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Sunnyside Baptist Church

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January 8, 2024

Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim, Pastor

00:00: 16 let's begin with a word of prayer father. We thank you for the day We thank you for the opportunity to read your word
00:08: And to think about our Savior and King Jesus Christ. I pray that you would help us to do this That you would increase our love for you
00:16: And she would help us to follow Christ. We pray these things in his name Amen Okay, Exodus chapter 20 and verse 16 reads you shall not bear false witness
00:32: Against your neighbor you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
00:39: So anybody want to give it get a give a shot at what? Bear false witness
00:46: What does that mean? Do not bear false witness against your neighbor? What does that actually mean? Do not lie about your neighbor
00:55: So bearing false witness certainly is Talking about lying the term for The term for bear is a little bit broader than simply the words that come out of your mouth has the idea of Answering and responding and speaking but also carrying around is the idea of legal testimony and the idea of Metaphorically singing and dwelling
01:28: You could think about Do you do you sing tunefully? About your neighbor or are your notes sour?
01:37: Are they on point or are they off? In music is a little bit you can think about the subtleties of music if you're just a little bit off you're off Everybody can tell that's why some people don't like to sing
01:53: Think about the idea of dwelling Do you dwell easily rightly with your neighbor?
02:00: But the idea is what answer do you give to your neighbor? What testimony about your neighbor do you give both legally?
02:14: Talking about your neighbor is it truthful or is it false?
02:21: This commandment stands in parallel with another one as we go back to Verse 7
02:31: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
02:37: For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain Deuteronomy has the same language
02:44: Do not bear The name of the Lord your God in vain
02:50: There is an echo Do not bear the name of God falsely
02:56: Do not bear the name of your neighbor falsely You see there's an echo one to the other as God was making covenant with Israel at Sinai He says it matters
03:10: How you speak my name it matters how you speak one another's?
03:17: names Now we Then should turn our attention back to Genesis 1 and think about the creation after all when
03:29: God makes covenants with mankind he's doing so in Reflection of his image and God has created us
03:41: In his image, and how did he create everything by his words by the way?
03:49: He spoke he said let there be and there was every time there was never a misspoken word in all of Creation when
03:59: God said let there be light there was light When he said let there be land there was land let there be oceans there were oceans
04:08: Everything he said was absolutely Wonderfully True God says let there be in creation is the yay and the amen of the
04:20: Word of God Not only does God create everything by his words, but he also describes it by his words
04:32: The light will be called day The darkness will be called night
04:40: We're going to call this Thus and so we're going to call that thus and so and when he makes man in his own image
04:49: He says so as he speaks as the persons of the Godhead speak let us make man in our image and so God does and then and then blesses man and describes man and then gives instructions to man all of these things are
05:10: True they are the definitions by which we live today the things that God said at the very very beginning of Reasons why we know what is true and false right and wrong wise and foolish today and indeed in chapter 2 of Genesis Verse 15 and the
05:32: Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it and the Lord God Commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat
05:40: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die
05:48: So God says let there be and there was he describes what it is He says it is good good good very good
05:53: He also says it's not good for the man to be alone So he makes the woman gives instructions to the man and the woman. This is how you're going to live or else and Then John chapter 1 in the beginning was the
06:13: Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God He was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him.
06:21: Nothing was made that was made all is and has come to be by the
06:26: Word and the Word the second person of the Trinity Having been manifested in the incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth who is the
06:35: Christ is The exact image and representation of God he says to Philip if you've seen me you have seen the father so he is the true word of God to put it another way the seed of creation
06:53: Soil of existence depends upon the spoken truth of God the word. So what then is lying?
07:05: Quite the opposite, isn't it? What is lying? So God makes the true it makes the good and the true and beautiful upon a canvas of his glory
07:17: What is lying then? Lying makes chaos of the canvas
07:24: Lying declares war upon the world In fact lying is very much a tool of war
07:33: Which is why when you go to the commandments that God gave to his children
07:38: Israel And the covenant that he made with him. He did not say simply thou shalt not lie
07:46: In say like that did he said do not bear false witness against your
07:53: Neighbor, he didn't say anything about bearing false witness about your enemy.
