Thank you. You are so good to us. We thank you, even though we hear stories, and I've already heard some regarding Veterans Day and many that have laid down their lives, of ways that you worked. And it was amazing, astounding, and to hear individuals come to know you because of the pressures of war. I realized you didn't make me go. I was right there at that transition at the end of Vietnam, and you didn't want me there. You wanted me to finish Bible college. And so we all had different roles to play, and yet you're the one in control. And so we come to you today to open your word, to ask questions, to make decisions and develop convictions, to please you in our lifestyle and in our walk. So help us. Everybody here is ready to eat lunch an hour early. May you settle our stomachs and help us just to focus on the meat of your word, I pray, in Jesus' name, amen. I do have things up here to throw at you if anybody starts to nod, Jim. I've already been warned by a few people. We are still continuing in the Sermon on the Mount. We're going to figure out how I transition. I will finish the book one way or another, even if it, you going to hurt me? No. Okay. Even if I have to summarize and put Chapter 7 into one message, I will try to conclude the Sermon on the Mount and see where Isaac's going to step in and take over. At this point, Lord willing, we're going to continue with the Wednesday night Bible studies. I will keep leading that for a while. Isaac has never preached regularly. All right? Pray for him. Don't pick on him. You pray for him, and then encourage him. He's got learning to do. The same way I came when I came to La Pine. Had not preached Sunday after Sunday. It's a whole different ministry. And so as we get into the word today, may there be a constant reminder to you to not take this for granted, that somebody stands up here and teaches it in any form. Sunday school, Wednesday nights, it is a privilege. And many churches in our world do not have individuals who know very much about the word. And yet, they try. So we don't want to take this for granted. So as we open up the word, we're looking at the Sermon on the Mount, we're remembering the Beatitudes, as they're called, and recognizing that Christ made it very clear that men had to be changed from the inside out. It still concerns me greatly. Too many religious people today. If you haven't become a new creature in Christ Jesus, if it isn't obvious that the Holy Spirit has control of you, that you are growing from day to day, that you're not the same today as you were a year ago, or even six months ago, or three months ago, then something's missing. This isn't about religion. It isn't about church, per se, called out assembly. It's about becoming a new creature in Christ Jesus. It begins with spiritual bankruptcy. Everybody hates that. If I were to go out of my way this morning and pick on five of you and just zero in and say, OK, I'm going to embarrass you this morning. Because I just want to remind you how bad that feels. I can do that. You're volunteering? But I'm not going to do that. But in the struggle here, that is what you have to picture. When somebody's coming to Christ, they are confessing to what? A life of sin of all kinds, but specifically, they may be a murderer. They may have stolen paperclips, as we talked about in Sunday school. They may be an adulterer. They may be a liar and a thief. They may have been in prison multiple times. They may have been a lot of things and they're coming along and someone's telling them, you need to acknowledge all that before Christ. Acknowledge that you're a sinner and that you need him for salvation. We start there. Many people will not start there. They will be defiant until the point of death and they stand before God. And then it's going to be a lot of, oh, no. but a recognition that he is just, that he is right. Christ spent time in the beginning. I keep wanting to go back to that to remind you, when you share the gospel, that's where you've got to get. You can't just make them feel good. God has a wonderful plan for your life. Just accept Jesus kind of like a trophy, and you're going to stick him on the mantel with all of your other things that you spend time focusing on, and then go on with your life. It isn't like that. It's revolutionary. You go up to the mantel, and you knock everything else off of the mantel. He becomes the only one who's Lord, King, Master. That's what he's preaching to them. That's why at the end in chapter 7, verse 28, they're shocked. They're absolutely amazed at what they're hearing. Can't believe someone's talking to them this way. So it goes into these five areas. We've looked at two. The idea that when you talk about murder, it's hatred in the heart that is the concern. It's hatred in the heart that leads to murder. And Jesus explained that to them. It's not just the act and you could say, well, I've never murdered anybody. The question is, have you ever hated anyone? If you have, you're a murderer. Needs to be confessed and dealt with, as we talked about. The second one he got into was the whole area of adultery. And that gets so watered down in our country today. And he could explain to them, it's an issue about the heart. It's lust in the heart that leads to adultery. You need to take drastic measures. Not literally cutting off your arm or plucking out your