The Doctrine of Sin - The..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So brothers and sisters, if you have your Bibles with you, let's begin by reading the passage that we've been reading every week for the last couple of months in our Bible studies, the passage in Proverbs chapter 6, and we're reading from verses 16 through 19. And this is the passage that we've been concentrating on in our 10-week series titled, The Doctrine of Sin.

And so we've been looking at the seven sins that are before us in that passage in Proverbs chapter 6 from verse 16 through 19. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord remains forever.

Well, brothers and sisters, as we're all aware, we've been working our way through this text in the series that, as I said before, entitled, The Doctrines of Sin. And we've been working our way through the seven sins systematically listed for us in verses 16 through 19 in the sixth chapter of Proverbs. And we know that these sins are labeled as sins that God hates. Sins that God detests. They're an abomination in the eyes of God.

Now we know that these sins are not exhaustive. There's only seven listed for us and we know God's disposition towards sin is one of hate. He is God. He is righteous, infinitely holy. He lives in unapproachable light and He cannot look upon sin with pleasure.

So God hates all sin. However, what we have before us, as I said last week, was we have in those seven sins, if properly studied, we have these seven sins that represent pretty much all the sins that one can commit in one way or another. I can say that with some degree of confidence because we know that all sin, as we heard a few weeks ago, is rooted in pride. We are self-centered people. We are created to love self, created to elevate and exalt self, created to do all things to please self.

We're self-centered people. We're proud people by nature. And that's a sin that is listed for us. Haughty eyes. Eyes that are elevated, looking down, proud.

All sin is rooted in pride and we know also that all sin is from the heart. It's the heart that devises sin. The heart is the very epicenter of where sin is created, made. It's a factory of sin. And we know both those are found before us in the text.

So, the seven sins that we have before us very much do represent, in one way or another, all sins that we can commit. But also, we know God's disposition towards sin. We know that He tells us. But Beloved, I want to submit to you that not only are we studying these sins so that we can know what God's disposition towards sin is. We can know that.

We can have a cursory reading of this text and all of us would be able to say we know He hates it. It's an abomination to Him. It's detestable to Him. It's loathsome to Him because of who He is by nature. And it is good for us to know what God's disposition towards sin is.

But the reason why we study these things is so that we, as God's people, would have His heart. In other words, so that we would have the heart of God, that we would have the heart of God in Christ Jesus. So we would endeavor to love the things that God loves and hate the things that God hates. If God finds them detestable, then we ought to too. and that which God loves, that which God sees as good and righteous and holy, we ought to be pursuing in Christ Jesus for those things.

Because He is holy and He's called us to be holy as He is holy. We know that's sanctification. That's the work of the Holy Spirit that works inside the life of a believer to conform him into the image of Christ. That's to purify us and purge us from sin and unrighteousness and make us more like God. That's sanctification.

And according to the Apostle Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, you might remember, it says, sanctification is what? This is the will of God, your Sanctification. In other words, it's God's will that every one of His people, every child of the Living God is to grow in holiness. And beloved, the way we grow in holiness is to look to Christ who is the Holy One, the Anointed One, the perfect sinless One. We look to Him to draw on Him and He creates in us a love and a passion and a desire for all that is holy, good, righteous and just.

The Spirit of God that works inside His people who is empowering us to desire, to will and to work for the Kingdom of God. So in a word, the very goal, the very primary purpose for the Christian is to be like Christ. To fix our eyes upon our Savior and to be like Him. And we do that by studying God's Word. by God revealing to us His very heart in Scripture, because Scripture is a revelation of God's heart to the people of God, and then from that we are growing in our understanding of who He is and the desire of what we ought to be like.

In the text before us, we see another sin this evening, another sin that God hates, and it's the sin of a false witness who breathes out lies. Now it seems that this sin is especially one that God hates. How do I know this? Well, in the short list of seven sins that we have recorded for us, seven sins that are an abomination in His eyes, if you realized, two of those seven sins relate to lying. Two of them.

So you have a lying tongue and you have a false witness. who breathes out lies. So we need to make a special note of this because God hates anything remotely associated with falsehood. Whether it's a lying tongue like we examined only a few weeks ago when we looked at that sin in particular, or whether it's the sin that together by God's grace we'll be meditating and meditating upon this evening, the sin of a false witness, it's clear God is fiercely opposed to dishonesty. He's opposed to anything that is not of truth.

He despises deception. He opposes anything that distorts truth. Why? Well, we said a few weeks ago, because God is truth. The veracity of that statement is found throughout the Old and the New Testament.

Throughout. You can't get very far through the Prophets or the Writings, the Psalms, without coming across the fact that God is the One who is true. The Psalmist calls Him the God of truth. Beautiful words. And now God created man and he gave man his law to obey.

And that law we know is not just a random haphazard list of rules to keep men and women within certain parameters so they don't over cross those parameters and kill themselves. That's one reason he does restrain through the law. But there's far greater reasons for why God gave the law and what the law is. And beloved, we're told That when God created man and He created woman, He created them in His own image, in His own likeness. So when He created man and He created woman in His own image and in His own likeness, He created them like God.

Not of course with the eternality of God, that's not what He's done. But He created them to be holy like He is holy. He created them to be righteous as He is righteous. To be just as He is just. God gave His law because His law is a reflection of who He is.

