There is a pop song called lies lies sweet little lies.
Our bible verse this morning would suggest that there is nothing sweet or little about lies. Particularly lies that bear false testimony
Ravi Zacharias illustrated the many ways a person can tell the truth when he told the story of two brothers. Evidently the brothers were rather corrupt in their ways, even though they had both succeeded greatly in business. When one of the brothers became critically ill with cancer, the other one approached the local pastor with this proposal: He would donate a huge sum of money to the church if only the preacher would say at his brother’s funeral that his brother was a saint. On the day of the funeral, the pastor, having accepted the challenge, looked for a way to state those unlikely words before the congregation. Finally he said, “Before we close this memorial service, I want to say that, compared to his living brother, Joe was a saint!”
We shall not bear false testimony is a key aspect of the ten commandments and it is a key component of law.
The Chris Cairns case in London is all about false testimony
Chris Cairns' lawyer Orlando Pownall, QC, has told the jury in his perjury case that the key witnesses were lying.
Maybe not all of them, Pownall said, but the the key ones were.
Was Vincent lying? "Yes"; McCullum, "yes"; Riley, "yes"; and former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, "yes", Pownall told the jury.
Lies are bad but lies about someone else are particularly bad.
The bible says you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
In Old Testament days the law depended on someone’s testimony over a situation and the law depended on credibility in what people say.
It still remains today.
In the court room people are asked to say I promise to tell the whole truth nothing but the truth so help me God.
The truth is so important and you notice that when you lie it always affects someone else – that is called bearing false testimony.
But lies run counter to the God who made us it says it this way in Titus chapter 1 verse 2 – God does not lie. There is nothing in God’s character that is untrustworthy or unreliable.
But Jesus says of the devil. John 8 verse 44: You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Your first language is your most strong language – If you were bought up in France or Tonga then French and or Tongan will be your native or strongest language. Lying is demonic you need to get out of the categories of what do I want you to think?. Or what do I want the truth to be? To what is the utterly verified truth? – In a court of law the intention is to verify the truth.
Truth is really important.
Lying about someone is murdering their reputation intending to do them harm – I have done that. I did that as a child and I have never forgotten it. The truth is
John chapter 8 verse 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Ephesians 4:29-32 ESV
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Now we don’t want to be a liar – that would be to co-operate with the devil we want to be excellent to one another.
The way to avoid being a liar and falling into the trap of false testimony is to be excellent with one another.
To speak the truth in love.
Many people speak the truth not in love. Their hearts are not loving but what they say is technically correct. But their hearts are not right. In that way they bear false testimony their lips do not line up with their hearts.
But did you ever notice that we seal our footpaths so that weeds won’t grow up and we put gravel and seal in our driveways to stop rogue growths. We need to seal our lives with truth. Lies will trip you up – false testimonies will trip you up so here are some ways you can be excellent with one another.
Psalm 12 verse 2- Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak
Flattery is a way to break the ninth commandment – you are not saying what is true and at the heart of the matter is deception.
You meet someone who comes across you and they just flatter you and they are not being truthful. Flattery harms the person. You want to get your own way and so you tell the person how great they are with an insincere heart – you may be telling a partial truth but it is not the whole truth and it is fatally flawed it builds weird – and fake friendships and it will destroy you in the end.
Luke's wife bought a new line of expensive cosmetics guaranteed to make her look years younger.
After a lengthy sitting before the mirror applying the "miracle" products she asked, "Darling, honestly what age would you say I am?"
Looking over her carefully, Luke replied, "Judging from your skin, twenty; your hair, eighteen; and your figure, twenty-five."
"Oh, you flatterer!" she gushed.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Luke interrupted. "I haven't added them up yet."
The bible warns about the dangers of flattery.
Psalm 12:2-3
They speak falsehood to one another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things;
Psalm 5:9
There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue.
Psalm 55:20-21
He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him; He has violated his covenant. His speech was smoother than butter, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords.
1 John 3 verse 7 (Deception) Little children let no-one deceive you.
It is a sin to deceive someone – Kids can be easy to deceive – Sometimes we are like that – There is difference between a childlike faith and a childish faith. The person who deceives you is responsible for their lives and we are responsible to establish the truth. We are morally responsible for believing lies.
Do you believe everything you see in an advertisement?
According to one article Duracell “Lasts Even Longer”
Have you ever bought batteries just to run out of life after a few uses? Duracell, Inc and TheProcter & Gamble Company got sued in US by customers claiming that the companies were delivering a deceptive marketing scheme and misleading facts. Duracell Ultra Advanced and Duracell Ultra Power batteries were more expensive than regular batteries although did not provide longer life than regular alkaline batteries.
