As we continue our series on the Ten Commandments, we're going to be looking at the Ninth Commandment, which is found in Exodus 20, verse 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Turn with me, if you would, to Leviticus 19, 15-18. And I'll read a brief passage there. Leviticus 19, 15-18. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tailbearer among thy people, neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor. I am the Lord." Thou shalt not hate thy neighbor in thine heart. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt keep..." Oh, excuse me, just stop right there at 18. Then turn with me, if you would, to Proverbs 26. Proverbs 26, and I'll begin reading at verse 17 through the end of the chapter. He that passeth by and meddleth with strife, belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor and saith, Am not I in sport? Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tail-bearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a tail-bearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him, when he speaketh fair, believe him not. For there are seven abominations in his heart, whose hatred is covered by deceit. His wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin." Thus ends the reading of God's holy, inspired Word. Now, this Lord's Day morning, as I said, we... Yes, Mr. Cooksey? I'm not sure where you're reading from. No, my intention is not to explain that this morning. This morning, we're looking at the Ten Commandments. We've considered eight thus far, and we're now in the ninth. We've considered the first table, the object, the matter, the manner, and the time of worship covered in the first four commandments. And now we've been looking at the second table of the commandments for a number of weeks. We've been considering the sanctity of authority, of life, of marriage, of property, and now we come to name, or good name, or credibility. The sanctity of one's credibility. Now, I want to remind you that two weeks ago, we looked at the requirements related to the Eighth Commandment regarding property. We talked about restitution. And I suspect that there are more than but a few of us that probably needed to make restitution over the last two weeks regarding property, I hope. that you've done so. I hope you didn't see yourself in the mirror two weeks ago and recognize that something needed to be done and then left off doing it, forgetting what you looked like two weeks ago. If you have, I would again counsel you to rectify it and deal with it. Now, this morning we come to look at Exodus 20, verse 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. This command comes in the negative, as most of them do, and that's why we are looking at the prohibitions first and then the duties second. Even though the catechisms, the shorter and the larger catechism, consider the duties first and then what's forbidden, I think I chose to go with thinking about what's forbidden first and then consider what are the duties because Paul tells us in Colossians and Ephesians, we see this metaphor over and over again in the New Testament, that we're to put off and where to put on. And so, I think it's appropriate for us to consider what are those things we ought not to be doing, stop doing those, but what are the replacements? We're not just to stop stealing pulses, but we are then to labor with our hands that which is good that we might have wherewith to give. So, we're considering first the negatives. So, we're not to bear witness or we're not to declare We're not to declare something contrary to truth, is what the verse says. We're not to do so towards our neighbor. We learn from Luke 10.30-37, and the story of the Good Samaritan, that our neighbor includes all people. All children of Adam are our neighbor. Now, there are a couple assumptions in this commandment that we need to address, but before Before doing so, I want us to recognize that this commandment isn't the only commandment that deals with our speech. We can violate all the other commandments with our tongue. So, this isn't the only commandment that deals with speech. Atheistical speech is forbidden in the first commandment. Inappropriate speech in worship or swearing inappropriately is a violation of the second commandment. Vain speech of God is a violation of the third. Inappropriate speech on the Sabbath is a violation of the fourth. Disrespectful speech is a violation of the fifth. Angry speech is a violation of the sixth. Filthy speech is a violation of the seventh. Deceptive speech in order to steal is a violation of the eighth. And discontented speech or murmuring is a violation of the tenth commandment. So, all the commandments address the tongue. They address speech. But this commandment addresses speech in relation to truth and necessity and, I would contend, love. Because we are called to speak the truth. We're called to speak it in love. Paul tells us we're to speak that which is necessary for edification. So there are three questions we can ask ourselves regarding what we're about to say to consider, and we'll look at that, Lord willing, next week as we consider how we are to bridle our tongue and what we are to speak about. But I think there are two assumptions in this commandment. That is, first, the seriousness of judicial witnessing. In the old covenant economy, it only required two or three witnesses for someone to be found guilty. And those witnesses had the power of life and death. There were a significant number of crimes