happened the next one. The next verse, while it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? I mean, that's yours. Why did you have to say that this is the actual amount that you sold it? Or why did you have to commit that you're going to give everything that's yours? We never force you. After it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? It's in your heart. In other words, your father is not God. Your father is the devil. You kept lying. The

1:00:11 Holy Spirit has been convicting you, but you don't want to change. You have not lied to men but to God. And look at the consequence. Ananas fell down. Breathe his last and great fear came over all who heard it. Now you might be wondering why is it death right away. It was just one simple lie. It was not a simple lie. The church was just starting. It was the early church. God wanted to protect the church. And God has been convicting Ananas and Sapphira many many times. But in their heart they made a decision to follow the father of lies. That's why I cannot pursue the truth without Jesus at the center of my life. And that's why this message is for all of us because maybe we don't trust God enough to tell

1:00:57 the truth and be truthful. You know why we need to trust God and make him the center of our life? Look at this verse that Jesus said. So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the way to security, the way to peace. All who came before me are thieves, robbers. They lie. They will deceive. But the sheep did not hear them. You know, the problem is this. If we are not a child of God, we will listen to lies. All of these messages that you're hearing, it's not going to make sense to you. You're not going to apply it in your heart. Why? Because we keep listening to thieves and robbers. But if we are children of God, then look at verse 9. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be

1:01:44 saved. Will go in and out and find pasture. There's relief. There's peace. There's security. And then a famous passage after that, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. That's the role of Satan, the father of lies. I don't know what lie you're holding on right now, but this is his goal for your life. It's just to steal your joy, to steal your peace, to kill and destroy you. eventually it is not worth it. And look at the contrast. Look at the contrast. Look at the next verse. I came that they may have life and oh that's the contrast. So why would I believe the lie if God is offering me abundant life? And to prove that what he is saying is

1:02:30 true, read verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. And that's what he did to you and to me. I mean, we know that Jesus died. He rose again. He is God to protect us from the lies. And you know what? In the end, this is what's going to happen in the end. Revelation 21. He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And he said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." I know in our world today, in our country today, we don't know the truth anymore. There are many lies. But he's going to make things new eventually. He's the God of who restores. He's the God of truth. He can do that in your family. He can do that

1:03:16 in your life. He can do that in this country. I believe so. But what's our role? Let's read our last verse. This is our role. Proverbs 3:5 and 6. 1 2 3. Go. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. You know that's my desire for you. That's my desire for every single one of us who are here. You straight path. But it cannot be straight if I don't trust the Lord. So I'm not going to be truthful. Some of you, God is telling you to confess. That's part of humility. That's part of restoration. Some of you, God is telling you to stop the slandering. Stop the gossiping. That's part of trusting the Lord. Some of you, God is

1:04:03 telling you to be truthful. Say the truthful things to your family members, to your D-group, to your friends. That's also what it means to say trust the Lord. And he promised he will make our path straight. I'll end with this story. You know, in 1800s, England because of the industrial revolution created so much wealth, so much money for the elite. In other words, the rich became richer. So the problem was only the rich benefited from the industrial revolution. So the problem was there was widespread poverty because the elite abused those who are in the working class. They exploited the people. They didn't pay the right amount of wage and they had

1:04:50 slavery. So that was the problem. Disease was also spreading because of the industrial revolution. They don't take care of their workers. So they were in shambles. I mean it was a rich country but they were in shambles and there was political corruption all over the place. Sounds familiar, huh? But you know what? Something happened. There's a group of Christian businessmen and Christian politicians led by William Wilburforce and they organized this group called the Clapham sect. Now what is the Clapham sect? It is an evangelical Christian social reformers comprises of businessmen, Christian businessmen and Christian politician. And they made commitments. What's their

1:05:36 commitment? The first commitment that they made was this political integrity. Since some of them are politi politicians, they're in the government sector. They rejected corruption. They rejected bribery. They were for the truth. They were for honesty, integrity. They kept on pushing for that. You will see them model it. If all the other politicians are not doing it, they will model what it means to be honest, not to accept bribe, not to accept any corruption, and to be truthful. And not just that, they lobby against slavery because they found out that slavery is causing that country to be in shambles. It's not being fair to the people. It's not loving. It's not being truthful to what God wants us to do. So, they fought

1:06:22 against slavery and eventually slavery got abolished. And not just that, they challenge the Christian businessmen to be honest. They challenge the Christian businessmen, do not participate in corruption. Do not participate in bribery. And not just that, pay the right amount of wage. They started doing that. They started paying the right amount of wage. They started not just paying the right amount of wage over and above the minimum wage because the Christian businessmen realized we don't need that much money anymore. We need to help the people. If the people are healthy, if they are thriving, then our entire nation is going to thrive. So they did that. They stopped also getting slaves. So these Christian businessmen

1:07:08 who had slaves, they decided to employ these slaves. that changed the nation of England. That made England become revived, restored just because of a group of Christian politician, businessmen who decided to follow the truth. As I close, I realize this. My life, my family, and I believe our nation will be on the right path when I start living out the truth. You see, we keep pointing at other people. They need to do this. They need to do that. We should point to ourselves first. I need to live a life that is truthful. I need to be truthful to be honest, to follow what God wants me to do. And if I do that, the businessmen who are here, the

1:07:55 workers who are here, the politicians who are here, every single one of us, if we do that, I promise you, your family, your life, and this nation will change. It will be in the right path. That's God's promise to us. But it's not going to happen if we're not going to do our part. That's why our message be truthful

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