the scripture reading in Matthew 5 and the short section verses 33 to 37 Matthew 5 verses 33 to 37 part of our Lord's teaching on the subject of oaths and we read these words again you have heard that it was said to the people long ago do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord. But I tell you, but I tell you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by the earth, for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your yes be yes and your no, no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Thanks be to God for this portion of his own written word. Now, will you also turn with me in the Trinity Hymnal to the Westminster Confession of Faith once more this evening? to the 22nd chapter, which you'll find on page 684, page 684, chapter 22 of Lawful Oaths and Vows. Part of this chapter, of course, we read during the morning worship service here today. Now as we come to the 22nd chapter tonight and hope to look at all of this chapter, together, it's seven sections. There are several things that I want to say to you, as usual, by way of introduction. The subject matter here is not as familiar as some of the other chapters with their great subjects of justification or repentance or the great work of mediation by the Lord Jesus Christ or the scriptures or many of these other great resounding themes that we've been sharing and thinking about together on these Sunday evening occasions. and indeed the relevance of this chapter may at first be very difficult for you to see. But I want to suggest to you that the implications of it are very significant indeed for the living of our daily Christian lives. They have very real point. even though in the current living of the Christian life in the church today, occasions are very infrequent, it seems, when we make either oaths or vows. Now, the second thing that I want to say to you is to give you a distinction between an oath and a vow. And very simply, it's this, that an oath is made between men and God is the witness to it. whereas a vow is made to God and he is party to it. And you probably noticed from the sermon notes that sections 1 to 4 of chapter 22 deal with the taking and keeping of oaths and section 5, 6 and 7 deal with the taking and keeping of vows to God. Now these points I think are very significant and very helpful to us as we come to this chapter, but there's a third one that I want to mention also by way of entrance into the chapter. We read just a few moments ago from the New Testament scriptures and the teaching of Jesus some very direct words of his that oaths were no longer to be taken, it seems, in the Christian church. But I say to you, Matthew 5 verse 34, do not swear at all, either by heaven or by Jerusalem or by your own head. And Jesus went on to give reasons why oaths should not be taken. Now obviously a very real question of interpretation is raised here. We have a chapter in the Confession of Faith on oaths and vows. We have a direct word of Jesus in Matthew 5 that oaths are no longer applicable to Christian men and women. How do we resolve this problem? And the answer very simply and quite quickly this evening is that when Jesus spoke in Matthew 5 he was not forbidding the taking of biblical oaths. What Jesus was doing, as you readily recognize in many of the sections of Matthew 5, was correcting a distorted practice among the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes particularly, regarding the practice of oath-taking and oath-making. And as with so many other things, chastity and adultery and the Lex Talionis, the law of revenge from verse 38 onwards, Jesus is correcting their misinterpretation. If you look at the verses that we read it's very clear that he's doing this. because the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes were in the habit of teaching that if you make your oath in a certain way, you are entitled to break it. If you do not use the name of God directly, they taught, but you swear by heaven, then you may break it if the exigency of the case demands it or if you swear by Jerusalem or if you swear by your own head as my head is black the Jewish man would say I'm telling you the truth and Jesus reminds them that this is a form of casuistry It is wrong, it is an unlawful way of getting out of a solemn commitment that you have made. If you swear by heaven, it's God's throne. If you swear by Jerusalem, it's the city of the great king. If you swear by your own head, you don't even have the power to make a single hair white or black. And however you may give the oath, there is a sense in which God is involved. in that oath-taking and you are not entitled to take an oath easily and to break it easily. And he taught us that we should not normally need to resort to oaths because our words should be sufficient in itself. Our yes means yes, our no means no. If we have to resort to other things to strengthen that word, it is only because of evil in the world and evil in man's heart that tends to untruthfulness. And the provision for oath-taking is to be understood because it was given in a world that is evil, and evil at its background. And oaths are necessary only because of man's innate tendency toward untruthfulness and lying. So you can see then from that brief comment on Matthew 5 that Jesus is not forbidding the taking of oaths but he is forbidding that practice of casuistry that allowed the Jewish people to enter into oaths easily and break them equally as easily. And if you're interested, there is a tape in the tape library, a part of a series of sermons that I preached two years or more ago through the whole of the Sermon on the Mount, and there is a whole exposition that deals with that fascinating word of Jesus in Matthew 5, 33 through 37, where it's dealt with in a much more full way. Now, with that as introduction, will you look with me this evening, and it's going to be a very light touch this evening as we work through, hopefully, seven sections together. Will you look with me at chapter 22? The introduction in section one is very clear and I think only requires the most minimal of comment. A lawful oath is part of religious worship wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he swears. Now it's a very interesting statement because it says to us directly that the taking of oaths is indeed a part of religious worship. It may be