In his sermon 'Hating What God Hates,' Mike Davenport explores the ninth commandment, 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,' emphasizing the importance of truthfulness in both words and actions. He draws from biblical texts such as Exodus 20:16 and James 3 to highlight the destructive power of the tongue and the unruly nature of speaking without caution. Davenport stresses that truth is integral to God's character, and that bearing false witness not only harms others but also contradicts the righteousness revealed in God's law. Various ways of breaking the commandment are discussed, including spreading false reports, receiving gossip, withholding truth, and even failing to keep promises. The sermon further underscores the necessity of speaking truth with love and integrity and warns against the dangers of flattery and exaggeration. Finally, Davenport urges believers to find refuge in the righteousness of Christ, highlighting the significance of being clothed in Christ's righteousness for salvation and spiritual integrity.

Exodus chapter 20. We'll be looking at verse 16. Exodus 20, 16. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Let's look to the Lord in prayer.

Oh Father, we have just sung together a prayer that your truth would prevail over unbelief. So Lord make that to be so. And Lord we pray that we would have The resolve of the psalmist as your people That we would run in the course of your commandments for you will enlarge our hearts. Oh Lord do enlarge our hearts And Lord for those who are outside of Christ who would run in vain if they sought to do so, Lord help them to look to Christ who has finished his course and has sat down at your right hand and may they look to him in faith and believe. Lord we thank you and praise you for him and that you will work all these things through him to our good in your glory in his name we pray amen you may be seated well when confronted with the glory and the vision of Jesus Christ, with the cries of the cherubim declaring, Holy, Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory The prophet Isaiah was compelled to say Woe is me For I am undone Because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts dear ones as as we approach this commandment we must come to it with great humility and great soul-searching.

We must come to it with James 3 stamped upon our eyeballs. For we all stumble, we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word he is a perfect man able also to bridle the whole body the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind but no man can tame the tongue it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison And yes, weighing heavily upon my own heart and doing so in vast measures of freshness are the words with which James opens up that chapter in regard to the use of the tongue. My brethren, Let not many of you become teachers knowing that we Shall receive the stricter judgment And So once again we turn to the law and to the purpose for which God gave the law and that is to establish his own righteousness.

You see that generation that first received these commandments from the very mouth of God, they heard it with their ears, They were actually ignorant. They were ignorance of the righteousness of God They were not willing to submit themselves to the righteousness of God revealed in the law May we not be like that stiff-necked people. May God cause us to look afresh upon the giver of that law, our glorious Savior Jesus Christ, in whom is all righteousness. Well the Baptist catechism reflecting in concise manner the breadth of each of the Ten Commandments lays before us in both question and answer format the things that each of the commandments require of us and that which it forbids. And this is what the confession or the the catechism rather says specifically about this particular commandment.

The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man and the maintaining and promoting of our own and our neighbor's good name, especially in witness bearing. It therefore forbids whatsoever it's prejudicial to truth or injurious to our own or our neighbor's good name. So in the time before us, I would like to plunge the depths of this commandment. We would not have enough time to really go to the breadth of the commandment, but we will seek to do so. And as we do, I want us to be impressed with the seriousness of this commandment.

As I wrote before, sometimes we think we've gotten past the heavy hitters of murder of adultery and of stealing but Proverbs 6 will be an aid to us as we consider this commandment You see among the six things that the Lord hates Among the seven that are an abomination to him are the following a lying tongue a false witness who speaks lies and one who sows discord among brethren. So it is with that scripture reference in mind that I have entitled this message hating what God hates. Hating what God hates. And I will state from the outset that I am greatly indebted to the work of James Durham. I have found his exposition, He has a book on the entire Ten Commandments, but I found that his exposition of this particular command most helpful And much of what I have to say is is clearly laid out in his work a practical exposition of the Ten Commandments Now before dealing with ways we actually break the commandment, consider with me the importance of the state of our hearts when we speak words.

