Let us pray. Lord, as we open your word this morning, I ask that you will help us to behold wonderful things out of your law. In Jesus' name, who is the fulfillment of the law, we pray. Amen. Our text for this morning comes from Exodus chapter 20, verse 16, which is found on page 61 in the Pew Bibles in front of you. We are continuing through our series in the book of Exodus and particularly through our series in the Ten Commandments. And this, we're almost done, believe it or not, but this morning we come to the ninth commandment, which we'll read from God's word. Exodus 20, verse 16. you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Now, we live in an era when almost anything you want to know, almost all the world's information is available to you in your pocket. But we also live in the era of what you might call fake news, when it's hard to tell from all this stuff that's in your pocket What is true and what is not? Because not everything is to be believed. A pastor friend of mine recently reminded me of a quote I've seen shared around on social media, and I think it's wise to listen to these words. It says, don't believe everything you read on the internet, by Abraham Lincoln. We have a deep crisis of trust in our nation. Too often, we're more concerned about, more concerned not about what is true, but what seems to support our side. We click share or pass on what fits our narrative, not so much concerned with whether, discerning whether these things are actually true. But God says in his word, and this is carried out in this commandment, that we as his people are to value the truth, even when it's inconvenient. Now, why is this? Well, it's because God is truth. If I was to ask you, is there anything that God cannot do? Well, the answer would be a surprising one, maybe. The answer is yes. There are some things that God cannot do. Hebrews 6 says that it is impossible for God to lie. Why is this? It's because God cannot go against his own character. God always does things which are in accordance with his character. And God is truth. Proverbs 35, every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Jesus says in John 17, He says, sanctify them, that is you, in the truth, because your word is truth. And because God is truth, we are to, in ourselves, delight in truth. You know, the Ten Commandments have If we said there's like an outward way, we're supposed to, things are supposed to do, but then there's an inward heart attitude that we are supposed to have ourselves. Truth flows from the inside out. And Psalm 51, six says, behold, you delight in truth in the inward being. And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Now, if God is truth, then the opposite of God is the devil. Jesus tells the Pharisees in John 8, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. So in a sense, It's impossible for God to speak lies because he speaks out of his own character. And it's almost, you could say, impossible for the devil to speak the truth because he speaks out of his own character. He is a liar. The devil is the ultimate false witness. From his very first words, his first appearing on the scene in scriptures, he comes breathing lives. But rarely does he speak an outright falsehood. But he uses what is true and twists it in the service of a lie. Genesis 3, the devil in the guise of a serpent comes to the woman and says, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? Now, this is something certainly that God had not said, at least not in the way the devil phrases it. God had graciously given them all the trees in the garden to eat. He had said they should not eat of one specific tree in the garden. But in asking the question the way the devil did, he planted in Eve's mind the seed of a lie, the question of whether this God was a good God and was withholding good things from her. You see, all truth is ultimately personal. It is in relationship to God. We can say many factual and true things, but if we are not in submission to God, if all our facts are not brought into a right relationship to God, they will ultimately be in the service of a lie. Because the fact that all truth is personal is a very important thing to understand as we begin to examine the ninth commandment. Because if I was to ask you what the ninth commandment is, normally how it's summarized is, you shall not lie. And that's an accurate summary of some of the implications of the commandment. But the commandment has something much more personal in view. It has in view our relationship with our neighbor. Notice what the command says. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. As we've mentioned many times, the Ten Commandments can be divided into two halves or two tables. The first section focuses primarily on our relationship and orientation towards God, that vertical relationship. And the second half focuses on our horizontal relationships, our relationships with our neighbors, our fellow human beings, and how we are to love God by loving our neighbor. So the focus of this commandment is not just that we are to love the truth, we are indeed to do that, but that we are to love our neighbor with the truth. We are to love our neighbor with the truth. We are not to seek to harm our neighbor by being a false witness, just as we are to seek and protect, and just as we are to seek to protect and preserve our neighbor's lives, we are to seek to protect and preserve our neighbor's reputation. If you look in the front of your bulletins in the meditations, I've placed there some selections from the Shorter Catechism and the Heidelberg Catechism. And question 77 of the Shorter Catechism asks, what's required of this commandment? And the answer they give is a good one. The Ninth Commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own neighbor's good name, especially in witness-bearing. You see, there's this positive and negative aspect of this commandment. Not only are we not to bear false witness, we are to seek to preserve our neighbor's good name. To seek to build them up. Because the opposite of lying is telling the truth. Colossians 3.9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices. Ephesians 4.25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another." So not only are we not to lie, not to bear false witness against our neighbor, we are to speak truth to our neighbor. We are to love our neighbor with our words. Now, the specific example that this ninth commandment has in view here is a courtroom scene. The particular example not to bear false witness is language drawn straight from a trial, the language of a trial. When you're called to testify in court, you are to speak the truth and not be someone who brings a false witness against your neighbor. In the era before, you know, surveillance cameras and DNA tests, The role of witnesses were vital to determining the truth of a charge. The law demanded that in most cases there had to be at least two witnesses in order to convict an innocent, to convict a person of a crime. And when a witness brought a false testimony, it did not just potentially lead to the false conviction of an individual. It was the corruption of the entire system of justice. And because of this, there were really serious consequences for someone who came and was a false witness. Deuteronomy 19, 18 and 20. The judges shall inquire diligently. And if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and the rest shall hear and fear. and shall never again commit any such evil among you." So what this command is saying is if somebody comes to a trial and brings a false witness, whatever would have resulted if that witness had believed and it would happen to that person. So for instance, if you said, I saw him commit murder and kill that person, and that didn't happen, then that penalty would be applied to the false witness because he was seeking to, in a sense, murder his brother. Or if you testified in a case where you were seeking to, Get some property from your neighbor. If you were a false witness, the same thing you had sought to do to your brother, the same penalty was to be applied to you. There were to be no frivolous lawsuits, because witness bearing is vitally important. Just as we saw in the command not to commit adultery, here, the highest instance of sexual sin stood as a header for all other forms of sexual sin. So here, the highest form of lying, lying in court under oath before God against your brother, stands as a header for all other forms of bearing false witness against our neighbor. You could say there are three types of false witnesses that we can find in Scripture. There are lying false witnesses. There are truthful false witnesses, and there are silent false witnesses. And we'll look briefly at each of these in turn. First, there are lying false witnesses. And this is what we normally think of when we think of a false witness, someone who comes and says something which is patently untrue. It is someone who says something they know to be untrue, and they say it in order to harm their neighbor or to get what they want. One of the most egregious examples of this in scripture is found in 1 Kings 21. There you have the story of King Ahab, who really wanted to buy a vineyard, which adjoined his property, which belonged to Naboth. And Naboth refused to sell. And this made the king very upset. It says in 1 Kings 21 that he lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat food. When his wife Jezebel saw how upset he was, she came up with a plan to get him what he wanted. She wrote letters to the city where Naboth lived with Ahab's name on the seal and told them to proclaim a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people and to have two worthless men sit on either side of him and then to claim that Naboth had cursed God and cursed the king. Notice two men, because you needed two witnesses. And this is what happened. These two men claimed that they heard Naboth curse the king and curse God, treason and blasphemy. And she ordered the people to then have Naboth put to death. These two false witnesses did just as they were hired to do, and Naboth was killed. stoned outside the city. And then King Ahab went and took possession of Naboth's vineyard. Here we have this example of two false witnesses testifying against their neighbor. But there are other less serious examples that many of us probably have and are guilty of in many ways. Children quickly learn to lie if they think it will keep them out of trouble. How happy are you sometimes to blame your brother or your sister for something which you did, hoping that they will get in trouble and not you? But we also do such things in less obvious ways. We bear false witness of ourselves to the deception of our neighbor. Think of how you might pad your resume, or think of what happened during the financial crisis when they went back and looked at many loan applications, they saw that many of the loan applications, people had inflated their income in order to get loans which they should not have been given, thus bearing false witness about themselves to the harm of their neighbor, to the harm of the whole economic system. Think of plagiarism, where we pass on as ours what somebody else has written. or looking over during an exam and writing down someone else's