Last week, we considered together from Lord's Day 36, the Third Commandment. This morning, with regards to Lord's Day 37, we continue our consideration of that Third Commandment. Turn with me to Psalm 139, as well to Matthew 5, as we read small portions of both those chapters. Psalm 139 and Matthew 5. With Psalm 139, we read together the first six verses as we give our attention to the Word of God. O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in behind and before. You have laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Notice also the last two verses of Psalm 139. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in a way everlasting. In the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount, verses 33-37, dealing with oaths. 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. And if you would turn with me in the back of this altar hymnal, page 51, Lord's Day 37. Page 51, as we consider questions and answers 101 and 102. Lord's Day 37, as we confess together what we believe. Question 101 asks, But may we swear an oath in God's name if we do it reverently? Yes, when the government demands it or when necessity requires it in order to maintain and promote truth and trustworthiness for God's glory and our neighbor's good, such oaths are approved in God's Word and were rightly used by Old and New Testament believers. May we swear by saints or other creatures? No. 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. Dear people of God, the third commandment, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. As we said last week, the name of God reveals who He is. It reveals what He has done. It reveals His majesty, His power, His greatness, His patience, everything else about Him, everything, His whole being is included in His name. And therefore, His name is to be used with the honor and the respect that He deserves because He is God. And that means that we don't use God's name when we want, where we want, and how we want. That means that we don't use the name of God flippantly or unthinkingly, loosely, ignorantly, unbelievingly. We don't use it to our own advantage. God's name is to be used in truth according to its truth. And the truth of God is to govern our lives entirely. It is to govern our walk and it is to govern our talk. And congregation, everything we say is to be carefully scrutinized because every single word is important. Words have meaning. And even if we don't attach a particular meaning to the words we used as we considered last week, God might. And Scripture is clear that we will all have to give an account to Him for every single idle word that we say, whether we meant it or not. And the simple truth, beloved, is that everything we say is to be true. And it is to be in truth. And it's for that reason that the Catechism rightly includes with its study of the Third Commandment a discussion of swearing oaths. I preach to you this Word of God, the truth about oaths. Now the Catechism taught us in Lord's Day 36 that one takes the name of the Lord in vain by cursing or by perjury or by unnecessary oaths. We considered cursing last week, so now this Lord's Day digs a little bit deeper into perjury, lying, boys and girls, as well into unnecessary oaths. This Lord's Day is talking about swearing or making oaths. Now this may not seem so relevant. We might wonder, well, why do we have to talk about this? I mean, we don't make oaths anymore today, or do we? Do we and we don't even realize it? I struggle with this too. I thought, you know, this is a very, very hard Lord's Day to consider. What do we say about it? But the more that I considered it, by God's grace, the more beautiful it became, the more important it became, because it is relevant for us today because it deals with the truth. Well, what is an oath? What is the nature of an oath? Generally speaking, as we mentioned last week, An oath is something that is used to give weight to or to support or confirm that one is telling the truth. In other words, it is used as a witness to the truth. An oath is used to try to convince another beyond the shadow of a doubt that one is telling the truth. Again, as I had to confess last week when I was young, sometimes we said, cross my heart and hope to die. And we should have never said that. Or maybe you have heard someone say, Scout's honor. Or simply, I swear. Or even, beloved, to say, I promise to give weight to what you are saying. These are all forms of oaths, and of course, there are many others. But they are used to support or confirm that what that one is saying is the truth. But in reality, these are false oaths. They are improper oaths because there is only One who can truly testify to and support the truth. It's not me. It's not a scout. It is Him who is Himself the truth and that is God. And therefore, the proper definition of the oath is that which answer 102 gives us. 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. In other words, An oath is using the name of God and therefore God Himself using the name of God for the purpose of verifying the truth of one's statement. When one makes an oath, he is stating that he consciously stands before the face of and in the presence of God and he is calling upon God and calling in God's omniscience as it were. As the One who alone knows the heart. And in this way, he makes God a witness to his statement with the intent of using God to confirm that statement which only God can do. Not that the recipient of the oath can then go to God and say, well, is he telling the truth? But that the one who makes the oath says in confidence that he knows, that God knows whether or not he is telling the truth. David in Psalm 139 exalts the truth of God that he alone effectively searches and knows David. God knows the heart. He knows everything that proceeds from the heart. He knows our thoughts before we think them. He knows our words before we say them. And beloved, since oaths deal with the truth, then ultimately all oaths, whether they call on God or not, all oaths ultimately call upon Him to verify the truth which only He knows. And the thing we need to understand and remember, boys and girls especially, and young people, is that even without an oath per se, God knows all that we say. He knows whether it's the truth or not. But there's also a warning here