that were capital crimes. And if two or three people said this individual did this crime, that individual was going to die. And he was going to die by stoning at the hands of the witnesses. That's how I understand John 6 where the immoral woman is brought before Jesus. How did these Pharisees catch an immoral woman committing immorality without a man involved? Where was the man? It's pretty clear to me that this was a common hooker that they all knew. And when Jesus says, who's going to cast the first stone? In other words, who's going to say that they're innocent of this crime and bear witness that she's guilty, they're not, and be prepared to cast the first stone at her? And so we see the very seriousness of judicial witnessing. Also we learn in the Pentateuch that a false witness that was found out received the penalty that would have come upon the individual if they were found guilty for the crime. So you get a sense of the seriousness of witness. A false witness could put someone to death, but it also could put you to death if you were found out. And it gives us a picture of how God views the truth. The truth in all of our speech. The other thing that this assumes is that a good name is precious. We read that in Proverbs 22.1, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. Now, how many individuals today in our culture, even in our congregations, if they had a door one offer to them, great riches, or door two, a good name, how many would choose door two? But the Bible says the answer is obvious. A good name should be chosen. John Calvin said, if a good name is more precious than all riches, we harm a man more by despoiling him of the integrity of his name than by taking away his possessions. If a good name is more valuable than possessions, than slandering someone is more serious than stealing from them. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7.1, a good name is better than precious ointment. Let's consider the violations or the sins forbidden in this commandment. The first is unrighteous judgment. That's mentioned in Leviticus 19.15. You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, we just read. It's very interesting there that not only are the rich considered regarding potential partiality towards, but God also warns the judge regarding partiality to the poor. The poor don't deserve a better than fair deal because they're poor. They deserve fairness and justice. So your economic status doesn't alter the justice, whether you're rich or whether you're poor. We learn in Job 29.16, he could say of himself under inspiration, the cause which I knew not, I searched out. Job apparently was an elder in the gates. He apparently was an elderly man and a man of wisdom that had been called to that office and when he had a cause, he searched it out. It was his responsibility to know what really happened before he adjudicated a decision. And so unrighteous judgment or even calling good evil and calling evil good by a judge officially or by us in judging some evil deed good or some good deed evil. Secondly, frivolous lawsuits are also forbidden in this commandment. We learn of one in Acts 24. In verse 1, there's a mention of this individual that the Jews, the Pharisees bring up, Tertullius. And we learn in verse 7 of chapter 25, as they bring him up to prosecute Paul, that he laid many and grievous complaints against Paul which they could not prove. He didn't have the proof, but yet he was willing Obviously, for some moolah. And they were willing to pay him to come up, even though there wasn't adequate evidence, because maybe they could get the decision they wanted. Maybe they could spin things in such a way as to get what they wanted, even though the proof wasn't there. I think that's why lawyers in the Scriptures are often like tax collectors, not looked upon very well. in the Scriptures. That's not that either of those vocations are unlawful. They're both lawful vocations. But obviously in the context, the cultural context, they were two vocations that many crooks were involved in. It's an easy thing for a lawyer to not be clear and to almost encourage more litigation because then they get a cut of the proceeds. And so, they're certainly in a vocation that has a temptation. And so, frivolous lawsuits are also forbidden. Thirdly, and this is I think the central issue in this commandment, false witness in court. Proverbs 6, 16-19 talks about six things that the Lord hates. Yeah, you seven are an abomination to Him. And in that list of seven, three Sins of the tongue are referred to. A lying tongue, a false witness that speaketh lies. So there you see the similarity between lying and lying in court. And he that soweth discord among brethren. And here's a sin of the tongue that's not necessarily speaking untruth, but it's speaking something that maybe is unnecessary or unloving. And then creates disunity amongst a society This is what Cain did in Genesis 4-9. God asked him, where's Abel? He says, I know not, in verse 9, am I my brother's keeper? He was asked to give testimony. The King of kings, the Lord of lords, the judge of all the earth asks him, where's your brother? He knew where his brother was. I know not. We have witnesses brought against Naboth, if you remember, in 1 Kings 21.13, false witnesses. False witnesses, we read in Psalm 35.11, did rise up. They laid to my charge things that I knew not. David writing that psalm, but clearly it's speaking of the greater than David, Jesus Christ Himself. In Proverbs 