Exodus 20:16 - The Ninth Commandment
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“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Introduction
Introduction
One commandment no one claims to have kept.
Almost everyone condemns lying and yet everyone does it.
“I lied, but I am not a liar.”
In the context of the courtroom
God is concerned for the protection of the innocent.
Not much forensic evidence back then. Convictions were based on witnesses.
Accuser had to throw first stone.
False witness is punished.
Deut 19:18-19 “The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”
The need for multiple witnesses
Deut 19:15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.”
1 Timothy 5:19 “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.”
Speak the truth, render true judgments, make peace.
Zech. 8:16 “These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace;”
Satan is the source of lies
Satan is the father of lies - John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in 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.”
Lying entered the world in the garden.
Sins Forbidden
Sins Forbidden
The seriousness of the sin.
Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11
They had a right to keep some back for themselves. they did not have a right to lie.
The Ninth Commandment condemns all forms of lying.
Twisting someone else’s word
Modifying the story when retold. Adding or subtracting. Exaggerating for effect
Telling the truth but leaving out details that might put us in a bad light.
Slander - intentionally saying something false about someone.
Gossip - would the other person be happy to hear me tell this?
Prov. 18:8 “The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.”
What is necessary to speak?
Includes listening to gossip.
James 1:19 “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;”
Assuming bad motives - digital age
Making promises we don’t keep.
Phil Ryken notes,
“Given how dangerous words can be, it is not surprising that when the New Testament lists the sins we need to avoid, it often tells us to watch what we say. The Apostle Paul warned the Corinthians about “quarreling . . . slander, gossip” (2 Corinthians 12:20). He told the Galatians that “strife” and “dissensions” were acts of the sinful nature (Galatians 5:19, 20). He told the Ephesians to get rid of “slander” and “malice” (Ephesians 4:31).”
WLC 145: The sins forbidden in the ninth commandment are the following:
anything that puts at risk the truth, or the good name of our neighbors as much as our own, especially in a public trial; giving false evidence, encouraging false witnesses, or knowingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause; defying or facing down the truth; passing unjust sentences, calling evil good or calling good evil, or rewarding the wicked according to the work of the righteous or the righteous according to the work of the wicked; forgery; concealing the truth, undue silence in a just cause, or holding our peace when sin calls for either a reproof from ourselves or a complaint to others; speaking the truth at inappropriate times or maliciously for an evil purpose; perverting the truth to a wrong meaning or in vague and equivocal expressions, to the risk of truth or justice; speaking untruth, lying, slandering, backbiting, detracting, tale bearing, whispering, scoffing, and reviling; rash, harsh, or partial censuring; misconstruing intentions, words, and actions; flattering or egotistical boasting; thinking or speaking too highly or too little of ourselves or others; denying the gifts and graces of God; treating small faults as large; hiding, excusing, or downplaying sins when called to a free confession; unnecessary uncovering of the infirmities of others; raising false rumors; receiving and giving credit to evil reports, and refusing to listen to a legitimate defense; evil suspicions; envying or grieving at the deserved credit of anyone, endeavoring or desiring to impair their deserved credit or rejoicing in their disgrace and infamy; scornful contempt or fawning admiration of others; breaking lawful promises; neglecting such things as are of good report of others; and practicing, not avoiding in ourselves, or not hindering in others when we can, things that lead to a bad name.
Duties Required
Duties Required
Maintaining and promoting of truth
Protect our neighbor’s good name.
WLC 144, “a charitable esteem of our neighbors; loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name; sorrowing for and covering of their infirmities; freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces, defending their innocency; a ready receiving of a good report, and unwillingness to admit of an evil report, concerning them.”
Seeking our neighbor’s good may result in withholding the truth for their good.
Truth may cause hurt or death
Someone breaks in and asks if your kids are in the house.
Hebrew midwives deceived to prevent infanticide
Rahab in Joshua 2:4-5 deceived the Canaanites
James 2:25 “And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?”
Gideon deceived in war.
We should not use extreme cases to justify our daily sins.
Not pragmatic morals - the end determines the means.
We are never obligated to sin.
Application
Application
False witnesses in the New Testament
Jesus’ Crucifixion
Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’ ”
Stephen, the first martyr - Acts 6:13 “and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,”
No one can tame their tongue
The tongue in James 3:2-12
For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
Liars have no place in heaven
Rev. 22:15 “Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
Rev 21:27 “But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
What lies have you been telling?
How do you deceive others?
Christians are called to be God’s witnesses
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””
They should be like God
In a culture of lies they should be trusted.
Ephesians 4:25 “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”
Ephesians 4:15 calls us to speak the truth in love.
God is a God of truth
1 Samuel 15:29 “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.””
Titus 1:2 “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began”
Numbers 23:19 “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?”
God swears by Himself in Hebrews 6:13 “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,”
The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”
God can be trusted
Jesus fulfills the commandment
Jesus is the Word - John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
He is the truth - John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
He spoke from the Father - John 8:28 “So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.”
No falsehood John 7:18 “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”
Heaven is for all who trust in Jesus
Romans 10:13 “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
God can be trusted in this
Closing Hymn: 308 Jesus Paid it All
Benediction: