I invite you to turn in the Bible tonight to the book of Ephesians, the book of Ephesians chapter 4 as our reading tonight will come from Ephesians chapter 4 verses 25 through 32 and tonight our commandment that we're considering since we're working through the 10 commandments we come to the ninth commandment tonight you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Ephesians tonight, chapter 4, beginning at verse 25. This is the word of the Lord. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another, one of another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need 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 tender-hearted forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you may the Lord bless tonight the hearing of his word you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor tonight we're considering the implications, we're considering the commandment that is to preserve and has the intention of preserving and maintaining our neighbor's good name. That is ultimately the great goal of the ninth commandment, that it desires to see justice and equity maintained between neighbors. That's the goal, and we're going to consider tonight what that looks like, but initially we have to say as we open up the ninth commandment, and especially in light of what we just read in in ephesians chapter four uh this this commandment when broken is well you all know it's it's extremely destructive to our relationship with god and with our neighbor i mean just think about it so destructive is speaking lies and slandering our neighbor that god put this commandment bearing false witness alongside of murder theft adultery and covetousness so this is um this is important tonight as we look at the ninth commandment and just how much this means to the lord to preserve and maintain justice among neighbors one of the things we don't think about when we look at the law of god and it was mentioned to me last week and it's absolutely right that when we see these commandments broken we tend to look at them very individually but we see the the the consequences of these the social ramifications and the danger that they do on such a widespread level just think this morning of Herod's sin what it what it did look at how everything was broken and how it affected everyone and infected everyone Herod's sin led to murder. Look at all of the blood that was shed over that sin of adultery. And then, of course, you had theft as he stole another man's wife. And you had covetousness and you had slander of John. Everything that you could do against the commandments of God was done. And look at how that spilled over everywhere and wrecked the entire situation there in people's lives. It really did damage in people's lives. Sin is incredibly selfish, and it has as its goal, since it's the devil's goal, destruction, death. So as we come tonight to the ninth commandment, I'm not sure this is, there's a stronger one, theft. We saw it last week, the ramifications in society. But think about the damage that the ninth commandment brings when there is false witness being given in a society when lies are being spoken you'll notice when you hear the command itself you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor it comes legally god is is very concerned and notice the language that the lord inspired with how we treat our neighbors ultimately calling us to love our neighbors as ourselves but in the ninth commandment we see this desire of God to see justice preserved justice truth to be told you hear that in the word witness which was a loaded word for the Israelite they understood a lot about witnesses in Israel they understood what God wanted truth preserved and that's why he had witnesses it was a there's a very strong judicial nature in this particular commandment and when you hear it you have the the sort of mental scene of a courtroom don't you where we would never want to go in there and give false testimony against your neighbor that would be harmful to him that would be lying that would hurt him and cause unjust suffering and yet it happens all the time i mean does it mean anything anymore when people are asked to swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth we still do that. The word witness here highlights the notion that justice is to be maintained when accusations are brought against somebody in a court of law. That's how Israel would have heard this commandment. They would have known this process. Our court proceedings today are somewhat complex, but in Bible times, there weren't lawyers. There weren't fingerprints. A person's guilt was established and based upon the testimony of two or three witnesses we have that principle running through and to make sure this whole thing operated properly and you see how god's system worked very well if anyone was found guilty the two or three who testified against him were to do the execution Deuteronomy 17. Also, if a witness testified falsely against his neighbor, he himself would receive the punishment that would have fallen upon the accused had he been found guilty. God knew just what he was doing. He meted out his judgments in proportion to the sin and he did the same thing with the commandments. You would find this throughout, especially in the eighth commandment that we considered last time the lord made sure in these cases that the punishment fit the crime they were strong deterrence of course against corruption which have been lost in our society because there are no more consequences to actions god was was concerned however to see justice maintained to see equity maintained it made civil order possible it's a truly sad state of affairs when you no longer can trust in society think about it you have to have some measure of trust