Our Word Ought to be Enough

Transcript

GR 1658
11/11/2012
Our Word Ought to Be Enough
James 5:12
Gil Rugh


It is a privilege to be back together on Sunday night with God's people and look into His Word, join together in worshiping Him, enjoy the fellowship of believers. We're going to James 5, you turn there in your Bible and then we're going to leave there. James moving toward the end of this book. James' burden is that these Jewish believers that he's writing to appreciate the truth that saving faith transforms us from the inside out. And while you're not saved by your works, when you are truly saved your life will have works that characterize the work of God in your life. That's the wonder of our salvation. That's why we have stressed so often in our recent studies that we don't want to degenerate into moralism, trying to get people to change their behavior. That's not the issue. What we do is make them like the Pharisees of Jesus' day and He said, you are like whitewashed tombs. On the outside you look good and on the inside you are full of dead men's bones. God is not pleased with that kind of external conformity because He is the One who searches the hearts and tries the mind. So James is emphasizing the importance of lives that conform to the character of God because He has transformed a life with the power of His salvation.

In James 1 James mentioned the tongue and he's coming back to that in James 5. And we just want to set the background again for us so we appreciate the one verse we are going to look at and the thrust that James has. In James 1:26 James says, if anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. Strong statement. The use of the tongue reveals the condition of the heart. If you declare with your tongue that you know the Lord and yet your tongue doesn't display it, then you deceive yourself.

You come to James 3 and then James launched into, we noted he'll touch on things then later he'll return to them often for fuller discussion. And then after the fuller discussion he is going to talk about the tongue again in a briefer way. In James 3 he warned, as the chapter opened up, not many of you should become teachers because teachers will incur a stricter judgment. And since teaching involves the use of the tongue, the reason he says this is we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. The most difficult area of our body to control is our tongue. And we know how that is. Things come out so easily in a variety of settings. If you're going to get drunk, you have to go get something to drink and then you have to drink it. The tongue, I don't have to go anywhere special, I don't have to be in any special setting, I can just blurt it out. How often have you said, I can't believe I said that. What was I thinking? It just came out. So that's what James is talking about here.

He gives an example of bits in the horse's mouth, you remember, of the rudder of a ship. The small thing controls the large part. The tongue, verse 5, is a small part of the body yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. Strike a little match, drop it down and you can consume thousands of acres. So the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set on fire among our members as that which defiles the entire body and set on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. So you see the seriousness of this matter.

No one can tame the tongue, he said in verse 8, it's a restless evil, full of deadly poison. We use the tongue to bless God and praise Him and we go out and curse men who are made in the image of God. So the seriousness of the tongue and the proper use of it. What James is really talking about is our tongue reflects our true character. And as we noted James is the half-brother of Jesus Christ. Jesus was the child of Mary, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit. James was born to Mary later and the natural relationship with Joseph her husband. So he is the half-brother of Christ, saved after the death and resurrection of Christ. But then became a leader in the church at Jerusalem. He often draws on the teaching of Christ during His earthly ministry.

Come back to Matthew 12:33, Jesus speaking here. Either make the tree good and its fruit good or make the tree bad and its fruit bad. The tree is known by its fruit. And if you're familiar with Matthew you'll know that Jesus used this same analogy back in Matthew 7, the tree is known by its fruit. Good trees produce good fruit, bad trees produce bad fruit. You brood of vipers. How can you being evil speak what is good. And here is a key statement that you should have marked—for the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. That's the key when James is talking about the tongue, picking up on what Christ is saying. Why are words so crucial? Because the words are a window into our heart. They are speaking out of what fills our heart. If our heart is filled with anger, with resentment, with bitterness, sinful things, our words reflect that. So Jesus said the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.

Now you'll note here, we're not saying here people could be saved by their words. Note how he goes on here. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good, the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. In other words the treasure is the heart. What's in the heart of the evil man comes out. That's what he brings out in his words. What's in the heart of the good man brings out what is in his heart. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. You have to take that statement, verse 37, in context. He's not saying you an be justified by your works, how you speak, but your words can be a basis of judgment because they reveal the condition of your heart. And so you can be judged on the basis of your words because your words are reflecting what is in your heart. Everything is carried back to the heart.

Come over to Mark 7:20, that which proceeds out of the man is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, pride, foolishness. All these things proceed from within and defile the man. Same with the words that he was talking about in Matthew 12, the parallel passage that we just read. So the heart is the issue. That's why trying to reform the outside and bring it into conformity with a certain standard makes a person no more acceptable to God. Because He is looking at the heart. Remember Jeremiah 17:9-10 that I referred to a moment ago, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it? I the Lord search the heart. And so until the heart is cleansed by the supernatural power of God nothing is changed.

So James is dealing with the fact our words reveal our true spiritual condition. Come back to Proverbs and we'll just look at some verses in Proverbs, limit it to that. And James would be drawing for these Jews something that would not be new to them as they would be familiar with their Old Testament. Proverbs 6, and you'll note a context here because this will fit with what we are going to talk about in James 5 when we finally get here. So we take some time to do the background and we won't come back here. Verse 12, a worthless person, a wicked man is one who walks with a perverse mouth. You see that reveals his true condition. He is a worthless person, a wicked person. He walks with a perverse mouth. That would fit with what Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So he is a wicked man.

And you'll note here the deceptiveness of him. He winks with his eyes, he signals with his feet, points with his fingers. In other words he may be telling you something but he is deceiving you. You know how sometimes when we're joking and we're saying something and our friend is there and we'll wink to them on the side to let him know we are pulling something here. But he is showing the wicked man is always trying to deceive you with his words. He may be talking like he is your friend, but he is not your friend. It's like the con man idea. I can do this for you, I can make money for you in this, I can make this come out well. But he's just deceiving you. That's the wicked person, he walks with a perverse mouth, he winks with his eyes, he signals with his feet, points with his finger. Who with perversity in his heart continues to devise evil. He spreads strife. There are six things which the Lord hates, seven are an abomination to Him. And you'll note down in verse 19 one of those is a false witness who utters lies, one who spreads strife among brothers, the use of the tongue here.

Come over to Proverbs 8. And here you're talking about wisdom and wisdom and personified. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom as we've seen in other studies in Proverbs. Proverbs opens up, that's the start of true wisdom, that acknowledgment of God, that reverence of Him. So Proverbs 8 opens up, does not wisdom call, understanding lift up her voice. And these are the things that wisdom is saying. Verse 6, listen for I will speak noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right things for my mouth will utter truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverted in them. So when God's wisdom has become part and parcel of our lives, then we will be speaking right things, verse 6. Our mouths will utter truth. We would view wicked things as an abomination to our lips, we wouldn't want to have anything to do with that, and those kinds of things. The utterances of my mouth, verse 8, are in righteousness. Nothing crooked or perverted in them. So that's God's wisdom implanted in us, it characterizes our speech. So our speech reveals we come to the knowledge of God which is the beginning of true wisdom.

Down in Proverbs 8:13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance in the evil way and the perverted mouth I hate. We noted God hates both sin and the sinner. That was true in Proverbs 6 where we just were as well. Over in Proverbs 10:31, the mouth of the righteous flows with wisdom but the perverted tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous bring forth what is acceptable but the mouth of the wicked is perverted. You see that constant connection, our words reveal our character. The wicked reveal their wickedness with their speech. Those who have come to the fear of the Lord, that reverential trust in Him, are characterized by His wisdom, His character. So their speech reveals it.

One other passage and then we'll have to move on. Proverbs 12:17, he who speaks truth tells what is right, but a false witness deceit. There is one who speaks rashly like the thrust of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Truthful lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only for a moment. Jump down to verse 22, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are His delight. So that emphasis on our words reveal out character.

