Sermon Text:

This morning we continue our series on the 10 commandments looking to each one as a mirror and as a guide. First, they are a mirror showing us our sin and need for a savior. They make clear that we are not innocent or righteous before God on the basis of our own obedience.

 

Second, they are a guide, pointing us to Christ to show us what life lived in the power of the Spirit looks like. Recognizing we have a righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus, we repent of our sin and seek to follow him by faith. The commands guide us in that. The Holy Spirit transforms us by writing these commands on our hearts. When we fail, they point us to Jesus for comfort and hope. When we do well, they point us to Jesus as a guide because to follow them from the heart is to be like him.

 

Today we come to the 9th commandment against lying and the main point of the message is that “Our testimony is perfected in Christ.” Our testimony is perfected in Christ.

 

We have already seen with the previous 8 commandments that we all fall short. This one will be no different. Exodus 20:16, says 

 

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  

 

In lists of the commands, this one is often paraphrased as don’t lie. Here in Exodus 20 it is presented in a judicial sense. The emphasis here is on obstructing justice. The justice system of any nation relies upon true testimony. If witnesses, whether in a criminal case or civil disputes, do not tell the truth or hide evidence, the system cannot deliver justice.

 

It is no coincidence that we are seeing an erosion of the rule of law in our culture after over a century long assault against the reality of objective truth. Without truth you lose the rule of law and without the rule of law, power rather than principal becomes the means of governance. The founding fathers of our country, though they differed greatly as to the details of their politics and religion, agreed civic virtue was necessary for the nation to survive without descending into tyranny. That is why George Washington said,

 

"It is in the interest of good government that honesty should be cultivated by every means possible."

 

You can find similar quotes from just about all the founders. Justice cannot be disconnected from honesty because all goodness ultimately flows from God, who is both just and true. So, in Exodus 20, where God is establishing the covenant with Israel and calling them to be a people who reflect him as their god, he requires them to uphold justice by giving honest testimony.

 

But we know this command cannot be constricted to only apply to legal proceedings. All dishonesty is prohibited by the principal of the command. We see this plainly in places where the law is applied. For example, Leviticus 19:11 says,

 

11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.  

 

That is why it is fine to summarize this command as “don’t lie”. Of course that doesn’t mean we can be like lawyers and splice our words to avoid lying in a technical sense either. We are not to deal falsely, which encompasses several things.

 

It means we are not to say anything untrue or spread false information. We need to be careful because it is easier today than it has ever been in human history to be part of a chain that passes on information. We repeat an astounding amount of information without any real knowledge.  It only takes a moment on the internet to realize that most people are quick to share things that confirm their own biases, regardless of how unlikely it is for those things to be true.

 

We somehow think we are all entitled to our opinion but that is not a biblical viewpoint. We are not entitled to voice uninformed opinions or speak without knowledge. That is why Proverbs 10:19 says,

 

When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is prudent. (CSB translation)

 

Brothers and sisters, if we do not know that something is true, especially if it is about another person, we have no business passing it on. If you are not informed enough to say with reasonable confidence that something is the case then it is best to remain silent. 

 

I know some of us think we are corporate lawyers and can make it ok by adding a disclaimer… “I’m not sure if this is true… but…” Well, if you are not sure it is true don’t spread it, because to do so is gossip and does not come from the Spirit of God.

 

Social media, with its insatiable appetite for uninformed comments is a spiritual minefield and people who identify as believers in Jesus are drowning daily in a flood of false witness and it is so subtle that many do not even realize it. 

Then obviously, we break the law when we flat out lie or knowingly accept or repeat the lies of others. Many of us are drawn into violating this command when we become angry because when we are upset we often use our speech as a weapon. The early church father Augustine said “the tongue inflicts greater wounds than the sword” and in James 1:20 the Bible cautions us that “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

 

When a person is arrested, they are reminded that anything they say can and will be used against them in court. Friends, every one of us will stand in the courtroom of God and give an account for our words. 

 

We do well to listen to the sober warning the preacher Thomas Watson who said, 

 

“You who are given much to passion, whose tongue is often set on fire—take heed you do not one day in hell desire a drop of water to cool it.”

 

We are called to speak truly even of those who are evil or who wrong us. 

 

We are also called to tell the truth rather than lies of inconvenience, you know, those little white lies. Those kinds of lies indicate that we are not trusting God for what we need or what is best. Why would we think we can use the tools of the devil to serve righteous ends? It doesn’t work that way. 

 

We all need grace to trust him more. There is a reason God gave us two eyes, two ears, and only one mouth. Spiritually speaking there is a reason our eyes and ears are naturally open and our mouth is naturally shut. The old puritans used to say it was with good reason that God placed the tongue behind two fences, meaning both the teeth and the lips. It takes a double guard to contain the mouth. 

 

James 3:6-8 says,

 

6 …the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  

 

What about you this morning? If we could download your life and project it up here and play every word you have said, written, or forwarded would you want us to see it? If we, who are sinners, fail at our own standard, how much more do we fall short of the real test? The reality is that truth and falsehood is not merely a matter of what is spoken or not. It does not consist of markings on a page, sounds in the air, or pixels on a screen. If we are willing to ignore the truth whenever we think it is more convenient to do so, that is a heart issue.

