1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,880 Matthew 5, 33 to 37. Again you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 2 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:15,320 do not break your oath but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made. But I 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:21,520 tell you do not swear an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,760 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of 5 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:33,480 the great king. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair 6 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:40,240 white or black. All you need to say simply yes or no, anything beyond this 7 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,120 comes from the evil one. 8 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:58,400 Good morning everyone. Thank you Rob and Des and Dave for leading us in prayer 9 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:04,280 and such. Sorry, I'm getting used to this new pulpit that we, you may have noticed, 10 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:12,480 that we have, built by the brilliant Matt Vanderveld. Is that right? Yes, I've said 11 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:17,760 the name right. And there's a bit of history in this because he got the wood 12 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:24,520 and sourced the wood from an old barn, but more importantly from Clem White's 13 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:31,320 library. These were his old shelves. So it's wonderful to have a bit of history 14 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:38,880 here with us this morning. But yes, Matt played the role of Noah and he put this 15 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:44,280 thing together and it's beautiful. So yes, if you are wondering you can come 16 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:50,640 and pass it later and you can even smell it because it smells amazing. But in 17 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:55,140 saying all of that, why don't we come to our Lord in prayer before we come to His 18 00:01:55,140 --> 00:02:03,800 Word this morning. Father, we are so thankful that we can be together here 19 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:11,840 this morning to be so public in our worship, to be led in prayer, to be led 20 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:20,360 in song, to have your Word read without shame or compromise among us this morning. 21 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:26,840 We are so thankful for these things. We pray Father that as we come to your Word 22 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:32,480 this morning, that our Lord Jesus would be held high among us and that we would 23 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:40,400 be changed by the Word and we ask for this in Jesus' name. Amen. So for the past 24 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:47,240 couple of days I've been reading Elizabeth Rogers' book, Stories of 25 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:53,520 Australia's Christian Heritage, in which she presents a number of essays about 26 00:02:53,520 --> 00:03:00,920 the spiritual lives of some of Australia's greatest explorers. Now what 27 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:06,400 I found so fascinating about the different essays is that though there 28 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:12,920 was a race to become the most famous adventurer in which to map Australia 29 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:20,480 out, the explorers that made it into the history books, though tempted, never 30 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:26,360 exaggerated or made up their claims as to what they had reached or discovered. 31 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:35,120 And they gained a reputation as being brutally truthful. Now in a day and age 32 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:41,000 where no one could really verify what they had claimed, it's interesting that 33 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:47,880 no one ever made these explorers take an oath or a vow to verify if they were 34 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:53,680 telling the truth or not. That's because the early settlers knew that these 35 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:58,840 explorers held the truth to be the most important factor in the whole world 36 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:05,400 because these men knew for people to survive, for society to flourish, that 37 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:10,400 their word was the only thing that the settlers had to go on. And so these 38 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:17,500 explorers were taken at their word. Fascinating stuff, a great read, whole 39 00:04:17,500 --> 00:04:23,120 families, whole towns trusting in the word of a couple of men because of their 40 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:31,280 reputation of being honest and truthful. What a reputation to have, right? To be 41 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:37,680 so the people of truth that complete strangers are willing to bet their very 42 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:47,360 lives on nothing more than your yes being yes and your no being no. This is 43 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:53,920 the very picture that Jesus would have for his church. But first let's get a bit 44 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:59,920 of context to our passage this morning. So for the past few weeks we've been at 45 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:04,680 the feet of Jesus who has been teaching the crowds and more specifically his 46 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:12,040 disciples on this mountain about what it is to enter into the kingdom of heaven 47 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,720 and how one should conduct themselves in this world and looking forward to the 48 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:23,680 day of its full manifestation which is still to come, which Jesus likened to 49 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:31,000 being the salt and the light of this world. That's what the disciples of Jesus 50 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:38,360 do, right? We hear the gospel, we repent and trust in Jesus and we enter into the 51 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:45,100 kingdom of heaven instantly. That's what happens when anyone calls upon the name 52 00:05:45,100 --> 00:05:50,880 of the Lord. Yet as we know we're not instantly and physically transported 53 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:56,480 into that kingdom but continue to live here on earth looking forward in hope to 54 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:04,360 that day when heaven and earth finally meet. But in doing that says Jesus, in 55 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:10,800 following him as the king of this world, in being a citizen of the heavenly 56 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:17,920 kingdom, in being the salt and the light of this world, well we will also come 57 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:24,760 against all kinds of persecution in this world. So we might ask the question here 58 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:33,920 what might make this dark world hate the light of the kingdom so much? Quite 59 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:39,880 simply because all disciples of Jesus are meant to live and breathe and have 60 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:45,880 their being in following Jesus Christ, the King of this kingdom. That's what 61 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:51,760 disciples of Jesus do, they follow Jesus and seek to obey him in all that they do 62 00:06:51,760 --> 00:07:01,400 and say because he is our Lord and King. But this is the rub. Jesus isn't some 63 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:08,360 hippie cult leader where his motto is all is children, it's going to be okay so 64 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:14,640 just do what you want as Hollywood might sell him to be. No not in any sense as it 65 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:19,600 was this very same Jesus who bought in the kingdom of heaven who said of 66 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:25,280 himself that he had not come to rid the world of the law of God but had come to 67 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:33,520 fulfill it. In other words he had come to give the law its fullest expression 68 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:38,480 and more than that he also said that all his disciples are not just to follow 69 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:44,200 what he has laid out for us but that we are also to teach all people to follow 70 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:51,520 what he has had to say on the law. That's what Jesus has been taking us through 71 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:58,720 from verse 21 onwards of chapter 5. He's been taking us through how we are to 72 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:03,840 understand the law in light of how it was meant to be understood and that's 73 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:11,520 that the law was given to expose the heart. Allow me to illustrate this in the 74 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:18,360 context of gardening. The law wasn't given as pruning scissors to exclusively 75 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,600 deal with the leaves on the tree as was the popular understanding of the time. 76 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:29,640 No it was given as a bobcat to dig right down past what any shovel could hope to 77 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:35,720 do so as to expose the very roots of the tree so that we might might see the rot 78 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:42,920 and damage that sin has done and call out to God for a total and utter 79 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:49,280 transplant. In other words the popular teaching of the time which came from the 80 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:55,600 Pharisees focused on applying the law to the external actions of the person but 81 00:08:55,600 --> 00:09:01,480 as Jesus has been showing us over and over and over through the weeks though 82 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:07,240 the actions of his disciples must change and they really must change. Change must 83 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:12,800 happen from the very core of our being. As the law actually goes after the 84 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:18,760 thoughts and the intentions of a person to expose what's going on deep under 85 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:23,400 the surface and it's there says Jesus it's there in the very heart and mind of 86 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:28,920 a person that sin needs to be both exposed and dealt with in order that 87 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:35,040 they might truly enter the kingdom of heaven. So that's where we are so far 88 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:41,080 church. We're now just over halfway in a series of but I tell you antidotes that 89 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:46,040 our Lord has made in the face of the popular teaching of the Jewish religious 90 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:51,600 teachers of the time. So if you have your Bibles we'll be in our text quite a bit 91 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:58,080 this morning so if you do have your Bibles please look with me at verse 33. 92 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:03,320 We read these words. Again you have heard that it was said to the people of long 93 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:12,000 ago do not break your oath but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made. Now I 94 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:17,520 want you to notice a word there at the beginning of verse 33. That is the word 95 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:24,480 again and I want you to notice that word because Jesus is again taking the 96 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:29,280 popular teaching of the day the stuff that his disciples had heard and 97 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:35,800 understood in regards to how to apply the law and he's going to again contrast 98 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:43,880 what they had been taught with what the law was actually getting at. That's what 99 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:48,920 we've been seeing so far right? Jesus has said you've heard it said to the people 100 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:54,000 long ago don't murder but I tell you the Lord judges you guilty of murder in the 101 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:00,920 heart when you hate, guilty of adultery when you lust, guilty of adultery when 102 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:07,120 you tear apart what God has put together. That's how we have seen Jesus treat the 103 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:15,880 law so far. So what is he directing his audience to now? Well to their dodgy 104 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:22,120 understanding in regards to oath-taking. You see through the weeks we've not only 105 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:28,160 seen how Jesus applied the law but in contrast we've also seen how the 106 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:33,800 religious teachers of the day known as these Pharisees understood and applied 107 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:40,120 the law as well. And what have we learned about them? Well that the the rabbis 108 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:45,800 tended to be pretty permissive in their attitude towards people's actions so 109 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:53,000 long as the letter of the law was upheld. For example like we saw last week as 110 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,680 long as your wife received that certificate that Moses commanded to be 111 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:05,360 forgiven then your divorce was legal and permitted in the eyes of God. So it goes 112 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:12,720 without saying that that theology that they held to also leaped into other 113 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:17,800 areas of their teaching as well and we'll certainly see that when it comes 114 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:24,520 to their teaching about oaths and vows. But before we dive into this greater 115 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:30,120 detail we have to have a good think about where this theological 116 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:37,440 knife fight lay. Well that battle lays with the phrase, do not break your oath 117 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:43,440 but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made. Now something to note here 118 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:49,200 this phrase in and of itself is a summary of a general principle that 119 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:54,720 can be derived from a whole bunch of passages that come out of the law and 120 00:12:54,720 --> 00:13:03,960 put together. For example Leviticus 19 12 we read, do not swear falsely by my name 121 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:12,040 and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Hear that the stress is not on 122 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:19,040 swearing falsely. Again numbers 30 verse 2, when a man makes a vow to the Lord 123 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:26,120 or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge he must not break his word but 124 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:32,240 must do everything he said. Again this passage takes up the idea of not 125 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:39,440 breaking your oath and applies it to the people of God. Deuteronomy 23 21, if you 126 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:45,760 make a vow to the Lord your God do not be slow to pay it for the Lord your God 127 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:54,040 will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. Okay so with all 128 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:58,680 of these verses put together and there's a few more we get an idea that this 129 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:04,160 general saying would have been what was on view here in verse 33 which was 130 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:11,660 basically if you make an oath in the name of God make sure you do what you 131 00:14:11,660 --> 00:14:18,880 have said that you would do. Now church the question might be asked here why did 132 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:24,400 people use to make vows at all these oaths and vows at all? What was the point 133 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:31,240 of them? Well believe it or not vows, oaths as they're used interchangeably 134 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:36,920 here are more common in our day and age than you might think and they were very 135 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:43,120 very common in this context. You see vows are a way of calling down a higher 136 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:50,040 judgment upon ourselves than ourselves because people simply don't trust one 137 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:55,960 another. In other words it's calling on God to witness what is said so that 138 00:14:55,960 --> 00:15:03,560 people will be assured of one's honesty. To put it simply vows are a way of 139 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:10,880 solemnizing an agreement an arrangement or a promise and calling God in as the 140 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:16,360 legal witness. If you're a fan of whodunnits you would have seen something 141 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:21,600 similar to this when someone puts their hand on the Bible to make a vow in court 142 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:28,800 to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. They're calling God to witness the 143 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:33,880 testimony that they're about to give. We even see world leaders doing it when 144 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:37,840 they're sworn into office though admittedly less and less here in 145 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:45,320 Australia with our Prime Ministers. Now what seems to be on view in our passage 146 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:50,240 this morning is very similar to what we see in our courts in that the Pharisees 147 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:55,160 taught that vow taking was very important business in the context of 148 00:15:55,160 --> 00:16:00,800 their civil courts. I mean we've seen it in just those few verses that I've read 149 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:06,200 they weren't rejecting what had come out of Leviticus at numbers and 150 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:12,080 Deuteronomy. No they taught that you had to be truthful especially when a solemn 151 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:17,880 promise had been given in the name of God. Yet there seemed to be a problem 152 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:23,920 with how they both were both understanding and applying the law when 153 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:32,560 it came to this vow taking. Read with me verses 34 through to 36. It says Jesus 154 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:37,720 speaking, but I tell you do not swear an oath at all, either by heaven for it is 155 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:43,100 God's throne or by the earth for it is his footstool or by Jerusalem for it is 156 00:16:43,100 --> 00:16:47,680 the city of the great King and do not swear by your head for you cannot make 157 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:55,600 even one hair white or black. Now I say that there must have been a problem 158 00:16:55,600 --> 00:17:00,520 with their application because like we've seen in previous weeks Jesus isn't 159 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:06,080 hitting back against what God had revealed through Moses in any which way. 160 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:12,280 No far from it he's been deepening and broadening the shallow and external 161 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:19,080 teaching that the Pharisees had taught the people. You have heard it said Jesus 162 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:24,640 says. So in no sense should we take this as Jesus saying that we mustn't be 163 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:30,480 truthful nor is he saying that vows are completely off the table and we'll come 164 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:36,600 back to that in just a moment. Now Jesus's problem seems to be with the 165 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:45,400 pharisee to call restriction of the law. You see in verses 34 through to 36 we 166 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:49,800 see something emerge that Jesus was challenging and that wasn't what God 167 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:56,160 revealed about oath-taking in his name but the pharisee to call system that had 168 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:01,320 developed around it. You see as we've seen through the weeks the Pharisees 169 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:06,320 were obsessed with the letter of the law and so because they didn't want to 170 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:12,440 break the law well at least externally they developed these little man-made 171 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:18,800 laws known as the traditions of the fathers which actually kept people from 172 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:26,800 following the big God-given revealed law. Think about it like this. Imagine you 173 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:32,640 have a pool and you didn't want anyone falling in the pool because you were 174 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:37,720 scared that they would drown. So the responsible thing to do would be to put 175 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:43,500 a fence around that pool right? Well admittedly it certainly seems like the 176 00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:49,600 safer option but where it had all gone wrong with the Pharisees is that the 177 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:57,200 fence had become the be-all and end-all. So instead of teaching people about water 178 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:02,720 safety let's say the Pharisees busied themselves with telling people all about 179 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:09,840 the fence and nothing about the pool and in that way that's what we're seeing 180 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:16,120 here. God had revealed in the law the way in which one could lawfully take a vow 181 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:21,800 and make an oath in his name yet because the Pharisees were terrified of breaking 182 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:28,040 this law they developed a fence around the law to make the binding of any oath 183 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:37,080 any vow a little more squishy. Here's what I mean. The Pharisees were saying 184 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:43,120 that if you make a vow in the name of the Lord well that needs to be kept no 185 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:49,000 matter what but to avoid that kind of commitment if you make an oath in the 186 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:57,360 name of let's say Jerusalem well a city isn't on the same level as God nor is it 187 00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:03,000 going to hold you to the same account. So maybe swearing on that is a little bit 188 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:09,480 more flexible if things don't work out. Same goes with heaven and earth and even 189 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:14,160 your own head but whatever you do if you make a vow in the name of the Lord well 190 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:19,520 there's no getting away from that. It's incredibly serious and whatever you 191 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:24,040 swore to do well that thing needs to be done because you made it in the name of 192 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:32,520 the Lord and it's this theology that Jesus is challenging because at the end 193 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:37,920 of the day though they thought they were honoring the law with these fences they 194 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:48,880 were actually playing fast and loose with the truth. Now before we unpack what 195 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:54,200 Jesus is really getting at here I want to go back and ask that question is it 196 00:20:54,200 --> 00:21:01,680 ever wrong to take a vow or an oath? I mean we do it in marriage vows with 197 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:08,200 church membership vows we even pledge ourself as a church to those who are 198 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:13,520 being baptized among us to help them in their Christian walk which we're going 199 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:22,380 to do on the 11th of June with the Decker family. Is Jesus saying, she's 200 00:21:22,380 --> 00:21:27,360 excited to be baptized you can hear it, is Jesus saying that we have what we 201 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:33,680 have done to our spouse or even to each other as a church was that wrong? Well if 202 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:39,080 we look at the whole council of Scripture it's clear that godly people 203 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:46,600 under the right circumstances took vows. We see it with the patriarchs making 204 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:52,920 promises, oaths, vows to the living God and they weren't rebuked. We see Paul 205 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:58,200 making vows to different churches when he wrote to them under the inspiration 206 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:04,760 of the Holy Spirit Romans 1 9 for example and we even read in Hebrews 6 17 207 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:10,600 that because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very 208 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:17,760 clear to the heirs of what was promised he confirmed it with an oath. 209 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:25,040 Hear that even even God took an oath in his own name. So with what we've seen the 210 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:32,280 law reveal about vows and what we see the whole council of Scripture speaking 211 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:37,680 to us about which is beautifully summed up in chapter 22 of the Westminster 212 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:44,400 Confession we have to conclude that it is not vow taking per se that Jesus is 213 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:50,240 totally against here. Now in context to what he is addressing in regards to the 214 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:56,840 phariseedical teaching on oaths Jesus is totally and utterly against committal 215 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:02,700 speech that attaches itself to a seemingly solemn truth statement yet had 216 00:23:02,700 --> 00:23:10,560 an escape plan or escape clause in the fine print. That's what Jesus is opposing 217 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:16,560 here. He's against people who make vows but in their hearts are thinking well 218 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:24,280 it's not like I'm calling on God and using his name here. So we might ask the 219 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:32,720 question what is Jesus saying? What is he speaking to us as disciples about? What 220 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:37,520 is he warning us? Well fortunately for us brothers and sisters Jesus actually 221 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:42,560 picks this very theme up again and challenges the Pharisees on this very 222 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:47,760 hypocritical teaching later on in his ministry which gives us an incredible 223 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,240 insight as to where all of this is coming from and what he is wanting us 224 00:23:52,240 --> 00:24:00,280 his disciples to think about when it comes to the way we speak. We read in 225 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:08,080 Matthew 23 16 through to 22. Woe to you blind guides, that's to the Pharisees. You 226 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:12,000 say if anyone swears by the temple it means nothing but anyone who swears by 227 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,840 the gold of the temple is bound by that oath. You blind fools which is greater 228 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:22,680 the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred. You also say if anyone 229 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:27,560 swears by the altar it means nothing but anyone who swears by the gift of the 230 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:33,520 altar is bound by that oath. You blind men which is greater the gift or the 231 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:37,480 altar that makes the gift sacred and this is where I really want us to pay 232 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:42,200 attention this morning church. Jesus goes on therefore anyone who swears by the 233 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:48,960 altar swears by it and everything on it and anyone who swears by the temple 234 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,920 swears by it and the one who dwells in it and anyone who swears by heaven 235 00:24:53,920 --> 00:25:01,040 swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it. Notice that church again 236 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:06,600 Jesus takes us to the very heart of the law by making it clear that everything is 237 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:14,280 God's everything is his. So whether people swear by Jerusalem by the earth 238 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:22,120 by some created thing or even by God's temple everything that is belongs to him. 239 00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:28,040 It's all under him and so because of that the Pharisees had fallen into the 240 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:34,040 grave error into grave error because they thought that they could compartmentalize 241 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:40,780 truth and bind themselves absolutely only when they had taken an oath in the 242 00:25:40,780 --> 00:25:47,160 name of the Lord. No says Jesus that doesn't work because everything it's all 243 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:53,560 under God everything is his and so by implication of that fact Jesus is 244 00:25:53,560 --> 00:26:00,480 teaching his disciples that all our speech is meant to be the truth not just 245 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:05,400 when we make vows. That's what Jesus is getting at here he's teaching that 246 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:11,960 everything that we say as believers is a reflection on God because we bear God's 247 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:20,600 name as people of his kingdom. We are his people the salt and light of this world 248 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:27,200 and that's all our speech must be seasoned with the truth not just our 249 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:34,880 vows and promises. This is the solemn warning church there is nothing that we 250 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:40,320 should say nothing that we should look to vow on that is any less binding than 251 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:46,360 when taking an oath in the name of the Living God. No says Jesus everything we 252 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:52,240 say everything we say we will do must be said in the light of knowing that it is 253 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:58,720 all said under the watchful eye of our Creator. This means that everything we 254 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:06,320 say we we promise we vow must be the truth because truth mustn't be 255 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:13,800 mentalized and tied to greater or lesser binding statements. That's because every 256 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:23,240 promise is made under God every vow is a promise before God. Verse 37 Jesus makes 257 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:31,000 it clear for us all you need to say is yes or no. Now in light of all of that 258 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:36,560 we've seen this morning Jesus is simply saying to be very careful with what we 259 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:43,360 say keep a watchful eye on your words be careful about making those promises that 260 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:49,240 we're not able to keep. The Pharisees thought they had found a way to say one 261 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:53,720 thing with their mouth all the while having their fingers crossed behind 262 00:27:53,720 --> 00:28:00,040 their back. I don't know if you've ever seen your kids do that. Jesus says you 263 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:06,720 don't need to enter into that word spaghetti just simply do what you say 264 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:15,160 will do or if you can't be upfront say no. Anything beyond this comes from the 265 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:21,680 evil one. And church again we find ourselves at the feet of Jesus listening 266 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:27,000 to how the popular teaching of the day totally fell short of what the law was 267 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:32,280 always meant to do. And this morning we've seen that because God keeps us in 268 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:39,040 this world to advance his kingdom it is vitally important that we individually 269 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:47,600 and as the church reflect him in all that we do and say. And the fact of the 270 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:53,360 matter is this brothers and sisters it is Jesus who called himself the way the 271 00:28:53,360 --> 00:29:00,600 truth and the life. And this morning he's drawing us into that realization that as 272 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:06,720 his disciples as his followers as the ones who bear his name Christians truth 273 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:12,520 must permeate every commitment we make as everything that we commit to do we 274 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:21,760 are doing in the name of the Living God who is truth. That is no small thing. If 275 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:29,080 we think about it Jesus is reminding us here this morning that we all every 276 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:35,160 single one of us in this room who have called upon the name of the Lord we are 277 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:44,720 ambassadors who represent the Living God wherever we go. This means we take him 278 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:51,720 into the workplace so when we say we'll have something done let's get it 279 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:58,120 done. When we make a business deal it had better be done in the light. No shady 280 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:03,880 bits going on in the background. Husbands when we give our word to our wives about 281 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:09,160 doing the dishes or fixing that fence we're not just bound to doing these 282 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:17,000 things from good will. No these those words they have a weight behind them. 283 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:23,480 Young ones if your parents ask you have you done your homework make sure that 284 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:28,200 you don't deceive them because your words aren't just random vibrations 285 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:34,800 hitting somebody else's eardrum. Parents if you say no to something stick to it 286 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:40,360 even when your little one gives you that gorgeous little puppy dog face because 287 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:47,800 we're teaching them that our yes means yes our no means no and that our words 288 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:56,520 really matter in this dark and deceptive world. What have we seen here this 289 00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:05,000 morning? Well we've seen that when we make a commitment the world is watching 290 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:15,080 therefore we must be truthful in what we say. Yes is yes no is no and we stick to 291 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:23,240 what we say because we are representing the living God in all we say and do. 292 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:30,880 Imagine for a moment if that was the reputation of the church in this world 293 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:38,120 imagine it. Well brothers and sisters it can start here in Armidale at this 294 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:45,480 church this morning because that's how Jesus directs us to conduct ourselves in 295 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:51,040 this world. He directs us to keep truth central in all that we say and do in 296 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:57,640 public and in private. This means that we must conduct ourselves in the knowledge 297 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:03,840 that all that we do is done in the sight of the living God. This is the warning 298 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:12,280 when we deceive when we hide the truth we don't just run the risk of ruining our 299 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:21,000 reputation we bring the name of God into the mud as well. So if you are here this 300 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:25,680 morning and you would say you really struggle with keeping the truth central 301 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:32,040 in business in marriage in parenting in life in general then I want to remind 302 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:37,640 you that there is a battle raging and that we are not yet perfected. We're not 303 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:43,160 entirely sanctified and that struggle with deceit on this side of eternity 304 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:49,200 dealing with our fallen natures that attempted to protect ourselves will 305 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:54,640 happen until Kingdom come. Now I don't want to downplay this at all this 306 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:59,920 morning. The sin does have its consequences not only in our lives but 307 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:07,200 also it affects the lives of other people and before God but people lie for 308 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:15,840 a plethora of different reasons. The people usually lie tell half truths and 309 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:21,000 exaggerate not usually because they're wanting to completely ruin themselves 310 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:27,600 and other people but usually because the truth can paint them in a bad light 311 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:32,880 whether that's to do with our past or something that we haven't done well or 312 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:38,280 even something that we want to be true. That's where we usually find ourselves 313 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:42,720 not telling the truth and nothing but the truth or hiding the truth to make 314 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:49,960 things seem a little bit better even when we attach that word promise to it. 315 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:55,600 But we need to see that for what it is brothers and sisters. That is fear of 316 00:33:55,600 --> 00:34:01,440 what others will think. That's usually why we play loosely with the truth 317 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:06,400 because we fear what others will think of us but this is the thing if you have 318 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:12,240 called upon the name of the Lord your identity is no longer defined by your 319 00:34:12,240 --> 00:34:18,040 past. Your abilities, your talents no longer give you that worth. No in Christ 320 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:24,280 because of his perfect truth-keeping and truth speaking from the very heart in 321 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:31,960 all that he did live which has been given to us we stand justified before 322 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:38,960 the creator of the universe at this very moment. We have nothing to prove in 323 00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:48,020 Christ we are worthy in Christ. So I want to remind you here this morning we have 324 00:34:48,020 --> 00:34:55,680 a gracious God. A gracious God who desires to work in us to bring truth and 325 00:34:55,680 --> 00:35:03,600 integrity into all we say and do in all areas of our life. And so if you see your 326 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:08,760 sin, you hate your deception then might these words from the Lord Jesus Christ 327 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:14,360 be held high among us this morning. It is he who says blessed are the poor in 328 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:19,120 spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for 329 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:23,840 they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. 330 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:30,720 Church the kingdom is open to every and anyone who realizes their sin and turns 331 00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:36,440 to God. Though we might struggle though we might mourn in that struggle and 332 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:44,840 battle we have one who invites us to go to him in our mess over and over and over 333 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:52,800 and over again. So this morning church would you join me in praying to the only 334 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:59,520 to to to not only be a truth seeker in this world but a truth speaker in all 335 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:11,000 that we say. Let's pray. Father God we thank you that your word is indeed the 336 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:19,680 double-edged sword. And Father we thank you that in Christ that where we see 337 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:28,520 where we fall short we can look to the beloved we can look to the one who has 338 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:37,080 kept the law perfectly. Not just in all that he did but in all that he said and 339 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:44,520 all that he thought all that he intended to do he never once sinned against you 340 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:54,920 in that area. We thank you Father God that that life that perfect life has 341 00:36:54,920 --> 00:37:00,320 been given to us. Father we are keenly aware that we are on this side of 342 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:07,640 eternity that we're in different contexts in business in work in parenting 343 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:15,760 being young university whatever it might be where truth can sometimes be something 344 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:22,160 that we're tempted to hide. Father would you please help us would you please 345 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:28,320 change us. Might this church here in Armidale be a place that is known to be 346 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:39,320 truthful, truth in love that we are not a bashing symbol a clanging gone but a 347 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:44,920 place that holds the truth of the gospel high in this city and that you would 348 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:53,560 draw all manner of people to yourself. We ask for this in Jesus name. Amen.