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Ninth Commandment: You Shall Not Bear False Witness

We come to the ninth commandment today after having gone through the eight and it is about ‘You shall not bear false witness’. A story is told of a couple who brought their son to the doctor for the very first time. The doctor took a good look at the baby and said, “Wow, your baby is so cute!” The parents then said, “Oh, doctor, you're so kind. But we bet, I bet you definitely say this to every single parent and every single baby.” The doctor says, “No, I don't lie. I only say this about babies who really look cute.” The parents then ask, “What about the babies who don't look so cute?” “Oh, I just tell them, they look just like you.” (Laughter from the congregation).Thou shalt not bear false witness or lies.

Last week, we looked at the Eighth Commandment, ‘You shall not steal’. I asked the church last week at the beginning, “How many of you have stolen before?” I think only about 40% of the hands were raised. 60% were in denial, or 60% today will have to confess you lied, because all of us lie. We grow up as liars. You don't have to teach a kid how to lie. A child naturally lies to hide from the consequences. “I did not eat the chocolate!” But the evidence is written all over your face. But when you grow up, you learn to hide even more, you cheat, you lie in business, in dealings with people. We see lies everywhere in advertisements and marketing. My burger looks so good, but actually it doesn't come out the way it should. And so when you grow up, or when we are a little bit more experienced, we realize that when people say things, you can't always trust them. Because if you look close enough at what is purported truth, you can always see a pack of lies.

And so society and life has now to cope with and deal with the inevitability of lies. So we set up mechanisms. We have devices to prevent ourselves from being duped or scammed. So we take contracts very seriously. We can't just trust someone in what he says. In the good old days, you say, “I'm a man of my word.” Today, nobody believes that anymore. You need black and white. You need contracts. You need lawyers to draw up legally binding documents. You need teachers and staff to make sure that the students do not cheat and lie in the exams. You need cameras everywhere. In our building, we have lots of cameras, because people just lie. We can't always believe what people say, that's why you install car cams. Because in the case of an accident, it might be his word versus your word, and you need evidence to prove otherwise. That's why we have lie detectors. That's why the police, we have departments courts that are with regards to crime scene investigations, because the criminals may not admit to what they have done wrong. That's why we have judges to preside over cases to see if someone lied or not. And you have POFMA, something unique to Singapore to prevent online falsehoods. All these things, devices, industries, jobs exist because people lie.

But lies are not just in big things. Lies can happen in very mundane or minor things. There is a pastor who summarized 10 great American lies, and he says, “Number ten, ‘Your table will be ready in a minute.’ Number nine, ‘One size fits all.’ Eight, ‘This will hurt me more than it hurts you.’ ‘I'm sorry. I'm late. I got stuck in traffic’, ‘The cheque is in the mail’, but actually there's none, ‘This offer is limited to the first 50 people who call in’, ‘It's not the money. I'm not after your money. It's about the principle’, ‘I just need five minutes of your time’, ‘I'll start my diet tomorrow’, ‘I'm from the IRS, and I'm here to help you.’ These are the top 10 American lies according to him. What about Singapore? Quite similar. But I say, “Oh, sorry, sorry, I'm busy.” Someone calls you wants to sell you something. “Oh, sorry, I'm busy.” Actually, you're not, you're watching TV, but that's a convenient way to brush that person aside or ‘I'm on the way.’ Actually, you just woke up. I'm on the way, similar to that reaching soon, reaching soon. Traffic jam. Sorry. And give me five minutes, but you actually know that you need more than that. Or my son will tell me, “I study a lot already.” Actually, no, I know. I can tell. Or even for Christians, we lie when someone tells us to do something we don't want to do it, but we will brush them aside by saying, “Let me pray about it.” You're not going to pray about it, you just want to delay replying him, so we all lie.

