Exodus 20:16   "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

"Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3).

May I say that I am quite fearful in writing this page and I am writing it in love, in the fear of God, as I have learned it by the conviction of the Holy Spirit in my own life, through the faithful teaching of our most beloved teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee and I do this day Praise our God for him. I am guilty before Holy God as I have broken this command and it is only through His Great Mercy that I am  able to strive for perfection in our Lord Jesus Christ by the measure I am joined to Him, and I pray constantly that in all manner of my conversation I will be holy, and therefore  grow up in Him to reach full maturation.    

I do believe we have a great responsibility in life and also that though I am speaking to myself, it will be applicable to others as well.

"But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born-again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

Behold, what love, what boundless love
The Father hath bestowed
On sinners lost, that we should be
Now called the sons of God!

Refrain:
Behold, what manner of love,
What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
That we, that we should be called,
Should be called the sons of God.

No longer far from Him, but now
By "precious blood" made nigh;
Accepted in the "well-beloved,"
Near to God's heart we lie.

What we in glory soon shall be,
It doth not yet appear;
But when our precious Lord we see,
We shall His image bear.

With such a blessed hope in view,
We would more holy be;
More like our risen, Glorious Lord,
Whose face we soon shall see.

Words: Robert Boswell 1746-1804.

Thanks: SermonAudio.com

Amen!

"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:4).

The reason that we are not under the Mosaic law today - not under even part of it - 

is that God has called us to a higher plane of living.

We are not to live on the low plane of the Law. God has set before us a standard that is infinitely higher and, humanly speaking, unattainable.

God has already said that no one can live the Christian life.

It is impossible.

Notice the standard God sets for His children today:

… Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9).

It is a standard of showing forth the praises of God! 

There are those who say that since we have been saved by grace, we can do as we please. 

Such is not the case. 

There are commandments for the Christian.

No true child of God can do as they  please; we must do as Christ pleases.

The reason we are not under the Ten Commandments is that we have graduated to a higher level. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ said:

A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34).

Be honest now. Are you able to love another believer as Christ loves him? 

If you are truthful, you will have to say, "I fall short."

God puts before us an impossible standard - yet these are Christ’s commandments. He says:

"If ye love Me, keep my commandments.… If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you" (John 14:15; 15:10–12).

This is a standard so high that we must fall down before God and confess that we cannot measure up to it in our own strength.

But this is not all. 

There are other commandments.

1 Thessalonians 4:1–2   "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus" 

Then we we turn to the end of this epistle, we find that apostle Paul gives us not ten commandments, but twenty-two! Here are but a few:

"Rejoice evermore" (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

Do we rejoice when we are betrayed by our friends, even our own family?

"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Do we maintain an attitude of prayer all day?

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Do we give thanks for everything?

"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Is every thought that enters our mind brought to the obedience of Christ? 

Dear reader, these are commandments that any honest person looks at and cries out,

 "I can’t do it. I fall short!"

God’s standard is unattainable by human effort.

This realization is the second step in walking by means of the Holy Spirit.  God wants us to know that we have this old nature that is in rebellion against Him - 

it never does anything right. 

Do we really think that we live by the Word of God?

O today may we as we look at this command about bearing false witness let us 

(1)  realize our human weakness and our sin, and 

(2)  recognize that God’s standard is unattainable by our own effort.

(3)  rest on the Holy Spirit - depend on Him to do for us that which we cannot do. 

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16).

David wrote,

Psalm 116:11   "I said in my haste, All men are liars."

Dear reader, this is a commandment for all of us today.

We may feel this commandment is harsh and brutal, that it is like pouring salt in a wound. 

If I came up to you personally and said, 

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor,"

you would think I am being impudent. 

But suppose someone had circulated a false report concerning you, and it had damaged your reputation. It hurt you terribly and robbed you of your peace of mind. Then I came along and said to you "I’m sorry that So-and-So has said this concerning you. I regret it very much, and they should not have said it. They ought to know God’s commandment that 

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.’" 

