Speaking Straight & Truthfully

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Speaking of tongues, that's exactly where James takes us, or should I say, takes us back to.
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So today, we're going to be returning back to our study in the book of James. So please turn with me in your
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Bibles to James, the epistle of James, chapter 5. We're going to be looking at one verse of Scripture, and believe me, this one verse of Scripture is loaded up.
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Verse 12, verse 12 in the
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Word of God, I'm reading from the New King James Version.
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Hear the word of the living God, but above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, lest you fall into judgment.
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Let's all pray this morning and seek the Lord within this hour for the help of the power of the
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Holy Spirit to teach us, because He's really the true teacher of the Word of God.
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He's the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of truth, and He teaches us all truth.
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He points us right to the truth, who is Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Father, we do thank you this morning for this wonderful Lord's Day you've given to us, but above all,
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Lord, we thank you for your eternal Word that will never pass away. Father, your
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Son says heaven and earth will pass away, but your words will never pass away.
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The psalmist says they are forever settled in heaven. So Father, I would like to pray with the psalmist, open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things from your law.
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Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes. As the old hymn writer says,
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Spirit of God, my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me. Father, I would pray to change us, to challenge us, and most of all,
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Father, may we be doers of your Word this morning and not hearers only, lest we deceive ourselves.
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Give us a heart, Father, for obedience and to love you more, because when we truly obey you and your commandments, we are showing our love toward you and toward each other.
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So, Father, I would ask these things in Jesus' name, and for your honor, and for your glory.
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Amen. This morning, I would like for us to see, in verse 12, what
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James is speaking to us about the exhortation of what is,
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I would say, the true spiritual condition of each and every one of us.
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James is stressing that a person's speech provides the most revealing glimpse of his spiritual condition.
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The tongue tells everything. And, you know, right from the beginning, he says, above all, especially, in other words.
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And he does this repeatedly in his epistle. Well, why would
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James, all of a sudden, place verse 12 of this exhortation right here in this section, right after he speaks of being patient and persevering through suffering?
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You know, that's a good question, because the place, I've read many commentators on this, and they really could not answer it.
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They think it's out of place. But a very good scholar and a good commentator would say, no, hold on.
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There's a reason why James places this right at its place in this epistle.
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It's not out of place. And some may say, well, for what does speaking oaths have to do with the problem of suffering?
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Let me give you an answer to this question. This is not original with me, but this comes from scholarly men, and I basically put it in my words.
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If you have ever suffered and still suffering, you know the answer to this question.
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It's very easy to say things that you do not mean, and even make vows and oaths and bargains with God when you're going through very hard times and difficulties.
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Take Job, the patriarch Job, for example. What did he say?
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He said, naked came I of my brother's womb.
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Naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
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Blessed be the name of the Lord. And then it says this, and in all this,
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Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Now that's
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Job 1, 21 and 22. Job never ever cursed
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God. His wife basically said, why won't you curse
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God and die? But he refused to listen to his wife. Job cursed the day he was born.
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We know this, but he never cursed God, did he? He never spoke with a foolish oath.
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Neither did he try to bargain with God with vows and oaths. You know,
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Pastor John MacArthur, in reading about this text, said something intriguing to me and very truthful, and that's what we're speaking of is about truthful, but he's speaking about taking of oaths here.
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And this is what he said in the forefront of this text. Quote, fallen men are basically inveterate liars.
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Children lie to parents, parents lie to the children, husbands lie to their wives, and wives to their husbands.
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People lie to their employers, who in turn lie to them and often to the public.
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Politicians lie to get elected and continue to lie once they are in office.
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People lie to the government, perhaps most notably on their income tax returns. Educators lie, scientists lie, and members of the media lie.
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We know that, don't we? Our society, he goes on to say, is built on lies, leading one to wonder whether our social structure would survive if everyone were forced to speak the truth for one day.
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He goes on to say that we live in a world of lies, should surprise no one familiar with the scriptures which designate unregenerate humanity as children of the devil.
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John 8 .44 says, speaks of the father of lies, that basically dishonesty has led men to impose oaths on others in an often futile attempt to force them to be truthful and be their promises, keep their promises.
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Both the simple oaths of children, the sophisticated oaths often required by cults and other organizations and everything from legal contracts to peace treaties are necessitated by the recognition of mankind's basic dishonesty."
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That is so true. If you look at the world around us, we live in a world of liars.
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Beloved, before we were born again, we were children of the devil and sons of wrath, sons of disobedience, and we were all liars as well.
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Well, here, the custom of what James is speaking of, the custom of swearing oaths, was a very major part of life in biblical times, especially in the
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Old Testament. It had become an issue in the early church and particularly to the
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Jewish congregations in James' day and during the apostles' time. And since swearing oaths were an integral part of Jewish culture,
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Jewish believers that James is writing to, that's his audience, brought that practice right within the church.
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And this is why he addresses it. And also, as I've already stated earlier, that when you're going through suffering, this is a time that many people say things that they should not say.
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But such oath -taking is really unnecessary among Christians, whose speech is to be honest and truthful.
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Ephesians 4 .25 says, Therefore putting away lying, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
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Colossians 3 .9, Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds.
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Well, that tells you right there, believers in Jesus Christ, whose lives are to demonstrate integrity and credibility, are to follow the truth, who is
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Jesus Christ, and live the truth, and also speak the truth in love to one another.
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For a believer, a simple yes is a yes, and a simple no is a no.
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That should suffice, because they are faithful to keep their word.
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That's what a Christian should be known for, is to be faithful in keeping their word.
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They are word keepers, they keep the truth because they know who is the truth. And they live truthfully.
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Well to encourage believers to be distinctive in the matter of speaking the truth, the
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Apostle James issues a command to basically stop swearing.
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There are four features of his command that needs to be considered, and I give the credits here to Pastor John MacArthur, Brother Keith said you cannot reinvent the wheel.
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Now when you've got to outline this good, I've got to borrow it, okay, so here it is.
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If you take a note, this would serve well. There are four commands that we consider this morning.
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Number one, we will look at the distinction. Number two, we will look at the restriction.
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Number three, we will look at the instruction. And number four, we will look at the motivation.
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Let's begin. First of all, there's the distinction. The distinction.
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What is the distinction? The distinction is, but above all, my brethren.
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Now, what he's saying here is the phrase, but above all, means especially.
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It's very important. There is a, indicates a distinction between the exhortation that follows and the others in the epistle that sets it in primary place.
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This command, in verse 12, is first of all several that close out the epistle.
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So what the Apostle James is doing here, he's winding this epistle down to its conclusion.
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In his letter, he's basically wrapping it up in his thoughts as the
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Holy Spirit is breathing upon him to write this, and he touches on some very important concluding matters.
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And he revisits the speech, the tongue, the way we talk, what comes out of our mouths.
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The phrase, above all, again, sets it apart as preeminent, and it is a pervasive command.
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Now, I want you to keep that in mind. This is just not a suggestion that he gives. This is a command that he gives as an
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Apostle, and he has the authority to do that because he is an Apostle of Jesus Christ.
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And as we looked in the introduction about a year ago, I was looking at our time frame with this, even though we had some bypasses going here and there on other subjects, especially during the holidays and everything, but he begins his epistle a bond slave of God.
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He's a humble Apostle, and he is a wonderful pastor because he gives the truth in love, and he gives many warnings.
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The one who loves you the most warns you the most and gives you the most truth. But this is very important in understanding what he has to say, because what he says following is very insightful, and it's loaded up with truth.
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James discusses speech at the close of his epistle really should not surprise us, would it?
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Shouldn't it? He did so in every other chapter as well. I don't know.
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Look back in your notes. Look back when we were studying James. In just about every single chapter, he touches on the speech, the tongue.
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He closes it out, and there's a reason why he does this, and in each chapter,
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I'd like to point this out. Notice in James 1, verse 26, if you go back a few pages, he says this,
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If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, what is he saying?
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This man's religion is worthless. That is some strong words, beloved.
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I'm here to tell you that's what he talks about, and then he goes on to say what pure religion is.
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It's demonstrated and followed up by the action, how this person lives, living faith.
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And then he contrasts this with dead faith. One has dead faith or living faith.
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And what he's saying, the one that has dead faith is deceived. He thinks he's a
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Christian, and this is the audience in which he's talking to. They say, if you notice, he mentions this, they say, they say, but they don't follow it up by good works.
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This is what he addresses. So basically what he's saying is those who fail to control their tongues give evidence of an unregenerate heart.
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Despite the outward appearance of all the religious activities and everything that they do, they are not truly regenerate.
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And he deals with this. And now in chapter 2, verse 12, he exhorts his audience once again in this letter.
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So speak, notice what he says, so speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
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And in chapter 3, we don't have time to really go through the whole chapter, but technically the whole chapter of this lengthy passage,
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James noted the difficulties of controlling the tongue. Then he exhorted the believers to do just that.
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And in chapter 4, verse 11, James prohibited speaking against a fellow believer, equating that with speaking against God's holy law.
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He speaks of that. So now, the believer's speech,
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I should say, was a very serious concern to the apostle
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James, since it manifests what is in the hearts. And it is another test of living faith.
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So, when we come to our text in verse 12, we need to consider those things before us.
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And in this chapter, chapter 5, there is a prohibition against false swearing.
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And it reflects the truth that a spirit -transformed heart will reveal itself in honest, truthful speech.
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I cannot overemphasize that enough, because really that's the issue here.
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And the issue is we must have honest, truthful speech, integrity of speech.
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MacArthur said the tongue is a thermometer of the heart. It pretty much reveals what is in the heart.
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How a person speaks is the most revealing test of their true spiritual state.
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People sin. We all sin with our tongues than in any other way.
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And we can't do everything, but one can say anything.
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Now I want you to think of that. What I just said is so convicting, because that is the most revealing thing, how we can know the spiritual condition of our hearts.
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Any wonder that Jesus said in Matthew 12, 34, for the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
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What comes out of the mouth comes from the heart. And then he goes on to say, and he talks about a cesspool of sin, a cesspool, a sewer of adultery and lies and fornication and all this filth.
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And basically he's just saying what the prophet said, the heart is desperately wicked.
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Who can know it? So the heart is so fallen, so depraved, and that's what he's dealing with.
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He's dealing with the heart. You know the heart is a storehouse. It's a storehouse and people's words reveal what they keep in that storehouse.
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And what comes out comes from the heart. Well James is not speaking to unbelievers, is he?
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But he addresses the believers. Notice what he says, my brethren, my brethren. He shows that his attitude was not of condescending but one of compassion.
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He identified with them as one also needed to guard his own mouth as well and speak the truth in love.
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And for him too, the matter of honest speech was of utmost importance.
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And it's so important. So the first thing he speaks of here in the distinction is above all, especially, and he says this repeatedly in his epistle.
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Well let's go to the second point, the restriction, the restriction. Look at the restriction.
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What does he say? Do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath.
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That's the restriction. The specific speech that's related is a related issue
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James focuses attention on is that of swearing. Now we've got to understand what he's talking about to the context of swearing.
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He does not mean to use it as an illicit speech or dirty talk or filthy jokes or four -letter words.
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He's not talking about that kind of swearing here in the context.
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The type of swearing he speaks of is different than what
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Paul addressed in Ephesians 4 .29 and Ephesians 5 .4. Paul the apostle did address that.
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But instead James refers to what he's speaking of as taking oaths, taking oaths.
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Let me give you a little background here. I don't have time to go through this but you can read this in your devotional time through the
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Old Testament. There were many Jews. It was deep within their roots of their system of swearing oaths.
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John MacArthur speaks of defining this and he says this, in a time when written contrast did not exist, oaths served to bind agreements between people.
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To take an oath was to attest that what one said was true and to call
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God to witness to that and to invoke his punishment of one's word was violated, if one's word was violated.
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To call God, he says, to witness to the truth of one's promise and to invoke his judgment if one defaulted on that promise was a very serious matter, end quote.
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That's his definition of basically taking an oath. The Bible does not forbid, beloved, of taking oaths.
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It does not or acknowledging that in a world that is filled with liars, that's the reason why oaths are taken because there are many liars and deceivers into this world.
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That's the purpose of it but really to the Christian, the Christian is to speak the truth in love.