properly used by Christian men and women. in their worship of God and the single reference you may notice in the text if you have an edition that gives you the text is Deuteronomy 10 verse 20 thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve and to him thou shalt cleave and swear by his name I would have wanted personally to add another text which is of course from Exodus chapter 20 verse 7 thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes him his name in vain and indeed I see to my correction but it is the very second text mentioned in the proof text so when you think of that second command or the third command of the Ten Commandments you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain it clearly implies the part of using God's name in terms of calling upon it in religious oaths as part of religious worship you must not use the name of God in a way that disparages his name and clearly that does imply that his name may be used in this way in religious worship, in affirmations of great moment, in occasions, as we'll see, where they are of sufficient importance that a solemn oath may be required in the name of God to affirm what we are saying or what we are denying. It is a part of religious worship. Now it must be upon just occasion, as you notice, and the person swearing solemnly is calling upon God to witness to what he asserts or promises and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he swears. Now that is very interesting because When we invoke the name of God, we are in a sense not only affirming the truthfulness of what we are saying, but we are inviting the Lord to visit us with penal consequences if indeed we are speaking an untruth in his most holy name. May the Lord do so to me and more also is a frequent refrain in the Old Testament, you remember. when men of integrity and men of God have called upon God to witness the truthfulness of their acts or their words or their attitudes. And these things are very solemn as we are reminded here. We are swearing solemnly in the name of God and with due realization of the consequences if indeed we are misusing his name in that which we affirm. Now section two again I think is fairly straightforward if you will look at it with me in your commentary. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence. So that when a Christian uses an oath then that oath should only be made in the name of God. It is the name of God only. that men ought to use in oath-taking with all holy fear and reverence some of the proof texts are very interesting here Deuteronomy 6 verse 13 for example thou shalt fear the Lord by God and serve him and swear by his name and of course the 10th commandment again in Exodus 20 verse 7 Jeremiah 5 verse 7 How shall I pardon thee for this, the Lord is saying, thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in harlot's houses. And there are several other Old Testament references and then James 5 verse 12, but above all things, my brethren, swear not neither by heaven nor the earth nor by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation that again is to be interpreted in the light of Matthew 5 but oaths are not absolutely forbidden but the light taking of oaths the inconsequential taking of oaths is to be avoided and the name of God is to be used and that alone in those infrequent occasions when a Christian will be called upon to do this. Therefore, continuing in Section 2, to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful and to be abhorred. Now that, I think, is clear enough from what I've already said to you. Yet as, in matters of wait and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God under the New Testament as well as under the Old. So a lawful oath being imposed by lawful authority in such matters ought to be taken. Now, there are two things that are said there, that an oath is warranted under the New Testament. What is the evidence for this? Well, there are several lines of evidence. One of the clearest is in the life of the Lord Jesus himself. If you look at Matthew 26, verse 63 and following, you find that when Jesus was on trial before the high priest toward the end of his ministry, He was arraigned by the high priest following Jesus' silence in this man's presence and he was addressed with the words, I adjure you by God, tell us whether you are the Christ or not. And you can see Jesus, therefore, being put on oath by the high priest of his people, to which you notice Jesus himself does not respond by continued silence. He responds to that question. And it's very clear that from our Lord's own example, being put under oath or taking an oath oneself is clearly not unlawful for Christian men or Christian women. Now there are another series of texts of course in the book of Hebrews and these are quoted as the proof text for this part of the section in Hebrews 6 verse 16 referring to the oath that men take for confirmation of important things and to end all strife and in other parts of Hebrews there are references to the oath that God has given to us, that he will provide salvation through Christ, he will provide a better covenant, and there are a series of references you may want to look up in your copy of the Westminster Confession of Faith that confirm the practice of oath-taking as being acceptable in the New Testament. It is, after all, the example of God himself. So then the second thing is a lawful oath being imposed by lawful authority in such matters ought to be taken. Now let me say to you that through the Christian centuries there have always been Christians who have refused to take oaths on the grounds mistakenly I believe that Jesus is said to have forbidden them in the passage we read earlier in Matthew 5 verse 33 and following. And you may be aware that in the early days of the settlement here in America, among the pilgrim fathers, there were those Christians then who regarded oath-taking as a sin. And it was the practice of our legislators in those early days to allow another form of affirmation in the law courts, respecting indeed the conscience of these men, even though I believe it was wrongly informed, and giving them an alternative by which they could affirm the truth of what they witnessed to and what they spoke in the courts of law. But our confession takes the position that in a court of law, or upon other lawful occasions