The Ten Commandments – Part 9
Scriptures: Exodus 20:16; Proverbs 3:5-7; Hebrews 6:18; John 8:44; Ephesians 5:8
Has someone ever asked you how they looked in some clothes and you, not wanting to hurt their feelings, told them they looked fine? Has someone asked you how you are feeling, and you again, not wanting to reveal your business, defaulted to telling them that you are doing okay? Have you ever received a phone call on your home phone and told your kids to tell the caller you were busy or not at home because you did not want to talk to the caller? Have you ever been questioned about a situation and while you knew the answer, you did not want to get involved so you denied knowing anything about it? Have you ever told someone you could not wait for something to happen and yet you knew you were doing just that – waiting? What about small kids? Have you ever noticed how they are brutally honest as long as it does not pertain to them or will get them in trouble? But, they will lie if they are in trouble because of self-preservation. We do not have to teach our kids to lie, but we do have to teach them to tell the truth in all situations. If you have experienced these or any situation similar, you have experienced with the commandment we will focus on today.
When I was growing up, my mother loved to watch the Perry Mason show. Perry Mason was a trial attorney who at the end, no matter what, always got to the truth. It was this show where I first heard these words when a person was being sworn in to testify: “Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?” The person would then affirm that they were going to tell the whole truth even though sometimes they knew they would actually be bearing false witness (or lying.) This is part nine of my series on the Ten Commandments and this morning we will be examining ninth commandment found in Exodus 20:16 which says “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Before I go any further, I want to read this verse out of the Amplified Bible: “You shall not testify falsely [that is, lie, withhold or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person).” The Amplified Bible communicates the truth of this verse in a way that’s hard to miss. When a person bears “false witness” against someone the person is telling a lie outright about the person; or telling a lie by withholding the truth about the person; or telling a lie by manipulating the truth about the person. The bottom line is this; the person described in this verse is deliberately telling a lie; the person is deliberately being untruthful. For clarification, your “neighbor” is anyone that you interact with, even that person whom you do not know. In other words, in God’s eyes your neighbor is not simply the person who lives next to you. He was not saying you could lie about or to everyone except your neighbor; this commandment was all inclusive. When you read the New Testament, all lying is condemned along with the liar. I want to make sure this is clear at the beginning so that it cannot be lost in translation later. This is the obvious reading of Exodus 20:16.
But there’s so much more to what this verse is saying to us today. Why is deliberately telling a lie, deliberately being untruthful an issue for God? Numbers 23:19 says “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” In Titus 1:2 Paul says God “cannot lie”. Paul doesn’t say God “does not lie” which means He could if He wanted to, no He says God “cannot lie”. In other words, it is impossible for God to lie. God is not capable of telling a lie. Let’s look at one more verse. Hebrews 6:18 says “So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.” The point I want you see here is this: God cannot lie. Period. Now consider this, “if” God cannot lie then that means He will do everything that He said that He will do and if He will do everything that He said He would do its done when He said it. For example, God said:
“Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not get tired; they will walk and not become weary.” (Isaiah 40:31) Are you waiting on the Lord because if you are, you will gain new strength; you will have wings like the eagle, running and not getting weary! This is a promise! If you are weary because you are not waiting on God patiently it’s not God’s fault as He has told you what He will do! God also said; “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me, declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 54:17) Do you have some people planning your demise? God has you covered!!! I chose these two Scriptures because when people think about the promises of God they focus on financial blessings or material things. I want you to see that as you are dealing with life, God has given us two specific promises; first He promised us strength when we are weary and second He promised to protect us against the attacks being planned against us.
If we believe that God cannot lie, then what we read in His word is spoken to us and for us and if we accept and believe it, it is done for us! God is not man and therefore He never bears false witness. He does not lie. Our problem is that we believe what others are saying about what God has “supposedly” said and because we do not “know” what He said we believe a lie because it sounds good. If you want to know what God has promised you, read it for yourself versus allowing someone else to tell you. If God cannot lie, that means He is going to do what He says. If we then are not seeing what the Bible says coming to pass in our lives then it must be because we simply do not believe it. If God said it and it’s not happening in our lives it’s not because He is not true to His word – it’s on us. Now let me get back to not bearing false witness.
I asked earlier why is lying such a big deal to God. I mean what’s wrong with telling a little “white lie” if you don’t want to hurt a person’s feelings or get a person in trouble? Here’s the answer: when we tell a lie we are in sin and we need to repent. God has not made allowances for our lies as some have said. Someone told me once that “A lie is an abomination to the Lord but a very present help in the time of trouble.” That sounds good doesn’t it? I will tell you that while we may temporarily get out of trouble with our fellow man for lying God does not miss it. He sees it. He is not fooled by our lies. He always knows the truth! When you tell a lie you are making yourself God’s enemy. Listen, if telling the truth can hurt the person’s feelings or get the person in trouble, is that your fault? Is that your problem? Should that be your concern? If you are so concerned about that other person and you don’t say something, you are still in sin. Staying quiet and not speaking the truth does not absolve us of our responsibility before God. We are still in sin. Remember “bearing false witness” also includes “withholding of truth”. I know I’m stomping on some toes this morning because I stepped on my own as I wrote this and as I am delivering it now. But I’d rather stomp on them now so you can repent than not stomp on them and have God asks me why I didn’t.
