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There is a lot of false information and accusations being made daily. Find out what God says about bearing false witness and what the truth is.
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Well, howdy Spotify. Thank you for tuning in to Pastor Mark's sermon this week.
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So with that, guys, it's sermon time.
All right, everybody. Welcome to church. Good to have you. Welcome, welcome, welcome.
Very excited to teach today. If you've got a Bible, go to Exodus chapter 20.
We're taking about a year. We're going through the book of Exodus.
Next up will be a sermon series on freedom is for worship,
and that'll be an Exodus 25 through 40, but this week we're going to finish our study on
the 10 commandments. Today we're at the ninth commandment.
Now shall not lie, no lying. Before I jump into the text, I want to set a little bit of context.
This is the word of God. This is the only perfect thing in the earth on the planet.
This is from the Lord himself. We believe every single word of the word of God.
And what's really interesting is in the history of our nation to get people to
not violate the ninth commandment and to tell the truth, we tended to make them swear an oath on
this book. This book. This book has been foundational for truth telling in the history of our nation.
And when we want people to testify under oath or make a pledge, we have them placed their hand
on the word of God. And we're holding them accountable to the God of the word and we're asking
them not to violate the ninth commandment. I did a little research this week. You might find this
interesting. Here's where it all started. Oath started in 817, 89 on April 30th of George
Washington being sworn in as our first president. So this history of oath telling George Washington
first president, starting the precedent of leadership in America, put his hand on the Bible,
and he swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, that nothing but the truth.
And then he kissed the Bible. It was our president saying, I submit to this word and I love it.
I love it. I tell you this, any politician that does that, there's hope and encouragement
for their future because God would be more willing to bless them who are obedient to him.
And so when George Washington did this, he started a precedent that carries to our very day.
They have a rendering of it from the ancient world. There is. That's where America started in
presidential leadership began. Now compare that to where we are today. I want to talk a little
about the rise of Islam in the United States of America and the fact that that is a different book
with a different God and it's about lying and not truth telling. And so their book is the Quran
and according to certain interpretations and certain Muslim scholars of the Quran,
it is permissible for a Muslim to lie to a non-Muslim. I'll show you the two texts.
Number one, this is the primary text. Let not believers take disbelievers as allies rather than
believers and whoever does that has nothing with all law except when taking precautions against them
in prudent fear. In addition, this text says, whoever disbelieves in all after his belief,
except one who has compelled while his heart is firm and faith, but whoever opens his
breast to disbelief among them is wrath from a law. What it's saying is you can lie,
you can lie. And that God is that demon God who is a lying God is okay with lie.
So here's the classical definition of what's called takia. It is fourfold. Number one,
are you under duress, possible death or harm? If your heart is still true to Allah,
if the lie is temporary and if it is not used to harm a Muslim, only a non-Muslim,
then you can lie. Then you can lie. What's wild is we have people running for office in America
putting their hand on the Quran. And we have naive Americans saying they're telling the truth.
Actually, their God is nothing but a liar, their false prophet is nothing but a liar,
and their book is nothing but lies. So why would O thing over that lead to the truth?
I'll show you this. Here's where we see. In 2007, Keith Ellison, he was the first Muslim elected
to Congress for Minnesota. He was sworn in office by putting his hand on a Quran. He is the
first American politician to do so. He was born in where? To try it, then he moved to Minneapolis,
two demonic strongholds for Islam. This is profoundly spiritual. You can see him being inaugurated.
That's the Quran. How about the next one? I've got three, since we're having a good time.
In 2019, Elhan Omar, born in Somalia, moved to Minneapolis. We've had some problems in Minneapolis.
And Rashida Talib, she is ultimately from Detroit, Michigan. We now have Sharia law and call to prayer
in both cities. They were sworn in as the first female Muslim members of Congress by
placing their hand on the Quran. There it is. This is profoundly spiritual.
This is saying, I come under the authority of this book, and I come under the authority of the
God who demonically inspired the writing of this book. If you believe in the ninth
commandment, you believe that there is one God and His name is Jesus Christ. And when God tells
us not to lie, we'll give an account to Jesus Christ if we do.
And there's one more, New York City. In 2026, Zoran Mondami, who was born in Uganda,
was sworn in as New York's first Muslim, thereby placing his hand on the Quran. And there it is.
