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Thank you, Joshua.

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Would you open your Bible, please, with me to the book of Exodus?

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As we think today about the theme to tell the truth, the ninth of the commandments of

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our Lord can be found in verse 16, where it says, You shall not bear false witness against

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your neighbor.

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We have witnessed in our national scandal of recent months just how corrosive and addictive

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the habit of lying becomes.

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Not to do offense to potato chips, but lying is a little bit like potato chips.

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You can't just tell one, because the first one leads to a second, and so on.

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Sir Walter Scott is the author of that famous line that says, Oh, what a tangled web we

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weave when first we practice to deceive.

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Abraham Lincoln, a president of the United States, of course, and known as Honest Abe,

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said, No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.

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He hadn't met everyone yet.

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We however are living in a culture where lying and deception are par for the course.

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We have not only abandoned truth in our culture, we have abandoned truth telling as being important.

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And we see that in many arenas of life, from advertising to politics to religion, from

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media and sales.

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We are cynical of claims that we hear on television and suspicious of promises.

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We discount news stories and we distrust most leaders.

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Why?

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Because we have learned, sadly, that dishonesty is too often acceptable, even expected.

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There are some people who lose their jobs because they insist on being truthful.

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In the book entitled The Day America Told the Truth, a survey revealed that 91 percent

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of Americans routinely lie about trivial things.

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Nine out of ten Americans believe that if it's trivial, you may lie about it, and that's

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not a problem.

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Thirty-six percent lie about important matters.

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One out of three don't mind telling a ball-faced lie if it's important.

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Eighty-six percent of children, high school students rather, regularly lie to parents,

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and 69 percent of married couples regularly lie to one another.

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The Day America Told the Truth.

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In the USA Today poll, only 56 percent of parents teach that honesty is a virtue to

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the children.

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That's only a few more than half teach their children to be honest, and 65 percent of students

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in high school would cheat on an important exam.

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In another USA Today article, Gerald Jellison writes, each of us fibs at least 50 times

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a day.

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Some of the most commonly used fibs are, I wasn't feeling well.

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I didn't want to hurt your feelings.

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The check is in the mail.

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I'm just kidding.

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I was only trying to help.

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On one news program, a noted physician made this remark.

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He said, lying is an important part of social life, and children who are unable to do it

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are children who may have developmental problems.

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There's a physician with a problem.

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The Word of God says, you shall not bear false witness.

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Why did God say that?

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Lying destroys people.

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It destroys society.

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Because of the damage that it does to us as persons, because of the way that it dishonors

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the glory of God, God commands us not to lie.

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He wants the very best for us, and therefore He wants us to be truthful.

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Now as we think about this command that we find in verse 16, I want us to take a closer

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examination of it.

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What does it mean to bear false witness?

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Well the idea here is to use words or actions to deliberately deceive.

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That's the real meaning of it.

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You and I may give information that is false, that we're unaware of.

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But when we in fact use information to deliberately deceive someone or to mislead another person,

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then we have borne false witness.

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Augustine said, a lie is a voluntary speaking of an untruth with an intention to deceive.

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Satan, of course, is the fountainhead of lies.

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Jesus said about him, he is a liar and the father of lies.

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And of course he is the God of this world.

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And we see his fingerprints all over it.

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Whether little white lies or great big whoppers, all dishonesty is a transgression of this

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commandment that is aimed at the protection of truth and of truth telling.

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As Moses rewrites this commandment in Deuteronomy chapter 5 in the second account of the Ten

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Commandments, he interprets it just a little bit different by inserting a different word

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instead of calling it a false witness.

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He says, you shall not bear evil witness.

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And the word evil there means to be void inside or to be hollow or to be insincere.

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You shall not bear hollow witness is the command of the Lord.

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Now why does God give this command?

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Because he himself is called the God of truth.

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Isaiah 65, 16, twice.

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He is the God of truth and as the God of truth, he tells us himself that he hates a lying

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tongue.

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Proverbs 6, 17.

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You see the very moral order that the Creator established blesses truth and punishes lies.

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God knows that honesty and integrity and truthfulness produce happy and prosperous lives, happy

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and prosperous homes, happy and prosperous societies.

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Truth was important for ancient Israel.

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That's why God established it in this covenant with that nation.

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But it's also important for every culture and every society.

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God established truth in Israel and he ordered penalties for liars.

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Now as we think about this, I want us to notice also a broader implication because other sins

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may be included here besides bearing false witness.

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For example, we might point to the sin of gossip or tail bearing.

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In Leviticus 19, verse 16, God says, you shall not go about as a slanderer among your people

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and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor.

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I am the Lord.

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Isn't it interesting there that he equates acting against the life of your neighbor with

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slandering?

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In Proverbs 20, verse 19, it says, he who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets,

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therefore do not associate with a gossip.

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We might also point to hypocrisy for that also is a form of lying.

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It's living a lie.

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A hypocrite plays a role that does not represent the truth about himself.

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We have many examples in scripture but none stand out more to the reader of the New Testament,

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Ananias and Sapphira, who in the book of Acts misrepresented what they had done in giving

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to the Lord.

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And when Peter confronts them, he says to them, you have not only lied to men, you have

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lied to God.

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You see it was a lie, the hypocrisy of it was a lie.

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We could point out other things that elaborate upon this commandment, for example, exaggeration.

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Sometimes we exaggerate to be humorous and of course that is a funny kind of humor.

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But when we exaggerate to mislead or to deceive, then it falls under bearing false witness.

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Innuendo, likewise, can be a sin that falls under this commandment.

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The story is told about two men who worked on a large ocean going vessel.

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One was a captain, the other was a first mate.

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They did not get along very well.

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In fact, they didn't get along at all.

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The first mate was a man who did not normally drink but on one occasion he became intoxicated.

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And so the captain entered into the log of the ship, first mate drunk today.

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He knew that making that comment would go against the first mate.

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Well, the first mate was aware of this evil that had been done and the intent of the captain

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and so he begged him to change the record.

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But the captain nearly said, it's a fact and into the log it goes.

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And so a few days later the first mate was keeping the log.

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And he concluded the day's account by saying, captain sober today.

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Realizing the implication, the innuendo of that statement, the captain ordered him to

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change it and the first mate said, it's a fact and into the log it stays.

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You see innuendo can also be bearing false witness.

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We have to be very careful regarding this commandment.

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That brings me to a deeper question, something of a philosophical question, a question of

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ethics.

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That's a question that if you think about it all of us struggle with from time to time

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and it's this, is it ever permissible to tell a lie?

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Is it ever permissible to tell a lie?

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We have only to think of some examples in the Bible to raise that question.

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One example would be the order that Pharaoh gave to the Hebrew midwives to kill the male

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infants, which they did not do.

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And when he questioned them about it they came up with this rather odd statement regarding

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Hebrew women going into labor and giving birth before the midwives could even get there.

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Now there may have been some element of truth to that but it doesn't seem quite all truth

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either and they are commended for what they did.

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Or we might talk about Rahab the harlot in Joshua chapter 2 who hid the Israeli spies

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in her house and then when she was questioned regarding that, told a lie, she said, I don't

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know where they went.

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And then the men escaped and she is commended in Hebrews chapter 11.

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Well we can point to some more contemporary examples.

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What about those people who hid the Jews from the Nazis and lied to the Nazi storm troopers

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about the Jews being hidden in their house?

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Or we might even point to those who today in various parts of the world are protecting

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Christians from persecution that is happening in a number of countries in various parts

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of the world.

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Those countries that are still communist like Cuba, Vietnam, and North Korea or Muslim countries

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like Sudan, Egypt, which recently crucified some Christians.

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I should say where some Christians were recently crucified it wasn't the government of Egypt

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but they allowed it to happen and are not punishing the perpetrators.

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Or Saudi Arabia, one of our allies against Saddam Hussein.

