WEBVTT 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:11.919 This is the word of God, Matthew 5, verse 33. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:15.839 I know the reference in the screen is a little bit different, but Matthew 5, verse 33. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:25.039 Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:35.679 But I say to you, don't take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it's the throne of God, or by the earth, for it's his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great king. 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:41.679 Don't take an oath by your head, for you can't make one hair white or black. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:43.600 Amen or amen. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:48.240 Let what you say simply be yes or no. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:52.799 Anything more than that comes from evil. 00:00:55.039 --> 00:01:00.719 There is no doubt that in our world, truth is under attack. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:08.959 In our world, in our culture, the ninth commandment is kind of the front lines of the culture wars. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:13.040 Does truth matter? 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:19.439 This has been a battle that has been brewing both inside and outside of the church for decades. 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:24.799 Go back 30 years ago, you know, there was a debate over what truth is. 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:29.519 You go back 15 years ago, you have relativism, that there can be truth for you and truth for me. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.239 You know, 25 years ago, there was like this quest for truth. 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:37.760 We might debate on the outcome, but there was no doubt that people were in pursuit of truth and that truth mattered. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:41.120 There was just debate about epistemology, how you can discover it. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:46.959 15 years ago, full-blown relativism, right? 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.439 What's true for you might not be true for me. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:51.280 Truth is negotiable. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:54.000 That is all given way today. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:58.560 You know, the postmodern society of the post-truth society is gone now. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:02.560 Now at college campuses, you don't hear like that might be true for you, but not true for me. 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:03.200 That's over. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:06.560 What you hear today is that truth itself is offensive. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.120 Forget truth being relative. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:22.000 You know, 20 years ago, witnessing to a college student, you might hear a college student say, Oh, Christianity might be true for you and not true for me, and you'd respond, like, no, if it's true, it's what truth means. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:24.719 That's gone away. 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:31.039 You know, now the battle is is truth morally good or is it wicked? 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:40.639 Yeah, if Christianity is true, whatever it's dangerous and bad and immoral is the pushback, which is an attack on truth itself. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:55.680 And this is why I say the Ninth Commandment is the front line of the culture war, because in comes Christians that may be well-meaning, but their approach to that battle is to water down truth and dilute the truth and try to make truth less offensive. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:00.479 But you understand the battle is not over the quantity of truth, it's over the nature of truth. 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:04.560 It's not about saying we can give you less truth and it'll be less offensive. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:06.240 There's there's no middle ground with that. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:11.520 When truth itself is under attack, truth itself is where Christians need to take a stand. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:15.840 I said the last 25, 30 years ago. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:22.319 If you zoom out even further, you'll see this has been the centuries in the making conflict. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:24.800 You look at you know philosophy in the 1800s. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:29.199 Philosophy in the 1800s was all about the quest for truth, but truth without God. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:32.560 And this gave rise to what the modern sciences are. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:36.000 This idea that you can encounter truth detached from God. 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:49.280 Take God out of psychology, take God out of sociology, take God out of the social sciences, but also take God out of the physical sciences or the actual sciences, no offense meant to sociologists. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:55.840 Take God out of the sciences, and that enables you to encounter truth in a more immediate plane. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:07.520 I mean, that was all of the sciences in the 1800s, which of course gives rise to evolution and gives rise to so much else that is wicked, but that was the at least the battle in the 1800s was over that. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.080 Let's find truth absent God. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:11.680 In the 1900s, that switches. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:15.439 In the 1900s, it's like you can find God, you don't need truth. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:18.879 Search for God, you can have your God, that's relativism. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:26.079 You can have your God over there and that God over there, and what works for you might work for you, but it is disconnected from the concept of truth. 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:27.519 That is not sustainable. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:30.079 Neither of those approaches are sustainable. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:35.839 If you look for God without truth, or you look for truth without God, both of those roads dead end. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:40.959 The New Testament is filled with military language about this. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:44.399 We're called soldiers of Christ, we're supposed to take thoughts captive. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:48.240 The spiritual gift gives us spiritual armor you put on. 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:53.279 The breastplate of truth, the helmet of righteousness, the sword of the spirit. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:58.079 I mean, these are all military things because we are supposed to go to war in this world. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:00.240 We are not fighting flesh and blood. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:03.680 We are fighting powers and principalities. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:06.480 We're fighting worldviews and systems. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:12.959 Paul says, make sure that you don't get held captive by philosophies that are vain and empty. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:15.519 I mean, that's they're trying to take you captive. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:18.959 You fight back against them so you don't get taken captive. 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:22.319 You take your thoughts captive for the glory of Christ. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:23.600 That's the war. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.240 It's a war that is over truth. 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:31.120 In the postmodern world, it was, you know, what is truth. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:38.399 But in the post-postmodern world, if that is even an expression, it's that truth itself is problematic. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:40.160 Truth is hostile. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.639 Truth is called everything from privilege to power to whatever. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:49.839 I could choose a thousand examples from the news this week to give you about this. 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:51.360 I'm choosing just one. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:56.480 And as I read this, I just want you to think like how insane this would have been even ten years ago. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:59.439 When I'm about to read this from Newsweek, by the way. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.720 Mathematical knowledge has been appropriated by Western culture? 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:34.639 I mean just and is used to marginalize people? 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:35.600 Math. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:40.240 Like if you said that again about sociology or psychology, I'm with you. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:44.240 But math? 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:48.639 I mean, talk about the example of sciences that should be relatively neutral. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:49.839 Math. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:55.120 And it's been appropriated by Western culture to stigmatize people? 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:57.839 I mean, just on a basic level, is that even true? 00:06:58.000 --> 00:06:59.920 Like, who invented math? 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:03.839 It it wasn't Europeans, spoiler alert. 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:07.759 What's that all about? 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:15.439 It's this idea and math, if you're going to war against truth, you recognize that math is the enemy. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:20.480 And if there's one thing where, you know, rounding doesn't work, it's in physics, you know? 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:27.120 If your enemy is truth, then math is the front line. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:31.839 And of course that plays out all over, all over. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:38.560 Every concept of education, every concept in our culture is at war against truth. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:41.920 Convictions used to be a virtue. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.600 In our culture, strong convictions are signs of a weak and insecure person. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:48.560 Today, truth is evil. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:54.319 By the way, the statement that truth is evil is itself a truth claim. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:02.720 It would unravel, but that level of dialogue is not happening. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:07.920 Of course, truth and God are inseparable. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.680 When it comes to a definition of truth, here's my best definition of truth. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:18.720 Truth is something that corresponds to the nature and the character and the will and the beauty of God. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:19.920 That's what truth is. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:22.639 Truth is something that corresponds to who God is. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:28.079 If you sever truth from God, now you are at out sea. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:34.159 Now you're fighting over even a definition of truth that nobody can agree on because you threw God overboard. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:37.919 Ditto, if you throw truth overboard, you're not going to encounter God. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:41.679 They are, it's, their definitions are tied to each other. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:45.120 Truth is something that corresponds to God. 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:49.840 I mean, people are important in this world, but God is the most important as he defines truth. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.320 Someone does not get to define his or her own truth. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:56.960 Something can't be true for you and not for the other person, because God is the Lord of all. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:08:59.840 And listen carefully to this. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:03.120 Someone who denies truth will end up denying God. 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:09.759 Conversely, or the corollary, someone who denies God will end up denying truth. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:18.720 It's not sustainable to live a life that says, I don't believe in the God of the Bible, but I'm going to spend my life on a quest for truth. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:23.600 Because you will end up denying truth. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:27.120 There's no better example of this in the Bible than Pilate. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:31.039 Pilate was an educated man. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:33.120 He was thoughtful. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:35.360 He's brought Jesus. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:37.279 He knows the charges against Jesus. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:40.000 He knows the charges against Jesus are false. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.080 He's not falling for this. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:47.360 But he's interviewing Jesus and he realizes this guy's not a threat. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:50.720 This guy's, you know, whatever. 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:53.039 But he doesn't, he's he's got convictions about Jesus. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:56.720 Jesus might convict Pilate, but Pilate doesn't have the courage to stand on his convictions. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:58.720 He's going to send Jesus to be executed. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:04.799 So what does Pilate have to do first before he can have Christ unjustly and illegitimately executed? 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:06.639 He has to assuage his own conscience. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:10.480 And so Pilate says, What is truth anyway? 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:13.360 I mean that was his that was his words. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:16.080 What do you even mean by truth, Jesus? 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:17.120 Who can know? 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:19.600 Like throwing up your hands, who can know what truth is? 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:22.000 Obviously, Pilate knows what truth is. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:28.000 That's the kind of thing you say before you do something completely irrational and against God. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:32.559 If you want to deny God, you got to deny truth. 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:35.279 You want to deny truth, you'll end up denying God. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:45.679 In contrast with those modern worldviews, you encounter the Lord of truth teaching about truth in the passage that I read for you this morning. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:53.039 And Jesus structures his teaching about truth around kind of the trellis here of promises, teaching about promises. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:56.000 I'll give you an outline concerning promises here. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:58.159 We'll fill in three points underneath it. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:03.840 Jesus teaches about promises, and he begins here by telling you, don't fake your promises. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:06.399 Don't make false promises. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.039 Don't say things that are not true. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:12.159 That's the most basic way to explain what Jesus is saying here. 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:16.240 Don't say something that is not true. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:21.919 Again, Jesus says, You have heard that it was said to those of old. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:24.559 You shall not swear falsely. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:33.039 Jesus has repeatedly through the Sermon on the Mount contrasted what he's saying with what has been said of those of old. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:43.600 Now, if you remember, so far, it'll be different next week, but so far, everything Jesus attributes to those of old has been, in fact, a true biblical statement. 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:48.799 Those of old said, Don't commit adultery, don't murder. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:50.399 Hear, don't lie. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:51.360 That's true. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:53.120 That's true biblical ethics. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:56.159 Don't commit murder, don't commit adultery, and don't lie. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.039 What was said of old is in fact true. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:03.519 I'm going to circle back to the small subpoint next week, but I just want to comment on it now. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:10.159 Imagine the authority a person must have to dismiss the Old Testament as something old. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:19.039 Like imagine if you're the Jews there and you encounter Jesus who refers to the Torah as something that was said a long time ago, but he's got new revelation for you. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:27.279 I mean, this is kind of the this is the heart of dispensationalism, for lack of a better word, right here, where Jesus says, here's teaching that's gone for a period of time. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:35.039 We'll call it the Old Testament, and I've got something new that's going to start a new ethic into the world. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:39.519 That would just flabbergast the Jews to hear that. 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:41.039 But that's the way Jesus speaks. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:42.559 We'll circle back to that point next week. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:47.600 Jesus says, You've heard of it said of those of old, you shall not swear falsely. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:53.679 Now, there's no exact Old Testament quotation that hits this identically. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:57.679 This appears to be an amalgamation of several Old Testament passages that get pretty close to this. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:01.600 Leviticus 19, 12, you shall not swear by my name falsely. 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:04.159 If you do, you profane the name of your God. 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:05.200 I am Yahweh. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:06.879 I'll put this example on the screen. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:10.159 This might be the closest one, Deuteronomy 23, verse 21. 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:17.200 If you make a vow to Yahweh your God, don't delay in fulfilling it, for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.399 You will be guilty of sin. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.159 The same thing was in Ecclesiastes 5. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:22.000 We read that at our scripture reading today. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:24.720 Just think about this verse real quick. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:29.120 If you make a vow, do it, is the point of this verse. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:38.399 Don't make a vow that you're gonna, you know, hey, I promise you I'll bring you your jacket, and then you go and you watch a TV show. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:41.919 You go and you have a soda, you go and you take a nap. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:46.559 No, if you if you make a vow you're gonna do something, why don't you get up and go do it? 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:48.080 That's this verse. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:52.720 This is the basic premise of truth telling. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:58.000 Now, here in the scripture is where the third commandment and the ninth commandment come together. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:03.600 The third commandment says, don't take the name of Yahweh in vain, and we've talked about this before. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:12.799 The word take in the Old Testament, there is a word for lift up or to wave like a banner over you, is basically don't call yourself a follower of Jesus and lead an empty life. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:14.559 That's the third commandment. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:19.840 Don't put the name Yahweh on your house and then don't worship him in your heart. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.320 Or and I've said this before, but don't put a Jesus fish in your car and drive like the devil. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:26.159 That's the third commandment. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:35.039 That mixes here with the ninth commandment of don't bear false witness against your neighbor. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:38.159 The phrase bear false witness, it is a legal phrase. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:40.480 It's a specific phrase in the Old Testament. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:44.399 It has a context of a courtroom environment, just like in English. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:48.000 Have you heard the phrase, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:51.200 So help you, God, you'd immediately associate it with the courtroom. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.039 Don't bear false witness. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.559 That phrase bearing witness is a legal terminology. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:03.039 Don't testify against your neighbor in an immoral way where you say something that's not true. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:06.559 The two of them merge in the Israelite society. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:12.559 You call yourself a follower of Yahweh, then speak the truth because God is truth. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:18.000 It's the most basic tenet of a godly society is truth-telling. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.120 And it's the mark of justice in society. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:25.519 You know, if you want a just society, tell the truth. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:39.360 It's amazing when you study the Old Testament and you're looking into justice and loving the poor and showing mercy to the needy and caring for the widows and orphans, how often those commands are connected to truth-telling. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:48.240 And that's because a basic way of exploiting the poor is to lie, is to say something is yours when in fact belongs to them. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:51.039 I think of Naboth's vineyard, for example. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:55.120 The wealthy people, the queen, wanted to steal Naboth's vineyard. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:59.120 Not even because she was coveting the vineyard, she didn't need a better place to grow her carrots. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:02.720 She had all kinds of other motives at play, described in 1 Kings 21. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:08.960 But she steals his vineyard by lying about him and getting others to lie about him and putting him to death. 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:14.320 Lies and deception connect to the exploitation of the poor. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:15.840 This is all over the Old Testament. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:20.000 Zechariah 8, verse 16 is a great example of this, but there's many other verses like this. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:24.480 Zechariah 8, verse 16, God says, These are the things that you shall do. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:27.440 You shall speak the truth to one another. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:30.879 Render in your gates judgment that is true and make for peace. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:33.759 Don't devise evil in your hearts against one another. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:35.600 Don't love a false oath. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:37.840 These things I hate, declares Yahweh. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:44.559 Do you see how he connects justice for the poor with truth telling? 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:47.600 This is true in society. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.200 If you want a society that functions, it needs to value truth. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:57.759 This is far fetched in our world because our world has so much so many other sources of evidence. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:08.720 And I read a biography of a Supreme Court justice recently, and he lamented in there how much witness testimony has been degraded over the years. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:15.279 Like it used to be a key part of a prosecution was having witnesses that said, Yeah, I saw that guy do it, and they got to be found guilty. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:18.799 But now you've got juries and everything that have grown up watching CSI. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:25.440 They're like, Yeah, there's 10 witnesses that say that they saw the guy do it, but where's the DNA evidence, huh? 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:30.799 Run that Snickers wrapper for DNA, and the prosecutor's like, he's shoplifted to Snickers. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.640 We're not doing DNA analysis. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:35.599 Oh, I can't vote guilty unless there's DNA. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:37.680 That's the way our society works. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:38.799 We want to see the film. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:42.240 If the guy's not on camera, can't prove it. 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:48.400 Go back to the Jewish society, there's no DNA evidence, there's no security camera footage. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:55.680 People were tried and convicted, or tried and acquitted based entirely on witness testimony. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:00.960 You want a society that functions well, you gotta tell the truth. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:05.519 Lies are an attack on that kind of society. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:10.240 It's true today, maybe not in trials, it's true today with taxes. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:18.079 You know, we laugh at the Seattle public schools saying math is an attack on, you know, privilege or whatever. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:22.720 When you lie on your taxes, you're playing right into that worldview. 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:32.000 When you cheat on your taxes, you're you're not giving money to the government for the kind of things the government uses on, which you might say is totally wasteful. 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:34.079 You know, taxation is theft, you know? 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:37.759 But that's not up to you. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:41.519 Withholding your taxes is deception. 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:46.799 It is lying, it is robbing society of justice. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:51.119 This is true in every area of life, not just courts and not just taxes. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:52.720 It's true in your speech. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:59.440 When you lie in your speech, you're attacking the nature and the character of God. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:04.799 Even little white lies, even little exaggerations, even at the personal level. 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:09.440 When you lie, you're elevating yourself over God. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:13.200 You might think you're lying about something totally inconsequential. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:18.319 You're just telling an exaggeration that makes yourself look slightly better than you are. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:22.960 You're telling something that's just not quite true. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.880 But that is going to war against Providence. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:36.319 Providence is the one that gave you the family you have, providence gave you the skills you have, providence gave you the outcome of whatever event you're lying about. 00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:42.720 You know, you place somebody in checkers and you lose and you tell all your friends you won. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.039 It doesn't matter, it's checkers. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:52.960 But you're lying about providence, which is another way of saying you're attacking God. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:56.079 You're not happy with what God providentially gave you. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:07.680 Every truth corresponds to God and his nature and his providence, so every lie is an attack on God and his holiness. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:09.680 And even white lies. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:19.599 If you've been lied about, if people have lied to you or lied about you, you recognize how harmful and ruinous it can be. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:23.920 You know, we have a saying, sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:27.680 You know, if people have lied about you, you recognize that's not really true. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:32.480 People spread lies about you and it does hurt you. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:34.000 And what can you do? 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:37.359 You want to defend yourself, but if somebody's lying, they're not interested in the truth, right? 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.240 Somebody's lying about you, you can't be like, oh no, here's the actual truth. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:41.839 They don't care about the truth. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.920 They're lying about you, remember? 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:51.359 And so all you can do is trust yourself to God and say, God knows the truth, He'll vindicate me. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:53.440 And that's where godliness is on full display. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:57.680 Like, can you trust yourself to the Lord when people are lying about you? 00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:03.200 This is why the Ninth Commandment and the Third Commandment are so tied together. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:05.119 Do you speak the truth? 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:06.880 Do you trust Yahweh? 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:08.240 Do you trust God? 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:11.680 Or do you lead an empty life that is filled with deception? 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:15.359 If you love the truth, you're not going to bear the name of Yahweh in vain. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.880 The Ninth Commandment specifically bars false witness against your neighbor. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:22.319 We play all kinds of games with this, don't we? 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.480 We're like, who really is my neighbor after all? 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:28.000 Was I actually sworn in when I lied? 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:29.039 Come on. 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:31.519 This is in all of our speech. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:35.200 You know, we tell stories with tones that cast guilt in other people. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:40.559 We summarize long conversations in a way that makes us look good and everybody we're talking to look dumb. 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:44.240 People are compulsive exaggerators. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:47.839 That's just the nature of communication. 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:50.400 We lie and we exaggerate. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:52.480 What a contrast with God. 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:55.039 God swears by himself. 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.440 I think a parent of a newborn, they don't sleep much, right? 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.160 It's funny to listen to them talk. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:06.400 You know, the husband will be like, Oh, I didn't get more than four hours of sleep last night. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.079 And the wife will be like, Oh, I don't know. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:10.960 I was awake all last night and I saw you snoring a lot. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:15.440 Like, well, how could you have been awake when I saw you sleeping more? 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:18.319 And the back and forth exaggerating who is up the most. 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.599 And it's so it's it's it's like a newborn ritual, you know. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:27.279 That's the way we communicate. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:32.160 And Jesus says, don't lie. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:36.079 Let what you say be true. 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:39.920 So the first point don't fake your promises. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:42.640 Your word should be true. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:50.480 The ninth commandment compels you to speak the truth, and this is the key point, because you love the truth. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:52.160 So don't fake your promises. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:56.720 Secondly, not just don't fake your promises, but secondly, don't inflate your promises. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:22:59.279 Don't fake them and don't inflate them. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:00.640 This is verse 34. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:09.759 Jesus says, I say to you, don't take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it's the throne of God, or by the earth, for it's his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great king. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:16.160 Now there's a lot of important things happening in this verse, namely the prepositions by Jerusalem. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:24.319 Uh you know, this is the preposition by, don't make an oath by Jerusalem, and then not keep it, because you stand guilty of breaking your oath. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:31.680 Why the list of things here were people really swearing by the earth or really swearing by heaven or by Jerusalem? 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:34.960 Um why does Jesus drill down on this? 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:46.480 Well, understand, Jesus is talking to the Jews here, specifically a rebuke to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel, who had really figured out a way to monetize their own religious hypocrisy. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:48.799 That's the bottom line with these people. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:54.720 They had a religion that really hinged on their own ethics and their own work and their own output. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:01.039 They also believed that if you swore by Yahweh's name, you were condemned. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:14.240 So if you're in a works righteousness system and you have what, to use more modern language, would be a mortal sin, and you're predisposed to commit that mortal sin, you have to figure out a way out of your condemnation. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:21.599 Like if you lie by nature, and we are all liars by nature, Genesis 6 says, that every thought of man's heart is only evil continually. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.519 The heart of mankind, Jeremiah says, is is altogether deceitful. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:27.039 Deceitful word there for lying. 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:28.319 I mean, that's those are our hearts. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:40.400 So if you have a deceitful heart and you have a religion that basically teaches that if you lie by God's name, you're condemned, you have to figure out how you can just operate without standing condemned all the time. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:46.640 And so what they had constructed is a very complex system that I would call loopholes. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:50.160 Let me put the screen, uh, the verse back up on the screen again. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:25:04.000 If you make a vow to Yahweh, and I just talked about this verse for a little bit and focused on that means you're supposed to tell the truth, but the Jews are studying this verse and say, aha, I spy in here a prepositional phrase. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:11.279 If you make a vow to Yahweh and you break it, you're in trouble. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:18.000 But what if you make a vow towards Yahweh? 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:21.440 What if you made a vow around him? 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:28.079 In nearby, amongst, betwixt, through overunder. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:39.359 What if you made a vow not by Yahweh, but what if you made a vow by Jerusalem? 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:43.039 What if you made a vow by the temple? 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:48.480 Then you break the vow, do you stand condemned? 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:51.680 And you might say, well, why don't you just tell the truth all the time? 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:54.160 Have you met a person before? 00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:57.279 That's not sufficient. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:00.000 You you're in a world where you have to vow. 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:02.799 You have to say, no, this is the truth. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:07.519 But sometimes you say things that don't come to be. 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:19.920 I mean, there's this massive case law, and some good commentaries just give pages and pages of examples of case law from the life of Christ or the centuries before Christ that regulate these kind of things. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:22.400 And I'm talking down to the little nuances here. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:33.680 Like they said, you cannot swear to the temple because the temple is so associated with Yahweh that any vow to the temple would be the same thing as vowing to Yahweh. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:41.279 But if you swore by the temple, that's enough like, you know, an ambiguity about which direction you're pointing that it might not be connected to God's name. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:44.880 But what if you swore by the gold on the temple? 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:46.960 Well, the gold locates this to the temple. 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:49.680 There's only one temple with gold in it, so the ambiguity is gone. 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:55.039 So if you're trying to keep up here, you cannot swear to God and break the vow. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:27:01.759 You can swear by the temple and break the vow and not be condemned unless you put gold on top of the temple. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:04.000 Or what about the altar? 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:06.240 Can you swear to the altar? 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:06.880 No. 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:12.400 The altar is where the high priest goes, and he but once a year, I mean it's a very holy place. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:16.720 But if you swore by the altar, that's okay. 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:21.359 But what if you swore by the sacrifice that is put on the altar? 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:21.680 No. 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:23.920 Lotove, that's bad. 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:26.079 By the sacrifice on the altar? 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:28.720 No, because that locates it again right to the middle of the altar. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:29.200 So no. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:32.000 And Jesus talks about this at the end of his ministry, Matthew 23. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:32.880 He circles back to this. 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:34.400 He says, You guys, you're doing this. 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:37.759 You're swearing by the temple, but not to the temple. 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:40.319 And then you try to say, by the sacrifice on the altar. 00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:42.720 It's just total word games. 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:47.359 You can imagine people doing this, you know. 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:52.240 Invest with me, and I'll get you a 15% return. 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.359 And the person's like, ah, I don't know about that. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:55.920 You know, really? 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:56.720 Can you like? 00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:58.160 I promise I can. 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:00.079 Why would I believe your promise? 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:12.400 Oh, I promise by the temple, and I promise by the city of Jerusalem, and I promise by the steps of the temple, and I promise by my grandmother's grave at the base of the temple. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.960 And I love my grandmother. 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:18.559 Like, oh, that's starting to sound a little bit believable. 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:21.279 It's inflating your vows. 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:23.200 Inflating your vows. 00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:26.880 And Jesus pierces through this and says, don't talk like that. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:28.559 Look at verse 34. 00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:31.440 Don't make an oath at all by heaven, for it's the throne of God. 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:33.519 God rules never say, I swear by heaven. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:36.000 And Jesus says, Who do you think owns heaven? 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:38.640 Don't swear by earth. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:40.880 Because God rules over everything on earth. 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:43.039 You say, I swear by the hills by the temple. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:47.200 Well, God owns the hills by the temple as much as he owns the temple. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:48.400 Do you get that? 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:54.880 You can't start to dislocate things on the earth from God to justify your vain vows. 00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:56.559 He owns it all. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:28:59.279 He owns it all. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:03.680 The Jews, by the way, you might find this interesting. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:08.880 The Jews had even developed phrases because of the Third Commandment, you weren't allowed to say Yahweh's name. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:13.119 So if you can't say Yahweh's name, how could you swear by his name anyway? 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:16.000 Well, they developed substitutionary phrases. 00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:24.160 Like you could swear by Olifdalit, the A D in Hebrew, because those are the first two letters for the word Adonai, Lord. 00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:30.079 You could swear by Yod He, that would stand in the place of swearing by Yahweh, because you couldn't say the name Yahweh. 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:33.680 So if you swore by Yod He and you broke the vow, you're condemned. 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:40.559