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Exodus chapter 20. Exodus 20, I'll pick up reading 
in verse 1. And God spoke all these words saying, 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. Remember 
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 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 cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For 
in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea 
and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, 
the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor your 
father and your mother, that your days may be long upon 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 
house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male 
servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor 
anything that is your neighbor's. Now all the people witnessed 
the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, 
and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they 
trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, You 
speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, 
lest we die. And Moses said to the people, 
Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that His fear 
may be before you, so that you may not sin. So the people stood 
afar off, But Moses drew near the thick darkness where God 
was. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we 
thank You for Your holy law. And we pray that Your Spirit 
would guide us in our study of Your Word. And that You would 
just help us, Father in Heaven, to seek by Your grace to obey 
these things, knowing that we have been saved under this. Knowing 
that we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, so that 
we may live a life that is well-pleasing in Your sight. We also pray, 
God, for any and all that do not know you. We pray that the 
law would do that work of conviction, that that law would indeed show 
the sinner who he is before a holy God, and that the gospel of free 
and sovereign grace would come as welcome relief. We pray this 
in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, this evening we're 
going to sort of jump right into Mount Sinai here and just take 
one of the commandments, specifically, the ninth commandment that deals 
with honesty. The commandment reads in verse 
16, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 
It is repeated in Deuteronomy 5.20. Deuteronomy simply means 
second law. It is the second giving of the 
law, the same law, to the young people that were now older when 
they came out of the wilderness wandering. The wilderness generation 
died, their posterity was getting ready to enter into the promised 
land, and so the law was re-read, re-ratified with them to prepare 
them for life in Canaan. Now, before we actually jump 
into verse 16, you should know that there are a few different 
ways to use the law of God. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 
1a, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, which 
implies that there is an unlawful use for the law of God. It is 
unlawful to try and be saved by law keeping. We are sinners. We break that law all the time. No man can do everything written 
in the Law of God. And so one of the uses of God's 
Law is what's called a pedagogical use. or a child tutor. The Law 
comes to convict. The Law comes to show us what 
we are before God. The Law comes to humble us and 
break us and display to us why we need the Savior, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. That has been called the first 
use of the Law. The second use is the civil use. And that means that the Law of 
God is good as it applies to people within society. And then the third use of the 
law is called the normative use. And the normative use means simply 
this, that we come by grace to the Lord Jesus Christ. He saves 
us freely, graciously, mercifully. It's not by works that we do. 
It's not by law keeping. But then once He saves us, He 
then shows us the will of God In the law. So the law becomes 
a guide for us. Again, not so that we can earn 
our salvation, but because we've been saved by grace, it serves 
as a pattern, or it displays for us what is pleasing to the 
Lord our God. So we're approaching this this 
evening with the first and the third use in mind. Pedagogical. If you don't know Jesus Christ 
tonight, my hope and my prayer is that if you are a liar, God 
will find you out and convict you and show you that this is 
indeed a great and a heinous sin and that there is only one 
remedy and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. than as well for 
Christians, those who have been saved. We ought not to bear false 
witness. We ought to speak truthfully. 
We ought to be honest people. We shouldn't keep back. We shouldn't 
lie. We shouldn't be shady characters. 
It ought not to be the case that people can't trust a Christian. That is simply a block on the 
gospel itself. And so we need to take these 
commandments seriously, and we need to be concerned with what 
they teach with reference to our Christian life. Now the Ten 
Commandments themselves break down into two tables or two sections. We often have the idea of the 
first four being on this tablet and then the last six being on 
the other tablet. That's probably not the way it 
was. There was probably all ten on 
one tablet and all ten on the other tablet. The two tablets 
being respectively, one that the Lord our God would keep and 
then one that the people would keep. Similar to when you engage 
in a contract today. They usually give you a copy 
and they retain a copy. That's probably more akin to 
what was going on with those two tablets in terms of their 
structure. They were kept, of course, in 
the Ark of the covenant, among other things, to show that God 
holds in high regard His law and His testimony. But there 
are two tables of the law. The first four are our duty toward 
God. They are summed up in that statement, 
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, 
mind and strength. The last six are our duty toward 
men. They are summarized by that statement, 
you shall love your brother as yourself. And when we get into 
that second table of the law, they are given first to protect 
life. That's the sixth commandment. 
