This morning I invite you to open your Bible, first of all, to the Gospel according to Matthew. The Gospel according to Matthew, where I want you to place two markers that we're going to turn back to later, near the end of our sermon, but I want you to be able to find them because we want to read them in full. So the first one you'll find in Matthew chapter 5, beginning at verse 33, Matthew 5, 33. That's on page 1030 in your Bible. Excuse me, my voice just started to leave me this morning. Secondly, Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23, beginning at verse 16. That's on page 1053. So mark those places. Matthew chapter 5, verse 33. Matthew chapter 23, verse 16. And then turn to our text this morning to the letter of James. Near the end of your Bible, one page before 1 Peter. James chapter 5. James chapter 5. In our series through James, we come this morning to verse 12 of chapter 5. That at first glance seems out of place. Its connection to verses 7 to 11 is not really clear. Even though in our English Standard Version and the NIV as well, it's put together under the heading Patience and Suffering. I think that confuses us to what's happening here. I think we're helped by ignoring that heading and considering chapter 12 with the knowledge that James has written us a letter. And in writing us a letter, he's followed a format, a form, a style that in his day was well known, was understood, and came with certain expectations. We don't write many letters today, but those of us who have understand that we start with a greeting and we end with a sincerely, and then what goes in between is up to us. James does the same thing. He opens with a greeting in chapter 1, verse 1, following the form that this is from James to the churches, followed by a customary greeting that we would say, dear so-and-so. And at the end of the form, he continues to follow the style in a way that's not familiar to us. And he introduces his closing comments, his closing remarks with the phrase, but above all. That just doesn't make any sense to us unless we know that that's normal. That's a part of writing letters and it was the clue that I've come to my conclusion and you can expect something from me. He's not meaning to say that what follows is the most important part of his letter. As if everything that's come before is not as important. That's not his point. What he's saying is that there are certain important things that are going to show up here. You know what they are, and I want you to pay attention. And those three things that his audience that received this letter would expect were first of all an oath. An oath on the part and by the author to defend his credentials to encourage them to believe him. The second thing they would expect is a wish or a prayer from the author for their well-being, for their good health. And last, a statement from the author that kind of summed up his purpose in writing the letter in the first place. And we see that James does exactly that, with a twist. We're going to start at verse 12 today, in which James, instead of swearing an oath to them that somehow bolsters his reputation, he exhorts them, do not swear. And in verses 13 through 18, instead of wishing them well and offering a prayer on their behalf, he exhorts everyone to pray for one another. And in verses 19 and 20, he not only states his purpose, but he invites his readers to share his purpose, which is to bring back sinners from their wandering. So James fulfills the form. He does it with a Christian twist. And we're going to consider these three sections in three separate sermons. The first today on verse 12, where James exhorts God's people, do not swear. So we turn our attention now to James 5, verse 12. One verse text this morning, where God says to us, but above all my brothers, do not swear. Either by heaven, or by earth, or by any other oath. But let your yes be yes, and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Here ends the reading of God's word. Short, as James' want to do, and to the point. Excuse me. As I said, James' readers were expecting for him to present an oath to them, to declare an oath, to swear an oath in the name of someone or something important that would back up his credibility as an author. That was somehow guaranteed to them that what he had said to them was true. Now this might sound strange to us, but we do it all the time. Even if it is in a letter. When we write sincerely, we're trying to say something about our character in writing that letter. We wrote this with sincerity. We might say, in Christ, to let people know that we count ourselves a brother or sister. So we do this in a very short way today, but we also do it when we're not writing letters. In fact, we do it more often when we're not writing letters. When we want someone to trust us, for someone to believe what it is we are saying, we can quickly amp up into insistence if we get any suggestion that they're not quite on board. How often do we hear, how often have you heard yourself say, with insistence, I swear, I swear. And we might add to that such things as I swear God is my witness. On the Bible. On my mother's grave used to be a popular one. I don't know why. And maybe we've added to this a curse, called a curse that we should suffer if we were to be untruthful. May lightning strike me. Children, you know this one. Cross my heart and hope to die. I'll be fill in the blank. The variety is endless. It's as unique as you as an individual. But you know what it is to swear an oath, perhaps even call down a curse, in order to convince someone that you're telling them the truth. The flavor of the day, it seems, the one size fits all for our day, is OMG. It's everywhere. It's an oath. It's an oath to insist on being believed. It's an oath that questions whether we should believe what we've just heard. That's just incredible. OMG. And it's this use of oaths to convince others of our truthfulness or our credibility to call someone or something to our back to bolster our case that James is going after today when he says, do not swear. Why is this so? because in one way or another, we're calling God to bear witness to us instead of the way it's supposed to be, which is God calling on us to bear witness to Him. This is not God's will. God's will for us is to live lives and to speak