# Though Shalt not Bear False Witness

Category: Integrity & Godly Character
Key Passage: Exodus 20:16
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024

The Ninth Commandment is nine words, and we’re going to look at those nine words as we start the Ninth Commandment.

If you’re glad you’re in church this morning, we’re—man, good deal. Just want to make sure you’re awake, and I haven’t started preaching. I haven’t seen anybody yawning yet, so that’s a good sign right there, and so we’re ready to go.

I like those amens. That keeps me going quicker. If you want to get done quicker, finish quick. Just say amen a lot. We’ll be dismissed.

Exodus chapter number 20, we’re on the Ninth Commandment. And verse number 16, Exodus 20 and verse number 16, the Ninth Commandment. If you’re able to, would you please stand just out of respect to God if we read our text verse together this morning? Exodus 20 and verse number 16 of God’s word. God says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Would you read that out loud with me, please? Here we go: “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”

Brother Jim, would you give me just a touch more volume, please? I’d appreciate that. Brother Larry’s already falling asleep, and I’ve got to keep him awake, so you know, that’ll help me out. I’m teasing, of course. Let’s go. Lord, a word of prayer. Would you pray in your heart that God would speak to your heart as I pray this same also?

Father, Lord, we do come. Lord, it’s the only Sunday morning we’ll have. It’s just a special time, Lord. Sunday’s your day.

Lord, Sunday morning down through the years, it’s been such a time where your people come and they get and they grow and they’re fed and nurtured from your word. So, Lord, I do pray, would you make this next, all a few minutes very sacred, very special? Lord, you give your people what they need. Lord, there’s one here that they’re not on the way to heaven. Lord, I pray you to assure them in their heart we love them. And Lord, I preach. You give us the privilege of telling the old gospel story. Let me be on the way to heaven when they leave. Father, would you do what only you can do? Well, we’ll brag on you for what you do. Father, I’m asking for that in your Son, Jesus’ name, so I’m asking you in faith because of Jesus. Amen.

There were two brothers, just two of the brothers. Both grew up. They were very corrupt. I mean, just crooked as a dog’s hind leg. I mean, just very corrupt. They’re both businessmen. They’re both successful. Had a lot of money. And one of the brothers, he got terminal cancer, and everybody knew he was about to pass. Getting closer to the day he was going to pass. So his brother went to the preacher, and he said, “Now, preacher,” he said, “my brother’s about to pass. Would you preach this funeral?” And now, preacher, if you just say this in the funeral, if you say, “My brother was a saint,” I’ll make sure there’s a very, very large sum of money dropped in the offering plate the next Sunday. I promise you, you’ll get a large amount of money.

So the preacher thought, “Wow, how can I do this? I mean, it’s for the church. You know, come on. How can I be honest and yet say this guy’s a saint?” I mean, I want to get some money for the church and all that, you know, and he’s kind of going through it. So sure enough, the guy passes, and they ask him to preach a funeral, and so he’s madly just kind of sweating the whole time. Should I do it? Should I not? If I do it, how am I going to do it, whatnot?

So right at the close of the service, this is what the preacher says. He says, “Before we close this memorial service, I want to say that compared to his living brother, Joe was a saint.”

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”

There’s a story told about a Jewish rabbi. He moved to a community. He was a good, moral man, and he helped people. I do not know whether he believed Jesus was Messiah or not. I don’t know that part. But they say he was a good—as we say, a moral man down here, an honest man who helped people. And he lived in that community for years and years, helping many, many people. Just a good man and an honest man, helping a lot of people for years in that little town. Got a good reputation. And a stranger moved into the town.

The stranger moved to the town. For some reason, the stranger just did not—he didn’t like the rabbi. He didn’t trust the rabbi. He didn’t think highly of the rabbi. And he began to spread a lot of rumors about the rabbi, spreading dishonesty and questionable things. Some of the people in the town stood up for the rabbi. Some really just kind of stayed out of it; they had a question on their mind about him. Then some believed every word that was said. There was a lot of turmoil, and really his reputation was taken down greatly in the little town.

It went on for years, and finally the stranger that had moved in town—he stayed there. And over the years he watched the rabbi and he said, “You know what? I was wrong about him. He’s a good man. I’ve watched him. He always keeps his word. He truly does help people. He’s a good man,” and he said, “I shouldn’t have said all those questionable things about him all those years ago.”

So it goes to the rabbi. He says, “Rabbi, you know, when I moved here years ago, I did not trust you, and I spread a lot of rumors about you. I said, I’m sorry; I should not have done that. My fault. My mistake.” He said, “Rabbi, I would like to make it up to you if I could. What can I do to make up to you for me spreading these rumors?”

They say the rabbi said this: “Sir, would you do this for me? Once you do this for me, I want you to come back after you’ve done that, and I’ll tell you the next thing to do.” He said, “Sure, I would like to make it right. I feel bad about what I’ve done.”

He said, “Well, sir, would you go home? I want you to get a pillow. I want you to get a feather pillow. So I want you to get that feather pillow and wait until there’s a windy day. And I want you to take that pillow and I want you to go outside on that windy day and I want you to take a knife and just tear that pillow apart. And I want you to take all those feathers and just kind of toss them up in the air to the wind.”

The guy said, “Well, all right. Is that what you—anything else?” “No, not just—just get the pillow, windy day, just tear it apart and throw the feathers up in the wind. And then I want you to come back and see me.” I said, “Well, all right. I don’t know what—what does that have to do with the price of eggs in China, type thing? I’ll do it.”

Sure enough, on a windy day, he went out and he did it. When he was done, he said, “I’m going to go see that rabbi. What in the world is he trying to do here?”

So he goes to the rabbi after he’s finished with that. And he says, “Now, sir, I did what you told me to do. Trying to right my wrongs. I spread a lot of things, but I did it. I took a pillow, and it was windy, and I cut it apart, and I just threw the feathers up.”

And the rabbi said, “All right. Next thing, I want you to go, and I want you to gather up every single one of those feathers.”

And the guy said, “That’s impossible. There’s no way. No way I can gather every one. I mean, the wind was blowing. There’s no way I can gather up all those feathers.”

And the rabbi said, “There’s no way you can gather up all the rumors you spread. The wind just seems to scatter it. There’s no way you’ll ever be able to gather all that back that’s been spreading. There’s just no way. That’s impossible.”

Now, I’ll be honest with us, we’ve studied the Ten Commandments. I’m a little surprised. I mean, over 600 commandments in the law, and God narrows them down and He gives us ten major commandments—the Decalogue, some will call it. And I’m a little bit surprised: Why did God put this one in there? I mean, He has in there that you’re supposed to put the Lord first—the first four are about the Lord—and then it says, “Thou shalt not kill,” and so on. But in the middle of these, right there, why does God put that in there? “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”

When I began to study, I thought about all the people down through the years that have been hurt. Names have been slanted. I wonder how many people have left. I think of people in our church that left because there were rumors spread around. And sad thing, but through all the years, all the people that have been hurt—“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”

And God says in my Ten Commandments, “I want this saying. I want everybody to know how much I’m against it: ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.’”

Let’s look at this commandment. Look at some of the words that God put in His word. By the way, I believe He said what He meant and meant what He said. Amen. He’s God. He could word it different if He wanted to. So let’s look at some things about this commandment. First of all, He said, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”

Let’s just look at this: “false witness.” That would include exaggerations, would it not? Yeah. I should not bear exaggeration, just building it up, making it larger than it really was.

If I do not know it’s true—you’ll hear a lot of things, you know—but if I do not know it’s true, I should not spread that because I don’t know if it’s false or true. You understand? So if I don’t know if it’s a true thing, I shouldn’t spread that and tell that because I don’t know if it’s really true or not. If we’re not careful, we’ll be guilty of this commandment.

“Well, so-and-so is unfriendly.” How do you know that? “Well, they didn’t come shake my hand.” Well, did you go shake their hand? “They never left their seat and came over to shake my hand.” Have you left yours and went and shook theirs? “Well, I said hi to them, and they walked right by me.” Are you sure they heard you? I mean, maybe they’re like some of us; it’s a little hard of hearing, at least one ear, you know. And we have an excuse when your wife tells you something: “I’m sorry, honey, I didn’t hear you.” Come on now, don’t be quiet on me, man. We know you’re guilty.

What do others think about someone based on your words? You see, I’m responsible for what I’m planting in their mind. Do I know what I’m planting in their mind is accurate? Am I building it up, and am I making something a little bit larger than it was? You see, I’m responsible, but not just for what I say because we can word something so very, very detailed.

I’ve heard of a little boy whose mom said he wanted to go play with someone, and she said, “Is your room clean?” He said, “Well, it should be.” She said, “All right, well, go play.” That night when he came home, his dad said, “Boy, that room wasn’t clean. You told your mom that room was clean.” “No, I did not.” That boy knew what he was doing. In fact, you’re pretty smart. I might have tried that if I’d thought about it back in the day, you know?

I’m responsible for what I’m trying to plant in their mind. You with me?

“Thou shalt not bear false witness.” I’ve learned in counseling, you better ask for specifics. “My wife, my husband is so mean. You won’t believe what they do.” All right, all right, tell me specifically what happened. You better find out some specifics, you see. Be so careful that you know what you’re saying is true.

Maybe someone you like very much, and so you build it up more than it should be. You say a lot of things about them that you don’t know as true. Is that false or not? Yeah.

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” How do the people that know you very well know that when you say something, if they said it, that’s exactly what happened? Can people count on you like that? Very, very important.

And what you say? Godliness and honesty are hand in hand because God cannot lie. And do you have that? As much as you might want to pull it this way or that way a little bit, you just—I can’t do that because that’s not dead honest, and I don’t know the truth of what I’m saying is really true or not. Y’all with me this morning?

“Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Let’s look at another word that God puts in there. He says, would you read it with me? Here we go, let’s read those nine words again, you there. Let’s read them: “Thou shalt not.”

Good, man, y’all sound like soldiers. You’re doing it in cadence there, you know.

Did you notice that word “bear”? “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” That’s very interesting that God put that in there. “Bear” means to spread, to render, or to give. You see, I’m not to spread something I don’t know that is true.

Edgar Allan Poe said, “Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see.” Now, let me deal with this in honesty and fairness to all of us as a preacher of the Word of God. But there are times that I bear news—not necessarily false news, but there are times, and there are times maybe even when something, I don’t know if it’s true or not.

I think of instances when someone was coming to church years ago that had a criminal background. I don’t want to go too specific. And someone had heard about it, and they said, “Pastor, I think you need to know about this.” And I did need to know about that. And I was very appreciative, and we checked it out and whatnot. And now, they were still welcome to our church. There are some ministries I do not want them to be involved in, and I needed to know that. And that person that told me that news, they didn’t spread it around church. They came to the pastor, and we dealt with it properly and right.

There are times that you need to bear news. Sometimes it’s hard to know. I’m so appreciative when someone just comes to the pastor or the authority, and they deal with it properly instead of telling, “Hey, you hear about such and such?” Sometimes you need to deal with some news rightly, before God, as God would want you to. And that’s hard to know sometimes.

Can I say this? Can I just say a couple things about that when I’m deciding, should I take this news? I don’t even know necessarily if it is true. And should I deal with this or not?

Can I say your motives are very important on that line? Is it—is it because I just don’t like that individual? The person that came to me years ago about this subject I’m thinking about years ago—I don’t think it was because they did not like the person. I think they were just concerned about the situation, rightfully so. And they said, “All right, we’re going to deal with it right.”

Am I just in time for the gossiping news? Excuse me, gossiping news. I heard some bad news, and I just like to say whether I know it’s the truth or not. Don’t look so innocent out there, all right? I’ve been pastoring here almost 20 years. I’m human myself, by the way.

Is it for manipulation? Let me just very briefly deal with this word, “flattery,” that the Bible uses. There’s nothing wrong with sincerely complimenting someone, but it turns into flattery when I’m trying to manipulate someone, when I’m trying to get something out of it for my gain. That’s flattery, you see. Or am I truly sincerely trying to help and encourage someone? That’s a different thing.

Does it make me look better if I bear this news? Are we simply a scorner? Not just a severe critic. Maybe they’ve been hurting in the past. My wife and I have been talking about scorning this week a little bit. You know, honestly, if you grew up in a Christian home and you’ve been around religion for years and years, you’re going to have a temptation to be a scorner. And am I just falling into that category? I think from time to time all of us fall into that category. But sometimes I must bear news in the proper way and the proper time. But He said, no, it was not proper, and it’s not right. “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” I’m just kind of spreading around things I don’t know if they’re true or not. Y’all with me out there?

“Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Let me look at the word “bear.” Now it’s very interesting. He says, “against thy neighbor.” God uses that word “neighbor” there. Anybody ever heard? Raise your hand if you ever heard. You ever heard the story of the Good Samaritan? Raise your hand if you ever heard that. I thought most of you had heard of that story.