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Christians are being persecuted but what about those who are protecting them and then lying

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about it?

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Let me go back to the biblical examples that I gave you for a moment and point out to you

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that although both of those instances involved commendation later of the Hebrew midwives

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and also of Rahab, they are not necessarily commended for the lies that they told.

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They are commended for their faith in acting in obedience to God but not for the lies.

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But the point that I'm raising is this, that we live in a world that is a fallen world

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and sometimes there are conflicts of moral values.

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When that occurs you and I need to learn to choose the higher principle.

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Sometimes these moral choices involve choosing lying or a worse evil.

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For example, in the cases that I pointed out here, these people obeyed God rather than

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man and they chose a higher principle and that was the protection of life.

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The protection of human life was a higher moral principle than that of telling the truth

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in those cases.

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You and I are sometimes faced with the same kinds of moral dilemmas and we need wisdom

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from God to know what to do.

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But I come to this basic premise that I believe is accurate and that is that when you and

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I face moral values we must examine a conflict of moral values, we must examine what moral

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values are involved and sometimes make the hard decision of choosing the higher one.

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But I want us to come also to a further application of this commandment.

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What does it mean to not bear false witness?

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By way of application let me point out first of all that it means to speak the truth.

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That reminds you of Ephesians chapter 4 verse 25 where it says, Therefore, laying aside

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falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

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Not to bear false witness means to speak the truth, to be honest.

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The New Testament says that we are to lay aside falsehood, we are to lay aside deceit,

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we are to lay aside bearing of false witness and speak the truth.

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Why?

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Because we are members one of another.

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When I lie to a brother or sister in Christ I am lying not only to that person, I am lying

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to God and I am lying to myself because that person and I are members of the same body.

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God's people of all people need to adhere to truth and adhere to truth telling.

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But there is a second word of exhortation that comes along with this from the same chapter

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of Ephesians where in verse 15 it exhorts us to speak the truth in love.

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We are to speak the truth but we are to temper it with love.

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Warren Wiersbia stated, Truth without love is brutality.

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Love without truth is hypocrisy.

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Truth without love is brutality.

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Love without truth is hypocrisy.

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We want to be guilty of neither brutality nor hypocrisy.

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And so once again we come to this important word of balance that is such a key thought,

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a key theme in the word of God and in our maturity in Jesus Christ.

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We are to be a people of truth who speak it in love.

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Perhaps the most serious kind of lying is the kind of lying that we do to ourselves.

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When we tell ourselves lies so often and so subtly that we deceive ourselves, that perhaps

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is the most dangerous kind of deceit there is, self-deceit.

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And it points us in the direction of the real problem of it.

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The real problem is of lying, that is, is the deceit that is in the human heart.

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The problem with lying ultimately is not that it's out there in the culture.

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It's that it's in here in my heart and in your heart.

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Jeremiah said, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick.

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Who can understand it?

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And then the next verse says, I the Lord search the heart.

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I test the mind even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his

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deeds.

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Jeremiah 17 verses 9 and 10, the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked.

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It is terribly sick.

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Who can understand it?

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God says, I can.

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I search the hearts.

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I know what is in the heart of man.

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You see, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

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The greatest need that you and I have is for a heart that conforms to the truth, a heart

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that conforms to God's standard of right living.

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God gave us the Ten Commandments so that we might understand what it takes to live happily

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in this world.

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Just suppose for a moment, just suppose that beginning at 12 o'clock noon today, nobody

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in the world could tell a lie for 24 hours.

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A recent movie was written based upon that premise, that a man could not tell a lie.

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Just suppose that there could be no lie out of Washington or out of Baghdad.

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Just suppose that there would be no lie between a husband and a wife, between a high schooler

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and his parents.

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Suppose there could not be a lie told on television, including in those interruptions called commercials.

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Just suppose.

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Imagine what kind of a world this would be.

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Imagine what would happen to relationships.

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What do you say would be rather shocking?

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I imagine at first it would be pretty tough on relationships.

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But think in the long run.

