Peter Barnes | Exodus 20:16
SERMON NOTES
You Shall Not Bear False Witness (Ex.20:16)
Jeremiah 9:1-16; Ephesians 4:25-32
George Washington: ‘I cannot tell a lie.’
1. God’s very nature is truth.
– Tit.1:1-2; John 14:6, 16-17; hence John 8:44 and Rev.21:8
2. No false legal witness.
– note Matt.26:59-61; Jer.18:18; the emperor Sigismund betrayed the safe conduct he granted John Huss in 1415; the penalty is set out in Deut.19:16-19
3. The breadth of this commandment.
(a) It forbids slander and gossip (Lev.19:16; Prov.6:16-19; 11:13; 12:22; 16:28); Hannah More’s remedy: ‘Come, we will ask if it be true.’
(b) It forbids flattery (Prov.29:5)
(c) It forbids what we call ‘white lies’ – note Joshua 9
4. The lie of necessity?
Augustine rejected such a lie but see Joshua 2:1-7; 2 Sam.17:15-20
– Solzhenitsyn: ‘One word of truth outweighs the world.’ Ps.51:6; Zech.8:16-17; Jer.5:31; John 18:37