White lies –“What about you just remain silent” - Augustine.
But often in life threatening situations you may be tempted to not tell the truth – the truth is vital. Your life depends on it.
The bearing of false testimony is strictly prohibited by God, no matter how innovative we become! Any understanding of what God was saying to His children is greatly enhanced by a clear understanding of what it means to tell a lie. Bearing false testimony also carries with it the basic idea of fabrication, which, simply put, means to make something up. Exaggeration fits right in with God’s prohibition because any effort to stretch the truth is, in and of itself, a fabrication. When God said, “You shall not bear false witness” (Exodus 20:16), He was definitively pointing to the heart of man. Not even a person’s creativity with the truth is acceptable to God.
The verb “to bear” implies the act of carrying or transmitting something, while the adjective false describes content that is untrue. The speaking of an untruth renders what is said as unreal, thereby rendering it artificial and invalid.
People can be greatly hurt by this malicious form of robbery. Bearing false witness robs the victim of the cloak of truth and is closely allied with God’s command not to steal.
Lies will get you into trouble - "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." That’s what Sir Walter Scott said almost 200 years ago,
In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom relates an incident in Holland during the Nazi occupation in WWII. The Nazis were rounding up young men for work duties at munitions factories. Corrie was visiting with her sister-in-law, Nollie, when her two nephews, potential labor candidates, came rushing into the house with ashen faces wanting to hide because the Germans were coming.
Nollie had a small potato cellar under the floor. Quickly, they opened the trapdoor and the two boys jumped in. They covered the trapdoor with a rug, and the kitchen table was placed over the spot. The ladies quickly covered the table with a long tablecloth and set tea places for five.
Suddenly, the Germans burst in with rifles leveled, commanding everyone not to move. They asked Cocky, Corrie’s niece and the sister of the hidden brothers, where their men were.
The family had been brought up as Christians. As such, they were taught never to lie. Now was a time of testing in this crisis of conscience. What should Cocky do or say? Corrie believed that in such a case, it was right to lie.
Cocky tried evading and stalling, but the soldier pressed her.
“Where are your men? Where are your brothers?” he demanded.
Cocky continued to stall.
“Do you have brothers?” he asked.
She admitted she had three brothers and, upon demand, gave their ages – 21, 19, and 18. Continuing to avoid disclosure of her two hidden brothers, she said one brother was in theological college. The soldiers then demanded where the other two were.
What would she do? Would she lie or tell the truth, as she believed God would have her do? Again, they asked, “Where are they?”
“Why, they’re under the table,” she replied.
The Germans approached the table. One readied his rifle while the other tore back the tablecloth. Immediately Cocky “burst into spasms of high hysterical laughter,”. The soldiers were offended, thinking she was mocking them, and having already searched the rest of the house, they left.
.christianity rises and falls on the ninth commandment – 66 books written by 40 authors over a couple of thousand years – led by the Holy spirit – the scripture is credible we have faithful witnesses are there.
The Apostle Paul says = I am not lying – John says I tell you the truth – I tell you the truth I tell you the truth.
An act of deception is a lie. Remember Ananias and Sapphira? Their simple act of deception was a lie and they died because of their lie.
Acts 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, (2) And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (3) But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? (4) Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. (5) And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. (6) And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. (7) And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. (8) And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. (9) Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. (10) Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.(11) And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
The scripture says great fear came upon all the church, I wonder why there was fear created by the death of Ananias and Sapphira? Could it because others had told things that were untrue? A certain fear of lying fell on ME because of reading about it.
All lies face condemnation. 1 Tim. 1:10 “For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
The individuals associated with liars constitute a Who’s Who in Hell, Whoremongers, defilers, menstealers and perjured persons. Not a very sociable group of people, and certainly not a first choice for your next door neighbor.
And then, Rev. 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with
What is the bottom line of the ninth commandment.?
It is that truth exists. Jesus Christ once said I am the truth – Jesus and God are absolute truth.
There are no lies = half truths or little white lies there
Jesus makes it clear that lies come from the devil the Father of al lies. Lies come from the devil – It all started in Genesis when the devil deliberately bore false testimony against God. No blessing there.
The bottom line is that the truth is with Jesus.
What is ultimatey true is that Jesus took it on himself to pay the price for all those lies and the work of liars on the cross that you can be free
It was Jesus who said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
3 John 1:4 (KJVA) I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
The safe place for not walking in false testimony is to stay close to the heart of Jesus.
