36 - The Power of Truth

 

1. The ninth commandment: “You shall not lie about your neighbor”

 

2. Since the Ten Commandments are lessons designed to teach us to love, this commandment says simply that if I love someone I will not lie about them, nor will I lie to them. I won’t: testify against them falsely in court; destroy their reputation through slander; alienate those who love them by gossip.

 

3. In other words, I will not use my lips to destroy people.

• Our speech is the primary way we influence the world around us
• Matthew 12:34 “…the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good, and the evil man brings out of his treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”
• James 3:2–12 the tongue is a fire