43.u. “Wilderness” – 8.a.  “You shall not spread a false report” – Lie

 

Exodus 23:1-3  “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,  nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

 Psalms 101:5     Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.

 Proverbs 17:4   An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

 Proverbs 6:19    a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

 Proverbs 19:5    A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.

 Proverbs 24:28   Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

 1 Peter 3:16   having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

 Ephesians 4:25    Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

 2 Timothy 3:3    heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

 Revelation 12:10  And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

John 8:44   You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

It has always been in the nature of man to follow a crowd to do evil.  It is easy and dangerous to turn aside after many to pervert justice, to follow with our peers and popular opinion. This is why it is so important for us to choose our crowd carefully: Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”  “The history of all right movements has been in the first place the history of lonely souls, who, having heard the authentic voice of God, have stood alone or in small minorities.” (Morgan)

Thou shalt not raise a false report,…. Of a neighbour, or of any man whatever, either secretly by private slanders, whispers, backbiting and tale bearing, by innuendos, detracting from his good name and credit, suggesting things false and wicked concerning him; or publicly in a court of judicature, bringing a false accusation, laying a false charge, and bearing a false testimony against him: or “thou shall not receive a false report” (p); if there were not so many, that say, Report, and we will report it, that are ready to receive every ill thing of their neighbours, there would not be so many that would raise such ill things of them; everything of this kind should be discountenanced, and especially by judges in courts of judicature, who are chiefly spoken to and of in the context; these should not easily admit every charge and accusation brought; nor bear, or endure a false report, as the word also signifies, but discourage, and even punish it.  (Gill)

Following after the crowd is easy. We have heard it said; “wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. and right is right if only one is doing it”. The past 3 years surely have demonstrated the effects of this. False witness, slander, lies, innuendos, false charges, accusations, etc…… It only takes one person to proclaim a lie as truth to convince the masses of it. 

God’s Word is truth, full of righteous wisdom and understanding, and able to guide and lead a person in truth. The problem is that far too often this truth is neglected and time that could be spent on it is given over to news outlets and other social media talking heads who may or may not be committed to speaking the truth with their words. Far too often they will be led by the father of all lies in capturing ratings or more followers. Even when they have been caught in a lie they will spin it into a false claim about another. The world is full of this and it is good to stay away from it when it is obviously abounding in virtually every source. 

Time spent in God’s Word is time well spent and will keep your heart, mind, and soul from being polluted with lies of this world and the people who are being led by the Father of All Lies.

10.t. “And you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster.”

Micah 2:1  Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the Lord: behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster.

Psalms 7:14-16    Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.  He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made.  His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.

Proverbs 6:12-19    A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech,  winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger,  with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord;  therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.  There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:  haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,  a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Isaiah 59:3   For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.

We don’t have to look very hard to hear lies, discord, lying tongues, wicked plans, and the haughty.  Haughty is not a word we use but a quick search in a thesaurus gives us a much clearer picture of this word; (proud, vain, arrogant, conceited, snobbish, stuck-up, pompous, self-important, superior, egotistical, supercilious, condescending, lofty, patronizing, smug, scornful, contemptuous, disdainful, overweening, overbearing, imperious, lordly, cavalier, high-handed, full of oneself)  We see it in sports, entertainment, news, business leaders, doctors, professors, teachers, and local, state and national politicians.  It doesn’t matter if you look at it is locally, regionally, or nationally.  It is there and it seems to be the norm rather than the exception.  If this is the norm what keeps us grounded and humble before God?  Many of us can thank God for giving us parents who instilled this in us throughout our informative years.  We can see what is in their heart by their words and actions.  We compare what they do and say to what we were grounded in.  Hopefully, that was godly parents and the word of God.  Without this foundation, we may think this haughtiness is normal, though it should not be.  God’s Word is very clear on this and He will bring low those who are.  Keep these haughty adjectives handy when you read articles or listen to podcasts, or watch reports on TV.  They will help you take a proper perspective on what they are saying and how they say it.  None of us are above being like this and if we stay in God’s Word, it will be light until our soul and will guard our heart and mind against being drawn into these very unholy thoughts and actions.

Eternal consequences

Psalms 112:10  The wicked man sees it and is angry; he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked will perish!

Isaiah 65:13-14     Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;  behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

Luke 13:28     In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

Psalms 37:12    The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him,

Matthew 22:13     Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Revelation 16:10-11    The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish  and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

Proverbs 10:28    The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.

Proverbs 11:7     When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.

Luke 16:24-26     And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’  But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.  And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’

Revelation 20:11  Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.  Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

I have heard it said “we don’t get out of this world alive”.  That is true.  What doesn’t get talked about much is the fact that there is consequences for our actions, choices, thoughts, intents.  These are eternal consequences with two totally different outcomes.

Joh 3:16  📝  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Choosing to reject the gift of eternal life through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ is choosing to be unforgiven and your soul found wanting on the day of judgement.  There is no second chance once breath has ceased in this life.  All that is waiting for the person who rejects Christ, is eternal punishment.   We come to Christ for salvation, redemption, joy, peace, strength, hope, refuge, and love, by and through faith (believing, trusting in, relying on, and clinging to) Him alone.