God’s Lie Detector.

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

This message comes closer to the person in the pulpit than any other of the Ten Commandments. We ought to be cautious in what we say and how we say it.

David said in Psalm 141:3,

"Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips."

We have a great responsibility when we give out God's Word and I believe that though I am speaking to myself, it will also encourage you to stand firm in the truth of God's Word dear reader.

David wrote, 

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

Dr. W. I. Carroll, once said to a class,

"I’ve had a long time to think it over, and I still agree with David."

Dear reader, this is a  commandment for us today.

We may feel that this commandment is harsh and brutal, that it is like pouring salt in an open wound. If I came up to you personally and said, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," you would probably say to me, "Caryl  you are impudent - you are positively insulting!" But suppose someone had circulated a false report about you, and it had damaged your reputation. It hurt you terribly and robbed your peace of mind. Then I come to you and say, "I’m sorry that So-and-So has said this concerning you. I regret it a great deal, and they should not have said it. They should know God’s commandment that 

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

These words would then be a great comfort to you. 

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

It is merely our attitude and our relationship toward this commandment that we are looking at.

Simply stated, the ninth commandment,

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

forbids the lie and condemns the liar.

This commandment says that any report or word which is designed or destined to hurt another human being 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.

Here is that, my beloved reader, which God is speaking to our hearts even in this hour in which we are living.

There are three aspects of this hydraheaded monster:

1) the origination of the lie;

2) the identification of the lie; 

3) the destination of the lie.

1) 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, and it helps us in our understanding.

Our Lord Jesus Christ in speaking to the Pharisees, said,

"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" (John 8:44).

Our precious Lord used some strong language here. 

I’m sure you’ll agree. 

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

We do not know who the mother is, but He does tell us who the father is. 

We can trace all lies back to him. 

It was an awful thing this creature did, and he is called a liar.

The name Scripture gives to him is very interesting. 

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 means to throw across. 

Diabolos would mean to say a word here, then to cross over and say something different over there.

That is the way it gets the meaning of the lie.

That is who Satan is. 

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

It’s quite interesting that our Lord, when He was here, taught in paraboles, that is, parables. It’s the same verb, bole, only a different preposition, para. And para means to be put by the side of. You put 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’s thrown across to twist and distort the truth. And the devil is a liar.

His very name means "slanderer."

The devil is introduced in Scripture as a liar. 

The first recorded thing he ever said was a lie.

He came to Eve and, O how subtle he was! 

He didn’t come up and contradict God directly, he never has done that. 

He comes up and he says something like this,

"Hath God said…?" 

That, you see,  raises a question. 

Has He?

Remember in the case of Job,

Satan did not come before God with the charge.

He said

"Doth Job fear God for nought?" 

Let us hold that in mind while we consider the way this commandment is broken today, and we will see why our Lord Jesus Christs 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 there is somebody up there accusing us, and the one who is accusing us is Satan.

In Scripture God is put in contrast to the devil. 

God is truth.

Scripture emphasizes that.

Let us look at several passages. 

This message could be given by just quoting Scripture.

Deuteronomy 32:4  "He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: 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  He is called "the God of truth,"

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

We find that God is set before us n contrast to Satan. 

God is truth. 

The devil is a liar.

Every single lie comes from the devil for He is the father of every lie.

He is the accuser of the brethren. He beares false witness against them.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He came to this earth, came as One who is the truth. 

Remember that apostle 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 He came to the end of His ministry, He said 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 positively hates. 

The first one is a proud look, 

the second is a lying tongue. 

God says He hates that!

The origination of the lie is of course, false witnessing.

2) Identification of the Lie.

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. Let us look at some of them me give you 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. That is an ugly brood!

And that’s not all of the little chicks that belong to this vulture, my dear reader. There are others that could be added to it, but we do not have space to give all of them.

May I say to you that this commandment can be broken in many, many different ways.

Let us notice some of these.

It is well for us to understand some things that may seem to you like a paradox if not a contradiction. For example, not every untrue statement is a lie, did you know that? Let me illustrate: The boy in school works a problem in arithmetic and he gets the wrong answer. Now that wrong answer is an untrue statement, but it is not a lie. But if that boy turns around and gives that answer to the boy behind him as if it were the truth when he knows it’s not, then that answer becomes a lie.

To twist testimony in court purposely injuring and incriminating someone, is perjury.

And then may I add another very strange thing. I do not believe the exaggeration of children is really lying. I do not think these little ones ought to be told that they lie when they exaggerate.

A little boy comes rushing into the house and he says, "Mamma, a big lion just ran across the lawn." She says, "Now, Willie, I was looking out the window. That was not a lion, that’s a great big old dog." The boy hangs his head and says, "Yes, Mamma, I guess it was." "Well," she says, "I’ll have to wash your mouth out with soap for telling a lie." And she takes him into the bathroom, washes his mouth out and says, "Now you go upstairs, and I want you to get down on your knees and ask God to forgive you for telling a lie." So the little fellow goes upstairs, and after a little while he comes down and she says to him, "Did you ask God to forgive you?"

"Yes, Mamma."

"Well, do you think He forgave you?"

"Oh, yes, Mamma. God told me when He first saw the dog He thought it was a lion too."

May I say, dear reader, that the exaggeration of a child is not necessarily a lie.

I would like to give a general heading to the things that we’re going to talk about - 

malicious, malignant and malevolent gossip which comes under the purview of this commandment.

God’s lie detector, the Word of God, lists several of them.

Let us put the label of POISON on these bottles and put them up high so that we do not touch them.

The first one that we will 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 and revenge. 

David knew by bitter experience something along this very line, my beloved. Here is what he said:

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

May I say that this thing known as slander is something that has hurt many people.

It is interesting to note that so many of God’s children, 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 slanderers rose up against him. 

All of the prophets were wrapped in the dark, sulphurous robe of slander. 

John the Baptist was even accused of having a demon. 

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 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 others in public life who’ve experienced such attacks. May I say that it has lifted its ugly head against many good and great folk in this world - that awful thing that is known as slander. 

Using it is the lowest level to which a person can stoop.

To start false report is the thing that God condemns in  

Matthew 5:11, when our Lord says to those who are His own,

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

This poem is written by Lydell Hillite:

Gossip Town.

Have you ever heard of Gossip Town on the shores of Falsehood Bay

Where old Dame Rumor with rustling gown is going the livelong day?

It isn’t far to Gossip Town for people who want to go

The Idleness Train will take you there in just an hour or so.

The Falsehood Road is a popular route, and most folks start that way,

But it’s a steep downgrade; if you don’t look out you’ll land in Falsehood Bay.

You glide through the Valley of Vicious Folk and into the Tunnel of Hate,

Then crossing the Add-to Bridge you’ll walk right into the City Gate.

The principal street is called "They Say," and "l’ve Heard" is the public well,

And the breezes that blow from Falsehood Bay are laden with "Don’t You Tell."

In the midst of the town is Telltale Park—you’re never quite safe while there,

For its owner is Madame Suspicious Remark who lives on the street "Don’t Care."

Just back of the Park is Slanderers’ Row, and ’twas there that Good Name died,

Pierced by a dart from Jealousy Bow in the hands of Envious Pride.

From Gossip Town, Peace long since has fled, but Trouble, Grief and Woe,

And Sorrow and Care you will meet instead if you ever chance to go.

Dear reader,  I hope we do not go. Actually, to be guilty of whispering and talebearing we do not even have to say a word - we can merely lift an eyebrow.

The most vicious form of talebearing is to introduce a rumor, something that is not true, in a prayer meeting by requesting prayer for someone. 

It was David in Psalm 140:1–4, who prayed,

"Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man, and preserve me from the violent man who imagines mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war."

It sounds like an enemy is coming against him in war, but David was a man of war. He was never afraid of anybody in battle, yet here’s 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 all need that!

The Epistle of James in a very practical manner says that this little member we have in our mouths is the most dangerous thing in the world. We can tame everything on the face of the earth, but we cannot tame the tongue. 

Alcohol today is a great curse, probably our greatest curse in this world and maybe even our undoing. Alcohol will eventually destroy us if a nuclear attack doesn’t do it first. However, let me say that there is more said in the Word of God about the abuse of the tongue than there is about the abuse of alcohol - and that is not in any way condoning alcohol!

But because of the damage done by false witness, 

it is one of the laws that God puts His finger on, and He says this is a very dangerous and awful thing.

Let me mention other ways in which this commandment is broken. It is broken by flattery. This is the most subtle form of all and I do believe that we need to give recognition to people when they have done a good job but 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,

"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" (Psalm 55:21).

Flattery is a dangerous weapon.

It destroyed King Ahab (see 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 for he listened to the false prophets.

We need to pray for our President and for anyone who is in a high position for he is sure to be flattered, and when he is flattered he is apt to believe it. That will undermine and destroy him.

Flattery is a way of breaking this ninth commandment.

Destination of the Lie.

Finally, let me mention these things that have to do with the destination of the lie.

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

The writer of the Proverbs wrote in Proverbs 19:5 - 

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

And God repeats that again in verse 9:

" … He that speaketh lies shall perish."

And then David wrote in (Psalm 101:5),

"Whoso secretly slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off."

When we get to Revelation, we see what God says will become of one who bears false witness. 

Referring to the New Jerusalem, the eternal home of the believer, God says,

"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" (Revelation 21:27).

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

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

I can’t think of words any more harsh than that, but it is God’s warning today,

for our Lord Jesus Christ says,

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

Somebody will say "Well, we are not under the Ten Commandments, and we have heard you say that we are not!  My dear reader, do not be fooled by Satan, 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. 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,

that happened unto them and it is a warning unto us.

Believers today  -  even as those believers in the first century - have been called as witnesses.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said,

"Ye shall be witnesses unto Me."

We are to be true witnesses.

If we circulate a false report concerning anyone, who will believe us when we say that the grace of God has saved us, my beloved? 

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

I want to conclude this paper with a little story told by Dr. Graebner. 

It is about a Lutheran preacher, years ago, in an eastern state where there was a mental institution. This Lutheran preacher was interested in abnormal psychology and attempted to carry on a ministry in this institution. He went out there every week, sometimes two and three times. Of special interest to him was a man there who was always sitting alone in a room, staring out into space. And as he sat there staring, he would keep repeating, "What have I done to these people? What have I done to these people?" The warden there told the preacher the story behind this man. He had been a merchant in a little town, a prosperous, well-to-do merchant. It was a small town, and he was the only one in that particular business. Then some time after he was well established another man came into this little town and opened the same kind of business. In attempting to build up his own trade, the new man started in with a deliberate, definite system of scattering falsehoods concerning his competitor who was respected in the community. He questioned his motives. He made little statements about him to various people about him. He said different things about the prices he had on his merchandise, and before long people began to be suspicious. Because the tendency of human nature is to believe a bad story rather than a good one, people began to wonder. His business fell off and he actually became mentally unbalanced. The poor man became unfriendly to his customers, and it wasn’t long until he was bankrupt. He lost everything. He became a mental patient and was brought to this institution.

The warden, who was an agnostic, said this to the preacher: "If there’s a God in heaven, He won’t let that other merchant get by with this sort of thing."

The preacher assured him that there is a God in heaven and that the man would not get by with it, and certainly not eternally.

And so the years went by. 

The pastor continued to minister in this institution and one day after many years the warden said to him,

"Come here, I have a patient to show you." 

He took him down the corridor where they put those who were in padded cells, and behind iron bars he showed him the worst mental case he’d ever seen in his life. The warden said, "You remember the man upstairs who sits all day long repeating, ‘What have I done to these people?’ And I told you about the merchant who had opened up across the street from him and had circulated those false reports and rumors. Well, here is the guilty man." 

He said, "You know, I’ve always been an agnostic, but I believe now that there is a God because I know a God in heaven would never let a man get by with what that man did."

This brings us back to the verse of Scripture I started out with, 

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

This has been used as a benediction so often and it is most appropriate in concluding this message:

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my Strength, and my Redeemer" (Psalm 19:14). 

Written with the finger of God is this ninth commandment:

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

Ask ye what great thing I know
That delights and stirs me so?
What the high reward I win?
Whose the Name I glory in?
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.

Who defeats my fiercest foes?
Who consoles my saddest woes?
Who revives my fainting heart,
Healing all its hidden smart?
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.

Who is life in life to me?
Who the death of death will be?
Who will place me on His right,
With the countless hosts of light?
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.

This is that great thing I know;
This delights and stirs me so:
Faith in Him who died to save,
Him who triumphed o'er the grave,
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.

Thanks: SermonAudio.com

Amen!

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