In the Westminster Confession of Faith after the question, "What is the duties required in the ninth commandment?" the answer begins with these words:

"The duties required are the preserving and promoting truth between man and man and the good name of our neighbor, as well as our own…"

With this, you begin to get the important idea that truth is something that God is profoundly interested in not only in our man to God relationship, but man to man. It is to be exalted, honored, revered, pursued in every relationship. We will deal with the first side of this coin: the importance of truth in our individual lives. Next we will deal with it in regard to our neighbor.

Isaiah 59:14 and judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

These are painfully true today in 1999 as they were in Isaiah's day. We have swallowed Immanuel Knat's deeply humanistic philosophy of the relativity of truth and it has caused exactly what Isaiah experienced! Judgment is skewed--turned backward; justice is nowhere to be seen--it is standing afar off and equity or legitimacy cannot begin to enter the scene. This is a pathetic condition, but I believe it is true, and it has had a wicked hold upon the church and the body of Christ. Immanual Kant taught that

"no one could ever know objective truth, that all one could ever do was impose one's personal, subjective mental categories onto reality."

This kind of thinking has paralyzed the minds of mankind ever since. For, if there is no central truth, then there is no central falsehood or error. Who is right? Who is wrong? No one, or everyone (depending upon your perspective).

We must ask then, how do we know? For example the homeless person who was asked one time what the greatest invention was. He said, "The thermos bottle." Why the thermos bottle? He said, "Well when you put something hot in it, it stays hot. When you put something cold in it, it stays cold." Well, what is so great about that? He said, "How does it know?"

Why is truth so sacred? What makes this an important commandment? I believe it is because of its direct link with God Himself.

When God gave Moses the law in the form of the tablets, notice how God described Himself

Exodus 34:5-6 And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

Nebuchadnezzar, when he came to himself after becoming a beast and roaming in the fields and was reestablished in his kingdom came to one important conclusion

Daniel 4:37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

The New Testament calls Christ full of grace and truth! (Jn 1:14) Christ claims He is the truth (Jn 14:6) the Spirit is called the "Spirit of truth" (1Jn 5:16). The Holy Spirit will "guide you unto all truth" for He is "Spirit of truth!" (Jn 16:13)

The triune God is truth! He is the essence of truth, He embodies truth; He is absolute truth. His Word is truth (Jn 17:17). There is no truth outside of Him!

Hebrews 6:18 "it was impossible for God to lie,"

What would it mean to us if this were not true? Everything we hold dear is gone--we have nothing. If this is true, then there are two things about truth that we must see:

I. Our New Nature is a Nature of Truth! This is what transformation--born again--new creatures in Christ is all about. Our Lord said this

Matthew 15:18 "What comes out of the mouth is the truest reflection of what is really there."

This is not something that we love to ponder is it? Listen to our Lord again

John 8:42-44 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

"No truth in him…" The battle for truth in our lives boils down to who are Father really is! One version says, "He lies he speaks his own language!" We all are tempted to lie, but no genuine believer can be a liar! If your life is characterized by untruthfulness, how can you be born of God whose very nature is truth? What was the first lie in God's Word? "You eat the fruit, you will not die…" When asked by God, "Adam, why are you hiding?" He began to live out his new nature-twisting the truth--"the woman you gave me…" Eve, "the serpent beguiled me…" They were simply expressing their new nature. In this nature, we are born with a propensity to deceit and lies.

Psalm 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

We must work diligently at forsaking the natural law within us that violate God's direct laws that are as Romans 2:15 teaches "written in our hearts!" God hates falsehood because He is the Father of truth. Lying so contradicts and outrages the very essence of God that it incurs His hatred (Prov 6:16). And lying in regard to man and God as outlined in this commandment violates all of the commands that are summed up "Love God and Love People." God warns us in

Psalm 101:7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight

II. Truth binds us together!

Ephes. 4:25. 25. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

It is truth that is the glue that holds us together. In other words, Isaiah saw that falsehood destroys trust, prohibits co-operation, destroys relationships and togetherness and equity. Jeremiah saw this in Jeremiah 9:3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord.

