Commandment Nine; Do Not Give False Testimony

Introduction

Recap the Series

Commandment 1 - Do not have any other gods besides me

Commandment 2 - Do not make any idols

Commandment 3 - Do not misuse the name of God

Commandment 4 - Remember the sabbath and keep it holy

Commandment 5 - Honor your father and mother

Commandment 6 - Do not murder

Commandment 7 - Do not commit adultery

Commandment 8 - Do not steal

Today - The Ninth Commandment; Do not give false testimony against your neighbor

Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

What does this command forbid

We have talked about how the first four commandments are about God, our worship of him, but these last 6 are about how we treat others

often reworded or summarized as do not lie

this is true… if you would simply never lie, you would be good

Are all lies sinful… a ethical question that I am not going to spend a lot of time on as that is a way of justifying ourselves

if this is a question you often ask of your lies, I would encourage you to examine why you are lying, what are the motives behind it

study scripture, look at the story of Rahab and the spies… she lies to protect the innocent

There is a legal terminology to this word, as in giving testimony in a court of law

does this mean that only when we are under oath,

it does mean every time that we are called on to witness we do not lie or mislead from the truth

“ I know this person is guilty, so I will lie so they are convicted”

the ends do not justify the means

I believe this person is innocent so I will lie to save them…

This would also include slander as well

this one is a little tougher for us if we are honest…

in a world where everyone has a platform to speak to the world and everyone is entitled to their own truth, we feel like we can say whatever we want about whoever we want

how many political posts get shared and sent around the internet without knowing the truth to them…

We cannot gossip at the Coop, the cafes, online or our prayer meetings

we must be people of truth,

but it says, your neighbor...

begging us to ask, who is my neighbor

We know that Jesus was asked the same question, and his answer was basically… “yes” anyone that you can think of, that person is your neighbor

Parable of the good Samaritan

We are not to lie to them, about them or for them…

The Unseen Pain

This commandment is different from the previous, where we can see the victim

you know who is murdered, who you have committed adultery or stolen from

for the most part, with the other commands, we see the pain caused by its violation

we can see the pain caused by our rage, or murder, we can see the pain caused by unfaithfulness in marriage or taking things that do not belong to us

but here, we are talking about words… sticks and stones people…

The victims…

The Slandered

it is said that there is no physician that can heal the wounds caused by the tongue

when we act kindly to somebody only to turn and slander them, we are no different than Judas himself kissing the cheek of Christ as he betrays him

Tell the story of who Judas was, and what he betrayed Jesus

our words fly about like an arrow and land directly in the back of those we lie about

The Recipient of the Slander

Thomas Watson - “He who raises slander, carries the devil in his tongue, and he who receives it, carries the devil in his ear.”

do we realize the evil that we unleash with lies that spew…

Please do not mistake that Pilate was a innocent man before the trial of Jesus,

but think of the slanderous things that the religious leaders were shouting and accusing him of

politically leaving Pilate no choice but to wash his hands of the situation

The Slanderer

Why do we lie?

WE can come up with all kinds of excuses…

reasons that we justify why we are doing what we are doing

it seems to me that lying is the sin we try to justify the most

to elevate ourselves

as people we want power, we want to look good and we want others to think those things of us

we want to be seen as powerful we want to be seen as important and we put others down to get there

Think back Jesus before Pilate, they lied about him

they had seen miracles that he had performed, they knew that there was definitely something that he had or was that they were not

so did everyone else… they had to falsely accuse him so that they would keep the power they had and the people would follow them instead

isn’t it amazing how politics have not changed in 2000 years…

The Unseen Hatred

I have told you before that I used to imagine God as one playing a big game of wack-a-mole

remind people what that game is…

The Lord hates six things;

I used to view God in this way… thinking every time we would sin, God would wack! you…

in a way, I wish he would, maybe that would stop our sinning as much…

every time a lie came out of our mouth, bam right on the head!

When actually we lie, we really do not feel the effects, we do not see the effects, and so we think that nobody really cared

The Lord hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him: 17 arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

in fact, seven are detestable to him:

Do not think that this is an exhaustive list… that these are the only things that God hates

17 arrogant eyes, a lying tongue,

to elevate ourselves

I bring up this scripture to show… God hates lies!

Why we think we get away with it

hands that shed innocent blood,

I know we thought God is love, he doesn’t hate, but that simply is not true

because like a lot of other sin, we do not see God’s reaction when we sin

that is a lie from Satan, the author of lies to lure us away from the truth

Do we think for a moment that the things that God hates, or finds detestable is going to be with him for eternity

just because we do not feel the smack on the head does not mean that God is ok with our lies

And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness.

God does not lie

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

I have heard it said that those with the biggest uproar about the truth, are typically the biggest liars

I have no idea if it is true, it makes sense

God hates lying, but at the same time, God does not lie, God cannot lie

if he could, he would not be the perfect God we serve

if he could, why would we believe anything that he said

If God does not and cannot lie, we must look to him as the source of truth or the truth as Jesus put it

The Bible says that all scripture is God breathed, meaning that we can take it as the very word of God

what does that scripture say

Paul was sent “for the faith of God’s elect [BELIEVER THAT IS YOU!] and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, in the hope of eternal life that God promised!

it says that God created everything perfect, but sin entered the world through Adam and Eve

that sin was passed down from generation to generation, and every single one of us is guilty of it.

the only person that ever lived and was not guilty of sin is Jesus himself

and he was crucified on a cross to pay the debt of my sin and yours

so that we can stand before God the Father clean and righteous

you do not have to lie to elevate yourself, you come to Jesus, that is the only true way of elevating yourself, submission to him

We are to be his witnesses

In the same way that we would not be able to believe God if he had lied, why would anyone believe us about God if we are not people of the truth

Why would anyone believe us about God if we are not people of the truth

his witnesses!

if people cannot believe our words and deeds, why would they ever believe that anything we say about God would be true

In fact, I believe that if we are found untruthful as believers, we are pushing people away from Jesus, not drawing them to him

The Unseen Truth

Maybe a better way would be to say that there is a passive command

Similar to the other commandments the fulfilment of the commandment is not simple to prohibit yourself from lying

even if we could stop all lies from ever coming out of everyones mouth I believe we are only half way there

We must be people who speak the truth in defense of others

In defense of others

Peter on the day of pentecost -

“These men are not drunk”

we must speak the truth for those who are being slandered

In defense of the Lord

Peter on the day of Pentecost

On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

Peter did not just defend those with him, his friends but stood in the defense of the gospel

we see this over and over in the book of Acts…

17 And it will be in the last days, says God,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

From Peter here on Pentecost

Peter and John in front of the sanhedrin

then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

they are arrested for speaking the truth of Jesus in the temple… do they stop

no the celebrate that they were found worthy to persecute… they pray to continue to speak the truth boldly

Stephen in front of religious leaders and Saul

your young men will see visions,

and your old men will dream dreams.

Paul throughout his journeys to speak the truth of the gospels

You can only speak the truth, be people of the truth if you have the Spirit of truth dwelling within you

This happens when we repent of our sins and seek God’s forgiveness, when we ask God to save us, and we know him

Peter and the other apostles did not speak the truth boldly before pentecost...

Garden of Gethsemane they all ran!

When it is time to stand and speak the truth without the Holy Spirit we will not stand