It's a reflection of His own character. and he's given that law both for his glory ultimately and for the highest good of man so that man could be like God because that was God's original intention and design to create man. That's why sinning or transgressing God's law is so offensive and it's so insulting to him because when we choose to sin We live in a way that is contrary to the character of God. And so, when we choose to sin, we're choosing something that is opposing what God has by design given us, which is for His glory and for our own good. In a word, when we choose to sin, we are making a statement to God, and we're saying, thank you very much, but I'd rather another option.

I'd rather be someone unlike you. That's what we're doing when we sin. We're offensive to God, and we're declaring that we have chosen an option that is unlike God. It's rebellion. It's treason against the king of kings.

And so when we lie, and that's the sin of this evening in particular, when we bear false witness, We act in a way that is contrary to the one who is true and antithetical to the one who cannot lie. The one who it's impossible for him to lie. Titus 1.2 says he cannot. In Hebrews 6.

18 he says that God cannot lie, not only cannot lie, but it is impossible for God to lie. It's against his nature to lie. So beloved, when His creatures, that is us, lie, they no longer act like God in the character of God who is true, but rather they act like someone else, any takers. Who do we act like when we sin? Who do we act like when we lie?

Who do we act like when we rebel against the law of God? We act like the devil, in a word. So whenever we sin, we choose to turn our backs on that which is good and holy and righteous, the very character of God, and we turn and we say, we want to be like the devil and his attributes. Because Jesus said, speaking of the devil in John chapter 8, he said, he was a murderer from the beginning and he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Hear those words, there is no truth in him.

When he lies, Jesus says, he speaks out of his own character for he's a liar and the father of lies. Can you get any more heavy words than those about who the devil is? He's an absolute liar, he doesn't know truth, he doesn't stand in the truth, he's completely antithetical to the one who is true and holy, and as we said earlier, the one who lives in unapproachable light, so there is no blemish in him, there is no darkness in him at all. Now I hope we're seeing something very important as we work our way through the study in the book of Proverbs, in particular through these sins. Because as we work through these seven sins, I hope we're beginning to see not only does God hate them, not only are they detestable in His eyes, but they do indeed describe the character and the attributes of the devil himself.

And brothers and sisters, this alone should cause our hearts to shudder. This alone should cause us to actually be reverent before the Lord and understand how needy we are of Him to protect us from falling into that sin, or any of these sins in fact. Because as I've meditated upon these verses over the last couple of months, that thought keeps coming into my mind. Every time we sin in these ways, not only do I offend God, not only do we offend Him, but more and more we look just like the devil. And that's not God's intent for His people.

The will of God is our sanctification. The will of God is for us to look more like the beloved Son of God, the eternally blemishless, beautiful Son of God, Jesus Christ. So that's what's happening here. And that's the seriousness of sin. Because there's no neutrality.

Either we're growing in godliness, which is Christ-likeness, or the day upon day we are resembling more and more the enemy. There's no middle ground. In Christian life, there's no middle ground. We're either growing in our sanctification, growing in Christ-likeness, or we're growing in devil-likeness. And that's especially scary when you consider the word of the psalmist.

In Psalm 116, when he says that all men are liars, he says those words. All men are liars. So having two of the seven sins that are listed before us in these verses that are pertinent to lying and falsehood, that means when we lie we are especially looking like the devil. Because he is a liar, and he is the father of lies. And we don't want to be that way, do we?

But also we want to make sure we understand another point. Because Solomon, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is not simply repeating himself in verse 17 and verse 19, where both those passages speak to lying. Because although lying tongue and the false witness, who breathes out lies, have much in common, they have many similarities, they are also quite different. You see, both sins are essentially a manifestation of the deceit and falsehood that is materialized from the mouth, because we speak falsehood, we speak lies. And if we dig a bit deeper, we repeat the same truth that we've been repeating probably most weeks since we started in series, and that is that the lies of the mouth, although they come out of the mouth, they're really rooted somewhere else.

They're always rooted in the heart. Jesus made that clear in Mark chapter 7 and Matthew chapter 15. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, he says in Luke 6.45. Essentially a bad tree produces bad fruit and a good tree produces good fruit.

That's essentially the point Jesus is making in Luke 6. So both a lying tongue and bearing false witness are bad fruit and sins that are rooted in a corrupt heart. But despite the similarities, there are distinctions. And I believe it's found in who this sin affects. So in other words, you have a lying tongue, and a lying tongue can impact others, it can.

But at times, the harmful effect of a lying tongue may actually be limited to self. Let me explain. One can embellish or exaggerate one's own achievements, can't he or she? speak in a way of self-aggrandizement. You can lie about your IQ, you can lie about your position at work, you can lie about your income, you can lie about your net worth, or whatever.

These are sins and they are serious in God's eyes, and they are manifestations of a self-centered heart, a self-centered person, but they don't necessarily have a harmful effect upon others. But bearing false witness is always detrimental to others. Always. The effect of bearing false witness necessarily has consequences that go beyond self and negatively impacts others. Now, it's one of the Ten Commandments.

We know that. It's number nine. Thou shalt not bear false witness. However, beloved, very rarely... I mean, this sin is so sinister.

that very rarely do you violate the 9th commandment and not violate another commandment at the same time. Very often when you violate the 9th commandment not to bear false witness, you're violating also the 8th commandment which says thou shall not steal. I'm going to explain that a little bit later on. And also at times when you violate the 9th commandment thou shall not bear false witness, you can even be violating the 6th commandment which is you shall not commit murder. That's how serious this sin of lying is.

That's how serious the sin of false or bearing false witness. It's a serious, serious sin, and for the most part, in the Old Testament, a false witness is one who is a false witness in the judicial or in the legal sense. Almost like a courtroom situation where one stands a witness in a courtroom testifying about someone else. And his testimony or her testimony always, as I said earlier, always has consequences for another person. Now we know the Old Testament law says two or three witnesses.

