This wonderful truth is substantiated in the New Testament book of Hebrews.  We find these words: “…it is impossible for God to lie…”  The writer of Hebrews is referring to God’s promise to Abraham from over a thousand years earlier that He would bless him and multiply him.  In other words God said it and so it was bound to come true or come to fulfillment.  And when God made this promise in Genesis 15:4ff Abraham responded by believing God, or knowing that He told him the truth, and God “counted it to him as righteousness.”

The point here is that if God says He will do something He will accomplish what He set out to do.  In another Old Testament verse we read that “God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind.  Has He said, and will He not do it?  Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19)

This brings us to what a definition of a lie is.  According to the American College Dictionary published by Random House in 1968; a lie is “a false statement made with intent to deceive; an intentional untruth.”  And according to our passages above it is impossible for God to deceive because He cannot do that which is against His nature.  God would not tell His people one thing and then do another; this is what is impossible.

If God were to deceive then He could not be trusted.  Who would want to trust Him if He were to deceive people?  Men lie to get their way in attempt to “get ahead” in life, whether men lie on their resume’ or business dealings on their way to “success.”  If and/or when their lie is found out then their integrity is brought into careful scrutiny and question and some people may never trust them again.

This is not so with God.  He can always be trusted in what He has said in His Word, the Bible, in both the Old Testament and New Testament.  Every promise to Abraham was fulfilled and will be fulfilled.  And the book of Proverbs encourages us: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).  When we trust God in whom He is and what He can and will do then He will direct our lives in doing the right thing both for others and ourselves.

Jesus speaking to the crowds in the gospel of John chapter six tells the crowd, “whoever comes to Me I will never cast out” (John 6:37b).  Then a bit later in this chapter Jesus says the same thing in a different way; “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life” (John 6:47).  The word for “believes” in this verse means to trust, have faith in, and have confidence in Jesus for eternal life.  And since God cannot lie and that Jesus has all authority given to Him by His Father what He said in these two verses can be trusted by all who place their faith in Jesus.

So if you identify yourself as a follower of Jesus then not only can you trust Him for salvation you can trust that He will not lie to you ever.  What God says He will do; you can count on it.  One of the great promises is seen in Hebrews 13:5b; “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  This is something a follower of Jesus does not need to be anxious about; thus when you trust Jesus He will always be with you even though you feel or actually are “walking through the valley of the shadow of death.”

The great deceiver is Satan or the devil and not God.  Jesus tells us in John 8:44 about the devil: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  All that Satan can do is lie as he did to Eve in the book of Genesis and he has done ever since and continues to even today.

So if anyone were to say that God is a liar or He deceives His followers then this person is from Satan and not God at all.  God is not a man that He can lie.  It is impossible for God to lie because it is contrary to His character and He is incapable of going against His perfect character.

 

Thanks to our Guest Contributor:

Pastor Ray Peters

Harvest Alliance Church

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