First, sin is obviously present when there are evil designs in what we communicate. Sin is obviously present when there are evil designs in what we communicate. Sin is obviously present when there are evil designs in what we communicate. Durham refers to malicious or pernicious lies where what is said is designed to be and actually is hurtful Examples of such would be those who bore false witness of Naboth that led to really his murder. There's Zeba who lied about Mephibosheth to David as to why he wasn't there to support David.

There obviously are those who bore false witness against Jesus Christ at his trial. I believe that Evil designs are also often at the heart of things that we say that may not be specifically hurtful to others, but are said with our own interests as the great end, when what we say of of or to another is actually driven by selfishness and pride. And as we shall also consider later, evil designs can be at the heart of even truthful things that are spoken. But secondly, sin is also present when untruth is spoken with good designs. When untruth is spoken with good designs, there is what Dernham calls the officious lie.

The officious lie. And I believe the word officious is used here to indicate what may seem to be an obliging or dutiful lie. That is when a lie is given as a means to a good end and he points to what the midwives did with their dealing with Pharaoh or what Rahab engaged in when questioned by the authorities about the spies. And without going into a detailed explanation here and now, I will pass along Mr. Durham's assessment of such a lie and I agree, I'm in complete agreement with what he says.

He says this, quote, the denying of a thing to be, even when the granting or admission of it would infer hurt and damage to another is contrary to truth and we ought not to do evil that good may come of it. It overturns the end for which speaking was appointed. When we declare a thing otherwise, then we know or think it to be. And as no man can, and that word can is not of ability but permission, no man can lie for himself for the purpose of his own safety, so can he not for another's. Thus to lie even for God is a fault and accounted to be taken deceitfully and wickedly for him.

When to keep off what we account dishonorable to him, we will assert that he may or may not do such a thing when yet the contrary is true. And I would just say if we're not careful it's a slippery slope. Once you start down it opens up all kinds of areas that all of a sudden become gray. Third, sin may also be present in this third scenario when men speak untruth, maybe unknowingly, but have no specific end in view. When there's no clear-cut intention of being hurtful or of good or evil, either one, when through lack of attention, lack of caution, or a customary looseness, men speak what is actually not true.

We do well to heed the admonition of Proverbs 10-19. In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking. But he who restrains his lips is wise. So with such a broad scope in view, what are some of the ways that we break this commandment? Well, first and very obviously, we see it right staring us in the face we break this commandment when we generate or repeat false reports, vain reports, and malicious reports.

When we generate or we repeat false reports, vain reports, or malicious reports. These reports are also described by words in scripture such as railing, backbiting, gossiping, tail bearing, and whispering. In Psalm 15, David declares to the Lord, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? And this is his response.

He who walks up rightly and works righteousness and Speaks the truth in his heart He who does not backbite with his tongue nor does evil to his neighbor nor does he take up a reproach against his friend. My brother, my sister, are you loose with your tongue? Are you loose with your tongue? Remember it's it's Satan who is called the accuser of the Brethren. Do we often communicate things concerning others in order that we may feel better about ourselves or that in the eyes of the person to whom we are speaking we will look better?

Well obviously that that can't be true of us, right? See we rather get extremely crafty in the excusing of our sharing such information by by seeking to convince ourselves and the other person that we're talking to of our righteous purposes that are motivating us. Why? It's simply a prayer request. That brother, that sister, they need prayer.

And this is why. At other times, we seek to find comfort in the fact and we begin the discussion by simply stating that this is what so-and-so said as if we're seeking to distance ourselves from the report or at least from the demand of the accuracy of what it is we are actually saying if it is not pride that is driving us to think of ourselves better than another, then it is our pride seeking to make others aware that we are one of those in the know that we actually know something that they don't know. That they don't know. Remember, God hates a lying tongue, a false witness who speaks lies, but also one who sows discord among the brethren, whether such sowing occurs from seeds of lies or seeds of truth. But not only are we breaking this commandment when we generate or repeat such reports.

