← Back to sermon library
Let me turn in your Bibles to
Deuteronomy chapter 5. Deuteronomy chapter 5. We're
going to look at the 9th commandment this evening. This morning we
noted that the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God advances through
the propagation of the truth. Certainly we could argue that
the kingdom of darkness advances through the propagation of falsehoods,
of lies, and deceit. It's always a good reminder for
the people of God to take seriously the commandments of God and to
seek careful obedience. And so the ninth commandment
we considered this morning, the necessity of truth, I thought
this would be a helpful reminder for us in terms of our tongue
and in terms of our hearts with reference to the truth of God's
holy word and our dealings with others. So beginning in chapter
5 at verse 1, 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 generation 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, let us pray. Father, we
thank you for your word We thank you for its clarity, and we pray
that tonight the Spirit would guide us in our study. We pray
that you would impress upon us the necessity of speaking the
truth, of abiding by the truth, and of being people of the truth.
Grant us grace, Lord God Most High, to walk carefully in this
world. Give us grace to accurately reflect our Father, to accurately
reflect our blessed Redeemer, to truly be those who take seriously
this command. And God, give us grace in this,
we pray. And we ask through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Amen. Well, the commandments
break down very simply. The first four are summarized
in Deuteronomy 6. You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
strength. The first four commandments deal with our duty toward men.
The last six deal with our duty toward our neighbor. They are
properly summarized in Leviticus 19.18. You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. The commandments in the second
table are given to protect life. the sixth word. They are given
to protect the sanctity of marriage or covenant, the seventh word. Property against invasion and
attack in the eighth commandment. And then there is a bit of a
movement in the ninth and tenth to our words and to our thoughts. The ninth deals specifically
with lying and the tenth deals with coveting. Those internal
thoughts or that heart disposition which craves or desires something
that is not ours. As I said, we're going to focus
on the 9th this evening. We're going to look first at
the prohibition of the command, secondly the reason for the command,
and then the positive aspect of the command. And I would commend
to you the Westminster Larger Catechism as a very helpful commentary
on the Ten Commandments. They do set forth positively
what is enjoined that indicates the prohibitions, and it's quite
a detailed exposition of each of these commandments. So if
you don't have that, you can look online, let me know, and
I will give you or find you a copy of the Westminster Larger Catechism,
a very helpful guide. Also, Calvin's Institutes are
very helpful with reference to these laws as well. So let's
look first at the prohibition of the command. Verse 20, you
shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Now certainly
each of these commands prohibit a lot more than just what's specified
here, and we know that because the rest of the scripture fleshes
these things out. when we look at the Old Testament
law, if we take some case law or we look at some particular
application, if we navigate successfully, we will see that there is a general
preset, there is a general word, specifically one of these 10
words at the heart of the particular laws that exist in the Old Testament. And I think at least six things
are prohibited here with reference to this command. The first is
perjury. That is the primary application
that is given here. It says, you shall not bear false
witness against your neighbor. The idea of perjury has to do
with the courtroom. Perjury is the deliberate, willful
giving of false evidence. misleading, or incomplete testimony
under oath. In other words, if you are sworn
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
and then you lie, you are guilty of the sin and also the crime
of committing perjury. It is absolutely crucial, according
to the Scripture, that when we raise our hand in an oath before
God, when we make a vow to God, we are to be consistent and we
are to execute what we have sworn to faithfully. Back in Exodus
23, you can turn to these passages, so that you will hopefully get
them seared into your minds and in your hearts. In Exodus chapter
23 and verse 1, you shall not circulate a false report. Do
not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
You shall not follow a crowd to do evil, nor shall you testify
in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.
You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute."
So in this law concerning witnesses, we are not to be partial. We
are not to be reckless or careless with our words. We're not to
circulate a false report. We're to understand that the
commandment protects the reputation of God's people. It protects
the reputation of image bearers. It is wrong for us to destroy
a man physically, but it's also wrong for us to destroy a man's
reputation. The Bible prohibits that. The
Bible forbids that. Verse 6, you shall not pervert
the judgment of your poor in his dispute. Keep yourself far
from a false matter. Do not kill the innocent and
righteous, for I will not justify the wicked. And you shall take
no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the
words of the righteous." Look over at Deuteronomy chapter 19.
Deuteronomy chapter 19, the laws concerning witnesses. Again,
perjury is prohibited and there is something built in Old Testament
law to discourage perjury. Notice in Deuteronomy 19.15,
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."
You see the scenario here? Let's just suppose for a moment
that I have a problem with somebody. We'll call him Billy. And I allege
that Billy did such and such a crime. And then I take Billy
to the civil magistrate. I take him to the Old Covenant
judge. And it turns out, in the course
of their investigation, they find that Billy is innocent.
As a result of that, the punishment that Billy would have received
if he were found guilty will be inflicted on me. Isn't that
genius? Isn't that wise? Doesn't that
discourage a perjurer? Doesn't it discourage a false
witness? Doesn't it discourage what we
witness that is so prevalent today, a litigious society where
we are bent on suing everybody for everything whatsoever? If you realize that if you're
faking it, or you're lying, and as a result, if they find out
that Billy is innocent, you will receive the penalty up to and
including death. If you allege that Billy committed
a capital crime, and Billy's innocent, then you will be punished
capitally in his stead. That is the ingenuity of biblical
law. Note the remedial effect upon
the people at 19b. So you shall put away the evil
from among you, and those who remain shall hear and fear, and
hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. Your
eyes shall not pity, life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth
for tooth, and for hand, foot for foot. Christopher Wright
says, it therefore established a remarkable retributive law
on perjury. Anyone discovered to have given
false testimony was to be punished with the same punishment that
the victim of his accusations would have received if the verdict
had gone against him. This is wise, this is God's design
and God's desire for truth. Wright goes on to say, one wonders
what a salutary effect such a law might have in the modern world,
which is plagued with miscarriages of justice, notoriously caused
by false testimony and conspiracy. He's right on there. Calvin says,
whence it appears from this particular law that false witnesses and
murderers stand in the same light before God. False witnesses and
murderers stand in the same light before God. It is about faithfulness. It is about righteousness. It
is about truth-telling. When we read in Psalm 15 that
that righteous godly man swears to his own hurt and does not
change, that is what we're supposed to be. That is the kind of people
that Christians are to be. We're not to be careless. We're
not to be lawless, we're not supposed to be reckless, but
rather we are to pursue the truth and to value it. The Proverbs
say we are to buy it and sell it not. Craigie says the principle
involved, once again, was that the breach of the commandment
undermined a basic characteristic of the covenant, namely faithfulness
of God to man, of man to God, and of man to fellow man. To bring false witness against
a fellow member of the covenant community involved lying and
various forms of deception. It would be motivated by self-interest. The result, if successful, would
be the false punishment of the neighbor. And even if unsuccessful,
it could cast doubt by implication on the character of that neighbor.
You ever had that happen? Where someone is exonerated,
but still, still you think there might be something to it. Hard
to remove that, isn't it? You see what damage we can do
to people if we are reckless, if we are careless, if we don't
operate according to biblical principle? If we allege something
about someone's character and it turns out not to be true,
what have we done? We have still damaged that person.
It's terrible. This stuff happens in the church.
This isn't Old Covenant Israel Studies 101. This is New Covenant
church stuff that we need to get our minds wrapped around.
How many times have you and I been very guilty of violating Proverbs
18, 17? It has the language of the courtroom
there. The first to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor
comes and examines him. How many times have you acted
upon half a story? How many times have you heard
something about somebody and you have cast the lot and that
person is guilty? Maybe that never has happened
to anyone here, but I suspect there are people out there that
have violated this very important principle of biblical, not only
jurisprudence in the courtroom, but in biblical ethics with one
another. We are not to damage people's
reputation. We are not to ruin men's and
women's good name. We are not to malign their character. Craigie says, in other words,
even if false witness did not lead directly to a miscarriage
of justice, its effects could be tantamount to slander and
defamation of character. It's very hard to undo what people
have done with careless and wicked words. A second sin prohibited
by the commandment. We've got perjury. Secondly,
lying. Certainly perjury involves lying,
but perjury is more confined to that whole idea of witness-bearing
with reference to someone in criminal or civil court. Lying,
garden variety, truth-telling. Walter Kaiser says the commandment
specifies the sanctity of truth in all areas of life. If the
fish was this big, don't say it was this big. If it took you
20 minutes to make the cake, don't tell someone it was only
5. Truth. I just read something on the
internet and I just, I can't get my mind wrapped around this
particular statement that a preacher made. I mean, I hope it's true. But we need to be very careful
about the sorts of things that we say. Leviticus 19.11. The
scriptures are rampant on this whole issue of lying. It is prohibited. We need to be a careful lot.
We need to be righteous in our speech. If we're not going to
be righteous in our speech, it's better to close our mouths. Leviticus
19.11, "...you shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to
one another." What does life in the covenant community look
like? It looks like this. Look at the central command there
in 19.18. I'm sorry, verse 17, you shall
not hate your brother in your heart, you shall surely rebuke
your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. You shall not
take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your
people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the
Lord. It's the overarching principle
in the section, love your neighbor as yourself. It's fleshed out.
Love with words. You shall not steal, nor deal
falsely, nor lie to one another. Love by your actions. It follows
then. Love in judgment. We are to specifically
love our brothers and sisters by being truthful and being upright
in the way that we speak. Proverbs 6, you needn't even
turn there. These six things, Yahweh hates,
Yea 7, are an abomination to Him. What's one of them? It is
a lying taunt. I mentioned this passage last
Sunday morning in our study in abortion. And of course, God
abominates hands that shed innocent blood. It's easy for us to understand
that. It's easy for us to understand
that God abominates someone who sows discord among the brethren.
It's easy for us to understand that God would abominate a proud
man, because pride is like unto the devil himself. But when it
comes to a lying tongue, and when it comes to our performance
of carefulness in our speech, we don't often think about Yahweh
despising the way that we talk, or that this is an abomination
to Him. Paul the Apostle, in Ephesians
chapter 4, highlighting ethics for the new man in Jesus Christ,
he tells us very specifically In chapter 4, verse 29, back in 25 rather, "...therefore
put away lying. Let each one of you speak truth
with his neighbor, for we are members of one another." And
if the grammarians are to be trusted and the commentators
are to be trusted, the language or the action of the verb suggests
that it was going on! Paul says, no more! You cannot
do this! You are new men and new women
in Christ Jesus, according to Ephesians chapter 4, the first
half, and therefore this is how your conduct is to look. If you
profess saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, here's the bottom
line. You need to put away lying. You
need to speak truth with your neighbor. you need to understand
that God puts a premium on these particulars. Paul indicates that
a mark of the lawlessness of man exhibited by the Gentiles
in Romans chapter 1 at verse 29 is lying, deceit, falsehood. A third prohibition is backbiting
and slander. backbiting and slander, false
and malicious statements made about another. False and malicious
statements made about another. Proverbs chapter 10 at verse
18. Proverbs 10 verse 18, whoever
hides hatred has lying lips and whoever spreads slander is a
fool. Proverbs 25 and verse 23. Proverbs 25 verse 23, the north
wind brings forth rain and a backbiting tongue and angry countenance. Again Romans chapter 1, the Apostle
highlighting the wickedness of man In chapter 1, verse 29, he
says, "...being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife,
deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters,
haters of God." You know, there's times when people engage in gossip,
and well, it's just a little gossip. Look at what gossip is
wedged between in this list of vices, characterizing the heathen
world that Paul says the wrath of God is targeted upon. It is
evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters,
haters of God. This is a terrible thing. Gossip ruins people's lives. Gossip ruins people's reputation. If you don't have something nice
to say about somebody, didn't your mothers teach you? Then
don't say anything at all. That's what God says. Doesn't
matter what your mom says. God says if you don't have something
to say positive about someone, keep your mouth shut. If it is
a legitimate beef, if they have sinned against you, then man
up! Do what God says. Matthew 18
is given in the Bible, so that if a brother sins, we go to him.
We don't go to other people and tell them what this man said.
This is killing the church. This is destroying people. This
is wrong. The ninth commandment is business. We need to be careful. If we
don't have something nice to say, we should shut our mouths. Solomon says you can judge a
fool. He says that even a fool is counted
wise when he shuts his mouth. You see a man sitting in the
corner, maybe thinking about a coloring book. He may be thinking
about digging a hole or eating corn, but he keeps his mouth
shut and he looks wise. I think we can all achieve that
degree of wisdom, can't we? Just shut it. It's terrible,
backbiting, slander. 1 Corinthians 6, reviling is
condemned. Notice the vice-less in 1 Corinthians
6, 9, and 10. Do you not know that the unrighteous
will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither
fornicators. You know what that means, having
sex outside of marriage. It's wrong. If you do that, you
will not inherit the kingdom of God. We all know that, right?
We would all say, yeah, that's legit, that's Hebrews 13, that's
Hebrews 13.4. God tells us that. nor idolaters. Well, certainly
an idolater can't inherit the kingdom of God. I mean, he's
bowing to Baal. He's bowing to money. He's bowing to his own
lusts or his own flesh. Certainly he's not going to inherit
the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers. Yeah, those who violate the marriage
covenant will not inherit the kingdom of God. We all would
track with that. That's a vile, wretched, horrible
thing. Nor homosexuals or sodomites. Of course, they're not going
to inherit the kingdom of God. You wonder why the apostle uses
two terms there. They are technical terms. One
refers to the male partner and the other, the female partner,
in a homosexual relationship. He deals with both parties. Nor
thieves. Certainly thieves shouldn't inherit
the kingdom of God. I mean, they're thieves. They
steal things. They violate the commandment of God. Nor covetous. It's interesting. We're moving
to the heart now. You mean you go to hell for breaking
the 10th commandment? Absolutely you go to hell for
breaking the 10th commandment. Nor drunkards. Well certainly,
God didn't give drink so that you could get drunk. He gave
it for a moderate, righteous, godly use, but not for drunkenness. And certainly, as Paul says here,
drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. But then he says
revilers, something I'm sure that you and I have all been
guilty of at one time or another, to assail with abusive language. Paul says, they will not inherit
the kingdom of God. Backbiting slander, gossip, tailbearing. Leviticus 19.16 with reference
to gossip and tailbearing. I find these to be scary verses.
Leviticus 19 and verse 16. You shall not go about as a tail-bearer
among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the
life of your neighbor. I am the Lord." If backbiting
and slander was false and malicious statements made about another,
gossip and tail-bearing is rumor or talk of a personal, sensational,
or intimate nature. It may be true, but it's not
anyone else's business. If somebody says, I'm going to
tell you this and I'd like for you not to tell anyone else,
don't Facebook it. Don't tweet it. Don't email it
to the church. Don't ask for prayer in the corporate
meeting. Oh brother so-and-so, he didn't
want you to say anything. How many times have our corporate
prayer meetings been vehicles for gossip? Rumor or talk of
a personal, sensational, or intimate nature. So Leviticus 19, 16.
If you're taking notes, Proverbs 11, 13, 18, 8, 20, 19, 26, 20,
26, 22. But it's not only the promulgation
of such things. It's not only when I use my tongue
in an offensive manner to spread gossip or tailbearing. Calvin
highlights the reality that we must also close our ears against
false and evil speaking. In other words, if somebody comes
and they want to vomit on you, you're probably going to move
out of the way. If somebody comes and they want to gossip or tailbear,
you don't have to listen. There's no law in the scriptures
that says thou must listen to a neighbor who's gossiping or
tailbearing. You are perfectly free to say,
you know, brother, I don't want to talk about that. You know,
brother, that doesn't seem to be any of my business. But you
know as well as I do, there's something down there in the heart.
There's something deep and dark and sinister that gravitates
towards these things, and we need to resist that, and we need
to destroy that, and we need to pursue truth. A fifth application
is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy, that is a profession
without possession. That is confessing the Lord Jesus
and living like the devil. That is saying one thing and
acting in another fashion or in another manner. We won't rehearse
this, we have seen it throughout the gospel according to Matthew.
Jesus does not take favorably to hypocrites. He does not take
favorably to those types of soil that stay in the church, that
listen to the word or receive the seed at least on a surface
level, but live like the devil. That is hypocrisy and that is
condemned in the ninth commandment. And then finally, heresy. Heresy. You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor. I think a just and necessary
inference is, we shall not bear false witness against God. In
other words, we are not to distort the truth of Scripture. We are
not to twist it to serve our own ends. We're not to use the
Bible in some pragmatic way to make ourselves look good or to
make our pockets larger or to do anything that benefits us.
The task of preaching, the task of evangelism, the task of witnessing
is to present the truth. If you go out and you tell Billy,
I want you to come to the Savior. If you come to the Savior, you'll
land a job and you'll make $100,000 a year. That's heretical, that's
wrong, that is not espousing the truth of Holy Scripture.
It is illegitimate to do such things. Paul reserves some very
hard language for those who pervert the Gospel. He says in Galatians
1.8, But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. That is the Greek word anathema.
It's related to the Hebrew word harem, which means something
that is devoted to destruction. When the children of Israel went
into a particular city where they were forbidden to take the
stuff, the stuff was being told to them was under this harem.