19.15, we read, a false witness shall not be unpunished. He that speaketh lies shall not escape. God holds us accountable for our words. When we bear false words in a court, in a civil court, in an ecclesiastical court, after we've taken an oath to tell the truth and the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then we are more culpable because we've not only violated now the ninth commandment, but we've also violated the third commandment. Also, we're called to speak the truth Or a sin forbidden is speaking the truth to a wrong end. One example that I'll give you there is in 1 Samuel 22.9, Doeg, the Edomite, gives a true statement about David, but he did it so that David would be brought down. What David did was obviously approved of by God. We have the Scriptures declaring that it was acceptable for the priest to give him and his brethren of the showbread and the like. But Doeg the Edomite brings it up to bring down David. Fifthly, another sin, forbidden is false witness in routine conversations. Not in court, but just in conversation. Recounting things, but adding or subtracting to things. We need to all consider that. How do we recount things and add a little here or take a little bit away just enough to change the picture? Isn't that what the serpent did? Satan himself in Genesis 3, 4, and the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. You're not really going to die. We can also do so by using the same words but with a different meaning. Peter calls that twisting Scripture. Isn't that again what Satan did in Jesus' temptation in Matthew 4? In verse 6 he says unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou shalt dash thy foot against the stone. Here Satan quotes Scripture Word for word. It's just he misapplies it. That's why Scripture memory alone is not sufficient to build an individual up in the faith. Because you can take Scripture passages out of context, you can misunderstand what you've memorized and be wrong. So, accurate interpretation is necessary as well. Nothing's wrong with laying up God's Word in our heart, but we need to lay it up in its proper understanding. We also can bear false witness in common conversation by changing the circumstances or burying things slightly in the circumstances in which something was said so as to present a whole different situation to someone than what really took place. I know an example in my own life where an individual, and I know I'm guilty of the same thing, but an individual told me of a situation in which someone told them something that they thought was a little over the top, was a little excessive. But upon later understanding that the individual that told me the information actually requested the individual to make some statement that the individual wasn't prepared to make and finally drug the statement out of them. then it changes the individual's statement and the culpability of that individual when someone's trying to drag it out. You see, if someone's countenance is a little bit off towards you and you pry, what's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong? Tell me what's wrong. Tell me what's wrong right now. And they tell you something and they don't reprove you exactly the way you think you should, is it the fact that you were pushing them? Part of the situation? I mean, if you don't tell all the facts, then you can't get an accurate explanation of the situation. We're all guilty of this in many, many cases. Proverbs 4.24 speaks against this. Put away from thee a froward mouth. And literally that word froward means crooked. Put away a crooked mouth that's trying to alter the angles, trying to change things or spin things in our common vernacular versus being straightforward. and frank about what took place." Solomon goes on and says, "...and perverse lips far from thee." He likens crooked speech with perverse speech. We also violate this command when we lie about ourselves or others. Colossians 3.9, "...lie not to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds." The argument here is You're a new creature in Christ. You're a new man in Christ. Stop lying like you once did. Psalm 34, 13, Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile. Now, why would we lie about ourselves or others? I'm just going to give us a few reasons why. One is to injure someone. We'll lie because there's hatred in our heart and we desire to injure someone. It's a lot safer to just injure them with our words than to actually fight them or kill them. We desire to bring them down, but it's a lot safer for us to bring them down with our words. We also can do so to entertain. There's a cultural acceptability to tall tales. to spin things, make things a little bit more elaborate for the humor aspect. We also can do so to receive honor. Isn't that what the man did in 2 Samuel 19 where he comes to David and says, I'm the one that killed Saul? He didn't kill Saul. If he knew what he was going to get per se he killed Saul, I'm sure he wouldn't have said he killed Saul. But he thought he was going to get a pat on the back, maybe get a little reward, get a special place at David's entourage. And David says, you've convicted yourself. It really didn't matter at that point whether he was telling the truth or not because he bore false witness and so he was given the death penalty. we can lie about ourselves or others to avoid dishonor. And I would speak to you children regarding this. Is this not very easy to do when you've been caught? And your mother or your father