"Do Not Perjure Yourself"

INTRODUCTION.

A prohibition of false accusation against another person is the first law of the Code of Hammurabi, and the penalty there is death. (EXODUS: EVANGELICAL EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY (V2, p50).

Exodus 20:1–2 LSB

1 Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Exodus 20:16 LSB

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

MESSAGE.

Who is my neighbor?

We have seen this question asked in the Gospel in the account of the “Good Samaritan.

in this passage her in Exodus the word used for neighbor “anyone else you happen to come in contact with” rather than the more narrow sense often seen for “someone living near you. NAC Exodus - p466.

I. Legal.

Purpose of the judicial proceeding is to find out the truth about a matter.

sworn in to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

What do you know or have you seen.

We must tell the truth in court. leviticus 5:1.

Leviticus 5:1 LSB

1 ‘Now if a person sins after he hears a public oath to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt.

Bearing false witness against your neighbor it distorts the judicial system.

II. Personal.

Ancient Sumerian proverb, “failure to keep a promise made a person a liar . . . EXODUS: EVANGELICAL EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY (V2, p51).

ephesians 4:25.

Ephesians 4:25 LSB

25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.

Age of Child.

The Life You Live.

Professing to be Christian and not be.

Bearing false witness against your neighbor distorts your testimony.

III. God.

God bore true witness in Garden of Eden.

genesis 2:15-17.

Genesis 2:15–17 LSB

15 Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

God knew the death

seperation

physical

Satan bore false witness.

genesis 3:2-5.

Genesis 3:2–5 LSB

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’” 4 And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

He distorted the truth.

Satan caused death.

God bears witness to Life. john 14:6.

John 14:6 LSB

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.

Jesus is the only way.

Jesu is the truth.

Jesus is the life.

God is Truth.

Bearing false witness against your neighbor distorts God.

CONCLUSION.