But those witnesses have a testimony and the veracity or the truthfulness of their testimony is critical for a right judgment. Because a lying testimony could impact the person being tried quite severely, quite severely. A lot hangs in the balance depending on the verdict, the verdict of the judge. And the verdict of the judge is contingent upon the testimony of the witnesses. So if the witnesses are not truthful, what do you have?

you have unrighteous judgment. You have innocent people being judged for sins or crimes they have not committed, and you have people who are guilty being judged as innocent on crimes they've committed. See, if someone is being judged or if someone is in the courtroom and they are being questioned about a capital offence, and there is someone who's bearing witness, unrighteously false witness, in that case, a false witness would not only violate the ninth command, which is, thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, but that person will actually violate the sixth command also, you shall not murder. You see, someone's life hangs in the balance. That's how serious in nature this sin is.

And the scripture is replete with warnings against it. In Proverbs alone, listen to just some of the warnings. We read, A truthful witness saves lives, but one who breathes out lies is deceitful. That's 14.25.

A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity. Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips. A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape. And this one's similar, but a bit different. A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.

One says he will not escape, and the other one seems to be an ultimate judgment that he will perish. So what makes this sin so heinous? What makes this sin so horrific in the eyes of God? Well, we've already said that it flies in the face of the good and holy character of God. It flies in the face of the law of God to his creatures.

We've already said that that falsity on the lips makes a person like the devil. So as someone is looking more like the enemy than the one he's supposed to look like and emulate who is God himself. But beyond this, this sin violates the greatest of all commandments. The greatest commandment that God has given mankind to other mankind towards their neighbor. And what command is that?

It's the command of love. Leviticus 19.17 reads, You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord God.

Oh, I am the Lord. Is he bearing false witness? against their neighbor violates the command to love your neighbor as yourself. Simply said, it's unloving. It's unloving to bear a false witness, to speak falsely, to speak a lie against your neighbor.

That's just purely unloving because the fate of your neighbor is of no concern to you. There's no care involved, there's no concern, there's no love in one who speaks falsely against their neighbor. This spurts from a heart that is not a heart of love, but a heart of hate. And it's the very opposite of what God intends for His people. We ought to love our neighbors as ourselves, not hate our neighbors.

This is an abomination in God's eyes because the culmination, the very essence of the law of God is what? Love. See, when Jesus was asked by the lawyer, you might remember, in Matthew chapter 22, and he asked, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? You remember his response? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it, Jesus says. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depends all the law and the prophets. Violate the command of love and you've broken the whole spirit of the law of God. That's how serious it is.

This sin is an act of hate, not love. This sin violates the very heart of God because God is love. The sin doesn't count others more significant than self. This is the very commandment that Paul gives in Philippians chapter 2, if you remember, and then he goes on to say that Christ is the one who exemplifies that in his humility. No, instead, to bear false witness, one is really only concerned with his own agenda, with his own preferences, and he doesn't care about his neighbor.

Doesn't care about the well-being of his neighbor. Doesn't care about their health. Doesn't care about their future. Doesn't care if false judgment comes upon that neighbor. He doesn't care.

Even if it means a perilous judgment is going to come upon an innocent person, a person like this doesn't really care. Good self is still in the center. Nothing else matters. It's a violation of love. And God won't tolerate it.

and it won't go unpunished. Proverbs 19, 9. And this is why we see so many, such heavy deterrence in the law given to the people of God in the Old Testament against bearing false witness against neighbor. And I'm thinking of Deuteronomy chapter 9, and if you want to open your Bibles, just go there and we'll have a quick look at that section. Deuteronomy chapter 19, and we'll read from verse 15.

Deuteronomy chapter 19 from verse 15. A single witness shall not suffice against the person for any crime or for any wrongdoing in connection with any offense that he has committed only on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses shall a charge be established. 16. If a malicious witness, that's a false witness, arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently.

And if the witness is a false witness, and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. Your eyes shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. In other words, if a false witness stands and testifies against a brother or a sister, And that brother or sister has been placed because they've been accused of wrongdoing, and that wrongdoing will entail the capital punishment, a punishment worthy of death.

And if someone gives false testimony, a false witness to that brother or sister, God's saying you're going to be found out. You're either going to be found out here and now, or you'll be found out in the eternal judgment. But this seems to suggest it'll be found out here and now. And when you are, and it's found that you gave false testimony, then whatever the sin that that person was being accused of, whatever that sin entails, whatever judgment that sin entails, that's gonna come on you. So that means if you said, yes, I know this is the one who killed that person, I was in the field and I saw it, and then you nudged your friend and said, just come with me, let's get rid of this guy, he's a thorn in our shoe, or in our side.

and you both testify to that and it's found out that you are making up your testimony against this person, then you're both on death row. That's how serious God is against giving false testimony against a brother or a sister. Because in essence, you are convicting an innocent person of a crime they didn't do. And God is a God whose foundation is righteousness and justice and he won't have any of that. That is a display of hate, not a display of love.

So God says, whether it's an eye, or a tooth, or a foot, or whatever the penalty, even a life, if that's what the penalty is for the crime that this person is being convicted of, then whatever that crime is, needs to be bestowed upon the one who gave false testimony. Why? Because blood is on their hands. Blood is on their hands. They have the guilt blood on their hands.