Come back to James 5, and then we're going to come back to the Old Testament again. Verse 12 and James has instructed them manifesting true wisdom, the end of James 3 verse 13, who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. Then he contrasted worldly, earthly wisdom with God's wisdom, the wisdom that God gives. And then quarrels and conflicts are a manifestation of selfish lust as he went into James 4. Come down into James 5, he told them to be patient. Be patient, verse 7; verse 8, strengthen your hearts; don't complain, verse 9; the judge is standing right at the door, the end of verse 9. And then take the example of the prophets, of those who were faithful in suffering. And then the example of Job.

But verse 12, but above all, my brethren. And my brethren, that closeness of James' identification with them. Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. So the swearing he is talking about here is not cussing or something like that, but it's taking an oath, as he makes clear when he says, don't swear, my brethren, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. So he's talking about the swearing like you do in a courtroom. You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. You are taking an oath. Let your yes to be yes, your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.

Now we have to go back to the Old Testament to see what the Old Testament said about oaths. Because there are different views on taking an oath. And are we allowed to take oaths of any kind? Could you go to a courtroom and they say, do you swear. And you say, no, I don't believe that I should swear, I can't take an oath. The Bible tells me not to. The Anabaptists held that view and some modern groups, the Quakers held it. And that's why, the result of the Quakers' position on this and the leading Quaker that now in courtrooms you can affirm. Rather than saying I swear you can affirm yourself because Quakers did not believe, and he went to prison for it, and refused to swear. And he thought that so inconsistent. He said that the court claims to believe the Bible and yet the Bible says don't take an oath. And you're going to send me to prison because I won't take an oath. You ought to send the Bible to prison, too. And it ended up, now we have a provision.

All that to say we're going back to Exodus 20. We have the Ten Commandments that God gives and you have in verse 7, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. We're talking there about oath and the context. For example, you told a lie. I swear by the God of heaven that I would do this, but I didn't. I lied, I took His name in vain, it was empty, I discredited Him, dishonored Him by such an action.

Come over to Leviticus 19. You'll note it doesn't say you can't swear, can't take an oath in Exodus, it just said you couldn't lie in your oath. Leviticus 19:12, you shall not swear falsely by My name so as to profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. You dishonor the Lord, you profane His name when you use it in an oath and you're lying. You call God to be the witness and effect to testify on your behalf, so to speak, and you're lying. That casts dishonor on God is the point.

Come over to Numbers 30. Remember James is writing to Jews who have all this background in their Old Testament. Verse 2, if a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. Then it goes on to elaborate on the oath and regulations regarding a woman who is still under the authority of her father or a married woman and so on. But the point we want to pick up is verse 2. If you bind yourself with an oath, you must do everything you said you would do in making that oath.

One more passage, Deuteronomy 23. And you can see consistent emphasis through the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses as they are often referred to. Verse 21, 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 it of you. However if you refrain from vowing it would not be sin. You shall surely perform what goes out from your lips just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised. In other words you don't have to make an oath, but if you do, you must do it. It's a binding requirement.

Now James is concerned, as you come over to James again, that believers be consistent in their behavior and manifest the character of God. And he's going to address the matter of an oath and how does this fit in light of what was said. Well, it's important to James, he says, above all. This doesn't mean it's the most important thing in the letter, but this is something of serious nature that you have to pay attention to. And he's addressing believers—my brethren. He called them brethren in verse 7, he called them brethren in verse 9, he called them brethren in verse 10. These are Jews who profess to be believers in Jesus Christ and he is addressing them as such here.

Do not swear, don't take an oath, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. So seems pretty inclusive. Don't swear. And that means don't swear by heaven, don't swear by earth or any other oath. Your yes is to be yes and your no, no so that you may not fall under judgment. Again James has picked up here the teaching that Christ gave.

Come back to Matthew 5. We're in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount. And look at verse 33, this is a section where Jesus picks up, starts in verse 21, you heard the ancients were told; but verse 22, I say to you. Verse 27, youi heard that it was said; verse 28, but I say to you. Verse 31, it was said; verse 32, but I say to you. Then we come to 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. And we looked at that in the Old Testament passages. And we took the time to look at some, we won't go back there now. He's just quoting that. But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven for it is the throne of God, or by the earth for it is the footstool of His feet. Or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be yes, yes or no, no. Anything beyond that is evil. Sounds like James has almost taken this verbatim, doesn't it, in a summary way. Don't make any oath, not by heaven, not by earth, not by Jerusalem, not by the hair on my head. You know you can't change anything in that, you have no power. Just say yes or no, let that be your word.