that the Catechism gives, and rightly so, and that's because as it makes clear, an oath is also calling for God's punishment. Asking for God's punishment if that one swears falsely either by swearing by something other than the name of God or by calling God as a witness to a lie or by breaking an oath. It is to say, I give up God's help and His assistance and instead I call Him to punish me if I swear falsely. And the truth is, there's no fooling God. Man, yes. But there's no fooling God. And therefore, I trust it isn't difficult to see that oath-taking or making, even promise-making, is a serious matter. It is to be taken seriously because it is always in relation to God, whether it's done ignorantly or not. And not just anyone can truly swear an oath. It is to be for God's glory. And since that is true, it is only truly possible for the regenerated heart motivated by faith, and therefore it's only truly possible for the believer to swear a proper oath. Now we know, of course, that many an unbeliever swear oaths all day long, whether using the name of God improperly or swearing by creatures, but by the very fact, congregation, by the very fact that there is no true faith, these take God's name in vain. Because they call upon the One in whom they don't believe anyway to witness the truth of what they say. But now, why are oaths necessary? Or maybe we should ask, are oaths necessary? Are they to be made? And if so, when should they be made? These are some of the questions that we need to consider with regard to the nature of the oath. Very simply, beloved, Oaths are necessary because of sin and particularly the lie which attacks the truth. The Bible says that Satan is the father of lies and ever since the Garden of Eden, the lie and deception has lived and even flourished. Humanly speaking, we know that our Savior was put to death because of the lies of men. But God has a powerful weapon against the lie which puts man's life on the line and that powerful weapon is the oath, again. That oath which is to be used only for the sake of and in service to the truth. You see, along with the lie is the truth that there is a lack of confidence in one another. Let's be honest, people don't trust each other, especially with regard to what we say. One's word isn't good anymore. If you go take a loan out in the bank, there's no such thing anymore as a gentleman's agreement with a handshake and a promise to pay that loan back. Instead, you have to sign your life away. People have a hard time taking each other at their word. And the lie and the lack of trust is proof that we don't always live in communion with God. We are not always conscious of being in the presence of God if we were. The lie would not exist among us. Because of sin and sin's effects, the oath is necessary. And in the oath, then, when one makes an oath, that one is to hear the voice of God say, be true, be trustworthy, or else you will have to face God who said He will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Now understand that there are some who say that the oath is sinful and that it has absolutely no place in the life of a Christian. But the reason for this is because those who say this claim that Christians are to have no part with and no association with men of the world not under any circumstance. They apply a strict separation of the church and the state. And some of these include the Anabaptists and the Quakers and the Mennonites to name a few. And they use Matthew 5, verses 33-37, as well as the words of James in chapter 5, verse 12, which says, But above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, lest you fall under judgment. Pretty much an echo of what Christ says in Matthew 5. And they use these texts as proof for their stand, for their belief. And it is true that these passages seem to speak against oath-taking. But the truth is that that would contradict so many other passages of Scripture. In Ezekiel 33, verse 11, God Himself swears an oath when He says, As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. And then Hebrews 6, verse 13 says, For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself. And in Deuteronomy 6, verse 13, and chapter 10, verse 20, we read, you shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him and shall take oaths in His name. Why? Again, because of the nature and the seriousness of the oath and because only God can verify the truth. Also, the Bible records the oaths of many saints. Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, David, Elijah, Paul, Jesus Himself at His trial took an oath. And in certain circumstances, an oath was demanded. For example, when it was one man's word against another man's word, and it was impossible to support either of their word with physical evidence, therefore an oath was made. You can go to Exodus chapter 22 to read about that, an illustration. You see, this was serious business because God knows who is telling the truth and who is not telling the truth. Indeed, the Bible makes it clear that many of God's people made oaths, declaring that they stood before the face of God, calling Him to witness the truth of their testimony. Oaths are not sinful. Rather, they are scriptural. So then, how are we to understand Matthew 5, verses 33-37? Jesus says in 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. The emphasis to the people of long ago was on truthfulness and keeping one's vows. Leviticus 19, verse 12 says, and you shall not swear by My name falsely. Deuteronomy 23, verse 21, when you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you and it would be sin to you. Again, the emphasis was on truthfulness and fulfilling, keeping one's vow. But in our Lord's day, the Jews had shifted the emphasis to only keeping the oaths made to the Lord or in the name of the Lord. And therefore, if you kept the name of the Lord out of the oath or the vow, then it wasn't so serious. If you broke it, it wasn't a big deal. And daily conversations began to be filled with oaths by heaven or I swear by earth or by Jerusalem or even by the temple or the altar. But according to our Lord's own words in this passage, the distinctions that the people made saying that it was okay to make and break oaths by these other things, but not by God or the name of God, the distinctions the