So why is telling a lie such a big deal to God? Turn with me to John 8:44. Jesus is talking to the religious leaders who are having problems with what He is teaching. So Jesus says “You are of your father the devil.” Now let me stop here for a moment. Jesus is talking to people who have the same nature living in them that lives in the devil. Before we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He could have said the same thing about us. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” There is a lot in this verse but I want to focus on two things: the devil is a murderer and there is no truth in him. Do you see how Jesus connects these two aspects of his nature? If Satan is the father of lies, and by every indication he is, then those who lie are partaking of his nature. There is no darkness in God so lying is not a part of His nature. If we are His children and we have His nature, that part of us that loved to lie was done away with, even though we sometimes tend to forget that.
If you read Ezekiel 28:11-19 and Revelation 12:4 you will find how Satan bear false witness against God and His angels resulting in him and a third of God’s angels being kicked out of heaven. Remember a false witness tells a lie when he withholds or manipulates truth. Before he got himself kicked out of heaven, Lucifer, who we know as Satan, was a “false witness” against God. We don’t know from scripture what he actually said or how long it took but the Bible says that he began to exalt himself against God. In order to exalt yourself against someone you have to paint the other person as not being whom they say they are. To exalt yourself against someone you have to paint the other person as being deceitful in what he does while you’re above board in your actions. To exalt yourself against someone else, you have to be right and they have to be wrong. Do you see what I’m saying? Satan also was a “false witness” to the angels that he convinced he was more capable than God. Even though Satan himself might have believed he could dethrone God, it was a lie. He had to have painted the picture for them that everything he did, in contrast to God, was going to be above board and that God was wrong about so many things and he was right.
One third of the angels in heaven believed him. One third! Now get this, remember when Jesus said he was a murderer and a liar? When Satan got one-third of the angels to follow him, he essentially “murdered” them. Why do I say this? They will never again have an eternal life in heaven. They will spend the rest of their lives in the lake of fire with Satan. This is the second death. Satan caused one-third of the angels to be eternally separated from the God who created them! This was the price they paid when they believed the lie that Satan told them about God. If Satan, through a lie, could convince a third of the angels that he could dethrone the God who created them; the God in whose presence they enjoyed throughout eternity; how easily can he lie to us about God and we believe him? God experienced deceit in his own house (heaven) so I am convinced that this is one sin that He will not permit to reenter. This is clearly established in His word when liars are spoken of. And again I reiterate that there are no white or black lies with God. A lie is a lie.
Here’s what we’ve seen so far. God cannot lie. Satan will not tell the truth. Knowing this is true, when we tell a lie, even the little white ones, who are we agreeing with? When we tell a lie who are siding against? When we tell a lie who are we saying we trust? When we tell a lie we are building a wall between us and God. When we tell a lie we are saying that the benefits of lying are greater for us personally than the benefits of telling the truth. We are acknowledging that while a lie is definitely an abomination to the Lord, for me personally it’s a very present help in the time of my trouble. But that viewpoint goes against the very nature that we are supposed to have. Think about these verses:
Proverbs 3:5-7: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”
Proverbs 4:24: “Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you.”
Proverbs 6:16-19: “There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.”
Now I want you notice something. The word “abomination” is one of the strongest words in the Hebrew language to express utter distain, contempt or hatred. Of the things we just read let me draw your attention to what the Lord calls abomination: (1) a lying tongue, (2) a heart that devises wicked plans, (3) a false witness who utters lies and (4) the person who spreads strife. Four of the seven things that God calls abomination have to do with lying in one form or another. Please pay attention to this! The book of Proverbs is sprinkled with verses describing how much God hates lying.
Lying cuts at the heart of who God is. First John 1:5 says “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” And in Ephesians 5:8 we learn that we are like our Father: “For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.” First Peter 1:15 and 16 says “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy for I am holy.” When we tell a lie we are not acting like God’s sons and daughters. We are children whose spirits are now light, not darkness. There is nothing in us spiritually that wants to tell a lie. Then why do we do it? When we are born again the only thing about us that change is our spirits. Our minds don’t change. Our bodies don’t change. That’s why the Bible says we have to renew our minds to agree with what our new spirits already know. That’s why the Bible says we have to make our bodies submit to our new spirits. When we do these things, we will not tell a lie even if the truth has a price attached to it.
I want to close this morning with what God said about liars. Please understand that the world promotes lying as long as you do not get caught. Everyone lies so what’s the harm if good comes from it. I want us to be sensitive to how easily we can find ourselves lying in the presence of God (because He is always with us if we are His.) Turn to Psalms 101 and we will read verses six and seven. “My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.” (Psalm 101:6-7) Do you see it? I believe these verses are speaking to people who have a relationship with God but can put that on the line when they are deceitful. In verse six God said that His eyes are on the faithful, those serving Him. He said they are allowed to dwell with Him and serve Him. In verse seven He said the deceitful person will not dwell with Him in His house.
But it’s the last part of verse seven that I want you to focus on and remember. It says, “He who speaks falsehood (tell lies) shall not maintain his position before me.” Did you notice the word “maintain” in that sentence. Some interpretations say “continue in.” God said that those who lie will not maintain, or continue in, their position with Him. We have to get this right. Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He has gotten the world to teach us that it’s okay to lie, especially if good comes out of it. It’s okay to lie if it advances our agenda and gets us what we want. It’s okay to lie when you are in trouble because you can always repent later and be right back in good standings with God. This is what he wants us to believe. What I want you to see is that God is not pleased with liars and if you have a history of lying, today is the first day of the rest of your life. God said, “He who speaks falsehood (tell lies) shall not maintain his position before me.” He was speaking of people who had a position with Him. You cannot maintain or continue in something you do not have. Is telling lies worth your position with your heavenly Father?
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. Our service Sunday worship starts at 9 a.m. and Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