in a way that conveys nothing but the truth. Truthful lives, truthful speech. And we want to consider His will for us in four points this morning from this text. That living and speaking nothing but the truth, first of all, is impossible in Adam. It's impossible in Adam. Secondly, that living this way and speaking this way includes swearing. Includes swearing to confirm the truth. And we'll talk about that. There's a place for swearing. But it prohibits, our third point, swearing to convince of truth. Swearing to convince of truth. And lastly, our only hope is that nothing but the truth is ours in Christ. Nothing but the truth is impossible in Adam. Scripture tells us. We're all children of Adam. Sin came into the world through him. And in Adam's fall, sinned we all. His sin is our sin. His way is our way. And our experience approves it. We don't have to teach one another to lie. We don't have to teach our children to lie. Sweet as they are. It takes no effort to embellish the truth, to hold back some of the truth, to twist the truth to fit our fancy. It doesn't break a sweat. And even when we choose to lie on purpose, we are purposely deceitful. We can shrug it off and excuse ourselves. and just as it is human to err to lie is human. That's just the way it is. It doesn't bother us all that much in Adam. And we live in a fallen world full of children of Adam. And in this fallen world, lying is an art form. And we are swimming in it. It comes at us non-stop in the spin cycle of politics, in the 24th stream of media and advertisement and marketing, in the waves and the winds of pop culture that are here today and gone tomorrow, it's just non-stop. Everything is relative. Can anything really be true? That's the world we live in today. And then of course there's Satan behind the curtain, if you will, of whom Jesus said he does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of all lies. And apart from the grace of God in Adam, it's he who holds sway in the hearts and the minds of people. It's he who blinds them to the truth, has them unconcerned for the truth. And so it seems that nothing but the truth doesn't stand a chance against this trifecta of our own flesh, the world, and Satan. It breeds cynicism. You ever feel cynical? I find myself so cynical. It's hard to trust anybody. And I know that nobody trusts me. That's the world we live in. In the name of truth, each of these, our flesh, the world, and the devil, encourage us to manipulate truth to serve our own agenda. And without restraint, if there were no restraints on this fallen world, we would all go after our own way. We would do what is right in our own eyes and we wouldn't care. You remember in the history of Israel that during the judges' time, the Lord left them alone to themselves and each one went his own way. It's not a good thing. But God does bring restraint. God restrains even the children of Adam. He gives us two major constraints. One is internally gives us a conscience. All men have a conscience. They know right from wrong, even if they push down hard to keep it out of their minds. And the Lord has established governments in this world to restrain evil and to promote good. Outside constraints. In Adam, it's impossible. But God constrains us from doing all that we could do. And part of that constraint is civil government. And the civil government, he has given a tool. A tool that helps the government discover what is true in order to promote what's good and true and to restrain what's evil and wrong. And one of those most important tools that he's given the government is the authority to put people under oath. To put people under oath to confirm the truth as they know it. That's why you can be subpoenaed to come and give evidence. That's why you can be called as a witness to give out evidence. That's why you can be sworn in as a juror to hear evidence and wave for truth. The magistrate has the right to do that. And he has the right to put you under oath. And so living and speaking nothing but the truth in this world includes swearing. Swearing to confirm the truth. Now this tool has fallen on hard times in our age. It's been emptied of almost all of its significance in the courtroom. You can swear on a piece of paper or on nothing if you like. It really doesn't matter because they're really not asking you to swear. Kind of. It's just confused. And it's certainly been abused in the history of its use. But that does not make it illegitimate. There is a place for swearing to confirm the truth. And I don't believe that James or Jesus, who we're going to read in a moment, has this kind of swearing in mind. other than an outright falsehood under oath when he says, do not swear. And I know that Christian brothers and sisters through the ages have disagreed on this. And your conscience might tell you otherwise. But I have to declare to you what I'm convinced is true from the word, and I don't think it's in view here. People under lawful authority can be placed under oath, and that's for the purpose of reminding them that they are governed by and accountable to a higher authority. A higher authority which in turn is governed by and accountable to the highest authority, which is God, the truth, and the judge of all men. That's his purpose, is to remind us that when we are called upon to confirm the truth, we're doing it before God, ultimately. Whether the court says it or not, that's what's happening. And throughout history and across cultures, this has been the case. The author of Hebrews comments, he's actually making the point about the oath that God made to confirm his promise to Abraham that we sang about this morning. But he uses as the basis for his argument, the observation that people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes, an oath is final, it's the last word, in confirmation. Its purpose is to confirm, not to create, not to argue for, but to confirm what is known to be the truth. And this role was found in Israel's courts. You read through the Old Testament all over the place. There are oaths being taken, vows being made, and they were made in the name of the Lord. And they did so to acknowledge liability to His judgment that if what they swore was true, was false, they were accountable to Him. If what they promised to do but didn't, they were accountable to Him. And