eye. They're figurative. It's hyperbole to get across the point. You need to do something. This is serious. Don't let it just happen in your life. Murder, sixth commandment. Adultery, seventh commandment. And we're going into this area of vows now. He gets into the third one of five that he zeroes in on with them. And which commandment or commandments does this cover? That you're not to make vows. You're not to take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Which one is that? Number three of the 10. And you are not to bear false witness, which is number? Nine of the ten. So he's covering both sides here as he gets into this issue, but he's trying to recognize that vows are unnecessary, but they're okay. Sometimes there are special occasions, like a wedding, where you make a vow, and you mean it, and you say it out loud to everybody, and you better follow through on it until death do us part. And you don't get the one, be the one who brings the other one to their death. to accomplish that goal. It's a lifelong relationship. It is a permanent one. And you can go down through here. So many issues that come up. And we'll talk about some of that. But when the ancients were told, in verse 33, again, you have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. This packs in so much information. The Jewish leaders of the day had set up a whole system regarding the law to let you know when you could get away with lying and when you could not. So they determined if you swore by certain things that you couldn't get away with it. If you use God's name in your promise, in your oath, in your vow, you're stuck. But if you only swore by other things he's going to talk about, man, those are flexible. We can work with that. They were watering down the scriptures instead of recognizing what a vow is about. You are stating something and any vow is before God at all times because he's everywhere present. You never can avoid the vow. So you may do it in your marriage, to love and to cherish until death do us part. You may do it in court where you say, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. How well is that working today? They're a bunch of liars. How about, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. How's that going? Being thrown out. Many of those people pledged allegiance at one point. Why did they get to all of a sudden drop it? because it's flexible. The Pharisees gave them their outs. You could say, God, if you get me out of this problem, I will, and you make some kind of promise. You get me out of this foxhole, and I will dedicate my life to you. I will, I knew a guy. I will go to Bible college, and I'll become a pastor, and he did. But we make these promises to God under pressure, and then what happens when the pressure's removed? Some of you have made promises to God, haven't you? No, you don't have to answer me. I made a promise when I was a teenager. I told God after a basic youth conflicts week, which you probably don't even know much about if you're very young, that I would read the Bible at least 10 minutes a day. Never should have told him that. Not because I didn't want to. I even lowered it because what I wanted to say, I wanted to say I promised to read it a half hour or an hour a day so just to play it safe, I could get 10 minutes in, even in the bathroom if necessary. You don't get what I'm bringing up, but anyway. You read your Bible everywhere, but I failed. And he brought it up to me early on that I failed, and then it taught me that was unnecessary. That's not where I'm asking you to make promises, because you're human, and things happen, and days get interrupted, and you get sidetracked. But I did, and I've never forgotten, so I'm 50 years now. When I read my Bible this morning, it's what comes into my mind, that I had made a promise to him. But I don't want to give him just 10 minutes, but I failed at times. All of these things were set up for me with good intentions, with the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees especially, with bad intentions. How do I get out of what the law states? But this is what the ancients had been told. The purpose of oaths was to promote truth, not lies. So when you think about some promise you need to make, I don't even know if they use the Bible anymore in a courtroom, do they? Put the Bible out, I know some courtrooms they don't. Put your right, which hand do you put it? Your right hand up, left hand on the Bible. I promise to tell the whole truth. What if you lie one time? What does God think of that? You've just broken. What is missing in the courtroom, they don't do it in the name of God or in the name of Jesus or in, pull his name into it. So maybe I do have a little bit of wiggle room to get out of it. Because I'm only swearing on a Bible, which who wrote that? Where'd it come from? What's it called? God's word. So I am pulling him in. But as I struggle with that, the purpose of oath was promote truth, not lies. It was given for others. No oath was to be trivial. All oaths are simply pledges or promises that we make. but we're bound by them according to scripture. What did we just read? You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. Well, if it's only to God, then those are the only ones that count, right? And I start looking for loopholes. I start looking for ways to get out of it. Let me get