answer, bearing false witness about our own work. There are many examples of lying false witness to the harm, often, of our neighbor, and certainly to the harm of ourselves. But in addition to lying false witnesses, there are, you could call them, truthful false witnesses. That is, where somebody says something which is true on its face, but in saying it, they are intending saying the truth in order to deceive or in order to give a false impression. A prime example of this is when Jesus was on trial before the council, Matthew 26, 59 through 61. Now, the chief priest and the whole council was seeking false testimony against Jesus that he might be put to death. And they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. In other words, they had a lot of false witnesses come forward, but they couldn't get two to agree, because you needed, again, two witnesses to agree. But eventually, two did come forward. And they said, this man, that's Jesus, said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. Now, that's true. Jesus had said something to that effect. But they were twisting Jesus' words to a purpose that what he was not saying. He had said those words on their face, but he was speaking of his own body, not the temple in Jerusalem. And in doing so, they're saying something true in order to harm their neighbor. They are testifying against Jesus with true things to give a false impression. The Heidelberg Catechism. which is also printed in your bulletin, says, what is the aim of the ninth commandment? That I never give false testimony against anyone, twist no one's words, not gossip or slander, nor join in condemning anyone rashly or without a hearing. Rather, in court and everywhere else, I should avoid lying and deceit of every kind. These are the very devices the devil uses. and they would call down on me God's intense wrath. I should love the truth, speak it candidly and openly acknowledge it, and I should do what I can to guard and advance my neighbor's good name." We should seek to guard and advance our neighbor's good name with the truth. As Christians, we have to be careful not to bear truthful false witness against our neighbor by twisting their words. So often we do this when somebody we are inclined to dislike says something, we're tempted to immediately put the worst possible spin on it. You know, you've all read an email, right? And you've read that email and you immediately start interpreting motives behind what's been said or reading between the lines. And you start imputing motives to the person who has sent this email, which may or may not be true. But the call of the commandment is we should resist the urge to twist and to put rash judgments on what our neighbor says. We are to give a judgment of charity, our first inclination and instinct should always be to give, in a sense, the best possible interpretation to our neighbor's words and actions. We don't want to risk being guilty of bearing false witness against our neighbor, even in our own heart. This sort of twisting of our neighbor's words is incredibly common in social media today. Anytime somebody says something, immediately the mob jumps on it and twists those words and starts giving, impugning the motives of what somebody has said. And it's particularly common in political dialogue. I mean, all you have to do is, you know, we're about to be bombarded with a massive number of political ads. And those people who, those of you who live in Pennsylvania, I feel sorry for you for the number of ads that are going to be coming down on you in the new year. And one of the common things that is in political ads is to take something which is true and then make it seem utterly horrible, kind of imputing motives to it. For example, you have the ominous music. The announcer says something like, John Smith once had his dog put down. Why does John Smith hate puppies? Be sure to vote Jackson on December 7 to protect your pets. Or something along those lines, where we take something true and twist it. But the call to the Christian. is to seek truth, to not twist, to love our neighbor with our words and how we interpret our neighbor's words. We are to be truthful witnesses, not true false witnesses. And this is part of the, as you noticed in the catechism, one thing it says that we're to avoid is gossip and slander. And this is the awfulness of gossip. Now, obviously, one of the risks of gossip is that we're passing on something which is untrue. You hear a rumor and pass it on, and it might be totally untrue because you don't have knowledge of whether this thing is true or not. But often, in their case, you'd be bearing false witness. But often, gossip is true or has a shade of truth to it. And we pass it on because it feels good to share it, and it feels good to receive it, to hear delicious morsels about the wrongs of our neighbor. Proverbs 18.8, the words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels that go down into the inner parts of the body. Gossip brings us closer together. That's why people like it. It makes us feel like we're inside on something. But in tearing down our neighbor's name. Whether truthfully, with true things, or with rumors which may be false, we are breaking the ninth commandment. We're failing to guard and advance our neighbor's good name. Proverbs 29, 11, a fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. Proverbs 17, 9, whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. 