says, what's going on here? What came from your lips? What's going on here in this tussle? To immediately, to avoid dishonor, deny What's so obvious? Not only to receive honor, but we lie to avoid dishonor when questioned by those in authority. To do so, to lie about ourselves or others, is contrary to God the Father. Hebrews 6.18 says it's impossible for God to lie. We're to be like God. We're to be holy like Him. It's contrary to Christ the Son. In John 1.14, we learn that He's full of grace and truth. It's contrary to the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of truth. Not only is lying contrary to God, it's like the devil. Jesus could say in John 8.44, He was a liar and He's the father of it. He's been a liar from the beginning. He's the originator. He's the propagator of lies. He's the fountain of lying. And we also violate this command when we whisper or we backbite. And I would include that phrase in Proverbs 6.19, so with discord among brethren. The next few of these violations are intimately related. Whispering, tail-bearing, speaking evil of others, slandering. And yet there are different words used for these different cases. A Dutch theologian said, there is no sin which is common among all manner of individuals as this vicious serpent which disturbs peaceful societal living and injures the honor of our neighbors. His conclusion was this is the most common of a very common sin, bearing false witness. Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 12.20, "...let there be no debates or envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults." He puts all these things in one big pile. You start backbiting, you start whispering, strife and wrath and envy and swellings and tumults, they're all in there. They start from envy and wrath, they lead to strife, They come from swellings or boastings. Now, how do we do so? We can do so by stating untrue things about an individual. That's lying about them, but we can also do so by recounting things of which we're not certain of, as well as recounting things that are not necessary or loving to repeat. In Exodus 23-1 we're told, "...thou shalt not raise a false report." Often this can come about by expressing suspicion. 2 Samuel 10-3, remember the princes of Hanan, king of Ammon, were suspicious of David sending his ambassadors to him to comfort him at the loss of his father. But Hanan's princes say, David's coming here to spy you out. And then Hanan mistreats David's ambassadors, if you remember. He cuts their beards off and rips the back of their skirts. And so he sends them away shamed. And it all started with some suspicious men that surrounded the new king, Hanan, king of Ammon. We also can do so by tail-bearing, number 8. We saw in Leviticus 19.16, "...thou shalt not go up and down as a tail-bearer among thy people, neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor. I am the Lord." You see there in 19.16 of Leviticus, God speaks against tail-bearing. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tailbearer among thy people." In other words, you shouldn't be going from house to house that didn't have cell phones or emails. They actually had to walk somewhere to tell somebody something. But he goes on to say, "...neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor." That's speaking about false witness in a court. That's speaking against them so that their blood's going to be spilled. Proverbs 18.8 and 26.22, we have the same words. The words of a tailbearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Tailbearing brings wounds and not superficial wounds, not flesh wounds. They go down into the innermost parts of the being. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me is not a biblical principle. Names do hurt. Augustine or Augustine, depending on how you'd like to pronounce his name. My church history professor said, St. Augustine is in Florida. St. Augustine is in heaven. Augustine said this, the wounds of the tongue no physician can heal. And to pretend friendship to a man and slander him is most odious. But if you noticed in that Proverbs passage that we read, flattery was tied in there with slander. Slanderers often still flatter face to face and then slander. It's being of a double heart. We're also, ninthly, not to speak evil of others. James 4.11. This is closely related. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. Again, James adds the word brethren there as part of the rationale. Why we shouldn't do so is because we're brothers. We also shouldn't give mocking words. like Shimei did of David in 2 Samuel 16. Or as the children did, mocking Elisha the prophet in 2 Kings 2, 23-24. He was elderly. He was bald. He wasn't culturally with it. And these kids, I believe, picked up the words that mom and dad were probably saying about Elisha because he was stepping on their toes, about their behavior. It appears these children were young. They had picked these things up somewhere. And they come with mocking words to the prophet. And God puts them to death through she-bears that He sends to eat up the children. It also can be done by sarcastic or snide remarks. Psalm 52, 2-4, "...thy tongue diviseth mischiefs, like a sharp razor working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak righteousness." See law. "...Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue." Here it's speaking of someone that loves to use words to rip somebody to shreds. They love evil more than good. And they've learned to use their tongue as a very effective weapon to tear people to shreds. So, we've talked about slandering, but I also want us to consider the eleventh sin mentioned, and that is listening. or receiving an evil or a false report. A report that's not true or a report that's true but is being brought for evil motives. In Psalm 15, verse 1, we find these words, "...Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?" The psalmist asks that question and then in verses 2 and following, gives this description, this picture of the righteous man. And it says in verse 3 of this man, "...he that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up an evil report against his neighbor." He doesn't start the report. He doesn't take it up and pass it on. In Jeremiah 20 verse 10, God says through Jeremiah, "'For I heard the defaming of many, fear in every side. Report,' they say, and we will report." Sounds a lot like our media, doesn't it? Give us some juicy morsels and we'll pass them on. We won't verify them, but we'll pass them on. Give it to us and we'll send it on. We've got the distribution networks. Just get it to us. And we'll cover the distribution of this falsehood for you. You don't have to go house to house yourself. And we live in a society where it's much easier to bear false witness because all you have to do is push the send button. You don't have to walk to somebody's house to pass it on anymore. And there's also very few of us as God's people that will stop someone that brings it. Whether it comes through an email, or a phone call, or someone sitting in our home. But listen to Proverbs 17.14. A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips, and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue. This is a synthetic parallelism. A wicked doer and a liar are synonymous. False lips and naughty tongue are synonymous. A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips, a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue. You can lie without speaking. You can lie by wanting and listening to lies. Poisoning your own well. Listening to lies and then from that, then being suspicious about someone. Because you've been told something about them that's not been verified, that may not be appropriate for you to have anyway, even if it was verified. So receiving an evil or false report is also a violation of the ninth commandment. In addition, undue silence in a just cause is a violation of this commandment. Leviticus 5 verse 1, "...and if a soul sin and hear the voice of swearing and is a witness, whether he hath seen it or known of it, if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity." God says through Moses in Leviticus 5 that there are some sins that are so heinous and so scandalous that if you know they've been committed as a public sin, you have a duty to make it known. To not utter it would be a sin. Now, to make it known isn't to go from house to house and be a tailbearer, but it's to tell the appropriate authority in the state or in the family or in the church. Children, there are some things that you ought to report to your father regarding something that your brother or sister has done. We live in a society where oftentimes it's viewed as that's tattletaling. And many of us have been brought up to think that all tattletaling, all telling authorities of something that someone's done is sinful is not biblical. It's not biblical. If your brother or sister swears, it's not enough for you just to reprove them yourself. And there are sins of that nature that ought to be brought to bear. We become an accomplice if we know someone is a thief and doesn't report it. To undo silence in a just cause. Also, evil surmising or suspicions. Consider this individual in 1 Timothy 6.4. He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy Strife, railings, evil surmises. Picture a man that's proud. He doesn't know as much as he thinks he knows. He dopes. He's concerned about questions. He wants to make a big deal out of differences and strifes of words. And Paul says, this is where envy, strife and railings and evil surmisings are intimately connected to this kind of behavior. They come from it and they lead to it. They stem from envy and a desire to strife, they lead to railings or an explosive situation. They come from evil surmisings, questioning, suspecting someone that doesn't bring the same words as we bring. And if we can't convince them of ours, then there can be additional surmising regarding the individual. So, suspicion, evil surmising. Also, one sin closely related to this is what I'm calling rash and unwarranted judging. Jesus says in Matthew 5, 1-3 that we're not to judge, lest we be judged. Jesus, again in the Sermon on the Mount, as it's described in Luke, speaks to the same point. It says, by the judgment that you judge, you'll be judged. Now, most of us know our Bible well enough that we've moved from the position that we probably first held the first time we ever read Matthew 7-1, where we probably concluded that we're not to make any evaluation. Most of us probably very early in our Christian life read that and said, oh, we're not to make any evaluations. Then we got a little bit more mature and we said, hmm, the Bible does say we're to make evaluations. False prophets will be known by their fruits. Obviously, we have to look at fruits. Yes, we're to evaluate. But when we come to that position, have we now ignored potentially the fact that Jesus still does say that judging's wrong? Evaluating's not, but judging is. And