Secondly, we break this command when we receive an evil report, true or false, in regard to a neighbor or a brother when we actually receive it. How often is it so true in the church that the very ones who are aware of gossip and are so troubled with the gossip. They actually perpetuate that gossip by lending an ear in the first place. Certainly if giving an evil report is a sin, so is receiving an evil report. Dear one, you may purpose never to generate such a report.

You may purpose never to repeat such a report. It stops right there with you. But where there is no ear to hear, there will be no report to be heard. Solomon in two places, two places in the book of Proverbs states the words of a tale bearer are like tasty trifles and they go down into the innermost body. It's not something that just goes in one ear and out the other.

It just doesn't stop there and you're not affected at all. He said they're tasty trifles and they go down into the inmost body. Do you find the words of a tale bearer tasty? Do you find them sweet? Are you a welcoming ear to what others may report in regard to another brother or sister?

Peter Masters writes the following in his exposition of this commandment. Quote, a casual reader may think that this ninth commandment refers solely to defamation of character, but a brief look at the meaning of the words quickly shows a much broader meaning. The Hebrew word translated bear, thou shalt not bear, false witness, means look upon, consider, pay heed to, listen to. It can also mean give or communicate, the idea of that repeating it or generating it. And he goes on to say, the commandment not only prohibits the hearing of knowingly and the utterance of false testimony, it prohibits having anything at all to do with false testimony.

We may paraphrase it in this way, you shall not invent or give your attention to or think about or pass on false witness. We must neither be a giver or a receiver of it." End quote. Well, the third way we can break this commandment is when we withhold love saturated truth from our neighbor. When we actually withhold love-saturated truth from our neighbor. Here is what we must consider, not only what we are to refrain from, but what is our actual duty in regard to what the command requires of us.

You see, we can fall short if we think it simply means don't lie to or about your neighbor. Zechariah 8, 16 and 17 says this, these are the things you shall do. Speak each man truth to his neighbor. Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace. Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor, and do not love a false oath, for all these are things that I hate, says the Lord.

Ephesians 4, 15, 25, and 29 where it's speaking about what it looks like in a church, what a church is to be, and we've been studying that as a church on these Sunday mornings about what the church is to be. And there we read that we, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things. And to him who is the head Christ therefore later on he says putting away lying let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor they're quoting Zechariah 8 why For we are members of one another. He takes it even deeper than Zechariah, who is talking about even our neighbors, or speaks truth to our neighbor, and he's saying, how much more when you are the body of Jesus Christ. We are members of one another.

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. You see, we break this commandment when we are not honest and transparent with our neighbor. Now, Does that mean that we just speak the truth and let the chips fall where they will? We just forgo all wisdom, all discretion and say whatever it is that's on our mind, as long as it's the truth? Well, no.

Paul tells us in this very text, what comes from our mouth should be what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Note those defining hearers, note those defining elements. What is good? What is good? But also what is necessary?

What is necessary? But also what is for edification? The necessity is the edification of that brother, and what imparts grace? What imparts grace? Now, I would also argue that the breaking of the commandment occurs when we fail to encourage one another.

In this withholding of love, love-saturated truth, we must seek to encourage one another. Dear ones, we have a duty to speak the truth of God for the purpose of encouragement. In 1 Samuel 23, 16, we read, then Jonathan saw his son arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God and he said to him, That's how he strengthened him in the hand of God. He spoke truth to him. He spoke to him and he strengthened him.

Isaiah 54 are prophetical words attributed to Christ who was to come. It says, the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. That's what Christ sought to do. He was given, we read later, a disciple's ear. He wanted to hear truth from God's Word so that he might be equipped to encourage one who was weary in the way.

But also in regard to this truth, This love-saturated truth, the breaking of the commandment also occurs when we fail to confront and admonish when duty calls for it. James Durham says this takes place when our neighbor is quote justified or defended or excused and more or less when it should not be. Now we have to be careful we must be governed by that phrase that he uses there when it should not be. There are times and there are circumstances that demand that we not justify, defend, or excuse our neighbor. You see here is some of God's own commentary on this particular commandment as we find in Leviticus 19, 15 to 18.

