The importance of our communication is highlighted in our study today. What about our communication? What is it about what we say that Jesus felt it was so important to enshrine it in His sermon that would ring out to millions in years to come?

Matthew 5:33
Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.

• What does it mean to forswear thyself?
• The word forswear means to swear falsely or to make an oath or a promise knowing that you’re not going to follow through with it. It means to commit perjury.
• This is basically lying.

Moses even warned about this long ago.

• Leviticus 19:12
  And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
• Moses warned not to swear by God’s name falsely. We must be careful to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. The key word there being falsely.

What did Moses actually write about taking oaths or swearing? Is it actually OK?

• Numbers 30:2
  If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
• Moses said if you take a vow or if you make a promise, you need to do all that you have said. You are not to break your word.
• Deuteronomy 6:13
  Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
• It’s interesting that what we read here in Deuteronomy seems to indicate that it is OK to swear and to make oaths. There seems to be no problem with it at all.
• So then what is happening here now in Matthew 5 in Jesus’ day where He is saying it is not OK?
  • Matthew 5:34-36
    34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne. 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
• If we are not to swear by heaven or by God’s throne, it would definitely not be OK to swear by God’s name or Jesus’ name. But yet in Deuteronomy, Moses says it is OK.

What’s the difference? What was wrong or why was it OK?

• Back in the Old Testament, Moses was teaching the Israelites to tell the truth under oath.
• In Matthew 5, Jesus is most likely dealing with a group of people there that are taking oaths, making promises, but they are intentionally not going through with what they promised. They have determined beforehand to make a promise and know that they are going to break it.

Isaiah speaks of such a group of people:

• Isaiah 48:1
  Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
• This problem of breaking oaths had already started before we ever got to Matthew 5. Even in Israel, in the Old Testament, after the time of Moses, people were swearing by the name of God, they were taking oaths but yet not in truth nor in righteousness. They were not intending to go through with what they had promised.
• So Jesus was dealing with a very big problem also in modern day Israel. Once again, people were making promises, people were swearing by heaven or God’s throne or by earth or even by His name, and yet they were not following through with it.

Was Jesus trying to destroy oath taking altogether? Was He saying that it was just simply wrong? Is there room for judicial oath in the courts today or are we violating the Bible and sinning if we do that?

• Let’s have a look at the example of Jesus Himself.
• Matthew 26:63-64
  63 But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. 64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
• Jesus, at this time, was standing before the high priest who was trying to judge and condemn Him and trying to find any fault in Christ. Up to this point Jesus had remained silent. He had not responded to any question or insult or anything they had done to Him. People had been bringing false testimonies against Him and He had not said anything.
• But now the high priest says, “I adjure thee by the living God.” That word adjure means to invoke an oath. He is putting Christ under oath of God. And he is asking if Jesus really is the Messiah, the Son of God or not!
• At this point Christ speaks up. He doesn’t rebuke the high priest for making Him swear by God but just answers the question forthrightly. He declares Himself to be the Son of God!
• So if what the high priest was doing was sin, then Christ would not have answered but instead would have rebuked the high priest. It is obvious that there is still room for the judicial oath today.
• What was Jesus dealing with here again in Matthew 5? He was dealing with the problem of people making promises, taking oaths, and not going through with it.

Now let’s come back to Matthew 5. So we have seen how Jesus has warned us to be careful about making promises that we don’t intend to keep. But He’s not done yet.

• Matthew 5:37
  But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
• What does Jesus mean to make sure our communication is a yea, yea or a nay, nay?
• James 5:12
  But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
• You see James here is also saying, don’t swear. Don’t swear by heaven. Don’t swear by earth. It’s right along the lines of what Jesus is saying too. And he also says don’t swear by any oath!
• But what should we do? We must make sure that our yes is a yes and our no is a no.
• We should mean what we say. When we say yes, we should mean yes and follow through with a yes. And if we say no, then we should really mean no.
• Our communication needs to be clear and precise and truthful and honest.
• Jesus says whatever is more than this is from the wicked one, it is not from the side of righteousness and truthfulness.
• We should not say yes and in our hearts when we really mean no or vice versa.
• 2 Corinthians 1:17-18
  17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay? 18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
• Paul could say to the church at Corinth that his communication was just what he intended it to be. He didn’t say yes and mean a no. When he spoke and what he wrote, he meant what he said. There was no changing. He didn’t mix truth with error or lie to them.

Do we actually do this to others? Do we communicate this way to others many times?

• Let me give some examples.
• Sometimes when we meet people at a certain place and time, and we arrive there first and they aren’t there and so we call them, some will say they are on the way when in fact they are still at home. That is a yes and a no. What we should say is, “I’m sorry I’m still at home but I am leaving right now.”
• As a pastor many times I ask people whether I’ll see them at church this coming weekend, or the next week. And we like to use phrases that are ambiguous. We like to say things like, “By God’s grace.” That term by itself can be good. Only by God’s grace can we do anything. But said by itself, it doesn’t really mean anything. If we say, “Yes definitely I’ll be at church next week, by God’s grace.” We have made a decision in our hearts to be there and nothing will stop us and we recognise the fact that if we make it there it will be by God’s grace.
• But spoken by itself, many times we use that as an outlet more often to not be there.
• Our communication needs to be a yes and a yes, and not a yes and a no.

