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The Ten Commandments
02-16-2011 Vol. 3 Part 12
Psalm 31:6-10 NKJV I have hated those who regard useless idols; But I trust in the LORD. I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, For You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities, And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place. Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body! For my life is spent with grief, And my years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, And my bones waste away. Jesus I pray for the people in our community that they have a change of heart and start Loving Their Neighbors As Themselves. We raise you up and praise your most Holy and Precious name, Jesus. Amen.
Exodus 20:16 NKJV "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Thou shalt not lie! Thou shalt not steal! Love thy neighbor as thy self! These commandments and others, depending on the circumstances, go hand in hand. When you bear false witness you are lying. When you bear false witness you are stealing part of someone’s character by making false statements. Bearing false witness, is not loving your neighbor. So why do we do it? Is it out of hate, if this is the case then you have just broken another commandment, murder. Remember what the lesson said about, “thou shalt not kill”. When you hate someone you commit murder in your heart. Do you bear false witness to put yourself above others? If this is the case, then you have just broken the second greatest commandment, “love thy neighbor as thy self”. Pride of life is a sin all in itself. I’ve heard people say, “I’m going to climb the corporate ladder and I don’t care who I step on to get there”. A statement like that really lets you know what lies in that persons heart and it isn’t love thy neighbor, it only focuses on the last part of the second greatest commandment, “love thy self”. When a person makes a statement like that you can bet they only give God lip service.
Thou shalt not bear false witness, this forbids speaking falsely in any matter, such as; lying, equivocating, and any way devising and designing to deceive our neighbor. When we speak unjustly against our neighbor, we are tearing down his character and reputation. Bearing false witness includes things in common conversations like; slandering, backbiting, telling stories about someone, gossip, aggravating a mistake someone has made by constantly bringing the incident up, and in any way endeavoring to raise our own reputation upon the ruin of our neighbor's.
Most people view this commandment as when someone goes to court and is sworn in as a witness that they will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It does pertain to situations like this, but it goes much deeper in everyday life. We should be honest in our private dealings as well as in our public statements. In either situation, we "testify falsely" by leaving something out of a story, telling a half-truth, twisting the facts, or inventing a falsehood. God warns us against deception. Even though deception is a way of life for many people, God's people must not give in to it!
Let’s go back to the Old Testament and see what it says about this commandment. Exodus 23:6-7 NLT "In a lawsuit, you must not deny justice to the poor. 7 "Be sure never to charge anyone falsely with evil. Never sentence an innocent or blameless person to death, for I never declare a guilty person to be innocent. Leviticus 19:16 NLT "Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people. "Do not stand idly by when your neighbor's life is threatened. I am the LORD. Deu 19:15-20 NLT "You must not convict anyone of a crime on the testimony of only one witness. The facts of the case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 16 "If a malicious witness comes forward and accuses someone of a crime, 17 then both the accuser and accused must appear before the LORD by coming to the priests and judges in office at that time. 18 The judges must investigate the case thoroughly. If the accuser has brought false charges against his fellow Israelite, 19 you must impose on the accuser the sentence he intended for the other person. In this way, you will purge such evil from among you. 20 Then the rest of the people will hear about it and be afraid to do such an evil thing.
Here is a very strong statement that should make all sit up and take notice. Psalm 101:5-7 NLT I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride. 6 I will search for faithful people to be my companions. Only those who are above reproach will be allowed to serve me. 7 I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence.
What God is saying here is that he will not allow people with this nature to enter into Heaven. Stop and think about this and what I have been saying over the past several months that only Born Again believers will gain entry into Heaven. How can this be you ask, it is because when you become a Born Again believer the Holy Spirit comes and lives in your heart and your body becomes a temple for Christ. When this happens you get great conviction from the Holy Spirit living within you, when you sin or even think about sinning. Your love for Jesus is so great, you then seek forgiveness immediately from Jesus.
Can you think of any instances in the New Testament where this commandment of “False Witness” plays a part in Jesus death? Matthew 26:59-60 NASB Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. 60 They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, Acts 6:13 NKJV They also set up false witnesses who said, "This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; This is just a couple verses there are many more.