God says, you shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as a tale bearer among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord.

You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him You shall not take vengeance Nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord that's the duty that we have to do why because he's the Lord he's the Lord and in my next message on this commandment I hope to to have us look at the God of truth and the Word of truth, our standards. And here this is God's standard, I am the Lord. That's enough. That is enough.

And so there are times when love-saturated truth demands that we rebuke our neighbor, that we admonish our neighbor. And then another way, we also must not withhold the truth of the gospel. We must also not withhold the truth of the gospel. The church is to be the light of the world. The church is to be the salt of the earth.

It's to be the pillar and the ground of what? The truth. The pillar and ground of the truth. We are called to disciple the nations, to teach them everything that Jesus has said. In other words, all truth.

We must not simply ourselves enjoy the blessings of Christ's victory, but we must rise from our ease and declare like those four lepers in 2 Kings 7 who stumbled upon the empty camp of the Syrian army and they went from tent to tent to tent, feasting, filling their pockets, running back to their place where they were and burying it, going back, grabbing something else to eat, filling their pockets again. But then their hearts smote them and they said to one another, We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light some punishment will come upon us now therefore come let us go and tell the Kings household dear ones we must not simply enjoy the blessings of the gospel while there's a starving world out there as our brother prayed earlier, they may not come, but dear ones, let's give them the gospel. Let's tell them that good news, and let's do so with love in our hearts.

So we have a duty to speak truth to our neighbors as well as to our brothers and sisters to Christ. Fourth, we break this command when we speak even good of our neighbor if it is extreme or simply unwarranted. If it is extreme or simply unwarranted. This is often the case in the use of flattery or praise. Flattery can consist of things that are simply not true.

This is of the nature of the officious lie that we spoke of earlier. We may even feel obliged that it's our duty to encourage someone, and we do so to the point that we are actually willing to declare things that are not true in order to achieve a desired end. We decide that the truth would actually hurt and so rather than remain silent or to work hard at looking for something about which we may truly encourage them, we speak something that is not true, convincing ourselves all the while that we're actually doing what is best and what is right. We can also sin in this matter when in the process of speaking the truth in a situation that warrants a response of praise, we are excessive or extreme in it because we are actually looking out for our own interests and not specifically the blessing of the other person. Remember the context of all commandments The Apostle Paul gives it to us in Romans 13, Oh, no man anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

All the commandments of the second table of the law are summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. So, If we are acting out of anything other than love for our neighbor, we are not keeping this commandment or any other commandment. We must love our neighbor.

What would love have us to do? The excessiveness can consist of more than giving praise beyond what is due. It can even be considered excessive when we heap it upon one deserving individual and yet withhold it from another deserving individual. You see, we are so prone to show partiality or favoritism. Two people can do the same thing, but for our own interests we may heed praise to an extreme and withhold it from another, such as the duplicity of our own hearts.

Sometimes excessiveness can also be the byproduct of a lack of discretion. We can give praise in such a way that it actually stirs up pride in that individual. In such a circumstance, what is intended to be helpful can actually be hurtful. Brothers and sisters, how we do things is as important as why we do things. Yes, we must love our neighbor, but we must love them with right motives, and we must love them in a way that is beneficial to them and to their souls.

Number five, We break this commandment when we do not keep that which we have promised. When we do not keep that which we have promised. Who is it again who may abide in his tabernacle? Who may dwell in his holy hill, he who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Christ teaches us in that sermon called the Sermon on the Mount that our yes is to indeed be yes and our no is to indeed be no.

Well does this seem to be a little extreme to you to think that this may indeed be a failure to keep the law of God when we let promises slide. My friend, the devil is content to make a liar out of us even by degrees, even by degrees. He doesn't care that it doesn't happen overnight. That's okay with him. You see a decade passes away slowly, second by second.

A decade may seem like a long time, but every second we're getting closer. If You go on a trip to California and you hit a mile from the house, you're already closer to your destination. The devil is content with a gradual slide. Dr. Masters writes, quote, another subtle form of dishonesty which operates below the radar level of the conscience but which Satan no doubt encourages to undermine integrity is unreliability.

This occurs in all areas of life and also he says in the church there is only a hairline's difference between unreliability and dishonesty. People who say they will do something when they have no intention of making sure they will do it at all are not being truthful at all. They may not see themselves as liars, but they have developed the habit of taking no responsibility for their promises and commitments. Sadly, this can happen in the church. I've been guilty of saying I would pray for somebody, and I had intentions of doing it, but haven't.

Not purposely, but I've forgotten, but I've said I would. But this can also happen in our homes. Promises made even to our children that we don't take seriously. Good intentions alone are not true measures of godliness. Are we people of our word?

That's the question. And my dear brother and sister, is, think about it like this, is it not a comfort to your own heart that no matter what your present circumstance is, whatever's going on in your life that you know without a shadow of a doubt that you can rely on what God has promised you. You know what a comfort that is. Your God is reliable. Has He said it and will He not do it?

Joshua stood in front of the people and said, what has God promised you that He hasn't fulfilled? That's our standard. That's our Father. May we be more like Him. Sixth, we break this commandment when we speak lies or untruths in matter of God and doctrine, in matter of God and doctrine, we must be very careful about how we declare the truth about God.

We must not speak loosely or without care when we declare who God is or what he has revealed himself to be. This sin was at the heart of everything that occurred in the Garden of Eden. You see Eve did not faithfully represent what God had really said. She kind of reworded it, added a little bit. Maybe she did it with the intention of restressing to herself.

Don't do this Don't even look at it. No, but she said God said That I shall not we shall not even look at it or touch it just Additions to what God had said she added she did not represent God truthfully but the serpent The serpent sought to cast doubt by uttering lies and casting doubt upon the truthfulness of God's words Ha ha Here's here's the truth He hasn't told you the whole the whole story. Let me tell you Job's friends were guilty of this sin. Yes, it is true that they uttered many truths in their speeches. There are many things to be gleaned from what they said, but There were also things they said of God as they sought to unravel the mysteries and the secrets of God that were simply not true.

And God ends up saying this of them, who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge. Who is this? Listen to these words God utters through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23 30 to 32. Therefore behold I am against the prophets says the Lord who steal my words everyone from his neighbor neighbor so in one sense they were they were stealing they were taking that love saturated truth and they were stealing them They weren't giving the people what God said. Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their tongues and say, He says, Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and calls my people to err by their lies and by their recklessness.

Yet I did not send them or command them." God says, I'm against them because they are uttering things saying God has said when I have not said. They are uttering things as truth that are not truth. I did not send them. I did not command them. And dearly, we also must be careful in our interpretation of providence.

Too many Christians without much thought will quickly and glibly attribute good things, all of it to divine intervention of God, that God did such and such for them. It was a God thing that God told them to do something or to say something. Dr. Masters gives us reason to pause and to give due consideration. He writes, quote, flippant or glib speaking about the Lord's dealings with us is an apprenticeship in dishonesty.

It is a subtle form of untruth. Remember that Satan is always trying to persuade us to play fast and loose with the truth, to be indifferent as to whether or not a thing really happened the way in which we have described it. We are being prepared like cattle for the slaughter and even greater lies will soon follow." End quote. Dear ones, when we make declarations of God, whether it has to do with his attributes, whether it has to do with his dealings in providence, like Job's friends tried to read, No matter if we do it out of ignorance or willfully, we become a perpetrator of lies if it's really not the case. It is indeed to make a graven image, to portray God to be something that he is not or to have said something that He actually has not said That's no small matter It's no small matter seventh we break this commandment when we speak untruth in regard to matters of fact.

