Well, good morning. Good to see y'all. It's good to be here with you this morning. I feel like I've been kind of out of pocket for a month, even though I've only missed one worship service. I've passed month. I've been Columbus, Georgia, Birmingham, Alabama this past week. I went to Breckenridge, Colorado. And my seminary that I'm attending paid me to go out there and a recruit for the seminary at RUF Winter Conference, so it was a rough gig. I had to go out there and ski and recruit some people to come to seminary, so it wasn't too bad, but it's good to be back. I'm a creature of habit, so I need to be in routine and it's good to be back in Orlando, settle down and be here with y'all. You know, a phrase that is often uttered in our society today that no longer carries much weight is the phrase I give you my word. I give you my word. And if you have watched the news, then you saw that North Korea came out and has been saying that they are not building nuclear weapons. They're not building nuclear weapons, and in October, what happened? They tested a nuclear weapon. And if you have been reading or watching news lately, then you've seen that there's signs of a second possibility of a testing occurring. And if you're a sports fan, then this past week you saw a guy by the name of Nick Sabin who said on December 21st at a Miami Dolphins press conference, I am not going to take the Alabama head coaching job. He said it. Don't ask me anymore. I'm here at Miami. I'm not going anywhere. And then this past week, he goes to Miami. Or he goes to Alabama for a lump sum of $32 million. He goes, not a bad payday for him. But he did the opposite of what he said he was going to do. He gave his word, and then he countered what he said. You know, when I was in high school a long time ago, I dated a girl for two and a half years, Kelly Roberts. And we broke up post graduation. And I was going to Auburn University. She was going to Stanford University in Birmingham. And I began to get lonely about a month afterwards. And so I wanted to get back together with her. And so we started talking about it. And she said she wanted to get back together with me as well. All I had to do was talk to her father. Dr. Roberts. Dr. Roberts was not a big fan of Daniel. And so I am like shaking. I'm fearful. I go and say, Dr. Roberts, can I date your daughter? And he says, no. Kelly does not want to date you. I don't want it to happen. And right there, Kelly told me something an acted opposite. And I felt deceived. I felt completely deceived and hurt. And this morning we're going to look at something together. But I want to ask you a question a little closer to home. When was the last time someone told you that they were going to do something or that they were going to be somewhere and they didn't follow through? How about this one? When was the last time you told someone you were going to do something or you were going to be somewhere and then you did not follow through? Probably pretty recently. And this morning what we're going to look at and see is that our promises are often filled with deceit and dishonesty. But crisis come to transform our word into truth. That our promises are often filled with deceit and dishonesty. But crisis come to transform our word into truth. And I tremble, honestly, as I've prepared and as I preach this because I've been greatly convicted. As I preach this this morning, I am the one who needs to hear this the most. And so let me pray as we get into our text together. So buy your heads with me. Lord God, we come and we come to your word which is living and it's active and we ask that you would teach us so God. Would you protect my brothers and sisters from anything that is not of you that may come out of my mouth and would you lead us lead me, lead them into truth. With transform us by your word, spirit be with us, guide us and direct us. That's your name we pray, Jesus. Amen. Well, we're picking back up in the summit on the mount. We took a break from the summit on the mount which starts in Matthew, chapter five. And we did a four week series, Advent series leading up to Christmas Eve if you were here for that. And then last week, John Fane preached on New Year's Eve. And so about two months ago, Scott started in the summit on the mount. We're picking back up in the summit on the mount this morning in Matthew, five verses 33 to 37. I want to give you a quick refresher of what's taking place here in the summit on the mount. Jesus is preaching and teaching mainly to his disciples. There's maybe some nonbelievers scattered throughout, but he's teaching to his disciples and he's laying down the law. And contrary to what a lot of people think, Jesus is not solely laying down his law to show people that they cannot keep it. That is not his main purpose in laying down the law. That is a purpose of the law. It shows us our sin and it leads us to Christ. But what Jesus is doing here, this is a sermon preached by the son of God, by the son of man, by the king teaching us his servants how to live in his kingdom. This is a discourse by the son of God on kingdom ethics on how to live in his kingdom. And so we pick up in Matthew 5, 33 to 37 and we're in the middle of six. You have heard that it was said, but I say to you, Jesus says that six times and we're in the middle of those. He says you have heard that it was said, but I say to you. And when Jesus says this, he is not correcting the mosaic law. Jesus is not correcting the Old Testament law. A lot of people take this and go, Jesus is saying you have heard that it was said by Moses, you have heard that it was said in the Old Testament this. But I have come and I'm giving you a new law, a new commandment. You can discard the old. I've come to bring the new. Jesus is not saying that. What Jesus is correcting is the understanding of the Pharisees, understanding of the law. He's correcting their teaching of the law. The Pharisees are teaching the letter of the law and now Jesus is coming in and teaching the spirit of the law. And so pick up with me here in Matthew 5 verses 33 to 37. This is the word of God, which is living inactive and it endures forever. So Matthew 5, 33 to 37. It's up on the screen. You can read along with me again. You've heard that it was said to the people long ago. Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your yes be yes, and your no, no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. I have to admit that and confess that I've really never even heard anybody preach on oaths and I come and try to preach this to you. It's something new and I've really enjoyed as I've studied it. But we come here in the first thing that I want us to see this morning is that the deception of our hearts runs deep. Look in verses 33 to 36. Jesus says again, you've heard that it was said to the people long ago. Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king, and do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Now, we got to understand the context in which Jesus is preaching to who he's preaching to, the Pharisees to the Jews, and what they understand the law to be at this point. And numbers, numbers 30, Leviticus 19, Exodus 20, Moses teaches on oaths, and the purpose and the Old Testament for oaths was to first bridle the proneness of man from lying. Secondly, it was to restrict oaths to serious matters. Those were the two purposes in the Old Testament of oaths. Now, they were bound, if they entered into an oath in the Old Testament, they were bound to uphold their end of the deal, no matter what. In Judges 11, there's an example given of a man named Jebath who was an incredible warrior in Israel, and the leaders of Israel approach Jebath and ask him, will you lead us into battle? The Ammonites are about to attack us. Will you lead us into battle? And so Jebath quickly agrees, and this is what he says, as he rashly enters into this vow with the Lord. He says, Lord, if you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering. And as Jebath leads the Israelites into battle against the Ammonites, they defeat the Ammonites, and as he's coming home rejoicing in triumph, who's the first person that walks out his door? His daughter. And he bound to an oath, has to sacrifice his daughter, because that's what he made a promise to the Lord. And so the Jews, understanding this, having their hands upon the Scripture knew that if they entered into an oath, they were bound, no matter what, to uphold their end of the bargain. And so what the Jews did is create their own system, their own system of oaths, so much so that they wrote their own book called the Mishnah, and in this book they separated binding and non-binding oaths. There were oaths that if they were bound, that they had to follow through and non-binding oaths, they could promise and not follow through, not experience any repercussions. An example would be, they would say, if we swear by the temple, we're not bound. But if we swear by the gold of the temple, we are bound. And so they created this very elaborate scheme to be able to say, if I enter in here, then I have to follow through, if I do a non-binding oath, I don't have to follow through. The Pharisees and the Jews were mainly concerned with not committing perjury. So they created these non-binding oaths. They didn't want to enter into an oath and not follow through and be committed of perjury because they loved the law and they didn't want to break the law so they created this non-binding oath. And so that's kind of what's going on here. And Jesus comes in and he says, that's not the point. That's not the point. The point is that you're not being truthful. And as Jesus here says, I tell you, do not swear at all. Don't swear by heaven for his guys. Do not swear by the earth for his footstool. Do not swear by Jerusalem for his city of the great king. And don't swear by your own head for he owns it. What Jesus comes in and says, is it doesn't matter if you swear by the gold, it doesn't matter if you swear by the temple, it doesn't matter how you swear. You are swearing in the presence of a holy God. You are swearing in the presence of a holy God and the point is to be truthful. The point is to be truthful. And now a side comment, Jesus is not forbidding oaths in general. Some people can also take this passage right here and go. There's no such thing as oaths. I don't know if you've been around people who said you enter into a courtroom. They won't take an oath. Jesus opposes that. He's not opposing oaths in general. New Testament shows that Paul enters into some oaths. So he's not doing that. But the Jews created these non-binding oaths. And what they did is they would enter into a non-binding oath with a person to say, hey, I'm serious about this. I'm serious about this. And then they would not follow through with their promise. And there was no repercussions. And oftentimes they did this to deceive. They did this to deceive the other person. And you know, we have in a way created our own system of non-binding oaths and our culture and our society today. If you think about, if you look at Hollywood, what is huge in marriages in Hollywood, prenuptial agreements, it's huge. It's entering in to a vow, into a promise with a husband and a wife knowing that you're going to fail, that you're not going to keep your word. It's, hey, I'm entering in, but there's a fall back plan if I don't keep my word. So they're entering in knowing probably it's not going to work. Another non-binding thing that we do is we use the word I swear all the time. I use that phrase just easily. Man, I swear I'll be there. And I swear, I'll do it. And I don't even think about the reality of the seriousness of what I'm entering into when I say that. How about when you're, when you're a kid, when you're a kid, all of us in here have done this one. You go like that, put it behind your back and someone asks you to tell the truth and you're like, I don't know how to tell the truth, I got my fingers crossed. And you're like, yeah, yeah. And you don't have to tell the truth because it's non-binding. You are not bound to uphold your end of the deal. Another one that I want to talk about mainly because the time of year that we are in right now is New Year's resolutions. New Year's resolutions. Now, what, what is a resolution? What a resolution is a goal. It's a desire to change, to change a pattern in your own life. Now hold, hold with me here because the last thing that I'm saying and I'm definitely not saying is that goals, plans, action steps for change are wrong. I'm not saying that goals and plans and action steps for change, I have put into my own life, we need them to change. But a resolution oftentimes, why do we enter into resolution? Think about it. Why do we enter into a resolution? Often times, not all the times but often, it's because we are unhappy with something in our life. Or our spouse is unhappy with something in our life. Or there's a sin in our life that we know God is not pleased with. And so we go, okay, in this New Year, I resolve not to do this, or to do this. And we quickly enter in without thinking about the seriousness of making that promise or making a resolution. We enter in without thinking about the seriousness and that's the point. The issue is not a goal, the issue is not a resolution, the issue is quickly and hastily entering into a promise and not thinking about the seriousness if you don't follow through with what you said you were going to do. Now let me ask you another question. How often do we keep our New Year's resolutions? Maybe for a short time, I mean if you last four or five months, you're doing pretty good. If you last the year, that's great and you probably thought about the seriousness of what you were doing. I know for me, oftentimes it hasn't last very long. I resolve to do it and then it kind of a couple of months goes by and I forget. And what I want to propose to you this morning is that oftentimes when we enter into these resolutions, we're entering into deception. We're entering into deception like the non-binding oaths and the Jews entered into. We enter into deception. See what we're doing is we're making these New Year's deceptions because we're quickly entering in because we feel guilty or we don't like this conflict with our spouse. We don't like this feeling that's going on and so our first response is to go, okay Lord, I'm not going to resolve. I'm going to without thinking about the seriousness of what we're entering into. That's what we do and so when we do that and we fail to keep our word, what we're doing is deceiving the other person that we've resolved toward or promised to. Or we think we're deceiving God and unknowingly we deceive ourselves. I'll track with me. I'll give you a couple examples. First we deceive others. For an example, say your spouse has been on you all year long about the way in which you spend money and you're like, man, I just can't budget. I just can't spend my money right and so you're tired of hearing about it. I'm hearing about money, money, money. It's not spending money right and so I resolve in the New Year to only spend money on the budget items and nothing else. I'm tired of this conflict. I'm just what I'm going to do. And so you enter in to this resolution and your spouse is like Hallelujah. Thank you Lord. And three months goes by and then all of a sudden you begin to spend money on things outside the budget. And your spouse is like, what's going on here? I thought you promised and you made a resolution to change. And you're going, well, New Year's is pretty good. I didn't think I was going to keep it the whole time. That's not bad. And so what you're doing is you're entering into this resolution. Not because you're broken over your sin. You're entering in as a quick reaction because you want this feeling of conflict, of tension, a turmoil with your spouse to just go away. So you resolve toward the other person to not do it. And when you don't follow through and keep your word, they're deceived. So we often deceive others. We think, secondly, that we can deceive God. Take another example, business. Business is huge in America. We got so much stuff going on. And so in the New Year, you've been feeling the Lord tell you, you need to just slow down. You need to slow down. You need to take some rest. You need to spend some time with me with your family. And so you felt this guilt from the Lord. And so you go, I resolved in the New Year from seven to midnight, spent time with family around family devotions. I'm going to, I'm going to get some time with the Lord. And you quickly enter into that without thinking about the seriousness if you don't follow through. And what we're doing in reality when we do that is we feel this guilt of our sin. And we think our promise or our resolution is going to erase our sin in the sight of God. We go, okay, Lord, I know you're not, you've not been happy with my business. You've not been happy with my anger. You've not been happy with my lust. So I resolved to do this and you quickly enter in and we think that God all of a sudden is going to be like, good, good, you promise. That's good. As if he doesn't know our hearts as we enter in to that resolution. So oftentimes we think we can deceive God as we enter in. Thirdly, we unknowingly deceive ourselves. Take the example of busyness again. We're busy. I resolve not to be busy seven to midnight. You felt guilty. You know you're not supposed to be living the way that you are. And so you want that guilt to just go away. And so you go, okay, Lord, I promise I resolve. You want to dull that sense of guilt, that conviction. You just want it to go away. You don't want to wrestle with it. And so by making a resolution or by making a promise, you're