people made were invalid. Because all of these things were still associated with God in whose name alone an oath is to be taken and again, the only one who can confirm the truthfulness of one's Word. But on the one hand, these passages do remind us of a warning against rash oaths. Oaths made easily, quickly, often, and often without thinking. Like Jephthah when he made the oath with regard to, O Lord, give us the deliverance in this battle, and when I get home, the first thing that comes out of my house I'll offer to you. And it was his daughter. Or Herod, when his wife's daughter danced for him in his party and he offered her anything up to the half of his kingdom, took an oath. And she asked for John the Baptist's head on a platter. You see, rash oaths often ask God to witness disobedience to Him. But these passages also warn against breaking one's oath, which is then to make God a part of the lie. Witness the breaking of this oath, O Lord. You see, an oath is to be made with discretion, insincerity, and with a righteous purpose. But on the other hand, in these passages, Jesus is demonstrating the place of the oath in the kingdom. What is the place of the oath in the kingdom among citizens of God's kingdom? And here's where the Anabaptists and their friends may have a point. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and James in his epistle is speaking to the church, to citizens of the kingdom. And what is the nature of the kingdom supposed to be all about? Well, we know that there are many things that you could say about the kingdom of God. For example, kingdom citizens serve a different king than the world serves. Kingdom citizens obey a different law than the world obeys. And all around, kingdom citizens act differently than the world acts or are supposed to. And a very important characteristic of the Kingdom of God is the truth. The character of Christian living includes the truth. You see, beloved, Kingdom life is to be a life where the lie does not live. It is to be where there is trust. And Kingdom life is to be where all live consciously and constantly before the face of and in the presence of God. Coram Deo. Kingdom life is therefore to be where the truth reigns supreme. And the oath isn't necessary. You see, that's how it will be in the perfect state in heaven. And Jesus says that's how God's people must live today. Verse 37, simply let your yes be yes and your no, no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. That is, let the lie and let the lack of trust and the lack of truth not be found among you as God's people. May it not be present before the face of God. Each word of the believer is to have the force of an oath. Boys and girls, do you understand that? Each word is to be so strong and to be so true that an oath is not necessary. Kingdom citizens are to live a continuous oath. For example, in the context of the church, when we present our children for baptism or make public profession of faith or take our marriage vows or take up office in the church as believers, we make a promise to be faithful, but we don't put it in the form of an oath. Why is that? Because these things are done in the presence, in the very presence of God with Him as our witness And our promise is to have the strength of an oath among God's people. An oath ought not be necessary because it will have no place in eternal glory. But until that day, congregation, the church militant is still in the midst of a world where the lie lives. It's alive and well. And therefore, we need to consider the place of the oath in the world. And maybe we should qualify that and say the Christian's oath in the world. Again, unbelievers make and take oaths all the time. Either using God's name or using something else and doing it carelessly and to their own advantage. And again, as I said before, by the very fact that there is no true faith, their oaths are taking God's name in vain, calling upon one they don't even believe in to witness to the truth of what they say. And we too as God's people are warned not to take God's name in vain by needless, impulsive, trivial oaths or for selfish reasons or making false oaths to support a lie or even to break our oaths. Oaths are very serious. And they must be kept unless, and only unless, an oath would cause one would call for disobedience to the Word of God. And then the oath must be broken and repentance and confession must be made to God. That's the case for Jephthah and Herod. They should not have kept their oaths. They should have broken them and instead turned to God in confession and repentance. But Christians may swear an oath in God's name in a reverent manner. The Catechism says, the first part of answer one, again, the question, but may we swear an oath in God's name if we do it reverently? Yes. When the government demands it or when necessity requires it in order to maintain and promote truth and trustworthiness for God's glory and our neighbor's good. You see, in this world, the Christian may very well be called upon to take an oath. We know that God has given the magistrate the sword to protect and promote good as well to punish evil. And the truth is the magistrate rules over a mixture of citizens that are good and evil, that are righteous and unrighteous, that are children of light and children of darkness. And the magistrate cannot assume that all will speak the truth. Unfortunately, it must presuppose the possibility of the lie. And therefore, when the magistrate demands of us an oath, we may give it in obedience to God who has appointed the magistrate over us. But then the reason, the reason for the oath is to maintain and promote truth and trustworthiness. Trustworthiness, or fidelity as the older form of the catechism says, is talking about promising by oath to perform a particular office faithfully. Government officials are to make an oath to this effect. We're probably most familiar with the President's oath of office. And then to maintain and promote truth is talking about an oath in which one promises to tell or to speak the truth about something in a given situation. for example, in the court of law, which we are probably most familiar with. Congregation, we need to confess that even though we live in the midst of a godless justice system, the very fact that oaths are required, whether