you into a little more scripture here. Look at Deuteronomy 6. Deuteronomy 6, verse 13. He says this, you shall fear only the Lord your God. You shall worship him and swear by his name. That's pretty straightforward. That's a command that you're being told that's what you're supposed to do. You are supposed to swear by his name. Who's he talking to here? Isaac covered this last week. The Israelites, younger generation going into the land, second giving of the law, He's reiterating to them what they're supposed to do. Vows were a part of life. It's just what the Jews did. It wasn't a bad thing. So when you get up into this passage here, you might get a little bit confused. Look at Ecclesiastes. What's the easiest way to find the book of Ecclesiastes? Chapter five. It's one of the five books of poetry, New Testament. Starts with Job, is poetic. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. Those are all more poetic books in the way they're written and formatted. So when you get to those books of poetry, you can kind of locate Ecclesiastes. Chapter 5, look at verse 4. Solomon wrote this and he said, when you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it. For he takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. So right there, Jesus is gonna explain and bring that out to tell you it's better that you simply say yes, yes, and no, no. He's not telling them you're sinning by making a vow. He's just telling them you better think about it You better make sure that what you're promising and pledging before God or to God is doable and you will carry it out. Otherwise, don't do it. So a lot of lazy believers play it safe and what do they do? They never promise God anything. They're even changing wedding vows today to where they don't say any kind of vows at all. Or they'll water them down, it's not until death do us part, until debt do us part, or something like that. They just throw it in there. We keep trying to find ways to get away from making promises and following through on them. But God takes no delight in fools. It's a very serious issue. So Jesus is trying to explain here. On the first one, you shall not make false vows. It's in the negative form. It's back from Leviticus 19. Which book is Leviticus in the Old Testament? What number? Number three. I encourage you, don't make promises, I encourage you to start learning the books of the Bible if you haven't already. How many Old Testament books are there? 39, how many New Testament? 27, what's the total? 66, how many chapters in the book of Isaiah? 66, you gotta start finding some ways to help you remember, and then you start working through it. You get someone to hold you accountable, but you need to know the word, and even more importantly, you need to read the word. Don't tell God you're promised 10 minutes a day. You will fail. But just get into it. Just tell yourself this is more important than anything else I'm doing. I don't care what the pressure is. I need to make time for God. Oh, but I got a busy day. I got too many things to do. Then the worst thing you can possibly do with a very busy day is to not spend time with God. Who's the one who's gonna be organizing your day? Who's the one who's gonna be dictating what happens and doesn't happen in your day? Who's the one that's gonna be answering prayer and moving roadblocks and opening up channels? I've seen him do things because I put him first on given days many times. And watch the day just go boom, boom, boom, boom, and you sat there and it's the middle of the afternoon and you accomplished everything you were trying to do that day. And you look back and you go, how did that happen? Never should have happened. God wants us to put him first. So what did he tell them back in, and I have it on your outlines, if you miss it. In Leviticus 19, verse 12, he said this, you shall not swear falsely by my name, so as to profane the name of your God, I am the Lord. This is what Jesus is quoting from, the book of Leviticus. Can you quote from the book of Leviticus? The answer is yes. It's right there. You shall not make false vows. You've already got a memory verse out of Leviticus. Am I scaring you? As he explains this to them, he's simply trying to tell them, quoting from Leviticus 19, that vow taking is not the problem. It's false vows that are the problem. Another one, Deuteronomy 10.20. Next book over. Genesis, Exodus, the fifth, sorry, I'm already mixing myself up. Fifth book of the Pentateuch, fifth book of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 1020 says, you shall fear the Lord your God and you shall serve him and cling to him and you shall swear by his name. You get the impression here, this is important, that you consider something serious enough that you're going to make a pledge to follow through on it. That's what they were doing. but don't make it lightly. Don't play around with it and not follow through. Then he gives them a positive side here. When he says, but shall fulfill your vows in verse 33, and he brings that out of Deuteronomy 23, a little bit further over in the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old Testament. I'm kind of a numbers guy. A lot of people that like music a lot tend to be mathematic, mathematical as well, and so I have to find ways to memorize things that keep my focus in an organized manner, and that's why I do