and truth telling for a society to function it has really gone awry and terrible when you don't have that anymore and you see how theft ties into all this now there's no doubt that the commandment also says you shall not bear false witness but obviously the implications of this run greater than simply not telling a lie our heidelberg tonight is incredibly helpful i love the heidelberg's treatment uh in lord's day 42 of the ninth or the ninth 43 of the ninth commandment what is god's will for us in the ninth commandment god's will is that i never give false testimony against anyone twist no one's words not gossip or slander nor join in condemning anyone without a hearing notice there they're picking up on the legal character of this command or without a just cause rather in court and everywhere else i should avoid lying and deceit of every kind these are the devices the devil himself uses and they would call down on me god's intense anger i should love the truth here's the positive dimension here speak it candidly and openly acknowledge it and i should do what i can to guard and advance my neighbor's good name it's uh there's quite a bit there isn't there we think about how much our words are used to do damage that is a very powerful command tonight and a searching command especially when we get to the sins that we never treat very much sins of gossip and sins of twisting people's words to say things that they never meant to say how much theological fighting has gone on because of that it's important tonight to stress the intention. Notice that our Heidelberg tonight says that one may very well speak truth with the intention to harm his neighbor. Here we strike at the spirit of the commandment. I could say something completely true about somebody else and still break this commandment with a wrong intention. If I told you something true with a wrong intention and leave out things that are important for others to know or purposely withhold information or provide more information than I should to harm my neighbor, I broke the commandment. That's a very damaging way to break the commandment. The commandment is broken when we slander, says the Heidelberg. Slandering is reporting of things about our neighbors unjustly. It forbids this kind of slandering and falsifying one with their words and their actions it's been interesting throughout history that you look at how the ninth commandment has been treated and there were some along the way who even wanted to translate the commandment i don't think it has warrant but it is interesting you shall not answer a false witness against your neighbor and that adds a whole new dimension to thinking about the ninth commandment it surely is an implication of the ninth commandment you're not even to receive a false witness without knowing the facts. The Proverbs deal with this constantly. An evildoer gives heed to false lips. He eagerly waits for it. Proverbs 17.4, a liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. If we're motivated by love for one another, if we love as we're called to, we will not condemn and join in condemning somebody rationally when we hear an evil report or rumors that are so devastating to your neighbor's good name. It was Martin Luther in his larger catechism. He says, reputation, this is so true, reputation is something quickly stolen, but not quickly returned. And we know that. You know how just a slanderous report against someone, your view changes towards them. And all of a sudden, you're thinking about that. And you're wondering about that. And you're looking at that person different. Think of the damage that does in the body of Christ. Think of the damage that does in our society. Look at what's going on in the political process. They're all working hard to frame how you view people through gossip and lies. We know this. So love is really the motivation here when we think about all that the Lord has done for us. To love our neighbors as ourselves. And then to look at my neighbor as somebody that God fashioned, that God made, to give me in my existence alongside somebody else their existence. If He gave them life, well then I want to promote their good name. I should be thinking about them in a positive way and want to help them and promote their name. You know that one of the greatest principles of love is what? It thinks no evil. The greatest principles of love. It's not quick to think evil. This type of love that the Lord, agape love that He calls us to, does not believe the evil against your neighbor without, now this is important, a just cause. A just cause. If we truly have love, we won't even accept it. We'll rather say, as one preacher said, Well, since you've brought the report, let us go to him. Before I will form and express my judgment against him, we need to go see him. We're going to look at that here in a moment. The goal should be to solve the problem immediately. I want to give you something tonight, something concrete to hold on to. That's just sort of scratching the surface with the ninth commandment. But I'd like to give you something concrete to hold on to. And I believe that Paul, I don't believe I'm doing any sort of spiritual or gymnastics with the text tonight, but I do believe in Ephesians chapter 4 that there is a sort of story unfolding here of consequence that you can put it together in the way that Paul logically ordered these things so that you can say, ah, I see consequences here to this command to honor the ninth commandment that when it's not, I see the ramifications and the sad things that happen in the body of Christ. That's what he's doing here. As Paul was describing the new life in Ephesians chapter 4, remember the first three chapters of Ephesians describe everything that God has done for us, everything that he's accomplished for us in Christ. He then breaks into chapter 4 and he begins to talk about the new life, how we are to live before our Lord as his children. This is why the Heidelberg puts the commandments in the gratitude section. And it's important also that we look at them in that light as a way of gratitude for those who have been saved. I'm doing it specifically like that tonight in light of Ephesians 4, for that's what Paul is doing here. And in Ephesians 4, in verse 25, he says, therefore, putting away lying. You'll notice there. Putting away falsehood. Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. So, since you are a brand new creature, since the old Adam has been killed, since you are in Jesus, don't walk as the Gentiles walk. Let me give you that path forward for you. I want to discuss a path forward for you that means a lot to our Lord. And the Lord wanted inspired right out of the gates, right here in Ephesians chapter 4, in the early parts of Ephesians, in Christian living, that we should speak and promote truth with our neighbor and not falsehood. I stopped and I thought, of all the things he could have started with, he could have done a lot of different things to characterize the new man. Of all the things he could have addressed with how to treat one another, don't you find it striking that the first thing he says is, therefore, and if you go back to verse 24, he says, put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness, this is the new life. First thing he says, get rid of falsehood in your life. Stop speaking it. I find that fascinating. The first thing he's thinking about is the ninth commandment. The ninth. Notice at the end of verse 25, he's speaking to those inside the church. We're not really surveying and looking at the ramifications of this tonight outside the church. You know the damage that goes. You'll see it. But what is he after here? Well, he's really alluding to something very important in the Old Testament. There are certain Old Testament passages on his mind. And the first one he has in mind is something out of Zechariah 8, verse 14. I want to read this to you tonight. And I believe you'll see where he took this. For thus says the Lord of hosts, just as I determined to punish you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the Lord of hosts, and I would not relent. So again, in these days, undetermined to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear. These are the things you shall do. Speak each man truth, hear it? To his neighbor. Paul quotes that. That's in his mind. Speak each man truth to his neighbor. Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace. Let none of you think evil in your hearts against your neighbor. and do not love a false oath for all these things i hate says the lord oh if you were to go on reading he speaks of a people's not yet to come that shall come to jerusalem the point here is that jerusalem was to be the city of truth jerusalem was to be a fortress and a community of truth and God was here saying there's a day in which I'm going to set my good toward them again and this is what I want to see in my city truth he reminds them of all that their fathers did to provoke and he says I'm going to be merciful here's what will happen in that day neighbors will speak truth to their to their neighbors to their brothers and sisters and I don't want any of you in that day thinking evil in your heart against your neighbor neighbor and do not love a false oath the apostle paul is pulling from that text as if to say the day has come of god's goodness the day of you being members of the jerusalem the city of truth has come you are the fulfillment of what that looked to it has arrived you are the ones upon whom the ends of the ages have come the city of truth therefore since you belong to that city put away lying it's not consistent now what that tells us is that there's a great fight that we're going to have to guard the tongue samuel johnson who was right when he said that it is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying that there is so much falsehood in the world i believe that's right this is why paul says i want all of you speaking truth with your neighbor It's been said that it was said that in St. Augustine's day, he set a plaque on his desk. I don't know if this is true. I have no idea to validate it, but at least it's the tradition. And the tradition says, whoever attacks the character of the absent is to be excluded. What a good reminder on your desk. Whoever will leave a complaint or charge and voice that to a brother or sister without them being present, is to be rejected. When accusations are made when they aren't present, I mean, think of the words of our vocabulary, you know. Have you heard? You're not going to believe this. Do you know what so-and-so did? You know what they told me? Keep this one to yourself, but... I've done that. I don't believe it's true, but I heard this. That's the worst kind of construction, isn't it? They say the man was on his deathbed and a report was brought to him about something that was said and something that had been neglected on his regard. And the one bringing the report said, do you know what they said? Immediately, the man on his deathbed interrupted and said, my friend, never use those words. They have broken more hearts than any other. Do you know what they did? I don't want to know. Well, that sounds so pious, doesn't it? You might sound a little bit like John the Baptist. You know, I was thinking about this. How far damage reaches with the ninth commandment? I want you to follow me here for a minute in light of Ephesians chapter four. What I believe Paul's doing, If not, we can certainly draw an implication out of this. I want you to imagine the scenario presented to you in Ephesians 4 for a minute. You have Christians, believers in a community that should be built on truth. Put this together. Here comes somebody who vents against somebody else and spreads a report through their eyes to somebody who's close to them, to a friend. Doing exactly what God forbids in the ninth commandment. It's not promoting love, it's not promoting truth, it's gossip, it has all sorts of stuff behind it, and now two things occur. The one receiving the report has now been put in a hard position. They can accept it, or they could reject it and do the right thing, but who does that? Well, what happens? 