Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1752
October 18, 2026
Deuteronomy 5.20 Click here for audio recording of worship.
Dr. Ed Pettus
(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)
“Ninth Commandment – What is Forbidden”
“And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
What is Forbidden:
- Everything Detrimental to the Truth
The Ninth Commandment requires truthfulness in God’s people and would serve well non-believers if practiced. Last Sunday we expanded the range of truth as far as how we are to exercise truth-telling. We touched on three particular ways we practice the truth: in showing charity to all people, in discouraging any false witness, and fostering a good reputation in ourselves and in others. Today we take up some of what the Ninth Commandment forbids. We begin with avoiding anything detrimental to the truth. The Larger Catechism speaks specifically to legal matters. One of the main references to this end is Leviticus 19.15-16, “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.”
Other texts speak of no false evidence presented in court. The Ninth Commandment forbids persuading someone to commit perjury, another courtroom tactic. This occurred in Acts when Stephen was brought before the religious council and those opposed to believers were stirring up false witnesses.
And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel (Acts 6.8-13).
This is a classic example of someone being set up by false witnesses in order to unjustly persecute. And we know that Stephen was stoned under false witness.
- Not Calling it Like it Is
The Ninth Commandment forbids not calling it like it is! This might be the most important point of these two sermons on the Ninth Commandment. This point is about lying in ways that turns the truth around and seeks to make a lie the truth and the truth a lie. We see this quite often in our world today. From politics to nations to groups to individuals, there are those who call evil good and good evil, who reward the wicked and punish the righteous. The Bible warns against such things. Isaiah 5.20-23. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! 22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, 23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!
Vaclav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic, said of the communists and socialist nations and governments, “Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to prosecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing.” (https://www.azquotes.com/author/6389-Vaclav_Havel)
It would be an interesting practice to name those who are “captive to their own lies” and therefore have to make everything false in order for their twisted world view to pretend to work. They are so deep into wokeness or progressivism or socialism or whatever is the latest “ism” might be, that they have to weave a web of lies and repeat them long and hard enough until people believe them to be truth. They want to rewrite history or call everything racism or make false claims against Christianity. There are so many lies in the world today, much like there was in Isaiah’s day or Jesus’ time on the earth. There is nothing new under the sun and no lie that has not been proclaimed as the truth.
To keep the Ninth Commandment, as with all the second half of the Ten, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. But that does not mean that we never challenge or reprove or correct. When Jesus quoted the verse to love neighbor, no doubt He also knew the previous verse, “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Lev 19.17-18). To “reason frankly” is sometimes translated as reprove, to correct. A false witness will not reprove or rebuke. In today’s world we are told to be nice and tolerate everything, but the Word of God calls us to speak truth to power. That is what the prophets did. That is what Jesus did. They spoke the truth of God to sinners, to religious leaders, and to state leaders, and it did not come across as nice.
- Inappropriate Use of Truth
The Ninth Commandment also forbids the inappropriate use of truth. One way this is done is by timing, speaking the truth at the wrong time. Proverbs 29.11, “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” Another inappropriate use would be to speak truth for a malicious purpose. Think of when the devil quoted the Scripture to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. Or Psalm 52 that makes a boast of evil.
“Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. 2Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. 3You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. 4You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. 5But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living (1-5).
We are forbidden to twist the truth into a wrong meaning or do anything that undermines truth. This began in the garden of Eden with the serpent twisting God’s words. Genesis 3.1-5, Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
- All Kinds of Inappropriate Speech
The Larger Catechism has a host of Scriptures that speak to all kinds of inappropriate speech.
Also forbidden are:
saying anything untrue, Isaiah 59.12-13, “For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: 13transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.” The list is long and the Bible is filled with passages that tell of various inappropriate speech. Lying, slander, backbiting, gossip, and ridiculing.
People, and perhaps we have done this, jump to judgment before knowing the truth. Jesus teaches us to not judge, especially before doing our own self-examination. “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye” (Matthew 7.1-5).
When we think about Jesus’ teaching here in light of the Ninth Commandment, it is more about making a knee jerk reaction to something, making a rash judgmental opinion in our speech. This is the danger of social media when people post something before they know anything about the subject of their words.
Another topic in the Larger Catechism is about thinking or speaking too highly or too poorly of ourselves or others. The text that is sited is Luke 18.9-14, “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
I find it interesting that the authors of the Catechism would base thinking too highly or poorly of self on this particular passage. We have probably considered the lesson here in terms of proper humility verses pride or false exaltation. But there is a lesson to learn in that we should not think too highly of our self or of others, nor should we think too poorly, but with a humble balance between sinner and child of God made in His image.
The Proverbs so often sum up many of the Commandments or at least give us a new perspective. When someone bears false witness against another or practices anything that seeks to twist truth, it is like a weapon. We read in Proverbs 25.18, “A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.” Words can and do hurt. We are called to give thanks for the gifts of God in our lives and the effects of His grace to help us keep Commandment. Paul encourages us to walk with His Spirit that we might indeed not provoke one another with a false witness. Galatians 5.25-26, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Keeping Commandment is a whole lot easier when we live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit. May the Holy Spirit lead and guide us in all our speech and all our actions. Amen.
