Deuteronomy 5:20 Bible Study | Episode 860

January 24, 2025

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Deuteronomy 5:20  Bible Study | Episode #860

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison and you're listening to Hope Alive, applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God will open up.

His word to you and allow you.

To see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus name.

Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Deuteronomy, chapter 5 and verse 20. We're in the ninth commandment, dealing with the ninth commandment. It is a interesting commandment in that when people read this commandment, they paint it with a broad brush. And I think in all actuality, God intends for it to be painted with a broad brush. But I also think that it's important to kind of think about it in its, in. In its original presentation and then consider it in, in light of, well, in light of biblical history and then, and then been move it to the broad brush so that you can kind of understand what's going on here. And what, what, what is the core issue? Because the issue is not with any of these commandments. The issue is not the outward expression of the commandment. The issue is the hard issue. And that's what the Sermon on the Mount tells us. When Jesus said, you've heard it said thou shalt not. What he's saying is, is you've heard it said that you're not to do this activity. You're not to. In the criminal sense. You're not to commit the actus Ray. And what that means is you're not to commit these acts. But the truth is that Jesus says that it's not an issue of the act, it's an issue of the attitude of the heart that brings about the act. And so when we're talking about thou shalt not murder, the issue that God wants to deal with, although he does not want people murdered, the issue is he does not want people to be so hateful, vengeful, desirous, that of evil, that they want someone killed. And however that forms itself in the human heart. And so the issue is the human heart and the evil or the sin in the heart that brings about murder, that brings about adultery, that brings about theft, that brings about deception, that brings about covetousness. The issue is, when I'm dealing with other people, it's not the actual act that brings about the issue. The. The act is a problem, but what it. What matters is, is the attitude of the heart. And so that's very, very helpful. That understanding is. Is extremely helpful when you're dealing with. And by the way, there in the criminal system, the actus ray is the action. The men's ray is the intent. Now, there are some crimes that don't require intent, but most require crimes require mens rea or some intent, which is the attitude of the heart. And even in our criminal code, even the way we handle crimes today, we understand that there is an action and then there's an attitude of the heart. And the attitude of the heart matters. It matters. It intensely matters in situations. And so if the attitude of the heart is not wrong, then the action, even if it happens, is a result of the sinful world we live in. Thus, if I kill someone, but I'm not trying to kill them, I throw a hammer toward the house and somebody comes around the corner and hits them right in the forehead and it kills them. I was throwing the hammer over near my toolbox to try to get it over there so that I wouldn't forget it on the job site, wherever I'm working, and I accidentally killed someone. Well, the action was murder. The attitude of the heart was nothing. There was no attitude of the heart. There was no. There was no malice in my heart to. To bring about that murder. And so that's not murder in the pure sense. And it might be a wrongful act, might not even be a wrongful act. And so if it's not a wrongful act, then then there. There is no crime and understanding that matters. And so he says here, God says, and it's real, real kind of simple. He says. He says, you shall not and neither shall you is really how it should be translated. Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor. What he's. And if you just purely. If you just brought this up in a pure context, it really sounds legal, doesn't it? It has a legal tone to it. And it hearkens your mind to think about somebody on the witness stand giving testimony against someone, and it's a false testimony, it's untrue. And that is very difficult for people in their heart to deal with. He says, neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor. You shouldn't bear false witness against your neighbor. You shouldn't speak evil or raw against your neighbor and, and on the witness stand or out in public stating facts against someone, stating something that's untrue against someone in the public arena, whether it be on the witness stand or not. But, but, but mainly in the public arena is more akin to, rather than lying, even though lying is the core issue here, it is, it is slander. And so this, this, this commandment is also. You shall not slander, really, you shall not say something that is false. That would bring about a negative viewpoint of the community against that person, which is, which is slander, which is saying something falsely about someone so that they come under the, they come under the negative view of the community. So in real terms, as I read this, it is, it is a, it is a prohibition against slander which, which is both false witness and the destruction of someone's character in the community. Now that is a, that is a very interesting way to look at it. Now at the heart of it, and as you, as you think about it, at the heart of it is deception. And in terms of biblical history, there is one who is called the Great Deceiver, and that is Satan. And the deception that he had and the deception that he purveys in the world is at its core and its worst point, it is self deception. He said, let me go up to the Most High and be as God. And by the way, that's what he said to Adam and Eve in the garden. He said, God told you not to eat of the fruit of that tree because he knew that when you ate the fruit of that tree, you would be as gods. Notice, there is the self deception. That you can be God, that you can be the master of your life, that you can be in control of everything, that you are able to influence history, time, space, the events of your life such that it comes about in the way you want it to be, such that your will is, is preeminent, your will is, is bringing about the most. And that is a lie. That's not true. If you were in the sermon yesterday, we talked about God's sovereignty and we talked about the importance of not just seeing whether or not Jesus was a good person or a bad person. That's not the issue Jesus. The issue is, is, was he God? And when, when the rich young ruler said good teacher, he said, why do you call me good Now? If, if, if you're calling me good, only God is good. So you're saying that I'm God and if I'm God, I'm in control, I'm sovereign I ought to be out to be listened to. And I. You ought to do exactly as I say, because I'm God. Remember, the sovereignty of God brings about the, the, the God being preeminent in our life. It brings about the lordship of Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all things. And so when we deceive, the first deception is the deception of ourselves that Jesus isn't Lord, that God is not in control, that there is a way for us to be in control. And that's just the self deception. It's a lie. You're not in control and you are wholly unable to redeem or save any part of yourself. And so when you bear false witness, the deception always begins in the heart and then the deception always leaks out into the world around us. And isn't that, isn't that really how the crime or the breaking of the commandment is set up to be? Yeah, the mens rea begins, the marred heart, the desire to do that which is wrong begins. And then it culminates in an action, culminates in an activity, culminates in doing something that is antithetical, it's against, it's outside of God's will. And so when we're, when we're, when we're thinking about how we're doing this, the deception is, is a heart deception. It's a heart deception that I can make something true by speaking it into existence when it's, when it's against the will and the nature of God. And you know, the Bible says speaking that which isn't, as if it is. What that is talking about is, that's talking about us speaking the promises of God, speaking the things that we can't see in the physical, but we know have been said in the spiritual by God as if they are. And that brings about, because of our faith, that brings about the actual physical reality of it. But we, we can't speak that which isn't, meaning that which is against God's will, as if it is, and bring it about. We can't do that. We do not have that power. We can only speak that which we cannot physically see, but is perfectly in line with God's will and God's revelation. We can speak those things. Even though I can't see it in the space that I'm in, I can speak it into existence because it already exists in the heart of God. It is, it is real in, in the spiritual. And I am asking for it to be realized in the physical. It's real in the spiritual. It's part of God's will, it's part of God's revelation. But I'm asking it to be realized in the physical, which is not just I can just say whatever I want to in the name of Jesus and conjure up my will that self deception. And so when we deceive ourselves, then we begin to deceive others about all a myriad of other things. Because deception becomes an attitude of the heart. It becomes something that we are trying to do all the time. We're deceiving others by our attitude. And boy, that plays out in a myriad, in a, in a. And it, in many, in many ways it, it saturates the whole heart that we deceive ourselves. And then we deceive, we begin to deceive others because we don't know what the truth really is. We begin to stray away from the truth and what, who is the truth. Truth is not just a theoretical idea. Truth is actually found in the personhood of Jesus Christ. And so we begin to stray away from his will, his way, his nature, his character. And then we move past just deceiving ourselves and we begin to live a life of deception. We begin to live a life of lying to ourselves over and over and over and over again. And that becomes, that becomes devastating for an individual, comes devastating for a human being that we would deceive ourselves that way. And so. Well, the ninth commandment has a lot more depth than it appears. And in all actuality in its presentation, it seems to be only prohibiting you from taking the witness stand in line or for you, you slandering someone. But we really realize that as you dig deeper, as you really begin to look at your heart and look at what causes this, you realize the deception is at its core and always has been a self deception which ultimately leads to you deceiving others by not holding on to the truth, not bearing the truth, but bearing what is not true. Therefore is not God as you go today, I pray that the Lord will.

Bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.