particularly judgment that comes when we're not the authority in that sphere. And it comes when it's rash or it's unwarranted. It's hasty. It's without all the information at hand. And that goes back to the first one. In improper, sinful judgments. When we are in the proper place of judging. We are the father in the home. We are of the civil magistrate. We also commit this sin by much talking and by idle talking, and these are closely related. Proverbs 10, 19, "...in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise." If you talk too much, don't be surprised that eventually you're going to say some things that aren't loving, that aren't truthful, and aren't necessary. The fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it till afterwards." There it's suggesting that sometimes we can be a little provoked and then start spilling everything. Every wicked, evil, malicious thought in our hearts just wells up and we spew it all out on someone. Versus keeping it back till after. Okay, that wasn't appropriate, but that doesn't mean I need to let loose on all the filth in my heart and let it all come out of my mouth." So, much talking, hasty talking, idle talking. 2 Timothy 2.16, Paul says, "...shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness." Clearly, there was, in that day in Ephesus, a lot of babbling going on and Paul knew about it. And he wanted to squelch it. And he calls Timothy to don't be involved in it. Shun it. Keep away from it yourself because all it leads to is more ungodliness. These questions that can't be answered. But also, every word that we speak will be judged for. Jesus says in Matthew 12.38, every idle word that men speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. We all know that we're going to be accountable for all that we do, and yet how often we forget that every word that we speak will be accountable for. It's not okay, it's not a just excuse to say, I didn't mean it. Everything that you say, you did mean. You willed to say it. You chose to say it before you said it. There may be one or two legitimate diseases where someone might speak a word that they're not making a decision. But I don't know anyone in this congregation at present that has that physical condition. So, I do want to make that exception. Every idle word that men speak, every single word that we speak will be held accountable. Also, flattery is a violation of this commandment. Psalm 12, 2 and 3, they speak vanity, everyone with his neighbor with flattering lips and with double heart do they speak. Here's what I said, that the flatterer is after something. They have a double heart. They're after some good themselves and they're flattering someone that some benefit will accrue to them either in possessions or in power or in influence Or this double heart referring to the fact that they're buttering someone up for the kill. But they have a double heart. They're not doing it out of commendation. This is not forbidding commendation. It is forbidding, commending to do so for your own benefit or commending just so as to cover up the dagger in the back. And that relates to what I'm calling hypocritical acting. Genesis 4-8, it says that Cain talked with Abel and then he rose up against Abel. It appears in this verse that what God is saying is that Cain didn't reveal to Abel his anger. He duped him. He didn't know. He didn't show his frustration and his anger with him. so as to cause Cain to protect himself. This is exactly what Absalom did concerning Ammon in 2 Samuel chapter 13. We just recently read of this in our family worship. But Absalom's sister had been violated by Amnon. And Absalom at that day set about to kill Amnon. But he pretended like everything was well between him and Amnon until the perfect time and then he took his life. He acted in a way that wasn't consistent with his real heart's desire and his disposition toward the man. These are at least 18 sins that are subsumed under the ninth commandment. I encourage you to read question 145 in the answer to the larger catechism. A number of these are covered and there are additional ones alluded to there. But in application and in closing, have we not been hit afresh with the fact that we have unclean lips? And we dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. We haven't seen, like Isaiah saw, the thrice holy God in his temple. But have we not, as we've considered the standard of God's Word regarding the tongue, have we not come to see that we have unclean lips? And we dwell in a culture, in the world and in the church, of people with unclean lips. But praise be to God, there was one. Peter described in 1 Peter 2.22, neither was guile found in his mouth. Praise be to our Savior that He kept the ninth commandment just as He kept all the commandments and all the ceremonial and judicial laws perfectly. And He that knew no sin became sin for us. that we might be the righteousness of God in Him. Praise to our Savior who has kept the law of God for us and who now calls us to obey God's law out of thankfulness for our great salvation in Him. Let us pray. Great God and Heavenly Father, we do thank Thee for Thy holy Word. We thank Thee for Thy law that doth convict us of our sins, that doth bring us to acknowledge of our sins that we might flee to Christ, but we thank Thee that Thy law has also been given to us as a standard by which we ought to seek to live as we seek by Thy grace to be conformed more and more into the image of Thy blessed Son, whose name we pray. Amen.