INTRODUCTION
Famous American Fibs
- The check is in the mail.
- I’ll start my diet tomorrow.
- We service what we sell.
- Give me your number and the doctor will call you right back.
- Money cheerfully refunded.
- One size fits all.
- This offer limited to the first 100 people who call in.
- Your luggage isn’t lost, it’s only misplaced.
- Leave your resume and we’ll keep it on file.
- This hurts me more than it hurts you.
- I just need five minutes of your time.
- Your table will be ready in a few minutes.
- Open wide, it won’t hurt a bit.
- Let’s have lunch sometime.
- It’s not the money, it’s the principle. (Bits & Pieces, December 9, 1993, pp. 12-13.)
• We are getting near the end of our series on the Ten Commandments. It has amazed me just how little mankind has changed over the centuries. All of the commandments we have looked has is still as relevant to us today as they were when they were first passed down to Moses on the mountain.
• Today we are going to explore the Ninth Commandment. This commandment is another one that hits us where we live. The Ninth Commandment says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Exodus 20:16
• Today we are going to look at what this command means along with how and why we break this commandment. We will finish up with some ways to protect ourselves from breaking the Ninth Commandment.
SERMON
I. WHAT DOES THE NINTH COMMANDMENT SAY?
• This commandment deals with being truthful. In our society being truthful is becoming a lost art. In our nation we expect our leaders to be liars, we expect sales people to lie to us and honesty is not something that comes easy for many people.
• Lying seems to be a way of life for many people. We lie at the drop of a hat. The book The Day American Told the Truth says that 91 percent of those surveyed lie routinely about matters they consider trivial, and 36 percent lie about important matters; 86 percent lie regularly to parents, 75 percent to friends, 73 percent to siblings, and 69 percent to spouses. http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=l&whichFile=lie
• Let’s examine what this command prohibits.
• Technically, this commandment deals with testimony in a court of law and the impact on the judicial system, but there are clearly vast implications of not telling the truth in our everyday lives. While many of us do not worry about false testimony in a court of law, we should worry about what ramifications there are to the daily lies as well. (Dr. Laura, The Ten Commandments p. 275)
• Let’s look at the technical side first.
A. It is a prohibition against giving false testimony in legal proceedings
• God prohibits us from giving false testimony in court proceedings. The legal system of the Old Testament and of any society is based on the honesty and truthfulness of those who participate in the system. Just think what would happen if we could not trust people who testify. This yet happens today. We can all think of examples of people giving what appears to be false testimony.
• In the Old Testament, God had a way of dealing with a person who tied to convict another person with false testimony.
• READ DEUTERONOMY 19:15-21
• This verse speaks for itself.
• PROVERBS 19:5 says, “A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape.”
• Exodus 23:1 tells us, “You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.
• There is a second way in which we can bear false witness against our neighbor. It is not he main meaning of the passage, but it is still covered.
B. It is a prohibition against damaging a person’s character with by lying about them.
• Adam Clarke in his commentary on Exodus states, Not only false oaths, to deprive a man of his life or of his right, are here prohibited, but all whispering, tale-bearing, slander, and (calumny) false accusations; in a word, whatever is deposed as a truth, which is false in fact, and tends to injure another in his goods, person, or character, is against the spirit and letter of this law. Suppressing the truth when known, by which a person may be defrauded of his property or his good name, or lie under injuries or disabilities which a discovery of the truth would have prevented, is also a crime against this law. He who bears a false testimony against or belies even the devil himself, comes under the curse of this law, because his testimony is false. By the term neighbor any human being is intended, whether he rank among our enemies or friends.
• Psalm 12:1-2 says, “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be, For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. They speak falsehood to one another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak.
• What message are we giving our children when we purchase the Tabloids that slander people and destroy the character of other people?
• The original meaning of this commandment was pretty specific. It concerned how we should deal with other people’s names and reputations. You might recall the third commandment dealt with respecting the name of God, this commandment deals with respecting the name of others. And specifically it concerned with not lying about them, in particular not lying about them in legal situations.
• We are prohibited from lying.
