Last week we discussed “You Shall Not Steal,” the 8th Commandment in a message titled “Be Givers, Not Getters.” Now we are going to discuss the 9th Commandment “You Shall Not Lie”, or “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.”
Webster’s New World Dictionary
Lie : to make a statement that one knows is false, a false statement made with the intent to deceive (pg. 348)
False : Not true, incorrect, wrong, misleading
Webster’s Thesaurus gives us a few other words that are the same:
Falsehood, inaccuracy, defamation, slander, fish story, whopper. (pg. 254)
Always tell the truth! Sounds simple but so many people have different ideas of what the truth is and what is or is not a lie. Little lies, white lies, exaggeration – all forms of lies.
Jesus talks about the origin of lies when talking to the Israelite people.
John 8:42-47 NIV
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but He sent me.
43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.
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.
45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
As a kid, my dad always told me that if I do something wrong, always tell the truth about it. If I lied, the punishment would be way worse than it would have been just for what I did wrong.
The Apostle John wrote about the result of lying in Revelations 21:8 NIV
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
There are several verses that reinforce the two separate sides to lying – truth and deception
Proverbs 12:17 NIV
17 A truthful witness gives honest testimony, but a false witness tells lies.
Proverbs 14:25 NIV
25 A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is deceitful.
Ephesians 4:25 NIV
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
The 9th Commandment is stressing the point of not lying about your neighbours, not giving false testimony against them. We need to look at our conversations and see if we are telling the truth or spreading lies.
Paul tells us how to live holy:
Colossians 3:8-10 NIV
8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Also, in Galatians, Paul encourages us to be good and to do good. When we do that, we will not fall to Satan’s tricks.
Galatians 6:8-10 NIV
8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
God gave us the Ten Commandments as a way to live righteously. A way to grow closer to God and God’s family. A way to show the world around us that there is a better lifestyle to aspire to.
Do good always, especially to fellow Christians.
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