In December 2001 George O’Leary was at the top of the coaching profession. He had just been named the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame – the Fighting Irish. It was a dream of a lifetime. O’Leary was in charge of one of the most prestigious sports programs in the world. Then two days later, at the end of his first day on the job, a call came. A reporter had been trying to contact some of the guys who had played college football with O’Leary back at New Hampshire. The strange thing was that nobody could remember a George O’Leary. So Notre Dame’s sports information director telephoned to check it out. O’Leary admitted that when he applied for a job at Syracuse, his resume didn’t look impressive enough. So he improved his resume. He improved his resume by claiming he had a non-existent master’s degree as well as playing for the College of New Hampshire for three years. Just five days after being named the head football coach for Notre Dame, was asked for his resignation.
Today’s Scripture
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).
We assume and consume lies. Lies flatter and seduce, they deceive and delude, and they kill and destroy. John Calvin explained that as the Eighth Commandment, “You Shall Not Steal,” tied his hands so the Ninth Commandment tied his tongue. If all of us were so tongue-tied.
God considers lying serious business: “There are six things which the Lord hates, seven which are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16–17).
“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 12:22).
“Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment” (Proverbs 12:19).
“Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel” (Proverbs 20:17).
“The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.” (Proverbs 21:6).
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).
Lying is more widespread than we care to consider. There is bias in the media, there is misrepresentation among advertisers, there are false promises from politicians, and there is gossip over the back fence.
1. The Liability of Lying
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).
A lie can forfeit a life or it can destroy a reputation. They do this by subverting a fundamental requirement for civilization – trust. If we do not trust our neighbors, then no relationship between us can exist. In the place of lying, we find that truth stabilizes relationships. Listen to Jesus’ summation on the character of lies and their origin: “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 has nothing to do with 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” (John 8:44).
Satan slivered into the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve listened to the lies of Satan (Genesis 3:1). Satan began there to put a question mark upon the Word of God. Satan has promoted lies since that day. Every time you lie, you’re acting like the devil. Satan has spawned a number of children.
Let’s quickly examine six children of Satan.
1.1 Perjury Is One of the Devil’s Children
This commandment's first reference was to the court of law. At Athens, the false witness was liable to a heavy fine, and if convicted for three lies, they lost all his civil rights. At Rome, by a law of the Twelve Tables, he was hurled headlong from the Tarpeian rock. In Egypt, the false witness was punished by amputation of the nose and ears. Each day, individual Israelites gave testimony through the legal process. This commandment aims to prohibit a false witness inside the courtroom.
Closing arguments are underway in the Casey Anthony murder trial this week. This young twenty-five-year-old lady is accused of killing her two-year-old daughter. Her parents have said they do not believe their daughter is innocent. Much is being said in the courtroom as Casey accuses her parents and her parents accuse her. It’s obvious that somebody is lying. And much is at stake when the jury begins to deliberate on the testimony of the parents.
“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit” (Exodus 20:1-3).
This commandment simply aims to establish truth first in the courtroom setting. A witness was very important in OT times. In courtroom justice, there were no lawyers, no fingerprints as evidence, and no detectives. Everything could depend on the words of a witness. Naboth (I told his story last week) was killed because two witnesses had accused him of blasphemy against God and the king (1 Kings 21:13). Remember it was false witnesses that spoke at the trial of Jesus that brought about His death (Matthew 26:60-61). No wonder Proverbs says: “A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow” (Proverbs 25:18).
The OT set up rules in court against lying witnesses. For example, the testimony of just one witness was insufficient for pronouncing a death sentence (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). The witnesses against a man were the first persons to throw stones when carrying out the sentence (Deuteronomy 17:7). To throw a stone at someone to cause his or her death causes more courage than a few lying words. If a witness was found to be lying, then they would receive the same punishment the accused would have received (Deuteronomy 19:16-19).
Perjury is a serious matter. A man killed a spotted owl for food. He stated he had gotten lost in the woods and needed food. The forest ranger arrested the man for eating the spotted owl, an animal on the endangered species list. He stood before the judge and told his story. The judge dismissed the charges and asked the man how the spotted owl tasted. The man said, “Much like a bald eagle.” But truth-telling extends beyond the walls of a courtroom. Telling the truth extends into our causal conversations, our e-mails, and in our preaching. Dishonesty comes in all different sizes.
1.2 Another Child of the Devil Is a Rumor
A rumor is a story that is not true. There are never benign and always malignant. Rumors expand from person to person. Someone has said that a rumor can travel halfway around the world before the truth could get its boots on We need to remove rumors from our conversation. People say, “I’m not the one who starts these rumors. It’s the people who are telling them to me.” A person who tells a rumor has the devil in his tongue. But the person who hears a rumor has the devil in his ear. Rumors assassinate a person’s character when we indiscriminately pass on information.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself about rumors and gossip.
1. Is what I am about to say true?
2. If so, does it need to be said to this person?
3. If the person we're here, would I be talking this way?
Don’t let rumors be named among the people of God.
1.3 Another Child of the Devil Is Flattery
Flattery is forbidden. I’m not speaking of encouragement. We should be encouragers to one another. If someone does a good job, we should say so.
“A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin” (Proverbs 26:28)
“His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords” (Psalm 55:21)
Have you met people like this? Flattery is saying something to your face they will not say behind your back. Flattery is trying to manipulate you and use you.
