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All right, you can turn to Deuteronomy chapter five. Deuteronomy five is we take up part two of the ninth commandment, but I'll read the section, Deuteronomy five, the 10 commandments, the foundation to covenant loyalty for the nation of Israel, poised on the plains of Moab, getting ready to enter into the promised land. This is a series of exhortations by Moses, the longest of which is chapters five, to 28, where God calls his people to live faithfully before him in the land that he is giving to them, as he promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So I'll read beginning in chapter five at verse one. And Moses called all Israel and said to them, hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and you did not go up the mountain.

He said, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.

These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly in the mountain, from the midst of the fire, the cloud and the thick darkness with a loud voice. And he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. Amen.

Well, last week we looked at the prohibition of the command and the specific emphasis has to do with public testimony in a criminal court. And so the act of perjury is the primary application with reference to the commandment as it's worded. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Bearing false witness against one's neighbor opened up someone to the potential of being penalized with whatever they had hoped would befall their neighbor. 

If you go to chapter 19 in the book of Deuteronomy, you see that. Specifically at verse 15, One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, the matter shall be established. If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. and the judges shall make careful inquiry. And indeed, if the witness is a false witness who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother. So you shall put away the evil from among you." 

So you see the importance of faithful testimony, and you see the liability to false testimony. If I allege that a particular person was guilty of a crime that was a capital offense, and it turns out I'm a false witness, and it turns out it's proven that I'm a false witness, then I am subject to capital punishment. the thing that I had intended for that particular person is turned on my head, which obviously would cut down on frivolous lawsuits, it would cut down on a sue-happy people, and it would cut down on those who would think that they can mess up their neighbor by false testimony. 

So the primary emphasis in the Ninth Commandment as stated in Deuteronomy 5, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, has to do with perjury. But as well, it includes all forms of lying. And we looked at several passages condemning lying. As well, backbiting and slander, false and malicious statements made about another. 

Now, this is one of those sins, or these are those types of sins, backbiting, slander, gossip, and tailbearing. Those are the kinds of things that unfortunately go on in churches. These are the kinds of things that that as Jerry Bridges says, they're somewhat respectable sins. If we knew that somebody was committing adultery in the context of the church, we would be outraged. If we knew somebody was bowing down to a Buddha in their closet at home, we would be outraged. We would be outraged if we knew that somebody went out at night and cut people's throat and engaged in the act of murder. Why are we not outraged when people engage in backbiting and slander and gossip and tailbearing, rumor or talk of a personal, sensational or intimate nature? 

It is simply unacceptable for us to engage in those kinds of sins. It is not the case that this is somehow okay. In fact, if you turn to Ephesians chapter four, you will see that Paul highlights how bad this kind of conduct is within the context of a local church. Remember the emphasis in the section in chapter four, if you look first at verse one, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling. one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. So you see the emphasis there on love and unity grounded in who God is, the triune God. One Lord, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father.

So then notice specifically in verse 25, This is specifically application of the ninth commandment. Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. That's the sixth commandment. And then the eighth and fourth commandment in verse 27, nor give place to the devil, Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

Now it's sort of back to the ninth commandment, and it's back to the things that are very destructive in the context of a church. Verse 29. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

I think that if we were writing scripture, I think that if we were asked the question, what is it in church life that really grieves the Holy Spirit? We would probably be inclined to say, well, adultery, murder, theft, the sorts of idolatry that the Bible everywhere frowns upon. Again, look at verse 30, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

So sins of the tongue and those things having to do with ninth commandment violations are things that grieve the Spirit of God in the context of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the overarching emphasis in terms of truth-telling and in terms of restraining ourselves from backbiting and slander and gossip and tail-bearing. And then when it comes to actually committing these sins, there's the active participant, the person with the big mouth, and then there's the passive participant, the person with the big ears.

Now again, you are not duty-bound to listen to gossip. You're certainly not duty-bound to engage in gossip, whether it be through active, you know, formally speaking ill of others. You're not bound to be a passive participant and hear things that you're not privy to or things that don't concern you. It's okay to tell somebody, that's not my business. If you've got an issue with that particular person, you should go deal with that particular person. I don't have a need to know. I don't have to be involved in that. And it's wrong for persons to take something of a personal matter and publicize it to other people. So participating actively with a big mouth or passively with big ears.

