At this time, let us open the Word of God. Let us go to the Word of God in Colossians chapter 3. We'll just read 3 through 9, excuse me, 9 through 11, excuse me, Colossians 3, 9 through 11. The Word of God says, Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave-free, but Christ is all. and in all." That ends the reading of God's holy inspired word. Briefly, will you pray with me? Our glorious God and Heavenly Father, we rejoice in these, the words that you have given to us, and we pray that you would bless us as we meditate upon them, and we pray that we would know much more of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, May we be comforted by Him. May we be rebuked by Him, by the Spirit. May we be lifted up and built up in our faith. And may we become greater servants, servants of the Most High God, and servants to our neighbors. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I would take for our passage this day, Exodus 20, 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. God on Mount Sinai delivers His Word. He delivers the Ten Commandments. He declares His will for the nation. He had, just prior to that, humbled the Egyptians. He had humbled the Pharaoh. Indeed, he had embarrassed all of the gods of Egypt, showing that they were not gods at all. And he has brought them through the Red Sea. And God declares to them how they must live. And so he gives these ten commandments, these ten words. And we come this day to the ninth word or the ninth commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. And there are other instances similar to this where we find Moses telling us similar things by the Spirit about not lying or bearing false witness. In Leviticus 19.11 it says, you shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. We would say as we take that word which is given to us, thou shalt not bear false witness, we would see applications of that. An application of that is you must not lie to one another. Now, God's concern is for the people of God, that as they would eventually, after their wilderness wandering time, as they would enter into the promised land, and they would begin to live there, and they would have commerce there, the concern is that they would speak truth one to another. Why? Because if they are going to lie to one another, If they are going to bear false witness against one another, especially in a court proceeding, all of society for them is going to come crumbling down, it's going to fall apart. And indeed, if you know what happens in your Old Testament, that is exactly what happens. It is not just this commandment which is broken, it is all of the commandments that are broken. and eventually, in a sense, their society breaks down. You cannot have a society that is going to last unless people are able to trust one another and unless they are able to speak to one another the truth So the teaching or the doctrine or the thesis that I would put forward to you this day is this, you must tell the truth to one another because you have been changed, you have been regenerated, and you have been united to Jesus Christ. Let me just say that again. You must tell the truth. You must bear truthful witness to one another because you have been changed, you have been regenerated, you have been united to Jesus Christ. I have listened to many, an inmate, many who are criminals, and they will explain to me their side of the story. I'm a bit of a skeptical person. I don't take anyone's story as pure gospel, but I have listened to some stories from some certain people, and they have told me stories, and if the things that they say are true, I'm truly sorry and mortified. Sometimes on the basis of one witness. Sometimes on the basis of just one child witness. a lie is told or allegedly accusations are made against certain men and they are put in jail because of it, because of an angry ex-girlfriend, these sorts of things. Of course lies go both ways, man to woman, woman to man, child to adult and vice versa. God says that you must have two or three witnesses in a court situation and witness bearing, and they should be corroborated. All things will fall apart if you do not have that, if you do not have truth man to man, woman to woman. Colossians chapter 3, the burden of Paul is that the people of God would look heavenward and that they would see what is there, that they would see their inheritance there. in a sense that they would see Jesus when they look to heaven. He says in Colossians chapter 3 verse 1, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. He says, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. Now you must understand that some people have looked at this and they've said, well, that must mean that I need to escape from all of society. I might go into a monastery and there I can escape from all the craziness and nonsense which is in this world. There I can seek heavenly things. The only problem with that is that you bring your own sin to that place as well. We do not seek the things which are above by monasticism. We do not seek it by some sort of mysticism. We seek it by seeking Christ who is above. and by crucifying that which is contrary to Christ down here, down below." Paul goes on to say, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But he says that when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. And then he begins to tell you to put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, and he talks about sexual immorality and impurity and passion and evil desires and all sorts of sins. How do we seek the things which are above? By putting these things to death. Putting our sin to death. And in the midst of that context, where he's pointing them heavenward, and where he is seeking to have them put to death that which is sinful, one of the commands that he gives is in verse 9. Do not lie to one another. Do not lie to one another. The Israelites failed because they committed great sins in the land, and they were eventually purged from the land because they polluted the land. It was God's holy place. Paul's concern is that the people of God, who are the New Testament people of God, that they would speak one to another the truth as they know it. That they might, as a society, as a Christian group of believers in Colossae and all of the churches, that they might be able to trust what each other would say. To lie is to tell someone something that is not true. There are so many ways that