We did cover a lot of ground last week, and we do want to finish tonight. And I didn't want to rush it, as I mentioned to you last week, because there are some points we need to ponder here tonight. Let's read our text, verses 33 to 37. We're talking about six. This is the fourth of six illustrations. that jesus used to depict that that our righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees and he's dealing in here with truthful and integrity of speech that is something that is something we need and i think the message tonight is christians we need to be radically truthful at all times. Verse 33, again you have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, thou shall not forswear thyself, but shalt perform under the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, neither by earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black, but let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Let's pray. Father, I pray tonight that everyone will give 100% attention to the message. Lord, we know it's a hindrance of the Holy Spirit if those people are distracted in service, looking at their phones. I pray, Lord, you just help them to understand it's a hindrance to the Holy Spirit of God. So Father, I pray that everyone will set everything aside and listen to you, because you are here in our midst. We don't want to offend you. So Father, I pray that you would get a hold of hearts through this message. Help us to be honest, help us to be truthful in everything that we say and do. Even when it hurts, help us to tell the truth. Father, that's what you want. So Father, lead us by thy spirit. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. So four of six illustrations here, number four. So what do we learn up to this point? Let me jump through this. The Pharisees' tradition. Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear but thou shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths now he's definitely dealing with the old testament we looked at several scriptures now sadly the pharisees did not obey these scriptures that's the problem deuteronomy 10 20 thou shalt fear the lord thy god thou shalt him shalt thou serve and him shalt thou cleave to him thou shalt cleave and swear by his name so it is telling them to make oaths that's okay but we need to fear God and serve him That's was under the law. Then it says in Jeremiah and he and it shall come to pass if they will diligently learn the ways of my people to swear by my name the Lord live it. So he's talking about the people that would come to the nation of Israel join themselves. They needed to truly learn the ways of God and swear by his name. We also saw Leviticus 1912 about not swearing falsely by the name of God to profane the name of God. And Numbers 30 talks about when you make a vow unto the Lord or take an oath then we need to fulfill what we have spoken. So these are the verses. Let's go to one more because I don't think it's up here. No. Go to Deuteronomy 23 21 just to get another verse in before we move on. Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 21. When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not slack to pay it. For the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee, and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. So basically we understand God wants us, we're going to see that God wants to make vows to him. That's like a decision for the Lord. and he wants to follow through on it. But what he's gonna do is deal with how we say, how we use his name in our everyday speech. And how we talk to people in our relationships about swearing, you know, swearing on someone's grave, swearing on your life, or swearing on God, you know. that's that's what we're going to we're going to talk about because we do know that that's what the rabbis were teaching in jesus day that's where some of the rabbis what were they saying well it's not binding okay if you swear you know on the life of, you know, your mother or your father or the king or whatever on his grave, their grave. That's not binding because you didn't use the name of God. So that's what they were teaching. They were going about saying, you know, well I didn't use the name of God. There is a whole section in the Mishnah that elaborates on the discussion of when oaths are binding and when they are not so can you imagine the teaching was like it just degenerated into a system of rules as to when you could lie and when you could not that's basically what they were getting to when okay now it's okay to lie now it's not because you said this you didn't say that So basically, that's what the Lord is dealing with in his time. It would be like children saying, oh, I have my fingers crossed, so I don't have to tell the truth, right? That's how sad it is. now let's see what Jesus teaching is and then we're going to see the implications to our lives today because there's got to be some applications here for us amen it's not just in Jesus day or in Jesus time and correcting the Pharisees only no there's definitely some application for us and how we speak and how we talk to one another and how we tell the truth So Jesus is now going to say, he's going to correct this. He says, but I say to you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, neither by earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Neither shalt thou, neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. So basically he's saying don't swear at all. Then he's saying don't make vows using objects, you know, heaven, earth, the king, Jerusalem, my head, thy head, anything. He's saying, you know, don't swear by objects. Don't swear by people. Don't swear. Do not do that. And the reason is God is attached to everything because everything is his creation. So you are attaching the name of God, even if you're saying this or that or that person. Let's go over to Matthew 23 where he says it in a stronger language. Matthew 23, remember that scathing message to the Pharisees that they're whited sepulchers. They're full of dead men's bones. And basically, you know, in the middle of that, Jesus is going to be saying, again, how are you talking to one another? How are you trying to get around? you know, oaths, vowing. What's he saying? Verse number 16, 2316. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple does nothing. So here it is. This is what they were doing. But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he's a debtor. Ye fools and blind, for whether it's greater the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold. So it's okay to swear by the temple, but not by the gold. Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing. But whosoever swears by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. So, you know, the gift is more important than the altar itself. So if you swear by the gift, then you're guilty, but not by the altar. ye fools and blind, whether it is greater the gift or the altar that sanctified the gift, whosoever therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. Amen. God. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. So do you see This also amplifies a little bit about what was going on in Jesus day. What they were doing, what these O's, what swearing by this, swearing by that, how they were getting around all this. So what does he say in verse 37? And this is where we need to be today. Let your yay be yay and your nay nay. Yes is yes, no is no. go to James chapter 5 verse 12 this is kind of where we ended last week and we'll pick up from here James 5 12 this is if you think about it here's an application James is making, right? It's to us, the church. But above all things, my brothers, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea and your nay nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. So it's exactly what Jesus taught. That's what we are to be doing. Now, what are the implications? And that's where I left you last week and I asked you a few questions. So we need to ask about the absolutist interpretation. So what are the implications of our Lord's radical teaching for our lives? Are we never supposed to take any personal oaths? That's the question. What about public oaths we are asked to take in court? What should you do? So an absolutist interpretation would be like the Moravians and the Quakers. A lot of them are out east, by the way. We have a Moravian college. We have a lot of Moravians out in Pennsylvania in different areas. Of course they spread all over the place, don't get me wrong. They're even in other countries. But they have taken an absolutist interpretation of Jesus' teaching. They refuse to take an oath or swear that something is true or not true anytime, anywhere. George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, provided this famous rejoinder to the judges at Lancaster who sentenced him to prison for refusing to swear over a Bible that he would tell the truth. So back then you had to put your hand on the Bible and swear. He refused to do that. Here's his argument. You have given me a book here to kiss and to swear on. And this book which you have given me to kiss says, kiss the son. And the son says in this book, swear not at all. I say as the book says, and yet ye imprison me. How chance ye do not imprison the book for saying so. And today, because of George Fox's stand, You do not have to lay your hand on a Bible in a court of law and swear to God that you're telling the truth. You may simply say, I affirm that I am telling the truth. That's an option. But the context itself argues against such an absolutist understanding because Jesus' illustrations of abuses are from everyday common speech. The illustrations are from common speech, not an oath in the court of law. That's where we need to understand the application, and so we have to ask ourselves, how do we know that? Well, Jesus himself, go to Matthew 26. So I am saying, and what I believe the Bible to teach is, that it's not wrong to take a public oath in the court of law with your hand on the Bible. I don't believe that's what he's against. And Matthew 26, this is Jesus, as you know, coming to the end and being judged. We're going to jump in at verse 63. But Jesus held his peace, and the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him thou hast said nevertheless I say unto you hereafter you shall see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven then the high priest rent his clothes saying he hath spoken blasphemy what further need have we of witnesses behold now ye have heard this blasphemy and so here he is breaking his silence and he is uh answering an oath and answers thou nothing so this is this is what he is doing here and then we have paul in second corinthians chapter one the example of jesus but we also have the example of paul and two examples second Corinthians 123 he says to the Corinthians moreover I call God for a record upon my soul that's pretty serious that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth so here he is making that it's like saying I swear before Almighty God that's what he said to them and then Romans chapter 1 verse 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. So Paul, in saying these things and talking about God as his witness and Paul did not believe he was going against Jesus' teaching when he appealed to God as his witness under the pressure of defending his ministry. So he wasn't breaking the law of Jesus' teaching and of truthfulness and oaths and swearing. So how does this translate into life? What deductions can we draw concerning our speech? Simply this, oath-taking is permitted but not encouraged. It's permitted. In the courtroom, civil life oath-taking is permitted when one does so he does not sin against Christ's teaching. Also, on rare occasions, it may be necessary, as it was for Paul. However, O's are not to be a normal part of everyday conversation. I think that's where we get ourselves in trouble. In normal relations, O's should never fall from our lips. So you're talking to your friends. You're talking to your husband, your wife. You don't need to be swearing on this or swearing on that. You see, righteous men and women do not need such devices. We don't need that device. We are committed to truthfulness and that should be evident to all. You see, that's the key here. Are we really truthful people? Why do we have to say, okay, now I'm swearing to you I'm telling the truth. You get the idea? So he's telling us as righteous men and women, we do not need to use O's. We do not need to swear that we're telling the truth. In fact, we should refrain from that. And so what is Jesus saying? Remember his righteousness supersedes the law. See what I'm getting at? He's saying we should be so truthful we don't need to swear by this or that because we always tell the truth. And people know us for telling the truth. That's where we need to get here if our righteousness is going to exceed that of the Pharisees and scribes. Our word is truth. When we utter the formula, I swear to God, or I swear by God, I'm really saying now I'm going to mark off an area of absolute truth and put walls around it to cut it off from the muddy floods of untruthfulness and irresponsibility that ordinarily overruns my speech. That's what you're saying. Okay, now I'm really telling the truth. You see, what we are saying in all this, if we are doing this all the time, what we are saying is that people are expecting us to lie from the start. And just because they are counting on us lying, we have to bring up these big guns of odes and words of honor. So Christ is calling us to being a truthful person, a he's calling us to a life of radical truthfulness. I hope you want to join him in this. And here's some thoughts. And it is going to take us through several points here. So don't get happy that the word conclusion came up. You see, our problem today is we live in a radically deceptive world. A world that is deceitful at its very roots. We are awash in a sea of media deception. Think of the media. Rivers of hyperbole and exaggeration flow through advertising, political campaigning, and much more. Language has devolved to the extent that we do not know what the other person is saying. Right. Studied ambiguities are the order of the day. And here it is. This is our heart. You have to admit this. Sometimes we embellish the truth without even realizing we are doing it. Now, we could say, you know, and I want you to think about it. Fish get bigger. Do they ever get bigger? Profits greater. Boyfriends are more handsome. Strength greater in our world of newspeak and exaggeration even in our own words. You see, it's hard to tell the truth. Here's a preacher of the 1800s. And I think I wanted to begin that with a quote he made. And I don't think I said it, but George McDonald, this is in December 6th, 1878. He said this to his son. He's writing his son. I always try, I think I do, to be truthful. All the same, I tell a great many lies. Here's his full admission. I always try, I think I do, to be truthful. All the same, I tell a great many lies. Things that mean one thing to myself, though another to other people. But I do not think lightly of it. Where I am more often wrong, is in tacitly pretending I hear things which I do not, especially jokes and good stories, the point of which I always miss. But seeing everyone laugh, I laugh too, for the sake of not looking a fool. My respect for the world's opinion is my greatest stumbling block, I fear. So I hope we understand what he's getting at when he's saying, yeah, sometimes I lie when I don't even want to. You see, it's not easy to be a totally truthful person today, but it is necessary for our church. And the truth is, and for the world, not just the church, but the world. You see, the world longs for freedom from dishonesty. Sure, it cultivates deception and promotes it. But deep down, people long to escape the show and pretense. Many look eagerly to believers, that's us, to display honesty and integrity for which they so long. Our integrity as followers of Christ can make all the difference to a dying world. When people know that you do not lie, your testimony will have more effect than all the theology you could ram at them. What a difference a truthful life can make. Do you see that? What impact is it going to have if they know we lie, just like them, about things? What a difference it can make in the church. See, radical truthfulness is greatly needed in the church. An act of deceit done to another brother or sister is a deceit done to all the body. For we are all members one of another. Jesus prayed that we would be unified in the church. Amen? But a body that is not truthful is a body filled with distrust and therefore not unified. That's why we always need to be honest and truthful. So that's one of the greatest needs of the church today. Let's go to Matthew 12. How can we promote this radical truthfulness? in our personal lives. Matthew chapter 12, couple verses over here, 34, O generations, of vipers, O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Do you know that words are sacred? We shouldn't just speak words lightly. We need to be very careful. We need to kind of weigh our words because our words are an outward sign of an inward condition. Your words are revealing what's in your heart. And so we need a truthful spirit. And that's what I'm getting at. Shouldn't we have a truthful spirit in us? If we receive Jesus, he is the truth. The word of God is truth. Sanctify them by that word. That word is truth. We're commanded in the church to speak truth one to another. Very practical communication in the book of Ephesians. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, right? That's not the one I'm looking for, but that's a good one too. Wherefore put away lying. Speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Brethren, this is the church. Ephesians 4 is unity in the body. We are to speak truth. We're not to lie. We are members one of another. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Then it gets into bitterness, wrath, anger, malice, clamor, evil speaking. Be kind, be tenderhearted, forgiving one another. All this has to do with our speech, amen? So we need a truthful spirit. bringing forth an increasing veracity of speech. We also need to hear, as we read over Matthew chapter 12, that Jesus hears every word, not just the oaths that we take. He hears every word. And that we will give an account of all of our words as he says, In Matthew 26, 36, or 12, 36, 37, our words are freighted with eternity. We would do well to take this seriously in our speech. So let's be righteous as the children of God. Let us speak truth at all times. and let us understand that people should know us for the truth we speak and that we don't need to use phrases like now I'm telling you the truth or let me be truthful as if you weren't truthful you should be truthful all the time or I swear by this I swear by that don't swear at all just tell the truth at all times that's what Jesus wants Yes, you can take an oath in the court of law, you're not breaking the word of God, but make sure you tell the truth in the court of law, too, while you take your oath. God's going to hold us accountable for the oath that we take. Let's all stand, every head bowed, every eye closed.