The Truth, the Whole Truth & Nothing but the Truth! - Part A

Imagine what it would be like for a concert pianist with perfect pitch to be forced to play at some old out of tune honky-tonk bar piano.

His sense of pitch and harmony and that determining the piano won't last very long. Or imagine a NASCAR driver who's used to shore power and performance driving 72 Ford Pinto.

Anybody remember though that sense of power that is used to and perfection in motoring was lost in the same fashion. In Proverbs 1222 lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. The name Bernie made off is synonymous with lot. He spent more than a decade, pretending to invest his clients money and what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and what he was caught hundreds of people discovered that he was more than 50 billion.

That's with the BD of their dollars. This lie was a devastating tragedy.

The folks who found out they no longer had retirement money now today your and connect with Skip weekend edition skip.

Isaac continues her study, God's top 10 today will see exactly what the 10 Commandments have to say about why will have ordering information for this entire series.

After the teaching today first pastors Wants to tell you about his brand-new book project.

Someone once said that if you want to know about Michelangelo need to study what he said what he did and what he created.

The same is true if you want to know God, you must devote yourself to his words and actions and what he created.

That is one of the reasons I wrote the book the biography of God.

It's available now and I hope you'll join me on this noble demanding and even rewarding journey. There's how to get your copy of my newest book, the biography of God skips the book is our thanks when you get $35 or more today to help keep this ministry on the air, call 800-922-1888, or give online securely and connectwithskip.com/offer a series God's top 10 Skip Heitzig will be focused on Exodus chapter 20 verse 15 so I hope you join in there as we begin title this message after what is commonly said in court rooms whenever a person is put on the stand in their ass swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There was a sergeant in the military who was very frustrated when nine of his GIs didn't appear for morning roll call.

They had been given a pass they had been out, but he expected them the next day at roll call, none of them showed up the first one straggled in at 7 o'clock in the evening and he said Sgt. I'm so sorry. I had a date last night and I missed the bus back but determined to get here on time, I hired a taxi cab but the taxicab broke down halfway here so I ran into a nearby farmhouse and persuaded a farmer to sell me one of his horses and I was riding the horse back here in the horse on the way drop down dad in the road. So I walked the last 10 miles, and here I am. Well, the Sgt. was very skeptical of the story but decided to let it pass little time later.

Seven more straggler GIs came in all with exactly the same story had a date missed the bus to the cab, but a horse etc. when the guys very frustrated very angry. Finally, the ninth G.I. comes in sir, I'm so sorry he said but I had a date last night and I missed the bus back and so I hired a cab in the finally the Sgt. wait wait wait wait wait. I know and the cab broke down right and the judge said I know Sarge, so they Didn't break down. It was just that there were so many dead horses in the road we had trouble getting through all that you unravel that one. In Proverbs chapter 6, Solomon gives a list of seven things that God hates and on that list are a lying tongue, and a false witness who speaks lies in a book that I have found very interesting. For a long time Patterson Kim research poll in a chapter they call American liars. They report 91% of Americans admit to lying routinely about matters they consider trivial, but 36% of these say they tell big lies about important matters that hurt other people in that very same chapter he gives a breakdown according to their research. Men lie more than women you you agree with that I I'm not getting answers for a good reason young men lie more than older men, the unemployed lie more than those with jobs. The poor lie more than the rich liberals lie more than conservatives who do they lie, the most to again the same chapter. Americans confessed to lying mostly to first parents second friends third siblings, and least of all the doctors, accountants, clergymen, and last of all the lawyers though 42% in the same poll believe they have been lied to by lawyers the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth is what God expects when he gives this ninth commandment in Exodus chapter 20 verse 16. Again, another short one. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor bearing false witness against your neighbor. This commandment, like all the other commandments, tell us a great deal even though it's a short package.

This commandment touches on three truths it touches on the character of God. It implies that were dealing with a God who loves the truth Moses the lawgiver in Deuteronomy 32 in his song called the song of Moses, one of the verses, his ways are justice our God of truth without injustice, righteous and upright is he David would agree.

After he sin with Bathsheba and he wrote that famous Psalm 51 he said Lord, you desire truth in the inward parts, both of them knew that the God they were dealing with was a God of truth.