Now, when we come to the reason for the command, I think it's similar to what we've seen in other commands, the nature of God. The Lord God Most High is the Lord God of truth. We see that in Psalm 31 verse 5. God is called the Lord God of truth. In our Lord's public ministry, how does he describe himself in John 14? I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. How does the Lord Jesus Christ identify the Holy Spirit? He calls him the Spirit of Truth in John 14, 17, John 15, 26, and John 16, 13. Yet not three truths, one truth, three persons to be sure, but in this divine and infinite being there are three subsistences or persons, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. 

So it's not like there's three truths, but each of the persons embodies or is by nature truth, and that's an emphasis that grounds this particular commandment. So you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor because of God. God demands truth from his people. 

And then turn to John's gospel in John chapter eight to see the contrast with reference to the devil. If the nature of God is such that truth is a premium or God is truth, when we see the devil in John 8, 44, it ought not to surprise us that lies are what is his nature. So in John 8, 44, you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it. 

So why should we not bear false witness? Because God is the Lord God of truth, and because the devil is a liar from the beginning. We don't want to side with the devil, we want to side with God, and that's why we engage in truth. 

So the nature of God, but also the nature of man. Remember in Genesis chapter one, we bear the image of God. As image bearers of God, that means we need to function in a godly capacity. And if God is truth, then his image bearers should evidence that in terms of the way that they live one with another. Truth is premium. 

and then the entirety of God's law. Every one of these Ten Commandments assumes truth. If you lie, if you've got the ninth commandment wrong, or you're going to violate the ninth commandment, then it's probably pretty easy to violate all the other commandments, because it necessitates, I would imagine, in order to steal, there's deception involved. In order to commit adultery, there's some sort of deception involved with the innocent parties. And with all these sins, deception is part and parcel of these things. 

And then I would argue as well the stability of the social order. If we live in a world where people don't tell the truth, it's not going to take long for a society like that to fizzle out. And it might be that which we're witnessing in Western civilization. I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I wonder how long can we continue with the kind of debt that we have with the kind of murder that we engage in, with the kind of just corruption that we see in lawlessness. I mean, if you don't have truth foundational in a civil order, it can't long perpetuate itself. 

As Dabney says, lies destroy confidence. He says, in short, if confidence is destroyed, then all the bands which unite man with his fellows are loosed. Each man must struggle on, unaided by his fellows, as though he were the sole forlorn remnant of a perishing race. In other words, if there's no truth, foundationally, there's no camaraderie, there's no unity, there's no single-purposeness. You see it obviously in the context of the church, don't grieve the Holy Spirit, If you grieve the Holy Spirit with these sins of the tongues, you're not going to have that unity, you're not going to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Well, it's not just church, but family. If a family is full of deception and lies, how long can that family function appropriately? If a society is founded on lies and deception, it cannot continue. God's world is a moral universe, and the way of the transgressor is hard. And so it's foundational for all of life, whether individually, familially, ecclesiastically, or civilly, that we tell the truth, that we speak the truth, that we do not bear false witness against our neighbor.

And then I would suggest, thirdly, the positive aspect of the command. I'll just read and then we'll look at these in a bit more detail. Westminster, larger catechism. Last week I read the page long, what are the sins forbidden in the ninth commandment? So what are the duties required in the ninth commandment? Excuse me. The duties required in the Ninth Commandment are the preserving and promoting of truth between man and man, and the good name of our neighbor as well as our own, appearing and standing for the truth and from the heart, sincerely, freely, clearly, and fully speaking the truth and only the truth in matters of judgment and justice, and in all other things whatsoever. a charitable esteem of our neighbors, loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name, sorrowing for and covering up their infirmities, freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces, defending their innocency, a ready receiving of a good report, an unwillingness to admit of an evil report concerning them, discouraging tailbearers, flatterers, and slanderers, love and care of our own good name, and defending it when need requires, keeping of lawful promises, studying and practicing of whatsoever things are true, honest, lovely, and of good report."