just wanting to dull the pain. You're wanting it to go away. Now, it may not be New Year's resolutions for you. I know from me this happens right after our sin. Right after our sin, especially in our pull it up by the bootstrap culture. As soon as you sin, okay, Lord, no longer. I'm not going to do that anymore. I promise. And then you fall again. Okay, Lord, I promise you do again. And we don't realize when we say, Lord, I promise we're entering in to something that is binding. We're entering to something that is serious. We often can deceive others. We think we can deceive God. And unknowingly, we deceive ourselves. Let me read you a journal entry of a man named Samuel Johnson who was author of literature in the 18th century was a godly man. And he also often wrote sermons. But this is his journal covering a span of years. In 1759, Samuel Johnson writes, Lord, enable me to shake off idleness and sloth. 1761, two years later, I have resolved until I have resolved that I'm afraid to resolve again. And then in 1764, he resolves to rise early, no later than six if I can. And then in 1765 a year later, I purpose to rise at eight because though I should not rise early, it will be much earlier than I now rise for a often lie until two. 1769, four years later, I'm not yet in a state to form any resolutions. I purpose and hope to rise early in the morning by eight and by degrees six. 1775, six years later, when I look back upon a resolution of improvement and amendments which have year after year been made and broken, why do I yet try to resolve again? This is a man who resolving over and over and over and over again, he felt guilty as the result of his idleness and sloth. And because of that guilt, he made a promise he resolved to not do it again. Instead of being broken over the sin and turning to Jesus, he resolved by his own strength to not sleep late and to be idle. I don't know if you can relate to that guy, I can. I don't know if you can relate to the thought of entering into a promise pretty quick without thinking about it, without thinking about the seriousness of it. But the deception of our hearts runs deep, whether we realize it or not. So that's the first thing. The second thing that I want us to look at in verse 37 is that the truthfulness of the Christian is the sign of kingdom living. The truthfulness of the Christian is the sign of kingdom living. Look at verse 37, if it's up there. Jesus says, simply let your yes be yes in your no, no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Simply let your yes be yes in your no, no. Jesus is saying there's no need for an oath. There's no need for oaths. The Christian at all times, the person at all times is in the presence of a God. He owns heaven, earth, your own hair. And at all times the Christian should be truthful in what he promises and what he says or she says they will do to be truthful now catch the last part of that verse. What does he say in verse 37 at the end? Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. That's pretty strong. Remember this is a sermon on the mount. This is Jesus the King teaching on how to live in the kingdom. And here he comes and he says anyone who's not let their yes be yes and there no no. Anyone who says they're going to do something and does not do it. Anyone who makes a promise and does not carry through anyone who even have heartedly enters into a promise and does not follow through is of the evil one. It is not of the kingdom. It's of the evil one. When you say you're going to do something, you say it in the presence of God. When you say that you're no longer going to spend money, you quickly enter inside. I'm not going to spend money outside the budget. I'm not going to look at that internet site that you're not no longer going to sleep late. That you're going to wake up every morning and read your Bible before work. That you're going to do five encouraging things a day. You quickly rush into these things and say you're going to do them. And you don't follow through. You break the fourth commandment. You break the fourth commandment, which is taking the Lord's name in vain. As you say, Lord, I promise. Lord, I resolve. And you quickly enter in. You don't think about the seriousness. And when you don't in vain, have you taken the Lord's name? That's serious. That's of the evil one. Now, you might be sitting there going, okay, Daniel, what and who can keep their yes? Who can always let their no be no? If I were where you were, I'd be saying the same thing. Okay. I don't know if anyone who always lets their yes be yes and their no be no. I mean, what's, give me some hope. Tell me some good news. You know, am I supposed to have repercussions? If I don't keep my oath, there's supposed to be some penalty or some penance. If I don't wake up before I said I was, am I supposed to pay my friend $100 or pay my accountability partner or a dinner? Is there something like that that I'm supposed to do? The hope is Hebrews 6, 13 to 19. Hebrews 6, 13 to 19. Let me read this for you. When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him, for him to swear by he swore by himself, saying, I will surely bless you and give you many descendants. So, after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. Men swear by someone greater than themselves and the oath confirms what is said and puts to an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus who went before us is entered on our behalf. That's the hope. That's the good news that we have a God who is promised to Abraham that he will bless him and make his descendants, the people of God as many as the stars and the sky. He entered into an oath to redeem a people, to redeem this world, to make new creations. And he sent his only son into humanity who let his yes be yes and his no no, who was perfectly obedient, who was always truthful. This is a God who does not lie, a God who is faithful to his promise, who makes sure he sees it to the end, unlike us. And we who failed to keep our word, look to the one who promised, look to the one who entered into an oath and he's followed through. And he is redeeming us, his people, informing for himself a kingdom. Verse 19 says, this is our hope as an anchor of our soul. It is the anchor of our soul. This is the only thing that is sure. The great him on Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, even your word, even your spouse's word, even your family members word is sinking sand. He is the only one that is true and the only one that is always faithful, the only one who's always letting his yes be yes and his no be no. He entered into a covenant, into an oath for you and for me. That is our hope. That is our hope. John 146, I am the way and I'm the truth. He's true. He is the truth. And so we look to Christ, we look to the God who is faithful, and we heed this call to be truthful as Christians as a sign of kingdom living. I don't know if you've ever heard of the name Dr. McCulkin, if you have heard that name. Dr. McCulkin was the president of Columbia College in Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina. And in 1990, Dr. McCulkin, being the president, was told by doctors that his wife Muriel has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. And so Dr. McCulkin began to battle, do I devote my time to Muriel, or do I devote myself to ministry, being the president of a successful prospering college in Seminary. Let me read you a couple of excerpts from this article that Dr. McCulkin wrote. He said, so began years of struggle with the question of what should be sacrificed ministry or caring for Muriel. Should I put the kingdom of God first, hate my wife, and for the sake of Christ and the kingdom of a range for institutionalization, trusted lifelong friends, wise and godly urged me to do this. And then he says, as she needed more and more of me, I wrestle daily with the question of who gets me full time. Muriel, or Columbia Bible College in Seminary. And then he says, when the time came, the decision was firm. It took no great calculation. It was a matter of integrity. Had I not promised 42 years before, and sickness and in health till death do us part, this was no grim duty to which I stoically resigned, however. It was only fair. She had, after all, cared for me for almost four decades with marvelous devotion. Now it was my turn. And such a partner she was, if I took care of her for 40 years, I would never be out of her debt. That is a man who entered into a promise, 40 something years prior. And when he said, I do, I will love you till death do us part. He minute. This was a man in the midst. He could have easily by principle stayed married to his wife and had this successful prospering ministry as the president of a college in Seminary. But he didn't care about holding his word just to principle. He said he would love her and care for her. And so in the midst of this hard time, he looked to the one who was faithful to him. And he said, there's no, there's no great calculation needed. I told her and I made a promise to her 40 years ago that I will love her. And that's what I'm going to do. That is a man who resolved by looking to Christ and looking to the board knowing the seriousness of his matter that he was entering into in that wedding day that they took part of. And I don't know about you, but there are three things that I'm convicted by and that I think that we can be called by according to his passage. The first thing is that we need to realize the seriousness of promises. We need to realize the seriousness of oaths and giving our word. We don't realize that in our culture today. It is serious. When we say we're going to do something, it is the mark of the Christian to let their yes be yes and their no be no. It is. Secondly, we need to realize that when we don't and we won't always let our yes be yes and our no be no because we're sinful. And we're in our feet are made of clay. But when we fall, we need to realize that this is of the evil one. Not falling through with a promise is not of the kingdom and we need to confess it. We need to confess it and see it as sin and repent. And thirdly, we need to plead the life of the one who was faithful and plead the life of the one who is always truthful and look to Christ who is the hope and the anchor of our soul and the midst of times in our struggle in our sin. And we think we can resolve in our own strength. We look to him and we plead for his grace and his mercy and his power. Our promises are often filled with deceit and dishonesty. But Christ has come to transform our word into truth. Remember, the sermon on the mount and the promise in Hebrews 6 was not just to you. It was to the descendants of Abraham. It was to the whole people of God. And earlier in the summer on the mount as the King Jesus is preaching this, this course on how to live in the kingdom, he says, you are the light of the world, a city that cannot be hidden. And now he comes later and he says, you are the light of the world of people who went living in the power and the strength of Christ. And it was letting their yes be yes and there no be no and are truthful and all that they do will be a light, a city that cannot be hidden. And people will look and see Christ's kingdom church living in truthfulness, saying what they are going to do and following through with it and they will come to believe in this king. Because we live counter this world. We live counter this world. Let me pray for us. Lord God, we pray as we look at this tough passage of oaths, convicting for who always lets their yes be yes and there no be no. And so Lord, I pray that you transform us by your word into people of truth, people who reflect Christ living in your kingdom. We thank you for your word. May it be on our feet, may we walk in it by your grace and mercy. Jesus name, amen.