Can I give you a little bit of the context of that? Luke chapter 10. This lawyer is going to Jesus and he’s trying to trap Jesus in his words. It’s always scary when you have to talk to a lawyer. You know what I’m saying? Hopefully none of our guests are lawyers. I didn’t mean anything bad if you are. But someone said, “Talk is cheap unless it comes from a lawyer.”

Anyway, this lawyer is trying to trap Jesus, and he says this: “How can I have eternal life? In other words, how can I go to heaven?” He’s trying to trap Jesus. He’s not concerned about his soul.

And Jesus says, “Well, how is it written in the law?” That’s what we’re studying. “How is it written in the law? How readest thou?” All right?

And so the lawyer says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.” Remember, we said the first four is about our relationship with whom? Yeah. The last six in our relationship with whom? Mankind. First four, us and God. Last six, about us and man.

Jesus said, “That’s a pretty good job, bud. Won’t you go out there and live that thing? Just go ahead and live it. You think you’re good enough? You’re keeping the law. Why don’t you go out there and live that law?”

Notice what the lawyer says: “but he, willing to justify himself”—he was convicted. Jesus has a way of doing that to us, doesn’t He? He, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” You all with me? Aren’t we, when we’re guilty, trying to nitpick every word to get out of it?

And that’s when Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. A fellow is leaving Jerusalem and going down to Jericho. While he’s driving that distance, a group of men grabbed him, mugged him, took his money, took his credit cards, took his cell phone—I don’t know, that’s in the Greek, you guys figure that out—beat him up, took his clothes.

The Bible says he’s lying there half dead. That’s what’s going on. He’s half dead. It’s kind of like we feel like when the alarm clock goes off in the morning.

These fellows come walking down the street. One of those fellows is a priest. He’s the preacher of the day, if you will. He comes down, sees this fellow laying there half dead, bloody, and he says, “Man, I’m just going to avoid that situation.” He goes all the way to the other side of the street. “Let me get out of Dodge.”

The next fellow comes along; he’s a Levite. He’s got family background; he’s of a good tribe. He does the same thing. “Let me get away from that situation; that looks bad.”

Finally, a Samaritan—somebody, if you will, that grew up on the other side of the tracks—he comes along, and he sees this guy, and the Bible says he has compassion on him. Goes over there, “My goodness,” and he begins to take care of him. He takes him to the local clinic, you know, at Kroger’s or whatever it may be.

He says, “I’ve got to go. I’ll leave enough money. You take care of him. I’ll come back and pay whatever else is owed.”

Here’s the end result of the Good Samaritan. Jesus asked the lawyer, “Now you tell me, which one of those three was his neighbor?”

And the lawyer said, “Well, I guess that Good Samaritan, he was his neighbor.”

Now here’s the moral of the story. Look, friend, in this commandment here, the law—that’s what they were talking about. If you hear some news about someone, you don’t know if it’s true or not, are you going to be that guy that really doesn’t care if it’s true or not? You’re just going to go bear that everywhere? Or are you going to go over there and say, “That’s my neighbor, and I love them too much to spread that around town”? I don’t know if it’s true or not. I’m not going to bear that news. I’m going to obey the Bible. God loves my neighbor just as much as He loves me, and I’m not going to violate that principle that God gave me about my neighbor. I love them also, and I’m not going to bear that news that I don’t know the truth about them because they’re my neighbor. That’s the principle of God’s teaching: “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”

Now, let’s flip the side of the coin here a little bit, all right? And let’s do this. Y’all still with me out here this morning? Let’s say you’re on the receiving side of that. Anybody here, you’ve been on the receiving side of that? Come on. Anybody ever hear some talk about you that’s not true? Would you raise your hand if that’s true? I imagine all of us have been there somewhat.

What do you do? How do you handle false criticism?

I heard a story, and I guess it was a detailed story, of something that happened at my house. Funny thing is, I was supposed to be there, and I don’t remember any of the detail. I don’t remember a thing about it. Never happens, honest truth. That’s going to happen.

So what do you do? What do you do? Number one: You realize God is in control of your reputation. Though man cannot gather up every one of those feathers that have been blown around by the wind, God knows where every single one of those feathers is.

And here’s the key. How do you handle false criticism? Number one, you realize God’s in control of your reputation. Number two, keep God’s blessing on your life.

I’ve said this so often—those of you who have been around here for a long time know I like basketball—they say that more often than not, the guy that gets called for the foul, he gets the whistle blowing, “Hey, sir, I’ve seen that elbow.” Well, before Brother Larry threw that elbow at Brother John, Brother John threw the first elbow. Yes, he did. You hear that? They say, more often than not, it’s the second elbow that gets called for the foul.

