The Ten Commandments - Love Speaks the Truth About Others

Well, welcome to the roots where it's all about Jesus.

We love God, we love people, We reach the lost,

and we make disciples, and we want to help you

grow in your love and knowledge of Jesus. I want

everyone to say, the deepest roots grow the strongest trees.

Our goal is to get you rooted here at the

roots pun on the name right, to get you rooted

here at the roots, because we know that that's what

will grow us all into mature believers, being truly planted somewhere,

and this is how we'll be able to stand firm

no matter how hard the wind blows. Amen. Amen. Well,

we've been in a series called the Ten Commandments Law

Defining Love, the Ten Commandments Law defining Love, and we're

going straight through each of the ten Commandments, or the

ten words from God to his people. God said, I

am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of

the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

He saved him from Egypt, and then he brought them

to Mount Sinai, where he gives them his law. God

saved and God showed God saved his people, and he

showed them how to live as his people, and it's

in God's Law that we're told what love looks like?

What does it even look like to love? We see

that in God's Law because it shows us how he

wants us to love him, and it also shows us

how he wants us to love our neighbor. If you

remember Matthew Chapter twenty five, Jesus says that all the

law and the prophets depend on, or they hang on,

or are summed up by two commandments. It's to love

God with everything and to love your neighbor as yourself.

So as we get to march through these ten commandments,

we should always be asking the question, is this about

loving God or is this about loving our neighbor? Because

it's going to fall under one of those two categories.

It's about loving God or loving people. So the first

four of the ten commandments, they all had to you

with how God would have us love him. There's no

other gods other than Him. We don't worship idols, we

don't use the Lord's name in vain, and we remember

the Sabbath. Those all have to do with how we

are to love God. It's how he wants us to

love him. And in the last six commandments, Paul says

in Romans chapter thirteen, all excuse me, they're summed up

in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

So those last six commandments, and that's echoing what Jesus

had already said. So when we're following these ten commandments,

we are being loving to our neighbor. That's what we

are doing. When we show honor, when we don't murder,

when we stay faithful to our covenants, when we don't

take what doesn't belong to us. These are all ways

of showing love to others, of loving our neighbor as ourself.

But now we're getting close to the end, because if

you've been keeping track, we're on the ninth commandment. There's

only two left to go. We have two more of

the ten commandments. So today we are talking about the

ninth commandments. So I want you to grab your Bible

and open them up to Exitus chapter twenty. And if

you don't have a bible, throw your hand up in

the air and Gabe in the back. He will bring

you a bible to your seat right now, because we

want you to have a bible to keep need God's word.

So we're in Exitus chapter twenty, remembering to love your

neighbor as yourself. So what's another way we are commanded

to love our neighbor as ourself. It's Exodus chapter twenty,

verse sixteen. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. So

let's pray. God, we thank you for your word. We

thank you for this moment in time. There is no

other moment like this moment right now. And God, we

just open up our ears, pay attention to what you

have to say for us today. God. If there's anything

in us that would hinder us from accepting your word, God,

break those walls down so we can accept what you

have for us today. God, Your word is perfect, it

is true, and we are so blessed to be able

to open it up and study it and talk about

it and apply it to our lives. So God, lead

and guide everything that happens today and in our time

and your word, and we thank you for all this

the name of Jesus. Everybody said, a men, do you

swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing

but the truth? So help you God. Where do you

hear people say that? Most often Yeah, in a courtroom, right,

that's where we hear that's question being asked when someone's

being placed under oath before giving an official testimony or

becoming a witness. Now, why is it such a big

deal for someone to tell the truth, especially in that context?

Why is that such a big deal. Why do they

make it such a big point to get this person

to swear to tell the whole truth? Why is that

such a big deal. It's because of verdict hangs in

the balance. There's a verdict that hangs in the balance

of truth, the truth versus a lie. As a witness

drastically changes the outcome. So when the verdicts of the

accused rests in your hands, the most unloving thing you

could do is tell a lie, to not speak the truth,

to bear a false witness, to lie about them. That

is the most unloving thing that you could do. But

if that is the most unloving thing you could do

in that situation, what's the most loving thing to do?

What does love do? Love speaks the truth about others.

Love speaks the truth about others. That's what we're talking

about today. Today's commandment you shall not bear false witness

against your neighbor the way we love our neighbor as

ourselves as we observe The ninth commandment is we always

speak the truth about others. And there's a big, fundamental life,

foundational truth that we need to understand that God speaks

the truth. So do we if we follow a God

who always tells the truth. We've been saved by a

God who always speaks what is true. Listen to Numbers,

chapter twenty three. This is verse nineteen. It says God

is not man that he should lie, or a son

of man that he should change his mind? Has he

said and will he not do it? Or has he

spoken and he will not fulfill it. You gotta love

these rhetorical questions being asked because the answer is obvious.