Again, probably not going to commit that to memory, but it wouldn't hurt to commit that to memory because it's a good explanation or exposition of what we find here in Deuteronomy 520, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

So first, the truth in matters of justice and judgment. I've already seen it there in Deuteronomy 19. The seriousness of the ninth commandment is seen in the penalty attached to the violation of the ninth commandment in Deuteronomy 19. That's a good way to see what God esteems in terms of particular laws. Now, all of God's laws obviously are esteemed by God, but the sanctions or the penalties that are attached, for instance, The fact that murder demands capital punishment shows you that that is a serious crime. It is a serious sin. I would suggest that rape demands the same sort because in Deuteronomy 22, God through Moses says rape is just as murder. So again, when you see the penalties attached for violations of a particular commandment, you see the seriousness of it.

So truth in matters of justice and judgment. To hurt another man in a public arena in a criminal court opens, again, oneself up to the liability of that just punishment. But it's something that should be unthinkable. To go lie, even against somebody we're not really fond of, to go destroy their name, to go destroy their reputation, to cancel them from their work, to ruin their lives? Brethren, we really need to think about these sorts of things. We live in a society where those kinds of things are pretty part and parcel. Somebody says something, and they're canceled for it. Well, that's not the way we're supposed to function. Calvin says, if a good name is more precious than all riches, Proverbs 22.1, we harm a man more by despoiling him of the integrity of his name than by taking away his possessions. And I think this is what Jesus is teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. It's character assassination, fool or raka. You know, these things hurt people. People do lose jobs. People do lose prestige. People do lose reputation. And these things are valuable and important. I don't think Calvin is out to lunch here.

We harm a man more by despoiling him of the integrity of his name than by taking away his possessions. He can get more possessions. He can go to the thrift store. He can't get the integrity of his name back. Once it's wiped out in civil society or in a churchly context, that's why, you know, last week I mentioned Matthew 18. Matthew 18, brethren, is absolutely crucial for inter-church relationships. And just let it be known that if you come to me to rat somebody out, the first thing I'm going to ask you is, have you gone to them? And if you have not gone to them, I may just cover my ears and make a noise so that I don't hear what you're about to say.

This destroys churches when people, for whatever reason, it's almost like Matthew 18 is a hot potato none of us ever want to touch. You know, it really shouldn't be that way. We should expect. Now listen, I'm not saying it's okay, but we should expect people to sin against us. We should. I don't live my life thinking nobody's ever going to sin against me. In fact, it's just the opposite. I pretty much am waiting. I don't wait for people to sin against me, but I just know, right? Remaining corruption in the hearts of God's people. What does that mean? It means they sin. Unrestrained reigning corruption in the hearts of not God's people. What does it mean? It means they're going to sin.

So when that happens, God's given a particular tactic or strategy or procedure to use so that we can deal with each other and finish it. Seek reconciliation, seek resolution, and finish it. There's a mechanism in place to fix the interpersonal dealings of God's people within the context of the church. It's beautiful. It's not a bad thing. If your brother sins, Go to him. If he hears you, you've won your brother. Praise God. That ought to be the way we do it. That ought to be the way that we function. If he doesn't, take two or three witnesses. If he doesn't hear them, then tell it to the church. If he doesn't listen to the church, well then, treat him like a tax collector and a heathen. That's the procedure. That's the way we maintain the unity of peace in the context of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So truth in matters of justice and judgment, we gotta make sure we protect the integrity of our brother's name. We gotta protect the integrity of our neighbor's name. We shouldn't want our next door neighbor, even if he's ungodly or a non-Christian, to have his integrity ruined because who knows why? We've got to be faithful when it comes to these things.

Secondly, the truth in all areas of life. The truth in all areas of life. Colossians chapter three emphasizes this in a more general sort of a way. Colossians chapter three, specifically at verses nine and 10. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Don't lie to one another. Just don't do it. Stop it. That's ungodly and it's not consistent with what's happened in terms of being born again. You've put on the new man. and He's renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created Him. And the image of Him who created Him is, of course, the truth, the Lord God of truth.

Ursinus says the head, the fountain, and genus, as it were, of the virtues which are here enjoined is truth, or rather veracity in our words, thoughts, judgments, contracts, and in our doctrine. In other words, all of life is subject to the ninth commandment in terms of telling the truth.

I would suggest thirdly, the truth and charity. The truth and charity. Turn to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs speaks often with reference to truth in our relationships. Proverbs chapter 17. Verse 9, he who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends. That happens. I don't want to say all the time, because I don't want to sound that bad, but it happens a lot.

He who covers a transgression seeks love. And as I mentioned last week, 1 Peter tells us, let love cover a multitude of sins. You can invoke that option over Matthew 18. In other words, if Brother A sins against Brother B. Brother B has to make a decision. Do I Matthew 18 it? If I Matthew 18 it, it means that he actually sinned. It's not, you know, kind of nebulously. Sometimes, you know, we think people are guilty of an offense, but they haven't actually sinned. Make sure you're not that person. If you're going to go to somebody, they must have had to have sinned against you. Okay? I mean, it's hard to live in light of not sin and being confronted for sin. Does everybody understand that?

If I actually sin against my wife, she can actually come to me and say, you sinned against me. If I didn't sin against her, maybe I just said something that was not sinful, but not necessarily great. Well, it's not sin. So person A sins against person B. Person B can, in the spirit of Matthew 18, go to that person and say, you sinned against me. I want you to repent of that. OK, I repent. Great. Now, person B can invoke the let love cover the multitude of sins thing, right? That's an option. Okay? I'm not going to Matthew 18, person A. I'm going to let love cover it. Now, if you invoke that, you have to let love cover it. Okay? Does everybody get that?

Because here's what happens. Person B doesn't really like the whole Matthew 18 thing. I don't want to confront person A because it's awkward and it doesn't feel good. So, I'm going to let love cover it. But they don't. They treat person A differently. They avoid person A. There's some undealt with thing between B and A. If you're going to let love cover it, the end game needs to be what repentance and forgiveness would look like. That's sort of the nuance or the qualification that you have to throw in there.

So verse 9, he who covers a transgression seeks love. So there's that let love cover a multitude of sins, or it's even the Matthew 18 thing. But he who repeats a matter separates friends. In other words, telling it to others. What happens? It damages the reputation of the person that needs to be dealt with faithfully. Charles Bridges here says a disciplined tongue is a gracious mercy to the church. A disciplined tongue is a gracious mercy to the church.

Then you can turn over to the book of James. Interestingly, James deals a lot with sins of the tongue. James chapter 1, specifically verse, not 16, 26, sorry. 126, if anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows and their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Look at chapter three, specifically at verses 13 to 18. Well, back up just a bit. Let's look a little bit previous there. Look at verse one. My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships, although they are so large, and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires, even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

So you see the influence or impact of this little tiny thing in the body is pretty significant, okay? You don't need a lot, just a bit to control a horse. You don't need a lot, just a rudder to control a ship. And you don't need a lot to mess up a life, but a tongue that is undisciplined.

Notice then, see how great a forest a little fire kindles. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. Think about that. You've probably seen those videos, you know, guys put their heads in, you know, they open the crocodile jaws and they put their heads in there. How do they do that? Because they tame the crocodile not to kill them. How does a guy dance with a bear? Again, videos, YouTube it. Man dances with bear. How do you dance with a bear? Because you can tame a bear. Again, I can't, but somebody can. How do you roll around with a lion? Well, because you tame the lion.

Notice what he's saying. Every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. He's saying this in the first century. You can get a hawk to land on your arm and go kill rabbits and come back. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison.

I don't think he's saying that in this way. No man can tame it, so don't even think about it. No man can tame it, so forget about it. No man can tame it. He needs God's grace and he needs God's instrumentality in the way that somebody is able to crack a whip and get that bear to dance with them. We need God's grace in order to help us restrain the tom.

He gives an illustration of what we do with the tongue in verse 9. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie, notice, against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

Again, the whole context is truth. How do we deal with each other? In truth. How do we use our tongues? In truth. And then James 4, 11 and 12, do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. Therefore, or there is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

And then over in 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter chapter 3, specifically at verse 10. For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. So truth and charity go hand in hand. And if we are not disciplining the tongue and taming it the way that we are bitten to, it's gonna be a destructive force, whether it be in our family, whether it be in our church, whether it be in our workplace, whether it be in society at large.

So, just some concluding thoughts then. In terms of lying, it originated with the devil and it is contrary to God. That right there should scare the people of God away from lying. It's characteristic of the devil, right? We don't want to do those things that are characteristic of the devil, John 8, 44. As well, Psalm 58, 3 indicates it's characteristic of man in Adam. The wicked go estranged from the womb, speaking lies as soon as they are born. Psalm 58, 3. Not the happiest text on the face of the earth, to be sure, but it shows the nature of deadness in Adam and the depravity that ensues.

It is, of course, forgiven by Christ when we believe the gospel. Lying and deception are not the unpardonable sin. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. There is forgiveness with God most high for lying. And then it would be, or rather, it is punishable by death and hell when we don't believe the gospel. Revelation 21, specifically in verse eight. It's always good, as I said, to see the penalty involved for committing certain sins or crimes. Revelation 21, eight, but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

So lying, contrary to God, consistent with the devil, characteristic of man in Adam, forgivable by our blessed Savior, cleansed in his blood, and punishable by death and hell when we do not believe the gospel.

Now, when it comes to the use of the ninth commandment, does anybody remember the threefold use of the law? This would be a good time to ask a question. What are the three uses of the law? You're on. Yeah, civil, pedagogical, and normative. Civil, God uses the law to restrain man. It's there, it's a big parameter, it's a big hedge, so that man is not as sinful as he could possibly be. That's what we mean by the civil, sometimes called the political use of the law, not political like Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, but civil application restraining man from being as bad as he can possibly be. civil use of law. Pedagogical is when the law functions as a tutor to show us our need for Christ. That's what pedagogy is. It is a tutor relationship. Pedagogue teaches us certain things. The law teaches us that we are sinners and that we are damned to hell apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. So that pedagogue points us or the law shows us our need for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

And then the normative is for the people of God, blood-bought children of God who have the Holy Spirit, how then are we to live? So with the pedagogue, it points us, the law points us to the cross for salvation. By God's grace, we believe the gospel, we're justified freely by his grace. Christ then fills us with his spirit and points us to the law on how then we are to live. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. What is pleasing to God? Not being an idolater, not being a blasphemer, not being a Sabbath-breaker, not being insubordinate, not being a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, a liar, or a covetous person. 

The revelation of God's nature is through law. We see what pleases God with reference to his law. Proverbs chapter six tells us that very clearly. These six things the Lord hates, yea, seven are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift and running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren. 

If you're in a romantic relationship, a husband, a wife, a boyfriend, girlfriend, you not only want to know what your spouse loves or likes, you kind of want to know what they hate as well. If they hate it when you eat onions, don't eat onions because that's offensive to them. Well, it's good to know what Yahweh hates, and it shows us something of his nature and character. 

So, normatively, we need to recognize the power of the tongue. The power of the tongue for good and for evil. For good and for evil. Just a couple of passages with reference to evil. Notice in 11.9 in Proverbs. Proverbs 11.9. The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered. Destroys his neighbor. 

Notice in 12, 17 to 22. He who speaks truth declares righteousness, but a false witness, deceit. There's one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health. The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy. No grave trouble will overtake the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with evil. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delights.

" Again, you see the good use of the tongue, but you see the bad use of the power to destroy. Notice in Proverbs 15, 1 and 2. A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. We already saw 17.9, look at 18.21. 1821, death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. 2518, 2518, a man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow. That's hardcore, brethren. That's, I mean, I don't want to get hit with a club. I don't want to get stabbed with a sword. And I certainly don't want to fall on a sharp arrow. Those are, you know, three unpleasant things that all of us would choose to avoid in any given time in any part of our life. But a man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like that. That's just wretched. And then 2628, 2628. A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin. So the recognition of the power of the tongue is absolutely crucial.

I would suggest, secondly, the willingness to shut our ears to falsehood. The willingness to shut our ears to falsehood. We don't have to listen to that. Calvin says, we must go further and not be suspicious or too curious in observing the defects of others. For such eager inquisitiveness betrays malevolence, or at any rate, an evil disposition.

Brethren, every one of us is messed up. You know what I mean? The person that, you know, everything's great. I'm just this awesome virtuous person. Okay, most of the rest of us are messed up and there's dirt on all of us. You know, we should all respect each other enough not to try to dig up each other's dirt. Now, if I dump my dirt on you and it becomes a you issue, then yeah, deal with me to be sure, but we don't need to go out policing the various faults of all of our fellows, because that's a full-time job.

And remember, when James talks about bridling the tongue in James 1, 26, he's not talking about bridling your neighbor's tongue. You're the tongue police that is tasked with bridling everybody else's in the context of the church. No, you bridle your own. Just like Solomon tells us in Proverbs 4, keep your heart with all diligence. That's a full-time job. You cannot keep the hearts of all your fellows. It's just impossible, and you were never called to do that.