Secondly, they are given to protect marriage. The seventh commandment, 
then to protect property. The eighth commandment, God is 
pro personal property. He is the one who owns all things, 
but He graciously gives us stuff so that we can effectively steward 
over it. So if we steal or take from others, 
we are violating God's holy law. And then the last two commandments 
move from action to word and thought and forbid false witness 
and covetousness. And so we find ourselves in verse 
16, and we'll look at three things with reference to the command. 
First of all, the prohibition of the command. Secondly, the 
reason for the command. And thirdly, the positive aspect 
of the command. Reformed commentators and interpreters 
have always, or at least, long as I know, have always taken 
the statement, you shall not bear false witness, looked at 
that as a prohibition, but then implied the positive element. You look at the Westminster Larger 
Catechism, for instance. Or you look at Calvin's Institutes. 
That's the way they treat the commandments. Not only what is 
forbidden, but what is prescribed in the command. So when the Bible 
says, you shall not murder, We haven't fulfilled the camp command 
just because we don't get AK-47s and gun people down in post offices. We also must try to promote life. We must also try to promote health 
and well-being and healing. We must go out of our way to 
try and aid a brother who is hurting. When Jesus taught the 
parable of the Good Samaritan and He said, Go thou and do likewise, 
what lie behind that is a love for neighbor. Don't just walk 
by. I mean, it's not enough to not 
walk by and finish the job and make sure he's dead. But no, 
you want to actually positively help him. So that's what I mean 
by the prohibition and then the positive aspect. But sandwiched 
in there, we'll look at the reason for the command. But notice first 
the prohibition. And I believe there are at least 
seven things, and I realize There could be more sad. There could 
be less sad. But seven seems to be the lucky 
number tonight. Just kidding. I don't believe 
in luck. The first is obviously perjury. Notice the language 
of the text. It says, you shall not bear false 
witness against your neighbor. The idea is that the courtroom 
is involved. The idea is that a man is being 
called to testify in a criminal or civil case. And perjury is 
the deliberate willful giving of false, misleading, or incomplete 
testimony under oath. God takes these things very seriously. You may not always think about 
it, but God really does desire honesty and truthfulness. And the courtroom is a place 
that He is jealous about. Notice in Exodus chapter 23. 
Exodus chapter 23, verses 1 to 3. 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. What a beautiful statement. We 
often think about showing partiality to the rich man. Johnny Cochran 
said, the color of justice in America is green. The idea being, 
he who has the most money gets the best legal representation. 
There is that sense where people show partiality to the rich man 
because he can afford it. God says very specifically, don't 
show partiality to a poor man in his dispute. That's as much 
a temptation. We feel sorry for the poor guy. 
He's the downtrodden. He has a bad life. He has a tough 
go. Let's just lie a little bit or sort of pat our witness a 
little bit so things will go favorable for him. No. God does 
not condone Robin Hood. God says, do not show partiality. You tell the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God, is what you 
are required to say. Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19. The 
Proverbs are filled. You go through Proverbs sometime 
and you just see how often lying or any form of lying is condemned 
by the Lord our God. Proverbs 19, verse 5, a false 
witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not 
escape. It's repeated in verse 9, a false 
witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies shall 
perish. One of the reasons for this is 
stipulated in Proverbs 22, verse 1. It says, a good name is to 
be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver 
and gold. God puts premium on our good 
name. He is not about letting it get 
walked all over or trashed by someone who is ungodly and unjust 
and unrighteous with his tongue. God is about our reputation, 
and he has put a commandment in place to protect it. You know, 
sometimes people say, well, you know, my reputation isn't that 
important. You're not thinking biblically. Your reputation is 
very important. What people think about you, 
now, it could be wrong, it could be skewed, but make it their 
problem. Let them not have a real reason to devalue your reputation. God says we are to protect one 
another. In Deuteronomy 19 verses 15 to 
21, I'll just sort of summarize the passage. The idea is simple, 
that if I allege that somebody did something to me and we stand 
before the judges and it turns out that I am lying, it turns 
out that I'm a false witness, it turns out I'm just trying 
to get this guy into trouble, whatever punishment would have 
been to him if he was guilty is given to me. That's pretty 
strong. You didn't play games in old 
covenant Israel. You weren't so happy. It wasn't 
a litigious situation. Everybody didn't trip on, you 
know, in Walmart. I got a lawsuit here. Quite ingenious. Do you imagine 