God does not lie, He does not change. Paul says

that God never lies, and Titus one that he always

tells the truth. All throughout scripture you see God being

called the God of truth. Listen to Hebrews six, verses

seventeen and eighteen. So when God desired to show more

convincingly to the errors of the promise, so he wanted

to convince the heirs of the promise of something. The

unchangeable character of his purpose. He guaranteed it with an oath,

so that by two unchained things in which it is

impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for

refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the

hope set before us. So not only does God never lie,

but it goes even further. It's impossible for him to lie.

It's impossible for God to lie, because that would be

him going against his own character. God's character is truth,

not falsehood. He always speaks the truth, and He has

called his people to do the same, to be true witnesses,

not false ones. But what exactly is forbidden in the

ninth commandment? What is this commandment really getting at? Is

this truly only a command for when we find ourselves

in the courtroom and a witness stand, Is that what

this is all about? Well, it definitely would include that,

that's very clear. It would definitely include that when you

give a testimony about someone else, we don't lie. We

give true testimony. We don't make something up that isn't true.

For example, if we were asked, was this person at

the scene of a crime, and you know for a

fact that they weren't, but you still say yes. What

is that it's bearing false witness, that's bearing a false

witness against your neighbor, because you just lied against your neighbor.

But what if you don't know for a fact if

they were or weren't at the scene of a crime.

If you aren't sure and you still say yes they were,

then you're still bearing a false witness because you don't know.

You're saying something as true when you aren't actually sure

and it might not be true. So, yes, this is

definitely forbidden in the night commandment. I think that's pretty clear.

But what about outside the courtroom? What kind of weight

does this bear on the person of God outside the courtroom?

And this all still applies, It all still applies, because

the command is not that we shall not bear false

witness against our neighbor in court. Now there's a full stop,

so that we wouldn't bear false witness against them to

anyone anywhere, we speak the truth about others, no matter

who's in front of us. So everything we talk about today,

I want you to consider that it should be applied

to every conversation we have, no matter who it is

we're talking to. So no, we don't tell lies about others.

We don't make up stories we don't state as a fact,

things we don't know for certain, because all of that

would be to bear a false witness against your neighbor.

But what else does this command cover? This commandment cover,

because as we've seen Jesus do time and time again

with most of the Ten Commandments, he's gone deeper or

intensified these. So this commandment actually includes a lot more

than just lying about someone. It has to do with

all the things we say about another person, and that

would include slander and gossip, twisting words withholding all the facts.

And as a family, we've been reading the Heidelberg Catechism

lately and I love it includes condemning or joining and

condemning someone rashly or unheard. That means to judge too

quickly or without hearing the person out. So I want

to talk about these things, these extra or deeper look

at this commandment. What does it mean to slander somebody?

Slander would be to use your words to defame the

reputation of another or to negatively affect how someone is

viewed by others. So, in short, you're talking bad about somebody,

and most of the time this is happening behind their back.

But what's at heart, what's at the heart of bearing

false witness is to use your words to harm someone.

And that's exactly what slander is. It's to harm someone's

reputation before others. And that's what's usually found. Right next

to slander is gossip. I think they're best buds. They're

usually hanging out slander and gossip together. Gossip is passing

on a story or a rumor or a report that

hasn't been or can't be proven. You know what I heard,

or you're never gonna believe what I just heard. What

does that sound like? Sounds a gossip that doesn't sound

like something that's verifiable, true, or proven. I mean, come on,

what are we doing. We're out here spreading false information.

It's fake news. It's being a false witness. It's being

reckless with our mouth. It's using your words to damage

the reputation of an image bearer of God. And I

think that brings some of the severity to it. But

it's not always just spreading rumors, you know, things that

are untrue or unverifiable. Gossip is also passing on true

information when it's not necessary. I think that's something we

overlook Sometimes passing on true information when it's not necessary

or it's none of my business to share. And I

think it's a good and healthy thing to ask yourself

a simple question before you share something with someone about

a third party. Here's tracking along with how that comes

a weird way to say that something. I think you

should ask yourself before it, before you start talking about

somebody's not there? Is why am I sharing this information

right now? Why am I sharing this information right now?

Why do I feel the need to talk about someone

who isn't there? What is this undying need inside me

that just wants to talk about somebody? Why do I

got to ben talking about people? Do you need to

be the one who knows the inside scoop on everybody?

