Let me invite you to turn this morning to James chapter five, please. James chapter five. Centuries before James wrote, Solomon wrote these words, when words abound, transgression is inevitable, but the one who restrains his words is wise. I don't think it's false comparison at times for folks to say James is the Proverbs of the New Testament. That is, he actually deals very practically with wisdom and how we ought to live and the fact that our commitment to God through Christ must be translated into the kind of faith that expresses itself. You can't just claim faith in the Lord Jesus Christ without it actually being reflected in a life that's transformed. And James has been making that case. And it's not surprising, given what Solomon said and what Jesus said, which we'll come to a little bit later this morning, is that James addresses speech a lot. He comes at it again and again, that our words are a significant part of the revelation of our character. And so we come here at the end of the book, near the end of the book, really starting the last section of the book, and James comes back to our speech again. Look at James 5 and verse 12, please. James 5 and verse 12. But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but your yes is to be yes and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment. In some ways, and this is actually, I mean, if you read anybody who writes commentaries on the book of James, one of the massive questions right about this text is, does this go with what went before it, or does it go with what comes after it, or does it just sort of stand there by itself? If you have a New American Standard Bible with you this morning, you'll notice that the word, or the letter 12 is in bold, which I like to remind us periodically is them indicating a new paragraph. When you have English translations that go verse by verse rather than paragraph by paragraph, you can sometimes lose that. And so what NASB does is put a bold number or a bold letter to show you that it thinks it's starting a new paragraph. So it actually marks off a difference between 7 to 11 and 13 to 18 and sort of puts this one just, boom, right in the middle of them. as a subject that stands on its own. And I think that's probably the best way to take it, because every time you see someone try to explain why it goes with what went before it, or why it goes with what's after it, none of them really are that convincing, and they all say, but it could be the other. And I think that's the thing that's at stake here is that really, in a sense, what James is doing is he's not, it's not completely unrelated to everything he said in the book. I mean, it's all a part of what the tests of living faith are, but he's establishing this as a significant window into. what a right response to God is. Whether that's because of the problems that they're facing in the early part of the chapter of oppression, or whether it's because they're facing physical and spiritual issues that come at the end of the chapter, the reality of it is that how we speak in the presence of God is a very significant revelation of our heart. In this relatively short verse, he gives us a restriction, what we're not to do. Look, if you would, at the text. But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. Then he tells us what our actual responsibility is. But your yes is to be yes, and your no, no. And then he gives us a reason for that. So that you may not fall under judgment. And so that's what we're going to do this morning, is look at those three points as they just come out of the text. The first is the restriction. Swear. And in our language, swearing could mean profanity. So you might hear they saying don't use profanity. That's not the point of this text. There are other texts that would talk about that. Ephesians 5 would, for instance. But this is talking about the kind of swearing that is for an oath, right? And that's why it says not to do it either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. And so he's talking about oath-taking. the kind of thing in which you are pledging some performance of something or the honesty of something by invoking God or some other thing, right? So, you know how this goes. I mean, in our language, and I'm just trying to make sure we're clear on it, someone will say, I swear to God that this is the truth. That's what we're talking about here. Or, could be you go into a court and they say, put up your right hand and say, do you solemnly swear Okay, so you're making an oath that is intended to validate the truthfulness of it. But there also is an aspect in the scriptures that where oaths and vows sit next to each other, that is, you make an oath, not just that something is true, but you make an oath that you will do something. That is, I solemnly swear to you that I will do this, right? That would be the kind of thing that we're talking about. And so James is telling us here some kind of restriction about that, right? Because he says, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. And here's the tension for us, right? is we always, I hope we recognize when we read the Bible, we have to read it in context. So what we mean by that is you don't just take words and give them any meaning you want. They have to be taken inside of the context of not just the immediate context, the larger context of Scripture. And this is one of those situations that really is challenging to understand precisely what James is after. The reason I say that is because the Old Testament law actually commanded certain circumstances in which people were supposed to give an oath. So it wasn't an option. Specifically in Exodus, it's if someone has an animal and that animal disappears and so Abel, says to Seth, you stole my animal. What Seth is supposed to do, based on the law, is make an oath before God that he did not do it, and that stands sufficient. That's what the Mosaic Law says. So it actually is a place where it's commanded. It clearly is regulated in the Old Testament in which you're told not to, it doesn't say do not swear at all, but it says do not swear falsely. or do not take the Lord's name in vain is actually an aspect of what this kind of thing would be. Sometimes we just have reduced take Lord's name in vain, just using the name of God in a sort of casual way. And I think that's included in it, but it's actually often used in context where you're actually invoking the Lord's name. So if I were to say to you, in the Lord's name, I'm telling you this is true. If I do that and it's not true, I've taken the Lord's name in vain. Or if I say, in the name of the Lord, I'm promising you that I will do X, and then I don't do it, I've taken the Lord's name in vain. That is, I've used it in an empty way because I used His character as the basis for my assertion and it wasn't true. So you've got an Old Testament problem, if I could put it this way. And I think one way to resolve the tension is this, is that James is not referring to the legal use of oaths. And that's what Exodus was doing. It was a legal situation in which you had a dispute between two parties and a person was called to make an oath before God that they were telling the truth. And that's why, and I don't think you hear it as much, I mean, I know I heard it in junior high, and I'm not sure I've heard it a whole lot since then, but actually in some Baptist traditions, but particularly in our cousins, the Anabaptists, and the other free church movements like Mennonites, they actually would teach that a believer should not ever make an oath in any kind of legal context. And you may or may not be familiar with it, but if you go into court and they say, put your hand up and swear, you can decline to do so and simply say, I affirm. Because inside of our legal system, they made a provision for people who think they cannot make oaths at all. So you don't have to raise your right hand and say, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. You can simply say, I affirm. And so that's certainly a legitimate option, but I don't think that this text would actually tell us that we can't hold our right hand up and say, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. because that's exactly the thing that God commanded in the book of Exodus. In a legal context, you would affirm by virtue of the seriousness of it that this is true. I don't think it's a legal issue that he's talking about. In fact, it gets a little more troublesome for us in terms of wrestling with it because there are evidences, both Old and New Testament, of oaths being made in a way that clearly is not indicated to be wrong. It's quite possible the Apostle Paul actually does this a number of times. One time, for instance, would be Romans 1.9, where he says, with God as my witness, I'm telling you this. That is, in essence, he's calling God to be the testament of his truthfulness. And that's taken by most to be pretty close to it, but it gets a little bit deeper. For instance, the book of Revelation chapter 10, one of God's angels stands up and says, I swear by him who created heaven and earth that the end is coming. So actually one of God's messengers, an angel, declares a solemn oath that the end is coming. And in fact, it gets even a little more significant than that because the book of Hebrews chapter six talks about God himself making an oath. Jump over to Hebrews chapter six if you could, just the book right before this, and I want you to see this. Begin in verse 13, Hebrews chapter six. Hebrews 6.13 says, for when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you. And so having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. That's Abraham. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as a confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way, God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of promise the unchangeableness of his purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. Do you see the tension there? God himself, in the promise to Abraham, and we see it unfold in Genesis 12, 15, and 22, that God actually makes an oath to Abraham that he will fulfill this. Now, I think we have to at least be willing to say that God may not be obligated to the same thing as us, in the sense that God is swearing by his own character, you and I are actually invoking him. And that's a different thing. But what I'm trying to show you is that we have to be careful about thinking that what James is doing in James 5 is eliminating all oaths in legal context, or in fact, all oaths entirely as being something wrong. And for the most part, I think most of us recognize that because the way some of the things that you and I do function in that way, right? I mean, I've said probably to a couple hundred couples over the last 28 plus years, do you solemnly promise before God and these witnesses that you will love, honor, cherish? And when you say that part, before God and these witnesses, you're essentially invoking God as a testifier to whether or not you're going to be truthful about this, whether you're going to keep this promise that you're making. And very few have thought that that violates what James 5.12 is talking about. So what is he talking about? I think part of the answer for us is in the very wording that he uses here. Look at what it says in James 5.12, but above all, My brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. And so I think what James is addressing here, if we could put it in this way, he's talking about voluntary oaths that seem to be made in their context in a way that sort of positioned them with flexibility. And the reason I say that is because James is very much mirroring the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, his older brother. We're gonna come back and forth here, but let me ask you to go to Matthew chapter five, to the Sermon on the Mount, and I want you to show you the text that is very close to what James is saying here. Matthew chapter five. And look at beginning of verse 33. Matthew 5, verse 33. Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be yes, yes, or no, no. Anything beyond these is of evil, or from the evil one, really is probably the idea of the words that Jesus uses there. So here's Jesus confronting the tendency in them to actually play games with words when they were making vows. That's why He does the thing about heaven, or earth, or Jerusalem, or by your own head. Because it clearly seemed to be that in their culture they had come up with little systems, right, of ways in which they could vouch for the truthfulness of what they were saying, God at the very top of it, and if they didn't invoke God, then it wasn't quite as serious. And so it had become sort of a standard practice for them to just sort of throw these things out there in a way that actually was undercutting truthfulness. Because it wasn't being treated with the seriousness that it ought to have been. And so I think James is addressing the same type of problem. And so he's talking about not a context within which you would be being called on to make a legal statement and make a certification of that, or potentially an appropriate scenario in which you were establishing a thoughtful and careful kind of expression of things. That you're not doing it falsely, but you make certain that you carry through on what you said, like God guaranteed his. But that what we have to be very careful about doing is adopting customs and practices that actually become very careless about the truth, or careless about the significance of truth. I mean, so that we just casually toss out, ah, I swear it's true, it's true. And don't think about the significance of what's going on with that. That we actually begin to think, well, you know, and some of this is in our culture because we've lost any sense of, like, Well, what I'd say is, inside of a really, truly God-centered perspective, if you were actually calling God as your witness, I mean, you'd take it very seriously, right? I mean, if you really believe in God, and you're saying, listen, God can judge me if I'm not telling you the truth here. I mean, that's a pretty serious statement. Inside of a worldview where God is really not taken very seriously, people have no hesitation just sort of tossing him out as a cliche-ish confirmation. I mean, and obviously, I don't, there's no way I could know this, but I mean, let's say in the last 168 hours, right, the last week, how many people offered up God as the testament to things that they hadn't even really thought about? And I'm just trying, I mean, so casually saying, I swear to God, that's true. Because it's a cliche. rather than they're actually saying, you know what? The maker of heaven and earth, the true and living God stands as the judge right now of whether or not I'm telling you the truth. And if I'm lying before him, I recognize the consequences of that. I mean, so James is after the kind of carelessness and potentially deceptiveness that comes into invoking things. saying that we're committed to this truth, but somehow, the only, I mean, it's sort of stupid, but little kids, when they're gonna say, I'm telling you the truth. And they think, well, I had my fingers crossed, so I didn't really need to tell them the truth. Right, and that's what's the kind of thing that's potentially there. If I just do it by the earth, it's no big deal. Or I do it by Jerusalem, no big deal. In Matthew 23, Jesus addresses people who are doing it by the gold of the temple versus the temple itself. And he basically, they found ways to play the game so that they didn't have to be ruthless truth tellers. They found ways to manipulate the system so that they could say what they wanted to say to advantage themselves. And in so doing, they were swearing falsely, which is another interesting connection that James keeps drawing, it seems, from between his book and Leviticus 19. Remember the command, love your neighbors yourself? It was in Leviticus 19. The commands connected to not slandering were in Leviticus 19. And you know what's in Leviticus 19? You shall not swear falsely. So James keeps rooting this truth in the fact that the proper exercise of love for God and neighbor has these ramifications. One of them which is, you will actually make your assertions very, very carefully. Very deliberately. with a high degree of consciousness that God, in fact, is the witness to these things, not to be treated as a pawn to be used in your game to get what you want. You don't take his name in that vain way. And I think we have to guard ourselves. And if I could just, little small, I mean, I think it's a small rabbit trail, but not insignificant. Okay, folks, you realize how careless even believers are being with using the Lord's name in our day. I mean, it is something that I think we should meditate on more carefully, even just, I mean, I know words change and have meaning, and they gain it by context, but I mean, and I'm just trying to probe your conscience here, okay? But the word gosh, is a euphemism for God. I mean, that is a verifiable fact. Now, it may have come to our day as just sort of being like just a word we use. But the fact is that when we're invoking words that have association with the God who rules in heaven and is our maker, we ought to steer as far clear of those as we can. And even things like OMG, which just become like the custom of our day. Believers ought to be going, yeah, should I really go there? Should I really go there? Can I toss around the name of God as just an exclamation? Or is it always to be something of reverence and therefore sobriety in my choosing. I think we need to think about that because it's a way in which I think we're diminishing the kind of fear of the Lord that we ought to have. We hold him in highest regard and we don't bring him down to us. We certainly don't tie him up with casual and careless and potentially deceptive ways of communicating. We need to be very, very careful about that. So what is the responsibility that he gives us? Go back please to James chapter five. What's the responsibility? So the first part of verse 12 is a negative, do not. And then there comes a positive, but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no. So this is, I think, a way of calling us to a kind of simplicity in our communication. And the way I think we should see that is that he's saying, here, listen, it should be just as straightforward as this. When you say yes, it means yes. When you say no, it means no. You don't have to come up with little tricks, you know, hey, let's pinky swear on it. Because now I'm telling you, I'm telling you the truth. Okay, normally I don't tell you the truth, but I'm telling you now, I'll swear to it, I'm telling you the truth. See, that's the kind of potential that James is saying, no, it ought to be much more simple than that. Because of our honesty and integrity, our word should be enough. We say yes, it means yes. It means yes clearly and without multitudes of exception clauses to it. It was yes and no. I don't think that he's giving us a replacement formula. Okay, and that's why I go back to my point about if you're in the courtroom and they ask you to hold up your hand and swear to solemnly tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God. This text isn't saying, don't do that, just go, my yes will be yes. Because basically you're doing the same thing, I think, right? That's why I remember the first time I heard it, I thought, all right, so I'm not swearing, but I'm telling them I will tell the truth. Isn't that basically the same? And that's what the point of this is. This is saying, I will tell the truth. And if I say, I affirm to you that I will tell you the truth, I'm basically doing it. The difference is I'm not pulling God, and I don't mean to minimize that difference, but if we really understand what's at stake in a text like this, it's not saying don't swear because then God's involved, just tell the truth, because God doesn't really care, right? I mean, what's the last part of the verse say? so that you will not fall into judgment. So God cares that your yes is yes and your no, no. It's not simply, if I don't invoke God, I can do what I want to do. No. You have to have a yes that's yes and a no that's no because to not have that is to come under judgment. So he's not talking about a technicality to get around making an oath. He's talking about the characteristic of our life and our communication that we actually speak the truth. We do so without qualification and equivocation. It's not a piece of Play-Doh that we can adjust to any circumstance. Yes is yes. No is no. And that's rooted in God's character. I mean, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1 to the Corinthians, there was a debate going on between him and some of the false teachers and influencers at Corinth, and apparently Paul had told them that he would come and see them, but he actually had been prevented from doing so so far. And so Paul says, listen, my coming to you is not yes and no. That is, he's being accused of not being honest. It's not yes and no, as if there's a qualification there. And then he anchors why his yes is a yes. He says, first of all, in verse 19, as God is faithful, So our yes is yes. In other words, God is always true to what he said. And because we're followers of Christ and servants of God, our yes is yes as well. And then he takes it to Jesus and he says, in him, all the promises of God are yes. So Paul gives two profoundly doctoral, theological, God-centered reasons why my yes should be yes. Because God's yes is yes, because Christ's yes is yes. How could I do anything different than that? How could I think, for me, it could be yes and no instead of yes meaning yes? And I think John would also help us see that this is rooted in the reality of truth, right? We're called, if you read 1 John, and he really, all the way through the book, weaves this distinction between truth and lies. I mean, for instance, if we say that we do not sin, we make God out to be a liar, right? Because we're not of the truth. And then he starts to talk about the teachings of those who are the Antichrist against Christ, and he says, he says, for no lie is of the truth. That is, they're fundamentally separate from each other. That's the worldview in the Scriptures. Okay, it's not that there's lies and there's truth and then there's this sort of mixed world where they flow in and out of each other. No, there's a strong divide between truth and deception. So how could Christians sort of mash them together, right? And have their yes be maybe. Their yes be yes and less no. Right? If that's the case, then we're actually blurring the distinction between truth and lies, and so he won't let us do that. I mean, the fact is that our character and commitment to the truth should be sufficient to support our statements. If we have the kind of character that reflects the character of Jesus Christ, or we could say, so Christ-likeness, or we could say that reflects the character of God, godliness. and God is yes is yes and no is no, and Christ is yes is yes and no is no, and we're his people, we're made in the image of God and being conformed to Christ's likeness, then our character and commitment to the truth should be sufficient support so that our yes is yes and our no is no. That means we have to make commitments very carefully, right? Because if we make commitments we can't keep, it will undercut the credibility of our yeses and our nos. We shouldn't assert or repeat things which we don't know to be true. I mean, that's a good one to remember in our day. Because, man, people say crazy stuff. And we just pass it along because we heard it. We really would do well to check out most things, right? We hear this incredible story and instead of just like, you know, click, boom. We might want to do a little research and say, you know, did so-and-so swallow an automobile? I mean, sometimes they're that stupid and we pass them along, but I mean, you know, there's these little things on the internet that you can actually like type it in and they'll say false. And, you know, the problem is when we pass along that dishonesty, it seldom gets as far when we correct it. And we get held in reputation for being careless with the truth or unconcerned about the truth. And we need to be cautious. And that's one of the reasons I don't use a ton of stories outside of things connected to my life. Because I got burned. I can remember the first time I got burned. I listened to a preacher tell a story about Adolph Rupp, the basketball coach for the University of Kentucky. And I was in college, and I came back, and I preached in our high school chapel, and Don Bowman is a huge fan of Kentucky basketball, and he comes up to me after, he goes, he said, you know, that story's not true. And I went, what? And he starts laying out the facts, and I'm like, uh-oh. I mean, I just heard a story, thought it was a great sermon. I mean, it really was a great illustration, other than the fact it wasn't true. But you know what? I mean, it's like, wow. So I stood up and I said this was the case, and it wasn't the case. And you know what, that can happen. So someone then starts to go, well, if they're careless with that, how do I know that I trust them with this? And the same thing can happen to every one of us. So we should be cautious, cautious about affirming or asserting or repeating things if we're not certain about them. We certainly should not be involved in misrepresenting or exaggerating things that would cause people to question the clarity of our yeses and nos. All right, so look at the end of verse 12 because here's the reason that he gives us for this. It's not the only reason in the scriptures, but it is a very significant one. So that you may not fall under judgment. Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter five? I mean, I read it and pointed it out, but it said there, anything other than this comes from the evil one. or anything other than this comes from evil. So Jesus gave a different reason, but not a contradictory reason at all. Actually, I would argue that they're complementary. The reason we would come under judgment is because it comes from evil, or the evil one. That if you're not careful with the truth, It is the reflection of something very, very significant. I think it's important for us to realize that the end of verse 12 I think applies to both parts of the verse, right? Do not swear and let your yes be yes. So it's both the negative and positive commands. Clearly one of the questions we would ask is what kind of judgment is this? Is it temporal or eternal? And I don't know that we need to decide between them in this sense. Jesus said that we will all give an account for every word that we speak. Matthew 12, verse 36. So whether this is a judgment of eternal reality or temporal concern, I think is maybe missing James' point. The point is that we are gonna be accountable to God for our words, particularly for our assertions of what's true or what's not true. I do think in the context of this book though, James would not shy away from calling his readers to serious self-examination. I mean, think of what James has done at this point. He says, if you claim to be religious, but don't bridle your tongue, this man's religion is worthless. He's deceived. He's talked about the fact that there has to be a genuine connection between the faith that we profess and the life that is lived. And so I think James would be saying for all of his readers, all of those who are reading what he's saying, that this issue of truth telling is absolutely essential because lying is fundamentally incompatible with a living faith. And that shouldn't surprise us. The book of Revelation in 21.8 and 22.15 make it clear that liars will face eternal punishment, right? Puts liars alongside of idolaters and immoral people. 22.15 talks about those who practice lying will have no place in God's eternal home. Remember the words of Jesus in John chapter eight? He talks about the truth setting them free and there are some of them that began to kick against that. And Jesus says to them, okay, that they do not have the truth in them because they're of their father, the devil, who is a murderer and a liar. He's the father of lies. So James would, I think, recognize what Jesus taught there as saying there's a realm, the children of which reflect their parent. And if you are a liar by character and practice, it is the reflection of a parentage, the father of lies. Whereas if you are born again by the true and living God, then you actually will reflect His character. You will not be habitually governed by dishonesty because of the basic power of the new birth, right? When Paul confronts the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter four and tells them how they ought not to live, they're to put off the old man, which is being corrupted according to the deceitful lust, but be renewed in the spirit of their mind and put on the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. And what's the first thing he says? That's 424. First thing he says, 25. Therefore put aside all falsehood or lying and speak truth with one another. Paul says to the Colossians in Colossians chapter three in verse nine, that they are to put off lying since they have put off the old self. and are being renewed. I mean, I think the point that James would be making here is that if you are marked by this kind of careless regard for the truth or deceptive use of information that you are revealing what's in your heart. Because in the very same kind of context that Jesus talks about the accountability for our words, He says this, for the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. So if your mouth is speaking lies, and Jesus says, the mouth speaks out that which fills the heart, What is that saying about the heart? It's full of lies. And if the heart is full of lies, it has not been regenerated. God has not created that heart in righteousness and holiness of the truth. That's the point that James would be saying. He's not talking about Telling the truth will get you into heaven. Telling lies will get you to hell, as if it's dependent on your work. What he's saying is this, is if God has given you a new birth, like chapter one talks about, here's what's gonna happen. Your heart will be flushed out. God will give you a clean heart, a new heart, and from that heart will come truth. Because you're born of God. So James would be saying, folks, you need to get this above all. Do not. Do not have this kind of callous and cavalier, self-centered view of the truth as if it's a thing you can play with to get your way. Like you can say what you need to say to get the outcome that you want. As if truth and words are just playthings for you to manipulate to win the game. No, they are grounded in the fact that there's a true and living God who has spoken truth and produces truth in the inward parts. That's what David prayed he would have, right? And it's a work of God's grace to do that. So the perpetual and continual absence of it should hear the warning there, that you may not fall under judgment. As your claim to be a follower of Christ is not gonna get you past the clear and searching evaluation of God. God sees the heart. Right, and so you think that you're okay when there's this flood of falsehood that just keeps coming out of your mouth, and you've got to see that that's coming from a heart. And that heart is open before God. He sees it. He knows what it's like. And he will exercise judgment. I mean, all of this really comes down to what it means to have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, right? You know this. In John 14, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So Christ is truth. And anything other than that is contra Christ. Christ is the confirmation of all of God's promises in Him. All the promises of God are yes. So God's truthfulness is confirmed in Jesus Christ. And so to do anything other than that is to go against Christ. Christ is the source and standard for our new life. We have been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth, so put away falsehood and speak truth with one another. But Christ is also the judge who will bring everything into the light of truth. Listen to what Romans 2 says. On the day when according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. And there's coming a day where everyone in this room is gonna stand in front of Christ. Thankfully, for those who have genuinely trusted in Christ and it's been clear that the evidence of the new birth is there because they love light rather than darkness, they will be evaluated as to the things done in their body, whether good or bad. That's 2 Corinthians 5 says. That is, your reward as a servant of Jesus Christ is going to be affected by the truthfulness of your words. Okay, it's not, hey, I'm saved, I got a free pass, I can say whatever I want. No, in fact, if you're born again, your heart hungers for truth, and you're trying to close the gap between you and what Christ is like. So your heart is always moving in the direction of relentless and ruthless truth-telling. Because Christ is truth, and you want to be like him. but we never will actually grasp entirely what we're reaching for until we see Christ and we're made like him. So there will be an assessment of our words. That's what Jesus said. We'll give an account for every word that we've spoken, but we'll do so as servants. But the window into our heart that a text like this calls us to examine is this, If the flow coming out of our heart is filthy, then why would we think we have a renewed heart? Why would we think that? And if we think, well, hey, we've got it covered, everybody thinks we're a Christian, I fit comfortably inside of my Christian circumstances, and there's no way I'm gonna admit what's in my heart, because if I admit what's in my heart, I'll lose all of that. We're evidencing the fact that we have exchanged eternally significant realities for temporal acceptance. And we've missed the point that God sees right into our heart. He sees in our heart. There's no hiding from him. And when we stand before him, the good news of the gospel announces that there is going to be a judgment of the secrets of the heart through Christ Jesus. So a text like this is something that should take hold of us because it can be easy for us to go, well yeah, I go to church and I do this and do that, but not look at the evidence that is so clear at times that there's something seriously wrong down in here. And James, as he comes to the end of this book, wants to press that home into our hearts. And I hope, I hope we let that sink in when it comes to the stories we tell, the arguments we make. Right? Because sometimes we'd rather be right, winning the argument, than right in the use of the facts of the argument. Sometimes we'd rather fit into the crowd than stand apart from the crowd because we know we have to speak the truth. And all of those are windows to what we value most, windows into the heart and whether it's been changed. Let's bow together, please, in prayer.