what I do with the books. I'll sing them sometimes, because it gets it into a rhythm in my mind. I'll sing it to the kids. Matthew, Mark, Luke, I'll just make up songs. Luke and John. but it's to try to help us to realize this is God's word, this is critical, this is what we need to follow. When you look at Deuteronomy 23, verse 21, again, Moses is writing, second giving of the law, he says, when you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require of you. However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you, even back then. In verse 23, you shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised. It is voluntary. I'm not saying don't do it. I'm saying God holds you very accountable. He takes it very seriously as he processes this whole issue. Psalm 15 is a verse that I did memorize. I memorized Psalm 15 once upon a time because of the impact of what was in there. But it describes a righteous man. And when it gets to verse four of Psalm 15, it says there, he swears to his own hurt and does not change. This is what describes a righteous man. He makes a promise, whether it's to man or to God, and he does not change. So as I watched that in my family, I watched my dad. My dad was a man of his word. When he said he was gonna do something, he did. And I realized when I grew up, I didn't wanna take that for granted. That was significant that I learned that, not just from words, but I learned it from lifestyle. I was able to imitate him because of who he was. One time there was a church that he ended up leaving, but he had made a promise as the chairman of the building committee to finish a project. And I'm not going to go into all the problems. It was a church I grew up in, lots of sin, just sin coming out of your ears. And my dad finally went, I can't be a part of this anymore, I've got to quit. And so the next thing I knew, I got up about 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning, that's me sleeping in, and my dad was just walking in the front door. Really tired. You could tell he was just kind of dragging. Had a couple tools with him. Walks in, lays some stuff down, walks upstairs, and goes to bed. And I turn to my mom, I go, what was that? Your dad promised to finish the project at church. He was remodeling the kitchen. He just spent all night, until 7.30 that morning, fulfilling his promise, and told them, I'm done, and walked away. Sad part was, they never really went back to church regularly after that. What that church did had a major impact on my dad. And I worked at trying to get them back in. I visited churches. I called pastors. I did all kinds of things to try to make it happen. When we visited them, we went to church and tried to get them to go. They were burned. by people who didn't keep their word, who weren't following God's word. And it created a problem, but my dad was faithful. My dad made a promise and fulfilled it, which is how we should be living our lives. You may be looking around and wondering, why am I not seeing more people come to Christ through me? What's the problem? Are they seeing something in me that distracts them from Jesus Christ? Is there some sin in my life that's causing the Holy Spirit to be grieved or quenched in the work he's trying to do? This, along with the first two. First one was that Jesus brought up here. Murder, not hating. Second one was adultery, not lusting. Third one is keeping your vows, not reneging. And he's gonna get to two more and they're gonna be seeing it's really important. not seeking your own vengeance, loving your enemy. But as he's processing through here, these are critical things for us to do. Numbers 30 verse 2 says, if a man makes a vow to the Lord, Numbers 30 verse 2, if a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to bind himself, Skip over a little bit, it says, he shall not violate his word. He shall do all that proceeds out of his mouth. There's Leviticus, there's Numbers, there's Deuteronomy. These are important things that was part of the Jewish economy. The question is, how are we doing? Do we keep our promises? My parents promised me, Boots. I loved to visit a friend's property up in Mariposa, California. The grass, the weeds, the things that get in the dog's noses, the box tails were horrible. And we'd be out playing all day, and I'd go back up to their house up on the hill, and it was like pulling out hundreds of these things. So my parents made a promise. They were gonna buy me boots for my birthday. I didn't get boots. I didn't get boots the next birthday. I didn't get boots the next birthday. Well, I kind of forgot about it to a certain degree. One day, my dad showed up with boots. He'd remembered and felt really bad. I didn't need the boots anymore. I wasn't going up to Mariposa and running around in the foxtails. But it was just one more time in my life, and I was very young at the time, that I found my dad fulfilling promises that he had made. We all forget things. And they didn't come out and say, I vow to you by your birthday, next coming birthday, I will have a pair of boots sitting there, your size, Just right for foxtails. That's not how it worked. But they told me they were going to get it. And so we kind of take that almost like the Pharisee. Well, that's kind of loose. You know, circumstances happen. We ran out of money. Or the boots we thought we could get on