Now, here’s what I’m saying: Okay, somebody said something about you falsely. I remember going down here—it’s Circle K now; it used to be Kangaroo. Anybody remember that gas station? I was putting gas in my car, and somebody came up to me: “Preacher, man, pastor, you know what so-and-so is saying about you?” No, not really. I really don’t want to know. Well, they told me all of it before I got a chance to change. “What are you going to do about it, pastor?” Nothing. Not a thing.

Here’s what happens. We hear this criticism about us, and if I do not react like God wants me to, I lose God’s blessings. And God is the one that knows where every single feather is, and He’s the one in control. So when you are criticized, it’s a very, very special time. Make sure you stay right with God. Don’t react in the wrong way. Don’t say, “Well, bless God, I can fight fire with fire.” Don’t go there. You’re losing the blessing of God. You say, “Nobody will know about it.” God knows about it.

God is the one that’s in control of your reputation. And God is the one that says, “Hey, I know what everybody thinks about you, and I can handle dealing with that.” By the way, check it: every great Christian ever used greatly by God has had a lot of false criticism about them.

I’ve been reading a lot this week about Spurgeon and how much criticism he got, voted out of the London Baptist Association and on down the line. A young man facing criticism after criticism. Yet he was greatly used by God. So don’t get too shook up when you’re falsely accused and criticized. It’s going to be part of it. God can handle that. Stay right with God.

It was a good day when someone said, “Have you ever noticed Exodus 14:14?” He said, “No, I haven’t. I can’t quote it. I should be able to.”

Let’s look over in Exodus 14:14. It was a good day when they told me about this verse for several reasons. One good thing about it, I was at Cracker Barrel when they told me that. That’s a good thing, amen. Already a good thing. And they showed me this Bible verse. Boy, I like that Bible verse right there. It’s been a blessing down through the years.

Exodus 14:14: “The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” God can defend you better than you defend yourself. You put your hands on the situation, “Well, let me take care of that.” I say, “All right, let’s see how you do. Let me take my hands off of it.”

While studying the sermon, I thought about the book of Esther and Mordecai. Anybody remember Mordecai? Mordecai was Esther’s what? Her uncle. They basically raised her. Remember the story? There is one man, Haman, in there. Haman could not stand Mordecai. I mean, he wouldn’t bow to anybody besides the Lord, and Haman hated that Jewish man. He hated him.

So what did Haman do? He said, “I’m going to build me some gallows, 75 feet tall.” Can you imagine that? I mean, you’ve seen it in the western movies, you know, or Gunsmoke or something—those gallows. His were 75 feet tall, and he made it just the right size for old Mordecai.

And yet that night, the Lord—the Lord would not let the king sleep. Remember that? I mean, I don’t know if it was Queen Esther snoring too bad or too loud, I’m not sure. But the king couldn’t sleep. He kept pushing, “Wake up, stop the snoring,” but she kept snoring, you know. He couldn’t sleep, finally. He said, “Well, I’ll just sleep this off.” I mean, it’s pretty bad when the guy can’t sleep, and he goes and reads old records. That’s like reading the dictionary or something, you know. God must have made this guy so he couldn’t sleep, bored half to death. The king just says, “Let me pull out the record books. Let me read the encyclopedia.” You know for sure they didn’t have YouTube back in that day and time. He’d have been on YouTube for sure, you know, Facebook, you know.

He’s reading the old records, and he reads in there about these two guys that were trying to kill him. He said, “Wow, I’ve never heard about that.” And he reads about this guy named Mordecai that told—I mean, he found out about the plot to kill the king, and he spilled the goods. He said, “Wow, who is this guy, Mordecai?”

He said, “Hey, come over here, guys. I know it’s 3 a.m., but wake up over there, you servants. Did we ever do anything for that guy, Mordecai?” They said, “I don’t know; I’m half asleep right now, but I don’t think we did, King.” And the king said, “My goodness, we’ve got to do something for him.”

It’s early in the morning—about 5:30 in the morning. All of a sudden, you know who comes into the king’s court, his palace there? Amen. The guy that’s trying to kill Mordecai. Mordecai had built a defense, and he spouted off all the news he knew about Haman. He said, “No, he didn’t do it. He just put it in God’s hands.” You remember the story? Y’all with me there this morning? Some of you have been honest; I said, “No, I don’t remember it.” I appreciate that.

