1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,320 Spirit means for us to understand today and I pray 2 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:04,080 these things in Jesus name, Amen. 3 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:07,520 Amen. My name's Eric, I'm one of the 4 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,680 pastors here. Glad to be here with you today. 5 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:13,960 We are, as I said, in the book of Matthew. 6 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:19,000 And so if you have a Bible, pull up your Bibles to the book of 7 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,600 Matthew chapter 5. If you don't have one, we have 8 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,560 free Bibles at the welcome table and we would love to give you a 9 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:29,200 Bible to be able to follow along, take to take home. 10 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:34,200 And so today, as I said, we're in the book of Matthew. 11 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:41,240 And before we get into that, I just want to read to you some 12 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:47,000 interesting things about oaths 'cause we are in verses 33 13 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:52,520 through 37 and it's all about oaths. 14 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:58,440 Jesus does a teaching on what oaths are and whether we should 15 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,240 take them or not. And I've titled the message, 16 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:06,920 Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil because oaths are really 17 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,880 about being honest and keeping your word. 18 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:15,040 And so, interestingly, I was looking up some history about 19 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,040 people who've lied underoath. When you think about oaths, you 20 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,920 probably think about a witness in court having to put their 21 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,160 hand on the Bible saying swear to tell the whole truth and 22 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:27,440 nothing but the truth. So help me God. 23 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:32,960 That is an oath. And lying underoath is called or 24 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:36,960 perjury is a serious federal felony that can carry several 25 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:41,200 consequences, including fines and imprisonment for up to five 26 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,000 years. Now, here are some some of the 27 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,360 most notable in the past times that people have lied underoath. 28 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:53,760 In 1998, President Bill Clinton was accused of perjury and 29 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,840 obstruction of justice during a sexual harassment lawsuit by 30 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,640 filed by Paula Jones. The core of the scandal centered 31 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,560 on his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. 32 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:07,840 I'm sure many of you remember this. 33 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:12,320 The lie was that during a grand jury investigation, Clinton 34 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,200 denied Underoath that he had a sexual relationship with 35 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,800 Lewinsky. The consequences? 36 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,600 Though he was impeached by the House of Representatives, he was 37 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,120 acquitted by the Senate. He was also held in contempt of 38 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:28,120 court for giving intentionally false testimony in the Jones 39 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,120 case, received a five year suspension of his law license, 40 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:37,960 and paid a fine. Mark Fuhrman was a Los Angeles 41 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:42,280 Police Department detective and key witness in 1995 murder trial 42 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,880 of OJ Simpson. The lie Fuhrman testified 43 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,520 underoath that he had never used a racial slur in the past 44 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,800 decade. The discovery was that the 45 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:58,240 defense witness later produced a tape recordings of Fuhrman using 46 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:04,280 racial slurs more than 40 times. So his consequence was that he 47 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:08,040 he pled no contest and it ended his career in law law 48 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:13,480 enforcement. Another one, Bernie Madoff, a 49 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,800 former chairman of the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, ran the largest 50 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:22,360 Ponzi scheme in history. The lie In 2005, Madoff 51 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,360 repeatedly lied underoath to the Securities and Exchange 52 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,080 Commission, misleading investigators about his 53 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:32,440 fraudulent investment strategy. The consequence was that he was 54 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:38,200 convicted of perjury in 2009 and he was, he was sentenced up to 55 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,720 150 years in prison for other numerous offenses in including 56 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,080 perjury. So I read all that to you to 57 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:47,480 bring up the past, to drudge it up. 58 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,040 All of us went through that as Americans watching the news 59 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,360 probably, but also to get into your mind this feeling, OK, 60 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,800 people are taking oaths and oaths are serious thing, right? 61 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,120 So what is an oath? I want to get into that. 62 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:06,600 Well, first let's let's read our verses about what Jesus has to 63 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,840 say, and then we'll dig into this concept of what oaths are. 64 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,840 Matthew chapter 533 through 37. Again, you have heard that it 65 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,240 was said to those of old, You shall not swear falsely, but 66 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,800 shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. 67 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,640 But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, 68 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,760 for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his 69 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,400 footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great 70 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:36,680 King. And do not take an oath by your 71 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:40,040 head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 72 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:43,960 Let what you say be simply yes or no. 73 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,800 Anything more than this comes from evil. 74 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:55,440 So what is an oath? An oath is a formally affirmed 75 00:04:55,440 --> 00:05:01,320 statement or promise accepted as an equivalent of an appeal to a 76 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,840 deity or to a revered person or thing. 77 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,720 So sometimes people swear, I guess if they don't believe in 78 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,720 God, they would swear to some other God or some other deity 79 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,240 that they're telling the truth, right? 80 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:19,960 The biblical definition is a solemn, binding promise, the 81 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,800 truth of which are affirmed by appeal to God as witness, right? 82 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:28,200 So when people say God is my witness or I swear to God or 83 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:33,040 hand on the Bible, these are oaths under the witness of God, 84 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:37,480 basically saying if I don't keep this, May God strike me dead or 85 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:43,720 judge me. So God himself makes oaths to 86 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:45,800 individuals in the Bible. We're going to look at that. 87 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,320 But Scripture makes clear the oaths should be made wisely and 88 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,800 not broken because they are serious. 