There it is. Now, here's what I need you to know. The Bible says, thou shalt not bear false
witness in lie. That's the ninth commandment. For the entire history of our nation up until 2007,
leaders would say, I swear to tell the truth, I honor the Word of God and I am submitting to Jesus
Christ. Now, whether they did or didn't end their heart, this was foundational for our nation.
And now what is happening is politicians are saying, no, it is Allah, not Jesus. It is the Quran,
not the Bible. What I find very interesting, this is just a free rant and then I'll get into the
sermon. But there is no problem with Islamic nationalism. There's only a problem with Christian
nationalism. And it's because stupid people believe that if they say they're going to do something,
they're telling the truth. And I just proved to you that their book indicates that they can lie to us.
So you need to know that for us, truth telling is foundational and essential for who our God is
and how we live for our God. We cannot lie, we cannot believe lies, we cannot tolerate lies.
In the name of diversity, equity, inclusion, we have allowed lies, falsities, and demons.
We believe in the truth and his name is Jesus Christ. So that being my rant, now we'll get into
the sermon. Commandment number nine, no lying. Here it is, Exodus 20 verse 16, you shall not bear
false witness against your neighbor. Let me set up the context. They have just been released from
slavery in Egypt. They're on their way to set up the nation of Israel that still exists to this day,
despite what some on the right would say. And what happens is God causes them to me and he gives
them commandments. This is for nation building. You can't have a nation if it's founded on lying and
liars. So God tells them to tell the truth. God literally writes the 10 commandments with his own
proverbial finger on two tablets of stone. Might I submit to you that if God hand writes something,
it must be of the utmost importance. Here is a definition of a lie for our time together.
A lie is a statement made by one who does not believe it with the intention that someone else
shall be led to believe it. This is really important, friends. Lying includes both telling what
is untruth, that's falsity, and not telling all that is true, that's a half truth. You only have
the truth if you have the whole truth. And when you tell something that is untrue or tell something
that is half true, you are lying. You are lying. Now there are some practical reasons why we lie.
I'll share five with you. We lie to avoid negative consequences for ourselves. If the truth came
out, we get in trouble so we'd rather lie. We lie to get what we want. That's deception and manipulation.
We lie to hurt other people, that is weaponization and character assassination.
Number four, we lie to create or protect an illusion of who we are. It's called Instagram.
Instagram exists for the express purpose of lying. I'm thin, young, happy, and winning.
That's lying and a filter. We all know none of those things are true.
Okay, social media exists to promulgate lies. And number five, we lie to remain in control of a
situation, which is a denial of God's sovereignty. I'm not in charge and I don't know what the outcome
is, and so I need to control it rather than trusting God who reigns over it. So we're going to talk
about lying and false witness. And here in Exodus, it narrowly refers to what we would call
perjury, lying under oath, falsifying evidence. Proverbs six says there are six things that the Lord
heard what. I thought he was the God of love. He is. He loves the truth and he hates lies.
Let me say this. If you're going to love some things, you're going to hate some things.
If you love life, you hate murder. If you love truth, you hate lies. That's our God.
There are six things that the Lord hates. Seven that are abomination to him. One of them is
a false witness who breeze out lies. God hates that. God hates that. How about this?
Proverbs 25, 18, a man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club or a sword
or a sharp arrow. What it is, it's demonic and it's spiritual warfare. Lying is demonic,
spiritual warfare, and the lie is a weapon used by the enemy to assault truth and goodness.
That is the narrow definition would be legal. It would be falsifying evidence, perjury under oath.
More broadly speaking, it is the telling of any lie. Another way you could summarize the
ninth commandment is don't lie. Don't lie. And this is profoundly spiritual because in an age of
spin and narrative and cover up and misinformation and disinformation, you need to know that anything
that isn't true is demonic. It's actually not just an alternative perspective. It's a demonic
perspective. I'll show it to you. Titus 12, God never what? God never lies. Isn't that good news?
I love that. How difficult would it be to worship a God who was dishonest?
You're forgiven, am I? I kind of need to know that with a degree of certainty. God never lies.
You know what? That means everything in the scriptures is of God from God. All scripture is God
breathed. It is all together entirely true. All of it. That's what it means. Our God never lies.
In addition, John 844, Satan is the father of lies, Jesus says. If you're lying, what you're doing
is you're echoing your spiritual father. Lying is demonic. Lying is satanic. You need to know that
if you are a person who practices habitual lying, your father is the devil. So Jesus is saying.
So you can repent and start telling the truth. And the first truth is to say, I'm a liar.