This is what is so tragic about our government today. We cannot trust, we cannot co-operate, we cannot find equity or justice in our society for we are a society of liars. When truth is relative, the authority behind that truth is rejected, and everyone becomes their own authority. This does nothing but destroy unity, togetherness, and co-operation and promotes independence, individualism, and feeds the fire of pride and arrogance. There is no basis of mercy when truth is thrown out--for nothing is really bad to deserve mercy in the first place. There is no longer then dependence upon God, people acting as part of a body of believers, walking humbly before God. Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Good and truth are intrinsically linked--truth is always good in that it is right! God expects that there is one group of people where truth is absolute--called to be salt and light whose hallmark is truth. When we speak truth in love (Eph 4:15) it results in growth into the likeness of Christ. What happens when one believer lies? It reflects upon the whole body of Christ and destroys the potential for Christlikeness. We often hear, "I'll never hire a Christian again.…"

Let's look at some common types of lying:

Lying in business - false products, advertising, false claims.

Misrepresenting the truth - "only one left," "you one of four finalists," "it's free!" and "you're name has been chosen!"

Expense accounts.

Exaggeration - adding to the story - we often "join in to keep up" pastors often speak "evangelistically speaking" - pad the figures.

Flattery - lying to gain an advantage; we need to compliment which is an honest statement of praise.

Psalm 55:21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.

Not keeping our word - often to our children we don't keep our threats.

Psa 15:4"…sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not!"

Living Double Lives - living one life at home and another at church or work.

Lie to ourselves - In the last days.

2 Tim. 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

We pretend about our own condition - in counseling, the most difficult thing is to get people to be honest with themselves. We pretend about how the children are; their rebellion, their goodness. The human mind seemingly knows no end to its creativity when it comes to lying to itself.

What is the cure to this vile cancer? TRUTH!

James 1:23-24 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

The mirror shines the truth--what really is real.

Psalm 96:13 Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

No more hiding, we must give an honest account before God. We must be painfully honest and deal with His righteousness--His Kingdom of repentance!

Psalm 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

When we lie to ourselves, we open the door to blind spots in the inward parts--those areas we don't want to look at, but God sees and hates.

Nowhere is this most clearly demonstrated than in Jesus Christ before Pilate (Jn 18:33-37) Pilate has the responsibility of doing something with this one who claims to be king of the Jews. He tries to give Him back to the people, but they say "we can't kill him…" Notice how Christ describes His kingdom (vs 36) I am on a total different page than you Pilate! But look at vs 37

John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

Notice, then Pilate's response - "What is truth?" This is the hidden responsive heart of the unregenerate nature. Christ had already answered it. "I come not to over-throw Rome and set up a earthly kingdom--your job is safe!" "I am come to bear truth to every one--when you are of me, you will know truth and everyone that is of truth, hears my voice!" You will have my nature, and will be a part of my body and you will be of truth! We can do naught else! There is no greater oxymoron than a believer who does not live in truth!

We have dealt with all of the commandments from the aspect of the negative and the positive. Here we deal with the command to not lie--from the negative side. From the positive side the conclusion we came to is that we speak the truth because it reveals our true nature. Notice Matthew 12:33 - the tree here is known by it's fruit. We have three beautiful Yoshino Cherry trees in our yard that grow beautifully. When we bought them they had a tag on them saying "Yoshino cherry." They were really quite small then. On the tag was a beautiful picture of a white flowering tree that was gorgeous. Now, if someone had mis-tagged the tree, I would not know it until later--or until I saw that there was no flower or cherries on it. Why? Because a tag is not good enough! Let's see the fruit. Now, look at vs 34--where does this fruit evidence itself? The mouth! Out of the mouth, the fruit of truth should show itself.

The person who does not bridle his tongue has a worthless religion (James 1:26). In other words, where does genuine Christlikeness most show itself in particular when it comes to heavy life challenges? In the control of the tongue! We have a hard time in several areas of life telling the truth. What about when it comes to speaking our opinions, or soliciting compliments? We must be people who traffic in the truth. Sometimes, we put others in precarious positions when we solicit their opinions or compliments. (Hair-dos). We want to discuss how seeking truth and speaking truth effects people. There are two areas where this seems to show itself most--gossip and slander.

Gossip - passing on of information that one should keep silent.

Slander - purposeful telling of untruth in order to harm person.

What God is dealing with here is not only are we not participating in either of these forms, but also we seek the protection of the reputation of the neighbor. This is very difficult subject, because probably there is not one person in here who has not participated in form or another in this sin, or we have been the object of this sin.

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

1/3 of things that God hates has to do with the mouth and truthfulness. This commandment and the third commandment are parallel in thought. In the third, we are to not mishandle the Lord's name and we are to honor and extol His name. Here, we are not to mishandle the good name and reputation of our neighbor and we are to honor and esteem each other. What are some ways that we gossip or slander our neighbor?