89 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,360 So let's get to our first verse. As we break this down. 90 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:02,640 I've got three kind of key points. 91 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:06,080 The first is we're going to find out what an oath is, and we kind 92 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:10,160 of get a little bit of that in verse 33. 93 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,640 But I want to give you the context as well, so I'll read it 94 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:16,200 again. Again, you have heard that it 95 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,920 was said to those of old, You shall not swear falsely, but 96 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,360 shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. 97 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,400 So he says again, why? Because we're in this place in 98 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,280 the book of Matthew called the Sermon on the Mount, where he is 99 00:06:30,280 --> 00:06:33,920 preaching to his disciples. He's teaching them what it means 100 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:38,440 to be a follower of Jesus living in the Kingdom of God under God 101 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:43,160 as ultimate authority. And the Jewish people, some of 102 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,760 the Pharisees, the religious leaders are standing around 103 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:49,320 listening. They're they're within earshot. 104 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:55,720 And so this is a famous sermon where Jesus is contending with 105 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,240 the false teachings of the Pharisees and the religious 106 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:03,320 leaders of Judaism. And he's saying, you've heard 107 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:05,240 that it was said. And this is called the 108 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:07,600 antitheses of Jesus. There's six of them. 109 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:12,440 We're in the fourth one. You've heard that it was so said 110 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:17,960 and he quotes an Old Testament verse which actually Mike read 111 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,560 to us before the sermon in in Leviticus, and there's some 112 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,040 others which is in Leviticus 1912. 113 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,480 You shall not swear by my name falsely and so profane the name 114 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,360 of your God. I am the Lord. 115 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:37,720 So Jesus is saying, you've heard that it was said and at first 116 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:43,880 glance it's not wrong, but they were taking this out of context. 117 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,920 You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what 118 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:51,840 you've sworn. The Pharisees were famous for 119 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,880 only looking at the letter of the law or the the only the most 120 00:07:55,880 --> 00:08:00,040 literal interpretation of an Old Testament command. 121 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:07,040 And they were missing out on all the the spirit of what it meant, 122 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:13,160 the heart of the matter. And so they they took pains not 123 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,560 to swear to God, right. You've heard people say you 124 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:20,760 probably shouldn't do that because it's a sin if you say I 125 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,000 swear to God, but you're lying. You're thinning not to just some 126 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,960 person, but you're sinning against a holy God. 127 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,560 You're calling God to witness against you. 128 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,240 And so I think morally we all understand that, although in our 129 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,919 culture, I think it's a normal thing, it's kind of been watered 130 00:08:36,919 --> 00:08:40,640 down and everybody says it now or just takes the Lord's name in 131 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,480 vain often like it's just some other word. 132 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,760 But the Pharisees, the Jewish people, were actually very 133 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,920 moral, very religious people who were serious about not taking 134 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,400 the Lord's name in vain, which is another commandment of the 10 135 00:08:56,400 --> 00:09:02,720 commandments, but also not swearing things falsely because 136 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,520 of these commandments. They wanted to follow the law to 137 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,560 a tee. So again, they were right in the 138 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:13,760 sense that we shouldn't do that. We shouldn't be taking oaths 139 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:19,360 haphazardly calling God on us to witness against us. 140 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:26,320 And so this is found in Numbers chapter 30 and Deuteronomy 141 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:30,080 chapter 23. Also it says if a man vows A vow 142 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:32,880 to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he 143 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:36,280 shall not break his word. He shall do all that proceeds 144 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,360 out of his mouth. Where if you make a vow to the 145 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:41,680 Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the 146 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:44,680 Lord your God will surely require it of you and you will 147 00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:51,520 be guilty of sin. So is it wrong to take oaths? 148 00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:59,960 Because Jesus later in verse 34 of Matthew chapter 5 says, I say 149 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:02,800 to you, you shouldn't take oaths at all. 150 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,040 And then it goes on to share. And that will be in our second 151 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,920 point, which which what I'm going to get to is what all that 152 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,680 meant that he was talking about in verse 34. 153 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:14,600 But when he says you shall not take oaths at all, does that 154 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:18,120 mean that taking oaths are wrong? 155 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:21,040 No, you can't come to that conclusion. 156 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:27,120 Why? Because God even swore oaths in 157 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:32,000 the Bible to to promise his covenants with people. 158 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:38,880 One in particular I would think about is in this ceremonial oath 159 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:45,680 in Genesis chapter 15. If you didn't know, the book of 160 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:50,240 Genesis, you know, has a lot to say about creation and kind of 161 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:54,240 the first humans all the way up to Chapter 11, the flood and 162 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:56,960 everything. But then when we get to chapter 163 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:01,360 12 in Genesis, it zeroes in on God's favor on this one man 164 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:05,120 named Abraham. And this one man, he wants to 165 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,000 make a promise with him. He makes a covenant with him 166 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:11,320 whom later becomes, you know, the nation of Israel that we 167 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,440 know in the Old Testament. But but God makes a covenant of 168 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:20,160 blessing to Abraham that it says all the nations on earth will be 169 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:24,200 blessed through your seed, through your offspring. 170 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,080 Many nations will come out and they will be blessed. 171 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:31,080 And I'm going to bless them and favor them and, and, and from 172 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:37,080 them my name will be declared in all the earth, which that is 173 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,680 fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. 174 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:45,000 Just so you know, that covenant is fulfilled when Jesus comes to 175 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,680 earth. Jesus comes from the bloodline 176 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:54,600 of Abraham all the way through. But that promise that he makes 177 00:11:54,600 --> 00:12:00,480 with Abraham, he does this ceremonial ritual like an oath, 178 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:04,200 taking an oath. And in an oath, you have to 179 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,720 swear on something greater than yourself, since there's nothing 180 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:12,520 where no one greater than God. God swears by himself in this 181 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:16,040 oath. And in chapter 15, he tells 182 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:19,040 Abraham to take some animals and split them in half. 183 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,240 And he splits these animals down the middle and lays them on one 184 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:28,600 side and the other. And this was an ancient ceremony 185 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:34,160 where two people entering into a covenant or a contract would do 186 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:36,800 this. They would walk down the aisle 187 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:41,400 basically of these two split, these split animals and and 188 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:44,960 they're both agreeing to keep each side of their covenant. 189 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:48,760 And they would say, if I don't keep up my end of this covenant 190 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,800 or this contract, may may the what's happened to these animals 191 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:59,000 happen to me? OK, so in chapter 15 what we see 192 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:05,240 is Abraham falls asleep after he had split these two animals or 193 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:07,600 these animals in half to do this ceremony. 194 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,480 And Genesis 1517 says when the sun had gone down and it was 195 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,960 dark, behold a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed 196 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:21,040 between these pieces. Now what's going on there is 197 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:25,520 that God is swearing by himself. That is God, that smoking 198 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:30,520 firepot is, is an image of, of God, much like the, the burning 199 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:35,920 Bush in, in, in Exodus that came to Moses and, and, and said, 200 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:38,560 take your sandals off for you on holy ground. 201 00:13:38,560 --> 00:13:47,120 God appeared in fire. And so in this ceremony, God is 202 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:50,400 taking an oath by himself. We know that through the rest of 203 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:57,040 Scripture, understanding that God is swearing by himself and 204 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:00,440 taking an oath. And there's several other places 205 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:01,960 in the Bible where God does this. 206 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:04,280 This is beautiful. By the way, Did you know that 207 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:10,080 that that ceremony is where we get the tradition of husband and 208 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:13,280 wife, you know, walking down the aisle in a marriage ceremony, 209 00:14:13,560 --> 00:14:16,360 which by the way, is an oath or a vow. 210 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:18,760 When you get married, what do you say? 211 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,720 You're you're calling God as witness and you're saying till 212 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:23,440 death do us part. I promise this. 213 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,160 I promise that right. And again, in our culture, we've 214 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:32,200 kind of made that less of a priority or we don't think it's 215 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:36,160 as important as it is. And I just did 2 sermons on 216 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:42,040 adultery and and divorce last week talking about those things. 217 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:46,440 But now three weeks of marriage sermons, you know, not that this 218 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:50,560 is going to be about marriage, but evidently the Holy Spirit 219 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:56,160 does want us to really place marriage in its proper place of 220 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:04,520 of prominence to God. It's important to him in in 221 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:12,240 Hebrews 613, after Abraham was about to OfferUp his son on the 222 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,640 altar, and then God saved him and replaced him. 223 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:20,840 The the the New Testament author of Hebrews says, For when God 224 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,800 made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater whom to 225 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:29,280 swear by, he swore by himself, saying, surely I will bless you 226 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:32,040 and multiply you. This is the same covenant that 227 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:36,640 God continues to reaffirm through the Old Testament with 228 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:41,880 an oath by himself to himself, even this thing called the 229 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:47,160 Melchizedek priesthood, which Jesus himself holds, and no one 230 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,880 else can hold this office. I'll explain that to you in a 231 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:51,920 moment. The same thing is said about 232 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:53,960 this. It says, and it was not without 233 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:58,000 an O or and it was not without an oath, for those who formerly 234 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,760 became priests were made such without an oath, but this one 235 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:06,960 was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him, the 236 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:09,760 Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. 237 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:14,640 You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. 238 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:20,360 So that Melchizedek priesthood that the Hebrew author ascribes 239 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:27,320 now to Jesus is saying that the Lord has sworn that Jesus holds 240 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:31,880 this office forever. Now again in the Old Testament, 241 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:36,160 when a a priest couldn't hold the an office forever and they 242 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,280 they had to be replaced. Why? 243 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,960 Because those priests would die, and so that somebody else had to 244 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:46,200 take the place in Jesus's case, in the Melchizedek Priesthood 245 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:50,160 case, Jesus can't die and will always hold the office of 246 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:55,280 Melchizedek Priesthood. Therefore, when an oath is taken 247 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:59,400 to say that someone else is taking this new priesthood 248 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,320 called the Melchizedek Priesthood, that is a false oath 249 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:07,000 and a lie. I'm telling you that now. 250 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,920 That's just an application to us. 251 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:14,480 But the bigger point here is that God makes oaths by himself 252 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,839 in the Bible. Oaths are not wrong and they're 253 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:26,400 very serious also, and so we should take them seriously. 254 00:17:26,599 --> 00:17:30,960 All oaths should be done under God, and one should be afraid to 255 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:36,680 do this in a false manner. Deuteronomy 613 Again, it is 256 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,320 Lord your God. You shall fear, Him you shall 257 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:43,720 serve, and by his name you shall swear. 258 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:50,920 So in a sense, there's almost commands to take oaths in the 259 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,360 Old Testament, including God himself taking them. 260 00:17:55,800 --> 00:18:00,240 Humans took oaths under God for covenants, contracts, promises. 261 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:07,160 In Genesis chapter 24, Abraham and his servant Abraham wanted 262 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:12,440 to find a wife for his son Isaac and and he said to his servant, 263 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,760 go find go help him find a wife or go go out and find him one. 264 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:18,400 But do not take them from the Canaanites. 265 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,480 Take a, a wife from the Canaanites, swear to me under 266 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:27,600 God, make an oath or a pact with me that you'll go to my own 267 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:30,400 people, back to my own land to find a wife for him. 268 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,640 And what did they do to carry out this oath? 269 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:35,680 It's kind of weird or interesting. 270 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,160 Maybe you've heard it before, but they, they each put a hand 271 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:43,560 under each other's thigh. It was like this symbol of, of 272 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:46,960 OK, I'm, I'm swearing to this oath. 273 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:50,360 We find many things like that in Scripture. 274 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,000 And so where would oaths be appropriate for us today? 275 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:03,960 Again, I talked about marriage vows, the president, when the 276 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:09,080 president is sworn into office, that certainly should be before 277 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:14,400 God, Underoath, right? As long as we try to remain a 278 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:19,080 nation with Christian values, I'm always going to vote for the 279 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,280 president that leans more that direction than the other way. 280 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:27,040 But I certainly want him to stand before God, not just the 281 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:31,440 people, because I think we've proven in our own, our own even 282 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:35,760 government that it's corrupt. And you can't always. 283 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,000 Like in Bill Clinton's case, it took a lot to try to impeach 284 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,200 him, and the Senate still saved him. 285 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:47,680 So I would feel a lot safer if my president is not just under 286 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:51,880 the under the accountability of the people in their votes, but 287 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:54,600 under God and his accountability. 288 00:19:55,440 --> 00:20:00,160 So that's an appropriate thing when the president swears on the 289 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,680 Bible and is sworn into office, witnesses underoath in court. 290 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:10,360 We read some examples of that. Again, God is a God of justice, 291 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:18,600 and God has established, even in imperfect, corrupt governments, 292 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,520 still a way to carry out justice and. 293 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:25,920 That's why you see it's still happening in our courtrooms 294 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,600 today that people swear on the Bible. 295 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:31,920 Did you know that baptism is an oath? 296 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:36,360 Actually, we did a teaching on this many, many months ago that 297 00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:43,840 baptism, when you get baptized, yes, it is a symbolism, but 298 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,480 that's what oaths are, right? Like a symbolism of what we 299 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:52,400 believe and A and a commitment or a covenant relationship. 300 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,160 And so when someone goes into the water and comes up, they're 301 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:59,080 saying, I commit my life to following Jesus. 302 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,760 And I believe that when I go into the water and come up, that 303 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,440 symbolizes my death and resurrection with Jesus Christ 304 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:10,640 in his death and resurrection. And now I'm going to follow him. 305 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:14,120 I'm going to publicly declare it in front of all people and I'm 306 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:18,160 going to follow him. Baptism is an oath that we take 307 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,320 in the eyes under the accountability and the witness 308 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,240 of God. We're calling God to witness. 309 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,880 That's why we take it seriously here at church about baptism. 310 00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:32,120 It's not just something some Willy nilly thing where it's 311 00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:37,440 like, you know, everybody's doing it or you know, I, I want 312 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,040 to do this because I feel like it. 313 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,000 It's we've got to understand all that it means that we're doing 314 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,640 before we actually go into the waters of baptism. 315 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,240 Now, it doesn't mean you have to know everything and be a 316 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,400 theologian about it, but you should certainly understand what 317 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:54,440 it means that you're doing. So again, oaths aren't the wrong 318 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:59,840 thing at all, but they are unnecessary outside of official 319 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:01,520 use. And I think that's the heart of 320 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:03,600 what we're getting at. And so my next point is this. 321 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:07,800 Oaths are oftentimes made in everyday life with the intention 322 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,040 to deceive. Let's read the verse. 323 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:16,480 But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, 324 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,800 for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his 325 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,880 footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great 326 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:24,960 King. And do not take an oath by your 327 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,080 head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 328 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,240 So what's going on here is that the Pharisees, as I mentioned 329 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,920 before, we're famous for being legalist, meaning looking only 330 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:43,960 at the literal OK, I shouldn't swear falsely under God or call 331 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:49,160 call to witness God on an oath. So what they were doing because 332 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:54,440 they're they're legalists or lawyers are great at looking for 333 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,880 loopholes. How can I get out of sinning 334 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:03,120 against God but still take oaths and do things that I want to do 335 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:08,720 in an in a deceptive manner? Because what they were doing was 336 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:13,000 they were instead of swearing to God and making a promise to 337 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:17,240 someone under God, it was I'll take an oath by heaven. 338 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:21,400 I'm not quite saying God right. You see the heart behind that 339 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,520 where it's like, I'll swear by the throne. 340 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,560 It's not quite swearing to God, but I'll swear by the throne. 341 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,160 And then they would, if they didn't fulfill their contract 342 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,680 or, or, or or commitment to the person, they would just say, 343 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,360 well, that's too bad for you, but at least I didn't sin 344 00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:44,520 against God by the earth. They would swear by the earth or 345 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,720 swear by Jerusalem deceiving people, right? 346 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:52,440 Because in a sense you're thinking this person is a holy 347 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,960 religious person. They wouldn't swear on these 348 00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:00,560 holy things that God has made and not keep up their oath, 349 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,560 right? Even by your own head. 350 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,040 And and so that here the, the principle here is, is that 351 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:11,840 swearing by God or anything he created is the same thing 352 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:19,000 because God alone is sovereign who created the heavens, who, 353 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:26,400 who where his throne exists. He created the earth, the city 354 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:30,680 of Jerusalem, even created our heads. 355 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:32,920 He created our whole beings, right. 356 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:36,600 And so to swear by any of these things, thinking you're getting 357 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,920 away with something. Technically Jesus is saying, 358 00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:41,960 Nope, you're not getting away with this one. 359 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:46,320 You're still guilty by taking these false, false OS to deceive 360 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:49,520 people. Now we probably don't do this. 361 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:51,480 I mean, maybe some of you guys say that. 362 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:56,120 I swear to God, I hope you don't or if if you have been this 363 00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:59,000 whole time, This is why we have the word of God. 364 00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:02,920 It's for our sanctification. It's for our becoming holier and 365 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:06,120 holier learning to how to please God with our lives rather than 366 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:09,960 do what we think is right. So there's no condemnation. 367 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,720 Why? Because I could probably say 368 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:19,760 with very with assurance and confidence that we've all sinned 369 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:24,200 and broken this very thing that Jesus is talking about swear 370 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,400 swearing by something and not and then not holding up our end 371 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:32,040 of the bargain. When we were kids, we used to do 372 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,280 fingers behind the back, right? Fingers crossed behind the back. 373 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:37,760 You ever do? That seems so innocent, right? 374 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,560 That's just the beginning of the training for these little 375 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,440 centers, you know, And then we grow up and we start breaking 376 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:48,920 all of our promises, fingers behind the back, or have you 377 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,480 ever said, I swear on my mother's grave? 378 00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:55,160 That's that would be terrible, right? 379 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,080 People done it actually. So we were watching, you know, 380 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,440 we were binging Survivor for a long time. 381 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:03,920 And if you've ever watched Survivor, the whole name of the 382 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:09,600 game is deception. And several times someone who's 383 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:14,360 either sworn on their kids or sworn on their whole family or 384 00:26:14,360 --> 00:26:18,920 their wife and then gone against it. 385 00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:22,320 And actually, there's a few, few of the people who will never 386 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,600 outlive their bad reputation now because they were so deceptive 387 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:30,880 to try to win the game that they would actually swear on their 388 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,040 family to try to get to someone to believe them. 389 00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:36,720 That's what we're talking about here. 390 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:38,280 That's what the Pharisees were doing. 391 00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:41,400 I mean, and isn't that what life is like? 392 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:45,360 So they say in the game of Survivor, it's a microcosm of 393 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:48,680 the reality of, you know, this world that we live in. 394 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,200 Not that I'm promoting that, nor do I believe in their, you know, 395 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:58,000 ideologies or politics at all. But in some sense, you get a 396 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,400 small group of people together, you throw them on an island. 397 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:02,720 It really does show you how sinful people are. 398 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,640 OK, it's kind of like marriage. You take two sinners together, 399 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:08,840 you put them together for a long enough time and then they have 400 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:11,920 kids and you, you start to realize, man, we're all messed 401 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:19,920 up, you know, but but it really just shows us that in the game 402 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,840 of life, we think we're we, we need to deceive people to get by 403 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:30,280 right to gain, to gain money, right to to make a name for 404 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:35,560 ourselves in a career. How many people have lied, lied 405 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:39,640 in the application process, you know, or, or lie to get ahead, 406 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,360 say that you have some experience that you don't really 407 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:49,200 have, right. Lying people to get ahead is 408 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:55,680 really our world. We all do it. 409 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:57,280 We've done it at some point in time. 410 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:02,720 And what we need to understand is that we're not just being 411 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,960 deceptive to people and God's like, oh, at least they're not 412 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,320 swearing to me. No, because you know, the, the, 413 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,720 the, the 10 commandments or the greatest commandments are summed 414 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,720 up in love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength 415 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:18,920 and love your neighbor as yourself. 416 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,560 You're not loving God or your neighbor when you lie to people, 417 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:27,440 when you when you're twisting the truth a little bit, 418 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:32,600 embellishing the truth or omitting the truth, right. 419 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:36,240 Some different types of lying is just outright lying to get away 420 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,760 with something. You did something wrong and you 421 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,560 don't want to fess up to it to experience the consequences. 422 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:47,360 So you just outright lie or you did something you should have 423 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,160 told somebody but you didn't. That's called the lie of 424 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,160 omission. Leaving the truth out a half 425 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,800 truth is telling part of the truth, but not telling the whole 426 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:00,640 truth. Embellishing is, hey, I caught a 427 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,840 fish that was 1 foot or 12 inches, but it was really 19. 428 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,120 Like I'm telling people 19 inches, right? 429 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:10,720 We think we make fun of that. It is a joke. 430 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,120 It is funny, right? Why, why is it that we have to 431 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:15,880 try to look good in front of other people? 432 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:21,280 So we just puff it up a little bit Because we're sinners at 433 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:23,040 heart. I mean, there's all kinds of 434 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:27,320 things wrong with us. We're, we're insecure, we don't 435 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:29,920 trust God. We don't trust God that if we 436 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:34,720 just tell the truth, that he'll bless us, that he'll bless our 437 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,000 career, that he's actually really in control and he 438 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,080 actually wants his people to tell the truth. 439 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:43,960 And if we would just follow him, he would he'll take care of us. 440 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:49,960 Says that we can lie to people for the greater good to get a 441 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,600 get our religion to have more influence. 442 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:59,440 Like if we're trying to accomplish something for God in 443 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,040 the name of God, it's OK to lie to people. 444 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:09,960 I mean, that's just totally antithetical to God, who is all 445 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,600 true and there are no lies in him. 446 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:16,200 And if we are Christians, then we're supposed to try to be like 447 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,240 God and he we don't do it on our own. 448 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:23,080 He helps us to get there, but our goal is to be like Christ. 449 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:27,600 Christ never lied. He never had to water things 450 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:31,880 down or embellish. He never had to over exaggerate. 451 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:36,360 He never had to lie to get his. He died. 452 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:40,240 He died. He was being questioned in a 453 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,040 court of law and he could have easily lied there and lied to 454 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,760 people. OK, maybe I'm not who I say I 455 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,640 am, but because he is only full of the truth and he cannot lie, 456 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,520 he had to tell the truth when they asked him Underoath. 457 00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:01,680 Basically they said I adjure you by the living God, are you the 458 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:03,600 Christ, the Son of the living God? 459 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,240 And he said yes, you have said so. 460 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:10,480 And he knew that when he answered that, that he would be 461 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:15,280 taken to the cross and he would be brutally beaten along the 462 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:19,680 way. He didn't have to lie to 463 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,320 accomplish his mission. And if we're Christians, we 464 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:31,560 don't have to do that either. Exodus 20, where the 10 465 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:36,640 commandments are, I believe that this it's all about lying. 466 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:39,760 But but three of the 10 commandments actually handle 467 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,280 this. It's the second, the 8th and the 468 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:44,280 9th. The 2nd is you shall not take 469 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:48,400 the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold 470 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,120 him guiltless. Who takes his name in vain? 471 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:56,320 If I swear by God's name to people and then do it 472 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:00,400 haphazardly or lying, I've broken the second commandment. 473 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:07,000 That's not just about saying his name as a swear word, it's also 474 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,360 using his name in a false way. Here's the 8th commandment. 475 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:15,800 You shall not steal. Well, a lot of stealing has to 476 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:21,560 do with lying. When you lie, let's say lie on 477 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:26,680 your taxes, you know, when you lie in a business transaction, 478 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:28,680 what? What else are you doing? 479 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,120 You're stealing, 9th Commandment. 480 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,200 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 481 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,840 That's lying. You're lying about someone in 482 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:41,560 order to get out of some trouble or to get them into some 483 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:45,960 trouble. Again, this is all about lying, 484 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:52,240 and we should not be liars as Christians, not to win a game, 485 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:55,400 not to get ahead, not to make ourselves look better, not to 486 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,280 gain money, not even to protect ourselves. 487 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,400 Colossians 39 says do not lie to one another, seeing that you 488 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:07,080 have put off the old self with its practices and have put on 489 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,920 the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the 490 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:14,760 image of its creator. So that's my my final point is 491 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:21,960 this that Christians should be known for telling the truth. 492 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:25,960 Here's what Jesus goes on to say in verse 37. 493 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:29,520 Let what you say be simply yes or no. 494 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:33,560 Anything more than this comes from evil. 495 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:41,240 When we're asked a question about if we did this or that or 496 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:47,120 if we if we will do this or that, just tell the truth and 497 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,520 say yes or no. It shouldn't be that hard, 498 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:54,520 right? Why is it so hard to tell the 499 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:59,680 truth? I believe we need to be a people 500 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,760 that's more direct in our relationships. 501 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:07,040 Often times we're more passive aggressive and we have this 502 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,760 people pleasing mentality. So when someone asks us to do 503 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:15,600 something and we know we don't really want to do it and we're 504 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,000 going to hold bitterness in our hearts or something, we say yes 505 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,239 because we don't want to offend them or we want to. 506 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,760 Maybe even with good intentions. We want to carry something out, 507 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,880 but we need to be honest with people in our relationship. 508 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:34,560 I mean, this is about loving other people. 509 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:41,120 Now we need to learn how to say yes and no like nicely, you 510 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:45,639 know, Proverbs says a harsh answer, you know, or a soft 511 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:50,120 answer turns away wrath. So there's some wisdom in this. 512 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:53,679 Again, we can't, we're not going to just be literalist legalist 513 00:34:53,679 --> 00:34:58,000 here and be like, no or yes, you know, like that's the heart of 514 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,800 this is being honest, being truthful. 