THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY/SEPTEMBER RADIO MESSAGES/AL SANDERS
"Thou shalt not bear false witness” THINGS THAT GOD HATES
“n p H E most u sefu l volume I have -i- had in my forty years of minis try”, a minister declared, “is my ‘Com plaint Book.’ ” He explained that when anyone came to him, bringing accusa tions against another church member, he would get out this book and say, ‘Now let me write down your state ments so that I may know how you can be expected to testify should this matter come up.’ ” The uniform re sponse was, “Oh, no, I would neither want to be quoted nor have my name mentioned. You must not repeat this.” In the forty years he had kept this book its pages remained blank; not one en try had ever been made. This recounting leads us into the Ninth Commandment given to us in the Book of Exodus, chapter 20, verse 16 — “Thou shalt not bear false wit ness.” We all have a natural repug nancy for those sins which are consid ered so black and vile -— the one who gossips, however, is also guilty of sin in the sight of Almighty God. Who is to say which sin is blacker? We know that all fall far short of God’s glory. In the 6th chapter of the Book of Proverbs, God says, “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an
abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” Of all the things God abhors, His wrath is es pecially pronounced upon gossiping. Paul gave these words of warning to the Colossian Church, “Lie not one to another seeing you have put off the old man with his doings” (Col. 3:9). To the Galatian Church he admonished, “If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed of one another” (Gal. 5:15). We need to hide in our hearts the words of the Psalmist, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, 0 Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” In the Third Commandment God de clares that His name is not to be taken in vain. In the Ninth Commandment, equal emphasis is placed upon the tak ing of another man’s name in vain. It is very easy, with a malicious word of gossip, to ruin a reputation. In coun selling with a Christian worker but a few days ago, he told me of how he 6
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