These words would then be very tender words to us.

They would be like the balm of Gilead to our hurt soul.

God sees our  attitude and our relationship towards this His ninth commandment, 

This command has not only been a great source of conviction to me but it has also blessed my own heart and been like the balm of Gilead to my hurt soul as I have had those who have given false witness concerning my character by even going as far as to say that I was expelled from school 45 years ago and this hurt me but I do know that when we share the Word of God, as it fits into our lives, daily, there are those who hate us and want to shut us up for good. They do not want to hear about their sin. O today I fear for such folk who will not acknowledge their sin and receive Christ as their personal Saviour from their sin by acknowledging it while it is as the writer to the Hebrews writes 

TODAY,  

"Today if you will hear His voice Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion" (Hebrews 3:12).

One day the Day of Grace will end.

But today God says to us that we live in a day when we are able to acknowledge our sin and confess it to Him for He is Faithful and Just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

What Greater Joy than that can there be on this earth.

God has warned us clearly in His Word that His Holy  Spirit will not always strive with man.

"And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years" (Genesis 6:3).

Apostle Peter makes it clear that it was in the days of Noah when he preached for 120 years that 

the Spirit of God was striving with men in order that He might bring them to God   

But they would not turn. 

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison" (1 Peter 3:18–19). 

These spirits were in prison when apostle Peter wrote, but they were preached to in the days of Noah. 

How do we know that?

Verse 20 reads: 

"Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."

When were they disobedient? 

During the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah - during those 120 years.

"Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;  but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.  For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: "Today," if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion" (Hebrews 3:12-15).

Many Christians have proud, hard hearts and sometimes God must deal with us as He dealt with Job.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor’" -   

forbids the lie and condemns the liar. 

This commandment says that any false report or word that is not true and is designed or destined to hurt another person comes within the purview of the commandment. It has many ramifications and implications. A bromide of many years says that sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits all of them. 

God is speaking to hard hearts in this hour in which we are living.

Let us look at three aspects of this ugly monster:

1) The origination of the lie; 

2) The identification of the lie;

3) The destination of the lie.

1) The Origination of the Lie.

Although the lie is complicated and intricate, it is easy to track down its origin. It is easy to locate the culprit. It is easy to find the originator of it, and the reason is that we have God’s lie detector. The Word of God is God’s lie detector.

I want to turn to One whom I consider an authority on this subject, and that is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to hear what He has to say in speaking to the Pharisees:

John 8:44   "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it."

Our Lord Jesus used some very strong language there, I’m sure you will  agree. 

He said, very definitely and very directly, that the devil is a liar, and not only that but he is the father of lies. 

We do not know who the mother is, but we can tell  who the father is. 

We can trace every lie back to the devil.

This creature did an awful thing and he is called a liar.

The name that Scripture gives to him is very interesting. I want you to notice it for a moment. In the original Greek it is diabolos, and by transliteration we get the word devil. Diabolos comes from two words, a preposition dia and a verb bole that means "to throw." It actually means to throw across. Diabolos would mean to say a word here, then to cross over and say something different over there. That’s the way it gets the meaning of the lie and that is who Satan is. 

He says something here then he goes over to the other side and says something else.

It’s quite interesting that our Lord, when He was here, taught in parables. It is the same verb, bole, only a different preposition, para. And para means to be put by the side of. 

We place a parable by the side of something to measure it.

Someone has well said that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Paraboles is "to measure," to get at the truth. 

But a diabolos is something that is thrown across to twist and distort the truth. And the devil is a liar. 

His very name means "slanderer."

A slanderer is one who tells untrue stories about another person. 

The devil is introduced in Scripture as a liar. 

The first recorded thing he ever said was a lie. 

Remember that he was the one who came to Eve and how subtle he was! He did not come up and contradict God directly, he never has done that.

He came up and said something like this,

"Hath God said…?" 

Well, you know that raises a question. Has He?