of great importance and great seriousness we are not breaking the commandments of God to go on oath. And you are well aware today that it is still our practice in the courts of law and in the legislature to be presented with a Bible and to be asked to swear upon the Bible as the holy word of God that you will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. and we Presbyterians believe there is nothing sinful whatever in that practice it has much biblical warrant and evidence now let's look at section 3 whoever takes an oath or duly to consider the weightiness of so Solomon act and therein to a vouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth well that stands to common sense and to biblical sense as well, isn't it? Because the seriousness of doing otherwise is what we call today perjury. And for you young people who are present in the service, one of the most serious offences under law is when you are asked to give testimony and witness concerning some event, some crime it may be, in a court of law, and you are then discovered to have deliberately distorted the facts or your reporting of them. And it is a very serious crime, punishable by serious imposition of the court, to be found a perjurer and in breach of the requirement at that point. We must be fully persuaded of the truth in all that we affirm and avouch. Neither may any man bind himself by oath to anything that is not good and just, and what he believes so to be, and what he is able and resolved so to perform. Now that's a very interesting statement and a very significant one. You may remember when we went through the book of Judges with Mr. Fox in the adult Sunday school class twelve months ago, we came to a passage that described the action of one of the judges, and you can look up the passage yourself. in the book of Judges where he pledged his own daughter as a sacrifice to God in those very unwise words that whatever was first to greet him from his own house he would offer to the Lord And of course the biblical answer to whether he was right or wrong is given to us in this passage that a man may not bind himself by oath to anything but what is good and just and what he believes so to be and what he is able and resolved to perform. Now God does not require human sacrifice and therefore this man was wrong in making that vow that we today must call a rash oath or vow. And the sin, beloved, is not in breaking that oath. The sin is in making it in the first place. Just as the Roman Catholic Church, to take another example, requires of the Protestant Party to a mixed marriage, but the children of that union will be brought up in the Roman Catholic faith. And if the Protestant Party agrees to that oath, and is then converted to Christ and realizes the unbiblical nature of it should he suffer a crisis of conscience concerning an oath that he has made apparently in good faith and the answer is no because God does not require this it is not something that he requires to be performed and the sin was in making the oath the sin is not in that man's breaking it which would be a biblical action in these circumstances. So we must be very careful. Yet it is a sin to refuse an oath touching anything that is good and just, being imposed by lawful authority. Now you see even today the Quakers There is a Society of Quakers in most towns, I don't know if we have one here in Jacksonville, but they would distinctly aver from this statement and maintain, as I mentioned to you a few moments ago, that the taking of oath in any circumstances is wrong, because we believe they have misinterpreted the teaching of our Lord. If it is good and just and imposed by lawful authority, we may enter in to such an affirmation of our good intention. Now section four, an oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words without equivocation or mental reservation. Equivocation means that there are some unspoken reservations or material factors in our taking of that vow which we have not revealed to the person to whom we are taking the vow or the oath. So it must clearly be an honest entering in to a binding agreement and arrangement. It cannot oblige to sin. Remember my example of a moment ago. But in anything not sinful being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt. Nor is it to be violated, although made to heretics or infidels. Now you notice my friends this evening that there are practical applications that stare us in the face right here this evening. How did you become a member of the congregation? By a solemn oath or vow before God. You promised in five instances that you would do certain things, that you would not do other things. And this binds us to the performance of the keeping of those oaths or promises even where they are to a man's own hurt. I'm preaching to the converted this evening, but if the average church member looked over the five membership vows solemnly undertaken in the presence of God, and really understood that these were binding commitment not made to a pastor, not made to a session, but made to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a difference we would see all through the life of every congregation of the PCA. Vows and oaths entered into that are being solemnly and lovingly and joyfully kept even when they are to a man's own hearth. Now it's interesting that we are to keep these oaths even when they are made to heretics, that is, to the people that do not believe in the true Christian revelation or infidels, those who belong to an anti-Christian religion. And it should be the hallmark of a Christian man or woman that his word is his law. He keeps his word, even to those who are not of our Christian persuasion. You find many examples of this in the Old Testament. I haven't time this evening to advert to them. Now section five, we're drawing quickly to a close, a vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath and ought to be made with the like religious care and to be performed with the like faithfulness. You remember that a vow differs from an oath in that it is made to God and God is party to it. An oath is normally made between men and God is a witness to it. Here he is a party to it. So there is a place for making religious vows. They are made to God. They are to be made with the same religious care, to be performed with like faithfulness. It's evident, isn't