Do you want to be the go to person for

info on everybody? Do you have to have all the

juicy details the hot gas? That's what I've heard it's called. Now.

If you're going around just constantly talking about how awesome

people are all the time, keep it up. That's rad.

That's speaking. What's beneficial for building others up and benefits

those who hear. Let's be real, we're humans still trying

to put our flesh to death. That's not usually what

we're doing. That's not usually what's happening when we're talking

about a third party. Why Because to our sinful flesh,

that's not the sexy stuff. We want, the dirt we want,

the grime, we want, the scandal. It's all disgusting and

terrible what our flesh wants. But that's slander and gossip,

which would also fall under the ninth Commandment. The next

two things on our list, I think are probably the

most common things in all marital disputes. So buckle up,

because it's twisting words or withholding all the facts. So

how are those bearing false witness against your neighbor? Well,

twisting words, Twisting someone's words is to misrepresent what they said,

maybe going even as far as saying that he said

something they never said. And this is a personal pet

peeve of mine, so I can't wait for everyone to

tease me about this later. There's just a few things

I hate more than being misquoted. And the reason is

I'm very precise in how I like to say things,

and I say them for specific reason. It's never carelessly.

So for someone to say that I said something I

didn't is infuriating to me because now you're using whatever

influence or authority that comes along with my name in

a way to suit you, and in a way that

I didn't. That's what it is, and you take it

off of me. It's not anybody. Anytime you're saying something

for someone, all the authority that comes with their name,

you are now wielding in a way that they didn't

give you permission to do. You're twisting those words. It's

a lie to say something they didn't say. It's bearing

false witness. And sometimes it's not just the verbatim words

that were said. Sometimes it's the intent and meaning, but

the meaning you're saying that they meant something they never meant.

But let's make this real. How does this normally take place?

In a marriage? Twisting someone's words usually goes something like this,

and I need all the husbands and wives to refrain

from elbowing your spouse during this. One says I wish

we could spend more time together, to which the other responds,

So you're saying I don't care about our relationship. One

might say I don't agree with that idea, to which

the other would respond you think my ideas are bad

or stupid, or this one's a personal favorite of mine.

I'm tired, it's been a long day, to which the

other responds, Oh, you think I'm lazy to do nothing

around here? What do all these things have in common?

They're twisting what was said, They're twisting the words that

were said. It's not what the person said, nor what

the person meant. And to make matters worse, in a

moment of weakness, you go to your friend and say,

can you believe what my spouse said? Well, now you're

twisting words, gossiping, and slam during all the same time. Congratulations,

you're bearing a false witness against your neighbor. But all

the same rules that we're talking about here also applied

to withholding facts, with holding certain facts. And I think

that we do this often, and it's very sneaky and

subtle because we think that we're not lying if we

don't say all of the facts. So picture this. Your

daughter runs up to you down the hall crying and says,

he hit me? Okay, well who hit you? And she

says my brother. Now, any dad's blood starts to boil.

Only hear their crying daughter come up to them because

their brother hit them, And so you yell down the

hall get your butt in here, son. And so the

sun comes in, eyes wide full of sheer terror, just

waiting for what you're going to ream into him? Right,

and so you and so you sit him down, and

you're sitting there saying brothers are supposed to protect their sisters.

You're bigger than she is. You're not supposed to hit people,

especially girls, right, just reaming into him. And then he

says one very simple sentence to you, But Dad, she

was punching me in the head. Okay. That information kind

of changes things, doesn't it. There's certain facts that were

withheld from the situation, and that changes the outcome of

the conversation. It's a different story. So some crucial details

have been left out, and what does that mean? That's

withholding information to change the perspective of what the situation is.

To not share all the facts is to bear a

false witness, is to lie about what really happened. To

paint a picture that makes you look better than you

are and makes the other person look worse than they are.

This is the opposite perspective God calls his people to have.

We're to dress the plank in our own eye and

deal with before we ever consider dealing with a speck

in someone else's. We don't brush past our own faults

and zero in on someone else's. For we'recalling facts, let's

recall them all. Let's not be selective. You shall not

bear false witness against your neighbor. And as I was

reading the Heidelberg Catechism, it also includes that what like

I said earlier, condemning or joining and condemning someone rashly

or unheard, so we don't make our judgment swiftly or

without hearing the other person out, that we would ask

for their side of the story. And I think it's

because the best judgments have all the facts. So kind

of just talked about the Night Commandment and a bunch

of what it all includes. But why again, why is

this such a big deal? Why is this so severe?