that? If you bring up a man and you 
accuse him of doing something, you know deep down inside that 
if they find out you're lying, whatever punishment would have 
been for him is given to you. Calvin comments, he says, whence 
it appears that false witnesses and murderers stand in the same 
light before God. A second aspect of the command, 
or a second prohibition, is lying. Is lying in general. Not just 
lying in general. Lying is a bad thing. Walter Kaiser says we ought to 
promote the sanctity of truth in all areas of life. So you 
can't reason, well I'm not in the courtroom, I'm not on the 
witness stand, I am not sworn under oath, I can just play loose 
with my language. No! You have to speak the truth. That's what God requires of us. Leviticus 19 and verse 11. Leviticus verse 19, it says, 
You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. 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 Jehovah. Don't be a tail 
bearer. Don't be a gossip. We'll deal 
with that in just a moment. The idea is that you speak those 
things which are calculated to promote love, which are calculated 
to promote necessary edification. That's what Paul says in Ephesians 
4. And lying, and deceiving, and tearing off the edges, and 
being ungodly with your speech does not do that. Thirdly, backbiting 
or slander. Backbiting or slander. We've 
all been victim to this, haven't we? Probably. You've all had 
somebody talk stuff about you behind your back. You've had 
somebody say bad things about your reputation. It hurts, doesn't 
it? It hurts to find out that you 
didn't do what people think that you did. Or that you did what 
they don't think you did. But not only have we all had 
it done to us, you ready? We have all done it to others. 
Somehow we justify that. Somehow that's okay. Somehow 
when I speak about others, I'm in my rights to do so. Not according 
to God's holy law. Backbiting and slander. This 
includes false and malicious statements made about another. Malicious means evil. Malicious 
means bad. One of the differentiations between 
murder and manslaughter. Manslaughter is if I kill somebody 
accidentally. They're still dead, but I didn't 
have malice in my heart. I didn't calculatedly take their 
lives. I didn't premeditate it. And 
backbiting and slander is false and malicious statements made 
about another. Proverbs 10, verse 18, whoever 
hides hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is 
a fool. If you don't know the truth about 
something, shut your mouth. You don't always have to comment. 
You don't always have to add your two cents. You are not being 
paid by CNN to give your spin on everything that comes your 
way. We need to shut our mouths more. We need to guard our tongues. We need to guard against this 
temptation of being backbiting and slanderers. Notice in Romans 
chapter 1, as the Apostle is highlighting the universal condemnation 
of all men everywhere under sin. He says in verse 18, the wrath 
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness 
of men. Why? Because they suppress the 
truth in unrighteousness. He goes on to describe how this 
manifests itself. What does it look like when we 
have a group of people who do not honor God as God, who do 
not give Him thanks, who would rather worship and serve the 
creature rather than the Creator, who is God, blessed forever? 
What does a people look like that are given over to that kind 
of idolatry? What do a people look like when 
they are given over into abandonment to sin? Well, of course, he says 
in verse 26, for this reason God gave them up. to vile passions, 
for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against 
nature. Likewise also the men, leaving 
the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one 
another, men with men, committing what is shameful, and receiving 
in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And 
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, 
God gave them over to a debased mind. to do those things which 
are not fitting. Being filled with all unrighteousness, 
sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, 
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness. They are whisperers, back biters, 
Haters of God. Violent, proud boasters. Inventors 
of evil things. Disobedient to parents. Undiscerning. Untrustworthy. Unloving. Unforgiving. Unmerciful. Who, knowing the 
righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things 
are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve 
of those who practice that. Well, you look at that catalog 
of sins. There's some pretty heinous things in there. Homosexuality. Wow! It's an abomination. Greg Bonson says, therefore, 
homosexuality that is publicly accepted is symptomatic of a 
society under judgment. Inwardly corrupted to the point 
of impending collapse, Paul the Apostle regarded it as the most 
overt evidence of that degeneracy to which God, in His wrath, gave 
over the nations. Homosexuality. Murder. These 
are the big ones, right? Sexual sin. Vile activity. So is backbiting and whispering. 
Whispering doesn't mean, you know, you don't want to be heard. 
The idea is you're speaking about somebody else. It's not like 
in church when you're saying, shh, be quiet. You're whispering 
under your breath, we'll eat when we get home or whatever. 
That's not the whispering. God's not anti-whisper. He probably 
would like me to whisper more often. It's this talking behind 
people's backs. You've got homosexuality. You've 
got murder. You've got God's wrath and judgment 
on a people for having abandoned Him. So, in essence, God abandons 
them. That's the point of Romans 1. 
God gave them over. And linked with those big things 
that we all hate are these sins of the tongue that we all practice. Much as we rail against engaging 
in outward wickedness like homosexuality, let's be against speaking evil 
with our tongues. A fourth way is gossip and tailbearing. Gossip and tailbearing, similar, 
but perhaps the maliciousness isn't there. This is more of 
the busybody. This is more of the person who 
just can't keep their nose out of someone else's business. Not 
everything that comes near you is your business. Please, remember 
that. Rumor or talk of a personal, 
sensational or intimate nature. Somebody might confide something 
in you. They don't want you to broadcast 
it. They certainly don't want you to email it to the church. 
Guard yourself. Watch out. Don't be a gossip. Don't be a tail-bearer. Leviticus 
19 and verse 16, we already saw that. Leviticus 19 and verse 
16. Again, the Proverbs are full 
of this. You shall not go about as a tail-bearer 
among your people. That's just simply wrong. You 
shouldn't do it. I'll write this down for later. 
Proverbs 11, 13, 18, 8, 20, 19, 26, 20, and 26, 22 all deal with gossip 
or tail bearing. God actually cares about these 
things and He would rather you close your mouth than sin against 
Him and against His people. A fifth is hypocrisy. Isn't hypocrisy 
lying? Hypocrisy is bearing false witness. We see this a lot in religious 
circles. People who profess faith, but 
do not possess faith. People who say they follow Jesus, 
but live like the devil. Hypocrisy is damnable. Hypocrisy 
is wicked. Now, I'm speaking of reigning 
hypocrisy, because all of us have remaining hypocrisy. All 
of us do those things which are inconsistent with our profession 
of faith. But if your overall tendency 
or characteristic is to live like the devil, but to profess 
faith in Jesus, then you are a liar, you are a hypocrite, 
and you are bearing false witness and are subject, therefore, to 
the wrath of Almighty God. Proverbs 11, 9. The hypocrite 
with his mouth destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous 
will be delivered. Matthew chapter 7. At verse 5, 
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Hypocrite! First remove the plank 
from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the 
speck from your brother's eye. And then in James 3, verse 17. James 3, verse 17, describing 
that wisdom that is from above. And then he says, the wisdom 
that is from above, verse 17, is first pure, then peaceable, 
gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without 
partiality and without hypocrisy. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 1. I'm sorry, that was 2 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 1. Therefore, laying aside all malice, 
all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. You see, 
brethren, God hates hypocrisy. And when people say, I don't 
go to the church because it's full of hypocrites. I hate them. Well, 
so does God. God hates hypocrites as well. 
They should be in church because that's where hopefully they'll 
get healing. It's like saying, I hate going to the hospital 
because there's a bunch of sick people there. Oh, really? That's why 
they're supposed to be there. If anybody ever says, oh, that 
Free Grace Baptist Church is full of hypocrites. Yeah, it 
is. Come on in. Maybe God will heal you too because 
that's what we're looking for. We're looking for help. We all 
got that in us. There is a difference between 
remaining corruption and reigning corruption. Professing without 
possessing is a sin against our God. It is to bear false witness. 
So I don't know if these are actually two more, but the idea 
of engaging in these things, being an active proponent, being 
an active user of our tongue in such lying practices, but 
then also receiving these things. You might say, well, I never 
talk anything about anybody. Yeah, but do you listen to it? 
I don't gossip, but do your ears sort of glow when you hear gossip? I forget where I was just recently. 
Oh, it was Daniel. Daniel Fields, the man who visits 
here on Wednesday nights. He said, boy, your ears are red. 
I understand my ears get really red. Pastor Barcelos used to 
tell me that. I don't know why. Maybe it's 
just the ambient temperature causes the heat to reveal itself 
in my ears. Do your ears get that way when 
gossip is around? Now whenever you see my red ears, 
you're going to think, oh, he's hearing gossip. No, that's not 
the case. Not that I am prone or not prone or not that I don't 
have it in me. But brethren, do your ears tingle? 