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So certainly it's not wrong to take an oath. When testifying in court, as you would say, they put your hand on the
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Bible and they basically say do you solemnly tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
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And you say, so help me God. There's nothing wrong with taking an oath in court or being ordained in the church.
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That's a vow, that's an oath in a sense, or even the covenant contract between a husband and a wife and getting married.
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We know that there's nothing wrong with that. Oaths are not wrong, let me say this, oaths are not wrong but here's the issue, they become wrong when they are misused and abused with the intent to deceive other people or when they are rashly and flippantly taken.
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It's the liars and the deceivers that do this. Now oaths ought to really foster the truthfulness of communication but sadly to say as I speak to you on this, the reality is that they have become a facade for lying.
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And that's the text and the context that what James is speaking of. The Jews said if you swore using
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God's name in your oath you had to keep it, keep your word but if you swore by some lesser thing, such as Jerusalem or the temple or whatever, you were not bound.
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And now keep in mind that James is echoing our Lord here. Go with me to Matthew chapter 5 and we will see this.
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Look at Matthew chapter 5 and you see where this originated from, from the lips of our
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Savior the Lord Jesus Christ on the Sermon on the Mount. Now verse 33 -37
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Jesus speaks of it and this is not to be taken as a universal condemnation of oaths of all circumstances.
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God himself confirmed a promise with an oath. Again it's not the oath itself but notice what
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Jesus says very carefully in verse 33 -37. Again you have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not make false vows but shall fulfill your vows to the
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Lord. And notice what Jesus says in verse 34, but I say to you make no oaths at all either by heaven for it is the throne of God or by the earth for it is the footstool of his feet or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king.
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Nor shall you make an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black.
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And then he says in verse 37 but let your statement be yes, yes or no, no.
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Anything beyond these is of evil. Now he gets right to it and again he's speaking that the oath taking is wrong in the sense because the
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Jewish people took this way out of context, especially the
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Pharisees in his day. Now these words go way beyond the taking of oaths or vows to deal with the issue of truthful speech.
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So, speaking the truth is the real issue here. That's what
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Jesus is really referring to as believers we must be truthful in our speech so that we do not fall under the judgment.
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That's what James is saying. Now Jesus confronted the Pharisees on this as I was looking at the references, turn with me to a few chapters ahead in Matthew chapter 23 and notice what he says in verse 16 -22.
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This is strong words. Jesus is basically rebuking the
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Pharisees for their hypocrisy. As you well know that Jesus on the
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Sermon on the Mount began his sermon with blessed, blessed, blessed, and I learned this from R .C.
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Sproul because this is so significant as a prophet. A prophet would give a blessing or a curse.
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The blessing and he says it was like on a wheel of blessing. It means good news.
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The prophet would give a blessing, blessed, blessed, blessed, that's the way Jesus began.
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But here or the other that would be the bad news would be a woe, a woe, a curse.
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It would be a blessing or a curse. That was the role of a prophet. So here he gives a woe and one woe upon another woe.
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Notice in verse 16, I just started in verse 16, but Jesus condemns the Pharisees here and what is he condemning for?
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Notice what he says, woe to you blind guides who say whoever swears by the temple that is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.
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You fools and blind men, which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
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And whoever swears by the altar that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.
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You blind men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
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Therefore, whoever swears by the altar swears both by the altar and by everything on it.
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And whoever swears by the temple swears both by the temple and by him who dwells within it.
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And then he says in verse 22, and whoever swears by heaven swears both by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
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Well what the Pharisees were doing in essence was hypocritical. Jesus calls them what?
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Blind guides. You see this? He says it twice. You blind guides? And then he calls them blind men.
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They're blind. They can't see. And then he says, they say, whoever swears by the temple.
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And then what is he saying? That is nothing, nothing. So the
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Pharisees were being sanctimonious and justifying their lying with, and they were, as they were doing this, they were doing this within their impunity.
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This is what the situation was. And this was a very serious situation because Jesus, behind Jesus' command and the
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Apostle James, the essence of what he's saying is, let your yes be yes and your no be no and whatever else comes from that is evil.