Give part of « of story; give veiled statistics;

Insinuations - raising a question about someone without answering it.

predetermining motives of people -"filling in the blanks for folks;" passing on a story to someone who is not part of the problem or a part of the solution; being silent when you have the truth and should speak!

Why is this wrong?

1. It demonstrates character of Satan - Rev 12:9,10

It seems that Satan and his hosts have access to God and comes to God and accuses the believer "day and night." He is the great slanderer--bringing up garbage about the believer to God. We know he did this about Job, and now we see that it finally comes to an end. In the mean time, however, we begin to see that his job is to accuse. This is why the position that Christ has as our High Priest is so comforting, for He goes to the Father on our behalf and reminds the Father that the sin of the believer is paid for and accounted for and that Satan is lying. So, when we participate in gossip and slander, we are doing what Satan does--seeking to destroy the life of that person. We are to demonstrate Christlikeness and a holy character.

2. It doesn't demonstrate Godly love! 1Cor 13:4-7 We demonstrate hideous violations of love--loving our neighbors as ourselves. The standard for our love is the love we have for ourselves (Lk 10:27). Why is this? The courtesies that we give ourselves, we are to extend to our neighbor. The truth is we love ourselves and we give ourselves every benefit of the doubt. We are so patient with ourselves in comparison to how react toward others. (If we didn't love ourselves, why would we care if we were ugly, untalented, or fat? The truth is it bugs us because we do love ourselves.) Notice the definitions of love in relation to slander or gossip: seeketh not her own, not easily provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices not in iniquity, but in truth; bears, believes and hopes all things; these are things that characterize Godly love!

3. It demonstrates a heart bent on destruction! Notice the book of Proverbs and how much it has to say about its destructive nature:

Prov 10:11 (in a desert place, wells are vital; mouths are given for godly purposes); 11:11 (the mouth can over throw a whole community); 12:18--a weapon or healing instrument; 16:28--destroys lasting friendships--silence that doesn't stop slander; 18:8,21 death and life are there; 25:18--club, sword, sharp arrow-brings violence;

Romans 3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Shakespeare said, "He who stealeth of me my silver, robbeth me of trash; but he who taketh my good name, steals what he cannot be benefitted by, but leaves me bankrupt."

How then do we protect the reputation of our neighbor?

Do not traffic in gossip and slander!

Ephes. 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Proverbs 26:20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.

It is a sign of the pathetic condition of our nation when we see that the number one newspaper is the "National Inquirer." We love to dig up trash and we love to traffic in the garbage that we dig up. There seems to be a certain "high" that we get when we find out the latest scoop on people and their problems. Where there is no fuel for the fire, there is no fire.

But what do we do when we find out things?

Do not create an atmosphere where people are comfortable with telling you things they shouldn't! We often do this by not only what we involve ourselves in, but also what we allow ourselves to listen to. Do not allow people to come to you with info they shouldn't.

If it is true, go to the person! Matt 18:15 - The purpose is to bring that person to truth! We are a 'royal priesthood'--we are supposed to be people who love truth and pursue it. A priest was person who brings God and man together. Go to them privately! "Faithful are the wounds of a friend." We know very little of friendship. If he hears you, you have gained a brother. If he doesn't, still don't slander, go with two people--vs16; then go to the church--there are times where it is necessary to go public. Even in the public acknowledgment of the problem, there is a desire to restore the person to a good name!

How do we handle it when we are slandered (individually or corporately).

Ask ourselves, "Is it true?" There is always an element of truth in every accusation. Find out what it is that God is dealing with in our own lives. "What have I done to cause this?" "I am capable of giving that impression."

If it is not true, go to that person and work it out if at all possible. Most people who slander and gossip are cowardly. You demonstrate courage and character when you deal with it in love.

If you cannot track it down, handle it in light of God's gracious sovereignty! Know that Christ was slandered (called a winebibber, and a 'friend of sinners); Matt 5:11, "shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake!"

See two important exterminators of slander and gossip!

1. Live in obedience to God!

1 Peter 2:11-16 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Demonstrate a consistent life that reverberates with the righteousness of Christ and the Kingdom of God. "If being lied about, don't deal in lies."

2. Affirm God's ways of handling life!

Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

a. "Act, don't react!" Eph. 4:31,32

b. Consider yourself! Gal 6:1

c. Pursue the Glory of God! 1Cor 10:31

All slander is temporary. There is coming a day when all truth will be revealed. Rest in God's sovereignty. However, remember that all lives of slanderers are eternal. See it from God's perspective. Is this an opportunity to see that person come to Christ because of a godly response?