To Tell the Truth
Exodus 20:16
July 2, 2006 

      Many things must be taught in life: how to brush your teeth, how to drive a car, how to tie a tie, etc. But no one has to be taught to lie. It comes naturally to the human nature. Sometime even little children become adept at lying—a practice that they carry throughout their lives.

      This shouldn't surprise anyone of us. The entry of sin into the world came on the heels of a lie by the father of lies. "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The truthfulness of God called into question by the serpent through the instrumentality of a lie, left the human race in a pattern of lies. Paul explains, "the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness" (2 Cor. 11:3). When Cain killed his brother Abel, the Lord God asked him, "Where is Abel your brother?" Cain replied, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" Not only did he lie but he sought to upbraid the Lord for adding responsibility to him. In other words, rather than admitting his sin, he covered up and sought to deflect the truth by implicating God as too intrusive in his life.

      Jesus taught a group of Jews professing to believe in Him concerning the truth. "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:31-32). His treatment of the subject of truth brought their real attitudes to the surface. Relationship with the living God through Christ has to do with the truth. Christ declared Himself to be "the way, the truth, and the life" apart from whom, none can come to the Father (John 14:6). In the gospel we face the truth about ourselves, the truth about our sin and its costliness, and the truth concerning Christ and how He satisfied God's judgment on behalf of sinners at the cross. Yet such truth exposes the reality of our hearts. When Jesus spoke of knowing the truth that would set them free, they objected. "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that you say, 'You will become free'?" Had they forgotten about Israel in Egypt or the exile into Assyria or the exile into Babylon? Had they forgotten so quickly that they were under the thumb of Rome, that they had a governor appointed by Rome and their land occupied by Roman soldiers? They lied to Jesus who spoke to them about the truth?

      Jesus explained, "Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin" (8:34). But they insisted that He did not get it right; "Abraham is our father," which meant that they really did not need the truth and freedom that Christ spoke of; it was theirs by birth, they insisted. Jesus told them that they proved that they were not Abraham's children—which our Lord identified as those whose faith is in the Lord (Luke 19:9). If they were Abraham's children they would not be seeking to kill the one who told them the truth. Then Jesus declared, "You are doing the deeds of your father" (8:41). They objected but Jesus gave this shocking explanation. "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (8:44). Why did they lie? Because they shared the same natural propensity for lying found in the devil. "He speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies... You are of your father the devil."

      Jesus Christ not only indicted the hypocritical Jews in His audience, but also every one of us. Unless we have a new heart, "which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth," then our natural inclination gives preference to lies rather than truth (Eph. 4:24). We may insist that we can't stand a liar! We want people to be truthful with us. Yet the reality is that we don't hold ourselves to the same standard that we hold others. If a lie appears to help us look better to others, then we lie. If an exaggeration about ourselves gives us an edge in competing for a position, then we lie. If the truth might cost us something financially or socially, then we lie. Only the cross of Christ stands between any of us and a lifestyle of lying.

      God hates lying. "There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers" (Proverbs 6:16-19). "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor," speaks of the worst of lies while including the whole realm of lying and deceit. The God who cannot lie, demands that we tell the truth. Yet lying seems to be the most pervasive of sins; and one that can easily roll off of our lips. Why is lying such a problem? How can we get a handle on dealing with lies?  

I. The destructiveness of lying

      Lying comes in many different shapes and sizes. Deceive, falsify, prevaricate, stretch the truth, exaggerate, cover-up, misrepresent, perjure, libel, slander, distort, conceal, and fabricate form just a few of the many terms in our language that fit under the broad umbrella of lying. Some lies are not even counted lies—they're white lies or crying "wolf!" Yet whatever form lying takes, it has the power of a tornado on a quiet village or termites on a wood framed house. It destroys! It undermines trust at every level and relationship.  

      1. False witness

      The original language speaks of bearing false witness: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Or more literally, "You shall not be a lying witness against your neighbor" [J. Douma, The Ten Commandments: Manual for the Christian Life, 313]. As with the other commandments, this one takes the worst application as an example for the whole family of this sin. Just as murder is the apex of hatred and bitterness, adultery the apex of lust, and stealing the apex of coveting, bearing false witness against one's neighbor takes lying to its ultimate platform for evil in the community of relationships.

      In a legal setting of our own day, a person swears "to tell the truth, the whole truth," not just part of the truth. We have the means to investigate truth that the ancient tribes of Israel did not have. We have investigators, DNA evidence, forensic scientists, tape recordings, video tapes, data files, and many other tools for determining a person's guilt in a particular accusation. But the ancient world differed greatly. Rather than the courtroom as our day, the scene in Ruth 4:1-12 where Boaz convened legal proceedings at the city gate demonstrates the way legal issues transacted. Someone might accuse another of stealing his sheep or committing adultery with his wife or murdering his relative. In many ancient cultures, just one person witnessing against the accused would be enough for the death sentence to be delivered, and that without the accused having the right to explain or defend himself. As Douma observes, "So witnesses could hold decisive sway over life and death" [314].

      God's law provided for two or three witnesses to testify against the accused in the case of a capital crime. "On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness" (Deut. 17:6). And to make matters more telling, "the hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death" (Deut. 17:7). If a witness fabricated his story in order to do harm to another, then the same punishment that he sought for the accused would fall upon him (Deut. 19:16-19). A person's life rested upon the accusation of his neighbor and the testimony of others in the community.

      "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" kept in mind both the neighbor and the entire judicial system of the community. If false witnessing or lying in a judicial setting was tolerated by a corrupt judiciary, then the harmony of the community would be shattered. The sacred bonds of marriage, the sanctity of life and property would no longer be part of the fabric that knit the community together. As Douma adds, "The phenomenon of a false witness brings into our field of vision the entire judicial system required to safeguard human honor, life, marriage, and property" [315].  

      2. Distrust in relationships

      On the larger community scale, tolerating false witnesses tosses any sense of security and justice out the window. Yet, "you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" goes beyond what happened in the ancient city gate or in the modern courtroom. Life involves relationships—thus the reference to "your neighbor." Everywhere we turn we encounter another relationship, whether at home with moms, dads, children, extended family; in the community at one's job, school, community events, shopping, clinic, hospital; in the church with Bible studies, fellowships, worship, social engagement. If you inquire about the price of an item that you need, and the business person intentionally tells you one price but later charges you a greater price, then you immediately sense a distancing from that person. A wedge is driven between you due to his intentional lie. If a son or daughter asks permission to attend a particular event when in reality the child's intention is to use that as a ruse to attend something different, then the relationship is fractured. Trust is broken and not easily regained. When you find yourself wrongly accused of something, whether at home, work, or school, and you know that someone among you knows the truth but keeps silent, refusing to come to your aid, then the relationship of trust is broken. You will find it difficult to depend upon this person again.

      I realize that with these few examples, your mind is multiplying the times that you have been wronged by someone lying, exaggerating, deceiving, or failing to tell the truth when you were in need. Your blood may be boiling at the moment as you recall some of those things! But, calm down! Not only have each of us been on the receiving end, we've likely, whether we admit it or not, been on the delivering end as well. Lying is endemic to human nature. Until Christ changes our hearts, the proneness toward lying to our advantage presses us. Even after conversion to Christ, we may still struggle with the lingering patterns of lies that characterized us, and thus need to put to death the deeds of the body, as Paul exhorts us. We cannot presume that telling the truth comes automatically as Christians, or else there would be no need for rehearsing the 9th commandment or for the numerous exhortations in the Sermon on the Mount and New Testament Epistles against telling falsehoods. 

II. The character of lying

      No one has to tell us that lying doesn't show good character! It does reveal something about the character of the liar. The untrustworthiness and deceitfulness stick with us long after the dust has settled on the lie.  

      1. Intentional deception

      What is a lie? One on-line encyclopedia says of a lie, "A lie is an intentionally false statement. To lie is to say something one believes to be false with the intention it be taken for truth." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lying#Films_on_Lying]. Quite simply, a lie intends to deceive. So pervasive is lying in our culture, that a few years ago a book was written with a revealing title, The Day America Told the Truth. The implication, of course, was that quite often we don't tell the truth and so had to have a special day to tell the truth about questions ranging from personal morality, taxes, cheating on homework, calling in sick to work, etc. The fact that such a book was published exposes the root of deceit at the foundation of our society.