When we speak untruth in regard to matters of fact, whether knowingly or unknowingly. You see, just because we may not at the moment be trafficking in holy things concerning the Lord or His Word, that does not mean that we can cast honesty and truthfulness to the wind I would hope that we would all agree that to speak Untruth when we are well aware of the truth is obviously to lie I hope we would all agree to that just to simply speak untruth when we know the truth, but we speak untruth. That's a lie and you children you don't have to be taught to lie you didn't have to be taught your mom and dad never taught you how to do that it's something that's within our hearts to know the truth and yet to say something different than the truth because we know what what one wants to hear and we also know consequences that may follow if we actually tell the truth. But how do we treat things which we are not aware of or we cannot or have not confirmed? Should we not maintain a care to speak only things which are indeed true or can be proven to be true.

Dear ones, when we make dogmatic statements about anything, we must be careful to communicate and acknowledge the limit of our knowledge. We should not speak dogmatically of things we can't really confirm. We all have favorite restaurants, places we like to go to eat, but I've got a question. Is that the best restaurant in the world? Is it the best restaurant in Raleigh?

Oh, we can say that without blinking an eye. That's the best place in the world to eat. That's the best burger you can find. Really? You've tasted every burger at every restaurant around, And you're sure that the same cook that cooked yours on your one visit there is the same cook that is still there, and he's cooked the same way and the ingredients haven't changed.

You're sure of that. We have to be careful in our words to speak dogmatically of things which may be of our opinion and we can say you know hey in my experience of the places that I've been, I really enjoyed the burger there the most. That can be a truthful statement, but do you see it's given limitations of who you are and what is really true or not true. Because truth is black and white. There's no gray.

If I say this is the best and you say that's the best, and truth's involved, one of us is lying. And the fact of the matter is, is when we use words like the best, the most, the greatest, we may both be wrong. So we need to take care and understand that we don't have warrant just to loosely make such statements. We can so easily do that. We can so easily do that.

You see, we are finite creatures with both limited knowledge as well as limited experience. And if we incorporate those ideas into how we communicate it would be much better. Everything that we have said up to this point has really been in regard to truth and either our relationship with God or our relationship with others. But in my last point, point number eight, I propose to you that we may even break this commandment in regard to ourselves and our own name. We can break this commandment in regard to ourselves and our own name.

And I would I would ask you to patiently bear with me as I quote a somewhat lengthy portion of Mr. Durham's commentary. He here lists six ways that we are guilty of this very application. And my purpose in reading precisely what he wrote and even using some of the other quotations that I have shared, it's so that I may not be guilty of soft peddling the very truth that you need to hear and that my own heart stands in need of, because as a man who stands in front of a congregation who's been staring at this commandment for a while, and God reveals ways in which I've broken this commandment, it is so easy to get up and to say something uncomfortable with that may not ruffle your feathers so much, and I'm not speaking the truth in love to do so. So sometimes reading this helps because I'm under the same obligation to this truth that's shared here.

So here's what he says, quote, As we may sin in speaking evil against others, so we may in respect of ourselves many ways. One, when we give occasion to others to speak evil of us. Second, we sin when we are not careful to entertain and maintain a good name and by suitable ways to wipe away what may mar that good name. It is generally observed that While men have a good name, they are desirous and careful to keep it, and when they have lost it, they grow careless of it. We ought not to be prodigal of our names any more than of our lives or estates, for the loss of our names incapacitates us much to edify others." Let me just stop in the middle of this quote there and just think about what we've been studying in 1st Peter about when there's an evil report given of you.

You do what's right. You do what's honorable so that on the day of visitation they can do nothing but glorify God. So be careful in the maintenance of your own name so that there are that reports that come would indeed be false if they are bad reports. I continue. Third, we sin when we vainly boast of ourselves and set forth our own praise.

