God Who Cannot Lie
By G.T. Haywood
Written September, 1923
“God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent.” -Numbers 23:19.
This was spoken by a prophet going forth to do the wrong thing; but God took hold of his mouth and made him speak the word of prophecy. The Bible further declares that “the Strength of Israel also will not lie or repent.” If God has ever made a promise to you, He gives you this guarantee that He will never repent, nor turn back from doing the thing, which He hath spoken.
In the book of Malachi: it is written: “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Mall 3:6. The sons of Jacob had so miserably failed God that in justice they really should have been consumed. “But God could not lie, for He had promised to preserve Israel in order to bring forth the ‘Seed.’” And that is why we are not dead today, because God made a promise. And the promise was “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen. 3:15. After God has given you the opportunity in your life to let the serpent be bruised, and you reject it, their God can say and it must die. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezek. 18:20. And it is declared that “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23,; Ps. 12:1-3. The only man on earth that never did sin is the Man who was more than a man, and that is the “Man Christ Jesus.” I Tim. 2:5. A terrible condemnation hangs over every human being. But there is a Man who took our disfavor that we might have His fellowship. A sinless Man took the place of a sinful world. All had sinned and come short of the glory of God. The best of men God declared to be “vanity” and “nothing, and worse than nothing.” Yet that same God can turn around and say we are His peculiar treasure.
All have sinned because all were unbelievers. But Christ came that we might ‘believe,’ and turn from our ‘nothingness” to be called a “holy people,” “not forsaken,” and obtain life eternal! Isa. 62:12. One man sinned and caused all to be condemned to death. Another man died and caused us all to have the hope of life. 2 Tim. 1:1.
The thought I wish you to bear in mind is that “God cannot lie.” Titus 1:2. It is stated in the Book of God that “the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” Is. 40:5. Whether they can stand it or not, all flesh must see the glory of the LORD. Wicked men must see it. Righteous men have the reward of seeing it. And why? “For the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” Men who have committed suicide must see it! God will not lie! WE all must appear at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), whether old or young, rich or poor. Rom. 14:10. The sea must give up the dead which are in it; death and hell are forced to deliver up the dead which are in them, and small and great must stand before God. The Voice will either say, “Come, ye blessed,” or Depart from me, ye cursed.”
Men may idle away their time and walk the streets thinking themselves to be somewhat, tramping the mercy of God underfoot, but ALL must appear before the judgment bar of heaven. For “the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent!” I Sam. 15:29. He who is the “Victory” (margin) of Israel will not lie, does not have to lie, and cannot lie! He will let every man be a liar that the scriptures may be unbroken.
I do not want to find a spot of wickedness in my life. I want to have everything clean and above board, and to be found walking before the Lord with a perfect heart. My past shall never meet me again by the grace of God. He hath set my soul free from sins and I shall see that no transgressions shall accumulate to meet me at the judgment bar of the Most High. For the “Lord of Hosts is my sanctuary,” as it is written in the book of Isaiah the Prophet. Yea, I dwell on high and He dwelleth in me! Our God dares anybody to talk about His “anointed” after He has set them in the right way, and made them to walk the world in white. (What we are to do now is to hold to God’s unchangeable hand.) God will not lie, and, therefore, I am determined not to lie. God blessed me and I shall bless Him! HE saved me from sore troubles and I shall save Him from and more trouble with me. Jesus did not call me out of the world and lie to me. Neither did He accuse me of being proud or puffed up; but He told me, “thou are mine.” “I will never leave thee, nor forsake the.” “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon the.” Isa. 43:1-2. And OUR GOD CANNOT LIE!
When the skeptics shall say, “Well, how do you know you are going to make it to the City?” we can answer, “God cannot lie!” A multitude may arise against you, but nothing can stop a soul that has faith in God, I have nothing else to live for but the Lord. I could not live without Jesus. I would rather be dead than not to have Christ in my life. True it is that “God will take care of you, o’er all the way, through every day!” You need not grumble, nor murmur; just put your trust in the Lord. When your foodstuffs are short- put your confidence in God. You do not live by gold and silver, but by the word of God. Yea, “Man shall not live by bread (and he surely will be ‘alone’ if he walks without God), but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matt. 4:4. You are welcome to all the world has in it, but give me JESUS! What will it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul. Mark 8:36. I had rather be a child of God than a prince, a king, a president, or a millionaire banker’s son! He is more to me than gold and silver. The lame man at the Gate Beautiful received healing for his feet, but my soul has been healed! He leaped up and walked on his feet, but my soul within me is leaping for joy in God!
If God Almighty cannot lie and the “Word of our God shall stand forever (Isa. 40:8), then what hope has the man or woman who knows the Word of God, but will not obey it? The day is coming in which there shall be upon the bridles and bells of the horses- “HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.” Zech 14:20. Again He hath commanded us to be “holy for HE is holy.” And God is He who cannot lie. Holiness means having the Holy Spirit within you, making you holy. Then you can walk before the Lord God in both ‘righteousness and true Holiness all the days of your life.” Eph. 4:24; Luke 1:75.
Everybody loves to be loved. Even God loves to be loved. There is something in His great, eternal bosom, which loves to hear us say, “Lord, I love you.” God will so fill your heart with love that you will love everybody. And “everybody ought to love Jesus.” True holiness means something; for God declares that without it no man shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14. Now since God hath thus said through His word, you may as well be persuaded that it is truth, for it is impossible for God to lie.” Heb. 6:18. I believe in a clean life and a clean heart. God is against the soul that desires unrighteousness. He warned the sons of men that He would be a “swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless , and that urn aside the stranger from his right and fear not me, saidth the LORD of hosts.” Mall 3:5.
Do what God demands, for He knows what He is talking about. There is one way to be saved. Said Jesus, I am the Way, the Door, by which if any man enter in he shall be saved. The Doorway is the birth of water and the Spirit. And God cannot lie. Any man may argue that any person can be saved only by ‘faith’, or ‘believing’. I agree with that, but faith in what? I say, “Faith is the Word of God.” That Word which was made flesh and said, “Ye must be born again, of water and the Spirit, in order to enter in to the Kingdom of God.” John 3:3,5; Mark 15:15, 6;
Acts 2:38. Faith without works is dead, being alone. If Christ told us we must be baptized and receive the Spirit of life from God, then if we say we believe we must be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving our own selves. Every man will be held responsible for that degree of light, which he has received. And concerning all these things, it still remaineth true that GOD WILL NOT LIE.
The sermon “God Who Cannot Lie” by G.T. Haywood was taken from the book The Lost Works of Bishop G.T. Haywood: Unpublished Anthologies from Bishop Haywood’s Early Years, written by J. Laverne Tyson, Volume 1, 1914-1926.