Why did it make the top ten list that God

put out? And I think the first thing that we

need to address is the fact that God hates it

with live in a world where God is love and

he is God's also just say that God doesn't hate

things would not be true to what the Bible says.

God does hate certain things. God hates a false witness.

I want you to turn in your bibles to Proverbs

chapter six, and we're gonna be looking at verses sixteen

through nineteen. There are six things that the Lord hates.

So now anytime says God never hates anything, you can

point to this verse say well, I got at least

one verse to refute that. There's six things that the

Lord hates. Seven that are an abomination to him. Haughty

eyes or arrogant and prideful eyes, a lying tongue and

hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that make haste to run to evil, a false

witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord

among brothers. God hates all kinds of falsehoods in any

shape or form. And just look at what we just read.

Look at some of the things that are associated with

the lies, arrogance, shedding innocent blood, wicked plans, evil, sowing discord.

These are the kinds of things that false that are

associated with false witness So it makes sense why God

hates it. And in Proverbs alone, there's like seven references

to false witnesses. This is not just a one time thing.

God says it a lot. He hates a false witness.

But how much does he hate it? How much does

God hate a lying tongue and a false witness. Flip

over to chapter nineteen of Proverbs, and there's two verses here,

verse five and verse nine, and I want to read

them both. Chapter nineteen. Starting in verse five, a false

witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out

lies will not escape. And skip down to verse nine,

same beginning, a false witness will not go unpunished, and

he who breathes out lies will perish. So not only

will the false witness not escape, but he'll die. He'll

that escalate it quickly. That's a big deal. That seems

pretty serious. God really hates a lying tongue. God hates

a false witness because what does a false witness bring?

What does a false witness produce? You look at the

fruit of something and see what it produces, to know

what type of tree it is. If life and death

are in the power of the tongue, meaning that our

words have the power to build and the power to

destroy things, and then what kind of destruction can a

lying tongue bring in a courtroom? What's a stake when

there's a false witness? In the courtroom. Someone's life is

at stake. Bearing a false witness can lead someone to

being locked up for the rest of their life based

on a lie. It can lead to someone's execution. A

false witness is what sent Jesus to the cross. Now

we know it's all according to God's plan, but the

means by which Jesus was nailed to the cross was

a lying tongue. It was a false witness. I want

you to turn to Mark chapter fourteen, and if I

can have the worship team come up please. We're going

to read a good chunk of Mark chapter fourteen, starting

in verse fifty three. But as we're reading through this,

I want you to pay attention to how many times

it talks about false witnesses, or the fact that there's stories,

there's things being told, and they don't line up. So,

starting in verse fifty three, and they led Jesus to

the high priests, and all the chief priests and the

elders and the scribes came together, and Peter had followed

him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the

High Priest. Peter being really brave in this moment. That's sarcastic.

He's not being brave, and he was sitting with the

guards and warming himself with the fire Verse fifty five.

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking

testimony against Jesus for what to put him to death.

But how many they find he was perfect? They found none,

for many bore false witness against him. But their testimony

did not agree, and some stood up in bore false

witness against him, saying, we heard him say, I will

destroy the temple that is made with hands, and in

three days I will build another not made with hands.

Yet even about this, their testimony did not agree. And

the High Priest stood up in the midst and asked, Jesus,

have you no answer to make? What is what is

it that these men testify against you? But he remained

silent and made no answer. Like a sheep before the

shears is silent. He opened not his mouth, but he

remained silent and made no answer. Again, the high Priest

asked him, and this is awesome. Are you the Christ,

the son of the blessed? And what Jesus say, I am?

I am? And you will see the son of Man

seated at the right hand of power, and coming with

the clouds of heaven, and the high priest tore his

garments and said, what further witnesses do we need? You've

heard this blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all

condemned him as deserving death, and some began to spit

on him and to cover his face the face and

strike him, saying to him prophesy, and the guards received

him with blows. All Jesus did was tell the truth.

When he opened his mouth, he spoke the truth, and

everybody else lied about him, bore a false witness against Jesus.

Bearing a false witness against your neighbor is such a

big deal because of what's in the balance. Life and

death are in the balance. Jesus, the perfect one perfect,

never did anything wrong. He committed no sin, no Deceit

was found in his mouth. That means he never told

a lie. He was never a false witness. People stood

up and bore false witness against him, and it led

to the gift of love from God being crucified. It

led to the people laughing and scorning him as he died.

It led to the innocent and perfect, humble King being

named a fraud. It led to them sacrificing the lamb

of God. It's the lamb of God who takes away

the sin of the world, the good shepherd who laid

down his life for his own sheep. Nobody else does that.

