You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Exodus 20:16
There are few things in life that cut deeper than a lie against you, especially when that lie is from someone you would call a neighbor or a friend. The fact is, even lies from someone we would call an enemy bring us pain? Maybe that could be because “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth…” (Acts 17:26). Are we not all to be neighbors, friends, and family?
for in Him we live and move and exist,
as even some of your own poets have said,
‘For we also are His children’.
Acts 17:28
Jesus uses the lie to show us the difference between children of God and the children of the devil. He tells us in John 8:44 that the devil not only was a murderer from the beginning but he also is a liar and the father of all lies. Jesus tells us “that he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
In Romans 1:25 God uses the pen of Paul to show us how we become children of the devil, He tells us that we “exchanged the truth of God for a lie (literally this text is to read the lie), and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
What is “the lie“?
Well, my friend, the lie goes all the way back to the beginning…
“Indeed, has God said…”
Genesis 3:1
Satan bore false witness against God. He is indeed the father of lies, the instigator of gossip, the first to bear false witness. So when we lie, when we bear false witness who’s nature do we imitate, who’s image do we display, who’s child do we show ourselves to be?
It certainly is not God’s, for it is impossible for him to lie (Hebrews 6:18).
We have all been guilty of telling a lie. For me this is one of the most obvious ways to illustrate the depravity of man at conception. We sin because we are sinners. Children do not need to be taught how to lie. They just know to do it. It is part of their nature. They also do not have to be taught when to lie. This they also already know, it too is a part of their nature.
In Romans 1:18 we read that the wrath of God is revealed against those that “suppress the truth in unrighteousness”. To suppress something, we must first possess it. Romans 1:19 goes on to say to us “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” You see the fact that we know when to lie proves that we do in fact recognize the truth when we see it.
However, just because we see the truth and know the truth does not mean we are able to live out the truth. I have learned in my own personal experiences with this sin that there is one specific thing that will lead me into a lie every time- fear.
Fear of being hurt.
Fear of getting caught.
Fear of not gaining approval.
Fear of rejection.
Fear of failure.
How many lies have been spoken from the lips of one who’s heart was a slave of fear.
Yet here is our hope, “perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18)
In this command we see specifically the kind of lie that condemns us the most, the bearing of false witness. This is the lie that someone makes up to tell against another person. When Christ was brought before the high priest we read in Mark 14:53-59 of many coming up against Christ and giving false testimony.
They lied. They twisted His words. They manipulated the truth and distorted it in order to make Him appear to be something He was not. We still see this false witness being bore against Him today.
Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
1 John 3:22
This is the lie that eternally condemns.
How do we know if we are this liar? How do we know that we have come to know that Jesus is the Christ? How are we to know that we no longer suppress the truth, that we no longer believe the lie, that we no longer worship the creature instead of the Creator?
By this we know that we have come to know Him,
if we keep His commandments.
The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’
and does not keep His commandments,
is a liar,
and the truth is not in him;
but whoever keeps His word,
in him the love of God has truly been perfected.
By this we know that we are in Him:
the one who says he abides in Him
ought himself walk in the same manner as He walked.
1 John 2:3-6
Whose manner do you walk in?
Oh Father,
Thank You for Your perfect love that lives in me and casts out all fear. Forgive me for the times that I forget this love and allow fear to control me and let a lie come forth from my lips. If I say that I do not fail here at times then I would make You out to be a liar (1 John 1:10) and would show Your Word to not be in me, but because I see the sin in me and bring it to You I show that I am Yours. Only You can cleanse me of all unrighteousness and I daily need to come to You to be washed in Your Word. Your Word cleanses my heart and renews my mind and as I become more filled with Your truth, when my heart is squeezed by fear, it will be Your truth that leaks out, not a lie of self protection.
My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,
Amen