Thus, falsehood cannot be tolerated long in the presence of one whose character in essence is essentially true and who is truth. Even Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life. So because God is true he's gonna have a problem with falsehood, that makes sense. Imagine what it would be like for a concert pianist with perfect pitch to be forced to play at some old out of tune a honky-tonk bar piano is sensitive pitch and harmony and that determining the piano won't last very long. Or imagine a NASCAR driver who's used to shore power and performance driving 72 Ford Pinto. Anybody remember those that sense of power that he's used to and perfection in motoring was lost on the same fashion. In Proverbs 1222 we read lying lips are an abomination to the Lord well this commandment. Verse 16 you shall not bear false witness.

The Hebrew word false in that little phrase. False witnesses should care and should care is often translated deceptive or betraying testimony, deceptive, or betraying testimony a perjurer. It could be translated and and such a person was always ill treated and look down and ill regarded in Jewish history Proverbs 25.

Listen to this description. A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a club sword and a sharp arrow confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint.

Because such a person can be so damaging to so many people. Jewish law made sure that people's testimony in their courts would be reliable and here were there stipulations. First of all, never was one witness sufficient. There had to be at least two witnesses before a charge could even be sustained and brought to court. Second, the witnesses were always examined independently and if there was any contradiction, the evidence was considered invalid. A person then third could only testify on what they had actually heard or actually seen it could not be to another party they had to actually be witnesses and finally anyone under the least shadow of suspicion was in eligible and what would make them ineligible.

If the witness took money for their testimony. If person was related to a person on trial.

If the witness was a dice player or an extortionist.

That was enough to have them taken away as a witness. Also there were stiff penalties for somebody who bore false witness in a legal case. Sometimes the witness if perjured under oath would be given the same sentence as the one on trial and in some cases even double the sentence so that if the sentence would've been 40 lashes, 40 stripes, as was typical in Roman courts than the false witness would be given 80 so they were tolerated so all of the Commandments that we have looked at so far somehow reflect on the character of God in this one reflects on the character of the truth of God that God is a God of truth and that he loves truth and so he introduces himself this way in Exodus 34 when Moses said show me your glory and God said if I do that you does burn up. And so God passes by in some fashion and declares his character clears his name and part of the description is. I am abounding in goodness and in truth.

Okay, if God is a God of truth, then it follows that his children will also love the truth and be concerned about it and so it is in the New Testament when Paul gives us that beautiful essay in first Corinthians 13 on love, he writes. Love does not delight in evil but love rejoices in the truth love rejoices in the truth so then one of the most loving things you could ever do for a person is to tell them the truth. Now the Bible also says that you should speak the truth in love. Sometimes you can speak the truth, but in such an unloving way that you turn everybody off. Having said that though one of the most loving things you can do is to tell people the truth and I encourage you to tell people the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth tell them the truth about eternity.

Tell them the truth about heaven. Tell them the truth about hell tell them the truth about deception and false doctrine. Mortality. Jesus told the truth when it was pleasant and unpleasant to tell the truth. On one occasion he said to Simon Peter, one of his close followers. Blessed are you, Simon son of Joan of arc, those gracious, loving, great pleasant words when you love it if Jesus came up to you and said, Blessed are you, Sally, George Frank, and he spoke the truth when it was pleasant, other times it wasn't so pleasant, but he still spoke the truth. You recall, the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23 and Jesus unleashed some harsh words saying you serpents, you brood of vipers, who has warned you from the wrath that is to come on you that wasn't very pleasant to say and it wasn't very pleasant to hear but because they reached such a hardness of their heart. Jesus the incarnate of all of spoke that truth to them in that occasion I have a friend who is an apologist and is quite well known in the often asked his radio audience this question. Are you willing to do for the truth. What cultists are willing to do for ally. Are you willing to do for the truth.

What cultists do for ally speaking the truth back in the fourth century A.D. there was a patriarch of a place in northern Africa. His name is Athanasius, and it was a very critical time in church history when the deity of Christ was being called into question by some in the Trinity was being called into question by some and at the forefront of that heresy was a guy named Arius and his followers was known as the Arian heresy and a Athanasius took his stand as a church leader, the patriarch of Alexandria at the time against this heretical doctrine and it didn't bring him into favor with everybody and a 1.1 of Athanasius close assistant said Athanasius. It seems that the world is against you and Athanasius replied and said if the whole world is against the truth, then Athanasius will be against the whole world willing to speak the truth and the truth is the truth. God cannot lie in his truth cannot be changed, and his gospel is never negotiable. So this tells us first of all, that were dealing with the character of God is a God of truth.