The ninth commandment says ‘You shall not bear false witness.’ To be exact, this, I think, refers primarily to the context of a court case where you are called to be a witness for or against someone. And if you hate someone, you dislike someone, or if you want to get something from someone, you give a false testimony or witness. I think that's the primary context of this commandment. But when you scan the rest of the Bible, clearly this commandment would embrace more than just truthfulness in the court, it will be truthfulness in all areas of life. I'm a bit lazy this week, didn't want to think too much, so the sermon outline is similar. It's exactly the same as the sermon outline last week. But I also know none of you remember the sermon outlined last week, so I'm very confident that I can go ahead and you see, whoa, three new things I learned. Well, three things.

Reasons for Lying: Cowardice, Covetousness, Conceit, and Contention

Therefore, number one, I'd like us to consider the breaking of this commandment. How and why do we break this commandment? How and why do you and I lie? Story of four young men in America, they just want to skip the quiz in college. So they decided to play truant, and they drove a car around, enjoying, visiting, eating and so on. Eventually, they came back to school, but it was already late. The teacher saw them and asked them, “Why are you boys late for school and you missed the quiz?” The boys all replied, “Oh, because our tire went flat.” They were somewhat relieved that the teacher accepted their excuse. But the teacher also got on to say, “Well, you were late for the quiz, but I will still want you to do it. So the four of you go to the four corners of the classroom, take out your paper and write your answers on it. The first question I want you to answer is ‘Which tire went flat?’” It's a smart teacher. But why do we lie? We lie because we want to get out of some consequences we otherwise will have to face. So when do people break this commandment? A few reasons. Number one, we break it out of cowardice. We don't want to face the music, so we lie to try to get out of it. Remember Peter the apostle, when he was asked, “Aren't you one of the disciples of Jesus?” He lied. He denied three times. He lied because he feared. He lied because he was cowardly. He lied because he wanted to get out of the consequences his master is getting for claiming who he is. So we lie today because we want to get out of consequences. We lie when we are in a escalator, not escalator, in a lift, and suddenly you pooed and people ask, “Did you fart?” And we said, “No, no, not me.” You ah, you ah? You start to shift it around. Why? Because you don't want to be laughed at as the person who just farted so loudly, so you lied. Seems innocuous, seems harmless, but it really comes from a heart of cowardice. I don't want to admit that I when I fart, it's always so loud. Or maybe your spouse asks you, “Am I fat?” Then you have to be very creative to think of a answer, but if you cannot, then you have to lie. “No, no, you're not” or whatever they ask you. So we lie. We think that it's harmless, but actually it's wrong.

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It's a misrepresentation or we do it because we fear. Or your sons, your daughters… “Has the teacher given back your results?” “No, not yet. No, not yet.” “I did very well. I did very well.” But it's all lies because you just want to avoid again consequences. So why do you lie? Why did you say the lie you said a day ago, a week ago? Might be cowardice. Another reason why people lie is because they want to get something which is not rightfully theirs. They lie because they are covetous. They lie because they want to obtain something, as I said, not rightfully theirs. So we read about lies in the Bible, where, for example, Jacob would lie to Isaac his father to get the birthright in a unscrupulous way. He deceived his father.

And you and I today may lie because we want to get things that is not rightfully ours. I was in primary school, primary one, primary two, primary three. I was with this classmate of mine. In primary school lesson time we sit on a mat, and sitting on a mat is great, because you can talk, talk, talk very close, because everybody is close to one another. So I talk, talk, talk and I realized that there's this girl who is very nice, she's very kind. And somehow something got into me, and I said to her, “I don't have money for recess.” Actually, I have money. My mom gave me, but I say to her, “I don't have money for recess, my mom forgot to give me. Can you lend me some money?” Oh this guy…you must be thinking this pastor jialat. But that’s what I said to her, and amazingly, she believed me, and she gave. Emboldened by this positive feedback, the next day, I said to her again, “My mum forgot to give me money. I have no money for recess. Can you give me or lend me?” She said, “Yes.” The third day, she said, “Yes.” The fourth day, she said, “Yes.” I cannot remember a day she said no.