You get an inkling in what is going on in this time period among the Jews. Come over to Matthew 23. An oath by its very nature is a further confirmation that this is true. Why do we have an oath? Why do they ask you to take an oath in court? Because without taking the oath you might lie. The oath is further binding. We see some passages that speak that way. So that's what an oath does, it makes even more solid what you are saying. Well the Jews had come up with all kinds of ways to get around this. Remember we read in Proverbs and I said, remember this. There is the person who says and then he winks with his eyes and he motions with his feet and gives a hand motion here. He is really deceiving you. Well Jesus addresses this.

Look at Matthew 23:16, this is a series of woes pronounced on the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees. Verse 13, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; verse 14, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; verse 15, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. And He shows their hypocrisy in each of these. When you come to verse 16, the one that applies to us in our study, woe to you blind guides who say, whoever swears by the temple that is nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated. And some of the Jewish writings, they had a whole system set up in their writings that you would have to become familiar with. Because they said, if you take an oath on the temple, which Jesus is going to use as the example here, that doesn't count. You don't have to do that. But if you take an oath on the basis of the gold in the temple, you are obligated. Jesus calls them fools and blind men. What is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? I mean, the gold outside the temple is not set apart for sacred use, so it doesn't have the same significance as the gold in the temple. But it's the temple that gave the gold in the temple its significance. And yet you say, if you swear by the temple you are not obligated. So you see what they had done, they are like Proverbs 6. They have come up with a way to use oaths that gave the idea to those they were swearing to that their words was binding.

When I was a kid we would do things, if you give me some of your candy, I'll let you ride my bicycle. Do you promise? Yes. Okay, give me the candy. All right, let me ride your bicycle. No, it didn't count, I had my fingers crossed. Remember that? What was it? It was the same kind of thing, that trick. You let them think, I promise, but there is something that nullifies it. That's here, my oath didn't count, I swore by the temple and it only counts if I swear by the gold of the temple.

Verse 18, and they say, whoever swears by the altar that's nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it he is obligated. You blind men. What is more important, the offering or the altar on which the offering is sanctified? I mean, you kill an animal at home to have it for dinner, that is nothing. What makes the sacrifice of the animal in the temple on the altar significant? It happens on the altar. But if you swear by the altar that doesn't bind you. You see all this detailed stuff.

Whoever swears by the temple, verse 21, swears by both the temple and him who dwells within it. Whoever swears by heaven swears by both the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. So this kind of trickery, what does it say? It's okay to be a liar. The only time that you are bound is when you are bound by a binding oath. And you understand not all oaths are binding. Where do we end up with this? I'll ask around, is that one of the binding oaths? Or isn't it? You see what Jesus was saying back in Matthew 5, let your yes be yes and no, be no. Should we assume that we're all liars here and your word is no good unless you swear and give an oath on it and then it has to be the right kind of oath because not all oaths are binding. Because sometimes you have your fingers crossed is the idea. So it has to be yes, yes or no, no.

Come back to James 5. James' instruction as Christ gave in Matthew 5 we say, you don't swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. Let your yes be yes, and your no, no so that you may not fall under judgment. He warned about this in verse 9, do not complain, brethren, against one another so that you may not be judged. And then the warning, the judge is standing right at the door. We talked about in James, we're living in the last days, we're expecting the return of the Lord, we will give an account to Him. If you're going to be grumbling and complaining, you'll be judged for that. You want to do that knowing the Judge may open the door at any moment and you'll be called before Him.