Remember in the case of Job, Satan didn’t come before God with the charge, "Job is beating his wife" nor did he say, "Job is getting drunk every Saturday night." 

Here’s what he said: 

"Doth Job fear God for nought?"

We may scratch our heads and say, 

"Well, I wonder if there’s something back of that remark."

Dear reader, hold that in mind when you consider the way this commandment is broken today, and you will see why our Lord Jesus Christ said, 

"The devil is the father of the lie." 

Satan is called 

"the accuser of the brethren," but we are told in 1 John 2:1 

that we have an Advocate with the Father, 

and an advocate means a defender. 

Why do you and I need an Advocate with the Father? 

We need One because we are guilty and there is 

one who accuses us night and day and that is none other than Satan, and he is a liar and the father of lies.

We ought to make sure that when he accuses us before God we are not guilty of his accusations.

We need to keep short accounts with God and cleanse ourselves as many times as we wash our hands.

Now in Scripture God is put in contrast to the devil. 

God is truth. 

Did you ever notice how Scripture emphasizes that?

Let us look at several passages - we are using an abundance of Scripture here as you can  see. 

This entire page could be written by quoting only Scripture.

Deuteronomy 32:4  "He is…a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He." 

Numbers 23:19  "God is not a man, that He should lie…." 

Isaiah 65:16  "The God of truth ..." 

2 Corinthians 1:18  "But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay." 

God is set before us in contrast to Satan. 

God is truth. 

The devil is a liar.

Notice also that our Lord Jesus Christ when He came to this earth, came as One who is the truth. 

John put it like this,

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (that is, Jesus Christ pitched His tent among us), (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth" (John 1:14)

It was also said concerning Him, 

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). 

Then, when our Lord came to the end of His ministry, He could say to His own, 

"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6).

In contrast to God, who is the truth, there is the devil, whose very name means that he is a slanderer, that he is a liar. 

And God says in

Proverbs 6 that there are seven things He hates.

The first one is a proud look, the second is a lying tongue.

God says He hates that, He positively hates it!

So much for the origination of the lie, which is, of course, false witnessing.

2) Identification of the Lie.

In Exodus 20:16 where we are given this commandment, the literal of it is, 

"Thou shalt not answer against thy neighbor as a witness of falsehood."

Dr. Charles Ryrie says,

"This commandment refers first of all to false testimony given in a court of justice." It means to come in and present false evidence, and it means that the one who does that is guilty of perjury.

The purpose of our courts is to establish justice, providing a place where a man might take his case, where the truth might be learned and where the judge can get at the facts so that a right decision might be made concerning him. But a false witness defeats the purpose of the courts. People have lost their property, even lost their lives because of a false witness who went into court. This commandment covers this type of situation.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

Now may I say to you that this commandment is limited indeed if confined merely to courts of law, because not many of us have been there or probably ever will go into court. But it has a wider view.

In Deuteronomy 5 where these commandments are repeated we are told that the literal rendering of verse 20 uses a little different word from the way it is stated in Exodus: 

"Thou shalt not answer against thy neighbor as a witness of vanity." 

The word vanity covers a great deal more than what we have in the statement in Exodus. It is more inclusive because there are more ways of bearing false witness than just going into a court of law.

Did you know that there are more words for breaking this commandment than all the other commandments put together? An unprecedented number of words in our English language describe what it means to break this commandment, so great is the ramification of it. 

Here are some of them:

lying, mendacity, prevarication, slander, backbiting, defamation, detraction, belittling, censoriousness, gossip, depreciation, derogation, rumor, vilification, aspersion, forgery, mudslinging, falsehood, guile, hypocrisy, insinuation, innuendo, railing, whispering, talebearing, libel, fib, fable, equivocation, disparagement, fabrication, aberration, deceit, trump up, forswear.

Now that is an ugly brood, isn’t it!

And that’s not all of the little chicks that belong to this vulture.

There are others that could be added to it,

This commandment can be broken in many, many different ways.

The first one that we’ll look at is labeled slander. 

Slander is that lie which is invented with the direct intention of damaging a person’s reputation.

The motives are generally envy, jealousy, hatred, bitterness or revenge. 

David knew by bitter experience something along this very line and here is what he said:

Psalm 27:12   "Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies; for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty."

Slander is something that has hurt many people.

It is interesting to note that many of God’s children, right from the very beginning, have been harmed by slander. A person who would not dare to draw a gun and shoot someone down will lift a knife behind their back and plunge it into their reputation. 

The prophet Jeremiah was all but cursed in his day because of the very fact that slanderers rose up against him. All of the prophets were wrapped in the dark, robe of slander. John the Baptist was accused of having a demon.

Even our very Saviour our Lord Jesus Christ was accused of being a glutton, a winebibber, a deceiver, a Samaritan, a traitor, and one possessed of demons.

Apostle Paul traveled all the way through the smog of slander. And in the early church the name "Christian" became a synonym for a malefactor for the very simple reason that the Christians were libeled. It was the thing that drove Jerome from Rome. It lifted its awful head against Martin Luther and the Reformers. Savonarola was persecuted, John Wesley and George Whitefield were hounded by it, Moody felt the lash of slander, Billy Sunday knew what it was, and Billy Graham knows what it is today. And there are so many others who stand for Christ who have experienced such attacks - it is the lowest level to which anyone can stoop.

To start false reports is the thing that God condemns.

Our Lord Jesus says to those who are His own,

Matthew 5:11  "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake."

We are indeed blessed at such time.

There also comes under this what can be labeled whispering and talebearing. 

Someone has said that some people will believe anything if it’s whispered to them. And someone else has said, "You can’t believe all you hear, but you can repeat it." 

It was Moses, in writing the Law, who recorded in 

Leviticus 19:16   "Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people." 

The picture is a humorous one. It is the picture of a merchant who comes and buys a little gossip, then he goes out and peddles it to someone else - going from house to house, peddling this thing that is not true at all.

Gossip is spreading that which is not true.

One who does this is a talebearer.

A great deal is said in the Word of God concerning this. 

It is malicious and cruel to repeat a story without first checking to see whether it is true or not. We all know how a talebearer operates, but notice how close to Satan’s method it is.

The most evil form of talebearing is to introduce a deceptive, untrue tale

concerning one who is seeking to get the gospel out to this lost world.

It was David who prayed,

Psalm 140:1–4  "Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man, and preserve me from the violent men who imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war."

It sounds as if an enemy is coming against him in warfare, but David was a man of war. He was never afraid of anybody in battle. Here is what he was afraid of:

"They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips…. Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked…"

That was David’s prayer for God’s protection - 

and we sure need that today!

The Epistle of James in a practical manner tells us that the tongue we have right here in our mouths is the most dangerous thing in the world. One can tame everything on the face of the earth, but one simply cannot tame the little tongue. 

Because of the damage done by false witness, it is one of the laws that God puts His finger on, and He says this type of lying is a treacherous thing in this world.

This commandment is also broken by  flattery.

This is the most subtle form of all. 

Flattery and back-scratching in Christian circles is a dangerous thing. We need to be real and genuine.

Flattery has destroyed kings in the past.

The psalmist says, 

"Deliver me from the man who flatters with his tongue."

And David went on to say concerning this man,

Psalm 55:21   "The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords." 

Flattery is a dangerous weapon.

It destroyed King Ahab (1 Kings 22). Ahab wanted to listen to flattery, and he would tolerate only the men around him who would flatter him. It destroyed him. He listened to the false prophets. 

Flattery is a way of breaking this ninth commandment.

Gossip is another way of breaking this commandment. When we hear something and we do nothing about it, we are as guilty before God as the one who tells the story.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

3) Destination of the Lie.

Where is the lie going to end, and the liar? 

The writer of the Proverbs wrote,

Proverbs 19:5   "A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape."

And God repeats that again in 

Proverbs 19:9   "…He that speaketh lies shall perish."

And then David could write,

Psalm 101:5   "Whoso secretly slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off …"

In the last book of the Bible,  God says to one who bears false witness, 

Revelation 21:27   "And there shall in no way enter into it anything that defileth, neither he that worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they who are written in the Lamb’s book of life."

And again apostle John records in the very last chapter in Scripture:

Revelation 22:15   "For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."

That is very harsh indeed and I cannot think of words any more harsh than that,

but it is God’s warning today, for 

our Lord Jesus Christ says,

Matthew 12:36   "But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account of it in the day of judgment."

It is true that we are not under the Ten Commandments as a way of salvation, but I say to you that God wanted to make sure that none of us tried to get out from under this commandment. Remember that in the early church the first judgment that came upon the Christians was a judgment of death upon two liars. Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead by God because they dared to lie so that it might be a warning to His church.

You and I - even as those believers in the first century - have been called as witnesses.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, 

"Ye shall be witnesses unto Me." 

If God has called us to be witnesses, we are to be true witnesses. 

We are to be true witnesses of the fact that God has saved us from what we were and we ought never forget where we came from and become proud and haughty because it is by Hs marvelous grace alone that we have been redeemed and that His great mercy is simply poured out into our lives, daily. Let us never boast and keep in mind the depths that our Lord went to to take us out of the miry clay we lived in before we received Him as our personal Saviour. Oh today I pray that we will all cling to Him and realize our own weakness. 

I need Thee Precious Saviour,
O Wisdom from on high,
O Truth unchanged, unchanging,
O Light of our dark sky:
We praise Thee for the radiance
That from the hallowed page,
A lantern to our footsteps,
Shines on from age to age.

Oh, Thou art all to me;
Before Thy throne forever,
I stand complete in Thee.
Tho' Satan loud accuses,
Yet I can ever see,
The blood of Christ most precious,
The sinner's perfect plea.

I need Thee, Precious Saviour!
For I am very poor;
A stranger and a pilgrim,
I have no earthly store.
I need Thy love, Lord Jesus,
To cheer me on my way,
To guide my doubting footsteps,
To be my strength and stay.

I need Thee, Precious Saviour!
I need a Friend like Thee:
A friend to soothe and comfort,
A friend to care for me;
I need Thy heart, Lord Jesus,
To feel each anxious care;
To bear my ev'ry burden,
And all my sorrow share.

I need Thee, Precious Saviour!
I need Thee day by day,
To fill me with Thy fullness,
To lead me on my way:
I need Thy Holy Spirit
To teach me what I am—
To show me more of Jesus,
To point me to the Lamb.

I need Thee, Precious Saviour!
And hope to see Thee soon,
Encircled with the rainbow,
And seated on Thy throne.
There, with Thy blood-bought people,
My joy shall ever be,
To sing Thy praise, Lord Jesus,
And ever gaze on Thee.

Thank You Lord Jesus for Your servant Frederick Whitfield, 1829-1904.

If we circulate a false report concerning anyone, who is going to believe us when we say that the grace of God has saved us?

That is the reason God has put so much in His Word concerning this.

And His Word will speak directly to us if we will open our hearts and allow it to speak. 

The Word of God is better than seeing and hearing. It is 

"A light that shineth in a dark place" (2 Pet 1:19).

Thy Word is a lamp to my feet,
A light to my path alway,
To guide and to save me from sin,
And show me the heav'nly way.

Thy Word have I hid in my heart
That I might not sin against Thee;
That I might not sin, that I might not sin,
Thy Word have I hid in my heart.

Forever, O Lord, is Thy Word
Established and fixed on high;
Thy faithfulness unto all men
Abideth for ever nigh.

At morning, at noon, and at night
I ever will give Thee praise;
For Thou art my portion, O Lord,
And shall be through all my days!

Through Him whom Thy Word hath foretold,
The Saviour and Morning Star,
Salvation and peace have been brought
To those who have strayed afar.

Thanks: Trinity Hymnal

Amen!

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