Promote Truth

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Well, we continue our sermon series through the Ten Commandments. We're almost there. We're at the Ninth Commandment, Exodus chapter 20, verse 16.

Before I start, I'm going to ask, would someone be able to get me a cup or a bottle of water? I'm sorry, I forgot to do that this morning. Normally, one of the families on vacation, normally they handle that. Just so it goes to show you how many little things people do to make things happen. And when I have water, I talk more quickly. So I don't know, maybe that's a good thing or a bad thing, but we might be here longer if I'm stumbling over my words.

Prayer for Illumination

Well, Exodus chapter 20, verse 16. Exodus chapter 20, verse 16, the ninth commandment here now, God's perfect and authoritative word. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Let's pray. Oh, father, we thank you for your word and we pray now that by your spirit you would teach us. We pray that you would let us know your word, understand it. and that you might let us love you, that you would teach us to obey. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Sermon

In 1999 there was a movie that became very popular, Liar Liar. And one of the very beginning parts of this movie, the dad is a lawyer, he's also a liar of liars. And he promises his son, Max, he's going to be there for his fifth birthday party, and they pan over to the scene, and his dad has been working, working, working. He doesn't show up at this party, his boy sitting there in front of the birthday cake, candles lit, everybody around, mom, clown, family, no dad.

He says, but he promised. He's not there. Mom says, he promised he'll be here tomorrow. He has to work. So the camera zooms in on his eyes, just the candle and Max, and he wishes in his heart, please, for 24 hours, don't let my father lie. He blows out the candles and for a whole day after that, there's two hours of a whole day of this father realizing how hard it is to not lie. And he tries to convince his son. Thank you so much. He tries to convince his son why he has to lie. It's going to cost him his job and all these other things.

And the whole point of the movie is that when we're dishonest, we ruin relationships and we hurt people. Our modern culture doesn't have any problem with lying. Actually, post-modernism does this all the time. There's a philosophy of our day that there is no absolute truth, and if there is no absolute truth, then whatever your take is on the situation is okay. However you opine or opinion about things are, that's okay for you. It must be true. There's this idea, especially in news commentary. Have you ever watched these?

We just went through it with with multiple different headline type court cases where people are are news commentators are guessing at what the jury's thinking and and making opinions about all sorts of all sorts of stuff when they're not privy to all the facts. And they don't have any clue because they're not allowed to talk to the jurors about anything that they're thinking, and yet they'll make all sorts of assumptions about what they're thinking, and they have no problem speaking their minds. But they're not dealing with facts, they're dealing with their opinions. We have false news, and we have fake news, and we have satire that makes us think maybe this is real news.

Truth is elusive in our culture. And it happens in more serious and personal ways as well. There was an email I received that I'm not going to say when or where or what congregation, but somebody emailed and said and tried to tell me an anonymous email saying somebody in your congregation is committing this specific sin. I thought, well, that's great, but please, I need the testimony of two or three witnesses and I need you to tell me your name because I'm not going on a witch hunt in our congregation for whatever you're saying. No response. Truth is elusive and we have to fight for it. And there's a basic understanding that the basic interpretation of this passage is really clear cut.

What is this talking about? Perjury. When you go to court, you're not allowed to lie. When you're a witness on a stand, you're not allowed to tell falsehoods. You're not allowed to make things sound better or make things sound worse. You must tell. I love the phrase that we have people take an oath for. You must tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the You know what? Truth. The truth. The truth. A society cannot stand without a functioning judicial system, and a judicial system that's foundation is on the truth falls apart if we have a society filled with liars, deceivers, people who just want to get up on their own.

The ancient courts knew this quite well. There were a number of laws in the Old Testament that specifically dealt with this situation. Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 6, Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 15, and Numbers 35, verse 30, all say you are not to put a person to death on the testimony of one witness. But there must be two or three witnesses. That carries over into the New Testament. That's what Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 18.