And so God finds you guilty and you ought to pay for that crime. Beloved, this is incredible. This means that the person who gives false testimony, although he hasn't lifted a sword against his neighbor, he is still guilty of murder. because his testimony would have brought the death penalty upon his neighbor who was innocent again it resembles the enemy doesn't it because Jesus says the enemy satan devil was a murderer from the beginning always seeking to murder the innocent that's the devil and now we're seeing that there can be people who are emulating what the devil is. They are looking more like the enemy than what they ought to be in the image of the beloved saviour Jesus Christ, in the image of God, in the likeness of God.

False testimony. What sort of heart is required for someone to give false testimony against an innocent brother? A brother who has done nothing wrong and yet you want to see that brother gone, out of killed, get rid of, and so you fabricate evidence against them and God won't have it. Does this not remind you of the greatest sin of false witness that we have in the Bible? How about Christ?

How about when Christ stood before the high priest, Caiaphas, and stood before the scribes and the Pharisees? Do you remember that? We're told that it wasn't one or two, but many false witnesses that came forward. Many false witnesses came forward and the objective of the religious leaders of the day was to bring them forward so that they can find a crime that would stick so they can kill Jesus. You're talking about the sinless Lamb of God.

You're talking about the one who has no sin, the one who stood in the multitude and said, who, which one of you can convict me of a single sin? And I say this always, but I think if there was ever an eerie silence since the beginning of creation, it would have been men because no one could convince or can convict Jesus of a sin. And yet the sinless Lamb of God is standing there being judged by His creatures that He created. He'd sinned. He'd never sinned.

He'd never violated God's law. He lived in perfect obedience to the Father's law. And yet you have a multitude of people. Many people came to convict Him. and they came as false witnesses fabricating all these lies in order to find a lie that stuck so they can get rid of this Jesus so that that day would come and they can chant crucify him, crucify him, let his blood be on us and on our children.

What sort of heart is required to have that sort of evil? Beloved, these people knew the law. They knew that under oath if they lied under oath that's perjury in the courts and they would have known if the courts were just that being found out that they would be on death row themselves but yet their hatred for our Lord was so great and so deep their hearts were so darkened by sin that they were prepared to take that risk because they could not look upon the light any longer why? because they loved the darkness Because their works were evil. That's the depth of the darkness of the human heart.

But there is another way a false witness can resemble the devil. Because as I said earlier, the sin can also violate the 8th commandment. And that 8th commandment is, you shall not steal. Now think about the ancient serpent. Think about the father of lies in the garden.

You see, when he deceived Eve and Adam in the garden, many sins, many transgressions were committed that day with our first parents and with the serpent. But one of those was actually the eighth commandment that was transgressed even before God had given it to the people of Israel. The sin of theft. Can you think of how? Can you think of how the ancient serpent violated the Eighth Commandment on that day.

You see, as murder can be committed in the heart, we said that before, because as I said earlier, without even holding a sword, a false witness could be guilty of murder, because if he's found out, then he's going to be the one who pays the penalty, as though he himself is the murderer. Same thing, and Jesus even says in Matthew chapter 5, that if you hate a brother in your heart, then you're guilty, essentially, of murder in your heart. But the same way that the sin of murder can be committed in the heart without actively one murdering, the same could be said about the sin of theft. You see, a false witness can be guilty of theft without even breaking in and entering into another person's home. A false witness can be guilty of theft without taking a single physical thing in his hands from someone that doesn't belong to him.

Because beloved, someone can actually be guilty of theft with his words, with her words. Because to rob someone from behind their back of their good reputation and their righteous character and their honourable standing in a society, then to rob them of that is to be guilty of theft. Because you're taking something away from that person that doesn't belong to you. Stealing from that person something. You're robbing them of their reputation.

You're taking something away from them that belongs to them and you have no permission to do it. You're doing it all behind their back in secret without them even knowing. And the devil was guilty. The devil was guilty of this sin in the garden. You remember how?

Well, when the devil tempted Eve, listen to what he said. He said in Genesis chapter 3, now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. But God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

But 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. Did you see the theft? You see, the serpent is falsely testifying about God. He's making a profession not based on truth, but a lie.

First, he calls God a liar. Did you get that? He says, God told you that you will die, Eve? No. Surely you will not die.

He's lying. This God that put you in the garden and said he's gonna give you all these things and is showing you his goodness, he's holding back. He's actually lying to you. You see what he's doing? He's trying to destroy the reputation and the righteousness and the goodness of God in the eyes of Eve.

He's robbing God. He's robbing God of what belongs to God and God alone. And behind God's back, he's robbing God of his perfect and righteous and good character, and he's making him out to be an envious deity as well. First, he's accusing God of lying. So there's a false witness.

He's slandering God and saying God is a liar. And then he's painting God out to be an envious deity. No, no. God's holding back. He's afraid.

Because if you eat of this tree, then you'll be just like him. He'll have to share his divinity with you. And he doesn't want to do that. That's absurd, isn't it? But it worked.

It worked. And Satan broke the eighth commandment. He engaged in theft without actually taking anything physically because what he did is he brought disrepute upon the reputation and the goodness and the character of God in the eyes of his creatures. A murderer he is. He's a liar.

And we know he's a thief. Can you see how when we sin, we look like him more and more? It's a horrible thing to think about, but it's true. So I say again, this sin of bearing false witness makes us look just like the devil. And none of us are immune to it.

I said last week, the only thing needed to commit heinous sins before the Lord, can anyone remember? Can anyone remember what I said last week? The only thing that is required to commit the most atrocious, the most disgusting, the most horrendous sins before the Lord. What's the only thing required? The human heart.