99% of the time, at least as I have been guilty of and seen, the person who receives the report accepts the report because it comes from somebody on their side and is a close friend. And thus, a cancer begins to grow. You haven't thought about this cancer. Let me show you cancer. Now, what about the one of whom the report was made? Well, immediately when voiced, and these things always seem to come back, don't they? Isn't it something how when it said, hey, don't say anything, It always gets said. You can be sure that's the goal. I think Paul moves to that issue. In verse 26, he says, Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Paul has another Old Testament psalm in mind. This time it's a psalm, and it's Psalm 4. Now, if you know anything about Psalm 4, that is the psalmist's cry to God because he's been accused of something false. Interesting that Paul would quote that, isn't it? So now he has in his mind the person who's been slandered against and spoken against. And immediately he quotes Psalm 4. Don't be angry. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Why? Well, because he's just been slandered. He's being ripped apart. Listen to Psalm 4. Be angry and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed. And be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. Here is the poor wounded soul who's been hit. He now has the choice. And the psalm is saying, don't be angry and sin. You be angry and don't sin. You can have a righteous anger, but you express that to the Lord. You go on your bed. I'll calm your heart, dear saint. I mean, it's just true, right? That stupid saying, sticks and stones, right? May break my bones, but words never hurt me. I know that gets quoted in every ninth commandment sermon, but I got to do it. That's a dumb saying. They do hurt. So amidst all the falsehood that's been spoken, we've had something now start. Somebody said something. It went to somebody who probably shouldn't receive it. It got back to the person. The person now has heard it. They've heard the command, be angry and don't sin from Psalm 4. That's how they're supposed to handle it. Amidst all the falsehood, now Paul employs that here. Where there is a lie, there is truth not spoken. You have now heard somebody else. And now they're crying out to God. They have to cry out to God because they've been wounded. With righteous anger, they're asking the Lord for justice. Now, who is this? This is the body of Christ. It's the reason James 1 said, everyone should be slow to become angry for the anger of man does not bring about the righteousness of God. Now, that's assuming that he followed the instruction, be angry and do not sin. Let's say he didn't. Instead of taking it to the Lord in prayer, On his part, he lets anger ruminate and build in his heart, doesn't he? Anger toward the brother or sister, now who has made the charge, and now he's sinned. Now you have a spiral starting. There's unrighteous anger. There's hatred toward the offender. And now on his part, he's going to be prone to do the same thing. You know how we work. We go in teams, don't we? So he'll go back and gather around his friends in slander, and the whole host of division has started. This is how all division has worked. Paul says in this scenario, I've got a strict timeline on this. Do not let the sun go down on this stuff. That's powerful. Imagine if we implemented that. I tell all those who are coming to me for premarital counseling, listen, you're going to get in fights in the course of your marriage. You're not going to get along. Sometimes you're going to wake up and not want to love the one next to you. That happens. When you guys get in a fight, Make it a rule that before your head's hit the pillow, you're going to reconcile. Don't learn to train your lives to get used to not solving the discord and the separation. You're heading for a bigger break. Deal with it, Paul says, promptly. The Jew had heard that before the sun goes down. They knew exactly what he was saying. Go do it now. Go do it now. And so what does Paul say? The one who's been slandered, the one who's been hurt, the one who's taken the terrible beating from the brother or sister is not to be the one to sit there and wait for the accuser to come to him. What is the principle? Don't let the sun go down. You go to him. Oh, who said that? You see, you can put this all together. It was our Lord's teaching. If your brother sins against you, go to him. No, no, no. Don't wait for them who slandered you to come to you. You go to them. Tell them his fault because you've got a bigger goal. You love your brother. You haven't let anger overtake in your heart. You're not saying, love your brother. Go to him. Care about him. Help him. Now, in the first place, had the very first person who leveled the charge done this, if they thought their brother sinned, right? The very first slanderous report, it would have never been the mess that it is, but they didn't. They went and told somebody else. And now if the others wouldn't have received the report, that person, you know, received