Looking forward to next week. For those of you that are a little bit new to us, we try to weave our service together. We start out with prayer, the necessary announcement. The music we pick is usually related to the sermon theme. And so we carry that through, not just the worship set, but into our giving, into our responsive reading, into the scripture that we share, that John just shared. And then we pick that up with the sermon. We go through passages, verse by verse. The promise that we have is never to skip over a verse because it might be hard. And we do our best to explain what each verse means. So I'd like you to open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20. And we're gonna be in verses 16 and 17. Let me read this for you. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. So I've had some interesting conversations about town, about this series that we're doing, trying to explain to people, while you're doing the 10 Commandments, that must be pretty easy, yeah. And I'm like, well, you know, we're trying to go a little bit deeper, trying to talk a little bit about what's going on here. And one guy that I was talking to was kind of interesting, because he said, well, I'm glad that once we get to heaven, we won't have to worry about those anymore. I went, really? Yeah, I mean, because we're gonna get up there and we're not gonna sin, right? I mean, we have the same theology, don't we? I said, kinda. Okay, and so that becomes a little bit of a mantra if we see these things as do's and don'ts. You know, we'll get to the point to where we don't have to worry about the don'ts anymore because we'll be in glory. But I'm here today to tell you that the Ten Commandments are not just for today. They're for all eternity. There forever. Let me explain what I'm talking about. Our time in the Ten Commandments has been focused on what they tell us about the character and nature of God. What makes God, God. What they reveal about who he is and his plan of redemption for his creation that belongs to him. If you see that, then you see that this is not just a temporary set of rules to get us through our time here on earth and kind of do it as well as we can. They're a description, they're a description of the one that we will be with forever, the one we'll be united with forever. They are a prep course for eternity. So this is the heart of God, part five. And I hope this study has helped you to understand the deeper meaning of the commandments, where we go with this. It doesn't negate what's right there on the surface, so we're not trying to ignore the simple parts of these, but it reveals something more as well. And that's so typical of scripture, isn't it? Scripture speaks to us, we see the message right there, but as we ponder it, as we meditate upon it, we also see that there's something deeper, something that might not be so easy to grasp. And then when we see that, if we keep up with our study of Scripture, we begin to see even more. It's like an onion skin being peeled back over and over and over again. So, so far, here's what we've heard. The first commandment tells us he is the one true God. That's at the very core of who he is. And because there is only one God, he alone is worthy of worship. And as we worship him, third commandment, we come to see that he is holy. And in his holiness and perfection, he is created and owns all things, the fourth commandment. That includes you and me. The fifth commandment, for that reason, he created everything, he owns everything, God is worthy of honor. and we show his worthiness in how we honor those around us, in particular, our mother and father. We got pretty deep into that one. We honor them, not necessarily to obey them, although that's not a bad idea, but we obey God first. And one of the reasons we honor him is because God, the sixth commandment, is the giver of life. He gave our parents life. And through them, whether they were good or bad parents was not the issue, but through them, he gave us life. And he does that by sharing himself with us because he is life. And he doesn't give us that life in vain because God is faithful. And not only does he tell us he's faithful through his scriptures, but 6,000 years of steadfast faithfulness are a testimony to how faithful he is. It proves that he's true. And the fact of the matter is that God is faithful because he never changes. And because he's faithful, he gives us a reason to be faithful, the eighth commandment, because he is the giver of all things. Everything we have, we have because He gave it to us. Even the most precious thing we have, and we'll find out what that is today, but I'll give you a hint, it's eternal life. He gave us eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ. And because He's faithful, we will have that forever. Do you understand when we talk about eternal life? It means we will have it forever. I mean, it's life for eternity. God doesn't bounce us in and out of this depending on how we behave. It gives us eternal life because he is faithful and because he's faithful, it is eternal. Today we're gonna take, we're gonna finish the series up with the last two commandments, the ninth and 10th commandment. Let's take a look at this ninth commandment. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Let me ask you a quick question. Which commandment says you shall not lie? I mean, we're at number nine. Have we seen it yet? No, we haven't. You know, a lot of people think that that's somewhere in the 10 commandments, don't they? Somewhere, but that's not what this says. Now, before we get too deep into this, I wanna say this to you so that you don't misunderstand me. The Bible does not give us permission to lie. That is not where I'm going with it. It doesn't do that except when it does. Oh, that's such a Jewish thing, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. So the most familiar exception to this do not lie rule is when Rahab misrepresents things to the guards at Jericho, doesn't she? I mean, if you're familiar with the story, I mean, the Hebrew spies have gotten into Jericho, and they're trying to get out at this point, and they found out that they're