it, that if we keep our word to men, how much more should we keep our word to God? Now section six, it is not to be made to any creature but to God alone. and that it may be accepted it is to be made voluntarily out of faith and conscience of duty in way of thankfulness for mercy received or for the obtaining of what we want. So the section is teaching us thus far that a vow cannot be commanded by the church. I cannot say to you, you must vow in the name of the Lord to do certain things. It is entered into voluntarily. And even if you remember, your church membership vows were voluntarily undertaken. And I rejoice in our practice here in Westminster, but those who attend a membership class are told right from the outset, your coming to this class does not in any way commit you to membership in this congregation. We want you, but only if the Lord is directing you and sending you here to us. And if you discover at the end of this course that your heart is not right with God, or you are not fully ready to enter in to these five wonderful vows made before God, then we would rather that you waited than that you came unprepared and disgraced the name of the God whom you profess to love and serve. It's a voluntary undertaking. Now, it's made out of faith. Obviously, if we come to the Lord in a relationship that binds us to Him, to the fulfilling of certain duties or whatever we may vow, then there must be a relationship there. We must do so in the conscience of duty. In other words, that we feel that God Himself is directing us by His Spirit to do the certain things that we are vowing, And normally there are two reasons for a vow, by way of thankfulness for mercy or request for obtaining what we want. And you find that the Puritan practice was frequently to make vows to God in thankfulness for his dealings with them at certain seasons of life. It might be childbirth. It might be some signal mercy that he had given to them in delivering their life out of great danger, as in the Civil War in Britain between Cromwell and the royalists, it might be for some great congregational blessing. But the people of God as a whole vow to the Lord to do certain things in thankfulness for what He has first done for them. But the other way, of course, is when we are moved in spirit to desire a signal blessing from God, greater power on the preaching of His Word, a growing fellowship among the Lord's people, a deliverance, it might be, from some national tragedy or adversity, the Lord's people may be moved to vow to undertake certain things in obtaining what the Holy Spirit has laid upon their hearts, whereby we more strictly bind ourselves to necessary duties or to other things so far and so long as they may fitly conduce thereunto." Now, it's very wise there that we should not bind ourselves to things we cannot perform. We should be biblically informed as to what duty God may require of us in the vow that we are undertaking. There's much to be said for the Covenanters' practice in Scotland at the time of the Second Reformation, when they were threatened by an Episcopalian takeover of the Church, and they met together in the Great National Covenant of 1638 and solemnly vowed before God what? That they would protect the liberties that God had given them, even to the shedding of their blood. and they would be faithful in the use of the means of grace under the great Presbyterian preaching of that age and in faithfulness to Christ as the great king and head of the church. And their example is a worthy one to follow. They pledged themselves to those duties that God had already commanded. Now I strongly advise you, beloved, if you're thankful for good health, don't vow to God. that you will run round the block ten times every morning at six o'clock. I've known Christians who will do that. And I think the tendency, very often, is to trivialize religion. And very quickly the vow is broken and the name of God is brought into disgrace. It is wise to vow only those things, as we're told here, that are commanded, and as long as they may fitly conduce to the thing for which we have made the vow. Now section 7, very quickly as I finish, no man may vow to do anything forbidden in the Word of God. That much I think is clear. That's what made Jephthah's vow in the book of Judges, I believe so biblically in error. Or what would hinder any duty therein commanded, or which is not in his power Now some Christians have been very unwise in vowing to do certain things that they are not capable of doing, whether it's assuming duties or responsibilities in the church or whatever it might be, or for the performance whereof he had no promise of ability from God. If I promise to God that I will run round the block ten times at six in the morning, I shall probably physically not be able to do it by the end of the week, if not at the beginning of the week. and it would be very unwise for me to make that kind of vow. In which respect, and here is the final illustration given to us in the Confession, popish, monastical vows of perpetual single life, professed poverty and regular obedience are so far from being degrees of higher perfection but they are superstitious and sinful snares in which no Christian may entangle himself." And here is a contemporary reference. The Westminster divines were very much aware, more than we are today, of those unbiblical vows asked of priests and monks to remain single and celibate when God has given the gift of marriage, which is a normal experience for all of us, professed poverty. In other words, the monks take a vow to remain in poverty all the days of their life and give their talents and work to the benefit of the Roman Catholic Church, regular obedience, that is, obedience required under the monastic orders, these are far from being vows that signify higher perfection. Indeed, if you read of the experience in the Roman Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation, you find that the deepest dregs of profanity and sexual immorality were found where? In the church. In these Roman Catholic monastic orders. And the reason was that they had imposed upon themselves something that is neither biblical nor required nor even wise in terms of sanctified common sense. Well, may God bless that study together to us as we have worked through this great but little-known chapter of the Confession of Faith.