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That basically tells you the heart of the Pharisees here. They were evil. Very evil in everything that they did and especially the way they talked and swearing by the temple.
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And Jesus really puts them right in place. Again, the oath was not considered binding, but if he swore by the gold of the temple, he could not break his word without being subject to the penalties of the
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Jewish law. So, our Lord really makes it clear that the swearing by those things is really what's important to the swearing by God himself.
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It's really right inclusive there. And again, the issue is speaking the truth.
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Speaking the truth. So swearing by anything in God's dominion,
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Jesus declared, brings him into judgment. Despite what is hypocritical, the deceivers may have taught or intended,
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God regarded their oaths as binding and judged them for not keeping them was really what the issue was.
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So, we need to keep that in mind about the abuse and the misuse of oaths.
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That's really what is being spoken of here. Let's look at the third point. The instruction,
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James gives us instruction. What is the instruction? I just said it, and you hear me say it time and time again because really this is the point.
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But let your yes be yes, and your no, no. I want you to think of this, doesn't that sound so simple?
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Yes, yes, no, no. A lot of people don't get that, especially a liar.
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They got to kind of weave around it and say, well, hold on just a minute, let me tell you something. Jesus said, hold on, anything beyond this is evil.
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Isn't it amazing how our Lord speaks the truth so frank and so simple, and he gets right to the point.
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It's black and white. Jesus drew a line of demarcation, and when he spoke, he said, you're for me or you're against me.
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It's that simple. James even calls for a simple, straightforward answer, truthful, being honest in your speech.
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Christians are to be those whose yes means yes. That's what he's saying.
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When you say yes, mean that it says yes. If you say no, you mean no.
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That's basically being people of integrity. And we have no need, a
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Christian has no need to swear elaborate oaths to convince others of their truthfulness, do they?
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Nor would they swear falsely to deceive people, that is why Jesus says, anything beyond this is evil.
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I like what Psalms 34, 12 says, the one who desires life to love and see good days must, listen to that, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
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That's exactly what James is referring to. And again, the real issue at stake here is truthful communication.
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I like what Haddon Robertson, as I was studying this, he's with the Lord now, he was a great commentator, and he said this, and according to what
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Jesus is speaking of in Matthew 5, 33 through 37, he says this, quote, if anger was the real issue of murder, lust the real issue of adultery, selfishness the real issue of divorce, then deceit is the real issue of oaths.
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He adds, Jesus wasn't addressing whether or not we should take an oath, he was talking about whether or not we are truthful.
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We don't tell the truth because we have taken an oath, we tell the truth because we are truthful, end quote.
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I like that, that's very good. And that should be true of every
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Christian. Truthful communication is essential for good relationships, isn't it?
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Because truth is essential for trust, that simple. And if you don't trust someone, we're surely not going to let that person even get close to us.
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You know, another pastor, Pastor Stephen Cole, said this, to put it this way, and I quote him, if we practice deception in our marriage, we may preserve superficial peace on the surface, but beneath the surface a volcano is building.
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When the truth is revealed, the volcano will erupt and cause far more damage than if we had honestly dealt with the root of issues when they first came up.
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The same thing is true in rearing our children. If you deceive them and telling them one thing while you're living a lie, and at some point they will see through your deception, and they will reject the
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God you purport to follow. And then he says this, it's far better to love with integrity, or to live with integrity, confessing your sins, and asking forgiveness of your family when you're wrong.
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If they see the reality in your walk with God, they will be far more inclined to follow
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God than if they see hypocrisy and deception in your life. So, the root of truthful communication is walking truthfully before God who sees your heart.
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End quote. I thought that was very pastoral, and I thought, wow, this is what we need to hear.
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We just need to be not only truthful in our speech, but we need to be truthful in our life and the way we live.
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My father, who's dead and gone now, but he always used to tell me, he said, just don't do as I do, do as I say.
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And of course, he was not regenerate, but you know, that saying is just not original with him.
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You hear that among so many people today, and how can you follow somebody that is telling you one thing and they live another?
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You know, we need to follow the one that is truth, and that's who we follow, isn't it?
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Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. And even as Christians in the book of Acts, they were known as following the way because Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life.
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Well, let's go to the fourth instruction, which I think is the strongest of all.
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And what does he say? James says, so that you may not fall under judgment, so that you may not fall under judgment.
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This is the motivation, and can I say this? This is a good motivation.
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It's a very good one. It keeps me on my toes. It makes me tremble as I speak this to you, so that you may not fall under judgment.
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Now, let me say this from the offset. I've read so many different commentaries and commentators on this, and they have basically disagreed with one another about this word judgment.
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I'm going to do my best here to give you to its context. The Mosaic Law warned in Exodus 20, verse 7, you shall not take the name of the
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Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain. One way of taking
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God's holy name in vain is to swear falsely.
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As we noted previously, Jesus pronounced woes, a curse of judgment on the
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Pharisees because of them abusing the oaths and swearing falsely.
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That's what basically Jesus was condemning them for. So because of their false oaths in Matthew 23, verse 16,
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Jesus speaks judgment on them. Now keep in mind here, James is speaking to the
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Jewish believers in Jesus Christ. We know that, don't we? He says, my brethren, to believers.
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So that's where the conflict of the interpretation comes in. James is speaking to the
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Jewish believers, my brethren. But if you look at this word, judgment, it's a very significant word.
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The Greek word is chrisis, chrisis. Now we do know this from John 5, 24.
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If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, Jesus said this, truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed from death into life.
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We know that. There's many other words. That is to the believer. Romans 8, 1, a wonderful verse, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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No condemnation. So with regard to eternal judgment, to those, listen very closely, to those who have truly trusted in Jesus Christ and believe in Christ as Lord and Savior and who follow him, and just not saying it, but truly is a child of the living
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God that's regenerate, does not need to fear the judgment of condemnation.
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We know this. They're passed from death to life. They do not need to fear the judgment of eternal hell.
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But can I say this, in context to this word judgment, in the
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Greek, chrisis, again, it's never used in the New Testament to refer to believers' chastening.
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I have read some commentators that say, no, this is talking about judgment of a chastening type that comes upon believers.
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That does happen. But here in the context, this Greek word is referring to one of judgment of hell, beloved.
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Now I'm going to explain why, and to the context, and you can check me out to scripture, feel free to do so.
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But judgment here speaks of, and he says this in chapter 2 verse 13, he uses the same word in the
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Greek, for judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy.
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And then of course he says mercy triumphs over judgment. So he's saying that God will merciless sentence those to hell, to those who lack mercy, basically reveals that they are unregenerate.
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Now keep in mind, it's the same thing to the writer of Hebrews. He's addressing believers.
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But time and time again, you see these apostles, they never take for granted or assume that everybody are believers.
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The gospel uses this word chrisis more than 25 times with the passing of sentence.
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In Acts 8 .33, it describes Christ's judgment at Pilate's hand.
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Paul used it twice to speak of God's judgment of sinners. In 1
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Thessalonians 1 .5 and 1 Timothy 5 .24. And, like I've already said, the writer of Hebrews spoke of it in Hebrews 9 .27
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and 10 .27. Peter used it to refer to the condemnation of sinners on the day of judgment.
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The same word in 2 Peter 2 .9 and 2 verse 4 and verse 11 and chapter 3 verse 7.
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In Jude, the apostle Jude uses it in Jude 6 and in Jude 15.
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It's very serious. And as I was studying this, I said, Lord, help me to get this interpretation right to the verse.
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But you can't go wrong if you go to the word study. I'm telling you, when he speaks of judgment here, he is speaking of eternal hell.
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Now James, again, we know that believers in Jesus Christ do not have to worry about the eternal condemnation of hell altogether.
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But let me say this, we will be judged according to our works. That is going to happen.
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You can see this in scripture time and time again. We're going to be judged, and Jesus said, by every careless word that we speak.
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As believers, because we bear the name of Christ. Now as an unbeliever, yes.
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And what he's referring to is those that are hypocritical that speak the name of Christ.
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That's why it's so serious. When one speaks the name of Christ, he needs to depart from iniquity.
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That's what Paul says. Because he bears the name of Christ. That's the sin.
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When someone is living a deceitful life in disguise of Christianity, well, if they continue to practice that, that gives a serious question that they're born again.
