God cares about our words. We know that to be true. This sermon title is let your yes be yes and your no be no. The integrity of the Christian tongue. We think it's okay sometimes to make promises and not follow through on it. We think it's okay to swear by our parents' graves to say, Lord, if you only help me now, then I will do this. We don't realize that God cares about every promise we make before him. He cares about the things you say you will do. He cares about your oaths. He cares about your covenants. He cares about your verbal commitments. We live in a society where divorce is on the increase in Christian circles. If there's any place where the covenant of marriage should last, it should be in the community of faith. Yet that covenant before God doesn't seem to matter as much as it did before. God cares about what we say. Why? Because God himself is a God of covenant. You have the old covenant and you have the what? New covenant. God himself is the one who binds himself to covenants. Every word he speaks reflects his devotion to his covenants. God is not deceitful. So we as his people ought to reflect that either by truthfully making covenants or by being faithful. to the covenants we have made. There is no such thing as a white lie or a harmless lie. Why? Because God is witness of that lie. There is no such thing as a neutral oath. Why? Because every covenant or oath is made under the governance of God. All of it matters. because every vow is made before God. I think you already feel the weight of the sermon. That is where we are going. Jesus tells us that every careless word will be judged by our God and Father. Now look at verse 12. Above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no. so that you may not fall under condemnation. This verse nicely breaks up into three sections. I think you can see that very clearly. The first imperative or the first command, do not swear by either heaven or by earth or by any other. That is the first brain. The second is the second command, but let your yes be yes and your no be no. then the third which is not a command but a purpose result clause so this is why you shouldn't make an oath so that you may not fall under condemnation so that is the structure of this sermon the problem of oaths, the cure for oaths and the motive for being faithful or careful with our oaths. Now I think this verse is pretty simple to understand in its clarity, it tells us what we shouldn't do, what we should do, and why we should do it, right? It's very, very simple. What is not so clear is why James says it at this stage. Now I can go through the 50 different reasons why people say it connects or it doesn't and that's not essential for our purposes this morning. You can do your own research on that. I don't think it's going to be helpful. What I do think is that James is making a contrast. Notice how he begins this verse, but above all. So what is he dealt with in the previous section? Well, I think what James is doing is contrasting the entirety of what he's just dealt with, not necessarily verse 7 through to 11. He is making a transition, he is moving on to the next but before he gets to... Faithfulness in prayer in the midst of affliction. Before he gets to that, he's dealt with patience in the midst of affliction. Before he gets to prayer, you may remember that I gave you those two Ps, patience and prayer. Before he gets to prayer, he wants to deal with something that was a common problem in the day of his writing or in the first century. It was this problem of swearing by lesser things. And you'll see that in a moment's time. When hardship comes or when affliction comes, you may say, Lord, if only you do this for me now, I swear by heaven, I will do this. Lord, if you only give us this car or this house, I promise on the hair of my head that I will give this car back to you. use this house for your purpose give this child back to you we don't think is a that is as an important oath or swear as if we said lord if you give us this car i swear by your name because now that's the name of god and so we can't say that right because that is a serious oath. And so when we say it by lesser things, you know what? I'm not as bound to it if I say by your name. So that is what James is dealing with here. There is a and I've mentioned this before, this is probably the most pastoral James has been in his book. It is very applicational. He's held out on application till this first chapter. And so he wants him to know how they ought to walk, how they ought to think, how they ought to speak when things go wrong. So has James dealt with the tongue before? By all means, yes. Almost 30% of the book deals with the tongue. To be exact, 28%. To be more precise, the exact amount of quotations that deals with the tongue is 25%. The other allusions is only about 2 or 3%. So exactly 25% and about 28% of this book deals with the tongue. That's a huge amount. in the context of suffering, because that is what he's dealing with. Faith in the midst of trials. What is this book about? Faith works, right? You know the theme, faith works. Why is the tongue taking the most amount of real estate in the landscape of this book? Why the tongue? Good question. Because the tongue is the window to the heart. Let me show you who you are by how you speak. That is what James is saying. Let me show you your true character by what is found on your tongue. James