When your brother sins against you, go and confront your brother. But if he won't repent, then what are you supposed to do? Go and take two or three with you. Go take more with you. Why? Because then there are witnesses to this. And then after that, bring it to the church. We're not to believe things just on hearsay, happenstance, or just one person's opinion. But we must be judicious. We must think. And this is one of the difficult things about the Old Testament. There was severity with this.

If you were going to be a witness and it was a capital offense, you were to stand there. And if you were a witness to a crime and you were willing to take the witness stand and bring that accusation against that person and it was a capital offense and they're going to be put to death, do you know what you had to do once the guilty verdict was pronounced? You had to cast the first stone. So you had to look that person in the eyes and know, I am doing this in the truth.

Or else your heart was guilty of murder. And if you were found out in the Old Testament that you were the one who had lied, you had brought this accusation, that person hadn't done it, the punishment that you were trying to seek after that person, if it was found out that you were lying on the stand, you received the punishment instead.

That's how serious God took this amongst his covenant people. Philip Graham or Philip Riken, sorry, when he comments on this passage, says where there is no truth, there can be no justice. But why does this matter? OK, so we don't have a judicial system that's not working, but what what's what's the ultimate end of this?

Well, the ultimate end of it is there is a title for God that he is the God of truth. Time and time and time again in the Old Testament, we hear that he is the God of truth. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 4. He is the rock. His work is perfect for all his ways are justice. A God of truth and without injustice, righteousness and uprightness is he. His attribute is truth.

Psalm 31, verse five says into your hands, I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth. Psalm 86 verses 15 says, But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion and gracious, long suffering and abundant in mercy and truth. Isaiah 65, verse 16 says, so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. And he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth.

Proverbs chapter 16 says, or 6 says, God hates lies. These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that defies his wicked plans, feet that are swift and running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord amongst his brethren. God hates lying. God detests lying.

If we say that we are followers of Jesus Christ, that the Spirit of Jesus lives in us, that God's Spirit abides in us, then His truth must also abide in us. Because He is the God of truth. Why we ultimately must be people of the truth is because we were made by a God who is true.

This is just broader than On the witness stand, Exodus 23 verse 1 and 7 says, You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Keep yourself far from a false matter. Do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not justify the wicked. Don't lie. Don't lie. Don't lie.

I hope you walk out of here with with one sense that God loves truth. And so we must also love truth. Let's face it, being truthful is one of the most courageous things that you might ever have to do. Being truthful might be one of the most courageous things that you ever have to do.

Again, Philip Riken comments, if there is one thing God hates, It is the lie that Christians tell to make themselves, here we go, this hits home hard. It is a lie that Christians tell to make themselves look more righteous than they really are. Our testimony is that we are unrighteous, that there is no way we could ever be saved apart from the grace of God and Jesus Christ. The real truth about us is that we are so guilty that the very son of God had to be crucified to pay for our sins. This is true. If this is true, then why would we ever pretend to be anything more than sinners saved by grace to act like we have it all spiritually together is a lie. It's one of the things that we find in the church often. Why do people think Christians are hypocrites? Because Christians often play the face like, oh, I'm perfectly righteous.

We often play the Pharisee, we often play the legalist, instead of looking at this commandment and going, I got a problem in my heart and I struggle with this commandment. I know the world struggles with this commandment. The only difference between me and you is I have a standard for truth. Speaking this truth can and will cost you, it may cost you a job, it may cost you friendships, it may cost you relationships, it may cost you your own family. Many of you know what it's like to go into those situations, where you know if you bring up what God says about a situation, it's not going to make your family happy, even though it's true. But what is your chief in, in life? Is your goal in life to keep peace in your family? Is your goal in life to keep your job? Is your goal in life just to enjoy the things of this world? Or is it to bring God glory?

It's better for you to be honest than to have a seared conscience because you've lied to your boss about something you did wrong. It's better for you to be honest than to bury your conscience behind a load of guilt from your lying to your family about things that you're ashamed of. It brings God more glory to have are only to have Jesus than to have all the other friendships of the world and to be ashamed of the one that will come to church and say, we praise. It's more enjoyable to have a reputation as a man or a woman of integrity than to have a reputation as a two faced hypocrite. People will have mad respect for you, a lot more respect for you if you are honest about your shortcomings and your failures, when you mess something up either by accident or because you did something wrong purposely. When you just own up to it, than if you just try to sweep it under the rug, make it sound better than it really is.