1.4 Another Child of the Devil Is Insinuation.
The Bible often refers to this as whisperings. Whispering is an illustrative word. The person who insinuates does so by an arch of an eyebrow, by the smirk of the face, or by the shrug of the shoulders. You can insinuate someone against someone simply by being silent when you should speak. Insinuation is saying one thing and meaning another. God knows the motives of our hearts.
1.5 Another Child of the Devil Is Slander
Slander is another form of gossip, an evil form of lying. This is indiscriminately passing along tales whether they are true or not. No matter if it is true or lie, God has not given us the right to just pass along information.
God delivers our church from gossip. We need to do everything we can to smother the flames of slander. Ask God to help keep your mouth closed. But not only your mouth but your ears. You can be arrested for receiving stolen goods and passing them along. Ask that person who tells you the juicy piece of information if you can quote them on this. Don’t allow your ears to become garbage cans for gossip.
1.6 The Last Child of the Devil Is Silence
You can lie not only by what you say, but in what you don’t say. We tell half-truths. Rather than being a positive and true witness for the Lord Jesus Christ, we can run like the disciples at the cross of Christ. We can hide when the heat is on and run for the shadows. This is hiding the truth.
Sometimes sin needs to be confronted. When this is the case, we need to remember: “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…” (Ephesians 4:15)
Where were those disciples when Jesus died? They were sinfully silent. You can be sinfully silent when you don’t speak up when someone is maligned. You can share a good word. Or when you don’t share that witness. Some say, “Silence is golden,” yes but sometimes silence is just plain yellow.
Jay Strack was witnessing to a Bedouin Shepherd about Christ. That Bedouin Shepherd said, “I know. You’re keeping yourself from committing the sin of the desert.” Jay said, “What is the sin of the desert?” The sin of the desert is knowing where there is water and not telling someone elsewhere it is. We know where the Water of Life resides. We must not commit the sin of silence.
2 The Motives for Lying
In Matthew 21:23–27, the authority of Jesus is challenged by the chief priests and elders.
“By what authority do you do these things?”
Before He answers them, He gives them a test to see if they really love the truth or whether they are only trying to trip Him up.
He asks, “The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?”
Now we can watch a lie in the making. We can see what desires go into the making of a lie. It says (in v. 25) that the chief priests argued with one another and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The chief priests and the elders fail the test. What their desire for instead of the truth? It is for personal esteem and physical safety They are controlled by two kinds of fear. First, they fear getting egg on their faces and losing the esteem of the people. They fear being shown wrong. We see this in verse 25: they conclude that they can't answer Jesus' question by saying John's baptism is from heaven. Why? If they answer truthfully, they will give Jesus a chance to show them in an inconsistency—"Why then did you not believe him?" So they are driven toward a lie by their desire for the esteem of men and their fear of having to admit an inconsistency.
The second kind of fear that controls them is fear of physical harm. Physical safety is more important than truth. We see this in verse 26: they can’t answer that John's baptism is from men because the multitudes believe John was a prophet and so the people might get mad and stone the priests! They are evasive, diplomatic, or (as some say) political.
So we see the origin of a lie-in at least two kinds of fear: fear of losing personal esteem and fear of getting physically hurt. But note well! These desires for safety and esteem are deceitful desires. Satan is deceiving the chief priests. It is a lie that popular esteem is to be desired more than speaking the truth. It is a lie that physical safety is to be desired more than speaking the truth. Ask the martyrs! Listen to Jesus! Don’t run from persecution by lying or evading a testimony of truth. What does He say? Blessed are you when men persecute you for righteousness sake!
3. The Reliability of the Truth
In the place of lying, we find that truth stabilizes relationships.
“I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14-15).
We know we are supposed to tell the truth but what does that look like?
1 Kings 22 tells the story of two kings: Ahab and Jehoshaphat. These two kings of Israel and Judah were going to war and they wanted to know if God would give them victory in their efforts. So they called together 400 prophets who said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king” (1 Kings 22:6b). The kings must have been a little skeptical of 400 preachers agreeing with one another without so much as one dissent. So the king asked I there was not one (1) prophet who disagreed (1 Kings 22:8). And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so” (1 Kings 22:8). Now when the messenger sent for the prophet, Micaiah, he warned him that all of Ahab’s prophets had already prophesied his success. He warned him that he should add his own blessing as well. But watch carefully the prophet’s reaction: “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak” (1 Kings 22:14). Micaiah correctly prophesied the military campaign would end in defeat for the two kings. Prophet number 401 received a reward of a punch in the face and a stint in prison for his services.
Here are four lessons we can learn from this story.
2.1 It is Better to be Divided by Truth than United in Error.
I love unity. The Bible loves unity. But don’t sacrifice unity for the sake of truth.
2.2. It is Better, to tell the truth, that hurts and then heals than to tell a lie that comforts & then kills.
Rough truth is better than polished falsehood.
2.3 It is Better to be Hated for Telling the Truth than to be Loved for Telling a Lie.
Tell your children that telling the truth will not get you elected most popular. Telling the truth caused Jesus to be crucified.
2.4 It is Better to Stand Alone with the Truth than to be Wrong with the Multitude
Remember Micaiah was opposed by 400 preachers.