Because that's where it's made. That's the factory. And the last time I checked, every one of us in this room had one. Where does that leave us? I don't know about you, But it leaves me fearful before the Lord, recognizing how needy I am of Him.

Because I know what I'm capable of in Him. And without the grace of God to restrain that by His power and His Spirit and the desires He places in me, only He knows what I would be capable of, brothers and sisters. We ought to always be on our knees in recognition of how much we need, how much we need Him. And the sin that we have before us, as I've briefly shown, can be committed in so many different ways. And it's not simply just judicial, as we've seen so far, like the sin can be in a judicial sense in a courtroom situation.

But you can bear false witness against a brother or a sister in the way of slander. You can bear false witness in the way of gossip. Rumors behind someone's back. Because when you do that, you're using your word to bring doubt upon the reputation of that person. Doubt upon the character of that person before those who you are speaking to.

And therefore, you're robbing that person. It's not even their defended selves. You're robbing them of their character, of their reputation, of their right standing in the community. And that, beloved, that is theft. So we can be guilty of theft through bearing false witness against our neighbor.

And you can't dress it up either. You can't dress up slander No matter how hard you try, there's no such thing as constructive slander or constructive gossip. And I know it's a cause to chuckle, but the fact of the matter is, we've probably tried it before. We've probably been guilty of it before. Maybe we've been guilty of speaking about someone behind their back in a way that could cause their reputation to be tarnished.

But we've gone alongside that person and said, the only reason I'm talking to you is for this person's own good. So that we can help him, but really there's something more than that in your heart, or mine. And we want to bring that person down. See, because the heart is so deceitful, it's wicked. Isn't that what Jeremiah says?

It's deceitful above all things. Who can understand it? It can even trick us. So we may be actually cloaking our slander, cloaking our gossip in nobility, but the fact of the matter is it's riddled with sin. That's why we need the Lord.

That's why we need his grace. That's why we need his wisdom, beloved brothers and sisters. Slander and gossip is never okay. There is not a single situation that you can think of where either of those two heinous sins is okay. Not one.

It's never okay and they're abominable in God's eyes. Because God gives us detailed instructions on how the church ought to deal with sin and issues against our brothers and sisters. He gives us instruction and it's to be done in love and it's to be done in truth. And according to the instruction that Christ gave us, Matthew 18 is a good place to start. And that passage in Matthew 18, did you realize?

It begins, if you have a problem with a brother or a brother has sinned, it begins with organizing a confidential meeting between you and the brother or you and the sister precisely to protect their reputation. That's the loving thing to do. To protect the reputation of your brother and your sister or your sister. And so you meet in private and most times by God's grace that can be resolved even from the first sitting. If not, He gives us instruction how to go on beyond that.

But beloved brothers and sisters, it's all about love. It's about loving them and protecting them. Protecting their reputation. It's not about slandering them or bringing their reputation down by gossiping to someone else. No, go straight to the source as the Lord has instructed us.

His ways are good. His ways are always good. See, because hate is what manifests in the heart of slander, in the heart of gossip, and that destroys one's reputation. And the damage, beloved, the damage which is really unnecessary from this sort of sinful conduct of gossip and slander, that damage is for the most part irreversible. For the most part irreversible.

And the scary thing is that we're all guilty of gossip, to one degree or another. every one of us every one of us and I don't think we actually know how damaging this sin is I don't normally I don't normally give many illustrations in my Bible studies or my sermons not that I'm against them but because I'm probably just not as creative enough to remember any but as I was preparing for this study a couple came to my mind and they they were quite appropriate and one in particular on gossip that I think will hit the mark, I hope, anyway. There was a lady who was part of a country church, a local country church, and she was engaged in the activity, the horrible activity of gossip. It had come to the pastor's attention, and he called a meeting with her and asked to sit down with this lady, and she obliged, and she came, and lovingly and gently, he sat down with this lady, opened up the scripture, and he began to through the word, rebuke the activity, the sinful activity of gossiping. She was peace to the soul.

She recognized her sin, what seemed like godly sorrow. So she came before the Lord and she repented of her sin. And she assured the pastor that she will make things right. Now he, the pastor in his discernment, He felt that maybe she hadn't, although the repentance seemed to be real, maybe she hadn't quite felt the gravity and the weight of the sin of gossip, the sin of giving false testimony behind someone's back, the rumor mongering is what she was engaged in. So he said to her, let's organize another meeting next week.

And she obliged and said, I will, I'll come back next week. But he said, when you do come back, I want you to bring back a fresh chicken. a fresh chicken, and she said, pastor, of course, no problems, you're our pastor and it's good and right to look after you, I'll bring that back. And he said, but I want you to do me a favor. He said, she lives about two blocks away from the church, not very far, about a 10 minute walk.

He said to her, I would like you, when you start to walk, to begin to pluck out the feathers of the chicken on your way to the church. She said, this is an odd request, but you know, you're my pastor, I'll do that for you. So next week comes along and she's all excited. And she meets him at the church and gives him this featherless chicken. And he takes it off her and she's all excited.

Pastor, pastor, I've made the matters right. I've gone back to the person I've offended with my gossip and my rumors. And I've asked for forgiveness. I've asked in true repentance. And that person had actually granted me forgiveness.

And then I went, and I didn't stop there, Pastor, because I went to all the ladies that I'd spoken and I'd been gossiping to about this person. And I'd spoken to those ladies, and they also recognized I'd done the wrong thing. And they were grateful that I came and confessed. So don't worry about it. The matter has been resolved.

