Liar Liar Pants on Fire

The Ten Commandments

1. One God

2. No idols

3. Revere His Name

4. Remember to Rest

5. Honor Parents

6. No murder

7. No adultery

8. No stealing

9. No lying

‌10. No coveting

Exodus 20:16 “16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

INTRODUCTION:

“Liar, liar! Pants on fire! Nose that’s as long as a telephone wire!” Probably all of us either said that or had it said to us when we were kids. It’s a good thing that it’s not really true. Otherwise, many of us would be walking with a limp, burnt and in a lot of pain. Some churches might even come in both regular and extra crispy.

As a pastor, I face the possibility that I could speak on a topic that is really not an issue in the lives of the people in attendance that day.

It’s called “Scratching where no one is itching.”

To prevent this problem in one church, the “minister wound up the services one morning by saying, "Next Sunday I am going to preach on the subject of LIARS. And in this connection, I would like you all to read the 17th chapter of Mark."

The next Sunday, the preacher rose to begin, and said, "Now, all of you who have done as I requested and read the 17th chapter of Mark, please raise your hands." Nearly every hand in the congregation went up.

"Very good," said the preacher. "You are precisely the people I wish to speak to this morning.

There IS no 17th chapter of Mark!"” – Bible Illustrator.

The cultural context is one of an ancient courtroom.

For the pagan nations surrounding Israel, there were few standards or protections for the accused.

In some cases, defendants couldn’t give a defense and were presumed guilty until proven innocent.

Because there were no DNA tests, fingerprinting, or video evidence, defendants could be convicted and condemned based on just one witness.

In contrast, God provided protection for the accused in the commands He gave to His people.

God is just and cares about our reputation

Because witnesses were very important in the ancient world, God expressly prohibited anyone from bearing, or giving, “false witness.”

The word “false” means, “without cause.”

When this command was repeated 40 years later in Deuteronomy 5:20, a different word for “false” was used which means, “empty or vain.”

To “witness” is to testify or answer.

This could be translated, “You will not answer as a lying witness,” or more literally, “You shall not be a lying witness against your neighbor.”

Albert Mohler writes, “In an honor culture, where reputation meant everything and life and death could hang in the balance, false witnesses could kill…truth must always be spoken about one’s neighbor, for even one incident of false accusation could unravel the social fabric of an entire community.”

The injunction against bearing false witness is stated throughout Scripture. Just a few chapters later,

we read in Exodus 23:1-3: “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.”

Proverbs 24:28 warns: “Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.”

False witnesses are a threat to justice being served,

they can harm or even put to death the innocent,

they can disrupt the life of the community at large,

and they can undermine public confidence in the judicial system.

Our nation’s laws are based on the Judeo-Christian foundation of truthful testimony.

We can’t have true justice when people don’t tell the truth.

That’s what’s behind the question asked of a witness who [often] puts his hand on the Bible, “Do you swear that the evidence you shall give to the court in this matter shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth [so help you God]?”

God gave three other safeguards to ensure that justice was upheld.

There had to be more than one witness.

Deuteronomy 19:15 “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.” God is a Just God

Moses presents some safeguards to prevent people from being the victims of false witnesses. We know that while the points here apply primarily to the theocratic nation of Israel, it can apply also to life in the body of Christ.

When a person does not own up to an alleged sin, witnesses are needed.

But Moses says that one witness is not sufficient.

One reason for requiring more than one witness is the problem of having malicious witnesses. Moses says, “If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing …” (19:16).

Philip Ryken summarizes in this way: “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.”

This level of proof stretches also into the New Testament.

Jesus himself maintained this standard in his instruction about confronting sin in another believer

Matthew 18:16 “16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

It was designed to ascertain guilt beyond reasonable doubt before any verdict could be made—especially in court cases.

Therefore, having witnesses in this second step of discipline also suggests that the end of the process will be a form of judgment if the offender does not repent.

Then we also see it with Paul in 1 Timothy 5:19 “19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

The instruction for every Christian indicates that charges are established (or proven) on the evidence of two or three witnesses, whereas for elders the charges may not even be admitted (or considered) except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

It is clear: the testimony of a single witness cannot be the determining factor in charging a pastor with wrongdoing.

Why this difference?

Presumably, because pastors are a special object of satanic attack.

In general, much more damage can be done to a church by scandal involving a pastor than scandal involving a member.

n general, the path to doing the greatest harm to a church is the path that leads through the leaders.

Therefore, pastors need special protection.

A lying witness was given the same punishment the accused would have received.

Deuteronomy 19:16-19 “16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”

“If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing…

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.”

I’m sure this served as a big deterrent.

If a witness lied they would receive the judgement that the person they were testifying agaist woyld have gotten

A witness had to throw the first stone.

Deuteronomy 17:7 “7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”

Most people are not willing to take part in punishing someone unless they are convinced the person is guilty.

But we see the protection of the acccused here.

the witness must be so truthful that they are convinced that they would be apart of the punishment.

Jesus had this passage from Deuteronomy in mind when He lowered the boom on some false witnesses in John 8:7-8: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her…But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones…”

God is truth, therefore we can rely on His promises.

The Word of God teaches us that God never lies,

that God always speaks truth because He is truth/true.