throughout this letter peers into the heart by pointing to the tongue. I've said this many times before, there's two reasons why James at this stage deals with the tongue. Number one is the tongue is the barometer of the heart and I've mentioned that quite a few times. Speech reveals allegiance. Whether it is to God or whether it is to self. If you love God, you will love God's people. If you love God, you will speak to God's people in a way that doesn't burn them down. Remember chapter 3, the tongue is a consuming fire. No man can tame his tongue, he says in chapter 3. It is a restless evil. The tongue reveals who you are. If the tongue is evil, if it's revealing evil, guess what? That's where your heart is at. Not only is the tongue a barometer of the heart, but divided speech reflects a divided heart. It goes back to chapter one, verse eight. What's that word? Tychuchos the split man the double-souled or double-minded man is an unstable man that is not a believer that is not a child of God and so James says a person who was right with God doesn't have divided devotions doesn't have a divided soul doesn't have divided loyalty And if your tongue reveals that you are divided in your devotion, guess what? Your heart is divided in its commitment. Why does James focus so much on the tongue? Well, because Jesus showed us in Matthew chapter 12 verse 34, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth does what? Speaks. What is in the heart is revealed on the tongue. James highlights the importance of speech ethics. Speech ethics. This phrase above all is the best temperature gauge of the heart and he's trying to show that man if you want to know where you are If you really want to get what the state of your life is, look at your tongue. James shepherding nature comes out and he wants them to understand how important their commitments by their tongues are before God. So in our passage, we have three instructions. Three ways that James helps us to understand why we need to be careful about what we say before God. Number one, we will look at the problem of the oaths. Secondly, we will look at the cure for oaths. And number three, we will look at the motive for being careful with our oaths. So let's give attention to the first, the problem of swearing. Above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. Just pause over there. Do not swear. And when you hear that word swear, you're probably thinking about foul words, right? That is not what it means. That is not the word that lies, the meaning that lies behind this word. This word refers to invoking something sacred to confirm your words. I think that makes sense, right? To invoking something that is not natural or normal but is divine to give across the idea that you are being absolutely serious at this stage. It's not profanity, this word swear is not profanity, but rather oath taking is what lies behind it, especially in everyday discourse. now when james says above all brothers do not swear he's not negating all kinds of oath taking why because when you get married you are taking an oath when you come before a judge you actually have to take an oath he's not talking about just Canceling all kinds of oath James has a very specific thing in mind and I'll show that to you in a moment's time We know that God is not opposed to oaths because in Exodus chapter 22 verse 9 through 11 God commands his people To take oaths so that they show themselves to be genuine in the case of stolen or injured property God swears by himself because there's no one else higher to swear by in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 13. Since there is no one else higher than God, he decides to swear, that is, to take an oath by his own name. Jesus answers under oath in Matthew 26. Paul invokes God as a witness as he makes an oath to the people that he's committed to the gospel. God is not opposed to oaths, so James is not opposed to oaths. He's very specific in what he is against and I think it will become clear once I point it out to you. James prohibits the use of the tongue to issue oaths that appear to be genuine but by lesser divine things. are making a commitment to appear that you want to either get out of trouble or to appear genuine or to show that you are intending to do it but not really intending to do it. Now to give you a better understanding of what lies behind this statement we have to leave the book of James and I don't often do this but I want to fill in the cultural script since James is actually talking about the same thing that Jesus spoke about so let's go to Matthew chapter 5 and you'll see that this is the only time James is actually quoting almost verbatim his brother Jesus. Matthew chapter 5 verse 34 every other time he's getting close but not exactly quoting Jesus he's giving general assertion to what Jesus said but this is the first time you would see that it is almost word for word notice in verse 33 And again, you have heard that it was said to you, to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. Take note. Making an oath is before the Lord. Jesus understands that your oath is not in a vacuum. But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of our great king. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot even make one hair black or white. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Take note of this. Anything more than this comes from evil. That sounds like James, right? There's too many things in here. that doesn't seem to be what James is talking about. It's exactly the same idea. Do not take an oath as the command, either by heaven or by earth, if you take out the qualifying phrases. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Listen to James. Above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Very close relation to what Jesus said. Now, what is Jesus talking about in this section? In this passage, Jesus rebukes the pharisaical legalism and hypocrisy. They decided to develop a tiered system of oath-taking. They decided to say, well, if you swear by the name of God, that is serious. If you take God's name and you put it on an oath, you can't take it in vain and you don't wanna do that. You don't want to take God's name in vain and so you don't want to swear by God because that would be binding. But if you swear by lesser things, guess what? It is not that binding. If it's divine, it is binding. When it's not divine, it is binding. Now notice how Jesus points out how they have perverted these states. And I'll show that to you in a different passage. But what they have done is that they said, if you swear by the temple, that is not binding but if you swear by the gold of the temple that is binding if you swear by the altar that is not binding but if you swear by the gift on the altar that is binding this system allowed people to appear honest But not actually. So when you say, you know what? I swear by the temple that I promise I will replace the lamb that was killed by my cat. I promise I will do that. You're not binding yourself to anything because you didn't swear by the gold that is in the temple. You see the absurdity. To whom belongs the gold? To whom belongs the temple? God. To whom belongs the altar? God. To whom belongs the gift that is on the altar? God. Listen to what Jesus says. But I say to you, do not take an oath at all either by heaven, for it is the throne of God. So you think you're getting away when you say, I'm taking an oath by heaven. He says, no. because God dwells there or by earth so you say I swear by the earth so you think it's a lesser oath and he says no it is the footstool of God or by Jerusalem so hang on you know yes God has decided to set up his temple there in the future day and he says you know what you don't even get away by that because it's a city of the great king Do not even take it by your head. Why? Because you don't have the right to make it gray. Who makes it gray? It is God. He's put a time on the limit of how many hair you need to have and the color of your hair. God is over all. And so by anything you swear, you have committed yourself to God. So that's the point. You don't get to make empty commitments before God let me put it this way you don't get to make empty commitments at all because your commitment by whatever you are swearing by is actually before whom God and that's the point that Jesus is making any system that uses sacred language or categories to shield falsehood by credibility or Manipulate appearance is an offense to God and that is what Jesus is after James like Jesus teaches that all of creation belongs to God and so you can't swear by him You can't swear by earth. You can't even swear by your own head because God owns it all What does Jesus want them to learn? What does James want them to learn from what Jesus said oath? taking takes place before God. Every promise is in the eye of God. What you say is what God holds you to. Let me be clear. When we say we, you know what, this is not church and so that pin does not belong to God, it's my thief, my boss was a thief, it's his, so if I steal from him or if I take from him it's not really stealing because he stole it from someone else and so I'll just take it. or I swear by my mother's grave you know because she's not God and so I'll swear by her grave rather than say I'll swear by the grave of Jesus because he is God it is no different to God but whatever you swear by whatever promise you make he will hold you accountable we think that the sacred is only in the realm where God is, and so we only limit it to church, like they only limit it to the temple. James says, don't swear by anything, because the minute you do, God will hold you accountable for that. The Jews were using oaths to be deceptive. Have you ever been a child? you know when you maybe you did this as well because I used to do it when you say to the guy I promise I will pay you back and you put your hand behind your back and you cross your fingers ever done it ever done it the cross means it's cancelled so if he doesn't see it now I promise I will pay you back and then you do that he knows guys lie to me again I don't need did you guys do that when you were young no just just me okay That doesn't cancel anything. It's like you saying to your boss, I promise I will be here tomorrow on time. And then you wake up late and then you say, you know what? Traffic was heavy, heavy today. Did you fulfill your promise? No. You know what? God holds you to that. This is simply similar to saying I only promise in theory to honor the Lord. In theory. But I didn't give the Lord the promise. I said to the church, you know what? I will be faithful. I will give. I will come. I will serve. But I didn't tell the Lord that. I told the pastors that. I told the church that. But I didn't tell the Lord that. So it's