there, they're looking for them, and in Joshua chapter two, Rachel hides them, and when the guards come and ask her if she's seen the Hebrew slaves, the Hebrew spies, she, My. Oh, they went that way. You hurry up, you'll catch up to them. And because she lies, her family is spared. Actually, if you take a look in Matthew chapter 15, genealogy chapter one, verse five, I'm sorry. Rahab shows up in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. What's going on here? Well, there's another case in Exodus chapter one when Pharaoh orders the Egyptian midwives to execute the newborn male babies of the Jews. And the Hebrew midwives lie to Pharaoh. And in Exodus chapter 20, I'm sorry, chapter one, verse 20, says God dealt well with them. meaning he blessed them. There are more. Elisha lies to Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria in 2 Kings chapter eight, and tells him he's gonna recover from his illness when Elisha knows, God has already told Elisha that the king is going to die, but Elisha also knows that Ben-Hadad is gonna commit terrible atrocities if he knows it's his last days. So Elisha, prophet of God, Why? Moses tells Pharaoh in Exodus chapter five, verse three, telling him that, oh, we're only gonna go away for three days. And God even tells Moses to say that in chapter three, verse 16. The idea being that Pharaoh may let him go if he thinks they're coming back, but Moses knows they're not coming back because in Exodus 1 verse 17, God tells Moses that he's gonna lead them out of Egypt and into Canaan to live for the rest of their lives. Then we have this, this little tidbit. In 1 Kings chapter 22 when the prophet Micaiah prophesies against evil king Ahab. This is a little lengthy but listen to it. 1 Kings 22 starting with verse 18. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me but evil? And it's Micaiah who made this prophecy. And Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, who will entice Ahab? Listen to this, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead. And one said one thing and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. I think we're pretty good so far, right? Verse 22, and the Lord said to him, by what means? And the spirit said, I will go out and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, you are to entice him and you shall succeed. Go out and do so. Verse 23, now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster for you. Ooh, that's tough. What is going on? See, so you see, there are some cases in the Bible where lying seems to be preferred over telling the truth. But before you begin to think that lying is okay, know this, scripture also tells us God hates a lying tongue. We see the God prohibits lying in numerous places. Let me give you just some of these. Exodus 20, verse 16. I'll send those out to you later on. Proverbs 6, 17, and 12, 22. Ephesians 4, 5. Colossians 3, 9. Revelation 21, 8. And what we need to see here is that lying is not the black and white issue that many people think it is. There seem to be some cases in which God actually blesses a lie. And if we pay attention to the context of scripture and what's going on in those cases, we'll find that those cases are very few, very far between, but they are almost always a case where the truth would cause great harm and even death to someone else. I need to just ponder this for a second. And here's my take on all this. If telling the truth is gonna hurt someone, then it may be better to lie. Or how about this one? If telling the truth will cause a greater sin to be committed, then it's better to lie, to take the lesser of the two evils. We need heavenly wisdom to understand how this works. We need the discernment of the Holy Spirit to show us when this is appropriate, when it's not. And we have to be very careful, because to me, scriptural examples show us that lying for the benefit and welfare of others, and that your own personal risk, Rahab, God will allow. He doesn't condone it. He doesn't say, go ahead and do this, but he allows it. But lying for self-protection or for selfish reasons is clearly prohibited. So none of this gives us permission to tell lies, save our own skin, or to avoid embarrassment or loss, which is usually why we lie, if we're going to be honest about it. But it's also clear that telling the truth in a brutal, judgmental, or harmful way is not a good thing. So but that explanation, thou shalt not lie, is not in the Ten Commandments. So what does this Ninth Commandment say? And what does it tell us about our Father in Heaven? So read it again. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. This is judicial language. It's the language of a courtroom or a judge's chamber. And that's kind of borne out when we see how it carries out in Leviticus chapter five, verse one. If anyone sins and that he bears a public adjuration to testify, this is before judges, and though he is a witness whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity. So we see that saying something damaging about someone else is a lie and false and is prohibited, but withholding something truthful is also very helpful. And the main idea in all this is to bear truthful testimony, to bear a truthful witness about someone in a court of law. And of course, the example that sets is it's to defend the truth whenever possible. It's the bar that is set for us. If we can do this before a judge, we should be able to do it outside the courtroom. It's called integrity. And of course, that implication is tell the truth to others at all times. Bring the truth into the conversation whenever lies are being told. Now, you know, in today's climate, we kind of love that, don't we? Oh my gosh, those people on the other side of the political aisle are telling a lie. I need to tell everybody what a bunch of dope they are. And so we very self-righteously put up, all these people are idiots. You shouldn't listen to them. Don't vote for them. They're evil. They're part of the Trilateral Commission. Anybody remember that? No, come and talk to me later on. I'm dating myself here. Okay, so we wanna make sure that everybody knows that we're right and they're wrong. So we're gonna be very careful with how we defend the truth. And so it's not a mandate to protest. It's not a mandate to judge others. It has to be tempered with the rest of scripture. So what does the rest of scripture tell us? It tells us to lead quiet lives. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 11, and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you. It tells us to be peacemakers. Matthew chapter 5 verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. Romans 12, 18, if possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all. And it tells us to avoid being rabble-rousers, avoid being divisive, avoid causing trouble. Romans 16, verse 17, watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles. There's a guideline for your election. Watch out for those who would cause divisions. Let's don't be part of that. I told you before, we vote, we'll vote. It's okay to be part of a political party, but you vote with the scriptures in one hand, a ballot in the other hand. So our truth-telling needs to be marked by sensitivity, by love, and by some compassion. It's characterized by a spirit of unity and outreach. We portray the gospel, but we also proclaim the truth. In short, the truth is never supposed to be weaponized. It's never an attack on someone, never to be wielded as a blunt instrument. It's always used to portray a loving God, always used to magnify Him, to honor Him, and recognize His presence among us. He doesn't just speak the truth John 14 6 as Jesus said to him I am the way and I am what I the truth, and the life. God is the embodiment of truth. He's the manifestation of truth. The holy, perfect, beautiful, and profound presence of truth in a fallen, tilting world represents the truth. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. Now, we're familiar with that, right? What is covet? What is covet? You know, I used to think it means that when I wanted something, I coveted it. You know, I covet a new tablet. I covet a new cover for my Bible. That's not what we're talking about here. This word to the Jews means to take pleasure in, to desire with a passion. It is animated. There's an intentional intensity to this word. It is a preoccupying, maybe even all-consuming desire. It is something we find pleasure in, in owning or doing, and we find great pleasure in. Now, according to scriptures, this is not always a bad thing. We can covet the Word of God, Psalm 19, 9. The rules of the Lord are true and the righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey in the drippings of the honeycomb. Luke 22, 15. We are to covet Christ strongly desires to eat the Passover with his disciples. So we covet communion. In Philippians 3, Paul strongly desires to know Christ. more intimately. So we can see there's a good form of coveting, and it appears where we covet godly things, like more of Christ, like more of the Word, more of the prayers of the saints, that sort of thing, that there's blessings involved in that. But as with most other godly things, there's also a counterfeit. There's also one that has been corrupted. And one that is not only selfish, but listen carefully, it denies the sufficiency of God's grace. Think about this for a second. Scriptures tell us that God is our all-in-all. We sing that song, don't we? You're my all-in-all. Colossians 311. We see it again in 1 Corinthians 15. Listen to this. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him, who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. It doesn't say that God may be most things and all. It says God will be everything, in everything. Both times, the phrase comes near the end of a gospel proclamation. So it's a consummation of the gospel in our lives. God becomes all in all. Both times, they refer to Christ. Both times, they mean God as being the absolute authority over His creation. He made it all. He owns it all. He inhabits it all. Think about that. It belongs to Him. And the truth of the matter is, so do we. But through Jesus Christ, he gives us eternal life. And that gift, we might not realize it right now, but that gift is the most precious thing we will ever receive. And we receive it, how? By, some of you know, grace. We receive it by grace. Okay, what does scripture tell us about grace? 2 Corinthians 12.9, God tells Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. Paul wanted to be healed, some unstated affliction. I'm glad he didn't tell us what it was. You know, if he did, we could go, oh, we don't have that problem. Paul prayed for it earnestly. I mean, we're talking about Paul here, right? The apostle Paul, signs, wonders, incredible teaching, torture, all this stuff. Paul prays for healing, and he doesn't get it. It doesn't come. Well, what is the problem with Paul? There's no problem with Paul. God tells Paul that his grace is sufficient. The word for sufficient means it's enough. My grace is enough. God's grace is enough to satisfy. It's enough to meet Paul's needs. It may not meet Paul's wants. It may not satisfy Paul's desires. But it satisfies Paul's needs. Do you get this? God, our creator, gives us everything we need. He tells us so, Philippians 4.19, and my God will supply a few of my needs. What does it say? My God will supply every need, every need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. I mean, how much richer can God get? He owns everything. The question we all need to answer at some point, is that enough? Is God giving us everything that we need enough? Is there something more that we need in order to be satisfied? When we covet something more than God, the answer to that question is, no, I don't have everything I need. Yes, there is something more than I need than what God has given." See, that's what coveting does. It questions God's sufficiency. It says to him, the sacrifice of your son, give me eternal life, is not enough. Eternal life is not enough. It says, your grace is not enough. I need this, or I need that to be complete. And I know most of you don't struggle with this. I do. I'm a collector. I'm absolutely convinced that the next little car I buy is going to completely satisfy me. I told you this before. I'm guilty of