sale are no longer available. Or your foot got too big. Because I wear a size 12, and sometimes it was hard to find them. Now there's kids out here with 13, 14, 15s. You guys are really quiet. But as he's looking over this whole issue, he's bringing out to them with just the first verse, you have heard that the ancients were told you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. Then he starts in on the part that really makes it interesting, the truth of it. That was tradition. That's what they were used to. It wasn't saying it was right or wrong, but it's what they were used to. Look at verse 34. He says, but I say to you, ah, the contrast. The Pharisees were notorious for making oaths. But people knew them as individuals who could not be trusted. That's kind of sad. How do people view you, as I asked a moment earlier? Do people around you believe what you say? Have you made promises you haven't fulfilled that you're feeling really guilty about today? This is what the Sermon on the Mount's really good for, guilt. Well, the Holy Spirit doesn't bring guilt. He brings reminders. He brings conviction. He always brings a direction for you that you can accomplish. Guilt is not good. Guilt causes us to wallow in our own pity party, me, myself, and I, feeling sorry, struggling. That's not how the Holy Spirit works. So if you're feeling guilt right now, throw that out. That's worthless. You don't want guilt. If you're feeling conviction that there's something that you need to do, to fix something, then make a plan today that you're gonna go back to somebody, get them the boots, finish the project, turn over the money that is really gonna hurt you right now because you promised money and you don't have it. So you're gonna say, can I make payments? Can I do something? You're gonna find a way to testify as a Christ-like true believer, maybe to an unbeliever who's watching. This is gonna cost us. To not hate, going to cost you. What are you going to have to do to our society? Forgive, because that's what it came down to in there. That doesn't mean they stopped doing what they're doing. That doesn't mean they fixed anything or they apologized. We need to act and do the forgiving. How about in the area of adultery? They're going to stop putting commercials on TV that are going to cause men and women to lust. Bev and I just saw one the other day, and I go, that one's the one for women right there. Nope, they're not gonna stop. Are they gonna make it easier for you? Are women gonna stop wearing short skirts and tight clothes and low necklines? Are they gonna stop flirting with the men? Nope. What are you gonna do? You're gonna get serious. You're going to amputate the problem, not physically, but spiritually. And I've told you, I've shared with you before, I've had to give instructions to people to move out of state to get away from somebody. We're talking about some serious decisions. What am I trying to accomplish? I'm trying to live righteously. I'm trying to be testifying that I'm a member of the kingdom. I'm Christ-like in my lifestyle. I'm not just cruising and taking whatever route's easiest to go. But he says here, with Pharisees as their leaders, they were perverting the scripture, so look how they do it in verse 34. Jesus says, I say to you, make no oath at all. That'll fix it. How does that go with scripture that I just read a whole bunch to you out of the Old Testament? He didn't say it's sinful to make an oath, that's not what he's saying. He's saying, basically, you're blowing it. And the Pharisees are encouraging you to blow it. So just stop. Don't go around making oaths, because what does that make you look like? Well, if you don't fulfill them. But if you go around making oaths, I'm the guy that's going to give a million dollars to the building project. Make sure everybody knows that. Okay, time for the building project. Offerings start being collected. 10 bucks comes in, 100 bucks comes in, maybe 1,000 bucks. Where's the million? Month goes by, two months go by, three months go by. We used to go to a camp and there was a promise of $6 million coming in for them to build a new auditorium. And the economy crashed years ago. The people who had told them they would give it lost everything. They had nothing to give. Were they obligated? That's why when I tell you something about the future, oftentimes it's, what's the little phrase I tack onto the end? If the Lord wills. Because I'm not in control of what's gonna take place. But if I try to make a promise to look good, if I stand up in a meeting, oh, and I've been around churches, and not when they did it, but I've been in the church that asked the congregation to open their wallet and hold up a $1 bill. and basically told him, now if we all put that $1 bill in the offering, there's a couple thousand people here, we'll have $2,000 in the offering. But some of you can give more, five, 10. It was like just sucking the money out of it. You could hear the vacuum cleaner from the pulpit. Jesus did that all the time, right? We're putting the focus in the wrong place. This church is not in debt, which is why you never hear us begging for money. We don't even pass an offering plate because we collect it in a secure slot in the wall because it's between you and God. It's not about an offering plate where you feel guilty. You've been in churches, right? When