Ninth Commandment (11 Of 12)

He requested that the congregation go home and read Mark, chapter seventeen before the next Sunday.

When next Sunday came, before he started preaching, he asked, “How many of you read Mark, chapter seventeen this week?” About half of the congregation raised their hands to indicate they had.

Then the preacher announced, “The half of you who did not raise your hands may leave, but those of you who indicated that you read the seventeenth chapter of mark, please stay because this message is to you this morning, Because there is no Mark, chapter seventeen.”

When God endowed man with the gift of speech He gave us a gift that He gave no other creature.

In some ways we are similar to other creatures.

For example, animals and insects are similar to us in that they have wars, cities, governments, and even store up food.

They even have some kind of communication.

Illus: This reminds me of the story of the two dogs who were talking one day and one said to the other, I don't feel very well, I'm tired all the time. The other dog, trying to be helpful said, Have you ever thought of seeinly a psychiatrist? The sick dog said, Of course not! You know I am not allowed on couches.

The gift of speech that God gave us can be used for GOOD and BAD.

In James 3:10, We read, "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing, my brethren, these things ought not so to be.”

Illus: The old Indians used to refer to this as a person speaking with a “forked tongue."

Sad to say, we have many today who speak with a “forked tongue.”

Some of these even attend our churches.

They will use their tongue to sing praises to God on Sunday and use the same tongue to curse men who are made in the image of God, on Monday.

I. SPEECH CAN BE USED OF THE DEVIL.

In John 8:44, We read, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do, He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because THERE IS NO TRUTH IN HIM. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

Jesus told that crowd of Pharisees that the reason they lied against their neighbors was because they were of their “Father the devil”.

Anytime a person tells a lie, he can rest assured he is under the influence of Satan, himself.

Illus: If you remember, it was in the Garden of Eden that Satan first started using this powerful weapon of lying. In Genesis 3, in that conversation Satan persuaded Eve that God was a liar and was trying to keep man from finding real happiness.

The serpent actually told a lie on God and Eve believed it, and from that lie we have the fall of man.

Realizing that the tongue was the weapon that Satan used to bring about the fall of man, it does not strike us as unusual for God to place in the ten commandments, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

God shows His dislike for lying by including this in the list of seven things He dislikes.

Look at Proverbs 6:16-19, We read “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that devisseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischiaf. A false witness that seaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

God despises His gift of speech is used to destroy lives, and to hinder His program.

He commands us, “Thou shalt not bear false wintness against thy neighbor.”

We need to consider that word, “neighbor” before we go any further.

I am sure that some here today are thinking, “I love all my neighbors and I would never bear false witness against any of them.”

Who is our neighbor?

Illus: We generally think of our neighbors as those who live on each side of us, or in the front or back of us. Let me ask you a question?

• What about the fellow who lives ten houses down from you; is he in your neighbor? Yes!

• Is the fellow who lives twenty houses down, your neighbor? Yes!

• The fact is, so is the fellow 50 houses down, 100 houses down etc.

• The fellow who lives across town is your neighbor, and the people who live in China are also your neighbors.

Illus: A Sunday School teacher was telling her pupils of loving their neighbors and she asked her class who was their neighbors. One lad said, “I would consider anyone to be my neighbor whose property Joined mine.” The teacher said, “That is a very good answer and that means everyone is your neighbor.” The little boy raised his hand again and said, “Teacher, you misunderstood, my neighbors are those who live on both sides of me and those who live in front and back of me.” She said, “By your definition of a neighbor, you say that your land must meet and that is a good definition of a neighbor.” She said, “If you could go home today and dig a hole in the earth until it came out of the other side, where would you come out?” The little boy said, “Probably China.” She said, “You are probably right! In fact, in the center of the earth our property is Joined to everyone elses property on the face of this earth and that would make every living soul neighbors!'