It also touches on the credibility of man. The very fact that in the top 10 list. This is to be included shows us that God understands human character. Indeed he does it infers that man has a problem with truth. Hence the commandment you shall not bear false witness, so just like we read at the beginning with the Patterson can research poles and others people have trouble telling the truth and it's basically because of our nature, post fall after the fall we had a problem with it ever since. In ancient China. The Chinese wanted to build a wall and I stood at the foot of that Great Wall of China and walked across a portion of it.

I was told the story of it.

They wanted to build a call a while so high that people couldn't climb over it so thick. People couldn't bust through it and so long they could go around and yet within the first 100 years of the Great Wall of China's existence. Invaders came through it three times and simply because they understood human nature. They bribed the gatekeepers. They understood the weakness wasn't in the structure for fortifying weakness. It will be in character and hear the Chinese had spent so much of their money and efforts in building structure and not enough in building character. The problem lies with us. Our character is flawed in the Bible says it's flawed from birth parents. I know you got wonderful kids and some of you even think your kids are more wonderful than everybody else's kid. That's a prerogative of especially grandparents, but some parents as well.

But did you ever have to teach your kids to live just because they were so perfect. You needed to just balance them out so they be like everybody else know I bet you had the experience that everybody else has that they were in the course of their upbringing may be engaged or caught in such an enterprise and you had to correct and tell them why they weren't to lie now we know that man was created in God's image, but we also know that the image was marred and was marred at the fall and so the psalmist declares this, even from birth, the wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward and speak lies in Proverbs 22 foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, so the fall of man is reflected in man's propensity to lie to tell untruth like Satan who was the one who perpetrated the fall from the beginning was all about lies. Satan is called the father of lies. He lied in the garden, has God said all he won't do that. Jesus said to the Pharisees, you belong to your father the devil, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Which means when we deliberately engage in ally we are shadowing not God's personality, but Satan's personality were becoming an ally. No wonder then, in the New Testament book of acts Peter said to Ananias in the early church. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. So the commandment touches on the character of God. It touches on the credibility of man and also on the core issue of integrity. That's really what the commandment is all about integrity.

The word integrity is a beautiful word.

It means whole or undivided moral uprightness is the idea of integrity.

Integrity is being what you say and verbal integrity is underwritten in this entire commandment living with your life what you say with your lips.

Jesus said from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks literally from the overflow of what's inside the heart. The real you. The inner core, the mouth will speak why do we lie because were falling people lives are one way that shows a there are many ways of life skill will cover more than what he returns with the second half of this teaching truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth now to these teaching which is one message of her current series through the 10 Commandments God's talk to. It's available now from the store and connectwithskip.com you can get all 17 teachings bundled together is an audio CD package for only $39 plus shipping.

While you're there, check out Pastor Skip's brand-new book. Can you imagine reading a biography about your life, only to find details about your life that were wrong felt it would be frustrating, wouldn't in God's nature, character and motives have often been poorly portrayed, and even intentionally misstated. That's one of the reasons I decided to write the book, the biography of God to open your eyes and heart to a larger picture of God. I hope you will go on this journey with me as we ask and answer the universal question.

Can we know God. Here's how to get your copy of my newest book, the biography of God. The biography of God is are we to say thank you you give $35 or more today to help expand this Bible teaching outreach to more people request your copy when you give online securely connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888 at connect with skip. I think we would help listeners like you live a life of dynamic faith in Jesus that were counting on your financial support to keep this strong Bible teaching on the air. Please give today to continue bringing this broadcast your way and connecting more people to the living Savior, just call 819 T 1880 8.892 1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/donate.

That's connectwithskip.com/donate. Thank you. What makes ally ally find out next time here and we can division when Skip Heitzigs and returns with part two of this teaching the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth connect with Skip weekend division is a presentation of connection communication, connecting you the guys that were changing true and ever-changing time