these oaths were to be made in faith, But also in the fear of the Lord. Because where you swear apart from faith and you swear apart from the fear of the Lord is when you break the third commandment. What we read in Leviticus 19, verse 12, which says it most plainly, you shall not swear by the name falsely and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Swearing oaths and making vows is in God's name in particular. But in any case, it's serious business. Our culture doesn't respect that. It's flippant. It's empty. No matter what we say and no matter how we feel, that's not the truth. It's serious business. It's business that is best avoided unless you're compelled to do so. Which again, authorities in this world have the right to do. God-given authorities have the right to compel an oath. But even so, in God's law, he made provision for his people to voluntarily take an oath. You could, if you would. In Deuteronomy chapter 23, he gives a three-part instruction on what this looks like. In verse 21, he says, be warned, if you break a vow to the Lord, you're going to be guilty of sin. Be warned. He followed it with this promise in verse 22, that if you refrain from bowing, you'll not be guilty of sin. If you refrain from bowing and you've mistaken your judgment and you can't fulfill your promise, you're not guilty before God because you didn't promise it. And then third, he gives direction in verse 23, you shall be careful. You shall be careful to do what passes your lips. For you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth. Be careful what you promise because when you vow to the Lord, you're accountable. Now, I read that, and I arrive at the same wisdom that most of the Jews did, and that was it's better not to do it. I don't have that kind of absolute certainty in my ability to be 100% true or 100% faithful. So the common wisdom, even in Jesus' day, was it's better not to take those vows. In fact, people would often look down at you if you did take those vows. They thought you were being presumptuous. They thought you were claiming too much. But even so, there were some that thought they were wiser. Some who twisted God's words to say that they could make a voluntary vow. Not be guilty if they broke it. As long as they didn't vow in the name of the Lord. There's the loophole. And they jumped through that loophole headlong and they turned oaths and vows on their head and they multiplied ways to swear oaths and make vows not to confirm what was true but to convince people that what they were saying was true without binding them to what they said without being subject to judgment if what they promised they didn't deliver if what they said was true proved to be false I think that's pretty bold I'd say it's a childhood trick I remember growing up going cross my fingers behind my back really doesn't matter I can say whatever I want you can't hold me to it and we may not cross our fingers but we all know what that means and that's what they were doing and so we have lawful oaths that confirm the truth and we have unlawful oaths that are designed to convince people of truth for our own reasons And we see those set side by side in such a stark and stunning way in Matthew's account of Jesus' night of betrayal. When he warned Peter, you're going to deny me three times before the cock crows. In Matthew chapter 26, we see set side by side, Jesus in the courtroom and Peter in the courtyard. And in the courtroom, Jesus is inside. he's been placed under a lawful oath. He's been put under oath by the high priest to answer, to confirm the truth. Are you the Christ? And he confirmed that he is. And he was charged with blasphemy. And at the very same time, out in the courtyard, we hear Peter blaspheming God by uttering oaths that he knows are false in order to convince people that he really doesn't know Jesus. three times someone came to him and says you belong to him you're one of them first time I do not know what you mean lied second time again he denied this time with an oath I do not know him and the third time just before the rooster crowed he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear I do not know the man you see the contrast it's this kind of oath taking that Peter himself fell into for which he had to be restored thrice by the Lord Jesus that's the kind of oath taking swearing that we're being warned against today living and speaking nothing but the truth does not include but rather prohibits swearing to convince of the truth to prevail in our case and this is why and the reason I'm emphatic on this is I think that James does something very purposeful here he knows that his audience is expecting him to do this they're expecting him to insist and not only does he not do that for them he tells them to not do it do not swear he has in mind Jesus, his elder brother we have in mind Jesus taught on this in the Sermon on the Mount we're going to turn there in a moment he has in mind Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees the scribes and the Pharisees who seem to have mastered the distinction They knew where the line was between being bound because you swore in the name of the Lord and being unbound because you swore in something else. They knew where that line was. They liked to tell people it was straight and it was true and it was fine. But in reality it was muddy and it was wide and it was fuzzy and it was gray. Because they liked to live in this gray zone where they could argue about what might be close enough to God to bind me and what's just far enough away that I'm not bound? And so they engaged in the game of what I would call cosmic chicken, trying to outdo one another, making vows to see how close they could come to being bound without being bound. You know what it is to toy with sin. How close can I go? They were doing this. How daring would they be? Would they swear by Jerusalem? Maybe by the temple. Oh, how about the gold of the temple? Maybe swear by the altar. Or by the gift that's on the altar. Maybe swear by heaven itself. Some took a different stance. They wanted to promote their humility and they would swear by lowly things like the earth or by the hairs on their head. Insignificant things. They thought themselves clever, but they proved to be fools. It's like children think they're clever. It's foolish. All