      People lie to cover the truth, and thus seek to deceive the hearer. After the Lord had given specific command to King Saul to "utterly destroy" the Amalekites and all that they had, Saul went into battle and met with great success. However, he did not obey the Lord's command. He kept the Amalekite king Agag alive, as well as "the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good" (1 Sam. 15:9). When the prophet Samuel came to meet him, Saul, knowing that he had not fully carried out the Lord's command, met Samuel with these words: "Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord" (15:13). Clearly, he sought to deceive Samuel by giving an answer before the question came concerning the Lord's command. "I have carried out the command of the Lord."

      But Samuel replied, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" Saul continued to get deeper into the scheme of lying. "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed" (15:15). Did they really have the intention of offering sacrifice or instead, having a giant barbeque? Later, Saul puts the blame on the people, "the people took some of the spoil." In other words, it wasn't me. One lie led to another to another. The pattern of covering one's tracks, to impress others, and even attempt to impress the God who sees everything, shows the folly of lying. Who did Saul deceive with his lies? He certainly didn't deceive the Lord or the Lord's prophet. Saul deceived himself in thinking that he could prosper before the Lord by lying concerning his disobedience.

      Do you ever slip into this same kind of lying? Think about some of the things that we sing as we worship. "Take my life, and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to Thee." Do we mean that as we sing this prayer of consecration unto the Lord? Or does our singing amount to lying? "Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee; destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shalt be." Are we willing to be despised and forsaken by our friends for the sake of following Christ? Or does our singing amount to another lie?

      In the early church, there was such a sense of togetherness and oneness, that many of the brethren that owned land, sold the land and gave the proceeds to help out their fellow believers. They did this voluntarily. Luke records in Acts the story of one brother named "Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles... who owned a tract of land, sold it and brouth the money and laid it at the apostles' feet" (Acts 4:36-37). Evidently, others in the body recognized the generosity of Barnabas and rejoiced in his spirit of giving. One couple found this attention to be desirous, and so schemed to gain the favor of the apostles and the church. Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property but held back part of the proceeds for their own use and gave the rest to the apostles. They had the right to do this. No one forced them to sell their property on behalf of the church. But what Ananias and Sapphira did involved deceit. They claimed that they sold the property for the amount that they gave to the church, whereas they actually kept some for themselves. The problem did not involve keeping a portion but rather claiming that they were giving the entire proceeds from the sale of their property and not doing so. They lied.

      Ananias came to present his gift before the apostles. Peter looked at him and boldly spoke, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart. You have not lied to men but to God" (5:3-4). They sought to deceive the Christian brothers but in the process lied to the God who sees and knows all.  

      2. Disregarding the God of truth

      Ananias and Sapphira really demonstrated the character of lying. It is an affront to the God of truth. Everywhere we look in the Bible, God is set forth as the God of truth.

      In Exodus 34:6, as the Lord revealed Himself to Moses, He proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth." As David prayed after God made a covenant with him, he exclaimed, "Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth" (2 Sam. 7:28). David prayed and  exhorted in Psalm 25:4-5, 10, "Make me know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me... All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies." In Psalm 31:5, he calls the Lord, the "God of truth," as does Isaiah in 65:16. Poetically, as David pondered the Lord's protection, he mused, "For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds" (57:10). Zechariah speaks of the Lord's restoration of His people in which the Lord declares, "I will be their God in truth and righteousness" (Zech. 8:8).

      In the New Testament, John tells us that Jesus is "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14); and that "the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ" (1:17). Because God is the God of truth, He can only be worshiped "in spirit and truth" (4:23-24). Jesus Himself is the truth, so that if we know the truth the truth will set us free (8:32). He told the religious people of His day, "I speak the truth" (8:45). Indeed He does, for He is "the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6).

      Further, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as "the Spirit of truth" (14:17; 15:26; 16:13). He declared as He prayed to the Father, "Thy word is truth" (17:17). The revelation of God in the gospel is called "the truth of God" which men exchange for a lie (Rom. 1:18). The gospel is called "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:14). Paul declared that God "cannot lie," so His promises are faithful and true (Titus 1:1-3).

      I think the point is made with this glance at a few of the many passages that identify truth with the living God. When He commanded, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor," He was not commanding something contrary to His nature. Truth and truthfulness reflect the nature of God. When we lie, we personally offend the God of truth.  

III. The safeguards against lying

       Because lying is endemic to humanity, we cannot take for granted that we will always speak the truth. We've all had the experience of stretching the truth, exaggerating, or outright lying in a moment of conversation, so that when we step back and re-think we realize that out of pride or self-defense or arrogance, we lied. It happened so fast! So what are we to do about lying? 

      1. Realize that it is a heart issue

      Notice how the writer of Proverbs put it. "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you" (4:23-24). Right at the point of instructing us to be careful with our heart—the attitudes, thoughts, ponderings, leanings, and ambitions—at just this point, he also counsels us to put a deceitful mouth and devious speech away. It starts in the heart, making sure that we are regularly drawing near to the Lord through the Word of God and prayer and worship. If we get careless with our heart—which goes right back to the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life—then lying will come easily.

      How does the heart create lies? We may seek to cover up that we are not what others think we are. For instance, a young coach applied for a job on the staff of Syracuse University. He was asked about his athletic background, so amidst the truth, he wrote in his own hand that he lettered three years in football at the University of New Hampshire. Twenty-one years later, this coach had been successful at an ACC head coaching job, and then was hired for his dream job: coaching Notre Dame football. A couple of days into the job, a reporter trying to write about the path that George O'Leary had taken to the one of the top coaching jobs in the country discovered that O'Leary never played football at the University of New Hampshire. In an effort to bolster his resume and impress an athletic director two decades earlier, his lie caught up with him. He lost his coaching job and reputation overnight [Phil Ryken, Written in Stone, 185-186]. He wanted others to have a certain impression of him that was not true, so he lied.

      Others will lie about someone else or slander their character or question their reputation in order to make themselves appear more impressive. It's the classic approach of trashing someone else—a modern version of bearing false witness—so that by denigrating that person's appearance or intelligence or abilities the slanderer elevates himself. John Calvin commented, "Those who do not markedly suffer from this disease are rare indeed. We delight in a certain poisoned sweetness experienced in ferreting out and in disclosing the evils of others" [Institutes, 2.8.48]. It starts in the heart by allowing jealousy or envy or bitterness to fester. We run away from the cross instead of to it, and our tongues catch the fire blowing from the bellows of the heart. No wonder James warned, "See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell" (3:5-6). 

      2. We must seek to speak truth

      That's what Paul told the Ephesian church as he set forth the glory of the church as the body of Christ. "But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ" (4:15). Here the idea of truth has to do with our conversation being informed and directed by the truth of sound doctrine. In that same context though, as Paul worked out the doctrine of sanctification, he reminded these believers to "lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, [he's drawing an application] laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another" (Eph. 4:22-25).

      He warned about "the lusts of deceit," a curious phrase pointing to the natural desire to deceive others. Such deceitfulness is contrary to the God who has recreated us in union with Christ "in righteousness and holiness of the truth." So it is quite fitting then that we quit our falsehoods. Lay them aside, Paul tells us. Deliberately, put them off, and replace that kind of behavior by speaking truth to one another.

      So, first, our conversation is to be informed and directed by sound doctrine spoken in love, never with ulterior, selfish motives. Second, we are to deliberately put off the falsehoods that have been our practice, die to them, confess them to Christ, repent of them; then speak the truth, realizing that we are members of one another in Christ's body. To deceive another brother is to deceive yourself. 

      3. Practice grace-seasoned conversation

      I remember shortly after we moved to Memphis, Karen and I had dinner with Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Olford, hosted by another couple in our area. As Dr. Olford asked the Lord's blessing on the meal, he prayed, "Lord, sanctify our conversation." That stuck in my mind that this meal would not be a time for juicy tidbits about others but a time for edification. I think that's what Paul had in mind as he gave guidelines for safeguarding against lying and inappropriate speech. "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear" (Eph. 4:29). And to the Colossians (4:6), "Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person."  

Conclusion

      The ninth commandment covers a broad range of speech and actions. Anytime we attempt to deceive we violate the intention of this command. Once again we are reminded of how guilty we are before the law of God, and how much we need the Savior who bore our sins on the cross. May the God of truth by the Spirit of truth point each of us to Him who is the Truth!

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