1 Corinthians 13 says that love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. When we spread gossip, we risk stealing something which is not easily given back. And that is our neighbor's reputation. Luther says, reputation is something quickly stolen, but not easily returned. And when we impute motives to other people's actions, or fail to give them a judgment of charity, or gleefully pass on negative information about them, which is not ours to share or other people's to hear, we are acting as false witnesses, maybe even truthful false witnesses, against our neighbor. As we read earlier in James, the tongue is a dangerous weapon. It is incredibly powerful and can bring great damage. Oftentimes, we shroud our spreading of gossip as truth-telling. I'm not lying. I am speaking the truth. But as scripture so often reminds us, the way we are to speak truth is to speak truth in love. We must ask ourselves before we speak, before we pass on that juicy bit of gossip, am I loving my neighbor in sharing this? I think it's a good test to ask before we open our mouths. Am I loving my neighbor in sharing this? If not, it is probably better to keep our mouth closed. And we should also say when we're hearing, am I loving my neighbor in hearing this? Ephesians 4 29, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. So we should not be lying false witnesses or truthful false witnesses And lastly, we should not be silent false witnesses. Because we can be silent false witnesses when we refuse to speak when we should. We can be false witnesses when we speak when we shouldn't. And here we can be false witnesses when we refuse to speak when we should, allowing a false idea or impression to go forward to the harm of our neighbor. Leviticus 5.1 says, if anyone sins and that he hears a public adjuration to testify." In other words, there's a call for witnesses. And though he is a witness, whether he has seen or has come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity. We can be false witnesses by refusing to speak when we should. Illustration of this is in the musical Les Mis. where John Valjean is a fugitive from the law under an assumed identity, and he hears that another man has been arrested and is being charged with being the real John Valjean. And in the musical, Valjean wrestles with what he should do, because if he goes and testifies that he is, in fact, the real John Valjean, he will end up being arrested, and his whole life will be destroyed. But if he refuses to testify, then this other man will bear the punishment. They think the man is me without a second glance, the stranger they have found. This man could be my chance. Why should I save his hide? Why should I write this wrong when I have come so far and struggled for so long? If I speak, I am condemned. If I stay silent, I am damned. In the end, Valjean makes the right choice to love his neighbor by going to the trial and revealing himself as the real Valjean. But too often, we let untruth go forward to the harm of our neighbor because we think speaking would be too costly or because letting the lie be spread is to our own advantage. We must love our neighbor enough to speak the truth. And again, in doing this, we are following the example of our God. because Christmas and this season that we're celebrating now is all about the speaking of truth. Titus 1, 1 through 3, Paul says that he is a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness and the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. God is not a false witness. He never lies, and he speaks to us. He speaks in his word. He speaks through his servants who proclaim his word, and he promised before the ages that he would send his son, Jesus Christ, to be that living and true word. And he sent his prophets and his angels and his servants to proclaim this word. And now he entrusts us as his church with speaking this word to counter the lies of the devil. As we confessed earlier in the service, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus is the truth. And we are to speak that truth, not be silent false witnesses. As Jesus stands on the Mount of Olives before he ascends into heaven, he says to his disciples that they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. You are here today. gathered in this church as believers in Jesus Christ because there were those who refused to stay silent, who faithfully proclaimed this message which they heard and believed. As a church, we are called to bear witness, to love our neighbor enough to speak the truth, even though it may be uncomfortable and even though it may be costly. We see this with awe with those who are in nations where speaking the truth is indeed very costly. My prayer is that we would be truthful witnesses. May we learn to have the character of our Heavenly Father and be wary of the lies of the devil. May we love our neighbor with our words and not be gossipers or backbiters, but seek to preserve and build up one another by speaking the truth in love to our neighbor, whether the one sitting next to you in the pew, or the one who lives next to you in your house, or the one who sits next to you in a neighboring cubicle. We are to love our neighbor enough to speak the truth, and we are to love our neighbor with the truth. We as believers in Christ are committed to the truth. May we not be false witnesses, but may we build up our neighbor with the gospel and good news that has been entrusted to us. Let's pray. Gracious Father, we thank you that your word is truth. Lord, may we, because we are your children, love the truth, and may we love our neighbor. Lord, guard us, I pray, from the lies of the devil, from the deceptions he uses to deceive us as the world is held in the sway of deception. And Lord, may you help us be servants of that truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.