• Austin O’Malley states: A lie has no legs. It requires other lies to support it. Tell one lie and you are forced to tell others to back it up. Stretching the truth won’t make it last any longer. Those that think it permissible to tell white lies soon grow colorblind.
• We are not to be gossipers either! There are several New Testament passages that condemn gossip. Romans 1:29; 1 Timothy 3:11, 5:3; 2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 2:3 are a few of them.
• We heard a lot about the politics of personal destruction. This is where if someone was against you politically, a campaign would be waged to attack a person’s character. Christians are to have no part of this!
C. Are there exceptions?
• Are there times when we are allowed not to be forthright and honest? In the Bible we have a few examples of God allowing a person to be less than honest when a life was on the line.
• For example were the Christians who lied about keeping Jews hidden during the war wrong? No. They were saving lives.
• We have a few examples from the scriptures. In 1 Samuel 20:28 King Saul was looking to kill David and Saul asked Jonathan his son and David’s best friend where David was. Jonathan then answered Saul, "David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem,
• In another story God tells Samuel the prophet to tell a half-truth. When God rejected Saul as King He sent Samuel out to anoint a new one who would replace Saul at some point. Samuel feared for his life. Look at 1 Samuel 16:2, “But Samuel said, "How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you and say, ’I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Samuel’s assignment was to anoint a new King, not to sacrifice a heifer. God did it to protect Samuel’s life.
• In Joshua 2:4 Rahab the harlot lied about the whereabouts of the Israeli spies. She was not punished for it.
• When Pharaoh decreed that all male Hebrew children were to be killed at birth, look at what the Hebrew midwives did. READ EXODUS 1:15-21. God rewarded the midwives for protecting the children.
• This is the exception, not the rule. Life is important to protect.
II. LIAR, LAIR, BREAKING GOD’S COMMANDMENT.
A. The reasons we break God’s commandment.
• Sometimes we lie about other people because we are angry at them or we want revenge. There have been many lives ruined from the accusation of improper conduct. Later after the damage was done, it was found the accuser lied to get even with a person.
• Some lies are told to protect ourselves from punishment or consequences. How many times have we blamed another person for something we have done to keep from getting in trouble?
• Some folks lie to get attention. You know those who confess to crimes they did not do so they could get some attention.
• Many lie for personal gain or convenience or to look better. “Did you clean your room?” Howe many times has the answer been yes when it was not cleaned?
• Just recently we had a coach who was awarded the Notre Dame Football coaching job. Not even a few weeks into the job he had to resign in disgrace because of many embellishments on his resume that he had used for years. Things ranging from his academic accomplishments to his athletic accomplishments.
• Tim Johnson who used to be the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays lost his job after embellishing his non-existent Vietnam war record.
B. The ways we break God’s commandment.
• We can break God’s commandment by outright lying, or embellishing the truth or withholding the truth.
• Our court system has ruled that in court you either have to tell the truth or say nothing. Lying is not protected speech.
III. HOW TO BE A TRUTHFUL PERSON.
A. Spent time with other truthful people. Psalm 26:4-5
• PSALM 26:4-5 “I do not sit with deceitful men, Nor will I go with pretenders. I hate the assembly of evildoers, And I will not sit with the wicked.
• 1CO 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
• You become who you hang out with.
B. Think before you speak.
• JAMES 1:19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
• Make sure what you say is true and appropriate. That is will not hurt someone unnecessarily.
C. Mean what you say. Matthew 5:33-37 READ
D. Realize that lying is a sin. Colossians 3:9, Ephesians 4:25, Proverbs 12:22, 19:5
• COL 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
• PRO 12:22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal faithfully are His delight.
CONCLUSION
• The world can be and is a cruel place. Let us not be a part of the problem. Do not be one who tears apart another person with your speech. It is the most cowardly form of destruction because the person who is being attacked has no means of defense.
• Make sure your speech is pure and that it builds up people. I think we all struggle with this at times. Let people know you as a person of integrity, a person who can be trusted.
• There was a time when a person’s word was their bond. Make sure you are one of those people.
• Our God is a God who can be trusted at His word. What kind of relationship would we have with Him if we could not trust Him? We would not have one!