You may not be an active proponent. You may not go out and with your 
tongue lash other people. But with your ears, you may be 
a hardy receptor. With your ears, you may receive 
those things. Calvin said we must also close 
our ears against false and evil speaking. You don't have to listen 
to it. You can't ever say, well, they 
made me listen to gossip. Oh, really? They tied you down? They handcuffed you? They used 
flex cuffs and they hog tied you in such a position and they 
just yelled gossip into your ear to the point where you had 
to hear it? That doesn't happen to us. We're 
oftentimes willing participants hearing about other people's 
issues. Face it, we like dirty laundry. We like those things that make 
others look bad. You look at the news. What do 
they show? People that get up every day 
and go to work and work hard and come home, love their families 
and do it all over again the next day. Who wants to watch 
that? Right? Who wants to read about that 
in the newspaper? We gravitate toward the sensational. We gravitate toward the criminal. We gravitate toward those things 
which are ungodly. We need to identify that about 
ourselves and we need to stop. Somebody comes along and they 
have to tell you something about someone else. You're free to 
say, I don't want to hear it. I really don't. You should go 
pray about that. You should go talk to that person. 
But I don't want to hear it. We must also close our ears against 
false and evil speaking. Proverbs 17 and verse 4. Proverbs 17 and verse 4. An evildoer 
gives heed to false lips. A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful 
tongue. An evildoer gives heed to false 
lips. You are an evildoer when you 
give heed to false lips. That's what Solomon says there. 
Proverbs 18 and verse 8. Proverbs 18, 8. The words of 
a tailbearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost 
body. Is that how it is with you? The 
words of a tailbearer are like tasty trifles? Or do you say, 
I don't want that stuff in me. I don't want to hear it. Proverbs 
26 to 22. Proverbs 26, verse 20, where 
there is no wood, the fire goes out, and where there is no tailbearer, 
strife ceases. As charcoal is to burning coals 
and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words 
of a tailbearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into 
the inmost body. So perjury, lying, backbiting, 
slander, gossip, tail-bearing, hypocrisy, engaging in these 
things and receiving these things. They're all prohibited, plus 
probably a lot more things. If you get the Westminster larger 
catechism and you look at their exposition of the Ninth Commandment, 
you will probably see that I've only touched the surface. The 
reason for the command. First is the character of God. 
He is the Lord God of truth. God does not lie. God does not 
speak evil. God does not show partiality. God is not a false witness. He is, in the language of Psalm 
32, verse 5, the Lord God of truth. He is, in the language 
of Titus 1-2, God who cannot lie. Jesus Christ identified 
Himself as the way, the truth, and the life in John 14, verse 
6. Lying is consistent with the 
character of the devil, not with God. Jesus said in John 8, 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. The character of God demands 
that we bear no false witness. Secondly, the character of man. 
God made man in his own image and calls for all of us to respect 
that image and to honor man. You should protect your brother's 
reputation just as you would protect his property. You're 
driving home and you see brother so-and-so's bicycle out front. You're going to stop and put 
it away or tell him about it. You see Brother So-and-So's reputation 
on the line. You're not going to join in the 
witch hunt and attack him. You're going to say, give the 
man some fairness. Give him some righteous treatment. 
Don't speak about things you don't know anything about. Brethren, 
this goes on way too much. Proverbs are very clear in this 
regard. The first to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor 
comes along and examines him. I think the golden rule fits 
very well here. as you want to be treated. You 
know how it is to have people speak ill about you. Don't do 
it to other people. Stop the cycle of wickedness. 
Don't propagate it. Don't promote it. Don't continue 
it. Solomon also says in Proverbs 
18, he who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly to him. You get one bit of a situation 
and you're ready to render a verdict. That's ungodly. That is unholy. That is unrighteous. Thankfully, 
some of our civil or criminal courts operate even more fairly 
than what Christian churches do. At least they have a jury. At least they do deliberate. 
At least they listen to witnesses on either side. At least they 
look at some evidence. Very often, within the Christian 
church, we'll hang our own before we even know the facts, before 
we even understand the situation. Brethren, you need to protect 
your reputation and you need to protect other people's reputation 
by speaking the truth in love, the character of man. Also, a 
reason for the command is the stability of the social order. 