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I can't remember we were in the same primary class for how long? I think maybe for three years. Then p4, p5 then you all look at.. But for all those days, she always gave me money .No kidding. So if you are her, either here or online, I remember your name. Your name is Huang Si Min, and you live in Ang Mo Kio last time. Not sure where you stay now. Your mom owns a shop downstairs in Ang Mo Kio, I remember that. If you are Huang Si Min, please look for me. I've now come to believe in Jesus, and I repent of my sin, and I want to make restitution to you. I mean it. I've always wanted to find out where she lives, but I can't. I can't trace her back. Last time don't have Facebook, don't have WhatsApp, very hard to find. But I lied. I lied all the time because I just want to get something that is not mine. I want to buy my toys. I need extra cash. So this is that… this is that horrible rascal right here, standing here. To be fair, I graduated, as in I didn't become so bad. When I went to secondary school, I don't lie anymore. I just simply take. (laughter from Pastor and congregation) So I have a classmate who sits behind me. He's a really nice guy. His dad always prepares sandwiches. I'll just take his sandwich every single day. So this, okay that I'm not yet believer. So this guy is a rascal. But I guess we all kind of lie when we get something, we want to get something we want.

In our CGL zoom session this Tuesday, I was talking about lies and so on, and one of the CGLs typed in this statement ‘Is flattening someone considered lying?’ I said flattening someone is considered murder. (laughter from congregation) Commandment number six, not commandment number nine. Oh, I understand now. It's not flattening, it's flattering someone. So is flattering someone lying? I think technically yes, because flattering is when you exaggerate to make that person feel good. Complimenting someone is fine. ‘Oh, you look great today.’ If you really mean it, that's great. Nothing wrong with that. But actually, you don't think it looks great, but you still say, “Look great!”, then that's flattering, and that will be wrong.

So we lie to get whatever we want, and it may involve businessmen, advertisers, can be someone even in the church, who lies about their situation, perhaps to get money, to get sympathy, to get attention, all these things are because you covet something that you can't quite get rightly. You resort to unscrupulous lies. Another reason why people may lie is conceit. They like to look good, so they lie, they exaggerate, they boost themselves. You think about Ananias and Sapphira in the Bible, isn't it? They also lied to make themselves look good in the sale of the land and in the proceeds that they gave out.

A pastor was preaching one Sunday, and in order to prepare them for the sermon next week, he told them, “Please go back and read the Bible. Read the book of Isaiah, and in particular, Isaiah chapter 67.”  The next week, they gathered, and the pastor asked them, “Hey, did you all read Isaiah 67 as I've told you as good Christians?” And most of them raised their hands, and the pastor says, “Great. The sermon today is about lying, and you are exactly the people I need to speak to, because there is no Isaiah 67.” But people like to look good, so they lie. And so this is something we can be guilty of, even pastors, right? We can begin, "Oh, my church is so big.” Or how many people got saved, and we exaggerate and we want to blow up the numbers just to make ourselves look good. Conceit.

The last reason why you and I may lie is because we hate someone and we want to make someone look bad. And I call that contention. We lie out of contention. We hate someone. We are at loggerheads with someone. So in order to make that person suffer, we backstab, we slander, we misrepresent, we gossip, and that's the case of Potiphar's wife. She lied about Joseph because Joseph rejected her. She ‘buay song’ (not happy). She wanted to get him into trouble, so she lied to her own husband. But maybe the greatest example of someone who lied out of contention would be the chief priests and scribes during Jesus' time. Because they hated him, they were jealous of him, they were fearful of him. So they lied. They sought false testimony against Jesus. They lied because they hated him and wanted to kill him, to silence him.

So we can lie today because we hate someone. But let's not remember the ultimate liar. Who is the ultimate liar? You may say, Jason lah, but no matter how devious I was, I will never win this fella. And the ultimate liar, I think, is the devil. The Bible tells us

…he (the devil) was a murderer from the beginning…(John 8:44)

and he murdered really by lying. He lied to our parents, Adam and Eve,

…did God really say that…(Genesis 3:1)

He knew very well, but he lied so as to kill them spiritually, by leading and tempting them to sin. And if you look at the whole world today, we are all killed spiritually because of the lies the devil spun. So he hates God. He hates us, who are made in the image of God, and so he lies to kill. So why do people lie? Well, these are some of the reasons why you and I may do so.