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So James certainly does not teach sinless perfection, does he? This should encourage each one of you brothers and sisters in Christ, and it encouraged me because as I was studying this, and he also teaches that believers will never fall in error with their tongues.
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We do. We do sin with our tongues, don't we?
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If we're honest, we would say yes. Now, a believer may lapse into falsehood from time to time.
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Though lying, and let me say this, though lying will not be the unbroken pattern of their lives.
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Remember, I like what MacArthur says, it's not the perfection, but the direction of one's heart and life that gives evidence of salvation.
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It's your heart. So, what James' point is here is really sobering, and he gives a warning, and aren't you glad for the warnings?
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It shows you he's a true pastor. He truly loves his congregation. He warns them in verse 12 that if they really continue to practice, to blaspheme
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God's holy name, and he's talking about by practicing it through lying, through oaths, really face eternal damnation.
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Thus, this is another test of living faith, whether one truly has living faith or dead faith.
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So, those whose lives are characterized by a pattern of lying, now listen to me closely because there are many people that fit this category, and we all need to examine our own hearts here.
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If our lives, or anyone's lives, are characterized by a pattern of continually lying, give evidence that they've never been regenerate.
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They have an unregenerate heart. I can honestly say that based upon the word of God, because who's the father of all lies?
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Satan. If one is constantly, and it's even worse, beloved, if one is lying in the name of Jesus, or in the name of God, that's what he's talking about.
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So he gives a warning. And the Bible teaches that liars, spiritual children of the father of lies, would be sentenced to eternal hell.
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If you don't believe me, well, I believe you believe me, but I'm going to back it up with the scripture, just not my opinion.
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Turn with me to Revelation. This needs to be said, because it's so serious.
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Revelation 21, look at verse 8, but for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and immoral persons, sorcerers, and idolaters, and notice what he says, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
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That's crystal clear. That's very crystal clear. Notice in verse 27, in chapter 21, and nothing unclean, and no one who, what does he say?
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Practices abomination and lying. Notice he's talking about practicing abomination and lying, shall ever come into it.
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And I love this, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
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That is eternal election, beloved. And those names are written there before the foundation of the world, and those who believe show that they are elected, and practice, not lying, but they practice the truth.
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Also if you look in chapter 22, look at verse 15, outside, and he's talking about outside of heaven, are the dogs, refer to them as dogs.
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You know why? That's their nature. Their nature has never been changed.
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They're still dogs. And the sorcerers, and the immoral persons, that fits a lot of people, doesn't it?
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And the murderers, and the idolaters, and notice what he says, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
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And that's what it says, the word of God is very clear about that. Those who practice lying. So how do we come to the conclusion of, what do we do about this?
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I appreciate Brother Keith sending me this. He tells me not to mention his name here, but he helps me out a lot about sending these good
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Puritan quotes, and I use them in the sermons, so thank you Brother Keith. James, I'm sorry, the
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Puritan Thomas Matten says this on James 5 .12, an excellent way to prevent swearing is always to be truthful in our speech.
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Then we need not to introduce an oath. The trustworthiness of what we say will be enough.
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Oaths make us suspicious that a person is false and flippant. And if people were serious and sincere in what they said, their word would be equivalent to an oath.
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And their very affirming would be swearing. Whereas others in doubtful cases are hardly believed even if they swear ever so much.
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Because they swear is a matter of course. And listen to what he says, they have prostituted the highest and most solemn way of assurance to ever little thing, and have nothing left with which to establish a controverted truth.
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As Peter says in Peter 4 .11, if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.
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And if anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability with which God supplies that in all things
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God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory, dominion forever and ever,
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Amen. So that's the word of God. So let me ask this question. What are we to do then?
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With these sobering warnings, especially the one on judgment, because that is the most concerning one. Well, as believers, we should allow the word of God and the spirit of truth to sanctify us.
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We should allow the word of God and the spirit of God to sanctify us wholly.
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You notice how many times does Paul the apostle and Peter and James always leads his people to sanctification.
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I like what J .C. Ryle says, he said, don't tell me anything of your justification until I see your sanctification.
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A sanctified life is one that is basically severed from the ways of the world.
