The text for our sermon this morning is Matthew 5, verses 33-37. So we continue our study of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, verses 33-37. When you have found that, I invite you also to turn to Psalm 15. Psalm 15. We begin with Psalm 15. A psalm of David as we hear now the Word of God. Lord, who may dwell in Your sanctuary? Who may live on Your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man, Who despises a vile man, but honors those who fear the Lord. Who keeps his oath, even when it hurts. Who lends his money without usury, and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken. And then before we read our text, if you would flip over a few pages to Matthew 23. Matthew chapter 23 where we have seven woes listed that our Lord spoke to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. We consider verses 16 through 22 in connection with the text this morning. Matthew 23 beginning at verse 16. Woe to you, blind guides! You say, if anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing. But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath. You blind fools, which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, if anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath. You blind men, which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it. And then our text, verses 33-37 of chapter 5, Matthew. 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, 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. May God add His blessing to the reading and consideration of His Word. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have probably heard at some point in time the statistics that the average man speaks 10,000 words per day and the average woman speaks 25,000 words per day. Well, the good news for you women is that the gap apparently is getting smaller, 7,000 now versus 20,000. The problem is there are no actual studies to support any of those facts. However, in a 2007 science journal or magazine, it is written using years of accepted research, and then it gives the qualifier some credible, some not so much. The conclusions now, based on this credible or not so much research, is that man on the average speaks 15,669 words per day, And the average woman speaks, or on average speaks, 16,215. A difference of only 546 words. So all in all, on the average, men and women speak apparently about 16,000 words per day. And if you figure 8 hours of sleep time, 16 hours of wake time, that's about 1,000 words per hour, about 17 words per minute. Interestingly, the three most talkative are men, and the most talkative, 47,000 words per day. Now, I don't just give you these facts as some fun facts to talk about. As interesting as they may be, I give them to you with this question, are our words, is what we say, important? It's a lot of words. When it comes to what our Lord is considering here in the Sermon on the Mount, we might think, well, murder and hatred and lust and adultery and divorce, all of those things are very, very important. We understand that. But words? What we say? Are conversations that really aren't meaningless? Are they important? Well, Jesus thought so, and we are to also think so, especially as Jesus says in Matthew 12, For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. The mouth speaks what's in the heart. And do a study sometime when you have time on Proverbs and notice all of what the writer talks about with regard to speech and what is said and how important it is. Jesus is dealing with His kingdom citizens, the character of them, their heart character. God Himself speaks. he speaks through his incarnate word Jesus Christ he speaks through his word inscripturated for us his word is truth his kingdom is a kingdom of truth where the lie has no place his kingdom is a place where his kingdom citizens are called to have love for the truth because as David makes clear in Psalm 15 one who dwells in God's holy presence is one who speaks the truth from his heart. You see, beloved, a love for the truth is important in this world where Satan, the prince of lies as Jesus describes him, promotes the lie and strives to destroy the truth. And he's doing a pretty good job. There are surveys with regard to Americans that say that Americans lie all the time for no reason. As if there would be a reason. Without a conscience. We might say in order to simply get to their way or to get what they want or maybe even more important to stay out of some sort of trouble. Yet interestingly, those who lie want to be told the truth. They understand the deception of their own hearts and therefore they demand the truth be told to them. They demand it with a guarantee with some sort of an oath or a promise. And that's because there is a lack of trust and integrity and honesty because of sin in the world. As Jesus says, anything beyond this comes from the evil one. The oath is needed in this world because of the evil one, because of evil in men's hearts. Once again here, Jesus, in this little portion, corrects a wrong interpretation of the law of Moses. This time, of course, with regard to oaths. And as He does so, we learn that love for the truth, first of all, prohibits manipulating words, twisting words, playing around with words. That is what the religious leaders were doing. Now, it might help us, first of all, to talk a little bit about, to understand the doctrine, we might call it, the doctrine of the oath. What is the teaching with regard to the oath? What's it all about? Well, its use is that an oath is used to give weight or importance to what one says. To make it believable. To convince another that what is being said is true and that there's no reason to doubt it. And an oath, then, involves calling on someone or something as a witness on behalf of the speaker. And its truth, then, is that since the oath deals with truth, the only one who is able to confirm truth is God. In the Heidelberg Catechism's consideration of the ninth commandment, you shall not bear false witness, which, of course, deals with the truth and with the oath. Answer 102 says, A legitimate oath means calling upon God as the one who knows my heart to witness to my truthfulness and to punish me if I swear falsely. No creature is worthy of such honor. God is the only searcher and true reader of your heart and mine. In Deuteronomy 6, verse 13, Moses says, Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name. Moses would have the people understand there is only One who can truly read the heart. As one commentator says, an oath is simply an appeal to the omniscient One, the One who knows all things, an appeal to Him as to the truthfulness of our testimony and the sincerity of our promises. That's what we might call, in a nutshell, all the doctrine of the oath, the teaching of the oath. Well, what about the direction of Moses then? Because these rabbis, these teachers of the law, claim to be in line with Moses. What was his intent? Well, Jesus, I trust we know, is not teaching here that all oaths, when he says, but I say to you, do not swear at all. He is not teaching that all oaths are wrong, as the Anabaptists and as the Quakers and those like them claim. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David himself all took oaths in the name of the Lord. Jesus spoke under oath when he was on trial. Paul called on God himself to witness to the truth of the gospel that Paul preached. And God himself, as Hebrews 6 says, swore by himself. He guaranteed his own word. Indeed, Moses understood the need for an oath. And therefore, the direction of Moses, we might say, the intent of Moses included that there should be an awe for God. Because again, a true oath is acknowledging God. It is confessing that God is sovereign. That God alone knows my heart. And therefore, we are to be filled with awe as we speak. knowing that we do so before God who hears every word, boys and girls and young people and all of us. He hears every word. And He knows with regard to each of those words whether it's true or whether it's false. And therefore, Moses, knowing the sin of man, knowing that man is prone to lying, which brings chaos and brings a lack of trust, His intent was to restrain man's speech. Be careful what you say and how you say it so that people could live in peace with and trust for one another, which is what truth brings. And therefore, his intent as well was that an oath would only be made for weighty reasons, important reasons. Now, the way that the word to swear, as in to swear an oath, is used in the original of the Old Testament is always used in a way that we are to understand that one was not to take an oath unless they were called upon to do so. Or when circumstances made it necessary. For example, when a controversy or a problem could not be settled without one. Or for example, in a court of law when earthly justice depends on it. But not for every trivial matter because that was to put oneself in danger of lying. of having to try to keep, to remember and to keep all of these oaths, all of these promises that one had made for every little trivial thing. We still take oaths today. We make promises. We think of the presidential oath of office that He will uphold the Constitution of the United States. We think of oaths that other civil servants may take. We take oaths in the church. For example, the office bearers, ministers, elders, and deacons when they are installed, ordained into office, they sign that form of subscription promising on oath that they will defend the truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. When one makes profession of faith, that one makes an oath that yes, I believe the promise that was signified and sealed to me in my baptism, that Jesus Christ is my only Savior. And that one makes a promise on oath that yes, I believe the doctrine contained in the Old and New Testament and expressed in the articles of the Christian faith that it is the true and complete doctrine of salvation and that one promises. This one's often broken. That one promises that should they become delinquent in either doctrine or in life, they will submit to the authority of the elders. A man and a woman, when they get married, they make a promise to each other before God that they will live together in love all the days of their life. Interestingly, that Jesus deals with oaths right after divorce, right? Keep Your Word. Parents, when they bring their children for baptism, they make a solemn vow before the Lord that they will do all in their power to train their children according to the truth of God's Word to introduce them to the only Savior, Jesus Christ. And all of these, you see, are weighty and important. especially in the context of the church in response to God. And all oaths are intended for one to keep. That was a part of Moses' direction. To keep them. To uphold the truth. That was his emphasis. And that's important for us to understand because what was heard and what was heard was said, as Jesus says, came according to a false interpretation. Now, there are three verses from the Old Testament that many of the commentators point to specifically that may have shaped the understanding of the rabbis, of the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law. Let me read those. Listen carefully. Leviticus 19, verse 12. Do not swear falsely by My name, and so profane the name of the Lord your God. Numbers 30, verse 2. When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word, but must do everything he said. Deuteronomy 23, verse 32. If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. Now notice, in all of these, Moses talks about making a vow to the Lord as we read a little bit earlier. Take your oaths only in the name of the Lord. But in these three passages, we need to understand that His emphasis is on these things. In Leviticus 19, do not swear falsely. In Numbers 30, verse 2, He must not break His word, but must do everything He said. In Deuteronomy 23, verse 32, Do not be slow to pay it. The emphasis of Moses, beloved, was on truthfulness. It was on keeping one's word. Do not lie either by making a vow or a promise that you never intended to keep anyway, or do not lie by not keeping your promise. To not keep is to take God's name in vain. To dishonor this One who alone searches our hearts. So the direction of Moses on oaths was that one is to recognize God, be in awe of God, that an oath was to be made only for weighty, important reasons and that they must be kept. The truthfulness of them. That was the direction of Moses as Jesus exposes the distortion of the Pharisees with all of these things. They were manipulating, Twisting the Word of God. Notice verse 33. 