What does the Bible teach us about our communication and our speech?

• Colossians 4:6
  Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
• Our speech should be seasoned with salt and with grace. Just as Jesus tells us to be a salt of the earth, to be a blessing to the whole earth, our communication needs to be a blessing to everyone around us as well.
• Does the things that I say show that I serve a true and living God? Can people tell that I am a Christian by the things that I say and by my speech?
• And of course, with our study here I am not referring to topics that we talk about and what we choose to say. But is our yes, a yes? Do we mean what we say? Can people take us by our word? Can people trust what comes out of our mouths? Or do we say things just to get people off our backs but we ourselves don’t really mean it?
• Do you maybe tell someone that you will meet them at this place and time and not turn up? And the only reason you said it is because you didn’t want to talk to them anymore? You just didn’t want them to bother you anymore?
• Ephesians 4:29
  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
• Our communication must not be corrupt or vile or profane. Our speech needs to edify others.
• People should not be second guessing what we say or if we really mean what we say. They should be able to take what we say at face value.

What makes a person to say yes and then no? What is it that changes our communication?

• First, from experience, I find that people tend to say yes in front of you when they mean no is because they lack the courage to just tell you no from the beginning. They either don’t want to offend you or disappoint you. So they would rather say yes, or gave a vague answer like maybe, or we’ll see, than just to say no outright.
• But the Bible also gives a reason.
• James 1:8
  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
• The reason is that we are double minded. We have not made up our minds and set our heart on the right and good goal.
• Like Daniel, we have not purposed in our hearts, we have not set our hearts firmly on it.
• And usually, making good and righteous decisions do not come in a short moment of time or from wavering. The condition of our hearts is wicked. Look at what the Bible says.
• Jeremiah 17:9
  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
• If our hearts are so wicked and deceitful, then to make righteous decisions will require help from above. It won’t come naturally.
• The desire of our heart naturally is to not want to go to church. It is to not want to go to prayer meeting. It is not to want to commit to anything that is spiritual.
• 1 Corinthians 2:14
  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
• Naturally we don’t want to follow God. We don’t desire it. We are all naturally inclined to chase after the world and everything that is bad for us.
• So what needs to happen? How can God help us with our communication? How can we be dependable with what we say?
• James 4:8
  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
• If we want to stop being double minded, then we need to have our hands cleansed. But more than that, we need to have our hearts purified. It needs to be made clean. We need to be made clean from the inside to the out.
• Once the heart is changed, our communication will change also.
• Matthew 12:34
  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
• Out of the overflow of our hearts, our mouth will speak.
• So once again, it is a heart issue. Christ is trying to tell us that it is not just in outward forms and a mere keeping of the commandments that we should obey. We need to obey from the heart.
• Romans 6:17
  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
• Ephesians 6:6
  Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

This is the issue that Jesus has been dealing with in Matthew 5.

• In the previous study about how we lust after a woman in our hearts, that the same as committing adultery. We may not have actually committed the act itself, but we held that thought in our heart.
• Before that we studied about hating your brother in your heart is the same as murdering them. You may not have committed the act itself, but you’ve held that thought in your heart as well. The issue is with the heart! What we are thinking and feeling inside.
• It’s not so much the act itself, but the spirit of the law, not the letter!

So what does Jesus desire to do with the law today?

• Hebrews 10:16
  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.
• God wants to write His law in our hearts and minds. That is the only way that we can obey from the heart, to have the spirit of the law and not just obey the letter. This is the only way that we can be changed from the inside to the out.
• And when that happens, then the result will be found in Psalms.
• Psalms 40:8
  I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
• The law of God will be our delight. His will in our lives and His life will be lived out, not with a burden that we have to carry because we’re scared of losing out on eternal life or heaven but because His thoughts are our thoughts, and His ways are our ways. The things that He asks us to do from His word will become that delight to us because our hearts have been so changed into His image that that is what we ourselves would like to do also!
• Yes, it will be a struggle to overcome those thoughts. But eventually, God will replace those thoughts with His own thoughts. The obedient life will then become a life of delight and not simply that we have to do it if we want to call ourselves Christian.
• So many of us struggle with the Christian life because of this one fact. His law is not written upon our hearts and minds. We try to conform to outward ceremonies and forms, but inside, our hearts are not changed. So then it’s not a delight but a burden.
• To write the law in our hearts and minds has been God’s desire from the very beginning.
• Deuteronomy 6:4-9
  4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
• It wasn’t a literal outward form that God wanted. He wanted that law to be between their eyes – right there in the heart and mind.
• It was the Jews that made it literal. They lost sight of the spirit behind it but just kept the form.
• But God always wanted them to love Him with all their heart, soul and might.

Today, the important question that we must ask ourselves is, “Are we keeping the law because it is in our heart, or are we keeping it out of obligation, or tradition, or even peer pressure?”

Jesus desire for each of us to be happy. And we can have that joy, that peace and happiness that is not of this world if we are willing to let Him write His law in our hearts today. God does not desire outward compliance, but inward conversion. He wants us to be changed, to be transformed, from the inside totally and fully. Then our actions will change. Then our language will change. And our yes’ will be yes and our no’s will be no.

Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

My we accept the renewing power of God’s word in our hearts today. Let’s not wait any longer. Let’s life a fulfilling and abundant Christian life today!