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He's cut away from the world. Notice what Jesus prayed in John 17 for his very own. He prays for them and he says,
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I do not ask you to, he prays to the father, I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
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There's the keeping power of God. That's what he's praying for his people. Can I say this, beloved, redeeming grace,
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Jesus Christ is interceding for you right now in your sanctification to keep you holy, to keep you pure, to keep you from being contaminated from the world, that you may be a living witness for him.
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And what does he say? He prays to the father, father, keep them from, from the evil one.
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Keep them from the evil one, that is Satan. And then he says this, they are not of the world.
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See, that's a true disciple right there. You're not of the world. And then he says this, even as I am not of the world.
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And what does he say in verse 17? This is very, very, so important.
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And he prays to the father, he says, sanctify them. In what?
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In the truth. And what does he say? Thy word is truth.
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So if we want sanctification, if we want to be like Jesus, we need to saturate ourselves in the word of God.
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We not only need to read the word of God, we need to meditate ourselves in the word of God. And scripture says that those who love
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God, technically love, love the word. They love the word of God.
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And Jesus said that he is the way, the truth, and the lie. No one comes to the father but through him.
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If Jesus is the truth, the father is truth, the
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Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, and he teaches us all things. He teaches us all truth.
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It's all about truth, isn't it? Well, what about unbelievers?
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Well, unbelievers, if one's an unbeliever, they need to repent and believe the gospel.
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That crystal clear and simple. They need to turn from their wicked ways and this perverse generation and turn to Jesus Christ and see that they're guilty of living a lie.
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Especially if one has used the name of Jesus Christ. Think of it,
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Jesus, when he spoke about being born again, he didn't speak about being born again to the woman at the well, did he?
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He came at a different angle with her. He basically offered to her the gift of God and he started it out by a conversation about give me a drink of water.
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And then he goes and leads her right into the conversation that he is the water of life.
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He is that, he said, if you drink of this water in Jacob's well, you're going to thirst again. But if you drink of the water that I give you and never thirst, he is that living water.
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But when he, but notice the chapter previously this, he speaks to a Pharisee, someone that knew the word of God, the law of God that taught it.
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You know what he said to him? You basically got to start over, Nicodemus. You need to be, you must be born again.
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If you're going to enter into the kingdom of God, you need a new nature. You need a regenerate heart.
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Oh, beloved, I'm telling you, we see this too often in our, in churches today. People use the name of God and that they never, ever have been truly born again.
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Jesus said, you must be born again. Well, that's the exhortation to unbelievers, but the exhortation to believers is always to sanctify the
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Lord God in our hearts, to live a sanctified life, to be holy.
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Because what did Peter say? Be ye holy as I am holy. And he quotes an
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Old Testament verse. So that is the charge that is given to us today.
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May God help us by his grace to be a people that is called out of darkness into his marvelous light that's called to be holy, called unto holiness.
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Because without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Keep in mind what Spurgeon said.
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Holiness is not the way to Christ, Christ is the way to holiness. So, let's keep that before us, that Jesus is the one that is absolutely holy.
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He is the one that we need to set before us and keep before us if we're going to live a holy life.
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I'm not going to follow the prophets even though they are the holy men of God. I'm going to follow
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Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus because he is the holy one of Israel.
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Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time that we've studied in your word and we bless your holy name.
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Help us, Lord, not to ever, ever take oaths in the sense of abusing it, and it's best not to enter into an oath.
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Lord, may we truly be people of our word, to live truthful as we set the example, as we follow our
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Lord Jesus Christ, your dearly beloved Son, who set us the perfect example of what truth really is.
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May we saturate our hearts and lives in the truth, that we may know what the truth is, and Father, if we have the
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Holy Spirit who is the spirit of truth abiding and dwelling within, well, as Dr.
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Tozer said, he's truly not going to allow us to stay like the world. Father, we thank you.
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We thank you for the one that teaches us the truth, the Holy Spirit, and Father, we thank you for your word today, and may we take heed to these great instructions that is given to us in the book of James, and it was, he says, let our yes be yes, our no be no, so that we may not fall under judgment.
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Lord, may it be. Keep us by your grace. In Jesus' name,