In addition, the scriptures say about lying. Proverbs 12, 22, lying lips are a
abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. An abomination comes with God's
condemnation. If you are lying, God says that's an abomination and then on you comes a condemnation.
You're actually bringing divine judgment on yourself. Those who lie have no fear of God.
They have no fear of God and they should. We all should. I know that God is a loving God. I know that
God is a forgiving God. I also know that God is a holy God and God is a vengeful God. And I'll be
honest with you if I'm going to air. I'm going to air on the side of not getting in trouble.
Not lying and deceiving and manipulating and controlling, but instead truth telling and
worshipping and serving and repenting. In addition, here's what the scriptures say. And this is from
the Lord Jesus and it is terrifying. On the day of judgment, then there will be a day of judgment.
Let me just say this. We're all going to stand before Jesus. You're going to be there and you're
going to be there and you're going to be there. And I'm going to be there. We're all going to be there.
And in the Bible and Revelation, it's called the white throne of judgment means purity.
No corruption. See, there's corruption in the political system. There's corruption in the
legal system. There's not corruption in the kingdom of God. There's no corruption. It's all
together just in pure. And we're all going to be there and we're going to stand before God and
we're going to give an account to God and you're going to be judged by God. And when people say
you need Jesus to be saved, they don't necessarily tell you, but the truth is you're saved by Jesus,
you're saved from Jesus and you're saved to Jesus because you're going to stand before Jesus
and get judged by Jesus. Rinse knows that greatness takes time, but so does laundry.
So rinse will take your laundry and hand deliver it to your door, expertly cleaned. And you can
take the time pursuing your passions. Time one spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing,
now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up the Irish flute
or those calligraphy pens or that daunting beef Wellington recipe card and leave the laundry
to us. Rinse, it's time to be great. And here's what Jesus says will happen on that day.
On the day of judgment, people will give an account for everyone.
Careless word they speak. This was before we had the internet.
Now we're in real trouble. Now we're in real trouble.
Friend, take this with all seriousness and sobriety before you say something or repose something
or echo something. Is it true? So we say, well, I didn't say it, but if you echoed it or posted it,
you're responsible for it. This should cause. So this is why my wife, by the way, she doesn't do
social media. She does not. I do. And I get in trouble for it. And I think my wife is probably
wiser than I. But just think of all of the communication that we have. And I'll be honest with you,
friends, I take this so seriously. My job as a pastor, as a preacher, as a herald of God's word,
is to be a true teller. I write a lot. I speak a lot. I post a lot. And I got to give an account
for every word that I say. It is a it is a sober thing. And I don't understand clergy who get in
the pulpit and just pontificate or lie and have no fear of God and don't understand that the judgment
for them will be stricter and harsher because the Bible says not many of you should presume to be
teachers. You'll be judged more harshly. Well, thank you for joining us here on Spotify. If you
don't know me, my name is Pastor Mark Driscoll. I have been in the pulpit for a little more than
30 years preaching and teaching the Bible. I have been faithfully married to my wife since 1992.
We've got five kids. We got six grandkids. And I would love for you to know more about real faith
ministry where we send Bible teaching around the world. And if you would pray for us, we would
appreciate it. And if you'd like to partner with us, we would invite you to do so. We are supported
by generous people who give financially so that we can get God's word out to the world.
If you'd like to do so, text partner to 993A3. Again, text partner to 993A3. We love you. We thank you.
And I appreciate you allowing me to help you learn God's word. That being said, there are
occasional rare times when we have to save life and we need to be in a position where we're left
with two options. One is worse and so we choose the better of the options. What I'm saying is this,
there are times, rare times. Most of us will never be in those times. When lying is required to stop
people, we're in Exodus. In Exodus chapter one, the government said, hey, we're going to kill all
the baby boys. So the Hebrew midwife said, yeah, we haven't seen any. You're lying. Well, they're
going to murder the babies. So we're going to say we don't know where the babies are. Most of us
are never going to be in that situation. But when the government comes to murder the children,
feel free to protect the life of the children because that's the greater good. And just 10
generally as well, the two things that caused God's eye are to destroy Egypt was life and liberty.
They were killing the children and they didn't let the believers worship so God crushed the nation
because what God really cares about is life and liberty. In addition, there's another occasion
where the gal named Rahab, she's a prostitute, and God's people come in to spy on the land.