All good, Pastor. And the Pastor said, I'm so glad. I'm so glad first and foremost that you've received forgiveness from God. I'm glad for that. I'm glad that you went to try to make recompense for your sins by going and seeking forgiveness from the person that you offended and the others that you offended as well.

This is a great praise be to God. Meeting was over. They stood up and the pastor said, Oh, by the way, I just would like you to do me one more favor. And she says, Anything pastor. And he says, as you walk home, I would like you to pick up all the feathers that you plucked on the way here.

She looks out the window and she can see that breeze starting to run through. And she said, pastor, why that would be impossible. The feathers would be all across the city by now. He didn't say a word. Eerie silence for a few seconds.

And then he hit her and she was struck speechless. Finally she began to understand the weight of the sin of gossip. Because the moment she opened her mouth and began to gossip about a sister or a brother. or anyone else, she began an irreversible thing. Just like those feathers that are scattered across the city, she can never go back and collect and make amends for what she has done.

She has brought disrepute on her reputation and that can never be fixed. Never be fixed. May the Lord give us to see the heinousness of the sin of gossip. May the Lord give us hearts to love our brothers and sisters and to actually do things biblically. If we have something against them, a sin that they've committed, if we're harboring bitterness or any angst or any resentment or even hatred in our hearts, that we come to our brothers or our sisters and we speak to them one-on-one and trust the grace of God will be among us.

If we don't get anywhere, then we can take the steps as listed for us in Matthew chapter 18. Because beloved, it's never loving to gossip. It never is. And it's never ever. It's never okay.

Bearing false witness against our brothers and sisters is abomination. It's detestable in God's eyes. But can I tell you what's even more serious than bearing false witness against a brother or a sister? Bearing false witness against God. Bearing false witness against Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Bearing false witness against the Gospel. This is the heartbreaking reality that we have, brothers and sisters, in our world today. I'm not talking about aberrant religious sects and cults. I'm not talking about the era of Islam that says that Jesus is a mere prophet. I'm not talking about the era of the Jehovah's Witnesses that say Christ is a created being with a beginning.

I'm not talking about aberrant religious sects or cults. I'm talking about professing evangelical Christian churches. I'm talking about professing, professing evangelical Christian ministries, Christian websites. These are people who have taken the Great Commission seriously. The Great Commission that is given in Matthew 28.

The Great Commission is given again to the disciples in Acts chapter 1 where Jesus says to the disciples that you'll be my what? my witnesses, my truthful witnesses, not my false witnesses, my truthful witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and then to the outermost parts of the world. Now, yes, it was given primarily at that point to the apostles, but by extension, it's given to the church to carry on the Great Commission until Jesus comes back, until Jesus returns, right? These are churches that have taken that seriously. But this is the concern, beloved, that much of the Church, who have claimed to take the Great Commission seriously, is testifying only to a partial truth, and not to the full truth of who God is, who Christ is, and what the Gospel is.

Partial truths. Partial truths. And holding back the rest. And that fits the bill, in my opinion, to being a false witness. And I'll explain it to you.

I don't know if you've ever been in a courtroom, but when a witness is sworn into the courtroom, they place their hand on the Bible, and then they are told to make an oath. That you swear to say the truth. the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help you God. That's the oath that you're making in a courtroom.

To be a credible witness standing in the courtroom for your testimony to be taken, you need to have been sworn in and professed with good intention to say the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But beloved, A partial truth doesn't fit the bill. When you say some of truth and then you hold back on the rest, that doesn't fit the bill. You become a false witness. I want you to remember this.

Jesus said about Satan that he is the father of lies. Jesus said about Satan that there is no truth in him. Do you remember what he said in the garden? We can open up Genesis chapter three, and some of what he said was actually true. Open up with me to Genesis chapter three.

We can read from verse one. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of the tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the tree in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. But the servant said to the woman, you shall not certainly die.

Certainly die. That's a lie. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened. Is that a lie? You see, the serpent gave partial truth.

He gave a little bit of truth. And every time you see deceit, there's a little portion of truth. But then what else is there? You see, the fact of the matter is, you can have a little bit of truth, and put a little bit of contamination in there, and it contaminates the lie. And as far as God's concerned, it is a lie.

As far as God's concerned, it is deceit. It's deceit. And that's the same with the courtroom situation. Because partial truths are actually a violation of the truth. Let me explain.

Imagine for yourself for a moment. Imagine that you've gone to a park. And you're at the park. You're sitting at a bench in the park. And what had happened is a crime had taken place at about the same time that you went to the park, on the same day.

And you've been called by the courts to testify to what you've seen. OK. You go to the court. And in the courtroom, you're getting ready to testify. And you can see the person on the stand, the person being convicted of the crime.

You can see that person, and you identify that person. And next to the person on the desk there, you can see the weapon that was used. Because the crime that was committed was a violent bashing in the park. And the weapon that was used was a hammer. And on that weapon was actually fingerprints.

It's gone through forensics. There's actually fingerprints and there's actually DNA on that hammer as well. And whose DNA? His DNA. The guy that's sitting in the courtroom who's been convicted of a crime.

And you remember seeing them. You remember the day vividly, it was only three weeks earlier. And you remember going to the park, sitting at a bench, and you see this person rock up in his station wagon. He gets out of the driver's door. He opens up the hatch of the wagon, carries out in his left hand a bag.

And in his right hand, he just grabs a bunch of tools. And he walks and he strolls about 20 meters into the park, finds a nice patch of grass, and he drops everything on that grass. He gets the bag and turns it upside down. And then you can see that it looks like some sort of tent or a gazebo. So he begins to construct the gazebo.