Since God is true, He instructs us to be people of truth.

By being people of truth, the watching world around us and the community of God in our midst is reminded that God is true and His gospel is true.

Titus 1:2 “2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began”

What if God could lie?

What if all the promises were just a bunch of lies?

You may have had persons who made promises to you.

They promised you a special gift for Christmas.

They promised that they would ride bikes with you when they got home.

They promised that they would be faithful to you.

They promised that they would always love you.

They promised that they would never go away.

But they broke their promises because they were just weak human beings,

so now you have trouble trusting anyone who makes promises.

God is very different from human being.

The fact is that God cannot lie.

Numbers 23:19 “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?”

The biggest promise that God ever made was that He would send a Savior to pay the debt that the sins of mankind had incurred.

What a promise?

And then when that Savior, Jesus, came, He promised that He was going to die and then come back to life!

The promise gets even bigger!

The bigger the promise gets, the more unbelievable it becomes.

But as big as the promise was,

Jesus did come,

He did die,

He did pay the penalty for man’s sin,

He did rise from the dead, and He did make forgiveness available to all.

If God can fulfill a promise like that, then He can fulfill any promise because it is impossible for God to lie.

When I fulfill my promises, when I tell the truth regardless of the cost,

it allows me to carry the same identification as God – “Truth-teller”, “Promise-keeper”.

Someone who tells the truth all the time is someone who can be trusted.

Because God is truth, we must tell the truth.

STATIONS ON THE LINE OF LYING

The essence of lying is saying something that will achieve a desired result without regard to whether it is true. There are many ways in which this can happen.

Flattery

as an example:

Someone has described flattery as “saying to someone’s face what you would never say behind his or her back!”

Flattery happens when you want to make a good impression,

so you say what you think another person wants to hear even if that bears little relation to reality.

Flattery doesn’t sound as bad as perjury, but it is a station on the line of lying.

Exaggeration

is another station on the line.

In your attempt to make an impression, you overstate what you said, did, or accomplished, taking credit that really belongs to someone else.

Or, if you are looking for sympathy, you may overstate the wrong that was done to you because you want the person who hears your story to feel sorry for you.

Telling your story in a way that misleads a person by hiding or excluding what they would need to know to make a balanced judgment is a form of lying.

Gossip

is another station on the line of lying.

This involves passing on news about another person that may or may not be true with the intent of harming that person.

The lie may be in your words or it may be in your motive;

passing on information under the pretense of being helpful

when your real aim is to alter perceptions about the other person.

Someone has likened gossip to ripping a feather pillow open on a windy day. Once the feathers are out, there is no way to gather them back.

The reason that we are prone to lying is that we are more deeply committed to ourselves than we are committed to the truth.

Truth is hard for sinners because it never puts us in a pure light.

Somewhere deep inside the human heart, there is an instinct that makes us want to hide from the truth.

We like to think of ourselves as seekers after truth. In reality, our first instinct is to run from it (Romans 3:11).

There is a great moment in the film A Few Good Men when in the heat of cross-examination in a military court, an attorney played by Tom Cruise shouts, “I want the truth!” The colonel, played by Jack Nicholson, explodes in anger: “You can’t handle the truth!” That’s our problem.[1]

What prompts us to lie in these various ways?

“We have already traced the origin to the wickedness of our hearts Luke 6:44-45 “44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

but what are the secondary causes?

We tell lies about our achievements because we are jealous of another’s success and want to appear at least equal to them, if not better than them.

We tell lies because we are angry and want to harm our opponents.

We tell lies to cover up our mistakes and misdeeds.

We tell lies because we are trying to impress someone and the facts alone are not enough, so we embellish them.

We may tell likes out of a desire for revenge.

In summary, there are essentially two things that underlie our breaking of the ninth commandment—pride and fear. The answer to both is in the cross.”

The Cross is the Cure for our Deceit

If there is one thing God hates, it is the lies that Christians tell to make themselves look more righteous than they really are.

Our testimony is that we are unrighteous, that there is no way we could ever be saved apart from the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

The real truth about us is that we are so guilty that the very Son of God had to be crucified to pay for our sins.

If that is true, then why would we ever pretend to be anything more than sinners saved by grace?

To act like we have it spiritually together is a lie.

But more than that, it is a denial of the grace of God,

which alone has the power to save us.”

By his grace, God transforms our hearts so that we bear true witness to Him with our lips, our desires, our minds, and our actions.

Matt. 12:36–37 “36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.””

We will give an account for every word.

Like the ninth word, Jesus’s warning is uttered in courtroom language.

If we neglect to bear true witness as the ninth word commands,

our words will bear witness against us in the day of reckoning.

It is here that I think wistfully of Pinocchio with his wooden nose sprouting branches and leaves.

Had God created us to bear a visible sign each time we lied,

perhaps we would hesitate as we should.

Perhaps if God had been more like Geppetto,

we would all employ truth with greater diligence.

But God knows better than Geppetto. Nothing bears greater witness to the truth of our invisible God than our visible obedience to his commands.

Let God’s kingdom come in the words we choose to bear witness about one another, for so is fulfilled the law of love.

Because God is truth, we must tell the truth.

Because He is truth we can count on his promises.