such swearing calls on God to be your witness, to make your case, to establish your integrity for your purposes. Whether you call on Him directly by name or you call on Him indirectly by something that He's made, because you cannot swear an oath or a vow by any created thing and not lay claim to the Creator. That's not just me talking. Let's turn back to Matthew 23. I've had you mark that. Jesus calls them out for this, the scribes and the Pharisees. In chapter 23, beginning at verse 16, Woe to you blind guides who say, If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath. you blind fools, for which is greater the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, if anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he's bound by his own. You blind men, for which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and everything and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. So there you see it. What they swore by was to swear by the God who inhabits it, the God who makes it, the God who sets it apart. And then he warned his would-be disciples in Matthew chapter 5. Let's go there. You hear these echoes. You understand what he's coming from. Chapter 5, verse 33. In the Sermon on the Mount, putting things straight, he said, Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. These are what James has in mind in this short verse, verse 12. When he says, above all, my brothers, do not swear. Either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but rather let your yes be yes and your no be no. so that you may not fall under condemnation. Because as Jesus said, anything more comes from evil. Living and speaking nothing but the truth is impossible in Adam. It's allowed in the context of a God-ordained authority that calls for it, but it's prohibited for us to take to ourselves, thinking that we can do so without accountability. So we ought not do it. And so we're left with what are we to think? I mean, James just leaves it there. James just leaves it there. What are we to think? What are we to do with this? Is it even possible to live and speak nothing but the truth so simply? We're pretty comfortable with lying. We bristle when we're asked to confirm the truth if we're pressed by an authority to confirm the truth. We struggle. We feel compelled. We just feel compelled to have people believe us. We struggle to be truthful. But we need to know that this struggle is part of being a redeemed son of God who struggles against sin but has life in his name. We struggle to be truthful, as did George MacDonald. Unless you've read C.S. Lewis, you probably don't know who he is, but a 19th century minister who wrote a letter to his father in which he confessed, I always try, I think I do, to be truthful. All the same, I tell a great many lies. But I do not think lightly of it. It bothers me. I resonate with him. We struggle as Paul did in Romans chapter 7. I have the desire to do what's right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I don't want to do, I find myself doing. And with Paul we cry out together, wretched man or woman that I am. Who will rescue me? Who will rescue me from this body of death? By faith, by faith, we believe and we can confess with Paul, thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, we have rescue. We're not left to our own devices. We're not left to our own perseverance. In Christ, there is now no condemnation, even for our continued struggle with truthfulness. In Christ, you have been set free from being unable to be truthful, and set free to actually become truthful. Set free that in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in you. That's Christ's promise to you. That's His work for you. Therefore, in faith, trusting in Christ, we find that we can trust and look for the motivation and the ability to actually go this way. We find the motivation and the ability to live and speak nothing but the truth is ours already in Jesus Christ. That's a fact. I need no oath to convince you. I would be willing to swear an oath to confirm it because it's in God's Word. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Through faith you've been joined to Him. Through faith you are in the truth, and the truth is in you. He doesn't depend on your assertions. He doesn't need you to vow to strengthen his truth. He is the truth for you. He is there for you to be truthful, to pursue truth, to speak the truth. And he asked his Father in heaven on the night he was betrayed that he would sanctify you and me in his truth, by his word. And so we can know, people of God, that we are not stuck in the patterns of our old man. We are not stuck in conformity to this fallen world. And we are not bound to Satan and his lies. By the Holy Spirit, through the Word, our Father is working in us to conform us to His Son, Jesus Christ. Making us willing and able more and more. This is your Christian walk. To know the truth, to love the truth, to live the truth, and to speak the truth that glorifies God and it loves our neighbor. In Christ, people of God, you need to know that you have been set free to not swear and to let your yes be truly yes and your no be truly no. you need to know it you can believe it we leave here today to continue to practice it and we ask for God's blessing as we do, let's pray our Father in heaven we have been reminded today of the gravity of what it means to make an oath or a vow we've been reminded that in and of ourselves in the context in which we live and under the tutelage of the devil, Lord. Lord, it's hard not to be cynical. We thank you that you have sent your Son into the world to save sinners even like us, even for this sin, and that you have fulfilled all righteousness in him and you give him to us so that we as your people might pursue a new way. And so we hear this commandment today to not swear, not swear falsely, to not swear for our own ends for our own purposes to persuade and to have our way we pray Father that you would help us to be mindful in ways we've not been mindful before and obedient Lord by your power out of love for you we thank you that we have this already in Christ our Lord and help us Lord more and more each day to know it and to return to Him when we stumble and to press forward in His strength as we pursue a life of nothing but the truth. In Jesus' name, amen.