He begins to pull it apart. And you're watching all this. And he gets the hammer. And he starts to put the pegs into the ground to firm up the gazebo and to erect the whole thing. And about three or four pegs in, he hits his thumb.

And he hurts. And you know he hurts. Because he starts to bleed. He finally gets the blood under control. And he continues to hammer in the pegs.

But he's about 3 quarters of the way through erecting this tent. When you see him reach into his pocket to answer a phone, grabs the phone out, puts it to his ear, and then instantly you see his whole demeanor change. His face turns pale. And then within two or three seconds, this man leaves everything in the park, everything, the gazebo, the tools, everything. He races as quickly as he can run back to his car, jumps in the car, and races off as quickly as the car will take him down the road.

you've seen it all and now you're now standing in the courtroom you've just been sworn in and the judge says begin to tell us what you have seen and then this is what you say on so-and-so day I was sitting on a bench on so-and-so park and then I see that man right there who's sitting in that seat I can identify him I see him driving up with his wagon, opening up his door. And then what I saw is him walking into the park with a hammer in his hand. And a few minutes later, I see him running back to the car with blood in his hands. I could only see blood running down his head. He runs, opens the door of his car and races off.

You know, there's nothing that you just said that is a lie. Because every part of that story is true. You've just omitted some of it. And based on that testimony, it's very likely an innocent man is going to go to jail. Why?

Because the things you left out didn't complete the picture. A partial truth is a false witness. Because you can paint a picture of guilt when there was innocence. There's nothing in that statement that was a lie. Every single part was true.

Beloved, let me tell you this. It is exactly the same when we are preaching God's Word, when we're sharing the gospel, we're evangelizing the lost. Because when we only give them, if we only give them partial truths, like we're seeing in much of evangelical Christianity today, than it is as good as bearing a false witness. It's as good as giving false witness. But this is the scary thing.

It's false witness against the God of the universe. It's a false witness against Jesus Christ, His Son, and the only Savior of the world. It's a false witness against the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because when one proclaims only the love of God, that God loves you and His disposition to you is love, love, love, love, love, and nothing else, You're bearing false witness. Because you need to make them aware of the justice of God.

Of the wrath of God. Of the fact that God's disposition to them at the moment as sinners is one of fury. Anger. Righteous anger against sin and unrighteousness. To tell them only of the love of God.

And that's true. God is love. But just to say that and leave out and omit the rest. You're just as good as giving. When I say you, I'm saying in general.

I'm not pointing my finger at any of you. One is just as good as giving false testimony, as lying against God. And if someone comes to another lost sinner and says, all you need to do is just pray this prayer, confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that he was resurrected from the dead. And then as long as you say those words, you can live like a demon. That's fine.

You've said them because I can see in Romans chapter 10, it says, as long as you do that, you're okay. Romans chapter 10 does say those words, but it's not to be taken out of context. We need not to omit the truth and the reality behind those who are saved. They have a disposition that now loves God and looks to seek to live holy lives because remember the will of God is our sanctification. To give that person assurance that they're saved just because they prayed a prayer.

That's just partial truth. To sell someone that there is a heaven, but hell, as far as hell is concerned, don't worry because really what happens is if you're not found in Christ, you'll end up just perishing. You'll be annihilated. Don't worry about it. No, no, no.

That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that there is eternal torment under the judgment of God for every single person who is not found in Christ. Everyone who has not received forgiveness by grace through faith in Jesus Christ will suffer under the torment of hell for all eternity, as difficult as it is for us to understand it. But God is just. And beloved, we must never hold back intentionally any of the truth because it may be offensive.

Now, I'm not talking about times that we may have evangelized our friends, our loved ones, and then later on we've grown and matured in our understanding of Scripture, and we've thought back and we've gone, oh no, I don't think I've given them the whole Gospel. No, now you know, now don't hold back. I'm saying that as far as the Scripture is concerned, you're accountable to what you actually know. And if you're not holding back, if you're holding back intentionally because you think that the message is too offensive, then you're giving false testimony. it's not true and God forbid because then we find ourselves under his judgment because lies don't go to heaven we know that may God help us may God help us to to be bold in our proclamation To be wanting to please an audience of one and to make sure in due diligence that when we profess the things of God, we do so to the best of our knowledge, to the best in all faithfulness to Scripture, not holding back because of fear, but rather trusting the Lord as we preach, as we teach.

Because the Apostle Paul said himself that he taught in Acts chapter 20, not partial, but the full counsel of God. He didn't hold back. It wasn't as though, this is a little bit too offensive, I'm going to hold back on that point. I'm going to talk to you about other points. No.

I'm going to teach you the full counsel of God. You know why? Because if you belong to Jesus, you can handle it. You can handle it. Because He's given you a spirit to say, even though I don't fully understand it, I believe.

Faith. Faith. It's not taking about As I said earlier, it really is about us searching our hearts and seeing whether we are lacking in boldness or courage, and just to come simply before the Lord and ask Him to give us courage, to give us mouths to speak, not to be concerned with the reputation or not to concern with how people think who we are or to treat us. That doesn't matter. To be right before the Lord, to please Him and Him alone, ought to be the very heart that we all have.

And we know that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe. Beloved, it's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth that our God expects from the mouth of His children. And we ought to be truth tellers because after all we've been saved by the truth, have we not? He hasn't left us in the dark. He hasn't left us in the dark concerning that truth, has he?