 

Just like the engine of our car is connected to and responds to the gas pedal, our mouths are connected to and respond to our hearts. Our speech gives evidence about who we are. That is why the law condemns those who pursue righteousness by works, because every one of us have turned our mouths, which were created by God to proclaim his holy word and to sing his praises, into instruments of unrighteousness.

 

We cannot be saved by works because it is our works that have condemned us. Jesus says in Luke 12:3,

3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

If we were judged for salvation based on our perfection, every one of us would surely be condemned to hell by our own words. There would be no need for other witnesses because when the tapes are played back, it would be our own voices that testify against us. 

 

A righteous heart, filled with the Spirit of God will not lie because dishonesty cannot come from God. That means if there is falsehood in our mouth, there is unrighteousness in our heart.

 

Hebrews 6:18 says it is impossible for God to lie. Whatever dishonesty we find in us does not, cannot, come from God. In John 8:44 Jesus tells us where it does come from. Speaking to the Pharisees, he says,

 

44 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.

 

When we lie, we bear the image of Satan rather than God. Those who are children of God walk in truth and those who are children of the devil walk in falsehood. 

In 2 Thessalonians 2:10 the apostle Paul says those who follow after antichrist refused to love the truth, and in verse 12 he says they will be condemned because they did not believe the truth but instead took pleasure in unrighteousness.

In Revelation 22:14–15 Jesus contrasts those who enter into the heavenly blessings and those who are shut out, saying,

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.  

 

Those who are righteous love the truth and those who love falsehood are not. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 12:35–37,

35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

 

Jesus is not teaching that we are saved by our good works or good words. What he is saying is that our words are the evidence of what kind of person we are. They prove we are in sin. That is why the law condemns us and the only way for God to be just and still accept us, or justify us, is for that penalty to be carried out. Our sins must be punished and our sinful hearts must be put to death and if we are to spend eternity with God, we need a new heart. One that loves God and the truth.

 

This is exactly what God does through Jesus. This is why we call it the good news. The word gospel means good news and the good news is this: God himself has provided salvation that is not dependent on our perfection, but the perfection of his own son. 

 

Jesus lived as one of us, a man under the law and he kept them perfectly. He did every good deed, and performed every work required, without fail and with perfect love. Then, having no sin of his own, he offered himself as a substitute in the place of every sinner who will abandon trying to become righteous through their works and accept him as their righteousness by faith. That simply means that we trust Jesus rather than ourselves to bring us to heaven. 

 

He can do this because he paid the price for every sin of every person who would ever put their trust in him. He took the blows and the nails for every falsehood we have uttered. The wrath of God was poured out on him so that the blessings of God could be poured out on believers. He was crucified on a cross, died, and was buried. But three days later he was raised from the dead, proving that he was greater than death and is able to keep his promise to save. We obtain all these blessings not by works, but by faith alone.

 

The Bible says that through faith, we are united to Jesus in a mysterious way. A way that goes beyond anything else we can experience in this world. By faith, we become connected to him so that we are covered in his righteousness and have his spirit living in us. We become one with him. Therefore, in him we receive forgiveness and justification before God, and we also receive a new heart that loves the truth.

 

It sounds terrifying for every word to be revealed when we cling to our pride and works thinking that in some sense there was everything good in us to be admired. But for those who believe, on that day when we give an account for our words, we will stand firm in Christ. 

 

Every word and work that came from our flesh will be burnt up and the works we did by his spirit will remain to testify that we are his. If you believe in Jesus, you are no longer under the condemnation of the law and are now free to rejoice in the truth because your testimony is Christ alone.

 

We were born sinners with no spiritual power and no love for the truth. In Christ, we have been made alive and through his power the light of the truth of his word shines in our hearts. We are like lamps. A lamp by itself cannot shine. Its bulb is cold and dead. But when the lamp is plugged in and connected to the power source, it is ablaze with heat and light. Our heart is like that bulb, our faith is like that cord, and Jesus the power source. The heat and light are evidence the lamp is plugged in just as love for the truth is evidence of Christ in us.

 

Our testimony is made perfect in him. In John 14:6–7 Jesus says,

6 … “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 

 

To know Jesus is to know the truth and to know God. Coming to know him is the first step in being transformed to be like him. That too is a work of the truth in us for where God is working, the truth is working. In John 17:17–19 Jesus says to the Father about his people,

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

 

God’s word isn’t just true, it IS truth. It is the power through which we grow in holiness. To be a believer is to be someone that knows the truth, and loves the truth. In verse 19 Jesus explains that his life and teaching was not simply so that we could be better informed, merely knowing the truth, but to be transformed, to love the truth and to be made holy by it.

