Give everybody just a moment to find their seat. We are, this morning, taking up part two of our study on the ninth commandment. We started that last week. And that is, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. I told you last week that I think this command is somewhat unique. There, of course, are probably exceptions to this, but I think this command is particularly easy for Christians to violate while thinking they're doing something good. I think that's what's difficult about this commandment and can almost cause us to not perceive what we're doing while we're doing it because we think we're doing something noble at times. And so that makes this somewhat of a difficult commandment, and we will unpack more of this as we consider this morning the sins that are forbidden in the commandment. I think in many ways, as I said last week, the ninth commandment has become one of the most respectable sins, if you're familiar with that terminology. I believe that's from Jerry Bridges. Respectable sins are things that are perhaps even considered to be somewhat virtuous, not recognize this for what they are, wicked or deceitful. They are seen actually as more respectable when people do them. So I think that's the case with the ninth commandment and a lot of cases as we'll see. The violations of this commandment can flow out of our mouth so quickly in an unguarded moment with an unfiltered thought. And the tongue is a fire, as the Apostle James said, and so it's easy for Christians to speak in serpent language. the black speech of deceit and slander. So the goal for our study of this commandment has been that we will better understand what the whole counsel of God has to say about bearing false witness. We want to know the whole will of God concerning the right handling of the truth and of our neighbor's good name. Before we begin, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father in heaven, We sin in many ways, even those of us in this room who are your children. And we pray as we consider what is your revealed will this morning concerning our speech and the right representation of the truth, we pray that you would give us light, that you would bring conviction of our hidden faults, and that you would cause your children not to despair in these things, but help us to come unto you who are gracious and merciful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and help us to walk in the truth which you love. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, just a brief review of last week. Last week we considered three things in our consideration of the affirmative side of the command. We considered First, the foundation of the ninth commandment, which is the God of truth. And this gives us the necessary context to understand how this commandment flows from the nature and character of God, who is faithful and true. And then we then consider what the ninth commandment principally teaches, what it is principally concerned with, which is the preservation of the truth and of our neighbor's good name. And lastly, we studied the affirmative side of the command, which laid out for us what duties, positively, what duties the command requires us to do and to dedicate ourselves to. This week, we are gonna follow a similar outline, except we'll begin with the adversary, who is the father of lies, the devil. We'll then consider the problem that fallen men like their father, the devil, love lies. And then lastly, and what will take up, I think, the bulk of our time this morning, we will consider the negative part of the command, and that is what sins the commandment forbids. So first, let's consider very briefly the father of lies. We started last time with the God of truth. We'll consider now the father of lies. The Lord Jesus says in John 844 that when Satan lies, he speaks out of his own character. We've said that the God of truth, he speaks truth from his own character, but Satan speaks lies out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies, John 844. When he speaks of him being a liar, He points back to the very beginning of creation. In fact, in the context there, he says he was a murderer from the beginning and points right back to Genesis 3 verse 4, when the serpent said to the woman, this is perhaps, we read this with such familiarity, but this is really the first express manifestation of sin by a being in creation on the pages of scripture. So we actually have God being contradicted, the God who's just depicted as creating the world by his voice, by the words that he spoke. And then you have this being, this angelic being come and say, you will surely not die. The God that's just created everything by his voice, what he says, it's not true. And that should really shock us. I think it's intended to shock us there if we're not familiar with that text. The serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Revelation speaks of Satan as a deceiver and accuser. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan. Who is he? He is the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. He's also an accuser and a slanderer. The accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And we see throughout the pages of Scripture, Satan working as a slanderer and accuser. He slanders the people of God. We see this in the words that he speaks to God about Job at the beginning of the book of Job. Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has. He will curse you to your face Slanders joke and Then also in Zechariah Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and standing Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him and so We have an enemy who from the beginning all the way to the end, eagerly seeks to deceive men about God. He is the father of lies. And when we follow the father of lies, when we lie, we are following the father of lies. We are speaking as it would be the serpent's tongue, the black speech of deceit. Well, we have an enemy without, but we also have an enemy within. And that is because sinful men love lies. We do not like the truth. And men have inherited, of course, a corrupt nature from Adam. And now we have a powerful inclination to practice deceit in our hearts and with our mouths as well. This is testified by the Apostle John in John 3, 19. The light has come into the world. People love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. Darkness somewhat synonymous with untruth, light being synonymous with the truth that has come into the world. But men love the darkness because their works were evil. John 8, 44, we just read this but from a different angle here. You are of your father the devil, he says to the Pharisees who are questioning him. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. And men who suppress the truth are of their father, the devil. They are doing the will of their father to suppress a truth. The Apostle Paul brings this out in Romans 3 when he quotes the psalm. He says, their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive, speaking of sinful men. The venom of asps is under their lips. They even have the venom of serpents to deceive others and to be deceived. And the Apostle Paul earlier in Romans 125, it said, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness, by our sin, we suppress the truth. This is bound up in the identity of sinful men. We suppress the truth in unrighteousness because the truth is no ally to us because it calls us to repent and submit ourselves unto God as fallen and sinful men and to embrace his will Rather than our own and so men suppress the truth. They are truth suppressors because of this they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and Worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever Now why is it why is it that we lie the the Apostle alludes to some of this there in Romans 1? But why is it that men love lies? See the picture of the the child there. I'll talk about that at the end, but This is something that stands out to those of us who are parents, is children come out of the womb and they're lying. And they're not necessarily shown an example of this before they begin to manipulate and do these things. So why do we do this? And why is this so intrinsic in the hearts of sinful men? And we talked about this briefly last week, but just to repeat this, I think what lies at the heart of this as sinful men is we lie because we desire to take for ourselves, and you can fill in the blank, whatever that is. We desire to take for ourselves what God has not given to us by providence. We perceive there's some benefit, there's some object, there's something that we desire, be it honor, glory. Something just that we enjoy to have, some relationship. And we perceive we cannot get this by the normal providence of God, so we need to take it. We need to take it for ourselves. We lie because we desire to take what we think God has not given to us. And you see this, I think, for example, in the story of Rachel and Jacob there in Genesis. And one thing to bear in mind as we read a story like that is God had promised Rachel, I'm sorry, Rebecca, I think it is, Rebecca, he had promised her that Jacob would be the one who would be favored by God and would receive the promise. But Rebecca saw no other way to bring about God's will than through deceit. We must deceive in order to bring about God's will. She didn't believe that God was able to bring about what he had promised to do. So she must take it. And so she turns to manipulation. God is not able to change Isaac's mind, so we must take matters into our own hands. And even when we are seeking to bring about the express will of God, we can seek to take matters into our own hands and manipulate and lie. and to misrepresent and bring about what we desire, that which we perceive to be better than the providence of God. And that's what Rebecca did. And brethren, this impulse to lie and manipulate has very deep roots. The impulse to misrepresent truth for our advantage is bound up into the sinful human heart and will. It's bound up very intricately in us as we desire to impose our own wills, our own sinful wills upon the Lord. And the source of this corrupt nature is what we have inherited from Adam. And this is often a surprise, even to Christian parents, it shouldn't be. But I want to illustrate this by telling a story that I think many of us can relate to. The story is about Mr. and Mrs. Integrity. Mr. and Mrs. Integrity. They're Christians who excel in honesty, and they're known for their faithfulness and their integrity, truth-telling. This is something they practice among themselves. They may sin in other ways, but they are well known for their truthfulness and faithfulness. The deception's not tolerated in their home or in their relationships. Now, Mr. and Mrs. Integrity, after a couple years of being married, they welcome their first child, who they somewhat naively name Little Honest. The baby's name is Little Honest. Now somewhere around two years old, the child's parents are stunned to find that their little Honest, that they have labored for these two years to shield from deceit and lies, He suddenly begins to manifest a shockingly shrewd ability and shameless willingness to manipulate them into getting what he wants, even to say such and such didn't happen or no, this is this. Even in a babbling sort of way, perhaps some of you have experienced this from very earliest days and you look at each other as parents and you say, where did he learn to do that? And it's just because this urge to manipulate, to get what we want and manipulate the truth is so entrenched because of our fallen nature. And that is evidence enough of the fact that we have received from Adam this corrupt nature that seeks to make our own wills happen. Now, what is the answer? Where is it that he learned this? The Lord Jesus said of the devil that when he lies, he speaks out of his own character. And the same is true of us, even from the earliest age. This is not just something we learn from others. It's not just a learned behavior, although it becomes more sophisticated as we see others practice it. But this is something that flows right out of the corrupt nature that we've inherited from Adam. And because of this, no amount of simple behavior modification is going to ultimately change the heart. We have to root out what is at the root of this sin, this corrupt nature. Of course, it's good for us to restrain it. So we want to teach our children and restrain them from this behavior, to show them the wickedness of it, to discipline them when they lie. But there is a serious root that is bound up in our hearts of wickedness that in some sense behavior modification cannot, it can only control the outward manifestation. It cannot fix the inward man. And what must take place is a radical reshaping of our wills through grace. We must not desire to manipulate to get our will, but we must in our hearts have a radical reshaping that says, the will of the Lord be done and I receive from the hand of providence. I can let the truth stand for what it is. The will of God stand for what it is. This is what lies at the heart of the truthful person who is committed to truth. God will work out his will and I will submit to it. I don't need to manipulate it. And this only comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ and the internal presence of the Holy Spirit of truth, which cleanses the fountain of our heart. But then it's good for us to bear in mind There are many scriptures that speaks about how God feels about lies, what God thinks about lies. God hates lies. And we need to teach our children this. We need to bear these things in mind ourselves because he has strong things to say about the misrepresentation of the truth. And we should arm ourselves with passages like these to equip our consciences in order to rid ourselves of serpent speech. Proverbs 19.5 says, a false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape. What makes people bold in telling lies is they think they will get away with it. But the Word of God assures them that the Lord sees the heart, and He sees the ends, and He will not let this person prosper. Many times in this life, but certainly in the life to come, the one who breathes out lies will not escape. They will be made. They will be proclaimed in the light what they are. Lying lips, Proverbs 12, 22, are an abomination to the Lord. They are abominable to God. And what is the end? Liars, but as for the cowardly the faithless that a testable as for murderers the sexually immoral sorcerers idolaters and all liars Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death liars Will receive second death unrepentant liars very very serious So now let's move into specifically, what does the command forbid? And we'll spend much of our time here. Now I want to remind you again, I spoke about this last week, but the commandments have been referred to as synecdoches, which is just a really fancy word for speaking about a part of something to represent the whole. It is a figure of speech. The commands are stated very briefly and simply in a figurative way that represents a more extensive doctrine that is developed throughout scripture. And the rest of scripture really unpacks what does this commandment mean. And you see the apostles applying these commandments and showing in fuller light the Lord Jesus Christ does this very clearly in Matthew 5. He shows what is intended by the very simple statements of the ten. And it is all the same moral law as we've seen. So the Ten Commandments are like an index of the moral will of God and each index entry points to hundreds of scriptures which flesh out the commandment in more detail. And so we have put forth Westminster or larger catechism, which attempts to just serve as a summary of the whole scripture doctrine. It's not the source of doctrine. It is just summarizing the whole counsel of God on the particular commandments. As you can see there, the ninth commandment, what sins it forbids for question 145 is quite lengthy. I'm not going to read this. I commend it to you for your careful consideration, but we will see as I go on with some of the sins forbidden. allude to the Westminster Larger Catechism here and how it summarizes the whole scripture doctrine. But our Baptist Catechism in Question 83 summarizes this commandment in a much more succinct form. I think this is quite helpful. What is forbidden in the Ninth Commandment? The Ninth Commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to the truth. And what does prejudicial to the truth mean? To prejudice the truth simply means to undermine the truth or to distort it in some way with what is false. So the ninth commandment, forbid it whatsoever is prejudicial to the truth. That's number one. or injurious to our own, that's number two, or our neighbor's good name, that's three. So we have here three things, which serves as somewhat of a summary outline for the ninth commandment. Whatsoever is prejudicial to the truth in general, and then whatsoever is prejudicial to our own name, and also to our neighbor. So we'll treat these things as a summary outline to our consideration of the scriptural doctrine. So here's my outline, and just a word about this outline there. This is my attempt, of course that paragraph is quite lengthy as you see there, and it touches on many, many, many scriptures. This is quite broad, this command, and this is my attempt to summarize the sins forbidden in the ninth commandment, although it's not comprehensive. There are things that I think the ninth commandment teaches that we just simply don't have the time to discussed this morning, but I think these are some of the major ones that have great relevance to all of us in this room. Now you may also see that some of these sins may be under different headings than what I have here. This is just an attempt to summarize these sins. So the first is prejudicing of the truth. That was that first point that we saw in the catechism. And we can do this generally, just the truth in general. We can do this in a judicial sense, when called to bear witness or to participate in some kind of court proceedings. We can do this by silence, prejudice the truth by silence, by equivocation. We'll talk about that in a little bit more detail. But then there is prejudicing the good name of our neighbor, and we can do this in our heart. We can do this by exaggerating or misconstructing. Intentions or or statements we can do this by even the misuse of the truth We can do this by gossip and slander and Then there is prejudicing our own good name. We can do this in our by our own self-assessment the way we we think and speak about ourselves and then by covering over our sin is one way we can violate the ninth commandment when called to confess it and and by not keeping our promises. So we'll consider briefly each one of these and seek to apply this and ground it in scripture. Beginning with prejudicing the truth in general, this is just generally, there's a lot of things you could say under this, I'm gonna be very brief. We spoke about some of these things last week, so I commend that to you if you did not, if you were not here last week. The larger catechism speaks of speaking untruth lying and forgery, and that's among many other things as well. The key text here is Ephesians 4.25. Therefore, having put away falsehood, it's all deceit, all deceiving statements, all untruth, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Now, lying includes what can be called material lies. where the information we are sharing is materially false. It's just false information. It's not true. We're saying something that's untrue. And maybe our mouth agrees with our mind when we say it, but it's an untruth. It's not true. We should be very careful not to do that. How do we do that? We're very careful to establish the truth and not make confident statements of things that we should not be confident about. We need to make sure we are doing due diligence when we say things. that we take them seriously. If we're spreading things that are false, we're doing violence to the truth. And so we want to labor to make sure we are speaking what is true, and that generally means that we stick very closely to the word of God, which we can always count on as truth, and that safeguards us from doing this. So that's material lies, but it also includes lying against our minds, which some have called a formal lie, where we say things with our mouth that does not agree with our minds. So we are saying things that we know are not true. So lying applies to both of those things. Of course, forgery is to create a false document or illegitimately to sign a document by the name of someone else for some advantage or benefit. So that's generally, there's a lot more things we could say about this. Some of these things we'll touch on as we go. But then there's judicially. We read a lot of texts last week that speak about the bare words of the commandment from Deuteronomy concerning the prohibition of giving false evidence in court or being a false witness and what that means in a judicial sense. The catechism summarizes this by saying, giving false evidence, supporting false witnesses, wittingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause, passing unjust sentence, Calling evil good, and good evil, and rewarding the wicked according to the work of the righteous, and the righteous according to the work of the wicked. All these things condemned by the ninth commandment. One of the probably most egregious examples of this in the Old Testament is Jezebel. And she wrote in the letters when Ahab is confronted about the Naboth's vineyard that he's not able to have it as he wants it She wrote in the letter. She tells him don't worry about it. I'll take care of it She wrote in the letters proclaim a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people and set two worthless men Opposite him and let them bring a charge against him saying you have cursed God and the king Then take him out and stone him to death and shockingly that is exactly what happens. So she judicially bears a false witness here, and many others implicated in this as well. So this is in a judicial sense. But then we can also prejudice the truth by silence, by not speaking. And the Catechism says, concealing the truth, Undo silence in a just cause and holding our peace when iniquity calleth for either a reproof from ourselves or a complaint to others. Here we see Proverbs 31, 8 to 9. Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. We are to defend those who are being wrongfully represented, wrongly charged, we are to open your mouth for those who are not able to do so. And we see elsewhere that if it's in our power to do that which is good, to clear the name of someone, we should do it. If we know something that clears their name, we should speak up and say that is not the case. We also see this that we are bound if our brother sins against us, we are commanded to go to him and tell him his fault. If this is something we ought not to overlook. as there are times with small faults that we might overlook, some small things that we may choose to overlook. But if it is a matter that must be confronted, we must confront our brother. This is a sin that must be confronted. We are commanded to go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. So we have an obligation to go to our brother to defend those who are being wrongly accused or who are being prosecuted wrongly. or taken advantage of. Thomas Watson says, not only that we should not slander or falsely accuse others, but that we should witness for them and stand up in their defense when we know them to be wrongly treated. A man may wrong another as well by silence as by slander when he knows him to be wrongfully accused. yet doth not speak in his behalf. So we have a duty and an obligation to stand up for the truth. But then by equivocation, and the wording here is or in doubtful or equivocal expressions to the prejudice of the truth or justice. An example of this is in Genesis 20. Abraham said that he called his wife his sister, which was a half truth. He says I did it because I thought there is no fear of God at all in this place and they will kill me because of my wife Besides she is indeed my sister the daughter of my father Though not the daughter of my mother and she became my wife. So when we use a half-truth in and pass it forward as truth for some advantage. This is not just that we're not called upon to give the whole truth that is unnecessary, but this is something that we are advancing a half-truth in order for some benefit. That is an equivocation. We're saying something, making a claim that something is true when it is really a half-truth and we're not telling the whole side of this. Sometimes we can We see this with our children when someone complains of one hitting another. It's conveniently left out that they were the first to hit or that there was some wrong that they had done which caused the second thing to happen. But only the second thing is said, not the whole story which is found out. And so that is by equivocation. So then let's move on to the good name of our neighbor, the prejudicing of the good name of our neighbor. First, we can do this in our heart. We talked a little bit about this last week when we considered the positive side, that we should labor to think the best and hope the best of our neighbors and not make room for just assuming the worst all the time and hoping the worst. So just to open this up just a little bit more this morning, This is when we're envying or grieving at the deserved credit of any, endeavoring or desiring to impair their good name, rejoicing in their disgrace or infamy, when we have evil suspicion about someone in our hearts, or we're thinking or speaking too meanly of others. These are things that are taking place in here. We're thinking in here and in here. We're thinking with suspicious thoughts about someone that's unwarranted. That is when we are envying or grieved at good things that are happening to their credit and we're seeking ways to level the playing field. We're rejoicing in their disgrace or infamy. We're glad that something bad might happen to this person. Within our hearts, we're not seeking the good name of our neighbor to be set forth. We're desiring a bad name to be set forth for them. And this is a very difficult thing at the center of our hearts and how we think about others. And we need to consider that very carefully when we would speak against someone, examine whether our heart would delight to see a good happen to them from the hand of the Lord, or whether we really desire their hurt and them to be disgraced. That's at the root of a lot of these sins. See an example of this in 2 Samuel 6, 16. McCall, the daughter of Saul, looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord. And she despised him in her heart. That is behind many of these sins. So we need to make sure we desire the good name of our neighbor in our heart. Then there is by exaggerating or misconstructing. The catechism speaks about this. aggravating smaller faults, or aggravating or exaggerating smaller faults, misconstructing intentions, words, and actions. Now, I think this is very easy to do in the middle of conflict or disagreement. I think you see this all the time on social media in the midst of discussions. It's probably the point where most social media Debates really break down, is misconstructing what someone is saying, not laboring to give the sense of what this person is saying, what their intentions are. We're assuming the worst, we're assuming the worst of what they say. And if you just observe any common Facebook debate, there's probably a lot of evidence of this very thing there. So we need to make sure we're careful not to do this. We need to make sure we represent the other side in a way that they would agree with, and not just the way that makes them look worse to our advantage. And not only can we do this on social media, we can do this in our families as well. We can do this to our spouses very easily. Let's consider some of the texts here. Matthew 7, 3, why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own? So we can exaggerate the faults of others while we ourselves have a much bigger problem in what we're doing right now than what this person is doing. 