So down here in verse 12, don't be doing oaths. Your word ought to be good. And that's the point I think. The believer's word ought to be good. I mean, my word ought to be as much as in my power good. I may say, next Sunday as I told you this morning, we're going to continue to talk about the sovereignty of God and see what God says about sovereignty, even beyond kings and nations. If I say, I swear to you next Sunday by the God of heaven that we're going to do this, why? Because you can't trust me. Gil tells us all the time he's going to preach next Sunday and then he's off on the beach someplace. No. You say his word doesn't count unless he swore to do it. But I don't control it. I may get hit by a car tomorrow and I made an oath. And they're going to wheel me in here on a gurney so I can carry out the oath because I can't make an oath and not fulfill it. My word ought to be good. When we give our word as believers we're saying, this is what I plan to do and to the best of my ability I'm going to do it. But I can't do anymore than that because I don't control all the situations and circumstances of life. Remember James dealt with this back in James 4:13ff when he says, come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there, engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills we will do this or that. That recognition of God's sovereignty in it.

So my word ought to be good and of course that means I'm going to do this Lord willing, as we talked about. We don't have to express that, but that ought to be my attitude. I'm always submissive to the Lord's will. We make future appointments on that basis, we make arrangements on that basis, we do all kinds of things. But as believers we have in mind God may have different plans. These are just my plans as far as I can tell. Believers' word ought to be good. If I tell you I'm going to do this, then you can accept that and as a believer you know it's in the context if God wills because you are not sovereign and I'm not sovereign.

I think that's the point he is dealing with here. The believer's word ought to be good. When you say yes that means yes, when you say no that means no. That doesn't mean I have to come down with oath because my word is good.

Now does this mean you cannot take an oath in the courtroom? I don't think that necessarily requires that. Now again in our courts today you can affirm your word instead of swearing to it, and you have that option. But as I would understand the Scripture here, what James is addressing is the abuse here, as we saw Jesus addressing. A couple reasons I say that, one Christ Himself responded when He was put under oath.

Back up to Matthew 26, and here we're in the trial of Christ. He's been arrested in the Garden. The Chief Priest, verse 59, and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Christ that they might put Him to death. But they brought together a lot of false witnesses and so on. And Jesus just remained silent, verse 63. They want Him to say something because they know the testimony of the witnesses they have is so flimsy. But if He would say something that they could have His guilt, they would have the proof right there because He condemned Himself.

Jesus kept silent. And then note, the High Priest said to Him, I adjure by the living God, that's an oath, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. So requiring this of Him and Jesus recognizes it, He breaks His silence. You have said it Yourself, He is the Christ the Son of God. I tell you hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, coming in the clouds of heaven. And then they got what they wanted. The High Priest tore his robe and said, we don't need any witnesses, we've heard His blasphemy ourselves. He claims to be the Son of God. So they can condemn Him.

The point here we want to pick up is when Jesus is confronted and basically put under oath, He responds to it. He doesn't say, no, I don't take oaths, I'm not part of that. That would seem to be that He recognizes the court that He is in and the Jewish court had a power. They couldn't carry out the ultimate sentence, but they had power to administer Jewish matters which they are doing here. And Jesus recognizes the oath here.

Paul used an oath on several occasions. Come over to Romans 1. A little different form but it seems to be common agreement this is a form of oath. In verse 9, I mean, when you call God to witness you are calling on His authority and His testimony on your behalf. It's like an oath. When you say, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me, God, I'm calling God into this. So what does he say in Romans 1:9? For God whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you. Really a form of an oath. He's going beyond here's what I do. I call God to witness that what I am saying is true. So it is a form of an oath. So evidently he didn't believe that would be wrong to do.

Come over to 2 Corinthians 1. He does it with the Corinthians. Some in Corinth evidently were accusing Paul of not being a man whose yes was yes and no was no because they are saying, Paul said he was going to come to visit but he hasn't come yet. He doesn't keep his word. Well, remember it's if the Lord wills. But they were trying to show him as a man who could not be trusted, his word was not good. And in verse 23 he says, I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come to Corinth. So again it's a form of an oath, I call God to testify on my behalf. I'm going beyond just I'm giving you my word. I'm calling God who will testify that my word is true. So you see the seriousness of it. Like the Old Testament, you profane the name of the Lord when you call God who will be a witness on your behalf, so to speak. If you are lying you are profaning His name, you are saying that He is part of your lie. So he uses an oath here.