that because I get it. You see the car's over in my office. I get the car. Well, that's pretty good. I need one more. There's a site, a YouTube channel that says, just one more model. And I'm always disappointed because it never satisfies. The 10th commandment tells us that God is everything we need. So there's our last two commandments. The ninth commandment, God is truth. Anything misrepresenting the truth misrepresents God. God does not condone lying, but he does allow it in certain cases. They're not nearly as numerous as we would like them to be. And in very rare cases, he even blesses it. But only if it's a selfless lie, only if it's made for the benefit of someone else and at your own personal risk. That doesn't really equate for us today because we demand our rights and so on and so forth. So all this highlights the truth that God is a self-sacrificing, holy, pure truth. And if we're going to emulate him, if we're going to be conformed to his image, we're going to portray that type of truth. The 10th commandment. We may not be able to see it right now, maybe not today, but I will tell you this, when we stand before our creator and our judge, because regardless of where you are in your theology, it's okay, wherever you are, it's fine, but the scripture tells us that there will be a day of accounting, doesn't it? Now, we know we're not going to be judged unto our condemnation, because the scripture tells us that there's no condemnation in those who call upon his name, and those who have confessed their sins and repented and followed Jesus Christ. There's no condemnation for them. But there's going to be a day of an account. I don't know what that looks like. But I do know that there's going to come a moment when I stand at the precipice, and on one side is going to be glory, and the other side is going to be the lake of fire. And at that moment, as I stand before my Father in heaven who is holy and perfect and far more than I will ever be, I will realize that what I deserve, because I, like everyone else, have fallen short of the mark. I've sinned just like everybody else. What I deserve is that lake of fire. And in that moment, in that moment, I will realize that all I ever needed was Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ is the only thing standing between me and that lake of fire. And he does it magnificently. He does it perfectly. He does it beautifully. And he does it eternally. And we may not realize that today because we think there are things we need. But at the most crucial moment that we will ever experience in all of eternity, we will see that God's grace is sufficient. And that comes in His only Son. So let's go over this 10th commandment. What have we learned here? I'll send this out later on. By laying it out, we've asked some hard questions. We found out much about God through each one. He's the one true God. He alone is worthy of worship. He's holy. He's creator of all things. God is worthy of honor. He's the giver of life. God is faithful. God is a giver of all things. And we can trust in that because God is true. There's no deceit. There's no shadow, no wavering, no lie, no deficiency, no disappointment in Him. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you, never abandon you, never let you down. God will never stop loving. and in him is everything that we need. See, they're not just for today. They're not something that if we listen to them, if we do our best to obey them, maybe the good will outweigh the bad or whatever, maybe we'll have a good score when we get to heaven or something. They're a portrayal of who God is. their preparation for eternity. They are his introduction card, saying, this is who I am. And as you unite with my son, as you confess your sins, as you repent, as you recognize him as Lord and Savior. This is who I'm conforming you into. This is the image that I am day by day forming you into. And when you stand before me, if you pay attention to this, if you embrace this, if you study it, if you meditate it, then I will be familiar to you and you will understand my grace. The Ten Commandments are a gift, brothers and sisters. They're not a law there to scare us. They're there to encourage us and help us in our sanctification. Let's pray. Father, we give You thanks. We give You thanks for Your Word. We give You thanks for the authority of Your Word. Lord, we give You thanks that through Your Holy Spirit, by His presence, by His power, the Word is illuminated. We pray, Father, that You would seal up the good things that we've heard here today, the good things we've sung about, the good things we've read about, the good things that we've heard about, Father. And let us, Father, by, again, the presence and power of Your Spirit, discard everything that's not for You. nor do we carry with us your truth for all eternity. And we pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in. Next week, we have the big week. We'll be talking about Apollos. Graduating Apollos 17, we're nearing 300 people we've graduated from Apollos. So look forward to seeing you there. Thank you. Yeah, Apollos graduates, wear your stoles next week, please. I'll be over here if anybody would like to talk. We'd love to hear from you. We're on Facebook and YouTube at WBFVA and on the World Wide Web at WBFVA.org. Let us know if you'd like us to pray for you. We'd love the opportunity. If you'd like to support us financially or to make a donation to our building preservation fund, You can do that through our website at wbfva.org and by clicking on Given. Of course, you can send a check to Warrington Bible Fellowship, 46 Winchester Street, Warrington, Virginia, 20186. You'll receive a tax-deductible receipt either way at the end of the year. If you'd like to contact me personally, you can email me at kavakas, that's k-u-v-a-k-a-s, at gmail.com. I'm also on Facebook and Instagram under John Kavakas. Either way, we'd love to hear from you, or even if we have the opportunity to visit us in person one Sunday, we'd love to see you. We meet at 46 Winchester Street in downtown Warrington at 11 a.m. every Sunday morning. And now may God bless you richly until we gather again.