It was devoted to destruction. It was anathema. It was not to
be touched. It was not to be gathered in. It was not to be welcomed. It
was something under the ban. Paul reserves that language for
those who curse Jesus, 1 Corinthians 12. He applies it to himself,
that he himself could wish that he were anathema from God in
Romans 9 for the sake of his countrymen. And here he applies
it to gospel perverters, those who distort and twist the gospel. Even if we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached
to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now
I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than
what you have received, let him be accursed. 2 John 9 tells us that Christology
is all important for the life of Christ's church. John verse
9, whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of
Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine
of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 1st John 4, 1. Beloved,
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether
they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out
into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit
that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the
Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already
in the world." Truthfulness with reference to gospel preaching
and teaching of the Bible. So those are some applications
of the prohibition against lying. Secondly, the reason for the
command. We'll run quickly through these.
First, the character of God. We shouldn't lie because of God's
character. He is the Lord God of truth. His image bearers must reflect
that. His image-bearers must display
that. His image-bearers must evidence
their commitment to the One who is the Lord God of truth, Psalm
32.5, and the God according to Titus 1.2, who cannot lie. The Father is truth. Therefore,
His children must deal truthfully. Our Savior is truth. In John
14, 6, He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through Me. Lying is consistent with
the devil. Jesus says in John 8, 44, you
are of your father the devil. He was a murderer and a liar
from the beginning. It's interesting how the 6th
commandment and the 9th commandment go hand in hand. Abortion is propagated through
falsehood, lies, and deceit. The devil, well given this wisdom,
or this degree of wisdom, he operates through falsehood in
the advancement of this abortion cause. I was talking to a brother
this week, and when you think about the biblical data, it is
crystal clear concerning that baby in the womb. It's crystal
clear. Science has affirmed this. Science
has confirmed the studies that, you know, 14, 15 weeks, these
babies feel pain. They feel pain right away. It's
what science is able to verify at this point. When you look
into that womb via ultrasound, which become, you know, 3D ultrasound,
you see the face of this child. How is it that we're at the place
where in Canada we murder 100,000 of them every year, and in America
we murder a million of them every year? It's through lies and falsehood
and deceit. It's almost become the sacrament
of the God-hating party. It's almost like it's something
that is religious in nature. When we trace back in this whole
wicked scheme, it's the devil. He's the father of lies and a
murderer from the beginning. We are to tell the truth because
our God Most High is truthful. Secondly, we are to tell the
truth because man bears God's image. It is wrong to destroy
a man, both physically and in terms of his reputation. It really
is. We say that, sticks and stones
may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. Names can
destroy you. Names can bring you to the place
of destitution because somebody has alleged something horrific
about you. You can't do that. Somebody says
something about someone else in your hearing and you receive
it, do not automatically conclude it's true. The first to plead
his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. And thirdly, the stability of
the social order. You can't do society, you can't
do church, you can't do family without truth. This is foundational. Dabney said, lies destroy confidence. He said, 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. I gotta tell you, there's certain
politicians today that as soon as they open their mouth, I don't
listen to a word they say. I just think whatever comes out
of their mouth is lies. Now I just said, I need to validate
and verify, and that's certainly the case. But the social order
is disintegrating because we've gotten to the place where we
almost expect politicians to lie. They've made campaign promises. You know what campaign promises
are? They're lies. We all know that, right? They
make these great, wonderful campaign promises. You're going to get
new jobs. You're going to get a new house. You're going to get a new desk. You're
going to do that. Everything's great. And then they get in office. What
happens? Well, I didn't say absolutely. Social order disintegrates. Thirdly,
what are some positive aspects of the command? We need to first
of all speak the truth in matters of justice and judgment. If you
are called upon to witness and you swear your hand and you covenant
before God to tell the truth, tell the truth. Secondly, we
need to speak the truth in all areas of life. all areas of life. It isn't to be on Sundays we
tell the truth. And on Monday through Friday
when we're in our business settings, well, anything goes at that particular
point. That's unrighteous, that's ungodly,
it's unholy. We need to promote the truth
by discouraging slander and gossip. If somebody has a big mouth and
they continue to slander and gossip someone else to you, at
some point you need to man up and say, look, I don't want to
hear that anymore. Please, don't tell me this. If
you've got a problem with that person, go to that person. Go
deal with them one-on-one. Verify it for yourself. Validate
it for yourself. Deal with it for yourself. Don't
tell me, because I know my sinful inclination, I'm going to treat
that person differently or I'm going to be suspicious of them.