The Burden of the Commandment: Acknowledging Our Sinful Nature

But the second point I'd like to lead us to is therefore the burden of this commandment. As you consider all these reasoning, motivations for lying, I think I can only conclude I'm a hopeless sinner. I'm a selfish man. I lie because of cowardice, covetousness, conceit and contention, and the central engine to it all is me. Why did I lie to Huang Si Min? I am greedy. Why do you lie to your spouse? Because you want to protect yourself from some harm or undesirable consequences. Why do you lie in your office? Because you want to look good. Why do you lie about that person? Because you hate that person. It's about me. It's about that selfish, sinful heart. And the Bible does tell us,

For out of this sinful, selfish heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (Matthew 15:19)

God sees how ugly our hearts are. No, we may not. So it's fascinating when Carlo Collodi, I think that Italian writer, wrote about the story of Pinocchio. Every time Pinocchio lies, his nose gets longer. So it's very obvious when he lies. The problem with us is that when we lie, it's not always obvious. So we think we are very decent people. You look good, you look decent. Your nose is not too long. But in God's eyes, our nose is so long, we are so ugly. And God hates lies. God hates liars, and God will damn liars, because he said in Revelation 31,

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars…(Revelation 31:8)

Lying is put alongside all these terrible sins, and liars will have their portion in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. It's hell, and God hates that. And isn't it terrible news to realize that the Ninth Commandment exposes us to be hopeless sinners, because we all lie? And the Bible equally tells us all liars go to hell. I mean, I'm hopeless, hopeless in a sense I cannot be always truthful, and I'm hopeless in a sense, no nothing I do can atone for all the lies and bring myself out of the lake of fire.

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I'm hopeless in and of myself. But the Good News is that the rest of the Bible does tell us, someone is willing to bear your sins away. You can't do anything to save yourself, but someone has done it all for you, and his name is Jesus. I've shown you this picture over and over again because I really want you to see that the Ten Commandments tell us what God demands, but what we cannot produce. We cannot meet that standard, but the Ten Commandments doesn't change in its high standards. So the law demands perfect righteousness, and I am hopeless. I can't produce it. But the rest of the Bible tells us what God provided on another mountain, not Sinai, but on Calvary, God sent His Son to be crucified on the cross. Because on the cross, Jesus would die and pay for our sins, and He would then give us what God demands, perfect righteousness. So on the cross, Jesus died, not because he is a liar, not because they could find anything wrong with Jesus, not because he sinned in any way, but he was there as the perfect substitute and sacrifice. Because the Bible says,

For our sake, for you and for me, God the Father, made his son Jesus to be sin for us…(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He was the sin bearer. He is full of sin on the cross, even though he knew no sin. He was there as our sin bearer. And so the most unfair exchange took place on the cross when Jesus took the sins of sinners, and sinners take the perfect righteousness of Jesus. So when God looks at Jesus on the cross, He sees him as sin. He sees him as full of sin, and He judges the sins of the world of those who believe in Jesus, on Jesus. And now, when Jesus looks at me, you know, he doesn't see. He doesn't deal with me according to the sins I've committed against Huang Si Min, He doesn't. He sees what a perfect son because of Jesus. He sees the perfect righteousness of Jesus in this wicked man, and he sees the wicked sins of Jason on his Son. So you could say Jesus was condemned by liars, the chief priests and the scribes to save liars, like me, like you. That's what the gospel is all about, and that's why Jesus would say,

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me. (John 14:6)

There's only one way you and I can come into God's presence. Can be reconciled with God, not because I did not lie, not because I never stole, not because I never committed adultery, but because Jesus paid it all. So He is the way, the truth and the life. There is no other way. And the beautiful thing about this is when God commands us not to lie, it's because he himself never lies, and so all that he says to us is dependable and reliable.

Many years ago, I wanted to be a Christian. Well, I did not start that way. I started wanting to be a destroyer of Christianity. I came to church wanting to prove how Christians are stupid, how Christianity is stupid. But after some months of hearing God's word, the Spirit changed my heart. I wanted to be a Christian, but I didn't know how, as in, I didn't know if God would accept me. So I was always looking for something supernatural. I would look at the clouds, hoping for some funny shape, like ‘JASON.’ I'm not kidding. That's what I am crazy at that time. I will look at the walls. I will look at the floors, because I was hoping for some slip of paper, some anonymous note that says you are accepted, or something like that. May not be to me, but I will take it as a sign from God. I waited for months, nothing happened. What to do? Open the Bible. So one night, I opened the Bible. I've always heard people say, John 3:16 is the most common verse, most popular verse. So let's try. I open to John 3:16 which says,

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

I looked at this verse and I thought to myself, actually, why do I need to keep looking at the signs? If the Bible already says, ‘Whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life’. It's here, black and white, maybe red and white, but black and white. It's concrete. This is God's Word, and maybe instead of looking for some other signs, I should simply just take God at His Word, because he's reliable, because he's truthful, because he doesn't lie. And the reality is, as I look back, I'm very clear, actually, from that day onwards, it was very clear to me. I think I was converted. I was born again. My views changed, my perspectives changed, my values changed. My goals changed. If I had met Huang Si Min on that day, I would give her back all her money. I changed. But that's what faith is. Faith is believing what God has said and I took God at His Word. You today can also believe and take God at His Word. You and I are not very different. We all come under the burden of the commandment that we are hopeless sinners, but you and I can be the same to be blessed if we also take God at His Word. Jesus is our sin bearer.

The Beauty of the Commandment: Speaking Truth and Building Up Others

I have enough time just to come to my final point, and that is the beauty of this commandment. It's a beautiful commandment because it's not just telling us don't lie, but to do something else. Think about it this way, God doesn't lie. The Bible is clear in Numbers 23 and verse 19,

God is not meant that he should lie. (Numbers 23:19)

Titus 1:2,

in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie…(Titus 1:2)

And also Hebrews 6:18,

…it is impossible for God to lie. (Hebrews 6:18)

So God doesn't lie. The Bible makes it explicitly clear. He is truthful, and he speaks truth. He promises truth to his people, so that in his certainty, in that certainty, we may have comfort, assurance, confidence, solace. That when he said,

I will never know, never know, never leave you nor forsake you.(Hebrews 13:5)

We can rejoice in it when he tells us,

Nothing shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:38-39)

we can take solace in it. When the Bible tells us,

I will supply all your needs according to the riches in Christ, Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

I can rest upon it. And when he says,

…whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

The Role of Faith and Community in Overcoming Lies

We can come to it. So God gives us truth because He loves us. He wants to bless us. And I think, in a very similar way, the fulfillment of this commandment is not just don't speak lies, but also to speak well, to speak truth to others, so that we may bless them and build them up and love them. I think the Bible does tell us to encourage and build up one another in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, that has to be the fundamental premise and perspective when we are a church. When we speak with one another, sometimes we fail to understand we are gathered so that we can bless one another. Because we are gathered without thinking, we think it's about me. We think I go to this group because I'm needy. Yes, we are all needy, but I think the greater goal is that we gather in groups to bless one another. So we speak truth one to another. We put away, we must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another. Part of community life is a commitment to love one another and speak truth one to another. The moment we lie, we destroy the fellowship. The moment we operate out of covetousness or conceit, we split the body, and that is the implication there. When we lie, we do harm to the body of Christ. In the very same chapter, it goes on to say,

Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29)

So avoid lies, but speak words that build up. I think that is the idea of the Christian ethos, and it's repeated again in Colossians

do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices. (Colossians 3:9)

The old person who has yet to come to Christ, He behaves in a way that is vile, that is wrong, that is sinful. But now that you are a Christian, you have a new life. You take off your own clothes, your own clothes, of lying, and instead you put on new clothes. What does that new clothes look like? Well, you put on then as God's Chosen Ones, holy and beloved, it looks like this - compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience. So we put off lying, but we speak truth and we speak truth to love and we speak truth in grace. Let your speech be always sorted with grace. It's important to speak truth one to another, but sometimes truth can hurt, so let's learn to speak truth in the most kind and gentle way.

Story is thought of a man who loved his cat but had to go overseas, so he passed his cat to his brother and said to the brother, “Can you please take care of the cat for me?” The brother doesn't like cats, but he had to do so reluctantly. Several weeks passed, and he called back to check on his cat and asked his brother, “How is my cat doing?” The brother said, “Unfortunately, your cat died.” and puts down the phone. The brother was very distraught. This is his favorite cat, but more so he was also distraught because of the way his brother was so curt and direct. So he called back and said, “You know, bro. You shouldn't talk like that. I know my cat died, but you shouldn't be so harsh. You should be more gentle.” “How do you expect me to say?” The brother then says, “Well, maybe you should have told me like maybe my cat went up the roof, played, there, stumbled, slipped, fell off, broke the leg, then you brought him to the to the hospital, but he couldn't survive. Maybe tell me something like that. By the way, how's mom?” The brother paused for a long while and said, “Mum played on the roof.”

We speak truth, but we got to be considerate and gentle, with which we are to do so. I really think that the church, or in particular, the small group communities in church should be places we love to go. Why? Because this is where we see love. This is where we speak truth, one to another. We are not there to grab from one another. We are not there to deceive. We are there because we want to give, because we want to encourage, because we want to build up, because we love one another.

You know our church. I think people probably know us because of the truth that is being communicated in the various services. But I think it will be even lovelier, more beautiful if we are a people known because of our love. Jesus is said to be full of grace and truth. Now we definitely value truth here at Gospel light. We want to be Orthodox, we want to be principled. We want to be clear about the teachings of the Bible in an uncompromising way. But there is a danger that if we think it's all about Orthodoxy or accuracy, and we do not bother with the life of love, then we become little Pharisees. This becomes a Pharisees club, but I think Biblical Christianity will be evidenced by a commitment to truth, because we worship God in spirit and in truth, and a commitment to love one another. And I think that's what the ninth commandment is all about. In fact, that's what all the commandments are all about. It's about loving God and loving our neighbor. So let us be committed to community life. You can't love one another if your Christianity is just coming to church service on Sunday. Let this be a start. Let this be a beginning, but let this be a funnel to which you can join in other community groups and give and love and speak truth and build up one another. That's what church should be all about. Why? Because that's what God is all about. He gave Himself, He gave His Son to build us up. Let's follow in his footsteps. This is our ninth commandment, and next week we come to the very last. Thank you for joining us in this series.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together, Father, as we talk about love, as we talk about faithfulness, as we talk about truth, we are reminded of all this in you, because you alone are the God of love and truth and faithfulness. Thank you that because you are faithful and true and love, we have the gospel, the message that Jesus willingly sacrificed himself to pay for our sins, Grant dear God repentance and faith to men and women today, that they will see their need for Jesus and turn from their sin and believe in your Son to be saved. And I pray for our church here, that we will be a people who will love one another. I know this is not just a switch we turn on. It requires a commitment to be filled with the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, But Lord, I pray there will be a heart to do so, there will be a desire to do so, there will be an awareness and an intentionality to do so. And we pray, as your Spirit ministers to us, as we hear Your word, we will grow to be more and more like this community of love. May Gospel Light be the body of Christ that demonstrates both grace and truth. May our CGs, DGs be beautiful communities where people long to be in because that's where they give themselves one to another. What a beautiful day that will be. What a beautiful sight it will be. So lead us there to be this kind of church that shines for you, where men will see and say, “Surely they are His disciples, for they love one another.” Thank you. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.