I know that sounds pretty large and pretty macrocosmic, but it's 
true. We can't do anything in a society 
of lies. How do we transact business when 
people are lying to us? The commandments protecting life, 
family, and property must necessarily include the protection of truth 
for the social order to maintain stability. When God, through 
the prophets, is indicting Israel or Judah for their manifold wickedness, 
specifically in Isaiah chapter 1, He is saying that their nation 
is messed up, and one of the contributing reasons is that 
they don't speak the truth. The stability of the social order 
depends on this. How do we do family if we lie 
to each other? How do husbands and wives live 
in harmony with one another if they're lying to each other? 
How do we engage in business contracts and dealings if we 
lie? It's sickening. We must insist on truth. R.L. 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. Lies reduce us to this place 
where we can't trust anybody, so we're the only ones to fend 
for ourselves in the world. That's not good. The stability 
of the social order demands truthfulness. Then thirdly and finally, the 
positive aspects of the command. First, speaking the truth in 
matters of justice and judgment. If you're called upon to witness 
in a crime or in a civil matter, tell the truth. Not based on who's poor, who's 
rich, who's going to benefit, what's the circumstance. No, 
you tell the truth. The whole truth and nothing but 
the truth. That's a requirement from the 9th Commandment. This 
is what the Bible affirms throughout. Secondly, speak the truth in 
all areas of life. Not just in the courtroom. Be 
a man of your word 24-7. Be a man of your word always, 
constantly, fervently and earnestly. This is the foundation for Christian 
communication according to Paul in Ephesians 4.25. Ephesians 
4.25. describing the conduct of the 
new man. And he says, Therefore, putting 
away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, 
for we are members of one another. That is foundational to what 
follows there in Ephesians chapter 4. Putting away lying. He'll go on to explain how we 
are to not talk to people and how we are to talk to people. 
Notice in 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. Let 
all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be 
put away from you with all malice. I'm convinced that if we asked 
ten Christians, probably nine and a half of them would say, 
if questioned, what are the sins that grieve the Holy Spirit? 
We are trained to think in terms of the big sins and overlook 
what one man calls our respectable sins. We will say homosexuality 
is horrible and it must grieve the Spirit. Fornication is horrible 
and it must grieve the Spirit. Murder is horrible and it must 
grieve the Spirit. Child abuse is horrible and it 
must grieve the Spirit. That's not what Paul's talking 
about in Ephesians 4. He's talking about the way you 
use your tongue. I'm not suggesting those other 
sins don't grieve the Spirit, but I am telling you that in 
the context The grieving of the Holy Spirit comes about when 
people in the same church engage in bitterness, wrath, anger, 
clamor, and evil speaking. When you cannot control yourself, 
when you must say something, when you must listen to something, 
when you do it and it breaks God's law, you grieve His Holy 
Spirit. That's what Paul is saying there. 
Now foundational to those positive and negatives is don't lie to 
one another. So speak the truth in all areas 
of life. Thirdly, swear to your own hurt. 
I don't know if you caught that in Psalm 15, verse 4. He swears 
to his own hurt and does not change. Now that does not mean 
you knowingly engage in messed up contracts. You knowingly engage 
in things that are not good. But the idea is you enter into 
an agreement, you enter into a covenant, you enter into a 
contract, and then you find out that you're not going to benefit 
like you thought. What does the Bible say? Breach 
the contract? Break the covenant? Cast shame 
on the name of Christ and your profession of faith? No. Swear 
to your own hurt and don't change. You say you're going to do something, 
you do it. You say you're going to be somewhere, 
you be there. Now, if you get hit by a car, 
you get serious illness, or there's other mitigating circumstances, 
you call, you make arrangements, and that's fine. But as a pattern 
of life, can you say that you swear to your own hurt and do 
not change? That's what identifies a godly 
man. Ultimately, that describes Jesus 
alone. But Revelation 14, 5, describing 
those who follow the Lamb says, and in their mouth was found 
no deceit. The background of Revelation 
14, at least in that section, seems to be Psalm 15. So I think 
those two go hand in hand. In their mouth was found no deceit. That's what ought to typify and 
characterize those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Fourthly, 
promote the truth by exercising charity toward others. Charity, 
love, kindness, compassion, gentleness. Cut somebody a break once in 
a while. What do the Proverbs say here? 