the big bags come and you can't hide it. And I've even seen people with their hand, they kind of stick it in the bag and open it, act like they dropped off something. They didn't put anything in there. And when we went through that early as a church, we went, I'm not trying to make people lie or feel guilty because they're not giving or don't have anything. They'll scramble to find a card to fill in so they have something to drop in the offering. So we decided not to pass it. That's none of your business, what I put in the offering. And it's none of my business what you put in the offering. That's between you and God. And so we kept trying to make sure that we're getting man out of the way, that we're not making these vows and impressing people with my promises. that you may or may not keep. So Jesus tells them right up front, make no oath at all. They're not necessary. And then he goes into the list. And this is also in the Pharisees in the room, their faces start turning red. Because he says, either by heaven, literally the heaven, or by the earth, or by Jerusalem, nor shall you make an oath by your head. Those are the things he brings up. What are the first he's been promising by? Oh, I'm making a promise based on heaven. Who are they leaving out? God. Oh, I'm making a promise by the earth. Who are they leaving out? Our creator. Oh, I'm making a promise by Jerusalem. Who are they leaving out? The great king? The one who's gonna rule the planet from Jerusalem? And then we get to the bottom. I'm promising by my own head. What am I leaving out? I'm not God. I don't have any control. Sure, you can dye your hair. You can do whatever you want to it, but how long does that last? I'm not trying to look at people. People always think I'm picking on somebody. I have no hair. There's nothing to dye. I can't do anything about it. It's fading rapidly. But we try to do things, but you're not changing the hair genetically. You're not making it come out a different color. Wouldn't that be great if they came up with a program You'd have to come up with some term like get a head full or get a head. Something where you'd come up with some phrase where you're trying to help people. What color would you like? They're choosing babies and deciding whether or not they live from the womb. You think they're gonna come up with something where you can get a full head of hair? What if they can't stop it? What if you have to get a haircut every week? Because you come to church bald, and by the next Saturday, poof. We have so many things we wish for and we want in life, and it's like, why don't we just trust God? Oh, if I bring him into the picture, then I have to keep the oath, is what he's actually dealing with here. We have a powerful God. And so he's bringing up here, Pharisees, you are making a vow based on the heaven, and yet you don't have any authority to rule. It's the throne of God that matters, as he says there, for it is the throne of God. It is where God rules. Then they say, well, then I'll just claim by the earth. And he again reminds them, that's a footstool of his feet. Kind of in a derogatory, you think the earth's such a big deal, I can claim it as my own and say like I have some kind of authority over it. He goes, that's where God rests his feet. You have no authority to claim that. What about Jerusalem? And he points out to here that it's God's city. You can't tell the king what to do. Jerusalem is the city of the great king. So God's throne, God's creation, God's city, and then I'd like to control my true hair color, and he says you can't even make one hair white or black. You're God's creature. This is all about God. This is what they were wrestling with. The Pharisees were creating these uncontrollable conditions, these loopholes. They set things out front and then behind their back, they cross their fingers. Kids still do that? The teachers in here aren't letting me know. Adults still do that. Oh, I had my fingers crossed, so it didn't really count. That's what the Pharisees did. And sometimes it is flat out lied. Look at Matthew 23. Stay back in the book that we're in. Matthew 23. You may look at this and say, well, I don't have any problem. I don't go around lying about oaths. Well, we'll get to a little more specifics here. Matthew 23, starting with verse 16, Jesus directly speaking to the Pharisees. The fourth time he says, woe to you, blind guides, who say, whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated. Verse 17, you fools and blind men, which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? And whoever swears by the altar, another phrase that they would use, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering upon it, the altar, he is obligated. You blind men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering? Therefore, he who swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by him who dwells within it. And he who swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by him who sits upon that throne. This is later in the book. He's still dealing with the Pharisees who ultimately want him crucified and succeed in talking the Jewish people into doing such. ultimately had God's permission. So as he's wrestling with this whole issue, they said, if I don't use God's name, I can claim anything. But it's not binding. My fingers are crossed. I don't have to keep my