the report and told that first person to go to the brother, the mess would have ceased, but they didn't. They received it. And now there's a responsibility upon the one of whom the report was made. His responsibility now is to go to the one that has offended him with the false report. But if he doesn't, the thing starts all over, and groups line up, and you've got a major division. Now, you may say, I don't really see how that's going here with Paul. That's okay. It is the truth, isn't it? That's what happens. And it leads to a break in the body. It's sad, especially when the commands are so clear in how to deal with these things. But the worst thing about it is, what does Paul say happens when this starts running its course? You give opportunity to who? The devil. You give place to the devil to come on in. Oh, he loves this stuff. He sees this stuff and he gets holds. This is why Paul said the devil takes captive people to do his will. He grieved the Spirit. Actions of mistreating a brother or sister in the Lord, of speaking falsehood, negligence in going to the one who has offended you and letting anger have its way is satan's entire path and notice the heidelberg picks that up these are the devices the devil himself uses loves this stuff you've seen churches been ripped apart with this i have and that's satan's goal his goal is to take the church down all from the tongue james says a tongue which is a world of iniquity the tongue so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and is set on fire by hell no man can tame the tongue with it we bless god our god and father and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of god out of the same mouth proceed blessings and cursings my brethren these things ought not to be it hurts your neighbor it sets the church ablaze and so think of the positive dimension of this tonight as the heidelberg captures it i should instead love the truth speak it candidly openly acknowledge it and do what i can to guard in advance my neighbor's good name truth be told you start taking all this away we're so sinful it takes away from all the drama of our life doesn't it that's what we think this is what keeps life interesting a good jab in the corner against somebody a listening to a report that's our hearts you ever been around somebody who won't listen to it the effect it has? It's a very shaming effect. I love it. Hard to deal with. I asked the Lord to give it to me that I wouldn't listen. These six things the Lord hates. Seven that are abomination to Him. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, 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 one who sows discord among his brothers. Wow. Paul's concluding words, if you can follow some kind of line of reasoning and story here, 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, imagine if we all thought, to give grace to the hearer. And don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed, There's what the canons were interacting with. Sealed for the day of redemption. Notice that. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander, this is all mouth stuff from the heart, be put away from you along with all malice. And you know what? Instead, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. I can't help but think of our Lord who the sins made against Him going to the cross. We saw some this morning. But that they set up false witnesses against Him to breathe out all kinds of terrible things that He never did. Never did. And then you get inspired commentary on that from Peter. When they hurled their insults at Him, he didn't retaliate when he suffered he made no threats instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly he went to psalm 4 and prayed it he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness by whose wounds you have been healed he's not asking you to do that just tonight to pay for your sins you understand that he's asking you to stop doing it in the comfort of your living rooms as believers isn't that amazing that's what he's asking it's really culminating as we come to the end of the law a real sense of love your neighbor as yourself isn't it love your neighbor casting off all lies bearing a false witness and slandering our neighbors. You have a new life in Christ. You're brand new. You're forgiven. That's the reality. So then I close with these words tonight. Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and courteous, not returning evil for evil, reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. Above all things, have a fervent love for one another for love will do what cover over a multitude of sins let's thank him together tonight gracious heavenly father we ask for forgiveness for breaking the ninth commandment our tongues are fired and we see the path of what happens and if we just listen to you we could prevent a lot of damage that's done in the body of christ and ripping apart one another you've set us apart to be a community a fortress of truth your city zion we're members of it you've asked us together tonight and you've commanded us as your people to speak truth not in situations where knives are put to our throat even though that may happen could happen but the general truth is in the course of our lives to speak truth in the very comfortable rich provisions that you have showered down upon us where tonight we'll all go to beds to sleep in we'll all get up tomorrow with clothes to put on and food to eat receiving these blessings would our lives live thankfully to guard our tongue to be slow to speak to bring glory to your name and to impart grace to the hearers instead of slander. Thank You, Lord, for hearing us and instructing us in Your will for our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.