He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats 
a matter separates friends. You can't let love cover a sin. That's okay. Now, I have my own 
thoughts or grid or idea on how and when to do this. If it's 
a repetitious thing, you may not always want to cover it. 
You may want to deal with it. If it's a big thing, you may 
not want to cover it. You may want to deal with it. 
But if it is something that isn't repetitious, it isn't that severe, 
you can let love cover some things. You don't have to be the policeman 
with everybody. You wronged me. You did this. 
All right. OK. But let's let love cover. a multitude of sins. This is 
most helpful in a marriage. Y'all are constantly reproving 
one another about all of your shortcomings. That is going to 
be a very unhappy home. I can say this because my wife's 
not here. I have to let love cover a multitude of sins. Just kidding. Actually, she has 
to let love cover a multitude of sins. If every single day 
we got up and we kept track of everything that displeased us, 
and we read our list, what would ever get done? We sin all the 
time. And this, and that, and that, 
and that, and say, come on already. Let love cover a multitude of 
sins. He who covers a transgression 
seeks love. And very often, they're not even 
transgressions. They're preferences. And then 
finally, promoting the truth by discouraging the slanderer 
or gossip. This is tough. It's difficult 
to tell someone, I don't want to hear what you have to say. 
It's difficult to reprove somebody who likes to run their mouths 
about other people. It's difficult to cover your 
ears and go, ah, so you don't hear what they have to say. They're 
going to think you're weird. They're going to think you're 
a Pharisee, or you're too pious, or you're too holy, or you're 
a legalist. No, that's not it at all. I just 
don't want that stuff rotting my soul. Because no good comes 
from it. It is not calculated to promote 
or help. It does not edify. It does not 
build up. But you are not a victim in this 
world to the gossips. You must take a stand. You must 
say no. You must be able to declare, 
I don't want to hear these things. So please, promote the truth 
by discouraging the slanderer or gossip. In conclusion, the 
facts about lying. We saw in John 8 that it originates 
with the devil. When you lie, you associate with 
the devil. It is characteristic, unfortunately, 
of mankind. Psalm 58, verse 3 says, the wicked 
are estranged from the womb. They speak lies as soon as they 
are born. That's a tough one. Only the 
Reformed doctrine of total depravity can account for such a statement. 
When God traces back our depravity, He goes right back to the womb. It is forgivable by Christ. We need to understand that. We've 
condemned, we've prohibited, we've said what is included in 
this command. We need to understand that our 
blessed Savior said this. He said, therefore, I say to 
you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men. Every sin 
and blasphemy will be forgiven men. That doesn't mean universalism. He's talking, of course, about 
those who put their faith in Jesus. He's talking about those 
who go to Christ for remission of sin. If you are a liar, if 
you bear false witness, if you are a backbiter, if you are a 
gossip, if you are a slanderer, if you do not promote good health 
with your tongue, if you love to hear gossip, there is forgiveness 
with Jesus. You need to believe on Him, you 
need to receive that forgiveness, and you need to pray for grace 
to change. Stop using your tongue for such 
ungodliness. And then finally, it is punishable 
in hell. Revelation 21 describes those 
who will be in the lake of fire. It says, 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." Manton commenting, and James says, a tongue that is 
set on fire from hell shall be set on fire in hell. You know who wished for a drop 
to cool his tongue. The hot words of wrath, strife 
and censure come from Satan and lead to Satan. When you feel 
this heat upon your spirit, Remember from what hearth these coals 
were gathered. When you want to lie or misuse 
your tongue, it is of the pit. Do not give in. Look to Jesus. Look by grace through faith to 
the one alone who can forgive you and who can guard you and 
who can keep you. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for the Word of God. We thank you for that Law of 
God that has those wonderful purposes in our lives. And we 
pray that You would indeed convict us and show us that mercy which 
is in Jesus Christ. And we pray for those in Christ 
that we would speak the truth in love, that we would speak 
those things which are good for necessary edification, that we 
would not tear down with our words. and that we would guard 
one another's reputation. Do forgive us, Lord. We would 
all confess that we have broken this ninth commandment in many, 
many ways. We pray that you would just wash 
us and cleanse us and just give us a love for the truth such 
that anything that is contrary would be despised by us. And 
I pray that you would go with us now and watch over us in this 
coming week. And we pray through Christ our 
Lord. Amen.