Sure enough, Haman comes in there, and the king says, “Hey, hey, hey, man, get over here. Let me talk to you for a second.” He’s one of his chief servants, you know, way up there in his cabinet. He said, “Hey, buddy, if I wanted to honor somebody, how do you think it would be the best way to honor somebody?” Haman says, “Man, who would the king like to honor? I’m about to get some honor, who, boo-hoo.”

He says, “I’ll tell you what I’d do. I’d give that man—you’re not giving—the king’s clothes, put on the king’s suit, put the king’s crown on him, get the king’s car out there—you know, what they call the car that the president rides in? I’ve heard ‘Severed,’ whatever they call it, that black limousine with all that protection. Somebody said there’s a shotgun in the middle of it, but I don’t know. But let him ride in the king’s car on the king’s horse, you know, and go through the middle of town going down D.C., NBC, CBS—we won’t say that other one there. We’re in a Baptist church. I mean, we don’t say that, you know, a Communist Network. But they’re all watching there, and this guy’s got to walk in front of this guy he’s trying to honor.”

So, “Oh, this is the man the king wants to honor.” Haman said, “I’m going to wear the king’s clothes. I’m going to have the crown on my head. I get to ride in his limousine.”

Then the old king, you know what the old king says? He said, “Haman, I want you to do that for Mordecai.”

Wow. I like to see Haman’s face at that time. Amen. What a change. Can you imagine that?

I tell you that story to tell you, God can handle your reputation. All those feathers ever blown around, God knows where every single feather is. You know, it’s funny. I mentioned briefly the London Baptist Association that voted out Charles Haddon Spurgeon. We know Charles Haddon Spurgeon today. I don’t know one of the names of the men that voted him out. God’s in control of all that. “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” I don’t want to be on the one side, but the other side is going to happen. It’s just going to happen. God’s in control of your reputation.

Then let me say this: Jesus, the sinless Son of God, never sinned one time. Never had one bad thought. Here’s the amazing thing about Jesus: He never slept in one time—I mean, not when He wasn’t planning on sleeping in, y’all. He never sinned. Come on now, I know you’ve all slept in before. Don’t act like you’ve never done it before. Never sinned one time. Never had a bad thought, never said a word He shouldn’t have said. He never, never, never, at the least, never sinned one time. He went around doing good. He said, “Let me heal the lame, make the lepers clean, make the blind to see, and the lame to walk.” I mean, He went around doing good ever. Never did one single thing wrong.

And yet they lied about Him. Isn’t it bad when somebody says something about you and it’s so totally absurd? Like what? That is so not true! Grass!

They lied about Him. In fact, they were looking for false witnesses, the Bible says. They had a hard time finding two of them that agreed—they had to have that in their law, their court. They found two liars whose stories were kind of lining up with each other, and they said, “Well, we’ve got to have this now.”

Jesus didn’t fight against it. In fact, He knew it was part of God’s will. Jesus—because those false accusations—went to the cross. By the way, that’s where He died on the cross and laid down His life.

Very interesting. Spurgeon, they asked him one time about all the false criticism he got over the years. He said it was God just making sure I was dead—wanted Christ to shine through me more.

Christ never did one thing. All He did was good for everybody. And yet He’s criticized, and He’s on the cross suffering and bleeding and being spit upon. Why? Because they lied about Him. You say, “Why would He do that?” To pay for your sin. To pay for my sin. This is the will of the Father. Always do the will of the Father.

Jesus had an old rugged cross, and He shed His blood, and He allowed that; He laid down His life—lies [were told about Him]—so this morning you can be on your way to heaven. That’s why. Every last one of your sins can be washed in the blood of the Lamb. They can be taken away. You can have a home in heaven. You can put your head on the pillow tonight and say, “You know what? If I don’t wake up tomorrow down here, that’s all right because I’ll wake up up there.”

A friend, God has a plan even when you’re criticized. Jesus said, “I’m setting my face toward Jerusalem. Yeah, I know I’ll suffer and lead and die there, and I’ll be lied about.” That’s part of God’s plan to purchase your salvation, my salvation. You’re going to be lied about sometime, like who all are. God’s in control of that. Let God work through that. Trust God in the midst of that. Jesus, He allowed it—the Father’s will—so He could purchase your salvation.

Original File: Though Shalt not Bear False Witness - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday 8419