What about the other Apostles that were killed for speaking the truth? They were all victims of false testimony. What about the early disciples that were killed for speaking the truth? They drummed up false accusations against Stephen. Act 6:9-11 NASB But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. 10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God." What about the early leaders of the church (Some call them Popes.) that were martyred for speaking the truth? All the leaders of the church were martyred up to approximately 138 AD (that is more than 100 years after Jesus death), and after that for another 50 or so years, history gives a strong indication that they were martyred. Why was Jesus killed along with his Apostles, disciples, and early leaders? It was because the society back then couldn’t comprehend and believe in what Jesus and his followers were teaching. That still holds true today that people won’t believe what is written in the Bible and live according to the Bible. They would rather believe in manmade laws and a religion and not the word of Jesus. Remember Nicodemus coming to Jesus and asking Jesus to explain what he was teaching? (John 3:1-17) So the people back then eradicated these true believers and put someone that taught their beliefs into office (leadership position). So I ask you this, is there a true church today? Do you believe in Jesus Christ and live by his doctrine, the Bible, or the manmade laws of the religion you practice? Are you living by religious laws that change on a whim, or by God’s Holy and True Word that hasn’t changed since the beginning of time? I urge you to examine your life style and base it on God’s Word, the Bible. Don’t think you know what the Bible says if you have never read it, pick it up and start studying it.
Now let’s talk about current times and what is going on in our community. Pick the paper up and there are all kinds of false testimony’s going on with the churches in town. Talk to people and they start making statements about pastors and priests that aren’t nice. I ask them where they get their information and they say the newspaper or so and so said this. I ask if they have talked to the pastor or priest and the response is no. I’m involved in helping to organize a month long Revival and have been verbally attacked. This Revival is a real controversial subject in the community, and people have insinuated that the people involved with the upcoming Revival are in it for their glory and the money. I asked them where they got their information and I don’t get a reply. I asked them if they talked with the pastor in charge and the reply was no. I then suggested they come to a committee meeting and ask the committee questions, but no one comes.
Conduct like this is malicious slanderous gossip. This kind of conduct is wrong and goes totally against what the Bible teaches. James 4:11 NLT Don't speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. What is my feeling toward these people that do this? I still love them as a fellow human being, I hate the sin they committed, and I pray that Jesus will convict them of their sin, so they can amend their ways. Our tongue gives us away every time as far as what is truly in our heart. What’s in the heart defiles us, not what we eat. Matthew 12:34 NASB "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. Ephesians 4:31 NASB Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Talking about people without knowing the truth is plain and simple gossip and can degrade a person. I think, not talking about other people is one of the hardest things to do. If we always talked about other people in a good way that would be great, but for some reason it always seem to be in a negative way. That is the way the news is, it is practically always negative news. Have you ever thought about what our world would be like if everything that came out of our mouths was praise toward our fellow brothers and sisters? I think it would be pretty awesome. We wouldn’t have to worry about the following verses if nothing but love came out of our mouth. 2Timothy 3:2-4 NASB For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
The Ten Commandments are there to keep us in check. Don’t think of them as something bad, but think of them as Love Commandments from God, because he loves us so much he wants to see everyone in Heaven. 1Timothy 1:8-10 NASB But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.
My God, How Great Thou Art!
Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Last Week’s Trivia: When God talked to Moses at the burning bush, what did God instruct Moses to do to get the Israelite’s to believe that what he was telling them was from God?
Answer: Exodus 4:1-9 NASB Then Moses said, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'" 2 The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff." 3 Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 But the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail"--so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand-- 5 "that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." 6 The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. 7 Then He said, "Put your hand into your bosom again." So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. 9 "But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."
This week’s Trivia: Where there actually dragons in biblical times?
Rick Meyer, e-Sword Version 9.8.2 (Copyright 2000-2011)
Rick Meyer, e-Sword Version 9.8.2 (Copyright 2000-2011)
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