It's better to have God as your heavenly father. and love your earthly family so much that you'll lie, hide, and conceal even for your own family members. A God is a God of truth, and to tell the truth is hard. But maybe it's just, you know, just people we know, right? We don't have to be nice to everyone, right? We don't have to tell everyone the truth. Not everybody deserves truthfulness, right? Well, what does the commandment say? This is the first time the word neighbor actually has shown up in all the Ten Commandments. It didn't say, do not kill your neighbor. It didn't say, do not steal from your neighbor. Here, it's the first time.

Here's within this covenant community context that, okay, so this is just talking about, okay, so if you were a Jewish person, I have to tell the truth when it comes to my Jewish neighbor, you know, when Boaz has done something bad, I can cover up for him if it's in front of the Romans. I don't need to be truthful with people outside the covenant community, do I?

Well, this is what one of the lawyers found himself asking Jesus. And he said, Jesus, what's the greatest commandment? And Jesus said, well, you tell me, what have you learned? What does the scripture say? And he says exactly to Jesus what you must have overheard him say one time. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength and your neighbor likewise. And Jesus said, go, good, go do the commandments.

And the text goes on, it says, but wanting to justify himself, he asked the question, well, who's my neighbor? And this is where the story of the Good Samaritan follows up on. Your neighbor is whoever's near you, whoever you have interaction with. You love anyone who God has created with his own hands. The Bible is filled. But all sorts of stories of liars, all sorts of stories of deception.

We can think even of the first family. We can think of Isaac's son, Jacob, one of the patriarchs who deceives his father. Do you remember that story when he knows that his brother Esau is supposed to get the blessings? What does he do? He deceives his father. He puts goat hair on his arms and he makes himself all musky. So he's like his brother, the hunter. And he tries to deceive his father. And Isaac actually falls for it. And Jacob gets the blessing. It's a sin.

Jezebel, we find her when her husband Ahab, he wants this plot, he wants this vineyard, but it's owned by Naboth. And the king says, hey, I want to buy this land. And Naboth says, no, this is a century farm. My family's owned this for hundreds of years. No way, man. I'm not going to sell this to you. What does Jezebel do?

She bribes off people to give false testimony against Naboth and they put him to death so that then the king can have his field. We see lying prophets. We see people lie about Jesus. But one of the most powerful stories is in the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, the very first early church, there's this there's this beautiful picture of people are selling their stuff and they're caring for one another. They're loving one another.

And Barnabas, actually, he ends up he sells all of his land and he brings it to the feet of the apostle and they give and he offers it all to the church so that everybody can be cared for. And it's like Ananias, he sits there and he goes, You know, that seems like it worked out pretty well for that Barnabas fellow. They even gave him a new name. They gave him the name Son of Encouragement after he sold all of his stuff.

I know what I'll do. I'll go and I'll sell my land. And then I'll take my proceeds and I'll give it to the church. But I got to keep back a little bit for myself. But I won't tell the apostles that. I'll just tell them I sold my land and I'll just give them the money. So that's what he does.

And Acts chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, let's go ahead and turn there. Acts chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. I want you to hear what happens. Acts chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. This is a powerful story. I mean, Ananias is a fiber where people in the church go into Bible studies, involved with the community. There was a certain man named Ananias. By the way, I'm at page 969 if you're using the Pew Bibles. Page 969, Acts chapter 5. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostle's feet.

But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land for yourself. Now, we don't know how Peter knew this. Was this a spirit who had shown Peter this? But what we know is that Ananias is trying to pass it off like he's more righteous than he really is, like he had given all the money from his land to go to the church. And instead, what he's doing is he's saying, I sold my land and I'm giving it to you. But really, he's holding back the truth. He's trying to deceive the community, making himself look more pious and generous than he really is.