not really that serious, right? Listen to what James has to say. Above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. You know what he's saying is? If you're committed to it, guess what? Do it. Don't rescind on your commitments. Jesus and James are not condemning all oaths as a category. They are saying, don't try to get out of commitments by swearing by lesser things. Oath-taking reflects a life of inconsistent speech that misunderstand who God is. Back to James. James doesn't take the time to explain to us the meaning and the weight behind this because the Jews understood the context of this oath-taking. Actually, before we go back to James, go to Matthew 23, because I meant to go here earlier. So this is where Jesus explains how important the oath taking is. Notice in verse 16. Woe to you blind guides who say, if anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, meaning you're okay. That's the crossed fingers. But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath. So you can make an oath by the temple, but you can't make an oath by the gold. You blind fools. But which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, if anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing. That's again, it's a cross fingers. You can swear by it and get away with it. But if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath. You blind men, for which is greater the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred. In other words, don't you get it? That there's no difference to God. The gift and the altar are the same thing. It is both sacred. So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. Why? Because the oath is made before God. And whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it. Do you see how he's scaling it up now? And whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. what Jesus is doing is saying that you don't get what you're doing whether you swear by the temple or by the gold in the temple it doesn't matter it is still in the presence of God and that's why he ends on the statement whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God whatever you swear by it doesn't matter if you made an oath God holds you to it because it's under his governing authority This is what lies behind what James is saying in chapter 5, which again he doesn't explain because to the Jews this was a common practice. They would sway by this thing because it is lesser and not by that thing because it is greater. They would make the sacred more important than the non-sacred. this system has permeated this hierarchy of oath-taking has permeated the culture and James catches on that and he says you know what if you make an oath God is going to hold you to it so don't swear by heaven and think you're going to be okay because it is not by the name of God don't swear by earth and think you're going to be okay because it's not by the name of God if you have made a promise it must be fulfilled every oath is heard by God. That is the point that these two brothers are making, Jesus and James. Our culture is a landscape that breeds lying and lesser oaths. Do you notice that James does not mention God? Jesus does but James doesn't mention God. Above all brothers do not swear by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. So we think that those are lesser things. He doesn't mention the name of God and so we think we are okay as long as we don't invoke the name of God. They thought they would be safe. However the reality is that every oath is a commitment made before the throne of God. Lexically and syntactically here this grammatical objects by heaven and by earth are used in oath formulae to illustrate the habitual nature of oath taking and you'll see even in the command do not, it's that present idea of stop doing this. So this was a cultural application. It was normal for them to lie in this way. We are not different, right? Our culture is no different. We major in white lies. We think we can get away by lying to the taxman or making false commitments. And what James is talking about in this context, in this Jewish context, is that oath-taking reflects a life that is inconsistent. Secondly, oath-taking reveals a manipulative part. Why do people swear like this? Why would they swear by lesser things? Because they didn't want to carry the weight of the promise. They didn't want to follow through on it. Today we could say, well, I swear on my life, you know, because you didn't put your hand on the Bible and you didn't say, I'll swear by God. It's kind of not that serious, right? Or I swear on my children's life. Now that's a little bit of a step up, you know, it's not your life because yours is less. Children's a little bit higher. And if you say, I swear by my wife's life, you know, that's a little bit more serious. And if you say, I swear by my parents' life, I mean, that is, that's absolutely serious. We've graded our commitments or our oaths the same way as the Pharisees did. Ever said, God knows I'm telling the truth? Ever been there? Ever said, I'm serious this time and I promise that I will do it. Or ever simply just say, Lord, I promise, I promise if you save us this time, if you help me now, I promise I will do this event. All of these are verbal insurance policies. It's get out of jail card. You've played Monopoly, which is the worst game in the world. You've played that game, right? Get out of jail card. This is that. I swear in my life, you know, if God should keep you to your word, your life will be taken because you are not a man or woman of your word. How many times have we failed in our commitments to God? These are verbal insurance policies. Lord I'm serious but not that serious. James says this is dangerous. You are trying to manipulate God and in the context of what James is talking about and Jesus talked about is they were trying to manipulate others. That may not be the case with us. They're trying to tell people that they've committed themselves to them or to it or to something and they weren't really faithful to that commitment. We have a culture of Yabrus. You know what that is? No? Yabru culture? No? I see all the colored smiling and that guy. So for those of you who don't understand, Yabru means yes brother. That's what it means. It just means that you say yes, but you don't actually mean yes. You'll do it when time comes around and if there's opportunity, or if you have the money to, or possibly after you're dead, you may do it. There is no guarantee in a Yabru's commitment This is the guy that says, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll promise you, no, no, no, it's done. When he says that, walk away, that's a lie. That's our culture. That's where we are. We are easy to say yes, but slow to follow through on that yes. Ever promise to do a job for somebody? No, come on, I'll come paint for you. Ever promise to show up to a meeting or a gathering and say, I'll be there, I'll be there and just don't rock up. You know what you've done? You've made an oath and didn't keep it. God holds us to the commitments we make by means of our tongue. That is the problem of oath taking is that we don't take it as serious as it is. So James says, don't think you're gonna get away when you swear by lesser divine things or lesser things. I swear by heaven or I swear by earth and I swear by anything else but God's name and so you think it's not important. Any oath is important to God. What is the cure? What is the cure for oath taking? Well, it's simple. Jesus said it and James repeats it. It's very simple. Let your ears be ears and you know we know. You know what that means? Be a reliable person. When you say yes, that should be enough. You don't need to take off. You don't need to promise by a higher power or by a higher heaven that you are going to do the job. James says, man, if you say you will do it, show up and do it. If you say you will be there, show up and be there. Let your yes be simply what? Be a man or woman of your word. We have a saying in the world, because it's not just a cultural thing. Your word is your what? Bond. Your word is your binding title. Today, that is not true. Today, a lot of us are word-sayers, Yabrus, Yiz brothers, but we don't follow through on it. While the world will use language like, cross my heart and hope to die, I promise you I will do this, if only that is to give the appearance that you're really serious. For Christians, and what James is saying here, for those who are believers, that should not be necessary. when you say yes that should be sufficient you don't have to escalate your promise because when you say to somebody yes or no they know because they can rely on you because you have had a consistent life of saying yes and no you have demonstrated by faithfulness you will be that person you don't need to take an oath why because your yes is your yes and your no is your no. I had a family member, I won't mention his name or his relationship to not embarrass him, but he had the habit of not finishing a job and he used to start well and his work was excellent. I won't even tell you what kind of work it is. But he just never finished, you know, he would get right to the end, and then he would like end, you know, just one more step. And he just never got to that stage. Now, we know a guy like that as well, I won't mention his name, Chislin, you know, like, he's almost like, I'm just joking, no, Chislin, I'm joking, eh? No, he's not like that. What is wrong with that? What is wrong with a guy that says, you know what, I know I've got a short time left, but I will finish the job. But he doesn't finish his job. What does that create? On your part, you think he's not what? Trustworthy. You don't think that you can rely on him. You don't think that his yes is yes or her no is no. So what happens to that relationship? You don't want to work with him anymore, right? You don't want to give him work anymore because it breaks trust. It breaks relationship. James says, listen, You guys can't have such relationships. Your years must be enough. When you say, I'm going to finish it, finish the job. The challenge is that we've become so accustomed to your bruise that it's OK nowadays to not fulfill your promise. The culture in South Africa, is filled with lies and fallen oaths and I hope it would not be true of Christians. If there's any group of people that would be faithful to their yes and their no, it should be us. James says, let your yes be yes and your no be no. Two things here. This speaks about clarity and sincerity. Yes is yes, no is no. It's plain. an unembellished speech. This is a Semitic idiom. It's a Hebrew construction. A double yes is not stuttering. It means that your initial yes is affirmed and confirmed by the second yes. Yes, yes. It's absolute. I will do it. Your yes will be yes. There