This is right after the Exodus book into the book of Joshua and God's people show up to scout
it out. And then the government shows up and they're like, have you seen God's people? We're going
to kill them. She said, I haven't seen them. I haven't seen them. There are rare occasions. But
let me say this virtually none of us will have those occasions. But there are times when evil is
going to take life and God's people need to preserve life. That being said, there is the spirit of
the law, there is the letter of the law. Let me give you some specific, would you like some specific
examples of how we violate the ninth commandment? Let's just do some specifics. Number, we'll start
with this one, lying by slander or by libel. So slander is when you lie and violate the ninth commandment
and you do so verbally, libel is when you write it down or you post it on the internet.
Just so you know, not everything on the internet is true. Just so you know, just so you know,
just so you know, I'll just verbal process a little bit. So I recently looked up who my wife
was on the internet and it was some other woman that I've never heard of and says we've been married
since 2017 and I told Grace, that's a violation of the ninth commandment. That is not true.
There's just wild stupid crazy stuff on the internet. So you got to be careful and you got to be
discerning. Leviticus 1916 says this, you shall not go around, excuse me, yeah, you shall not go
around as a slanderer. A slanderer is this. It's character assassination. You're trying to
Jesus calls this heart murder. Jesus says, you know what, if you hate someone in your heart,
you've murdered them in your heart and what Jesus says is that sometimes we also murder with our
words because out of our heart comes our words. And so if you hate someone, if you want to slander
them, if you want to libel them, if you want to destroy them, if you want to assassinate them,
what you do is you speak evil and malice against them. Now, what I need you to know is this and
this is important. Blogs, social media and YouTube, they do not count as journalism.
Sarah, they're not held to journalistic standards. Most people don't know this. See, journalism
technically actually has standards or at least they used to. Now, social media is still the
Wild West that law hasn't caught up with. And so what happens is, let's say you find a left-leaning
news outlet like CNN or MSNBC or Christianity Day, some left-leaning democratic operative,
they will put garbage on blogs and they'll put garbage on social media posts and podcasts
that they know or lies and they'll put it under the banner of the news organization knowing that
you will think it's news and it's not because it's not held to the same legal standard.
It's deception. If they called it a news article, they would get sued, but if it's a blog, it's not.
And so we have technically the greatest opportunity to violate the ninth commandment
in the history of the world. Now, before I get into the details that ensue in the sermon,
I had a bit of a week and I was lied about a lot all week. My job is to tell the truth and get
lied about. That's literally what it says on my job description. Tell the truth and get lied about.
Okay? So here's my week, not just my week, my last two days. So there was this article yet.
Protestia. Breaking. Mark Truskel has a woman pastor, preacher, this church, and promotes her
message. How many of you women were there and love that message? All right. So this goes crazy.
What they didn't say was, it was a woman preaching to women at a women's meeting about not being
feminists. They're like, oh, those are details. I know, they're details. I know.
Just to increase the scandal, I will also publicly state that I'll be using the men's restroom
later today. Okay. All of these scandalous things. So what they didn't tell you was that it was
preaching to so it goes nuts on the internet, nuts on the internet. So publicly, let me say this.
Millie, you did a great job. We love you. We'll have you back and you got no problem here.
All right, we love you. You're great. Plus, she's pregnant. You're trashing a pregnant lady.
Shame on you. Her husband was with us this week. He preached at men's. We love them.
We love them. They love you. They love you. So everybody online is like, you need to cancel
them and you need to say something. I cancel you and I tell you to stop. That's my statement.
Okay. We pick people who tell the truth and if you don't like it, we still love you but you need
to repent and you need to hear more truth. Okay. So I had an interesting week. It was a fun week.
I wouldn't know these things unless people texted them to me because I don't go, I don't do
interneting. I just don't. But I had this last night. I'll snuggle up with grace on the couch
and Candace Owens decided to take a shot at our church. Yep. Yep. So what she said was the pastor
at Trinity Church. I know that guy, by the way. In Scottsdale, said that Charlie Kirk called them
a few days before September 10th and told me that he was going to be killed. He mentioned this to
all of us that assisted in the urgent service he made to pray for him after the incident.
So this is a lie. This is a violation of the ninth commandment. When you're trying to lie,
you try to bring as many people into your lie as possible to try to make it credible to the naive
and gullible. Charlie was my friend. I loved him. I missed him. I still shed tears when I think
about him. I pray for his wife and kids. I encourage you to do the same. And when he was shot,
we hosted a gathering to pray and to let you process. But none of that was ever said that's a complete
lie. That's a complete lie. But these are examples of what happens when people who have platforms
weaponize them trying to build their case to do what is libel and slander, character assassination
and a violation of the ninth commandment. So you're needing to be discerning. Let me say this.
If you give me the honor of being your pastor, you're going to need to have a little thicker
skin than the other church members. I am one in five star reviews for 30 consecutive years.
I will always tell the truth. I will never pull a punch. And when I am wrong, I will repent so
that I can be in agreement with the truth. And so you just need to know that. And so when people
come to you and they're like, your pastor gets in a lot of trouble. Here's your answer. Yeah,
how come your pastor doesn't? How come your pastor doesn't?
Our goal is to reach as many people as possible with the truth of Jesus Christ. And that means
that there will be a backlash from those who violate the ninth commandment. And just know,
I'm fine with this. I've signed up for the job. I have total joy. And we are going into a building
campaign, both at real faith and trendy church for new buildings and headquarters. Because last
year, we had 1.7 billion impressions. And by God's grace, that is the first fruits. And that will
only increase. And our goal is to get as much Bible teaching out to as many people that we possibly
can in Jesus' name because we are a truth telling church. And for those of you women who follow this
sort of drama and nonsense, repent, repent. Jezebel, husband, Ahab, Elijah, that's officially
what happened last night. And I'll just tell you this, men, lead your wives. And if they're living
online, consuming sewage and garbage, then lovingly tell them that it is time to open the word of God
and to close their social media app. All the men are, yes, and all the women are like, I don't know.
Let me say this. If you spend too much time with lies, you start getting fearful. You start
getting conspiratorial. You start living in the flesh. And instead of the spirit, you start
worrying instead of worshipping. And you start echoing them instead of echoing him.
Did I make my point? Okay. In addition, there are other ways to lie. There is lying through false
teaching. It's everywhere. Whole denominations have become abominations. Certain pulpits, they are
not honoring the Lord. Second Peter 2, one, false prophets also arose among the people. Just as
there will be false teachers among you, he's speaking of our dead. Who will secretly bring in
destructive what? Heresies. No, they won't use that word. They'll call it alternate interpretations.
Because that's what heretics do. They rebrand. And in Orbe too, just so you know this, the
heresy is entered in through something called deconstructionism. Deconstructionism isn't just
overtly saying, God believes that there are an infinite number of genders and sex is fine as long
as it's two consenting adults and the murder of a child is a good thing in choice. And that ultimately
there is no such thing as demons and we're all good people in our hearts. Sometimes the heretics
won't just come out and say that. They'll just ask questions to deconstruct what is true.
I'm just asking. And what about this? And what about that? And what about this? And what about that?
And it's like, oh, I know how this started in Genesis 3. The world collapsed when Satan started
asking the wrong questions. That's what is happening, friends. One way to attack the truth is head
on and the other is to undermine it through constant questioning and deconstructing. And the great
lie that is being promulgated in the church today is that our first job is to love our neighbor,
our first job is to love our God. Jesus said when he summarized the Ten Commandments,
he said, love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. Today we don't love our God. We love our
neighbor. What about your immigration neighbor? What about your trans neighbor? What about your
Muslim neighbor? You're like, well, love your God. Love your God first. Be loyal to your God first.
Serve your God first. Be devoted to your God first. And then deal with your neighbor.
Then deal with your neighbor. And so, friends, this is of the utmost important because lying about God,
that's the most damnable, despicable lying of all. So horrific. And the great lie today is the
preaching of tolerance of sin instead of repentance of sin. See, God preaches and commands repentance
of sin. Lying, Satan, demons, they preach tolerance of sin. You don't need to change your fine,
you're great. God loves you just as you are. You be true to you, all of which is damnable,
it's demonic, it's diabolical. The truth is that God's word never changes and that we need to
conform to the scriptures. They do not conform to us. We come under their authority. We don't exercise
authority over the scriptures. And when we disagree with the word of God, we are wrong. But if you
are a person who has incessant, unrepentant sin in your life, you will go find a damnable liar
to tell you exactly what you want to hear. You will find that person. You will find that person.
It may even be, you know, a bishop in a dress wearing a rainbow cross. And you're quoting them.