promise. And Jesus is saying to them, yes, you do. We can get really frustrated with people. How do politicians do with promises? Yeah. Is it a Monday or a Sunday? How do salesmen do? I told you before, I had a good friend, got delayed to go off to the mission field, had to work for six months for, he went to work for a used car salesman, became their number one salesman within that time, and he almost had a death threat from the guy that had been number one. Back in the 70s. He was gonna take him out, you ruined me, you're taking my job away. Finally, somebody asks him, how do you do it? He goes, how do I do what? How do you sell so many cars? He goes, I tell them the truth. No way. Then you can't move all these cars. I don't want to move that car or that car. I tell them, that's got a bad transmission leak. This has this wrong with it. But this car, so when they recognize, they trusted him, they bought the car, they took it home, and they drove it for a month, what did they find out? He told me the truth, and then what did they do? They went and told all their friends. And all of a sudden, this guy is inundated with people saying, there is an honest used car salesman. He won't rip you off. You need a used car at a lower rate? Go see him. And it just skyrocketed. Why haven't people figured that out? Why is lying a dominant feature of our society today? It was then, too. You move from salesmen to advertisers. How do they do? You ever bought something that didn't quite measure up? You're getting a little more heated under the collar, right? How about lawyers? Bernie, don't answer that question. Lawyers sometimes work one way or the other and don't care what the truth is, sometimes. There are good politicians, there are good salesmen, there are good advertisers, there are good lawyers, don't misunderstand me, but the traditional idea that's coming out that people all expect is they're going to rip you off. How about TV evangelists? Sorry. Many of them are making so many promises and not fulfilling, but they're getting rich. When the world goes after them and finds out they own four houses and six really fancy cars, and they start questioning them, now you got a serious problem. Why isn't the church questioning them? How many cars did Jesus have? Chariots would have been the preferred thing. None. How many houses did he have? None. How about his disciples? You know anything about their riches? It isn't what they were focused on. God took care of them, just in the same way he's taken care of me. So I need a second retirement party, gifts will be accepted. Just kidding. But these men are corrupt. God is going to take care of them. That's why I can forgive as much as I can do, not hate them, not wish retaliation. We'll talk about next week. I can love them and try to win them because I understand that their heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. What do I expect out of them? But they're deceived. They don't understand that their sin is leading them down, not up. That's not how you make money. And you go to Proverbs and find lots of ways that people lose money. And most of it's by sin in their life. So we use phrases today. I don't know if you use these. I don't. People will say something like, I swear on my mother's grave. What is that supposed to mean? Is that binding or non-binding? Do I get out of that one because I didn't mention God? It's just my mother. Why do we use stuff like that? We're no different than them. Here's another one. Just a phrase they'll use. I swear to God it was true. How binding is that? Why do you have to say that? What are you admitting to the person you're talking to? Okay, it could be I'm lying. I don't have any credibility. I have to come up with something to reinforce my word because it isn't good enough. People shouldn't have to ask us for some kind of swearing that we can use. Or like, I swear on a stack of Bibles. Is that five Bibles or 10 Bibles? It doesn't mean it. And I could have come up with more, but I couldn't find them. Nobody wants to bring these up very well. but they're out there, we use them. So he's talking about these vouchers that they're trying to bring up that, oh, I promise, I promise. And then they try to do it, and Jesus makes it very clear, stop saying oath. He was cleaning up the society around the Jews at the time. Just stop. And then he gets down to what he really wants them to do in verse 37, when he says to them, but let your statement be yes, yes, or no, no. And anything beyond these is, And I left out the word there, is of, I think in the mechanical diagram I gave some of you, is of evil. Literally, the word ek in the Greek, it's out of evil. And so people debate what that means. But initially, what's he saying? What does he mean by putting two yeses together? It's just affirming and it's just reiterating or reinforcing the fact that I'm saying yes by saying yes, yes. At times in scripture you'll see them say amen, amen. Or they'll even go further and say holy, holy, holy. They're trying to stress that word and the importance of its meaning. And so that's what people want to hear from us. Will you help me Saturday? I've got to go do such and such. What do you say to them? First thing. Okay, let me look at my calendar. Even before that, let me ask my spouse or somebody that's important, but then I check my calendar, and then I