Can you imagine how biting that would be? Why has Satan filled your heart? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived of this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. What does Peter say? It was your money, dude! You sold the field, you own the rights, you could have done with the money whatever you wanted. You didn't have to give it to the church. You didn't have to give any of it to the church. So why did you come up with this plot in your mind, in your own heart that you were going to somehow, you know, make yourself better by lying? You didn't have to do any of this. Well, verse five, then Ananias, after hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. That's a fancy way of saying, he's dead. He hits the ground and he's dead. The results of great fear came upon all those who heard these things.

And the young men came, and he arose, and wrapped him up, carried him out, and they buried him. How do you think the church felt? How do you think the people in the pews felt as they heard about the story, as they went to synagogue, as the rumors started going throughout the town? Did you hear what happened to Ananias? He lied to God and he's dead. Could you imagine how seriously the first century church must have taken the sin about lying? But his wife, three hours later, Sapphira walks in, the question is asked of her, too. Verse 8, and Peter answers her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

Notice, there was probably a long, I hope a long pause there. She had an opportunity. She didn't know that her husband was dead, but she had an opportunity in her own heart to have the courage to say, We sold the land and we had this plan, but really, we were worried about retirement. We were worried about our kids. So we're only giving the church 50% of it. She had the opportunity to tell the truth.

She had the opportunity to bear true testimony, just like Ananias did. But she said yes for so much. And so Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young man came and found her dead and carried her out, burying her by her husband. So great fear fell upon all the church and all who heard these things.

God cares about the truth deeply. This is why in Colossians chapter 3, verses 8 through 10, it says, But now you yourself must put off all these anger, wrath, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Why? Since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man. That means putting on Christ, who is renewed in the image according to him who created him. God has given you a new heart, so don't walk in your old heart. The spirit of Christ is in you, so don't walk by the spirit of Satan. Let's face it, there's a big long list of sins here. I'm just going to rattle these off and you can be honest with yourself. We have all sorts of fancy ways of breaking this commandment.

We can fabricate stories, there are big lies, there are white lies, there are half-truths, there are flatteries, there are fibs. There's leaving out details so that we try not to hurt someone. We leave out some details so we can get advantage over someone. We tell technical truths, even though they're meant to deceive people. We spin the story to paint us in the best of light. We exaggerate others' failings so we look better and feel better about ourselves.

We mislead. We misquote. We misinterpret. We twist words. We take things out of context. We plead for an evil person's cause. We pass unjust sentences. We call evil good and good evil. People reward the wicked according to the work of the righteous and vice versa. People lie by forgery. People lie by concealing the truth. People lie by keeping unduly silent when there's a just cause that they should be speaking out about. People stay silent when it calls.

For either a proof or a complaint, we show our complicity with their sin or act like it's just OK. We speak out of both sides of our mouths. Sometimes we are double tongued and double minded. We can be prejudicing towards justice. We can silence witnesses or we can silence evidence. There's threatening retribution to witnesses and whistleblowers. There's believing one side of the story without any evidence to do so. People slander. Even though God says you shall not steal, you shall not do falsely nor lie to one another.

We look out for preserving our own good name rather than our neighbors. We can become tail bearers with juicy morsels of gossip to spread about people that we're supposed to love. We can make a small fault. We can lie to ourselves and to others by making a small fault seem like it's much greater than it really is. We can sin in our own hearts. This is an issue. It doesn't even have to come out of your mouth. That's something you can believe in your heart and in your mind.

Some people lie and believe falsehoods, assuming that if their dad believes this, then they must believe that. Or if their mother acts like this, their children must be like this. People lie in their own hearts to themselves when they suppose the worst of another person, even when it's just silence. People lie to themselves when we create scenarios in our minds. You know, oh, this person hasn't called me. They haven't emailed me. They haven't talked to me. I haven't seen them at work. I didn't see them at coffee.

And so we start coming up with scenarios in our minds about everything they must be doing or saying or feeling, even though we have no clue what's actually going on in their minds, hearts or lives. We lie to ourselves when we guess and opine and fabricate what could be happening without any evidence of what it is. We lie to ourselves when we start assuming motives or emotions to a person without taking to them your questions and asking for the truth. And all these lies that we tell ourselves and in our minds and our hearts, guess who it ends up hurting?