08:02: Did he? When he covenanted with Israel We don't see that do we? We have various times we see people at war
08:19: And they lie to the enemy and God blesses him Where do we see that in the
08:26: Bible? Rahab Right.
08:34: She was on the Lord's side She deceived her neighbors, but she was on the
08:40: Lord's side She was now an enemy of that people having identified with God and she hid the spies
08:47: Helped them escape all those actions of the spy the deceiver and This ended up being a blessing for her and her family
09:00: We see anywhere else in the Bible Hebrew midwives who lied to Pharaoh and said all these
09:08: Hebrew women are so vigorous They have their children before we can get to them and God blessed them with their own families
09:18: Because they did the right thing and then run away appear to be defeated, but you're not really
09:38: Lying is very much a matter of Warfare in fact when God goes to war against his enemies
09:47: He uses Deception against them. He deceives them. How did he take out the
09:52: Midianites with Gideon? What did he do to the false prophets, but he sent a lying spirit
10:03: It's an act of judgment. He went to war against them is the judgment of God to be
10:08: Wrapped up in deception rather than knowing the truth And so there's a few other
10:16: Areas in the scripture where we could kind of identify those things, you know David lying to the Philistines and so on and so forth
10:22: We can see a lot of examples of that and so we're kind of fitting that in recognize Well lying means war and war was often the right thing to do
10:30: And so lying was we think of modern more modern examples closer to our own time frame where Corrie ten boom hid the
10:37: Jews In her secret room and lied to the Nazis So the focus is on do not bear false witness against your against your neighbor
10:52: Now Certainly not to bear the name of our God in vain, but also not to bear false witness against the neighbor
11:00: And and why is this? Because of what happens to the relationships
11:09: Made in God's image to love God supremely and love each other rightly and steward the creation in righteousness
11:15: If if we are looking at one another and we're supposed to love one another rightly as neighbors if I lie to you or about you that means what
11:26: I'm declaring war and This is why we teach our children to tell the truth about one another tell the truth to their parents
11:36: Hey, oh, no. No, you're not at war with me And I'm not at war with you. So we're gonna tell the truth
11:43: Because we're to be at peace. We may not like what we hear When the truth is told but I'm not at war with you.
11:51: So I'm gonna tell you the truth Now in Genesis chapter 3
11:59: Satan goes to war against humanity He lies doesn't he
12:09: He is in rebellion against God lies about God and lies to Adam and Eve in verse 1 of chapter 3 now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the
12:22: Lord God had made and He said to the woman has God indeed said you shall not eat of every
12:28: Tree of the garden So he says something ridiculous and subtle and Questions God for the point of slipping in deception
12:43: Has God indeed said still the favorite pitch of? The devil did
12:51: God really say that and He changes it you should not eat of every tree of the garden
12:57: The woman said to the serpent we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden
13:02: She didn't say freely as God did But the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the fruit of the tree, which is the midst of the garden
13:13: She didn't specify What it was named God had said you shall not eat it nor shall you touch it lest you die
13:21: She added you shall not touch it The serpent said to the woman straight out lie here you shall you will not surely die
13:30: For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil he offers experience and Indeed he's saying something that could be true, but he's saying it in a deceptive way and Then the woman took of the fruit and ate
13:53: Having seen that the tree was good for food pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise She also gave to her husband with her and he ate
14:01: Now when they're confronted in their shame before God more lying happens more blame happens and now sin has made a separation between Those made in God's image and God and a separation between the image bearers both man and the woman
14:26: So they blame God lied to God lie about one another and they are deceptive and then we see the whole relationship just breaking down chaos upon the canvas wherein
14:39: God had made everything according to his word and what he spoke was absolutely true and gave his words to those who are made in His image and now we see we see lying we see we see rebellion now when
14:55: God Addresses Adam and then Eve and the serpent at every step of the way and then even afterwards as he exiles them from the garden every step of the way as As tangled as it all was
15:10: God always dealt in truth every single step of the way confronted identified exposed directed
15:23: Every step of the way he dealt with them. He dealt in truth Which shows the grace of God the love of God toward those who he made in his image that he would give truth and speak truth the
15:45: The rest of the history that we have in the scriptures We see as Based upon God telling the truth to those with whom he is relating
16:00: He tells the truth to Noah This is what's going to happen.