And what I would say is they cross land and see to make a convert and they are twice the son of
L. You need to know that pastors are going to hell, that many clergy are liars, that there is
profound, deep compromise, even within evangelicalism. The platforms, the publishing houses,
the schools, the denominations, many of them are varying degrees of corrupt. And those who would
preach repentance and have a prophetic voice will be silenced and lied about. You need to know
that if you want the truth and only the truth, you cannot seek out those who tell you what
you're itching ears want to hear. They only tell you what our sovereign God has to say.
In addition, we lie through gossip. There's an entire industry online that exists for nothing
but gossip. How many of you have been gossiped about? And who have you gossiped about?
First, Timothy 513, not only idlers, but also gossip and busy bodies, saying what they should not.
What this is, is this is taking private information and making it public. This is talking about
someone rather than talking with them. Rather than going to them and saying, let me talk to you about
this. I'm just going to post and I'm going to publicly trash you rather than privately serve you.
And what happens with gossip, let me say what happens with gossip. So if it's somebody you love,
you only talk about their best days. If it's somebody you hate, you only talk about their worst days.
The truth is, we've all got both days. True. Gossip is when you are disclosing information
that's not your news to tell. This is what I say, people call to me because I'm a pastor so they
know that I know people and I know some things. Well, what about them? That's not my news to tell.
If you want to know, go ask, go ask them. That's their news to tell. That's their news to tell.
Christians, you can't make this a non lie by calling it a prayer request.
So you've seen this. Yeah, they're having a tough time. He committed adultery and she ran off with
the kids and pray for them. Gossips and busy bodies. Busy bodies are people who aren't busy
with the right things so they get busy with the wrong things. Some of you, you spend way too much
time on social media following people. Follow the Holy Spirit, follow the Lord, follow your calling,
follow your destiny. Why would you follow them? Just think of all the time that you, oh my gosh,
what are they wearing? What are they saying? What are they eating? What are they doing? Who's
Taylor Swift eating today? Because I want to know what the next album will be about. I mean,
it's just weird. It's weird. True, it's weird. Oh, what kind of underwear are they wearing?
I'm like, that's the world we live in. That's the world we live in. And it's stupid. And it's
a waste of time. And foolish ignorant people spend their days scrolling and gossiping and busy
bodying when they should be working and serving and worshipping. Okay, none of you like that, but it's
true. Lying is also flattery. And you may have just violated this one with those cheap claps.
Some 12, too. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor with flattering lips and a double heart, they speak.
How many of you, do you know what a flat, okay, without raising your hand or pointing at your neighbor,
how many of you know a flatterer? What do they do? They butter you up and they puff you up.
So, you are amazing. You look incredible. Have you lost weight? Right? What did you do with your hair?
Men do this all the time. All the time. It's an epidemic. Why do we flatter people? Why?
Because we want to manipulate or use them or benefit from them, so we want to praise them and
flatter them so that they will benefit us. Where does this happen most frequently? Work, politics,
and dating. All just different kind of nasty relationships. How many of you at work, you've got a
flatterer at work. Every time they talk to the boss, it's just, you're amazing. This is the best
company I've ever worked for. I love it here. It's because they want to raise or a promotion.
In politics, do we get flattered? All the dye. How about ladies? Can I talk to the single ladies?
Is this a tactic that some men use in the septic tank that is the dating pool?
How many women have met a guy who's just a flatterer? What you know is this. He is trying to set you
up so that you will ultimately reduce your discernment, you will increase your trust, and then he can
have his way with you. Can have his way with you. One woman just got delivered. He's got delivered.
How do we learn? Her boyfriend, however, did not. That's where we find ourselves on this faithful day.
And this is not, this is not, by the way, discounting what the Bible calls the spiritual gift of
encouragement. This is the demonic counterfeit of the gift of encouragement. See, some of you have
the gift of encouragement. I don't, but you do. And so you're trying to encourage people. That's
not flattery. What you're trying to do is build them up, not puff them up. See, there's a big
difference. Puffing up is appealing to pride. Building them up is to encourage the spirit to work
in and through them. How about this one? Lying by deception. This is intentional. This is malicious.
This is not accidental. These are occasions where people intentionally craft a narrative.
They will bring together false evidence. They will create a conspiracy. And it is intentional and
malicious. It is deceptive by nature. For Psalm 37, little children, let no one deceive you.
Where did deception start? Genesis 3 was Satan.
That's it. God told the truth. You could partake of any tree, but not that one. Satan comes along.
He says, you should eat of that tree. That's a lie. He's violating the 9th commandment.