Proverbs 25, 27, it is not good to eat much honey, so to seek one's own glory is not glory. Fourth, we sin when we will not confess a fault, but either deny, excuse, or lessen the seriousness of it. Fifth, we sin when we say things that are worse with us than indeed they are and deny it may be even in reference to our spiritual condition somewhat of God's goodness to us and so lie against the Holy Spirit. Sixth, We sin when we are too ready to entertain good reports of ourselves and to be flattered. There is, if anything, an open door to this in us.

As the heathen Seneca said, flattery has in it this natural appeal even when it is rejected it is pleasing. So it may be ordinarily seen that men will seemingly reject what they delight should be insisted in. There is in us so much self-love that we think in some way that men in commending us do what is their duty. Therefore, we often think them good folk because they do so, And men that do not commend us, we respect them not or but little or at least less than we do others because we think they are behind in a duty by not doing so. In which he adds is very sad and much to be lamented.

Few things do lead us to love or hate, commend or discomend, and that is we think not without good reason, more than this, that men do love and commend or not love and commend us end quote What dear ones, can you say in your heart of hearts like the psalmist, oh how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day Can you say like him your testimonies? I have taken as a heritage forever For they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes forever to the very end. If you can't say that, why not?

Why not? Can a man, can a woman truly love God and yet hate His commandments? Can such a thing be? Do you hate His commandments? If so, why?

Is it because they reveal to you, your very heart, that it comes like a fire, like a hammer, and like a sword? Is that why you don't like sitting under the holy and beautiful commandments of God which are a revelation of His defined attributes? Understand the Scriptures are not bearing false witness in regard to the state of your soul. They're being true, and it's love-saturated truth to tell you who and what you really are before a thrice holy God. You see God's Word is truth and that truth can set you free.

It can set you free. My friend, the Scriptures reveal to you the truth about God. They reveal the truth about the state of your own soul. They reveal to you the truth of sin and what sin is and how far it goes. But the Scriptures also reveal the truth of your only hope, your only hope of salvation, And that is bringing all of your sin, bringing your lies, bringing the untruth, bringing the ways you've used your tongue against family members and others, your neighbor, bringing it all to the feet of Jesus, confessing it to be what it is, repenting of those sins, and believing on Jesus Christ and trusting Him alone to be your righteousness.

It's not coming up with the righteousness of your own. It's not striving in all your strength to live up to this in order to please God and to enter into His presence is to trust in Christ, in Christ alone. And my hope, my hope for you is that you will cry out like the psalmist in Psalm 71, in you, O Lord, I put my trust. I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of your righteousness and your salvation." How can that be?

How can we talk of His righteousness and His salvation? Only of Christ. I will, my mouth shall tell of your righteousness and your salvation all the day, for I do not know their limits." Yes, there's a breadth to the commandments of God, but did we not hear last Sunday about the width, the length, the depth, and the height of the love of Jesus Christ for his people, and we're to be rooted and grounded in that love and you my friend can be rooted and grounded in that breadth even encompassing the breadth of this commandment. And he goes, he says, I will go in the strength of the Lord God, not in my own strength, in the strength of the Lord God, and I will make mention of your righteousness, of yours only. Don't plead for your own righteousness.

It will never be good enough for a holy God. Plead the righteousness of Christ and Christ alone. Let us pray. Oh Father, your Word is like a lamp. It goes into the very crevices and corners of our hearts.

And Lord, when we open our eyes to see, there are many things it reveals about ourselves. But oh, we thank you that it doesn't stop there. It reveals to us your glory and your righteousness. And Lord, we pray that each and everyone here would find refuge in that righteousness that is found in Christ alone, and that they would be dressed in that righteousness, which is that wedding robe that we all must have on that day of the great supper of the lamb. And Lord, may we consider that even as we sit at this table in preparation.

Lord, what robe of righteousness are we wearing even as we sit in front of this table and the elements are passed? Are we wearing a robe of our own righteousness or are we wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness alone? Help us to rightly discern. In Christ's name we pray, amen. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.