515 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:08,880 And so, you know, sometimes we might have good intentions and 516 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:11,880 we say, yeah, I'll come help you move or yeah, I'll come do that 517 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,400 or yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll carry out that, that project. 518 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:17,880 Or you tell your boss, yes, right. 519 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,000 When you're really like, no, I hate this guy. 520 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,520 I don't want to do this. He is. 521 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:26,840 I can't believe he's even asking me, you know, like that's I'm 522 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:28,680 telling you, I'm, I'm in your head right now. 523 00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:29,720 I know that's what you're thinking. 524 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,880 I've been there. By the way, I want you to know 525 00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:40,280 I'm a Sinner with you. But this is who we are and this 526 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:44,080 is what needs to change is what God, the Holy Spirit is saying 527 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:45,960 to us. This is what Jesus is saying to 528 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,160 us. We need to be a people that if 529 00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:53,760 we make commitments, then we should follow through with 530 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,120 those, right? And so here's where I'm going to 531 00:35:57,120 --> 00:35:58,520 get out. The people, who are they? 532 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:01,680 They always use the excuse I'm unorganized. 533 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:05,440 Why can I talk to those people? Because I've used that excuse 534 00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:09,240 several times in my own life. OK, you make a commitment. 535 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:12,000 You told someone, yes, I'll do this or that. 536 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:17,320 And then when that time comes around, no action has happened, 537 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:22,680 right? And and the reality is is 538 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:24,720 there's and then you say, oh, I just forgot. 539 00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:26,560 Like, what are you telling the other person? 540 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,920 What you said to me was not important and my own words of 541 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,760 commitment were not important. That's what you're telling the 542 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:37,080 person. And I know, I know that I have 543 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:41,520 offended my own wife in that I have, I've done that to people 544 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:43,840 before. I'm trying to grow as a pastor, 545 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,320 you know, when all these requests come my way or 546 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:48,000 whatever. And there's a lot of people and, 547 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:50,760 and yes, sometimes pastors use this excuse, which they 548 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:56,680 shouldn't is we're just so busy. Everybody's busy, but we've got 549 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,440 to be a people. I'm in this with you. 550 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,000 We're all together here. We've got to be a people that 551 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,720 can start holding their commitments. 552 00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:06,920 And that means then if I'm an unorganized person, but I commit 553 00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:09,400 to something, then I better hurry and write it down. 554 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,640 I better put it on a calendar or something and make sure that I'm 555 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:15,000 going to keep my word. Why? 556 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:19,760 Because it's not just about the importance between me and that 557 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:24,760 person, which I'm called to do. But if you love God, then 558 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:30,160 keeping our commitments and not not keeping our commitments, 559 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,320 then to other people can also be sinful. 560 00:37:37,550 --> 00:37:39,870 Doing what we say we're going to do is called integrity. 561 00:37:41,430 --> 00:37:44,150 But then yes, the opposite side is true. 562 00:37:44,150 --> 00:37:47,030 Also, like I said, like don't people tell. 563 00:37:47,430 --> 00:37:51,030 Don't tell people yes or no if in your heart you're going to be 564 00:37:51,030 --> 00:37:56,120 mad at them for answering yes or no when you really didn't 565 00:37:56,120 --> 00:38:00,720 actually want to do the thing. You've got to be honest to 566 00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:04,640 people. Here's where I'm going to be 567 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:06,720 really challenging to all of us liars. 568 00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:10,760 We need to stop being like the devil. 569 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:17,760 Why? John 844 says you are your of 570 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:19,800 the He's talking to the Pharisees. 571 00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:21,920 You are. This is Jesus, you're of your 572 00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:25,400 father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. 573 00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:28,080 He was the murderer from the beginning and does not stand in 574 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,080 the truth because there is no truth in him. 575 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:34,040 When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a 576 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:40,120 liar and the father of lies. Where did untruthfulness come 577 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:44,000 from? And deception come from? 578 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:49,080 Satan himself. And he's continuing to do that. 579 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,680 He's a pro, he's the professional, he's the father of 580 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,400 lies. Second Thessalonians 29 talks 581 00:38:55,400 --> 00:39:00,960 about he will use deception to deceive people even into 582 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:03,320 believing false things. It says the coming of the 583 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:07,040 lawless 1 is is by the activity of Satan with all power and 584 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,600 false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those 585 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,520 who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so 586 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:18,640 be saved. Satan is actively using false 587 00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:26,760 teaching, lies and deception to go against God's people. 588 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:29,960 We should not be switching sides then. 589 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:31,640 This is what the Christian life looks like. 590 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:36,920 If there was a line here, we would be like constantly jumping 591 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,760 over this line. You know, I'm on Satan's side, 592 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:41,440 God's side, Satan's side, God's side. 593 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:43,120 Why? Because every time we sin, we're 594 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:48,600 basically siding with Satan. I know that's harsh and, and I'm 595 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:52,400 let me just say, we're never going to stop sinning this side 596 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:58,360 of heaven, but we should be diligent about trying to sin 597 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,040 less. And, and how do we do that? 598 00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:05,240 We don't do it in our own power. We do it in the power of the 599 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:09,120 Holy Spirit. Whom God gives us by faith in 600 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:12,880 Jesus Christ at the moment of faith and after that, then we 601 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:18,240 also have a command to walk by the Spirit and all the sin lists 602 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:22,120 lying is in there. And how do we fight against the 603 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:27,520 the passions of the flesh? We use the power of the Holy 604 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:29,960 Spirit. We walk by Him and do the things 605 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:34,000 that are going to feed our soul, reading the Word and prayer and 606 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,600 gathering with other people who aren't liars and don't take the 607 00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:43,600 Lord's name in vain. People that tell you show you 608 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,960 what it's like to to share the truth no matter what the 609 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:55,070 consequence, even we need to take it seriously. 610 00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:01,080 Psalm 51 says in verse 6, behold, you delight in truth in 611 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,400 the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 612 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:13,680 God is teaching us wisdom through his Holy Spirit in our 613 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:18,680 new hearts that He's given us and He delights in and when we 614 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:23,720 follow that truth that He's implanted in US. 615 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:30,080 James, the brother of Jesus actually echoes the words many 616 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:35,800 years later after Jesus ascends to heaven and James writes his 617 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:41,280 book and here's how serious he says, he says, but above all my 618 00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:46,040 brothers like this is like the the last chapter of his book. 619 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:50,360 He he lists all these things and he says, but above all, my 620 00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:55,680 brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any by 621 00:41:55,680 --> 00:42:00,280 any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no so that 622 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,400 you may not fall under condemnation. 623 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:08,600 It's a big deal. We shouldn't be swearing by 624 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:12,160 things. We should be telling the truth. 625 00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:17,320 We should be known for being direct truth tellers like a 626 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:19,640 Jesus. You've been with us in this 627 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:21,120 series. It's probably been pretty 628 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:25,240 intense because what we thought about Jesus might be different 629 00:42:25,240 --> 00:42:27,840 than what we read in the in the gospels. 630 00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:33,600 Like he's a direct guy. I wouldn't say he's a people 631 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:38,680 pleaser, but I also wouldn't say that he's mean or rude. 632 00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:44,360 He is the perfect man who is loving, gracious and kind but 633 00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:49,560 tells the truth every time. And that's what we should be 634 00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:53,400 aspiring to. This is a foreign concept to our 635 00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:56,200 world. But you know who needs to hear 636 00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:57,560 the truth? It's our world. 637 00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:01,680 We should not be affirming things that we don't agree with 638 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:08,600 morally to keep peace either when we just don't say something 639 00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:11,160 about something. Right now I do think that we 640 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:15,800 need to be clicked to quick, to quick to listen, quick to hear 641 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:18,640 and I'm getting the the quote wrong, right. 642 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:21,960 Quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. 643 00:43:25,720 --> 00:43:29,040 We shouldn't just say whatever we feel comes to our mouth about 644 00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:34,280 something that we react to. But at the same time, when we 645 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:38,400 have people around us that are living in sin and God provides 646 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:42,720 the opportune time to tell the truth, tell the truth when it's 647 00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:45,160 the time to tell to stick up for Jesus. 648 00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:50,440 Stick up for Jesus no matter what the consequences. 649 00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:56,240 We've seen that recently, like even even in our brother Charlie 650 00:43:56,240 --> 00:43:58,400 Kirk. He was known for telling the 651 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:03,200 truth. And while he's not a perfect man 652 00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:06,560 and sometimes it might across came across then in different 653 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:14,840 ways because he's not Jesus. What I would say that I feel 654 00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:19,720 envy or honor towards the man for was that he was direct and 655 00:44:19,720 --> 00:44:24,880 telling the truth about Jesus and he talked about sin. 656 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:32,920 Now we can have grace, we can let things go, and if we're 657 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:38,160 humble, we can realize that a lot of us have a lot of sin and 658 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:40,440 shouldn't be casting stones at everybody. 659 00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:46,920 This doesn't mean we get to go out and be jerks because you and 660 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:48,600 I are so sinful. How are we going to call 661 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,960 everybody else out? Jesus said take the the plank 662 00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:55,600 out of your own eye before you remove the speck out of your 663 00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:58,640 brother's eye. We've got to be humble. 664 00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:03,720 But it is the truth that saves and changes hearts. 665 00:45:03,720 --> 00:45:10,400 It's not capitulating to the culture around us, affirming 666 00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:13,800 things that shouldn't be affirmed just so that we can 667 00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:20,400 maybe win some influence or not get persecuted because of our 668 00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:23,240 faith. We shouldn't be lying underoath. 669 00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:26,240 We shouldn't be making promises that we can't keep. 670 00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:29,920 We need to be honest with ourselves and others. 671 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:34,440 Do you want to commit to this without thing? 672 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:40,080 Say yes or no. Be known as the truth teller, 673 00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:46,600 but do it in love because the consequences of lying are are 674 00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:49,480 many. If you're a Christian and you 675 00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:56,920 feel guilty about it, you feel shame, you feel misery 676 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:02,880 sometimes. So just tell the truth, When you 677 00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,520 lie, you hurt relationships, people can't trust you anymore. 678 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:11,000 And what we've seen is sometimes lying puts you in prison. 679 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:16,440 And for those who are not believers in Christ for the 680 00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:19,200 forgiveness of their sins, lying puts you in hell. 681 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:25,800 So what we need to do is be truth tellers and the most 682 00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:31,360 important truth that we all agree upon is the person and 683 00:46:31,360 --> 00:46:35,960 work of Jesus Christ who came and died for all of us liars in 684 00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:38,960 the room and all the ones out of the room that believe and trust 685 00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:43,440 in Him. And by God's grace, we will go 686 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:48,840 on to tell the truth more and more until we meet him in 687 00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:49,760 heaven. Let's pray. 688 00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:56,120 Father, we thank you for your truth. 689 00:46:56,120 --> 00:47:02,360 We thank you for your words. Thank you for forgiving A Sinner 690 00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:05,880 like me, like us here today, who have told many lies in our 691 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:13,560 lifetime. Convict us, Lord, help us to be 692 00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:16,880 cleansed from all of the spots and stains.