Remember when he was praying that high priestly prayer when he said sanctify them in truth and what did he say after that? Your word is truth. So beloved let's commit to study, let's commit to meditate, let's commit to ponder, let's commit to really get into the nitty gritty and get into the meat of the word. Let's know the truth in the word because there is no power in the lie. There's no salvation in false testimony of the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

When we see these ministries, so-called ministries, that go out there and preach a gospel that's aberrant, that's lacking, even though they know truth, they're still preaching lacking because maybe they're trying to allow people to come in and listen and attract people. That's not what we're there for. We can't, by our own persuasion, our own power, our own intellect, our own initiatives, bring a single soul into the kingdom. It's the Spirit's work. And He's the Spirit of what?

Of truth. He works in and through the truth. Beloved, there's no redemption in falsehood. And the truth, it matters. Because it's the truth that will set guilty sinners free.

It's the truth that sets them free from their iniquity, from their labors, from them telling any more lies. It is the truth of God that sets a man or a woman free. Jesus said to the Jews, if you abide in my word you are truly my disciple and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. When he says my disciples he means that you have a genuine intimate relationship with me because the truth of my word has found residence in your soul. That's what he said to the Jews in chapter 6.

In chapter 5 he says that you don't know God. You don't know me because my word doesn't abide in you. The truth doesn't abide in you. I don't abide. I don't abide in you.

It's all about Christ. Whether or not we know truth. Whether we know truth or don't know truth. Whether we're capable of ultimately proclaiming and speaking the truth. That all hinges around one point.

And that is, do I know Christ? Do I know the truth? Has the truth actually sunk into my soul or is it sitting in my mind? Beloved, let's go back to our Lord when He stood trial before Pilate, only hours before His crucifixion. Let's open our Bibles to John chapter 18.

We're not far from finishing. John chapter 18, verse 33. A passage that's hopefully well known to us all. In John chapter 18 verse 33 we have, so Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, do you say this of your own accord or did others say to you about me?

Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants wouldn't have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.

But my kingdom is not from this world. Then Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. For this purpose, I was born and for this purpose, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.

And Pilate said to him, what is truth? It's always been fascinating to me how this conversation ends so abruptly. Because Pilate says, what is truth? And no answer is given to this big philosophical question. He has it on his mind.

Peter doesn't give him an answer. I suspect it's because Jesus knows Pilate wasn't of the truth as Jesus said. But also I believe it's because he's asking the wrong question. If the readers of the fourth gospel had been paying attention they would have come to the conclusion that the question being asked should not have been what is truth? But who is truth?

That's the question that matters. Who is truth? With so much lying and so much deceit and so much dishonesty in this world, as I said earlier, the default is all men are liars, Psalm 166.11. Everyone is guilty according to the sinful nature of deceit, of lying, of falsehood, of bearing false witness.

And that's probably why Pilate is asking the question. It's as though he's saying, in this world with so much corruption and lying and deceit, where do you find truth? Where do you find truth? Countless people are coming and testifying against you, Jesus. Which one of their accusations actually stick?

How do I disassess? How do I know? They're all saying different things and none of them can agree one with the other. Well, he'll need to believe, wouldn't he? To have that question answered, Pilate would just have to believe, because the truth personified stands before him, and he doesn't recognize his voice.

Jesus said earlier in John 8, verse 40, He is the revealer of the truth of God. And in John 1, verse 14, a passage we probably all know, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Only a night earlier, Jesus said to His disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Beloved, it's so clear. You want to know truth? Know Christ. You want to understand truth? No Christ.

You want to speak truth? No Christ. You want to be freed from a lying heart? No Christ. You want to be freed from lying lips?

No Christ. You want to be freed from being a false witness? No Christ. You want to be freed from the stronghold of the enemy? Freed from sin?

Freed from the depravity of the sinful nature? No Christ. Now the question is, do you want to know Christ? It's all found in Him. He's the object.

It's all about Christ. Truth is found in Him. Salvation is found in Him. So the question is, do you want to know Christ in a world filled with lies and deceit and false testimony? We can know Him.

Because there is one true testimony that remains forever faithful. The infallible, inerrant, God-breathed Word. And that Word is being given to the true church. and the true church that stands upon the word of God is the pillar and the buttress of truth that's why as a church may God give us the grace to be planted firm upon what is written not to add to what is written and not to take away from what is written to be a people concerned with truth and this is the only truth we can rely on Beloved brothers and sisters, we cannot rely on the truth that is in our minds. We cannot even rely on the truth.

We can't rely on the things we see and the things we hear, the things we experience, because Jeremiah tells us our heart is deceptive. So what can we rely on? He has not left us without a witness. He's given us truth. And by the Spirit of God, who is the one who brings that truth and lays it bare upon our soul, we're able to say, I know truth.

I'm going to test everything you say against this. If I don't find it in here, I'm going to say, I'm sorry, I cannot believe it. This is truth. The question is, do we believe it? Because if we believe it, we need to live our lives in light of it.

It's the infallible. Inherent. God breathed word from the very heart of God to the heart of his people. This can be relied upon. We can trust the Bible, beloved.

We can trust the Bible. Jesus said to the Jews in Jerusalem, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me. We know about Christ as we open up the word and we read in the inerrant infallible word of God and the spirit of God then brings that word and presses it into the soul because this is truth and the spirit of truth only takes that which is true and places it in the heart of God's people. May the Lord give us to hold fast to the witness of scripture and to be unashamed in this dark world to say and to declare on the rooftops that we believe everything it says because this is the word of truth. Let's pray.