is no doubt. You can trust me. I don't have to say I will put my head on a block or by the hair of my head. I don't have to say I swear by heaven. Why? Because I've demonstrated by a lifestyle of yeses. You can trust my yes. Your clarity is not double tongue. Your consistency is a history. It's a lifestyle. So not only does it speak with clarity and sincerity, but also it speaks of steadfast consistency. When you say yes, yes, or no, no, people can take you at your word because you've proved yourself to be faithful. You've proved yourself to be genuine. Yes, yes, no, no denounces duplicitous speech. It is those kind of people that say, I will show up, I will be faithful, I will sign on the dotted line that I will commit myself to you and then they don't. Let your word be your bond. The sad reality is that we don't take it seriously. We don't take our yeses and our noes seriously. How do we know that? I'm talking about in a church context. How do we know that we are not serious about our oaths before God? Church, some churches have covenants, church covenants. We don't have that. It may be a good thing. Some churches have membership processes that they go through, and in the process, you either make a verbal confirmation to the church, or you sign on the dotted line. What are you saying by that? Often if you read through it, and I encourage you to read the commitments you have made to this church, I promise I will be faithful in my commitment to the local assembly. I promise I will faithfully give to the ministries of this local church. I promise to attend local church ministry. I promise to serve and love God's people in this local church. What happened to those promises? what happened to those oaths that were made before God, we don't take it seriously, do we? Why? Because we don't think it's as important as making an oath to God. Guess what? God holds us accountable for every, every promise we have made. How do I know that? The last part gives us the motive why we should be careful with our promises and why our yes must be reliable. Notice what he says, so that you may not fall under condemnation. That is a very harsh statement. It is the hardest statement James makes about the believer. And I will prove that to you in a moment's time. All this to say, James says, you don't get away when you swear with lesser divine things or lesser things. You're not going to get away. Secondly, your life has to be consistently demonstrating that you can be reliable. So when you say yes, it must prove who you are. Thirdly, when you've made an oath, God will hold you to that oath. Why? Be careful so that you may not fall under condemnation. This is not a casual correction. This is not, oh, just be careful. This is final condemnation. Like I said, it's the harshest condemnation that is issued to believers. Now he's been harsh on the unbelievers in this book. In chapter five was one, how you reach, you will be condemned. And he goes through that list there and he says that God will judge you for your wickedness. But he's talking to believers here. He's moved on from the unbelievers to the believers and he's saying to them, listen, Your speech will reveal who you are. So I'm warning you, if you are not trustworthy in speech, you are in danger. If your speech does not reflect your professional faith, if you are making false commitments, false oaths to people, if you're saying, I promise, but you don't follow through on your promise, there is a bigger problem. and so he says I am cautioning you don't make these oaths if you can't keep these promises because it's not the fact that you haven't kept the promise it's not the fact that you haven't that you've made an oath the problem is that there is a hard problem that is being revealed and that will cause you to fall under condemnation your tongue will be evaluated not by people but by God What James is talking about is your yes and your no on your tongue is a reflection of the state of your heart. When you cannot keep your word, what does it say about your heart? When you cannot keep your promise, what does that say about your heart? Why are divorce rates increasing in Christian circles? Because maybe the circles are not Christian. Maybe they are not actually believers. Why do I say that? That oath that you've made before God, God holds you to. I've never, ever done a marriage where they've asked me to say, you know, when you make the commitment, until I take you, Joe Bloke, to be my husband, until life gets really hard, until, You know things go sour or until there is no more money in your bank account or until you cannot provide for me I've never been asked to say something like that because we understand by nature. What are we saying to God? Until what? Did us do part? We say that before God but do we actually mean it? God holds us to that. There is no qualifying phrase there, right? Because there is no qualifying phrase. Every oath is a commitment before God. So what does James say here? Why should we not be quick to make oaths? Or why should our yes be yes and our no be no? Here's why. If you're not reliable in your speech, then you fall under condemnation. This word condemnation is only used of those who are not believers. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. What James is saying is that, listen, if you have a habit, if your way of life is not to follow through on your promise, if your habit of life is to lie by means of your oaths, guess what? You may be in danger of eternal condemnation, which means what? You may not be saved. That is why he's warning them about their words. Be careful how you make your oath. Be careful about your yes and your no. Be careful about your consistency in life. Why? There's only one witness that you have to worry about. The one who will finally judge your words. Wow. Jesus in Matthew 12 verse 36 says this, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. Ever thought about why Jesus said that? Why is it every careless word that they speak? Listen to this, for by your words you will be what? Justified. Or, and by your words you will be what? Condemned. Your words is a reflection of your heart and your words will either reflect the state of your heart and thereby be justified. You're not saved by her words, but your heart will be justified by what you say will be shown to be true. Or you will say that you are a follower of God and your words will be your condemnation. Speech reveals the spiritual condition of the speaker and that is what James is after throughout this book. Look at your tongue and you will know your heart. Look at the state of your tongue and you will know what is revealed in your heart. If you're not a man or woman of your word, if you cannot be relied upon, repent this morning and call upon God to be saved. Or as a believer, you may be struggling with that sin. Ask God to forgive you and help you to fulfill the oath that you have made. Oath taking and not being consistent is not a verbal problem. It's a heart problem. That's what James is talking about. Above all, my brothers, do not swear by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. So don't take an oath by lesser things because you think you're going to get away with it. Why? Every oath is taken in the eyes of God or before the eyes of God. But be consistent in your life. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Why? so that you may not fall under condemnation, so that you will not be under final judgment. Our speech betrays us. Oftentimes we can lie to people and we can get away with a lot before people because they don't really know the state of our hearts. But your speech will betray who you are either now or in the day of judgment. lies, blasphemy, false speaking are some of the sins that is mentioned in the list of sins that God will judge in Revelation chapter 21 verse 8. We think it light but it is God's desire that God's people would be different in how they live by what they say. If it is a pattern of your life to be deceptive in your oaths, in your commitments, in your empty promises, then you have revealed something about your heart. If your yes is not yes, and if your no is not no, then you have revealed something about your heart. And I pray that you would not fall under the condemnation of God, but call out to the God who will be your judge, for him to be your savior. So James ends where we must begin. Do not swear to sound convincing. Speak plainly because you know who God is. Thirdly, remember that every word has weight in the final court of God. There's gospel in this. You may not see it, you may not think so, What James has just done is revealed to a Christian community that they need to evaluate their own hearts, and if they don't pass the test, what must they do? Find their way to the Savior. Find their way to God. It is not enough to say, I love the look. It is not enough to say that I have committed five years ago. Your words must match your profession, must match your conduct. And I pray that there would be some of you who would find hope in Jesus and find a changed life in the one that was condemned for your careless words, for your lies, and for your failed promises. The one that died for those sins. You don't have to continue living such a life. So now if you belong to him, I pray that our mouths would reflect the life of commitment to him. Let's pray. Father, we recognize that we need the sanctifying work of your spirit of grace by means of your word of truth. We will walk in disobedience and unfaithfulness if you let us go. Father, do not. Do not let go of our hand. Do not let go of us in any way. Guide us to the pathway of righteousness if we have wandered, and help us to be faithful to the truth. Help us to walk in a way that reflects that we don't need to swear by lesser things in life to appear to be serious. Help us, Lord, to be men and women of our word, to be faithful in our commitments, to be genuine in our yeses and our noes. Help us to understand that when we are not, we are reflecting a heart that is distant from you, that needs to be changed by you, and that needs the Savior so that we do not fall under condemnation. Father, work in the hearts of those that are not believers, that they may find grace at the foot of the cross. For those of us who are believers, Help us, Lord, to change. Cause our hearts to desire to be more faithful, to desire to walk in truthfulness and sincerity, consistency, so that we may honor you in our speech and in our conduct. Father, we pray that we would find refuge in you as we struggle through life's hardship. But moreover, Lord, help us to find peace in you, even as things go. become more difficult in life. Give thanks to you for your goodness and your grace as we pray these things for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen.