Who Are You Trying To Fool? Series

Last week I mentioned how violated we felt when we had something stolen, when someone took what belonged to us. I think that if we were honest today we’d all agree that there is a very similar feeling of violation that comes when we feel that we have been deceived. Most relationships can take almost anything except deceit.

Next time you’re at a party and want to stimulate conversation ask people what they are looking for in a relationship, and see how many of them talk about honesty.

I’m sure that a good part of the hurt that comes when a spouse betrays the other isn’t about the physical side of it, as hurtful as that may be. The most hurtful part are the lies, the deception.

Now if you’ve been with us over the past several weeks then you know that we are coming to the end of a series on the Ten Commandments, a ten part series as strange as that might seem. If you haven’t been with us over the past several weeks, well we are still coming to the end of a series on the Ten Commandments. And today we are looking at number 9, which says in Exodus 20:16 Do not tell lies about others. 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.

A couple of weeks ago I told you how the only way a capital case could be heard in ancient Israel was if there were two eye witnesses to the crime. As a further safe guard listen to Deuteronomy 17:7 Get rid of those who are guilty of such evil. Take them outside your town gates and have everyone stone them to death. But the witnesses must be the first to throw stones. Anyone see the significance here? Do you know why the first people to throw the stones were to be the witnesses that testified against them? What happened was that if the accused was later found innocent then the witnesses were guilty of murder.

The crime of perjury was taken very, very seriously. Again looking at the book of

Deuteronomy 19:17-19 If you are lying and the accused is innocent, then you will be punished without mercy. You will receive the same punishment the accused would have received if found guilty, whether it means losing an eye, a tooth, a hand, a foot, or even your life.

Israel, the crime of telling lies in court must be punished. And when people hear what happens to witnesses that lie, everyone else who testifies in court will tell the truth.

And so in it’s simplest form this commandment dealt with perjury, and protecting peoples reputations. However it has come to mean so much more than that, because the ninth commandment has come to mean “Do not lie.”

To put that into perspective listen to what else the bible says concerning lying:

Proverbs 6:16-19 There are six or seven kinds of people the Lord doesn’t like:

Those who are too proud or tell lies or murder, those who make evil plans or are quick to do wrong, those who tell lies in court or stir up trouble in a family.

Not only does God not like liars but listen to the end result of people who constantly lie,

Revelation 21:8 But I will tell you what will happen to cowards and to everyone who is unfaithful or dirty-minded or who murders or is sexually immoral or uses witchcraft or worships idols or tells lies. They will be thrown into that lake of fire and burning sulfur. This is the second death. If it’s true that we are known by the company we keep, then liars are aren’t very well thought of in the scriptures.

Here is a list of "Top 10 Liars’ Lies": 10. We’ll stay only five minutes. 9. This will be a short meeting. 8. I’ll respect you in the morning. 7. The check is in the mail. 6. I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you. 5. This hurts me more than it hurts you. 4. Your money will be cheerfully refunded. 3. We service what we sell. 2. Your table will be ready in just a minute. 1. I’ll start exercising tomorrow.

Most people know that lying is wrong, regardless of what else they believe most people understand that it is not right to lie, regardless of what they might say they believe. So why, Why do we lie?

There are actually several reasons why people lie: To Impress People That would never happen would it? But that’s what it is when we drop names, you know imply that we know someone important when we are just barely acquainted with them. Pastor’s do it when they stretch their statistics, like when people ask how many people attend BCC and I say oh between four and five hundred, after all 70 is between 4 and 500. You do it when you make your job out to be more then what it really is or when you kind of move your kids marks up when you’re bragging on them.