If you have a copy of the scriptures, let me invite you to turn to the Old Testament book of Exodus, where we have in Exodus chapter 20, this record of what we refer to as the Ten Commandments, the giving of the Ten Commandments. And we're gonna be looking at verse 16, Exodus 20 and verse 16 to provide us a starting point and a focal point for this afternoon teaching as we continue to move through the Heidelberg Catechism. If you have your Bibles turned to Exodus 20 and verse 16, let me invite you to stand together as we read God's word. Exodus 20 and verse 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. May God bless the reading and the hearing of his word, and let's join together in prayer. Gracious and loving God, as we meditate today upon thy law and thy word, and in particular this command that we not bear the false witness that you, O God, would teach us foundationally what this means, and then the wider principles that are here exhibited and required in this teaching. Guide us in our thoughts. Give us the help of the Spirit to be able to see things clearly. We thank Thee for the perpiscuity of Thy Word, the clarity of Thy Word, and help us to see it for what it is. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. And you may be seated. Well, we're continuing today on this Lord's Day this exposition of the moral law of God as it is epitomized in the Ten Commandments. And we're looking at this ninth commandment, thou shalt not bear false witness. We're in the second table of the law. And whereas the first table of law teaches us our duties toward God, the second table teaches our horizontal duties to one another. The fifth commandment is the first commandment in the second table of the law, honor your father and mother, and that builds a wall around the role of parents, and really the wider implication is it builds a wall around those who hold positions of authority, respect for authority. Then the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill, builds a wall around human life. Elder Clark was exhorting us earlier about life in the womb and how that we're made in the image of God and how abortion is an affront to that. And then the seventh commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery, builds a wall of protection around the institution of marriage. The relationship between a husband and a wife. The eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal, that we looked at last week, builds a wall around personal property. That the possession of personal property is a biblical principle and so we should not take that which is not ours. And so now we come to this ninth commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness. And this builds a wall, we might say, around the truth. It builds a wall, especially truth as it is expressed in our speech. And we are to be careful about what we say. We are to be people who speak truthfully. We see a witness to this in the Old Testament, especially in the book of Proverbs, as Solomon taught about wisdom and the use of the tongue. In Proverbs 15, verse 1, it says, A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Powers 15.4 then adds, a wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. Also in Proverbs 19, verse five, which is the first proof text for this teaching today in our catechism, it says, a false witness shall not be unpunished. And he that speaketh lies shall not escape. That's the Old Testament. And we see something similar in the New Testament, don't we? Especially in the book of James. Many of you know James chapter three, where the apostle describes the dangers of the unbridled tongue. He begins in James 3.6, the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So the tongue can create a, our speech can create a brush fire that consumes acres and acres of wood, consumes acres and acres of things that are valuable, valuable relationships, unkind words, hasty words, words of gossip or backbiting can destroy something that's taken years to develop. There in James 3, the apostle, after noting man's ability to tame and domesticate various animals, he says the following in James 3.8, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. So he's pointing out the fact that we can use our tongues to bless God or we can use our tongue to curse men who are made in the image of God. And he says, out of the same mouth proceeded blessing and cursing. And then he says, my brethren, these things ought not to be so. A Christian, a believer, should not have blessings and cursings coming out of his mouth. James asks in James 3.11, doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either a vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. That's the witness of the New Testament. We even have the witness of spiritual writers over the ages. I've mentioned before John Bunyan, the great author of Pilgrim's Progress. A lot of people know that great allegory, but Bunyan wrote other allegories that are worth reading. One of his lesser known works is called The Holy War. And in this book, Bunyan describes the battle for a town, and the name of the town is Mansoul. And there is an enemy who wants to invade Mansoul and take it over. And so this town, Mansoul, has various gates, entryways, where things and people can go in or out. And the names of these gates in Bunyan's allegory are eye gate, ear gate, and mouth gate. And so what he's saying is, be careful what you let in the eye gate. Be careful what you let in the ear gate, and be careful what you let out of the mouth gate. Little children are taught the simple song, which includes this line, among others, about stewardship of the body and of our actions. Oh, be careful, little mouth, what you say. For the Father up above is looking down in love. Oh, be careful, little mouth, what you say. The ninth commandment applies foundationally to stewardship of our speech. It applies to telling the truth with respect to bearing witness. And the original context for this related to solemn legal or spiritual proceedings. It demands that believers be truth tellers and not perjurers. We are not to bear false witness. If you're called to testify on some matter, you should bring a true witness and not lie. Can you imagine what chaos there would be, and there sometimes is, in the courts in our land if no one told the truth? Truth-telling is at the foundation of every stable society. and it is at the foundation of every stable and healthy individual. Beyond the foundational command about truth-telling in the court, the basic discipleship instruments, catechisms, the teachings of the Protestant fathers tell us that the ninth commandment also has wider implications for all of life. And we see that laid out for us in Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 43, which only has one question and answer. It's question 112. What is required in the ninth commandment? And it's really, if you would read over this and contemplate it and look up the proof text for it, There is a lot of spiritual food to be fed by. Here's the answer. What is required in the ninth commandment? That I bear false witness against no man, nor falsify any man's words, that I be no backbiter nor slanderer, that I do not judge nor join in condemning any man rashly or unheard, but that I avoid all sorts of lies and deceit as the proper works of the devil, unless I would bring down upon me the heavy wrath of God. Likewise, that in judgment and all other dealings, I love the truth, speak it uprightly and confess it. Also that I defend and promote as much as I am able, the honor and good character of my neighbor. So there's a lot that is laid out in that. If I could just talk briefly about some of the things that are stressed. You'll notice that it begins with the foundational things. Sometimes the obvious needs to be stated. The ninth commandment means I should not bear false witness against any man. I should not falsify any man's words. But then it proceeds with some wise further applications. I'm not to be a backbiter or a slanderer. I love that term backbiter. What is a backbiter? A backbiter is one who speaks evil of another behind his back. It is indeed a good rule of thumb to seek not to say anything about a person that you would not be willing to say in his presence. When I was pastoring my first church out of what's called the Northern Neck of Virginia, the northernmost peninsula of Virginia, which for years was an isolated area, Someone in the church told me one day, they said, be careful about saying anything bad about anybody else, because you're probably talking to their relative. And it was a pretty good rule of thumb for life out there in the Northern Neck. But a better rule of thumb is don't say anything about anyone that you're not willing to say in their presence. And so we're not to be backbiters. In Romans 1, verses 29 through 30, Paul gives a short vice list. He includes various sins, including things like murder, deceit, whisperers, and haters of God. And he also lists backbiters as a thing to avoid. A slanderer, what is a slanderer? One who intentionally spreads half-truths or outright falsehoods. The catechism teacher proceeds to apply this commandment to wicked or hypocritical judgment, that I do not judge nor join in condemning any man rashly or unheard. The proof text given for this is our Lord's teaching in Matthew 7 verse 1. and following, and I've often pointed out that this is one of the most quoted and misunderstood verses in the Bible, judge not that ye be not judged. It's not teaching don't ever judge, don't ever evaluate. What it's saying is don't judge people by a standard you're not willing to be judged by yourself. And so our teachers are telling us that that teaching about false judgment or hypocritical judgment applies to the ninth commandment. When we do that, when we judge people by a standard we're not willing to judge ourselves by, then we are violating the ninth commandment. It next offers this blanket admonition and warning. but that I avoid all sorts of lies and deceit as the proper works of the devil, unless I would bring down upon me the heavy wrath of God. One of the proof texts listed is Leviticus 9.11, which says, you shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. The commandment is not merely about the negative, but also the positive. And that is stressed in the continuation of the teaching. Likewise, that in judgment and all other dealings, I love the truth, speak it uprightly and confess it. In the so-called love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul said that love or charity rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. And then finally, our teachers again positively exhort, also that I defend and promote as much as I am able the honor and good character of my neighbor. It's not just that I avoid saying what is false, but I rejoice in defending and promoting the honor and good character of my neighbor. I pursue building others up with my speech and not tearing them down. This applies in the home, in the church, and in our workplaces, and in society at large. Think about the home first, husbands and wives. Do your words towards one another tear one another down or build one another up? Children, your speech to your parents, parents, your speech to your children, does what you say to them build them up or does it tear them down? The people with whom you work, if you have a position of authority or if you're dealing with your boss. Are you using your speech in such a way as to defend the honor and good character of the other person? Consider what Peter said in 1 Peter 4, 8, and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. We are being exhorted by the catechism to learn to control and be good stewards of our speech, that we might first give glory to God, and second, that we might be a blessing to man. Would we commit today to have our tongue be under the authority of God? so that we would not bear false witness against our neighbor. I pray that we would. Amen. Let me invite you to stand together. Let's join in prayer. Gracious and loving God, help us to be good stewards of our tongues, of our speech, of our communication, whether that's a conversation within our homes or apartments, whether that's conversation in our workplaces, in our church, whether it's when we sit down before the keyboard or on the phone before we dash off a harsh comment or message. Let us consider whether what we are saying is intended to protect or to harm the good reputation, the honor of another person who is made in thy image. Don't let us use this as an excuse not to defend the truth. Help us, as Paul said, to speak the truth in love, but help us to do so in a manner that befits the gospel. And we ask that you would help us to instill these principles that are being taught alongside of the scriptural proof texts that back them up. Help us not to be back biters. Help us not to be hypocritical in our judgment. Help us not to be liars. Help us not to be slanderers. And forgive us when we have done this. because each of us can confess that there have been times when we have not been wise in the way we have spoken, the way we've communicated. We give thee thanks that Christ died on the cross for all of our sins, including the sins of our tongue, and that by his grace, we might have the fruit of self-control. We ask this in Christ's name and for his sake, amen.