Did God really say now he's deconstructing? He's undermining and questioning. And he says,
you know what, when you eat of it, you'll be like God. He's deceptive. That's deception.
The truth is, in the text, God already said, I made you in my image and likeness. God already
made you like him. You don't need to sin to be like him. When you sin, you'll be like Satan,
not God. It's all deception. In addition, we are so used to deception that most of us are just
totally jaded. Can I get in there, man? Much of what I read, I'm like, this is probably not true.
We have seen in recent years, unbelievable political deception.
Unbelievable political deception. Oh, yes, cognitive ability is fantastic. Yes. He's
why does he have the resting 25th amendment face and drool coming out the side of his mouth?
He's doing great. He's not doing great. He's not doing great. Take grandpa home.
All right. I mean, it's just wild. And we get all of these news cycles of complete dishonesty and
deception. And then sometime later, after it's done all the dim as they're like, yeah, we found out
that wasn't true. Okay, great. Great. And you just need to know that you don't need to be jaded,
but you do need to be discerning. We have advertising fraud. We have academic fraud. We have
embezzlement. Just think of it in this way. How much of advertising is just a violation of the
ninth commandment? Take this and you'll get skinny and smart. Well, for your smart, you won't take it
because you're not going to get skinny. It's deception. It's just deception. And the deception is
pervasive. I saw it on the TV today, too, since I'm just verbal processing with you all.
Hey, we bombed Iran. Yay! Bom Iran. Bom Iran. There's some great Iranians and they want to get rid of
the demonic regime that is oppressing them, murdering thousands of their own citizens,
funding and weaponizing their proxies, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas. And so America has
decided in alliance with Israel. We're going to bomb strategic targets to cause regime change.
And then before I left the house today, they had one of their representatives get on TV.
It was adorable. It wasn't the supreme commander because he may be taking a dirt nap. We'll see.
But what this political representative said, he said, we were in the middle of negotiating a
peace agreement and we were right at the end. We don't know why America would bomb us. We were
acting in good faith. We're all victims. I was like, I'm sure the pen was right here when the
button got hit. I'm sure that's exactly how, let me say this about terrorists. If they murdered
their own people, sometimes they lie. Some, they lie. But this is all just deception because
people who are intentionally deceptive, they know that there's a percentage of people that are
going to believe it. They're going to believe it. Don't be those people.
Lying by hypocrisy, I've got a few more. Luke 121, Jesus says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,
which is what? Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. See, hypocrisy is where you don't just lie with your words,
you lie with your life. Your whole life is a fraud. I'll be honest with you guys, the constant
day luge in the news of pastors, many of whom I know that have been preaching on marriage for
years while having a wife and a girlfriend. That's a violation of the ninth commandment. Lying,
that's a violation of the seventh commandment, adultery, and a violation of the tenth commandment
coveting someone else's wife. If your full-time job is being a pastor and your part-time job is
violating the commandments, you need a different job. You need a different job.
Hypocrisy undermines Christianity because if someone is in the pulpit saying God says and then
they're living not just a flawed life because we're all sinners and are imperfect but malicious,
intentional, pernicious, constant disobedience to God, that's hypocrisy. It is hypocrisy.
It is hypocrisy to preach family and then to be negligent to your own children and grandchildren.
It is hypocrisy to preach marriage and not work on a loving, faithful covenant with your spouse
all the days of your married life. It is hypocrisy and I am so absolutely frustrated
with the constant news cycle. Here's another fraud. Here's another fraud. Here's another fraud.
There's another fraud. No fear of God, no honoring of God, no obedience to commandments.
And how frustrating must it be for the people who say, well, we were supporting you and funding
you and trusting you and following and you were lying to us and you were deceiving us and you
were misleading us. Damnable sins, especially among clergy and religious leadership. Let me start with
those who hold my office first because if the leader does not obey God then the people are not
going to be loved and led in the will of God and that is a complete disservice to God and the people.
It is a complete dishonest and a complete disservice.
We see this all the time as well. I am just ranting today parallel in a mood.
But I'm even seeing this among a Christless conservatism
where people who are, oh, I'm a Christian but then once you get to dig behind the scenes
and curtain of their life to see their personal life and behavior, this is all deception and its
hypocrisy. There are people with massive platforms preaching marriage and family who are committing
adultery. There is a fraudulent nature both on the right and the left, my friend.
And so I am politically conservative because I'm a Bible-believing Christian but because I'm a
Bible-believing Christian, I also believe if you're in sin and on the right, you too should repent.
You too should repent.
And then, last, we'll bring the band up, it'll get fun in a moment. Just hang in there.
Fake news and disinformation. How many of you, the violation of the ninth commandment,
is now so profitable, so pervasive and persuasive, you don't even believe that it is anymore.
Some years ago I came up in high school as a journalist and then in college I got a degree in
communications and journalism. We were told things like you need to have a source. An anonymous
source is a lie. Just so you know. And we were told that that journalistic integrity mattered and
today it's absolutely gone. It's horrifying. I'll share some of the statistics with you. Only
32% of Americans have a great deal or fair amount of trust in mass media. Those 32% are drunk.
They're all drunk. You're like, I think the news is honest. I believe it. Wow. Wow.
You need a drug test. You are not doing well. How many of you, when you read the news,
are you here? The news your first thought is, that's probably a lie. It just probably is.
Here's another study. Researchers at MIT have found that fake news spreads
10 times faster than true news on social media. So Charles Spurgeon, he's one of my favorite
preachers, he lived in the 1800s. He says a lie can travel halfway around the world while the
truth is putting its shoes on. That was before the internet. That's before the internet.
So lies, let me ask you, why do lies spread 10 times faster than truth?
Because Satan and demons help. They're in the algorithms. They're pushing their narrative
in agenda. This is all spiritual warfare, my friends. It's all spiritual warfare.
Well, what we're going to do now, we're going to sing. And when we sing, we're telling the truth.
That's what we're doing. We're doing that, which the ninth commandment seeks to preserve.
And that is the proclamation of truth. So when we sing, it is an act of spiritual warfare.
And together we are renouncing the father of lies and the violation of the ninth commandment.
And we are going to tell the truth about our God. Let me summarize this. If you follow the truth,
it always leads to Jesus Christ. I said this for 30 years when I meet with people who are not
yet Christians. They're like, where do I start? Just follow the truth and you'll end up at
Jesus Christ. The truth only leads to Jesus Christ. The truth always leads to Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus Christ said in John 146, I am the, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
And he said, I'm the truth. If you're like, what is the truth, Jesus is the truth. Everything
that obeys Jesus is truth. Everything that honors Jesus is truth. Everything that serves
Jesus is truth. Because Jesus is the truth. 40 times in John's gospel, Jesus says, I tell you
the truth. I tell you the truth. I tell you the truth. 40 times. Jesus is the truth. Jesus
tells the truth. And those who wanted to silence him, they violated the ninth commandment.
They arrested Jesus and they told him, deny your claims to be God.
Jesus, my friend, is the only founder of any major world religion who said he was God.
That statement is so unprecedented in human history. It's either true or false.
They looked at Jesus and they said, you need to stop saying that you are God or we will kill you.
Jesus couldn't stop saying that he was God because that would have been a violation of the
ninth commandment and he would have been a liar. So he keeps telling the truth. No, I am God.
Now to murder him, to execute him, they bring to testify against him what? False witnesses,
literal violation of the ninth commandment. They bring a couple clowns into the court.
The Bible says they couldn't even get their story straight because the truth is usually very
clear and lies get very confusing. So they brought Jesus, they beat him, they scourged him,
they mocked him, they crucified him. And while he was on the cross, he only told the truth.
Father, forgive them, he prayed. He prayed for us. And then he died to answer that prayer.
And Jesus died for telling the truth. Jesus died for telling the truth.
And he told us that three days later he would raise from the dead and he told the truth.
Three days later he rose from the dead. Three days later he rose from the dead.
And then he ascended into heaven and Christianity exploded as the largest movement of any sort
or kind in the history of the world. And they just kept telling the truth. Jesus is God.
Jesus is without sin. Jesus died in our place for our sins. Jesus rose from the dead to reconcile
us to God. Jesus has returned to his heavenly throne. Jesus is the way the truth in the life.
And no one comes to the Father but by him. Jesus is the only God. Jesus is the only Lord.
Jesus is the only Savior forever and ever.
Stand in worship with us. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you're the truth. We thank you that you
tell the truth. We thank you that you're coming again and that you will bring to an end all
lies and liars. To the Father of lies, we say the Lord rebuked you in Jesus' name. In this house,
we are committed to the truth and the truth is Jesus Christ who we now come to sing the truth
about in Jesus' name. Amen.