1 Samuel 17, 28, Eliab's anger was kindled against David and he said, why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart. How many times have we said things like that? I know your heart. I know your presumption and the evil of your heart. I know that your heart's evil in this matter. For you have come down to see the battle." And so you have David who's about to win this great, brave victory for Israel. He's the only one that'll stand up to this Philistine. And here's his brother assuming that he's coming just to make a sport to watch the battle out of an evil heart. And we can often do the same thing in assuming the worst about people and speaking to them accordingly. This was done to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians. We see he says, I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? And of course there's many texts which Pastor Sam has been unpacking for us that show Paul's great concern to clear his name of charges that are brought against him for small things. He just needed to change his travel plans because of the situation and he's accused of being a vacillating person. And so someone is accusing him of the worst when this is not the whole truth. And he's very concerned to clear his name of this through the letter of 2 Corinthians. So we can exaggerate the faults of others or even something we don't understand. We can assume some bad motivation about something someone has done when it's not warranted. And we can make them out to be more grievous even than the sin that we're committing at that very moment and we're not seeing it. We can do this with our spouses and our children. We can get so upset at small faults that we should overlook in grace or deal with very gently while at the same time we are sinning more grievously in our response to them than what they have done. And Thomas Boston says, it is a mischievous tongue that counting the faults of others for 50 sets down 100 and still looks to them through a magnifying glass. Had we the dexterity of aggravating our own as we have of aggravating the faults of others, we would be happy because very humble people. So the point there is we need to remove the logs from our own eyes before we are pulling specks out of others. And we should not misconstrue the intentions and aggravate the faults of others. We need to make sure we understand them, think about them biblically, charitably, desiring the best for this person and seeking to understand and ask questions where we are tempted to assume the worst about what they are doing. Then there is the misuse of the truth. Sometimes we can say things that are true with bad motivations and in an unnecessary way cause trouble for someone. Here's what the catechism says about this. Speaking the truth unseasonably or maliciously to a wrong end, it's to a wrong purpose. It's not for the person's good, it's quite the contrary, it's to the person's hurt. Or perverting it to a wrong meaning. We say things that are true, but we slightly put our own spin on the story to make it look less favorable for this person. And then there is the unnecessary discovering or publishing of infirmities. So someone perhaps has confessed the sin to us and we've granted them forgiveness, but we're now going and telling people what's been done when we should cover over it in love and forgiveness. This is an example of using the truth maliciously. You see Doeg the Edomite stood by the servants of Saul and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitho. And he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine. And here we see an example of Doeg saying true things but using it in a way to stir up Saul against David to add fuel to the fire that David is this person who's ready to rebel against the king and he needs to go snuff him out. And so Doeg goes and leads a party to go and kill all the priests of Nob. So Doeg here using the truth as a weapon against David and the priests. Then you have the witnesses that bear false witness against Jesus Christ. The last two came forward and said, this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. Of course, the Lord says something very similar to that. But of course, this is stated in such a way to call for his death against him, not trying to understand the sense of what he meant. He was not calling for the destruction of the temple right now, literally. But this is used against him to accuse him maliciously. And you see the same thing in Ezra 4, when the people of Judah are being accused, information is brought up about their past sins. And so it said, this city, this is the petition to the king of Persia, this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces. Check the records. You'll see the records will show this is a rebellious city. That's true. That was true. They did refuse to pay tribute to the kings, and so they were punished and carried into exile. And that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why the city was laid waste. We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt, this is where the truth is used in a malicious way, now they're making a judgment. See, if you let them keep doing this, they'll do it again. They will become rebellious again. If this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province beyond the river. This is all about them rebelling again and taking this land from the king. Whoever covers an offense seeks love. If an offense has been repented of, it has been forgiven, that sin is to be covered. But he who repeats a matter separates close friends. If someone goes around just to state the truth of someone's faults or sin or things they've done in the past, this is a sin. This is a violation of the ninth commandment is to separate close friends. Then by gossip and slander. Catechism says, slandering, backbiting, tailbearing, whispering, raising false rumors, receiving and countenancing evil reports, and stopping our ears against just defense. And we see Proverbs 16, 28. The Proverbs have a lot to say about the whisperer, the gossip, the one who's the gossip and tail bearer. That comes up many, many times in the Proverbs and throughout scripture. A dishonest man spreads strife and a whisperer separates close friends. Now, I think some of these words would be helpful just to think about what they mean. Slander, of course, is common. We've heard that word a lot, many of us. This is the spreading of a false report about someone openly. You know, we're slandering this person saying untrue information for their hurt, to be malicious toward them. Then there's backbiting, and this is speaking openly about someone behind their back. So we're open to speak about the person to others without the person being there to defend their name of the wrong that they are being talked about doing. And we have whispering. People go around from person to person not seeking to have this known that they're doing this. It's somewhat secretive. Speaking secretly about someone behind their back in order to sow discord or disadvantage to this person and advantage to themselves. Then you have tail bearing, which is spreading false, exaggerated, or sometimes sensitive stories, really sometimes just for sport. And we have to be very careful about this, because this is very easy to do when we just want to have something good to talk about. Hey, did you hear? that this happened to this person. And somewhere in there, there ends up being something that maybe should not be published. It's not good for the person. They're not there to say, well, this is what I meant by that. They are not there to clear these negative implications of the thing that's being said. Now, we're not just guilty when we do this. We are guilty when we receive this from others and don't stop it. When we receive these reports, we're receiving information, little seeds sown against the good name of our neighbor. We're receiving them, and now our own judgment is going to be affected by this matter that has not been established. And if we are receiving these things without challenging them, without pushing back, without insisting that the person talking to you go work this out with this person, now all of a sudden our judgment is being affected by these things which are false. And we're sinning against the person as well by encouraging this person to continue to spread these false reports and gossip. So we are not just guilty when we're doing this, we're guilty when we receive it as well. So brethren, of all the ways that were attempted to break the ninth commandment, I think that these are some of the easiest and the most respectable, meaning we tolerate them very often in the church, actually. And sometimes these things can even feel like the right thing to do. Maybe we feel like we're doing the right thing because we are just trying to help this person out, you know, so I'll tell this information. And it can be cast that way many times. There's a way that seems right to man. But this way ends in death. So we need to be on guard that we are not doing these things to our brothers and that we are not receiving them. from our brothers and sisters as well. Thomas Boston has a few comments on this that are helpful. This is, he's speaking about tail bearing. This is a sort of peddler trade for the devil, driven by many whose work it is to carry tails out of the house or company where they happen to be. And these are the wares that they have to vent in other houses or companies where they will likely be ready to take up new clashes and tails to where they go next. These are the plagues of society like Satan's sowing discord among brethren. hence secret grudge against one another, and none knows wherefore. And when they are searched to the furthest, it is all grounded on some tailbearer's credit. And so we need to be very careful that we do not allow the tailbearer to spread things about people. We need to verify that those things are true and encourage this person, they need to immediately go talk to someone about this and they should not be spreading things that they have no business to spread to others. He continues, Boston does, Satan has the mouths of many at command for a forge of ill reports. A forge of ill reports where you're creating things, a forge, creating metal objects. So this is like a forge for ill reports. You're forging untrue things. Who strike that hellish coin with their stamp that it may pass for currency. So these people are at the forge of deceit and they're They're stamping currency, stories, slanders, with a false representation of someone else and they're passing it into currency for others to use and to assume and to take to their judgment falsely. The receivers and spreaders of it who are guilty here as well as the raiser, for they are to the raiser as the receiver is to the thief. Report, say they, and we will report. If others will gather filth, they