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If it weren't beyond 24 hours, just imagine what would happen if everyone always spoke

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the truth in love.

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Think of what a happy world this could become.

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You see, when God gave this commandment, He knew what He was talking about.

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You see, God also gave this commandment because He knows the human heart, that our hearts

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are deceitful by their very nature.

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We have a sin nature.

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And that sin nature does not want to face up to the truth.

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It prefers to twist the truth to its own advantage.

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What do we do with these hearts?

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Well, it points us in the direction of the solution, what I'm talking about now, because

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the solution really is a clean heart that only God can create.

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King David said, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived

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me.

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Behold, thou dost desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part thou wilt make

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me to know wisdom.

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Later he says in verse 9 in Psalm 51,

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Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities, create in me a clean heart,

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O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

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That word steadfast means to be erect, to be able to stand up straight.

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He says, O God, renew a spirit in me that's able to stand up with integrity and with honor

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and with truthfulness.

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Those words written after David had lived a lie for more than a year paid a terrible

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price, but he repented, he acknowledged it, and this was his prayer, create in me a clean

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heart, O God.

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And you know something, that needs to be your prayer and my prayer today as well.

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Because the very best of us struggles with this whole thing of lying.

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The fact is that none of us can stand up straight in God's holy gaze.

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We all fall down.

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We're all guilty of lies and deceit that arise from our sinful natures.

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Our need is to be washed.

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Our need is to have our iniquities blotted out.

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Our need is to have a new heart created within us.

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When David said, create in me a clean heart, he chose a particular Hebrew verb.

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It is the same one that is used in Genesis 1, 1 where it says, in the beginning God created

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out of nothing the heavens and the earth.

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And here he uses that word.

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He says, create out of nothing in me a clean heart, O God.

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The implication seems to be that David wasn't saying, God, remake my heart.

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Give me a moral reformation.

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He's saying, God, there's nothing there to work with.

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Out of nothing inside of me, create a clean heart.

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And God can do that.

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God specializes in making new hearts.

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He sang earlier in the service about the blood of Jesus, about the grace of God, marvelous

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grace of our loving Lord.

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That grace freely is extended to us that our sins might be washed and cleansed away, blotted

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out, to use David's language.

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That grace is also able to create in us a clean heart, a new heart.

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Jerry Bridges, who is of course with the Navigators, in his book, The Pursuit of Godliness, honestly

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relates this story.

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He says, on Christmas Eve our doorbell rang and when I answered it, I found a little four-year-old

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neighbor girl holding out a plate of cookies.

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My mommy sent you some cookies, she said with a big smile.

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I thanked her and put the cookies down in some place and promptly forgot about them,

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for we were just leaving for the Christmas Eve church service.

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A few days later, as I was walking out to my car, the same little girl came down the

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sidewalk on our tricycle.

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She said, Mr. Bridges, how did you like the cookies?

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Oh, they were fine, I said, even though I hadn't even tasted one of them.

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As I drove away, I began to think about what I had said.

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I had lied.

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There was no question about it.

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Why had I done it?

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Because it was expedient.

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It saved me embarrassment and the little girl disappointment, though mostly I was concerned

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about myself, not her.

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Sure it was only a social lie of little or no consequence, but it was a lie.

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God says without qualification that he detests lying.

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As I thought about that incident, I began to realize it wasn't an isolated instance.

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The Holy Spirit reminded me of other occasions of seemingly innocent social lying, of instances

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of exaggeration or manipulating the facts of a story just a bit.

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I had to face the fact that I was not quite as honest as I had considered myself to be.

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God taught me a valuable, though humbling lesson through a plate of cookies.

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There are very few of us that can't identify with what Jerry Bridges is talking about.

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So may our prayer today be, O God, blot out my iniquities.

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I dwell in the midst of a people, to borrow Isaiah's thought, of lying lips, and I am

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a man of lying lips.

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And God created me a clean heart, a new heart, a heart that is devoted to speaking the truth

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in love.

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Let's pray together.

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