No More Lies Series

Ten Words to Live By: Do not Lie

Exodus 20: 16

Patter Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

9-28-2025

Emmett Till

In 1955, Emmett Till’s mother sent him by train from Chicago to Money, Mississippi to visit family for the summer. He was 14 years old.

Emmett and his cousins went to Bryant’s Grocery Store and Meat Market to get food where he was accused of whistling at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant.

Carolyn’s husband and half-brother kidnapped Emmitt. They beat him, tortured him, shot him in the head, and dumped him in a local river.

Emmett’s mother chose to have an open casket to show the world what happened to her son. Jet Magazine published photos of Emmett, sparking outrage across the nation.

Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were brought to trial, but an all-white, all-male jury acquitted them of murder in just over an hour.

Later, protected by double jeopardy laws, they confessed to the murder in a magazine interview.

Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman whose accusations led to the murder of Emmett Till in 1955, admitted in a 2008 interview with a historian that she fabricated key parts of her testimony and added, "Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him".

Review

We continue our series called, “Ten Words to Live By.” We know them as the “The Ten Commandments” although that name is never used in the Bible.

In Hebrew, this top ten list is known as the “Ten Words,” or Decalogue, and we find them in Exodus 20.

Pastor John Miller reminds us of three reasons the ten words were given:

* God is holy

* Man is sinful and we need a Savior

* Shows us how to live

They are less rules about what to do and tell us more about who God is to us:

1. One God - God is God.

2. No idols - God is Creator.

3. Revere His Name - God is holy

4. Remember to Rest - God is Rest

5. Honor Parents - God is Father

6. No murder - God is Life

7. No adultery - God is Faithful

8. No stealing - God is a Provider

9. No lying - God is Truth

10. No coveting - God is Sufficient

The ten words are divided into two groups. The first four cover our relationship with God. The last six detail our relationship with others.

Jesus was asked by a teacher of the Law what the greatest commandment was and He responded:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

The four commandments are how we love God with all that we are.

The second six commandments are how we love our neighbor.

This morning, we come to the ninth commandment - “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”

Notice that it comes at the end of the Ten Words. That’s because whenever we break the other commandments we always lie.

Please, turn with me to Exodus 20:16.

Prayer

Do you Swear to Tell the Whole Truth?

Many of you learned this commandment as “Do not lie.” This commandment does cover that. But it is explicitly concerned with the courtroom.

I have testified in court several times and they always started by asking me to raise my right hand - “”Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

If you refuse to comply or choose to lie, you can be held in contempt of court.

The ninth commandment states -“do not give false testimony against your neighbor.”

Today, we have cameras and DNA. People charged with a crime had little protection and were assumed guilty until proven innocent.

In that culture, all they had were eyewitnesses.

But one witness wouldn’t be enough:

“One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15)

And noone could be put to death on the testimony of a single witness, according to Deuteronomy 35:30.

The death sentence was to be carried out by the accuser.

And as a safeguard/warning against false testimony

“The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you.” (Deuteronomy 19:18-20)