throw out the phrase, Lord willing, but what's that become in our day? That's our out. Oh, something came up, and I don't tell them it was the playoff game with the World Series, and it ended up being on Saturday morning. I don't admit why I did it, but something came up. I tried my best. It wasn't God's will. Hope you don't have too many friends like that. Hope you aren't friends like that, yeah, that same time. He's just making it really clear. Be truthful. Be honest. Say what you mean and mean what you say. You've heard that phrase. It gets used quite a bit. That's all it comes down to. If it's a no, then make it be a solid no. If it's a yes, then make it be a solid yes. And you better be on the deathbed on Saturday morning to not do what you told somebody you're going to do. I don't care what it is. Otherwise, don't make oaths. Don't make promises or vows to somebody. Yes, I will be there. Don't do that unless you really mean it. At least it better be a Lord willing because God may know you're not going to be there. You're going to be with Him. You will not fulfill that. So what's the problem down here at the bottom? Anything beyond yes, yes, and no, no is of evil. It's out of evil. Someone put here that it's of the evil one. The word for evil here, remember the word caca? That one kind of stands out in our minds, because that's just a basic word for evil, something bad. This word is poneros. If you had caca cancer, and if you had poneros cancer, it would make a big difference. Because poneros cancer would be malignant. That's what this word means. It isn't just satisfied to be bad, it will influence everything around it. And it's why Satan, that's who Satan is. Poneros. He'll tell you something to your face with a big smile, acting like he's all lovey-dovey, your best friend, and then as soon as you turn around, he'll stab you right in the back, because he got what he wanted. He doesn't care about any of us. Doesn't care about believers or unbelievers. Doesn't care about God. All he cares about is himself. He doesn't even care about his own angels, demons. All about him. And so as you come down into this problem here, this ponderos is bad, unsound, malignant, it is damaging. And the question comes back down in our lives today. What's my word? How good is it? No guilt, just conviction. If it's conviction, the Holy Spirit is gonna help you to figure out how to fix it. He's gonna make corrections through you in your life, in the lives of others. He's gonna help you to stop making promises. He's gonna help you fulfill promises you have made. That's where the Holy Spirit works. But the question is, what are my commitments? What are my agreements? Am I reliable? Am I truthful? Am I sincere? Proverbs 12, 22 says, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. Now I hear that word and I just heard on the news yesterday. There's a gentleman in Greece being put in prison, in jail, for 10 months because he said that transgenderism, not even aimed at somebody, transgenderism is an abomination. Greece just locked him up for 10 months. Wait till it comes to a store near you. It's what's coming to America. What are my convictions? What do I say with my mouth and what do I mean? I need to be sincere. The reminder here in the beginning, Christ's kingdom did not require a change of the law, but a change of my heart. This is what he was after. How we doing? We all have work to do. We all have to be on our toes. We all have to be careful, especially to little children, that I don't tell my grandchildren something and don't follow through on. they will not forget as I learned as a child. Let's pray. Father, we are grateful to you. You are our Lord, our master, the ruler of heaven. You are the one who is our creator, our Elohim. Yahweh is our ruler and Elohim is the strong one, the creator of all things. Father, you are the one who is going to reign in Jerusalem and come as our King of Kings. And you are the one who controls every hair on our heads. And you could instantly change the color. You could instantly replace all the ones that have fallen out. You are the one alone that we need to make promises by, and only promises that we can keep and will keep, to please you and to glorify your name. So help us to be cautious. Help us to be quick to hear and slow to speak in the realm of making promises. Help us to bring you glory that the world might see Christ in us and ask us to give them a reason for the hope that's within us because of Jesus. Even if it comes down to us going back to someone this week and confessing that we failed them, we didn't fulfill something and ask them to forgive us. Father, we thank you, because what that brings up in my life is your forgiveness. I don't deserve anything that I'm going to get because of your grace and your mercy forever and ever. I'm blown away by the fact that I will reign with Christ one day with no apologies, no shame. because of his death on the cross for me. Father, I ask if someone's listening to my voice today and doesn't know you, they haven't actually come to the point of spiritual bankruptcy in their life. They haven't admitted that they're lost, that they deserve to go to hell. I pray that that would happen today. And use one of us in their lives to help them to come to know you and to grow in your son. I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.