And I've got enough problems, I don't want that as well. Courage
is necessary in the Christian life. And then another means
is to promote the truth by resisting the tendency to co-opt the language
of humanists. I know that's a long, long statement,
but it simply means this. Let's take the illustration from
abortion. We don't use their language. We use Bible language. It is
the murder of babies. It is the murder of human beings.
It's not the termination of a pregnancy. It's the execution of an image-bearer. We cannot co-opt the language
of the devil himself and think that we are somehow going to
be successful in dealing with this particular problem. We need
to speak the truth. We need to use biblical categories. We need to use the language of
biblical ethic. So that's our exposition, some
concluding thoughts. First, we need to understand
the perverse nature of lying. It originated with the devil.
It is, unfortunately, characteristic of man. You know, when you see
that little baby that comes out of the womb, the last thing you
think, generally, is Psalm 58.3. You see that little bundle exit
the mother's womb into this world. All you're thinking is, Psalm
58 says, the wicked go estranged from the womb, speaking lies
as soon as they are born. Now that doesn't mean you spank
them as soon as they come out. But you need to understand this
is characteristic of man. We have a departure in our hearts. We have a tendency in our hearts. It is, however, forgivable by
Christ when we come to Him in faith. Matthew chapter 12, all
sins that men commit against the Son of Man will be forgiven. When we come to the Savior, His
blood is efficacious to wash us and to purify us from all
sin. If we do not come to the Lord
Jesus Christ, it is punishable or it is punished in hell ultimately. Revelation 21.8 tells us, but
the cowardly, the 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." Terrifying statement concerning those who
are going to the lake of fire. Secondly, James chapter 1 is
a very helpful passage in the Reformation of our tongues. James
chapter 1 at verse 26, the brother writes, 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. He thinks he's a
believer, doesn't he? If anyone among you thinks he
is religious, James isn't dealing with the heathen. He's not dealing
with the Satanists. He's not dealing with the pagans.
He's dealing with the covenant community and he says, if anyone
among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue,
the idea here is to lead with a bridle. The picture is that
of a man putting the bridle in his own mouth, not in that of
another. Note James' language, if anyone
among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue. I know the tendency when we hear
messages like these or other messages or when we read our
Bible, boy so and so really needs to hear this. Boy I wish my wife
wasn't sick tonight because she needs a great big dose of this.
I wish brother whoever was here, I can't believe he missed on
Sunday night. I'm going to shoot him an email
and tell him to go to sermon audio this week because boy does
he need to bridle his tongue. That's the way we think, isn't
it? Oh no, not me brother. Okay, praise God. You guys are
all doing beautifully. Cheers for you. The idea is that
you bridle your own tongue. Don't you love how the Bible
stresses individual, personal self-government? Proverbs chapter
4. We need to keep our hearts with
all diligence. Why? For from it spring the issues
of life. Not keep your brother's heart,
keep your mother's heart, keep your sister's heart, or keep
your friend's heart. You've got a 24-7 job in keeping
your heart. You've got a 24-7 job in bridling
your own time. He thinks he is religious, but
he deceives his own heart. His religion is useless. The
word translates, a Greek word that is often used in scripture,
to characterize idolatry as vain or meaningless. The religion
that people who do not control their speech have is no better,
James suggests, than idolatry. That is a text that we ought
to visit very frequently and very often and ask ourselves,
am I bridling my tongue? Well, brethren, the truth is
stipulated in the Decalogue. The ninth word speaks to this
particular area. The sanctity of truth in all
areas of our lives. We see the model of our Savior
in Psalm 15. We see the model of our Savior
living day to day. having dealings with men, never
lying, never slandering, never backbiting, never gossiping,
never reviling, even though he was reviled. We have that perfect
example in the Lord of Glory. But praise God, we have His perfect
death. and His redemptive act on our
behalf, so that He can cleanse us from the lies that we have
spoken. It is ultimately about the Savior,
it is ultimately about Him saving us from our sins, but He saves
us from our sins, not that we'll continue in sin. So let us, by
God's grace, pursue those things which are pleasing in His sight,
as defined by His holy law, seeking the Spirit to enable and to empower
us in this pursuit. Well, let us pray. Father, we
thank You for Your Word, and we pray, God, that You would
give us the conviction to speak truthfully, to speak always the
way that You have commanded us in Your Word. Give us grace to
resist the tendency and the temptation to backbite and to slander and
to gossip, May you help us to be like that fool that keeps
his mouth shut and at least evidences a degree of wisdom. Give us grace,
Father, in this coming week and help us to glorify and honor
and praise you. And we ask through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief
time of meditation.