we lie to one another. There are so many ways that people lie to each other. It's amazing when you watch the news, is it not? You ever know something about a situation and then listen to the story when it goes on to the news? It's really remarkable. If you've ever been reported, if you have ever had the news report on you, you ever know anyone who has had the news report on them? So often the people, when you go to them and ask them or when they bear testimony, they'll say, I don't even recognize myself in the descriptions that are being given of me. There are ways to tell outright lies, and there are ways to tell just a little bit of the truth, but it is a distortion of that truth. As Reformed believers, we must confess, shall we not? But oftentimes we study and we read and we get to know what we believe and why we believe it and we need to be encouraged to do that. Sometimes knowledge can puff up, can it not? And it can bring arrogance and pride in us. But we go on nonetheless and we begin to learn not only what other people believe, but sometimes we begin to learn and know what they believe better than they understand it themselves. This is good, we should understand what we believe and what others believe, but sometimes Because of the fact that we can't know everything and someone asks us or we have an opportunity to give our opinion on something, we begin to speak about something that we don't understand and we mischaracterize someone. Let us not mischaracterize what anyone believes, even if they are wrong, even if we do not agree with them. Indeed, as I was taught early on in my Christian walk, and I certainly have failed in many ways to follow it and to keep it, but if you are hearing someone who is presenting something to you, you might find some weakness in it. The best thing for you to do is prop up your opponent or your adversary so that that person actually has a stronger argument before you disagree with it. You can say, you know, you could actually have a stronger argument if you'd say it this way, rather than to put them down. There are so many ways that people lie, but I think we know and I think we are able to see, I trust that we're able to see that there are so many lies going on in our day. We won't take sides at this time and in the pulpit, but back and forth sometimes people go, mischaracterizing people back and forth. lying to one another. Why do people lie though? They do it to cover over their shame. Something brings shame to someone, so in order to prop themselves up, to cover over that shame, they lie. Or sometimes people will seek to make themselves look better than they actually are. But is Paul simply telling us, just don't lie? Is his concern ultimately for the preservation of the Christian society at Colossae? That is not his ultimate desire. His ultimate desire is that the people of God, those who name the name of Christ, his desire is that they would see who they are in Christ. He is showing them that they have a new identity. He is showing them and He is declaring to them that their life is hidden with Christ in God. And He tells them that they must put off and they must put on, and they have put off and they have put on. Look what he says, do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices. What he wants to drive home to these people is that you are changed people. And that is what I want to drive home to you, that because of your regeneration and because of your union with Christ, you have put off your old sinful self. You have put off, and you must continue to put off, That which is in conformity with the first Adam and his lies. And the practices, the things that you did before you came to Christ. Those things which cause you shame now. You put those things off. But you're not left naked because you put something on. You put on the new man. renewed in knowledge after the image of the Creator. It's truly remarkable when we see the Apostle Paul, does he not, in a couple of places talk about the first Adam and the second Adam. Every single person who is alive, every one person who has ever walked this earth is going to ultimately on that great day find their identity bound up with the first Adam or with the second. and those who find their identity bound up with the second Adam, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, they will be those who have put on Christ and have put off the first Adam. putting off these things is to put to death the sins which bind us by fighting against them and putting on righteousness and holiness and knowledge in union with Jesus Christ our Savior. In the year 1670, Blaise Pascal wrote a book called The Pensées, The Thoughts. They're like little proverbs. He was a famous mathematician, not fully friendly to the Protestant cause, but he still had many insightful things to say. One of the things that he says is this, He says, truth is so obscure in our times and falsehood so well established that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it. He said that in 1670. I would say that may be more true today than it was when he wrote it. Falsehood is so well established. Where can truth be found? Truth is going to be found in the Word of God. Truth is to be proclaimed from the pulpits as preachers declare King Jesus, our prophet and our priest, the one who loved us and died for us and raised Himself from the dead. And we can say the Father raised Him from the dead, and the Spirit raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. This is a time that demonstrates the truth that all men are liars. May the church, may the church be an oasis from a world of lies. A place where people bear witness to the truth of God and they bear witness to the kindness and the grace of God. and they bear witness about one another, and they speak truth to one another in great ways. Isn't it interesting, though, that the Ten Commandments, we read that you must bear You must not bear false witness. You must not bear false witness. And I put to you that you shall not lie or do not lie to one another is an application of the ninth commandment. However, it is interesting in this day and age where oftentimes people seem to think that they can just tell lies whenever they want because there will be no consequences. But when you go into a courtroom setting, that's when you're bearing witness and that is where there are consequences to telling lies. Is the world cut up like that? Is it like that where we can say, oh, there's bearing witness at this time, and that's really serious, and the consequences are very great, but they're not so great when you're just telling a truth or a half-truth truth at another time and in another place. For the Christian, that's not the case at all. For the Christian, the believer understands that, in a sense, everything that we say is under oath. Everything that we say must bear the truth of God, because we have come to understand that every single thing that we say we will need to give account of that. Every idle word. That's what Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 12, 36. He says, but I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. The Christian cannot take lightly when someone over here tells a lie, but then is under oath over there in a sense we are always bearing witness. May we bear true witness. May we understand that on that day we will give account for our words. Let us be careful with the words that we use. People don't just lie to one another. They don't just lie to each other. They also lie to themselves. There is cause in the Christian life sometimes to examine ourselves and to ask God to show us Are there things that I am telling myself, I'm lying to myself, things that I know to be true, but I bury them? That is certainly the case with every unbeliever. There is no unbeliever who will stand before God and say, I did not know, I did not have enough evidence. Anyone who thinks that needs to reread Romans chapter 1. which shows us that because of the created order and because of their conscience, they understand that the true God rules and reigns and he is real and he will judge. Let us not lie one to another and let us not lie to ourselves. but we worship a sovereign God. We worship the one who is able to take even lies and he is able to make them and take them and create good out of them. Mark chapter 14, 55, false accusers and liars stood up against our Savior, and the chief priests, it says, and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death. and found none. For many bear false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together." That's what it's saying to us in Jesus' humiliation. There were many who would rise up and speak against him. Of course, when you put their testimonies together, they did not corroborate. Therefore, they were not weighty. The Bible tells us that a servant is not above his master. They bore false witness against our Savior. They will bear false witness against you. As you seek to live the Christian life, as you seek to receive the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, and simply seek to serve and to help and to bless and to love your neighbor, your Christian neighbor and your non-Christian neighbor, even still they will say lies about you. How will we live and how will we act when such happens? We must pray for them. We must ask God that the mercy and the grace that we have been shown, that he would show that to them as well. Jesus Christ, our Savior, is the faithful witness. He is the faithful witness of the things of God the Father. He tells us in John chapter 8, 14, it says, Jesus answered and said unto them, though I bear record or bear witness of myself, yet my record is true. For I know whence I came and whither I go, but ye cannot tell whence I come and whither I go." Basically, here's what Jesus is saying. There is a category of men, and we could say that category of men has all liars, and Jesus does not fit into that category. All men are liars, but here is Jesus, He tells the truth. And when He bears witness, His witness is right and it is true, and there is no taint, no half-truth in it. but the Father bears witness of Him." It says, I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. You have then two witnesses. You have Jesus bearing witness of the Father and bearing witness of Himself, and you have the Father who bears witness multiple times in the life of Jesus, bearing witness at the baptism, bearing witness at the transfiguration. Jesus Christ is the faithful and true witness. But they did not know. Some of them did. Many of them did not care. and they crucified the Lord of glory. But God used this so that Jesus Christ, our Savior, would wash us and cleanse us. The wickedness and the lies and the deceit of mankind, God uses it for good. They meant it for evil, but God uses it for good to make use of Genesis 50-20. And Jesus, by suffering for you, and dying for you, and rising for you, regenerating you, that is giving you new life, and declaring you righteous, and declaring you to be adopted into the family of God, and declaring you to be sanctified or sanctifying you and also continually sanctifying you. These are the things that the Bible bears witness of and that witness is true. We live in a world filled with lies. May we be in a sense in the church a colony of heaven and a picture of heaven as we seek to tell the truth one to another and bear witness of one another in truthfulness. And may we acknowledge that a day is coming, a glorious day, a day in which that which is by faith, that walking which is by faith will be sight presently. your life is hidden with Christ in God. But as it says, when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. What is that saying? that is saying is that we will rise and we will go to that heavenly place and we will dwell there and we will dwell with Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead. And that will be a place which will be wholly unlike this world. or in that place, all things will be truth. Every word which is said will be true. Everything that is said will be a bearing of true testimony. and no lies and nothing unclean will creep into that place because such things will be banished. Let us praise the Lord for his grace and for his truth. Our God and Heavenly Father, we come to you this day acknowledging that we have lived lies and that we have told lies and that we have borne false witness. But we thank you that we depend not upon our own goodness, for there is none in us. We depend wholly and fully upon the goodness and the grace of our God, the righteousness and the holiness of our Savior, and the work of the Holy Spirit. to apply the redemption of the Lord Jesus to us. Help us to seek those things which are above. Help us to look to Jesus Christ, our Savior, who is there, who has loved us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.