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. Now that sounds good. On the surface, we have no problem with that. We hear that in what Moses said, don't we? But you see, they misinterpreted what Moses said so that only oaths made explicitly using God's name in some way, only those were important. And don't perjure yourself. Don't make yourself out to be a liar. Don't swear falsely. You can swear truthfully. Don't swear falsely. But again, they limited even that truthful swearing to only those that were made in God's name. They ignored the emphasis of Moses. on being truthful, on keeping one's word, period. They made the focus only on the name of the Lord and therefore, if one made an oath using heaven or earth or Jerusalem or one's head, which means by my life, and all these sound good, they sound important, but if one made an oath using those things, that one was not obligated to keep that oath and they could always use the excuse, well, I never used God's name. Kind of like us making a promise with our fingers crossed behind our back. And the rabbis even classified oaths in writing according to which ones must be kept versus which ones were okay to break. As Jesus points out in Matthew 23. To the temple or the gold in the temple? The altar or the sacrifice? Another example that is given is that if one swore by Jerusalem, it was okay to break that. But if one swore toward Jerusalem, they must keep it. In our NIV, Jesus says, by Jerusalem. That can also be translated toward Jerusalem. And therefore, I believe Jesus is showing the foolishness of what they were doing. And they made many oaths. They made them for any reason, but again, only consider those important that were made in God's name, thereby claiming that God does not care about our words. Claiming that God is not involved in all of their oaths, even though He was, and He still is. And they attacked God's sovereignty. They took His name in vain, limiting Him. They followed the letter of the law according to their misinterpretation of it, but they cared nothing about truth in the inward parts. And therefore, it is fitting that we find here the divine correction of Jesus. Beginning at verse 34, 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. Beloved, Jesus' point very simply on the one hand is that nothing is to receive the glory that belongs only to God. There is nothing else in all of creation that is able to read the heart, to discern the truth as only God can do. And as well, His point includes that there is no part of the world in which God has not engraved the marks of His glory. All of creation belongs to Him. And all of life, our life, even the very days and moments of our lives are all determined by Him. And if even the beginning and end of life is determined by Him, how about something so insignificant as hair color? Natural hair color, for those of you who tend to use some coloring. We cannot change that. And ultimately, Jesus' point is that all oaths are binding. Because they are all spoken with God as a witness, whether the speaker acknowledges him or not. These religious leaders were guilty of manipulating words, their own words, and of manipulating the Word of God to their own advantage. But as we examine ourselves, indeed, in preparation for the Lord's table, but on a daily basis, as we examine ourselves, are we any different? Are we innocent of manipulating words and emphasis? Are we innocent of not showing our true motives in the things that we say and how we say them? Are we any different? For example, saying maybe to a question that is asked of you to give something to someone when you really don't mean it or have no intention of fulfilling it. Parents do that with their children. Children, especially at a young age, are very good as saying, can we go here? Can we do that? May I have this? And sometimes it's easy, and I'm guilty, it's easy to say, instead of saying no and making the child mad or saying yes and begging more questions, when? We say maybe. It leaves some room open either way. We mean no. But for the child, it often means yes, maybe. Or how about giving a better impression of something than is really true? I think the classic example might be selling a car to someone. Or saying when someone catches you on something that you said that doesn't seem to fit, you say, well, I didn't really mean it that way. Or twisting words or manipulating truth because you know that it will sound better to the hearer in order to get what you want or in order to get them to do what you want. Now, we're not talking here about honest mistakes that do happen, misspeaking that does take place at times, that's caught right away. But true deception, meaningful or meant deception. Or, for example, giving vague answers in order to conceal the truth because you know you're going to get in trouble or make another angry with the truth. This happens between parents and teens, doesn't it? When mom and dad ask, well, who were you with? Or where were you? Or what were you doing? And teens sometimes might be tempted to only give a part of what had taken place because they know that if mom and dad know that I was with this person, they're not going to be happy. Or telling our bosses or teachers or parents or spouses when something has gone wrong, when we have messed something up or forgotten something, and telling them what we need in order to gain their sympathy and charity because we know that the truth includes our own neglect. For example, students giving all kinds of excuses to their teachers for not getting their homework done when you really had time to do it, but you wasted it. Instead, you come to the teacher and say, well, you know, our family had to do this, and we went there, and this took place, which all might have been true, but you know in your heart that that is not the reason that you didn't get your homework done. And I think we see this manipulation most of all or clearly in the field of politics when we have to begin to debate the definition of is. Or when the different parties manipulate certain economic figures to make themselves look good. Or I think back to the debates, the presidential debates about a year and a half ago. It was interesting to me how after every debate, maybe the next day in the newspaper or on the internet, you would find a fact check. Well, he said this or she said that, but here's the truth. What are the facts? The examples, beloved, are endless. There are all kinds of double standards that we fall prey to. And often, the more that one tries to cover up the truth, the more that one has to say things like, really? Or scouts honor? Or I mean it? Or I'm telling the truth in order to be convincing? And those who say those things often ought to be least trusted. Because if you have to say that, it means you have given proof before of not being truthful. Jesus teaches that the kingdom citizen who has been set free by the truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is called to love the truth, which secondly promotes honest speech. Do not swear at all. His point is, you ought not need to. You ought not need to. Again, verse 37, simply let your yes be yes and your no, no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Love for the truth includes promoting honest speech, being aware of God's presence. As Paul says in the book of Acts, we live in Him, we live and move and have our being. understanding being in awe of God and understanding that no matter to whom you are speaking, your primary audience is always God who, as the psalmist in Psalm 139 says, knows our thoughts before we think them and our words before we say them. Remembering always that Jesus died for and He paid for all of our sins, even the lying and the deception that we still struggle with. But praise God, He kept His Word. He sent a Savior to pay for all of our sins. And the delight of His child is to imitate the character, that character of truth of the Savior to love and uphold the truth, which includes being true to Your Word. Very simply, I heard on a commercial yesterday of a politician running for governor of California has struck me this person said mean what you say and say what you mean indeed wonderful that we should all live by that i suspect that i don't have to ask how many of us have never said to someone that you would do something for them and then failed to do it young and old I suspect we're all guilty being true to your word and not trying to change your word not trying to get out of it but promoting honesty in all things Jesus simply says if you mean yes, say yes if you mean no, say no promoting honesty even when it hurts ah, this is where it gets difficult again, the psalmist David in Psalm 15 what is the character of the one who dwells with the Lord? He speaks the truth from his heart, even his motives. And His Word matches his motives. And verse 4 there, who keeps his oath even when it hurts. That is when it doesn't turn out as we had hoped for or expected. When it doesn't favor us. When it will cause us some sort of a loss. Even when it will get us into trouble. Whatever it might be, the kingdom's citizen at no cost for absolutely no reason will He go back on His Word. Beloved, our Lord is teaching us here that every word we speak is to have the force of an oath. It is to be considered so weighty, so important to have the force of an oath. One's yes or no ought to be sufficient and it will be sufficient more and more as others see you and me. We keep our word. As someone has said, let your yes or no in word be your yes or no in deed. And one's life should be sufficient to back up one's words. The righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law includes a relationship with God, with His word, with His truth. And therefore, the kingdom's citizen, beloved, despises, hates the lie that lie which Satan used to lead Adam and Eve to reject God, to become separated from God, that lie which has become so easy for us. Yet that lie which will not dwell in the presence of God. Yet by the grace of God, those who look to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, we live in the joy of the truth of God, the truth of God in Jesus Christ, that He has set us free from the lie and from every curse of sin, that is the blessing of the Lord's table for which we are called to prepare. We are called to examine ourselves. Do I love the truth of God? Do I depend on His truth? You see, this true self-examination is not do I keep God's truth perfectly? I don't. But this examination is my confidence always and only in the truth of God, of His forgiveness in Jesus Christ, that that forgiveness is daily, that that forgiveness is lasting, that that forgiveness is perfect. The confidence of the table is my confidence that God will not go back on His Word. That's the confidence of God's own Word, the truth of it. It's the competence of the table. He will not go back on His Word. Christ's work is sufficient. It is perfect. It cleanses us from all of our sins, white as snow. Beloved, our words are many. And each word is important and is to be treated as important. And therefore, may the Holy Spirit continually make us more conscious of what we say and how we say it. More and more driving lying and deception far from us. And may our many words be words of truth and sincerity and honesty and integrity pointing others to our God and bringing glory and honor and praise to our God whose word we can trust that Jesus Christ will come again. That He will take us to be with Himself forever in the glory of heaven, whereas Revelation 21 says, nothing deceitful will ever enter. It's not the quantity of words that matters, but the quality. And that quality is to be truth. The truth as God speaks. The truth that Jesus demonstrated. The truth that we have the assurance of for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let's pray together. O Lord God, our Heavenly Father, indeed You are the Omniscient One, the One who knows all things, even the secret things of our hearts. Details that we would rather keep hidden at times, but yet we confess that You know them all. and that we live in Your presence, O Lord. And may we be ever grateful for that, not only because of Your protecting hand, but also grateful because You do hear every word. You know our motives deep down within us. We pray, Father, that when we speak amiss, when we speak deceitfully, that You would bring it to our minds in an instant and bring us to repent of that. And also more and more that you would bring truth from our lips. That we would desire truth. That truth alone of Jesus Christ which has brought us peace with God. And that truth as well which promotes peace among men. Father, again we thank you for your fitting word to us. May it serve the purpose for which you have sent it. whether it be to encourage, to exhort, to admonish, to rebuke, that we might take it from you as a gift of your love as you speak to us by your Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.