will throw it on their neighbors' faces and yet are not innocent, though they're not the authors of it. And so we must be very careful, brethren, that we're not receiving this currency, this false currency from others and continuing to leave it unchecked, that that forage might continue to make currency that is damaging to our neighbors to those around us that we should be standing up for. A lot more that can be said about gossip and slander, but this is all that we can in the time we have today. Then we can prejudice our own good name very, very briefly here in our own self-assessment. This is vainglorious, boasting, thinking or speaking too highly or too meanly of ourselves. One example of this is the Pharisee. who says rather shockingly, and it's only shocking because we do the same thing in our own hearts as well, God, I thank you that I am not like other men. I thank you that I'm not like other men. He's assessing himself way higher than he should, and he's actually thanking God for the way he is. Very shocking, but he's cut from the same cloth that we are. And then you have the Corinthians who are boasting in their great spirituality, who they follow, who baptized them and all of these things, while they are tolerating egregious sin in their own congregation. And the apostle says, your self-assessment is way high, and it's unwarranted. You're boasting in yourselves, and you ought to rather mourn. And so you have even the church as a whole is so excited. Look what we're doing. We have this great church, and we have been planted by these men, and they are all the while proud while they have things that they ought to mourn over. And so may that never become our churches as well. Then there's by covering over sin, this is hiding, excusing, or extenuating of sins when called to a free confession. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long, for day and night your hand was heavy upon me. He's called to make clear his conscience, but he holds it. He holds it and makes himself out to look better than he is. before others and so in this way he is prejudicing his own good name by elevating it above what he is and this is when we when we cherish sin in our bosoms and will not confess it and will not be seen by others as who we really are. We are seeking to boost our own good name in a way that is prejudicial and making more of ourselves than we ought. And then by not keeping our promises, breach of lawful promises. If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it. For the Lord your God will surely require of you and you will be guilty from sin. Better not to vow, better not to promise than to promise and break it. The scriptures uphold the man who swears to his own hurt and does not change. We need to be very careful. There's a lot of things to say about this, but just very briefly, we need to be careful that we uphold our promises to one another and hold each other accountable. And especially when we say we're going to do things to our children, to our spouses, those who are our friends, we should do them. And we will be called faithful, but if we're in the business of making promises of things, saying we're going to do things and not doing them, this is prejudicial to our own good name, and it earns a name of unfaithfulness for us. So again, brethren, as we think through those things, there are many of them very, very convicting, very difficult. We fall short in many ways. This reminds us, the ninth commandment reminds us. Each of us may commit some of these sins every day and thought, word, or deed. And if you felt yourself to be struck to the heart, go to the Savior. Go to your Savior, who is the fountain for sin and uncleanness. And let us ask him to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And let us ask him to create in us greater love for the truth and the preservation of our neighbor's good name. If you're outside of Christ and you've been hearing these lessons on the ninth commandment, I hope that this commandment cuts you to the heart. There will come a day when he will consign all liars to the lake of fire. And if you know yourself to be guilty, I hope you will also ask, what must I do to be saved? And you should come to Christ now. And he will cleanse you of all your sin. And you, even a liar, will be reconciled to the God of truth. We only have maybe a minute, so yes, Pastor Sam. that this commandment is to the peace and prosperity of this church and how the violation of it could lead quickly and easily and immediately to the overthrow of the peace and unity of our church. Amen. Mr. Tom. You already said it. I'm just going to reemphasize that you made a distinction between telling half a truth and sometimes you withhold information that they don't have a right to know and it weighs on me because the other day I was in a wreck and I had an obligation to tell the sheriff I did not see the car coming from the east on highway 54. But I did not have an obligation to tell him that the thing that was bothering me this morning was that I had gotten a note from informed delivery. I was getting a letter from the IRS. That's also the truth. He didn't need to know that. That's right. So I wasn't telling him half the truth. I was giving him the information he asked for. That's a great illustration. There is a difference between discretion of some matter that doesn't need to be disclosed and when we try to say a half truth in order to hide information that should be made known for justice to be done in that situation. Thank you all so much for your attention. And we will be dismissed and meet back again at 10.30.