Come over to Galatians 1:20, now in what I am writing to you I assure you before God that I am not lying. In effect, I assure you before God, I'm calling God here again, we're standing with God as the witness here, I am not lying. It's a form of oath. 1 Thessalonians 2:5, for we never came with flattering speech as you know, nor with a pretext for greed. God is witness. Down in verse 10, you are witnesses and so is God how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. When you call God to be the witness here it's the same thing when you are swearing, taking an oath. You tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. I've brought God into this picture that He testifies with me that what I am saying is true. Philippians 1:8 does the same thing, we don't need to go there.

An oath is a guarantee, it's a confirmation of truthfulness. It should not be required of us as believers in our normal flow of life. Come over to Hebrews. God Himself confirms His Word with an oath. Does God need any confirmation? He is the God who cannot lie but He does take an oath to show how firm and settled what He is saying is. His Word on this is absolutely truthful, absolutely reliable, absolutely unchangeable. So Hebrews 3, and we'll look at several passages in Hebrews. Quotes here from Psalm 95, we're not going back, you have pertinent section quoted here. Verse 7 starts it, therefore just as the Holy Spirit says. You see there that all Scripture is God-breathed. Holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So here this quote from Psalm 95 says it was the Spirit of God moving on the psalmist to write. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me in the day of trail in the wilderness where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation and said they always go astray in their heart. They did not know My ways. As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest. To show the seriousness of the situation God confirmed His Word with an oath. I swore in My wrath, I took an oath they would not enter My rest. And of course they didn't.

Down in Hebrews 3:18, and to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest but to those who were disobedient. So we see they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Serious matter, refusal to believe God. His oath guarantees destruction. And where he is going with this is warning them of the seriousness of their condition. And not a light thing. Not just God's Word, God's Word confirmed with an oath. Those who do not believe in Him and His truth, He will send to an eternal hell. Example of what He did with Israel in the Old Testament. That's what Hebrews is emphasizing.

Come down into Hebrews 4:3, for we who have believed. The end of verse 2, the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. They heard the word again and again and again, but they didn't believe it. You can hear the Word, you can memorize the Word, you can talk about the Word, but if you haven't believed it in your heart, you don't enter His rest. We who have believed enter that rest. Just as He has said, as I swore in My wrath they shall not enter My rest. And he's making the connection here to the present audience and the comparison he has drawn with the Old Testament audience. We who have believed enter that rest, that oath carries to us as well. As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest. Those who believe will enter the rest. So God taking the oath.

Come over to Hebrews 6, he elaborates on an oath and its importance. We'll pick up in verse 13. And again he's come through a section here talking about the seriousness of the situation and true saving faith. Verse 13, for when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself. He took an oath with Abraham. I will surely bless you, I will surely multiply you. That's recorded back in Genesis 14. Well, who is greater than God? Who could God call to testify on His behalf and the confirmation of this? Himself, because there is no one greater. So He swore by Himself, I will surely bless you, I will surely multiply you. And so having patiently waited he obtained the promise, Abraham. For men swear by one greater than themselves and with them an oath is given as a confirmation, it's an end of every dispute. I mean, it's as far as you can go. You take the oath, you swear to it, that's to resolve it.

So God did this, in the same way God, verse 17, desiring even more to show the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose interposed with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge will have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. And one which enters within the veil where Jesus entered as a forerunner. We not only have God's Word, you have God's oath confirming His Word. I mean, he's just showing the double sureness of it. I mean, God can't lie, His Word is firm. Forever oh Lord, your Word is settled in heaven. But to show you just how settled it is, He took an oath to confirm that firm Word.

So the action of God here shows that God took the oath on occasion and he uses it in Hebrews 7:20-21 to show the Old Testament priests became priests without an oath. But when God was going to appoint His Son a priest after the order of Melchizedek, verse 21, then you have the Lord has sworn and will not change His mind. You are a priest forever, quoting from Psalm 110. Again God taking an oath.

That put together in light of the context of what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, that much of which James is drawing from, in light of the Old Testament background, I think that James 5:12 doesn't require that believers never take an oath. Now with this let me say, if you in your conscience think I shouldn't do that, don't do it. And if you are called into court to give testimony, you can say, I affirm my word rather than take an oath. My religious conviction is the oath . . ., they'll let you affirm it. So I'm not saying, my pastor said do it and I don't think it's right but I'm doing it. I'm not taking the blame, you are on your own out there. So don't violate your conscience, but as far as I can see in the Word here in light of what the Old Testament says about oaths and what Jesus said, we're really saying our word ought to be good enough but there may be cases where there is an affirming. I can understand the legal situation in which we are. We live in a fallen world. My word ought to be as good. But I can understand the court, this unbelieving world can't take my word and say, we believe you because you're a Christian. We don't believe them. So they require an oath of everybody. And that way you are legally bound on that.

Come over to Colossians, just a word here. We do need to be careful. We talked about this in detail in James 3 on the seriousness of the tongue. We just ought to be trustworthy people. And that's in our business dealings, not just with one another as believers, but wherever we are. We serve the God who is truth, we represent the truth of God. Jesus said in His high priestly prayer, your Word is truth, addressing His Father. So in our business dealings, some people can have shady practices. Not me, not you. In our dealings wherever we are people ought to know, you can trust him, his word is good. Did he sign it? No, but his word is good. That doesn't mean we don't sign. We have contracts and legal things that are binding these days. Not saying we shouldn't do that. If I buy a house I go sign a contract, or a car I sign a contract. I don't say, don't do that, my word is good. No, but my word still ought to be good. Other people may want a more firm, binding thing on it.

Colossians 3:8, but now you also, and he's drawing the contrast. There was a time when we walked, verse 7, in the realm of the sons of disobedience. We lived our lives in disobedience to God, we were under the wrath of God. But now we have been transformed by His power. Colossians 3:1 started out, you have been raised up with Christ. When you trusted Him you were identified with Him in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection to new life. And we are given new life in Him. So verse 8, you put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have laid aside the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, the new man who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him. And so we serve the God who is truth, the God who cannot lie. And we are being conformed by the power of the Spirit to the God that we serve. The truth ought to characterize us. That doesn't mean in our world that we don't sign a contract, that we don't have it notarized. We may even take an oath in a courtroom. But my word would be just as good and just as binding if I hadn't done that, because my word is good to the extent that I have power to fulfill it. That's why I don't want to add an oath because I don't have power over tomorrow. We are people of truth.

The contrast, and we're done with this passage. John 8:44, you are of your father the devil. He is addressing the religious leaders again. You want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Now note this, whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies. So you see the seriousness here. I mean, our word ought to be good. Why? Because we are not the children of the devil. I mean, he is a liar by very nature and his children manifest the same character—they are liars. And the book of Revelation tell us all liars will have their part in the lake of fire which burns with brimstone forever and ever.

But we are blessed to belong to the God of truth and have His character implanted in us and so our word is good. Yes be yes, and no be no.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for what you have done in our lives. Lord, we were not better than other people, we were not more righteous than others. We were children of wrath just like the rest. We walked in disobedience to you, we were characterized by the same selfish, lustful desires, the same sins in heart and mind as well as practice. But in your grace you reached down with your salvation and opened our blinded eyes to see the wonder of the Savior who loved us and died for us so that we might be made new in Him. Now Lord we are privileged to live new lives, manifesting your character. We serve the God of truth and truth is an outstanding characteristic of our lives. In all of our relationships, in all of our conversations may that be true. May these tongues which so easily speak out those things which are not honoring to you, may we be careful to bring them in submission so you might be honored. Bless us as we serve you in the days of the week before us. We pray in Christ's name, amen.