 

He came not only that sin would be forgiven, but that it would be destroyed. The hope of the gospel is not just that we are free from the penalty of sin but that we are free from its power as well. The freedom we have in Christ is a freedom from being secure in the truth. Listen  carefully to John 8:31–32,

 

31 …Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 

Do you see that? To abide is to live. To live in his word shows that our claim to be his disciples is true. Therefore, if we live in his word, we will know the truth and freedom follows. Freedom from the penalty of sin. Free from the power of sin. Free from the heavy burden of trying to perform well enough to earn God’s love or the love of others. Free from guilt. Free from shame. Free from the need to be at the center of our world. Free to live and speak honestly and trust God for the rest, knowing he loves us.

 

So then, it is all of grace and the power of God. We are justified by grace apart from the law. Does that mean once we see our need in the mirror of the law and run to Christ for salvation that there is nothing more for the moral law to do? Since they do not contribute to justification, does that mean our works do not matter? Not at all.

 

The law is not only a mirror to show us our sin so that we would run to Jesus, but it is also a guide pointing us to the example of Jesus for what the life of a true child of God is to be. 

 

To persist in dishonesty while claiming to be a believer would be to say that our former ignorance is better than Christ, who is the truth. It would be to say that we find more pleasure in our spiritual deadness than in the new life we have been given. That is why Paul says in Colossians 3:9 

 

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 

 

Lying comes from the old self, which was put to death with Jesus. Dishonesty doesn’t belong in the Christian life. It is a foreign object, a spiritual sliver that needs to be removed.

 

It is said when the brilliant medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas was a young man the other boys used to make fun of him and tease him. I’m not sure if this really happened, but there is an old story that there was a pig farm near the monastery where Thomas was studying and one of the other students tried to trick Thomas by telling him that one of the pigs was flying around the courtyard. 

 

When Thomas jumped up excitedly and ran to the window, all the boys began to laugh at him and one said, “did you really think you would see a flying pig?” Thomas is said to have replied, “I would rather believe that a pig could fly than that one of my brothers would lie to me.”

 

They laughed at Thomas, but they were the fools because they were willing to trade Christlikenss for a joke. Friends, the more time we reflect on the truth of who God is, what he is like, and what he has done in Christ the more we see how much better God is than the things that bring the world its temporary joy. 

 

The more we realize the connection between God’s law and God’s love the more you will understand what David means when he says, “I delight in your law” and “your words are sweeter to my taste than honey.” 

 

The more we are captivated by the truth the deeper our joy will be. Be filled with the joy of Christ and sing with the psalmist, 

 

7  You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.  (Psalm 4:7)

Only Christ can do that. Friends, that is why I have a burden for us all to be in the word, growing in the truth of God. That is where we most clearly encounter the truth and grow in our capacities to worship and to enjoy the peace and rest that comes with knowing Jesus as we ought. We cannot live what we don’t know and there is a direct link between truth, life, and joy.

 

Listen to what the apostle John says in 3rd John 4, 

 

4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.  

 

This makes sense because there is no greater joy in the universe than to be with God. He is the greatest good, the greatest joy, the greatest peace, the greatest love. Everything that would separate us from him is a lie. To see others putting the truth into practice is a glimpse of Christ.

 

Falsehood on the other hand obscures Christ. It is no surprise the devil lies, because that is the only way he could ever draw people away from God. In a very real way, all sin comes from choosing to believe a lie rather than the truth. It has been that way since the beginning. 

 

Adam and Eve believed the lie and ended up with far less. In wanting to be like God, they became less like him. They traded access to the tree of life for a taste of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They exchanged the riches of God’s wisdom for a knowledge of their nakedness. They replaced the sweetness of walking with God in the garden for the toil and sweat of working for their bread.

 

What blessing is that old serpent trying to get you to trade? Don’t believe his lie that his pleasures are better than what God offers. 

 

Are momentary fleshly pleasures better than peace with God?

Is the praise of other sinners better than the joyful approval of our heavenly Father?

Is worldly entertainment better than godly wisdom?

Is money and power worth more than a crown of righteousness?

 

Truth is not only a sin to avoid, it is the key to putting sin to death. When we are thinking rightly, soberly, and clearly we see the truth that satisfaction in God is worth more than 10,000 worlds. This was the truth that enabled our Lord to endure the temptation of the devil and it will do the same for us.

 

Through Jesus God has set us free in Christ to pursue this law. Free to take pleasure in honesty and integrity because through it we bear witness to the one who loved us and gave himself for us. Because by it we bless our neighbors and point them to the savior. 

 

We should rather rejoice in suffering for the truth than in telling a lie because in that our spirit testifies with Christ that we too are children of God. As his children, adopted by God through our union with Jesus, we can rejoice in the truth. 

 

We can anticipate the day when every word will be revealed knowing that because of grace and mercy, on that day those who are truly his will receive a blessing. Believer, you can rejoice that you, who were sinners, have been made holy ones by the grace of God. Our testimony is true because it is perfected in Jesus.

 

How amazing is God and deserving of worship! 

 

Author Dane Ortland said,

 

“The Christian life boils down to two steps. 

           #1 Go to Christ. 

#2, See #1.”

 

I would like to end this morning with the words of 1 John 3:19–24 

19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.  

 

Amen.