I would suggest, thirdly, the necessity of godly restraint in the use of the tongue. Remember what your mother said. If you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all. It's okay to be quiet. It really is. We don't always have to fill the void. If there's silence in a room, you know, we don't have to jump into the fray and fill it with something that is foul or polluted.

The psalmist said, I said, I will guard my ways lest I sin with my tongue. I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle while the wicked are before me. Psalm 39 one. or Psalm 141.3, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. That's a good prayer. It's like those guards at Buckingham Palace. They don't flinch. They don't move. They don't do anything. I've seen them firsthand. That was one of the things I got to do when I was in England. I went to London and we tried to mess with these poor guards with their big furry hats. They don't move. They set guard. They're not going to move. That's the image I see when I read Psalm 141. Set one of those guys over my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips.

So the necessity then to restrain and to restrain our own tongues, not everybody else's. And of course, the necessity to love the truth. Consider Proverbs 23, 23. Buy the truth and do not sell it. Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. I love that. Buy the truth and do not sell it. That's a beautiful statement that I'd love to think that all of us take to heart. Buy the truth and sell it not.

And then there's one, I didn't write down the text, but the question is, why is there in the hand, why is the purchase price of wisdom in the hand of a fool, since he has no heart for it? That's another proverb that I think is very much consistent with that. Buy the truth and sell it not. Oh yeah, here it is. Why is there in the hand of a fool the purchase price of wisdom, since he has no heart for it? Right? Why is he holding the price tag like he's actually going to get it when he has no heart for it? What's the implication? We need to have the heart for that wisdom and we need to have the heart for that love of truth.

And then I would suggest finally the recognition that we will give an account of the way in which we used our tongues. Matthew 12 36. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak they will give account of it in the day of judgment. What always, you know, makes me stand in awe with this text is that it's idle words. It's not blasphemous words. It's not, you know, hypocrisy. It's not, you know, lies and perjury. Of course we're going to give an account for that. We're going to give an account for idle words.

Gil says, our Lord's meaning is that not only works and actions, but words of all sorts will come into the account in the day of judgment and will be evidences for or against a man to acquit or condemn him. Ryle says, our words are the evidence of the state of our hearts, as surely as the taste of the water is an evidence of the state of the spring. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The lips only utter what the mind conceives.

And then Calvin, first, Let us speak of the sacred mysteries of God with the utmost reverence and sobriety. Secondly, let us abstain from talkativeness, buffoonery, and vain jests, and much more from slanderous attacks. And lastly, let us endeavor to have our own speech seasoned with salt. Colossians 4, 6.

So, you know, many practical ways that we can use the commandment in a normative function with reference to speaking the truth in all things. So there's the 9th commandment. God willing, next Wednesday, if the building's not flooded, we will meet and finish the 10 commandments with the 10th commandment, you shall not covet. So I'll pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what we find here in the book of Deuteronomy and chapter 5 and Exodus 20 and What a glorious revelation of the law of God. And we pray that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to receive these things and help us by your spirit to walk in obedience to you, not so that we might be saved, but because we have been graciously saved and justified by your grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is certainly conduct that is worthy of the new man in Jesus Christ.

We ask that you would go with us now, pray that you would protect our community, that if there is flooding, God, we just pray that it would be abated soon. We just pray for all of our brothers and our sisters and those that we know and love in our community to protect each one. And we pray this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Any questions or comments? Go ahead. Yeah. And they ask you, do you like my drawings, right? Somebody over there the perennial question. Do I look fat in this dress? Yeah That's a good question if you know Hang on. Let me think through this because I'm sure it's happened to me My grandkids like to I mean, I don't hate it right So that's not what you're saying. I might. I actually might, at least with a certain few of the grandkids. I don't hate it. Do you say you love it? You just say, hey, go to the kitchen and go grab a juice. Diversion. Not deception, but diversion. It's a good question. Well, in diversion, you could say, well, gee, what a lovely color you use. I like how round your circles are. Yeah, you could find something salvageable in it. Yeah. You know, it was a good effort. And encouragement. I mean, it depends on the age of the kid, too. I mean, if they're two, if they can just, you know, that's good. Sure. I like it. Yeah. If they're, you know, 17 and they're doing, I might then say, you know, you could show a little more effort. So I think it depends on the age of the kid. 

And when you say, but you don't like it, I don't know that I don't like it. You know what I'm saying? I guess if I didn't like it and I was bidden to tell the truth and to say, I just don't like that three-year-old kid, but I don't think I could ever envisage me not liking something or looking at it with some artistic, scrutiny, you know what I mean? I'm just thinking through this. The do I look heavy in this dress thing, that seems to be another challenge. There was a commercial, I think it was Geico, and it was Honest Abe Lincoln, and his wife was putting on the dress, and she's like, do I look heavy or fat in this dress? And of course, he's Honest Abe. He has to tell the truth. So he starts sweating, and he doesn't want to answer, so he just walks away. It's kind of funny. I trust God gives grace in scenarios like that. But yeah, I can't ever see not liking, you know, a three-year-old's picture or even a 15-year-old's. Yeah. There's something redeemable in it, unless it's just, I guess, terrible. Well, yeah, there you go. Go ahead. 

Um, so some people they say telling a lie is always wrong, and then other people they... Yeah, I think wartime ethics, there is deception. I think camouflage is legit. I think hiding tanks or battle positions, I think that's legit. I think in time of war, you can deceive and you can do whatever it takes to defeat your enemy and protect innocent people. Yeah, if people are coming to round people up out of my house and they're hiding under the basement, I have no compunction whatsoever saying, no, there's nobody down there. And Rahab the harlot, I think, expresses that or displays that. Israel's going to launch a war against Jericho. Rahab lies. No, there's no spies here. And scripture never condemns her, never says, well, other than that lie, she's in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11. So wartime ethics, yeah, I mean, camouflage for sure. 

you know, a navy seal and I emerge from a watery, you know, approach, I'm going to paint my face so that I don't get seen and shot. Well, that's deception and that's okay. You know, using nets to cover my tank or whatever it is. And I don't think as well that the ninth commandment requires us to always say everything about everything. So, you know, like what Gloria just mentioned. If, you know, me, if I'm going to crush this five-year-old, you know, kid, your pen control was terrible, you're outside the line, you're just a wreck. I can just not say anything. I'd rather him say, well, don't you like it, Papa? versus you're the worst five-year-old artist I've ever seen. I don't feel like, I know the ninth commandment does not demand or require me saying everything there is about everything. Perfect example, the Apostle Paul is in before the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin is made up of Pharisees and Sadducees. Pharisees accept the supernatural. They believe in angels. They believe in heaven. They believe in miracles. The Sadducees were liberals, theological liberals. They denied the supernatural. They denied the angelic. They denied those things.

So Paul, before the Sanhedrin, they slap him on the face, and then Paul, well let me just read it, 23-1, Then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall, for you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law? And those who stood by said, do you revile God's high priest? Then Paul said, I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.

Some take this as Paul, oh, I didn't know, I'm sorry, because I broke the law. I don't think that's what he meant. I didn't know, brethren, that he was the high priest, because high priests don't violate the law like that. They don't just willy-nilly have an innocent man slapped. I think that's what Paul is doing there.

But let's continue. When Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council. "'Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. "'Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, "'I am being judged.'"

Yeah, but because you claim Jesus is the Messiah, there's a lot of reasons why Paul was standing before that Sanhedrin, but he understands the audience. We got Sadducees, we got Pharisees. So he throws this grenade in there. I'm a Pharisee. I'm only here because I'm talking about the resurrection from the dead.

And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For Sadducees say there is no resurrection and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. Then there arose a loud outcry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' party arose and protested, saying, we find no evil in this man, but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.

So again, there were other reasons why Paul was standing before the Sanhedrin at this point. Again, Jesus, Messiah, the one promised in the Old Testament scriptures. All Paul says here, though, is I'm a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, concerning the hope and the resurrection of the dead. I am being judged. That's true. That's why there were other things, but he didn't feel duty bound to relate. excuse me, every jot and tittle of that, he said what was necessary at the time.

So I don't think we're always required to say every possible thing that is always in our head. So that might bail you out when the five-year-old comes and says, how do you like my art? Yeah, you don't have to let him have it. Unless you think it might help him.

Any other questions? All right.