16:05: Here's what you better do You're gonna build a boat. You're gonna do this that and the other and I make my covenant with you
16:12: I'm gonna keep you safe and then in Genesis 8 He says in verse 22 after saying he's not going to destroy everything again
16:23: Verse 22 while the earth remains sea time and harvest cold and heat winter and summer and day and night shall not cease
16:32: No, I believed him that's why he planted a vineyard Yes, God said we're gonna keep this going.
16:39: I can trust him. We're gonna have our seasons. I'll plant me a vineyard The folks in the plains to shine our didn't believe him they built the tower so high to the heavens and covered it with pitch like they'd like Noah did the art because they were gonna outlast the next flood
16:57: They didn't believe God's Word so they lived in anxiety they lived in fear they lived in in like all is gonna
17:04: Ecological doom is upon us sound familiar nothing new under the
17:13: Sun folks, but if you believe God then you live differently and God said in verse 12 of Genesis 9
17:25: This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual Generations I Set my rainbow in the cloud and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth
17:36: It shall be when I bring a cloud over the earth that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud and I will remember my
17:41: Covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh The water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh
17:48: The rainbow shall be in the cloud and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth
17:58: God said to Noah this is the sign of the covenant that which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the Earth how many times do you think he's gonna repeat himself?
18:05: As many times as it takes to drill it into our heads What an important promise that we have
18:15: God looked upon Man, he had made he was sorry that he made him. That's not a good sign for the future of humanity.
18:23: I tell you Every intention of the heart was only evil continually Genesis 6 after the flood was over He said
18:30: I'm not gonna flood the earth again I'm not gonna destroy every living thing like I did before because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth
18:36: That's what God said in Genesis chapter 8 Well, that's not really good news for man
18:42: God sees us for who we are in our sinfulness and our depravity and Adam and fallen Adam Look at the condition of man.
18:49: Look how bad things are things were bad You think Detroit and Chicago and LA are bad.
18:56: You should have lived in Noah's day Look how bad everything is well
19:03: What did God say? He said I'm going to Preserve I'm going to keep
19:12: I'm not going to destroy everybody and everything again We're going to continue forward and you are still made in my image.
19:20: I still want you to be fruitful I still want you to multiply. I still want you to fill the earth and subdue it
19:25: I want you to keep on despite the sin Even though they're sin and I'm gonna make provision in my for this to continue
19:37: And that's the covenant God made in response to the crisis caused by the fall
19:43: Now again, it's based on whether or not we think what God says is true. Did he tell the truth?
19:51: Did he tell the truth and do we trust that word? Do we trust that word? And as those made in God's image we are called to Bear true witness of one another to tell the truth
20:08: With an idea to love we're going to talk about Abraham Israel and David in a future
20:15: Time together tonight. I think we should close out and we have an opportunity
20:22: Tonight to pray for Cindy and for Randy For for you all as you're looking forward to some extra meetings with surgeons and nurses and you have a surgery coming up Cindy on the 29th and This is fairly serious.
20:42: And so we want to let you know that we love you And we want to pray for you guys.
20:48: We have good opportunity tonight And we just we want to lift you up to the
20:54: Lord As the elders and as the whole church, so So, I know the whole church can't squeeze in there behind the back row
21:06: But the elders we're gonna go over here. We're gonna we're gonna pray for Cindy for Randy for their family and You all just pray with us as we pray.