The Savior whose death means forgiveness. Forgiveness and eternal life

for everyone who repents of their sin and puts faith

in Jesus. The greatest news that there ever could be,

was brought about, according to the plans of God by

people bearing a false witness. That God's perfect plan of

salvation for his people he chose to bring about through

people's sin. But just because what they meant for evil,

God meant for good. That doesn't mean we should walk

in sin. No, it's God's people. We don't do that.

We walk with him. We walk like him. We are

to be holy because He is holy. We are to

speak the truth. That's what Jesus did, so that's what

we do. Look at John chapter fourteen, verse six. What

does Jesus say about himself? Jesus said to him, I

am the what say it loud way and the truth

and the No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the truth. He is everything true, He speaks

the truth, He lives the truth. He upholds the truth.

Jesus is the king of truth and what is Satan,

father of lies? Turn back a few chapters. Look at

John chapter eight. Jesus explained exactly what Satan is when

he's talking to the Pharisees, and he didn't pull any punches.

This is John eight forty four. You are of your father,

the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

He was a murderer from the beginning and does not

stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

When he lies, he speaks out of his own character,

for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Satan is a liar. He's the father of lies. That's

just who he is. He's been lying ever since the garden.

He asked Eve, did God really say? And then immediately

after his tells a bold faced lie. He will surely

not die if you eat the fruit. He just lie.

He's been lying since the beginning. What about when he

promised to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world,

if he would just bow down to him, they're not

his kingdoms to give. He's lying. Satan is a liar

and he always has been. And if Jesus always speaks

the truth and Satan always speaks lie. When we bear

false witness against our neighbor, who are we speaking like?

Who are we talking like? Who are we imitating? Which

father are we walking in alignment with the Father of

all truth? Who is God? Or the father of all lies?

Who is Satan? I'm asking a simple yet really really

impactful question that we need to consider. Who are you

going to be found among the ones bearing false witness

or the ones speaking the truth? Who are you going

to be found among? As Christians? We must be found

among the ones who are speaking the truth about others.

We have to be because that's what love does. That's

what love does. It speaks the truth about others. And

just think about it. If I walk around speaking falsehoods

and telling lies about others, why would anyone believe what

I have to say about Jesus? Why would anyone believe me?

They just I'm a liar? Why would you believe me

when I say something about Jesus? I mean, this is

a complete side note, but we have Oh, this doesn't

ruin anything for people. The big jolly man in the

red suit not ruin this for anybody. And we tell

our boys the truth, because I don't want my boys

to walk around believing in someone they can't see, who's

not real. And I tell them to believe in Christ,

who they can't see, and he is real, and they

find him liing about the other guy. No, I'm gonna

tell him the truth. They've got to know the truth

about Jesus. Why would anyone believe what I have to

say about Jesus? If I walk around bearing false witness, it

will destroy your witness credibility. If Jesus speaks the truth

and you claim to be his father, yet you follow

or excusing his father, and you speak lies, then I

just don't believe you. I just don't. You shall not

bear false witness against your neighbor. Don't speak falsehoods about others.

We don't slander, We don't gossip. We don't twist words

to change the meaning. We don't withhold truth to paint

a different picture. We don't judge without mercy. Instead, what

should we do? We should do what Ephesians four and

First Corinthians chapter thirteen tells us. Look at Ephesians four.

It'll be on the screen. This is verse twenty five. Therefore,

having put away falsehood. Excuse me having put away falsehood.

Let each one of you speak the what, speak the

truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

And look at first Corinthians, chapter thirteen. Love is patient,

Love is kind. Love does not envy or boast. It

is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on

its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It

does not rejoice in wrongdoing. What does it rejoice in?

It rejoices with the truth, with the truth. We should

put away all falsehood, stop lying, stop saying things that

aren't true. Only speak the truth to each other and

about each other. And we should always rejoice with or

in the truth. And that is not what the world does.

The world does not rejoice in truth. It rejoices, It celebrates,

it promotes, it protects, It indoctrinates falsehood. It teaches you

that lies are truth. That is so against God. That

is the following the father of this world, Satan, the

father of lies. I love The summary the Heidelberg Catechism says,

what should we do in response to the ninth Commandment?

Says in court and everywhere else, I must love the truth,

speak and confess it honestly and do what I can

to defend and promote my neighbor's honor and reputation. I

love that. I think that's super clear, clearly states what

we should do. We serve the God of all truth,

and we are called to walk like that God of

all truth, to love our neighbor as ourself, and love

always speaks the truth about others. Therefore, you shall not

bear false witness against your neighbor. Amen. Can you, guys,

stand on your feet