Yourself. You either get angry, Or you get bitter. Or you get anxious. Or you get consumed by fear. We can sin by hiding things. We can sin by just excusing away sin. We lie by breaking promises. We can even lie by neglecting a good report. Man, the heart is deceitfully wicked above all else.

Every time we use our tongues, there's an opportunity for a force to be set ablaze. Every time we speak to someone, we have the power to speak truth or to speak falsehood. Every time we talk, we must be careful to bridle our tongues. Even though it's just a small part of our body, like a rudder on a ship, will steer your whole life in the wrong direction.

There are entire careers that have been shipwrecked because of one small lie. Marriages and families ripped apart because of lies being layered one upon another upon another. And by the way, you always have to tell another lie to cover up your lie. The truth is always trying to get out. And make no doubt about it, there is a severity to lying. I'm going to read these two passages to you, not because I'm trying to scare you, but because I want you to know how serious this is, that we might repent and walk in truth. Revelation 22, verse 14 and 15. What happens to people who are liars?

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they might have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. That's good. Right. Don't you want to eat from the tree of life, the one that spans both sides of the river and has fruit all year long? I know some of your farmers are like, man, you know, a crop that produces all year long. That's a good crop to have. That's what God promises us in Christ. That crop in heaven. That joy we have forever, but.

Verse 15, but outsiders are dogs and sorcerers, sexual and moral and murderers and idolaters. Oh yeah, we expect all those people to be out. Those are like sins that you see outwardly and you know, well of course you're going to have witches not there. But how does verse 15 end? And whoever loves and practices a lie.

Revelation 21.8 says, But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, And all liars. And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Do we not take seriously that the flames of hell are stoked for the feet of liars?

That our words have consequences, that our God is a God of truth, Jesus Christ came as the only one who could perfectly speak truth. In the psalm of David, he says, O Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. It's only Jesus Christ who never spoke.

A non-truth in his heart. But thought rightly. Spoke rightly. Did rightly. People hated him for it. People hated Christ. He spoke the truth. Sometimes it was biting. Sometimes it was outright. Sometimes it was soft. But people hated him for it. In John chapter 8, And some of his adversaries in verse 43 say, why do Jesus says, why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father, the devil and the desires of your father, you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Jesus says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.

I'm not leaving you as orphans, but I'm sending one to you. What spirit do you have in you? I hope this is a heart check for us, right? Whose spirit is in us? Is it the spirit of Jesus Christ that pushes us on, propels us on to tell the truth even though it would be costly? Or do we take the biting words of Jesus seriously? Do we show we're more children of Satan than we want to admit? Whose spirit abides in you?

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. Do you believe the truth? Are you a follower of the truth? Are you a practicer of the truth? Or are you following your heart? Making yourself look better than you might really be?

Jesus paid the price for telling the truth. Jesus' testimony was true. The Pharisee says, we don't believe you because you just speak by yourself. And Jesus says, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, buddy. The Father and the Spirit testify about me. Do you remember when Jesus was baptized? When the voice came from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And the Spirit came down in the form of a dove or in the appearance of a dove and lighted upon him. It is not just his own testimony. But the triune God testified concerning Himself. Pilate didn't care about it, though, as he was condemning Him to death.

What is truth? And yet, when Jesus was hanging on that cross and breathed His last breath, one of the men who had been putting Him to death, one of His own executioners, stood with His mouth agape, and realize in his heart, truly, this man was the Son of God. Do you believe the truth? Do you follow the truth? Are you a person committed to the truth?

Closing Prayer

If you love me, keep my commandments. Let's pray. Oh Father, we do love you. Lord, we know our hearts are so deceptive. Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit might take this word and bury it deep in the hearts of your people, buried in my heart, Lord. I pray when those moments come when we need courage to tell the truth. We pray that we would have resolve this deal to stand upon the truth.

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.