they are required in faith and performed in faith or not, as Christians, because of this, we see underlined what we believe every single day. And that is that human society continues to depend upon the faithful of God. Human society continues to depend upon God to monitor the truth, and our comfort must be that our God does witness the truth or the lie of every oath and every single word, and justice will be His. We know that the unbelieving world, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 4, has their conscience seared with a hot iron. Boys and girls, that means like a scar from a terrible burn where the nerves have been destroyed and there's no feeling left. In the same way, so many don't care about what they say. They don't care how they say it. They are completely feeling less and they are simply looking out for their own good. But the catechism is right when it reminds Christians that the purpose of the oath is for God's glory and our neighbor's good. Nothing selfish there, you see. God's glory and our neighbor's good. Again, the oath is to be used by you and me in service to the truth. The truth and trustworthiness and justice are a part of God's glory. And again, the oath and truth are inseparable, as we said, because the oath deals with the truth. And when the truth, which, remember, is an attribute of God, when the truth is told and God is called in a special way to be a witness to that truth, He is glorified. When the light of the truth is put out, He is blasphemed. But when the light of the truth shines bright, again He is glorified. That's no secret to any of us that man can do so much with technology today. He can fix the heart. But he cannot read the heart. The government doesn't truly know if her agents are trustworthy. A judge doesn't truly know whether one is speaking the truth and that's why God is summoned in the oath because He is the highest tribunal. The highest court. The highest system of justice. Only He knows. And He will perform true justice. He will cause the truth to triumph. And He will one day exercise justice over all violated oaths and every broken promise. But God's glory also includes our neighbor's good. As one commentator said, an oath-bound monarch is bound by the rights of his subjects that have been established in the Constitution so that his administration does not exercise tyranny. Oath-bound physicians are committed to healing their patients. An oath-bound officer serves the preservation of the state. An oath-bound property assessor can be expected to estimate property value honestly. By means of an oath in court, witnesses are restrained from declaring the innocent to be guilty or the guilty to be innocent. And we know that indeed, sometimes the truth sends another to prison for the good of society, the glory of God, and the good of our neighbor. That is why the Christian can have no part in a secret society like a lodge and even most unions. The oaths required in those things, among other things, give a very narrow definition to who is my neighbor. And they put more confidence in the creature than in God. Beloved, the Bible calls children of God to walk in the light. In the light of Jesus. And in the truth of God. And to be children of light. That is, be children of the truth of God. Honoring the truth honors God's name. But deviating from the truth is to take God's name in vain. To make an oath in a reverent manner is to make confession of the truth of God. A Christian oath is a confession of faith in the God of truth. But to swear falsely, again, whether by another creature or by unlawfully breaking it or by a trivial oath, is to abuse and to blaspheme in the name of the Lord. And those who live by the lie will eternally suffer the curse of the lie, which is the truth of God's wrath. But for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith, beloved, ours is the comfort of the truth of the oath of God. Remember, He said, as I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. And God's oath cost Him His only begotten Son who endured the full wrath of the Word of God that the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Jesus Christ was condemned as a perjurer and a blasphemer. He went to the cross because of lies. He went for our perjury and for our blasphemy and He paid the price for our sin. Beloved, He died for our lies in order to restore us to the truth. And He has secured the believer's citizenship in heaven. A citizenship that is to be wrapped in truth. Beloved, we are commanded to not take the name of the Lord our God in vain, but instead to take it, to take it upon our lips in faith and in truth. We are commanded to live under the banner of the name of God and His truth and to delight in His presence and to pray with David each and every day, search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Has your tongue been redeemed from the power of the devil and tamed by the Holy Spirit? If it has, then your speech will be seasoned with the truth about God for God and your yes will be yes and your no will be no beloved how would your speech be different if you knew that God listens to every word you say boys and girls and young people how about you how would your speech be different if you knew that God listens to everything you say he does so then how will your speech be different? Praise God for His truth and salvation only in the name of Jesus. Amen. Shall we pray? Dear Heavenly Father, once again with humble hearts, we thank You and praise You for Your Word of truth. Father, we confess it all too often. the lie goes forth from our lips. Even at times unthinking, we don't even realize it. But Father, we pray that You would illumine us more and more by the power of Your Spirit that each and every day more and more we would be more aware of the words that we say, that indeed we would think before we speak. That we would desire to speak the truth in love even as we are recipients of the love of God in Jesus Christ who paid for our sins, even our lies and our untruthfulness. Lord God, we thank You that You are the One who has redeemed us through the truth of Jesus Christ. And may we desire to live for that truth and to spread that truth to all with whom we have contact. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray these things. Amen.