I'm gonna ask you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32, and I'm preaching, of course, from Exodus 20 verse 16, which says, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Now, I'm married to a middle school teacher, and she has to deal with false witness on pretty much a weekly basis. You know, multiple times a month, certainly, she's dealing with students who went home and told a lie to their parents, either, I think, very often about their homework, that Mrs. Luff didn't give me that assignment or Mrs. Luff didn't tell me that's what we're supposed to do. I turned that in and Mrs. Luff lost it. And I know in one case, she even went over to the student and went through her binder with her while smiling and found that assignment that Mrs. Luff never gave her, right clipped in the assignment. Sometimes it's lunchroom behavior, I think quite often, right? It's lunchroom behavior that they lie about. And it's amazing, I find it amazing that the parents almost always assume that the child is telling 100% truth and the teacher is lying. The teacher who's more mature and is an adult and has hopefully gained some more self-control since when she was 13, yet the parents almost always assume that their 13-year-old is the truthful one and the teacher apparently has something to gain by lying. This shouldn't surprise us. We live in an era that really undervalues truth. And I said a few weeks ago when we were looking at the commandment, you shall not murder, that we very sadly should not be surprised that school shootings are becoming as common as they are because we've already been murdering unborn children for decades. And if we will murder the most helpless in our society, it shouldn't surprise us that we stop valuing life at other levels. That's true with the truth as well. Let's apply that same logic. If we have departed from the ultimate source and foundation of truth, why would we be surprised then that it's no big deal to lie and cheat and steal your way to success? Lie in order to solve problems. We're certainly not going to regard the truth given by or concerning man if we don't first value and uphold the truth given by God and concerning who God is, right? And that's our problem. And if you're following along in your bulletin, I encourage you to fill in where it says problem. That you and I, because we're corrupted from the inside out by a sin nature, you and I have an alarming tendency, this is the problem, to twist, to minimize, to relativize, that is, take the truth and say, well, it's true with regard to this, even if it's not true there, and it's true for me, even if it's not true for you. We twist it, we disregard it, we minimize it, we relativize it, we throw it out altogether sometimes. We have this alarming tendency to pervert the truth. Now, what would our solution be to that? As always, as always, we need to go back to who God is for the solution. And because God is a God of truth, anyone, at least anyone born again in Christ, should love and defend and uphold truth. Because God is a God of truth, anyone born again needs to love, defend, and uphold the truth. The truth in any area. We should value truth. And so the basis for this commandment, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, that comes directly from who God is. It comes directly from God's identity, as do all of these commandments. God's identity is the source of that ultimate and absolute truth. God is a God of truth. And we'll elaborate on that in just a moment, but to make sure that we understand, to make sure we're not flying off base, let's just, let's look at this commandment narrowly. I've asked you to turn to Deuteronomy 32. We will get there shortly. We're not there just yet. The commandment from Exodus chapter 20, Verse 16 is that you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. So let's get the narrowest possible meaning of this commandment first. We'll broaden it in a minute because I think it has to be broadened. Well, I know it has to be broadened because Jesus Christ himself broadened it. Let's try and get it in its most literal, basic, narrow sense. Because it does appear quite narrow there, doesn't it? It doesn't say thou shalt not lie. It doesn't say that. Does that mean it's okay to lie? Well, not if we understand that God is a God of truth. But if we take it not as do not lie, not even don't bear false witness. Now, what would it mean by false witness? This really has the idea of a legal sense, that when you're giving testimony in court, You're not going to give a false testimony. You're going to give a true testimony. I find it actually kind of strange that in our country we still, when we have a court case and someone is called to testify, to give testimony, how do they verify that what they are giving is true and not a lie? What do they do? What do they swear upon? They swear upon God's word is truth, even though our Culture no longer unanimously recognizes that as the source of truth, and yet they still, for now, swear upon the Bible. When you give testimony, you're expected, at least in a legal case, to give your true word, because how else can we make sure that, well, what is the goal there then? How can we make sure what? That justice is done. It's all about justice, ultimately. Now, here God is, He's, remember what we're looking at when we look at the Ten Commandments. We're looking at His people gathered together. Essentially, they're a brand new country, and God is writing their constitution in front of them. He's speaking it out loud to them by His audible voice. This is not delivered by Moses. This is by God's own audible voice, and He's writing the constitution of this new nation And he's concerned about this country, about how they are going to function as a society and how they're going to administer justice. Justice hinges upon truth. And when you're testifying, whether it's in a civil suit or especially in a criminal hearing where someone's life is literally at stake for a crime, or at least someone's property, someone's wellbeing, someone's freedom is at stake. You're expected to tell the truth. And I find it very interesting. I find it extremely instructive. It's really wise. We serve a wise God. That in Deuteronomy 17, now you don't have to turn there, but you're welcome to. You can just turn back a few chapters from 32 if you want. In Deuteronomy 17, God sets up a safeguard. for when people give testimony in court. Now, remember, it doesn't just say you shall not lie. The commandment doesn't just say you shall not bear false witness or false testimony. It says you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. And of course, any false testimony is going to be against your neighbor. Let's say that someone's lying on behalf of the man who's being tried for a murder. And they say that this man is innocent when they know actually that this person is guilty. They're still testifying falsely against their neighbor, not against the one who's on trial, but the family of the person who was killed. They're not getting justice administered, right? But if someone is put to death on a false testimony, God has put a safeguard in there when it comes to his society that he has set up. Look with me, well, you don't have to, but if you're there, look with me at Deuteronomy 17, verses six and seven. Here's what it says. Verse six, whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses. God is concerned that the truth would be upheld by these people. And that's why he doesn't rely on just one witness to put someone to death. He shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. In verse 7, the hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward, the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you. So to bear false testimony against somebody, those people who bore witness, they are to be the first executioners. And bearing false witness is equal to murder. Because they are wrongly sentencing this man to death and God will take account of the blood that was shed by their own hand. Can you imagine how that might help motivate somebody to tell the truth? Because they're no longer, it's no longer a distant thing. They actually have to throw the first stone in executing that person. Very wise God we serve. So false witness in this context is equal to murder. But of course, God doesn't intend for us just to limit this to legal proceedings. If it's true in this sense, how can it not be true in a broader sense? How could a God who so obviously values truth and values justice, right? This is all about justice. How could a God who so obviously values justice not care about it on the doorsteps outside of the courthouse. Tell truth when you're on the witness stand, but once you get down, you can lie all you want. No, this God cares about truth from the inward being. And I think we're already recognizing the fuller impact of this command. How do we state the commandment then in positive terms? If the negative statement, negative with the do not, right? Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. How about this? You will, not you shall not, but you will love and uphold the truth. especially for the sake of your neighbor, not only for the sake of your neighbor, but especially for the sake of your neighbor. I encourage you to write that down as the commandment stated in positive terms, you will love and uphold truth. You'll cherish it. Now we're told our neighbor, you don't testify against your neighbor. Think of a Good Samaritan story. Do you remember how the Good Samaritan story starts? Why did Jesus tell the Good Samaritan story? He was asked a question. You remember that? I think I heard that. What was the question? Who's my neighbor? Trying to wriggle out of having to honor everybody as his neighbor, this guy says, well, who am I really expected to uphold this for? And the Lord quite clearly defines our neighbor as really anybody we'll come in contact with. Potentially or actually, anybody around me, not just the guy who lives on my street or behind me with his yard backing onto mine. No, you're all my neighbors. The guy that I might run into at the gas pump, he's my neighbor. The lady checking out my groceries, she's my neighbor. the server at the restaurant. That's my neighbor. And the Lord wants us to uphold the truth, especially for the sake of the people that we come into contact. Because if our relationship is right with the Lord, we call this vertical, right, between me and God, now he cares that my relationships are right with the people around me, horizontally. And the first commandments in these 10, the first four, and a half, probably, are concerning my relationship vertically with God, and then the last five and a half are concerning my relationships with the people around me. So even if my falsehood, let's suppose my falsehood doesn't actually harm another person, it simply makes things easier for me, or it's just more convenient, it's less messy. Does that mean it's okay? I'm not testifying against anybody. We're not thinking in legal terms here. I've told a white lie. Now, I didn't even want to get into the idea of white lies, okay? I think that it's a distraction. It's something that we use to, our minds go off on that way rather than going down the main path. But because our minds, mine included, have this tendency to go down these rabbit trails, let's just deal with the rabbit trail now so we can get it out of the way. Why might a white lie be a problem? What we call a white lie. Something that makes it easier. The stereotypical white lie, what is it? What do you say when someone asks you, does this make me look fat? A stereotypical white lie. I don't want to tell you exactly how to answer that question. Let's just think based on who God is, how we might respond there. God is a God of truth. I'm going to show you that now in Deuteronomy 32, and then we'll proceed from there. In Deuteronomy 32, while at the end of chapter 31, God tells Moses, I want you to teach a song to the people of Israel, to the whole country. God composes a song for them to learn. And he says, I want them to learn this song. As long as they learn it now, it's going to be passed down from generation to generation. It's just going to be something that sticks in your head, like that awful lamb chop song. This is a song that never ends. I apologize for putting that in your head right now. I'm really sorry. He says this is going to be stuck in their heads so that there will be a time in their history where they are violating the very things that they're singing about. And it's going to be a witness against them. And generations later, this is in their heads as they're sinning against the Lord and as he's punishing them for that. And he is vindicated. Well, when he teaches them that song in chapter 32, verse 4, here's what it says. Actually, I'll start with verse 3. For I proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God. He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all his ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice. Righteous and upright is he. Whenever you're going to Scripture, whenever you have a question about something that Scripture might mean or might not mean, I'm trying to understand, does it mean this or does it mean that? Go back to the name of God. Go back to the identity of who He is. Go to His character. And whenever you have something linked to God's name, God uses his name significantly, especially in these first five books of Moses. In the book of Exodus, he proclaims his name before Moses when he appears in his glory. He says he's abundant in loving kindness and mercy. Here he connects his name to truth and justice and righteousness. God connects himself with truth. He is a God of truth. Now, if we're thinking about the white lies or thinking about black lies, the same thing applies. God is a God of truth. Is he going to want me? Let's think logically. If God is a God of truth, He values truth. Truth proceeds from Him. No falsehood proceeds from Him. Only truth proceeds from God. Hebrews tells us that God, it's impossible for Him to lie. You realize that? I used to love when I would go to the jail in Spartanburg and talk to them about who God is. And I'd ask them the question in these Bible studies, is there anything that God can't do? And they'd always say, no. And I'd say, yes, there is. He can't lie. And he can't contradict who he is. God can't lie. He values truth immensely. And so therefore, he wants his children to value it, and then we'll function together well societally. But God also prizes meekness. That's one of the first things that Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, isn't it? Blessed are the meek. Gentleness, meekness. We're told to speak the truth, how? Speak the truth in love. If there is any way for me to answer that awkward question in both love and meekness, gentleness, that's what God desires. He doesn't want me to tell a lie. Is there any way I can speak the truth gently and thereby bring glory to the God who enabled me to do so? If there's any way that I can do that, how could I not do that? Now, if I love God and God connects his name to truth, that means I will love truth. That means I will cherish it. And if I love truth, I'll search it out. What happens when you hear something that sounds a little off? Are you just going to accept it? We're tempted to do that sometimes, aren't we? Have you ever maybe been wrestling with something? I'm not sure if it's right for me to watch this TV show. I'm not sure if it's right for me to go to this event. I'm not sure if it's right for me to associate with these people. Maybe I should. Maybe I should go to that event. Maybe I shouldn't. And perhaps you're leaning in one direction. Some cases, do I go to that homosexual wedding? I really don't know what is the right case. I really don't even know what I want to do there. Other times, is it right for me to watch this movie? Well, I'm asking it because I want to watch this movie, aren't I? And sometimes we'll receive something from somebody that suggests, of course, it's OK for you. God would be happy with that. If I really value truth more than I value my own pleasure, I'm gonna search that out. I'm not just gonna take it at face value. Now, what happens when we hear something negative about someone we don't think of so highly? Perhaps it's a politician we really don't think highly of. Perhaps it's someone we know personally. If I love my God, I love truth, And therefore, I'm not just going to receive it. I'm certainly not going to repeat it without verifying that it's true, without seeking that out. Even when I know it's true, that doesn't mean it's right to pass it on. If I love truth, that's going to impact how I apply this commandment. So that's where we are now. We're looking at the applications of this commandment. The obvious one is lying. Before we get to lying, I want us to consider one of these sins. I appreciate that Charlie recently was giving us an emphasis on, quote unquote, respectable sins, right? Of course, there's no such thing as a sin being respectable. But unfortunately, we are tainted by sin on the inside out, right? And so we tend to think of certain things. Ah, that's fine. I'm not committing adultery, I'm just passing on a rumor, right? Gossip is one of those respectable sins that we really need to just chuck that in the trash can, any idea that that is okay. I think it's one of those sins we sometimes don't even realize we've committed it. We've passed on something that we learned, that we heard. Whether it's true or not, we receive it, perhaps gleefully, and we pass it on. I think that this tends to appeal to our pride. Some of us just, we love to be known as being in the know. I can identify with this. I used to be a newspaper reporter. I was a journalist. Our bread and butter was all about truth. That's what we were trained to do. We lived to learn the truth and to share the truth and to expose it. And I used to sometimes take more glee than I should have in uncovering a scandal at the school district. And at that school district, there were many scandals of how they were spending their money. And we take glee in being the source of truth, right? God is the source of truth. And when we want to pass on this tidbit, this trifle that we've most recently learned, rather than verifying at least whether or not it's true. We're not valuing truth anymore. We're not valuing our creator who created all things in truth and according to truth. We're not loving him. We're loving ourselves. I'm going to be the keeper and the distributor of truth, not my God. We're usurping what belongs to him. It also undermines the oneness that God expects for his people to be characterized. Now, Pastor Cook, just a few moments ago, was talking about that from John chapter 17, right? That they may be one. That was his prayer. That was Christ's earnest prayer before he went to the cross, right before he went to the cross, right before he was arrested. He's asking the Lord that we, that Christ's body, would be one. And then he prayed. Do you remember what he asked? He said, Lord, sanctify them by your truth. And then he defined what truth is. What is truth? Your word is truth. And when we pass on rumors, gossip, slander, whatever you want to call it, it undermines that unity. It breaks people's trust. I know I only told that to two people. They were my dearest friends in the fellowship. And now half of the body knows about it and they got the details wrong anyway. What does that do to unity? How do we tend to pass these on? It's so easy. It's there's a very fine line to toe, isn't there? Sometimes we share something thinking, well, I'm just sharing a prayer request and I go a little too far. And it tends to look a little bit like, hey, pray for the Peterson family. I don't think there is a Peterson family in this church, right? That's why I was going through all the common last names while getting ready to preach this. I can't say Jones, Smith, Johnson. OK, Peterson. Pray for the Peterson family. I just suspect something's not quite right in their marriage. And it manifests itself like that. I'm not going to say any more. I'm not going to say any more. But pray for them. Beware of prayer request gossip, because we love our God, who is a God of truth. Now, let's talk about lying. Let's turn to that. Well, before we turn to John 17, let's go to Leviticus 19. I will have you turn him back and forth a little bit. Leviticus chapter 19, an amazing chapter. The Lord has just been hammering me with it as we've gone through the Ten Commandments. I really encourage you to meditate, at least on the first half, if not the whole chapter. Leviticus 19, let's look at verses 11 and 12. Actually, from verse 11, just look up a line. Do you see what it says there? I am the Lord your God. And then verse 11, you shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am the Lord." His name is before and after this commandment. We know it's important. It's connected to his identity. He says, if you bear my name, if you are my child, are you born again? Do you have the blood of Christ applied to your heart? Then I'm talking to you because I'm your God. You will not steal. You won't deal falsely. We might say cheat. You won't lie. You shall not swear by my name falsely, because when you do that, you're profaning my name. So this is especially a commandment to Christians. Now he's talking to Jews. This doesn't change. In the New Dispensation, under the New Covenant, we serve the same God. We're called by His name. In fact, we're called not only by the name Yahweh or Jehovah, we're called by the name Christ. You literally, you are a Christian. You are called by that name. Lying does not belong to someone called by God's name. And he ties it to stealing and to cheating. He sees it all as one package deal. It's just not acceptable for someone who's being sanctified by the Father's truth. Now, how do I stop lying? Turn with me to Ephesians 4, please. We've been here before. I think this is one of the most practical passages in the entire New Testament, entire Bible. Ephesians chapter 4, starting at verse 20, Paul is writing to people, about, first he's been talking about people that do not belong to the Lord, how they walk, but he says that's not true. If you really are a Christian, here's how you walk. He says, verse 20, Ephesians 4, verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. And here's what that truth is. that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, that's the indwelling sin in your body, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, you start thinking differently, so you put off the old behavior, you think differently, and then that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. And then he gives us examples. And the very first example in verse 25, therefore, putting away, that's what you take off, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. How do you stop lying? by speaking the truth. Simple as that. Replace those words. Don't just say, all right, I'm not going to say anything. You know, the golden rule, or maybe it's not a golden rule, but if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. That's actually not what the Bible says. If you can't say anything nice, well, start saying something nice. Start speaking the truth. If all you're used to speaking in is lies, start speaking the truth. Now, where do we get the truth? We have to be renewed in how we think, don't we? How do we change our thinking? by going to the Word of God. And that's why Jesus Christ prayed, sanctify them by your truth. Set them apart. That's what sanctify means. Set them apart by your truth. It also means make them holy. Make them holy by your truth. And if you and I are not reading this truth, the source of truth, Or if we're taking some of this truth, but we're saying, you know what? Modern psychology says something a little bit different. I think I'm going to go with that. Which one do we go to? We go to the source of truth. We go to the Bible and we let that determine how we will respond. If you want something truthful to say, if you're really struggling with just twisting the truth, if that's a besetting sin for you, Drink from the fire hose of truth and just start repeating phrases out of the Bible. Memorize scripture and just, if you can't, so let's amend that statement, right? If you don't have anything truthful to say, recite scripture. Just recite scripture and the Lord will begin to change you through his truth. Now, of course, this hinges upon you having his Holy Spirit in you to begin with. You have to be a changed person. You have to be a new born again person. Now, kids, are we listening? Thank you. When mom and dad ask you something that's going to get you in trouble, if you admit truthfully that, yep, you did eat that cookie that they told you not to, or you did keep playing your video game when they asked you to turn it off and go brush your teeth, or you did hit your sister, and you know if you tell the truth that you're going to get in trouble, If you love God, what will you say? You'll tell the truth, right? If you love God, because God gave us truth. If we have truth, it's from God. So I encourage you to meditate on the truth of God's promises. Do you struggle with, you know what, I'm in a pickle, and I'm gonna get in all sorts of trouble if I tell the truth here. And it's not a big deal, okay? So I'm gonna just twist the truth a little bit. I'm gonna tell my boss that I'm sick. I'm gonna tell my coach, I'm gonna tell my parents, I'm gonna tell my spouse that that's where I went after work instead of where I really went. Why do we resort to lying then? If we're in a pickle and we resort to lying, it'd be so much easier if I can just get time off of work and not have to tell him that I'm interviewing for another job. I'm just gonna tell him I'm sick or that I've got a funeral that day. What are we doing when we lie in that case? We're no longer trusting God to solve our problem. We're doing it our own way. And we're doing it by contradicting who he is. We're called by his name. And now we're representing Christ as being a liar rather than the source of all truth. This is tied closely to flattery. In Jude, Jude verse 16, you don't need to turn there, but Jude tells us that false teachers are characterized by the fact that they flatter their way and they gain They gain approval with men by flattering, not telling the truth, but telling people what they want to hear. These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts, and they mouth great, swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. And I was struck, I was shocked actually, how seriously the Lord takes this sin in Psalm 12. Says in verse two, with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. Verse three, may the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud things. May he just render them mute. May he just put them in hell. When we rely on our words to get advantage rather than letting God deal with us as is most pleasing to him, we're contradicting who he is. Now, the Word of God, as we've touched on already, is, of course, the first, the foremost, the foundational source of truth. Many of you could recite 2 Timothy 3.16 for me. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable, right? It's not just a fact to know, it's profitable. When we go to the source of truth, It profits us in many ways, ultimately bringing us to fullness, completion. The King James says perfect in verse 17, that the man of God may be perfect. Why is that? Because God's word is truth. Now I will ask you to turn to Galatians chapter one, please. There's a profound statement from the apostle Paul in Galatians chapter one. He's speaking to the Galatian church and they received their young Christians. They recently received the truth from Paul and they rejoiced in it. But since Paul left and went and visited other churches, other people came by and they received some alternative facts. They received some lies. There's no such thing as an alternative fact. It's either truth or it's not. And they're being told that the liberty that they thought they had in Christ isn't as full as they thought it was. If you really want to rejoice in the gospel, you need to be circumcised, they're being told. You need to keep the Jewish law. And Paul says this about that new gospel that isn't a gospel at all. He says in verse 7, there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, talking about himself, him and Timothy, even if we, or even an angel from heaven, doesn't matter who it is, he says, If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. What does he mean by accursed? Let them go to hell. That's what Paul thinks of falsehood, especially when it's concerning the gospel. He says that about himself. If I come back to you and I have this new revelation for you that contradicts the old, I should be accursed. I should be separated from God. Because I'm perverting the truth of God. How do we how do we know which gospel he's talking about? It's the gospel contained here. If you receive something else about who Jesus Christ is. And it's not in the Bible, throw it out. Don't invite that person in for coffee. If a JW comes to your door saying that Jesus was a great man, in fact, he was more than a man, but he wasn't God, don't receive that person, the Apostle John says. The Bible has to be our authoritative source of truth. It's got to be our starting point. And those of you who are getting ready for college in the next couple years, especially if you're going to go to a secular college, but even in a Christian college, watch out. They try to replace the source of truth. Scientific evidence, or sociology, or psychology becomes the new source of truth. You can still have your faith, they say. But come on, let's get rid of these musty old books. They don't contain truth. We know better. We're enlightened. We have science now. We have scientific evidence. Science, true science, is always going to be in accordance with God's word. But we suppose that we're so much brighter when, in fact, I think we rely so much on our technology and on our learnedness that we're not nearly as intelligent as we were 50 to 100 years ago. Not nearly. Doesn't matter. Either way, the Bible is still the authoritative first source of truth. Now, Jesus said something about himself concerning truth, didn't he? We've connected, so far we've connected God's name, God in the Old Testament, his name with truth. What about in the New Testament? Jesus said, I am the way, finish it with me, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one can come to the father except through him. Now, I not too long ago, about a year ago, I sat on the plane next to a lady who was not not of this particular teaching herself, but she had a friend who was from a different teaching, but still claimed to be Christians. And she said, why can't you all just get along? You know, I went on a vacation with this lady and she loves God. She loves Jesus. And you you're a Christian, too. And she's a Christian, too. And and why can't you all just get along? And I said, well, it all it all depends on who this Jesus is. She said she loves Jesus. You love Jesus. How we love different Jesus's. There's a Jesus in the Bible and there is a Jesus that you're telling me about that is not enough to save. Jesus gets her friend most of the way, but he's not enough to save by himself. I have to add these things. I have to add these sacraments. I have to add these rights in order to be saved. But my Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, his atonement for my sin was enough. My Jesus alone is enough. His blood is worth more than that Jesus' blood. We have to go to the source of the truth. Who is God according to his word? We can't be listening to lies that the world tells us. And those most effective lies are the ones real close to the truth, but we just turn it a little bit and go off that way instead of down the narrow way that leads to eternal life. And that little twist, there's so many of them, they're broad, they lead to destruction. But the narrow way, let's turn it behind me, because we have to be like salmon swimming upstream sometimes. The whole world is going this way, and we've got to swim back against it for that narrow way that's behind them. Now, when you consider how Christ atoned for our sins, perhaps you haven't had his blood applied to your conscience yet. But this Christ was condemned by false testimony. Lying is what got Jesus Christ to the cross. Turn with me to Mark 14. We're nearly done turning. We're nearly done. We got one more after this. Mark 14. And go to verse 55, please. Mark 14, verse 55. Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimonies did not agree. Then some rose up and bore false witness against him, saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. But not even then did their testimonies agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you? But he kept silent and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked him, saying to him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? Jesus said, I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, what further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think? And they all condemned him to be deserving of death. By their own deceptive nature, by their own lies, they contrived enough that they could accuse Him of blasphemy. Jesus Christ went to the cross for you on the basis of false testimony. And we serve such a great God that He can even take such an evil sin and turn it for our good. They condemned the only rightful priest And so with that, I want you to turn just a couple books back to Malachi. You're in Mark, before that is Matthew, and the one before that is Malachi. Malachi chapter 2, the very last book of the Old Testament. Now, here the prophet Malachi is talking about the Levites and the priests. Says this about the priests, the law of truth was in his mouth. and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." Now he goes on to say that those priests that started right with him ended up going towards falsehood, and they perverted truth, they perverted justice. But we have a priest who currently stands before God's right hand, condemned by false testimony, and yet he is the only one who ever always spoke truth. Your priest, Jesus Christ, is the only person who fulfills this law here. The law that you should not bear false testimony, and the law that the lips of a priest should keep knowledge. Jesus Christ is the source of our truth and he's the source of our salvation, our forgiveness. Now, have you ever looked at the cross and seen him? Obviously, I'm talking about the eyes of your faith. I don't mean that you see some vision, but with your heart, you consider the cross and you consider Jesus Christ bleeding for you and dying. He died in your place. He spoke the truth. He never lied when you could not. And He died for your falsehood. He died for your loss. He died for your blasphemous thoughts and your bitterness and your unforgiveness and your laziness. And when He rose from the dead, He proved that He was innocent. Now, if you look at Him with the eyes of faith and you say, Dear Heavenly Father, please count me with that dead man who rose again. I'm turning from the way that I used to live. That's all rubbish. That's all garbage. I'm trusting only in this man as the one true truth giver. Lord, would you account his death as counting for me so that I will not be separated from you in hell for eternity? If you have never done that, if you've never turned in that way from your sin, I encourage you to do that now. Are there lies that are stopping you from doing that? Are you supposing, I don't need to repent from the, I don't need to turn from the way I'm living. I get it. In my head, I get it. I believe that Jesus lived and died and rose again. I got it. We call that easy believism. It's not really belief until we believe with our life, until we put trust by turning from those ways that we were hanging on before. I'm not going to tell lies to get ahead anymore. I'm not going to tell lies to preserve myself. I'm going to trust in my God to deliver me, even if this gets me in some temporal trouble, he will deliver me because he's a just God and apparently he wants me to suffer in this way, but he will bring me through it. Have you been believing, I'm good, I'm a good person, I attend church regularly, I read my Bible, I pray, I'm kind, I volunteer. Jesus didn't really need to die for you then is what you're saying. You're believing the lie of self-righteousness that you are good enough and the Bible does not hold that up, it contradicts that. Now, have you been altering the truth ever so slightly in order to prevent trouble at work or at school or at home or on your sports team? We need to confess to the Lord, take these lies to Him, whether it's lies that are causing us to think differently. Perhaps you've been telling yourself a certain behavior or certain way of thinking is permissible in the Christian life. when in fact it's in contradiction with the character of God? It might not be something you find explicitly spelled out, but when you hold this behavior, this way of thinking against who God is as a person, you realize it's contradictory. Have you been lying to yourself and saying that God condones that lifestyle? Let's go to the cross. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. The lamb that died was slain and yet lives and stands in heaven pleading for me truthfully about my sin and his sacrifice. Lord, please defeat the deceptions in our minds. Forgive us for relying on our own creative problem solving through deception. Forgive us for believing what we want to be true rather than holding it against scripture. Lord, I pray if anyone here is being held back from entering the kingdom of heaven, held back from applying the blood of Christ to their hearts, to their consciences, because of some lie that they're good enough or that doesn't apply to them, or that their intellectual ascent is the same as a trusting belief, Lord, please would you break that lie, break the power that the devil has over those people, and save them, bring them to you now, Lord. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen.