Kingdom People Tell The Truth (Jake Enns)

I had a conversation with a man years ago.

In our conversation, at some point he made this comment.

He said truth fears no investigation.

I've never forgotten that phrase.

The way he said it, truth fears no investigation.

Our title this morning is God's People Tell the Truth.

Someone once wrote, If you always tell the truth, you can

afford to have a short memory. The problem with telling lies is

that you may need another lie to cover the lie that you just

told, and then you need another lie to cover that lie, and that

lie, and on and on it goes. There's an old saying that goes,

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to

deceive. Only the road of truth leads to

God. All other roads lead elsewhere,

not to God but away from God. There's only one way to God and

countless ways away from God. Living a life of truth is not

easy for our flesh. It means self denial and that's

why Jesus has take up your cross and follow me.

It can be very difficult and painful but in the end that is

the only living. That's that God wants us to

live, living the life of truth. Walking the road of truth is

often slow. It's hard, and sometimes it

seems there's not a lot of progress.

I read a quote one time that read while truth is still tying

its shoelaces. A lie will travel around the

world. The life of truth may be slow,

but it's steady. It is sure, it is solid and

contrast to that. A life of lies is quick.

It's flighty and shifty, chaotic and unpredictable, and in the

end just vanishes into nothingness.

Psalm 37, verse 20, The psalmist writes, But the wicked shall

Psalms 37:20

perish, and the enemies of the Lord, like the splendor of the

meadows, shall vanish into smoke.

They shall vanish away. We're continuing our sermon

series this morning in the Sermon on the Mount.

We've been learning in our previous sermons how Jesus

repeatedly drew the attention of the crowd from what they had

been taught to what actually the meaning of it was.

What was the meaning of what they had been taught?

He would say, You've heard it said, but I tell you.

And then he proceeded to explain what they had been taught, but

then drew the whole thing into a higher level, to a higher

standard. And I've said this before in our

sermon series, As human beings, as fleshly people, we're tempted

to kind of lower the bar, not only not keep it where Jesus had

it. We're seeing, well, can we maybe

compensate for this and can we make an allowance here and some

acceptance and tolerance there? And so because it's hard and we

want to make it lighter than what God commanded, less

demanding, more convenient. But that's not the way of Jesus.

The question is not what is lighter, what's less work,

what's more convenient? Those are not the questions.

The question is what is true. That's the question, what is

true. In this morning's passage, Jesus

deals with the swearing of oaths and about being truthful.

And we may wonder, why did Jesus make such a big deal about

oaths? What is it about us and our

language that Jesus wanted to address?

Obviously, what Jesus knew God's standard was and what he saw

people doing that was not matching up, that was not lining

up, and so we addressed it. Jesus taught the people the

importance of honesty and integrity in speech.

Jesus clearly teaches us not to use oaths and not to embellish

our comments, our phrases, and our commitments and our

promises. You see, when we make a promise

or a statement and then with words try to embellish it and to

reinforce it or short it up, so to speak, we hope to make it

more believable. Jesus says don't do that.

He says when we make a statement and then use for reinforcements

on that statement, we're indicating that something's

wrong. So instead of presenting our

words as strong and reliable, the more we add to them, the

more questionable the whole thing becomes.

We have a very interesting passage this morning in the

Sermon on the Mount. Let's read it.

Turning your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 5, verse 33 down to 37.

Matthew 5:33

He says again, You've heard it said, heard that it was said to

those of old. You shall not swear falsely, but

shall perform your oath to the Lord.

But I say to you, do not swear at all.

Neither by heaven, for is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it

is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of

the great King. Nor shall you swear by your

head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.

But let your yes be yes, and your no, no.

For whatever is more than these is from the evil 1.

Not only does Jesus now elevate swearing or oath making into a

higher level, he says stop, stop, don't do it.

It's interesting. All the other standards he

raised him, he clips this one. Don't swear, don't make oaths.

Now this is the fourth time in the sermon that Jesus is using

the words you've heard it said. And then he says, I say to you,

he raises the standard, for instance, the law on murder.

He says, well, murder is sin, but if you get angry at your

brother, that's equal to murder. So he elevated anger to murder.

He said he did that with lust. He said, well, you've heard that

it said do not commit adultery. But I say to you, if you have

lust, you're already in the adultery level.

And he did it with marriage. He said he, he elevated the the

normal except the divorce principle and remarriage

principle says that elevates you into adultery.

Now he gets to swearing in oaths and he says simply let your yes

be yes and your no be no. Anything more than that is from

the evil one. Wonder who that could be?

It's not God. The evil 1 is Satan.

Think about that for a moment. Every time we make an oath or we

start really emphasizing and and using language to really

emphasize what we just said, it's not yes, yes and no, no,

not something more in Jesus. That's from the evil 1.

Let's go through this verse by verse again.

You've heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not

swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.

They had not heard that they should not swear or make an

oath. They had not heard that.

They had heard. Just don't do it falsely.

They had heard that. Now Jesus takes this old law and

he raises the bar. Yes, he raises the bar, but in a

different way. That's point number one.

You see, in ancient times, swearing oath was very common.

People would swear oaths to each other all the time, promising

loyalty, commitment, allegiance, peace, faithfulness, and so on.

And it was not against the law. In the Old Testament, we find

God did it himself. He would swear an oath by

himself, and he instructed his people, if you're going to make

an oath, be careful. In the book of Genesis we find

God swearing an oath to Abraham that he would bless him.

God had told Abraham, take your son, your only son, Isaac.

Take him to a mountain. I will show you.

And then I want you to sacrifice your son Isaac to me as an

offering. Well, Abraham, off he goes with

Isaac. Some servants go to the mountain

and he had Isaac up the mountain.

He's going to kill us and he's got him tied, bound on the

altar. He's going to kill him and then

God stops him. It says in Genesis chapter 1522

verse 15, it says then the Angel of the Lord called to Abram a

second time out of heaven, and said by myself, I have sworn,

says the Lord, because you've done this thing and have not

withheld your son, your only son blessing, I will bless you and

multiplying, I'll multiply your descendant as the stars of the

heaven, as the sand which is on the seashore, and your

descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

God says by myself, I have sworn there was no one greater than

God himself whom he could swear by.

Then later on in the book of the Law, there were very careful

rules laid out on how people were to make promises to God.

Leviticus 19 verse 12 reads and you shall not swear by my name

Leviticus 19:12

falsely, doesn't say don't do it, don't do it falsely, nor

shall you profane the name of your God.

I am the Lord. God was very serious about this

going on to Numbers chapter 30. Then Moses spoke to the heads of

Numbers 30 · chapter mention

the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This

is the thing which the Lord has commanded.

If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind

himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word.

He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

Or if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by some

agreement while in her father's house in her youth, and her

father hears her vow and the agreement by which she has bound

herself, and her father holds his peace, then all her vows

shall stand, and every agreement with which she has bound herself

shall stand. But if her father overrules her

on the day that he hears, then none of her vows nor her

agreements by which she has bound herself shall stand, and

the Lord would release her because her father overruled

her. It's an interesting dynamic in

the culture of Israel because a woman, if she made a vow, had to

do something, it would stand. Unless the man in her life, her

dad, her father, or her husband, would say, no, you can't do

that. He had the power to override her

vow. Other than that, it would stand.

But vows and oaths were binding commitments.

Using the name of God in speech was very serious to the people

they were They were to be very careful in how they used God's

name. There are commentators and

scholars who say that over time this became so serious in the

nation of Israel that they would actually stop just pronouncing

God's name. They would just use an alternate

name to address God versus his real name because they didn't

want to mispronounce it and irreverence or make a mistake

and so on. And they would, instead of say

God, they would, they would would change it to, to something

that you would say the Lord. For instance, God's name was

very much revered and they didn't want to, they didn't want

to misuse it. And so they would really be

careful instead of saying God or they would say the Lord.

It's kind of a different addressing God, but in a

different term. I have to say that and learning

that it was reminds me of some religious people claim to be

godly people, but then there's nothing godly about how they

live on Sunday morning and they go to church through the week.

Their lives don't line up with church or anything they profess

in church on Sunday. It's empty religion, but they're

sure careful about how they address God.

And then and I've heard phraseology, the man upstairs.

That's not right. And how would you like to be

referred in some other term than you are?

And the Pharisees especially fit that description.

They would engage in all kinds of religious activity and go

there. And a little bit later in my

sermon, they looked very good outwardly.

Jesus talks about them cleaning the outside of the cup, but the

inside's dirty. And Jesus would constantly focus

on, look, guys, you're not real. Your performance is a show.

It sounds good without being good.

And so it happens everywhere. It happened in the Old

Testament, it happened during Jesus time.

It happens today. But let's go back to the Old

Testament a little bit more. Exodus 20 verse 7 says you shall

Exodus 20:7

not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord

will not hold him guiltless. Who takes his name in vain?

You may wonder, well, how's that tied to making an oath?

Some I think, well did that not just mean don't take God's name

in vain as using it in a swear word and so on?

Of course, God's name should never be used as a swear word.

That is true, of course, and that's, that's, that's the way

it is. But this is much, much bigger

than that. We're not to use God's name as a

swear word. That is true.

But again, it's much bigger. And the Old Testament was not

wrong to use the name of God and swearing an oath as long it was

not done false as was truthfully done, it was good.

There's a Jewish radio talk show host, and some of you may know

this person. His name is Dennis Prager.

Actually, he's sick right now. He's in bed, he can't move.

He's a Jew. He's not a Christian, but he's

very friendly towards Christians and Christianity.

I've heard about many years ago and I've listened to some of his

stuff. He's also a teacher, has taught

in a Jewish university, and he's very, very knowledgeable, very

educated. Now mind, of course I have

differences with him because he's not a Christian.

I am. I believe in Jesus Christ.

He doesn't believe Jesus is the Messiah, but he knows the Old

Testament verse by verse. He's taught it and it's

interesting listening to him explain the third commandment.

He has a very interesting way of doing it and he makes this

comment. He says in modern Bible

translations in America, the commandment says do not take the

name of the Lord your God in vain, or do not misuse the name

of the Lord your God and so on. And while that is accurate, he

says there's a better translation or a deeper, deeper

meaning behind it then our English words convey.

He says the real meaning or the real intent of that commandment,

do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

The real intent is in the Hebrew is do not carry, do not carry

the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Then he goes on to interpret it. He says do not carry God's name

for the purpose of evil. In other words, do not use God's

name as a cover for something that is wrong.

But how often is that not done? That is deep.

He says this is the sin that Moses is talking about in the

commandment. The consequence is also given.

What will happen to the person who does carry God's name in

vain for evil? He says God will not hold them

guiltless and he believes that and I believe that too.

Prager then went on to explain that there are people who carry

out intentional evil and they do it behind a cloak or a religious

front. Think of old history, the

Crusades. If you Google the Crusades in

the medieval times, wasn't that the case?

Or even in modern times, nations will fight wars on based on

truth because God's for us. Really.

Is that why we go kill each other?

Because God's for us. We have to be very, very careful

what we're doing because so much of it's self motivated and

retaliatorial. And next Sunday we'll hear some

of that about should we take revenge?

Should we, should we get even and, and should we pay back

those who do wrong to us? Not speaking against justice,

but where's it coming from? What do we cloak it in?

What's the garb? People do this all the time.

It happens at all levels of life and politics and communities and

business and church and families and everywhere.

Children do it, people do it. Intentions appear good.

Read it. Just a cloak.

Dennis Prague is right in that he says God's name is used for

anything other than glory. It's the wrong reason.

And again, I have my theological differences with him as a

practicing Jew myself being a follower of Jesus.

But he's correct in that when people make a promise or a

commitment, but with ulterior motives, meaning that what they

say is not what they're going to do, that is wrong, then they add

a false front to it. Yet that makes it doubly wrong.

Hey, I'm doing this because I love God.

No, you don't, because you want to get away with sin or

something wrong. Just think for a moment, how

would you feel if your name got used as a false front for

somebody's nefarious, malicious activities?

How would you feel to carry out something that you knew was

wrong, but you know the person has ulterior motives or maybe

even evil motives, lying and deceptive, but uses your name?

We must be so careful how we use God's name.

Do we use it truthfully and honesty?

If we're a follower of Jesus, then everything we do must be

done with God in mind. As in, how will this represent

God's name to this person, to this case?

So when it comes to using God's name in our commitment promises,

how should we do? Well, let's go further.

Jesus says do not swear at all. Let's read verse 34 to 35.

He says, But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by

heaven, for it's God's throne, nor by the earth, for it's his

footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great King.

Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make

one hair white or black. He says, do not swear at all.

Meaning in God's name then he qualifies it.

People in Jesus, they were swearing by different things.

Someone might say, I swear by heaven.

They wouldn't swear by God the proper name, or I swear by the

temple or I swear by the state of Jerusalem or I swear by my

head. It's interesting what kind of

oath taking they did different levels of truth telling.

Jesus confronted the Pharisees at one point with this in a very

serious way. In Matthew 23, verse 16, he we

Matthew 23:16

read, he says, woe to you blind guides who say, whoever swears

by the temple, it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gold

of the temple, he's obliged to perform it fools and blind.

For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies

the gold? And whoever swears by the altar,

it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that's on it,

he's obliged to perform it fools and blind.

For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the

gift? Therefore, he who swears by the

altar swears by it and by all things on it, He who swears by

the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it, and he who

swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who

sits on it. He confronted these people about

that. Do we have levels of truth

telling, levels of honesty and levels of integrity?

We may not have a temple like they did or an altar like they

did, but nonetheless, we still do it in different ways.

And sometimes you hear absolute bad stuff.

I swear in my mother's grave. What's that about?

Or I swear in a stack of Bibles. That's a giveaway.

This person really has a truth issue.

All of this does not mean that swearing doesn't happen.

It does happen and and even in our government circles, for

instance, in the court of law, there's a swearing in process.

Someone has to testify and the statement is read that goes

something like this. Do you swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth or nothing but the truth to help you God?

And the person says I do. And then the proceedings begin.

And then of course, when it gets tough, the person's reminded in

between, remember you're underoath as if there's

different standards. Now you have to be more honest

if you're Underoath. And if you're not Underoath, I'm

not speaking here in judgment of our of our judicial system.

I kind of know where they're going at.

But when we get to the truth, we are not supposed to have

different levels of truth. And what I'm thankful for in our

country, we have a provision for people for whom swearing is an

issue. For me, it is.

And but a lot of churches, pastors, believers, it's not

that kind of swearing. They say it's not a problem.

I won't get into that here this morning.

I just want to say that in our government circles, I've had to

go to court and they say you can affirm to tell the truth, OK,

don't have to swear. So that's good.

But the whole point is we should not have different standards and

different levels and categories of truth.

The Jews in Jesus time would swear by this and that and the

other and then, OK, this swearing didn't really matter.

And that swearing was more important than this swearing.

That is not good. The whole idea was how true is

it? Well, he swore by that, so it's

more true than if he swore than if he swore by that.

Ecclesiastes writes about this Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse

Ecclesiastes 5 · chapter mention

one. The guy, the writer says walk

prudently when you go to the House of God and draw near to

here rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do

not know that they do evil. There was ignorance back in the

Old Testament time and there was ignorance in Jesus day and

there's ignorance in our day too, but our desire for truth

should rule all the time. He says in verse 2, do not be

rash with your mouth and let not your heart utter anything

hastily before the Lord, before God, for God is in heaven,

you're on earth, therefore let your words be few.

Some of us could really learn from that.

It's far better to be quiet and not speak than speak and wish

you'd been quiet, says in verse 3.

For a dream comes too much activity and a fool's voice is

known by his many words. Then in verse 4, when you make a

vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure.

And fools pay what you vowed. Better not to vow than to vow

and not pay. He's talking here about Jesus,

what Jesus saying to to the Pharisees in Matthew and Jesus

raises the bar. He eliminates, cuts out all

different levels and categories of truth telling.

He says there's only one. Yes means yes and no means no.

Well, some here this morning, maybe this here sitting or

listening online. OK, well what if, what if I know

there's what ifs? What if you make a promise you

could not keep? You said you would visit on such

and such a day and you can't keep that promise.

Now what? What then?

Perhaps you promised someone you'd go for coffee.

An emergency happens. Now what?

Now you have to let the other party know you cannot keep your

commitment. That's not what Jesus is talking

about here. Or you make a promise to do

something only to learn if you follow through, it's going to

create serious hardship and then you need to go to ask the other

party if they're OK. If you renegotiate or make a

deal, that's fine. What it's driving at here is be

honest, be open, be transparent, be true.

No shady deal. I'll say this, but do that.

And I hope he doesn't find out I did this.

I hope he doesn't hear I said that.

That's what he's against. It's about open, transparent

truth, honest living. I had a conversation with a

businessman one day and he told me he had hired a secretary and

she was new at the job. And so he's sitting in his

office and a few cubicles down his secretary and the phone

rings. And it's her job to pick up the

phone. He hears her pick up the phone,

Hello. And and then he knows what's

going on through the one side of conversation, his response, her

responses. And then she said, well, the

boss named him. He's not in right now.

But and then she carries on. And he said, I heard that.

He said after she hung up, I said to her, don't ever do that

again. He said, when I'm in, you tell

them I'm in. I don't have time right now, but

I'm in. Don't lie to the people.

And she had been accustomed to wherever she had come from.

Just tell him he's out. Just tell him whatever.

That is so common in our time. It is absolutely sad.

And when I hear people say, you know, I just called in sick and

then they went and did something else, that's not truthfulness.

I found a cartoon many years ago and I was tempted to put it on

the PowerPoint slide through AI but decided not to.

But it's a very funny one. But interesting 1.

So man calls in sick that he can't come into work.

He's sick. And just as he's walking out

this door with this fishing rod and tackle box, guess who walks

up his front sidewalk? His boss.

I know you're sick in bed. You told me so.

But hey, I need the keys for the office.

You will get caught one day, and if you don't, your conscience

still will plague you because you were dishonest.

You're not truthful. These passes are dealing with

how we interact with people. Are we honest?

Are we truthful? Or do we say one thing but then

do another? Do we lie to people?

He says in verse 37. So clearly let your yes be yes

and your no no, for whatever's more than these is from the evil

1. You see, truth comes in only one

form, but lives come in countless forms.

You can. There's no end to the digit

number that lies can be told. There's only one way to tell the

truth. Now this does not mean that all

truth always has to be told. Years ago, the founding pastor

of this church, Peter Rhymer, made the comment once.

Always stuck with me. Says not everything true in this

life has to be told, but everything that is told must be

true. And he's right before God.

A statement is either true or it is not.

God knows our heart and sometimes we share information

that later we find is not true. So we have made a mistake.

We didn't lie because we were not aware, but we can then go

fix it. Jesus says let your yes be yes

and your no, no. Anything more than that is from

the evil one. We're only left with one thing

and that is honesty. There's no options.

Honesty and that's it, nothing else.

So #3 Be careful with your language in using God's name.

We must be careful that we respect God's name.

Not only do we use it in making promises, but in our

conversation. Not only do we not use it in

swearing and oath taking, but in our conversation and

interactions with people. We must never use God's name in

a way that will make people think less of God or lead people

to believe God is not that important.

How would you like if your name was thrown around as a swear

word or your name was in a derogatory way mentioned

casually in conversation? When someone uses God's name as

a swear word, that is sin. And this applies where Moses

says God will not hold him guiltless.

God's name should never use as an expletive or as a curse word

or an expression. Oh my God or God, that's

awesome. Or God, it's cold.

That's not right. Lying, swearing, foul language

is rampant our time, and we're getting desensitized to it.

In other words, we're getting used to it.

Remember many years ago reading a story of a prison warden that

was hired brand new on the job while they interviewed him for

his job as a prison warden? And he was a very sincere,

devout Christian man and he wanted so badly to do the job

well. He wanted to be a good godly

prison warden. Now, some people have to serve

time in prison for whatever reason.

And so he wanted to do his very best and be a God fearing man of

God in that environment. So he asked the person who's

interviewing and says, OK, what powers do I have or what,

where's my boundaries and what can I do?

And, and the guy who was talking to him said, well, you pretty

much can do what you want. You have a lot of power and

control in this place. Well, the new warden said that

one thing I want to do here is clean up the language in this

place. It's so foul and just swearing

and cursing while the other person in that case, well,

you're going to cut 1/2 the language in this place.

People had gotten so used to using foul language, almost

everything they said was mixed with with with rotten language,

God's name in it and all the rest.

This Christian prison warden wanted to make his prison a

clean place. No more swearing, no more foul

language. Don't know how it turned out,

but how? Is it where you work?

What language is there? Is it clean?

Is it edifying? Is it what builds relationships?

Is it healthy? Or is it rotten and foul?

Are you living a truthful life there?

But you know how rotten, foul language stops.

It stops when the heart changes. So let it begin with us as a

Christian community. Jesus says what the heart is

full of, full of the mouth will speak.

It behooves us as believers to be diligent and take note.

What do we feed ourselves? Because what we feed ourselves

conditions us. What conditions us will

eventually come out. Proverbs 2123 says Whoever

guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

In the Gospel of Matthew, again, we repeatedly find Jesus talking

with the Pharisees and they were always on the lookout, trying to

trap him with what he said or what he did.

And sometimes Jesus would just speak out.

He says in verse 12, verse 35, Matthew 1235, a good man out of

the good treasure, out of his heart brings forth good things,

but an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil

things. But I say to you that for every

idle word that men may speak, they will be held give account

of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you'll be

justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Jesus knew the hearts of these men were not right with God.

And it was later the religious leaders who did exactly that.

In the name of goodness for the nation, in the name of doing the

will of God the Lord, they arrested Jesus.

And it was their God-given duty to crucify this Nazarene, this

Galilean rabbi, and nail him to the cross, because that's what

justice calls for. In the name of God, they

crucified the Savior. Well, we would never go that

far. Maybe not, but let's not get in

that direction. What they portrayed themselves

to be was not true. It was wrong.

They were evil men. Later on in the book of Acts the

church started and these issues continued and James the Apostle,

he writes to the Christians and he says this.

My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we

shall receive stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many

things. If anyone does not stumble in

Word, he's a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

Indeed, we put bits and horses mouths that they may obey us and

return their whole body. Look also at ships, Although

they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they're turned

by a very small rudder, which wherever the pilot desires.

Even so, the tongue is a little member in both great things.

See how great a forest a little fire Kindles, and the tongue is

a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our

members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the

course of nature, and itself is set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird, or a reptile and creature

of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of

deadly poison. With it we bless you, our God

and Father, and with it we curse.

Men who have been made in the similitude of God out of the

same mouth perceive blessing and cursing.

My brethren, these things ought not to be so.

Does a spring send forth freshwater and bitter water from

the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren,

bear olives, or a Grapevine bear fakes?

Thus no spring yields both salt and freshwater.

By our fruits people will know us.

Do people know us by the truth, or don't they?

Do we tell the truth? Do we say it like it is?

Do we speak words that are up building and edifying?

James 512 he says. But above all, my brethren, do

not swear either by heaven or by earth, or with any other oath,

but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, lest you fall into

judgement. When we think of it, so much of

A life is connected to words. Jesus told his audience, you've

heard it said do not swear falsely, but I tell you, do not

swear at all. Jesus raised the standard of

truth telling. He simplified it, took out

everything else except just left truth alone.

God wants open, honest, transparent relationships with

us. He wants us to have it with each

other. And again, as I said before,

Jesus raised the bar every time for the Jews at this point, and

it's for us as well. No swearing at all.

Jesus told him their oaths were of no value because they did not

have any power to impact any of what they were swearing on, not

even change the color of their hair.

Jesus reminded them that his this teaching but keeping their

oaths to God. Those promises are not what God

calls for. God's not asking oath of anyone.

He's just simply telling us tell the truth, be honest.

We don't need to emphasize it and buttress it up with all

kinds of things. So this week, are we going to be

honest people whose word can be trusted?

Are we going to be people who are honest with each other?

Are we going to be honest with our employers, our employees,

our spouses, our fellow workers? The Bible is very clear.

We need to be committed to being truthful, and we need God's

grace to help us. Maybe there's some here who have

not lived up to the standard we can do so today.

We've used the Christian label to do things we know are wrong

and we feel convicted. We can repent.

There's grace, there's hope, there's forgiveness.

And I would encourage us as believers to follow Jesus with

our whole being, our heart, soul, and mind, and everything

we say and do Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for Your word

to us that teaches us the importance of integrity in every

aspect of our lives. And I pray, Lord, that your name

will be honored by each one of us this morning and through the

day and through the week and the coming weeks and months and our

full life. May each one of us walk with

you, Be close to you. May it be when people get to

know us that it will be a bit more like getting to know Jesus.

Help us to that end. And your name we pray.

Amen.