The title of my sermon this morning is, swear not at all, swear not at all.
Look down at your Bible there in James 5-12 it says, but above all things my brethren
swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let
your yay be yay and your nay be nay lest you fall into condemnation.
This is a pretty strong statement because it starts out with, but above all things,
so it sounds like this is pretty important doesn't it?
Above all things my brethren, swear not.
Now this seems pretty clear and absolute doesn't it?
Don't swear.
Above all things my brethren, swear not, don't swear, neither by heaven, neither by the earth,
well he just doesn't want us to swear by those things, neither by any other oath, but let
your yay be yay and your nay nay, I'm sorry I'm reading a different verse, but let your
yay be yay and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation.
Go to Matthew 5, Matthew chapter 5.
Pretty clear isn't it?
I mean that's a pretty strong verse, pretty clear, but we typically don't want to base
what we believe just on one verse.
It's good to get a second clear scripture to anchor our thoughts to.
Look at Matthew chapter 5, this is from the mouth of Christ at the Sermon on the Mount.
Starting in verse 33, again you have heard that it has been said by them of old time,
thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths, but I say
unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth,
for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king, neither
shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black, but
let your communication be yay, yay, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of
evil.
Now these scriptures that we just read in James 5 and Matthew 5 are both teaching the
exact same thing.
They're very clear, they're straight to the point, they're not ambiguous, they're both
in agreement with each other, and I think the teaching is clear that for us today as
New Testament Christians in 2019 America, we should not swear at all.
Now what does it mean to swear?
Now sometimes we mix this up.
Some people think swearing means using a bad word, using four letter words or using words
that are crass or crude or rude or they'll call that swearing.
But when the Bible talks about swearing, what it's actually referring to is making an oath
or a vow and specifically it has to do with people when they want to affirm that something
is true, okay, but they want to add a little bit of teeth to that affirmation that something
is true and instead of just saying, yes, I'm telling the truth, they say I swear I'm telling
the truth.
Or they'll use some kind of an oath or an imprecation or a curse where they'll say,
you know what, may God strike me dead if I'm not telling the truth or something like that.
This is what Christ is talking about, this is what James is talking about here, people
swearing and this is something that we should not do at all, okay.
This is such a clear teaching in scripture that in fact even when you go to court in
the United States, you're not required to be sworn in, okay, that's why when you sign
official government documents and things, it will say oath or affirmation, all right.
So for example, even in the fourth amendment in the constitution, you know when you're
looking at the Bill of Rights and it talks about warrants being issued before they can
search and seize property, it says in there a warrant upon oath or affirmation and what
they were doing there with that verbiage is respecting the fact that many people have
a religious objection to swearing oaths and we should be some of them, amen, that should
have a religious objection to swearing oaths because the Bible says no, okay.
Now a lot of people will just use this in casual conversation and I always cringed growing
up when I'd hear people say I swear to God, have you heard people say that, right, that's
just an expression, like that just flows out of their mouth, just oh I swear, I swear
to God.
First of all, you're taking God's name in vain, number one, and when we say taking God's
name in vain, vain means pointless or empty or meaningless and whenever the word God comes
out of our mouth or any of God's names, whether it's the Lord, Jesus, God, whatever, we should
always either be talking about God or to God, that's the test right there.
Are you talking about God right now, then use the name of God.
Are you talking to God right now, then use the name of God.
But people will frequently use the word God when they're not talking about God at all,
they're not talking to God at all, they'll just say oh God, oh Lord, good God, right.
These are things that we should not utter and just throw that out there just basically
using God's name in vain, profaning the name of God.
What does profane mean?
Profane means that which is commonplace and the name of God should not be common or profane
to us, it should have special significance, special meaning, hallowed be God's name.
It should be kept holy and what does holy mean?
Set apart, sanctified.
So if God's name is hallowed or holy or set apart or sanctified, that means it's not for
common use.
It's not for use of just oh my God, you know, that is blasphemous.
That is taking the name of the Lord in vain and you say well God's not a name, it's a
title.
God's a name.
That's one of his names.
He has the name God.
He has the name the Lord.
It's not just, you say well no, that's just a title.
Really can you show me that in the Bible where that's a title?
You listen to Jehovah's Witnesses when they say oh Father's a title, God's a title, Lord's
a title, you know, only Jehovah's name.
No, his name is God.
That's his name.
His name is the Lord.
His name is God Almighty.
His name is Jehovah, yes, but he has many names, all right?
And the thing about it is that, or here's another way that you'll hear this because
people will say I swear, I swear to God.
Another way that this will manifest is I'll be damned.
I'll be damned because basically what they're saying is like hey, if I'm not telling the
truth or if this isn't so, then I will be damned at that point.
That's basically where that comes from, okay?
So you know, when they talk about, you know, I'll be damned or I swear to God, I swear,
you know, this is a violation of this that could be done flippantly without even thinking
about it.
But then sometimes people will even premeditate this and say, you know, may God strike me
dead right now if I'm not telling the truth or I swear on my mother's grave and every,
you know, and look, if he said don't swear by heaven, don't swear by earth, don't swear
by Jerusalem, don't even swear by your own head, but here's the catch all.
In James 5 he said, neither by any other oath.
So swearing on your mother's grave or something, that's another oath.
You don't swear on that either, okay?
You shouldn't swear by anything at all.
James 5 said, swear not.
Above all things, swear not.
Matthew 5 said, swear not at all.
Don't do this at all.
Now you say, well, pastor Anderson, this is a really straightforward sermon.
I mean, this is pretty basic.
I mean, it's pretty easy to understand, pretty clear.
I mean, we've got a couple of clear strips, but here's the vast majority of Christians
don't agree with what I'm saying right now.
Like whatever I've been preaching for the last five, 10 minutes just now, the vast majority
of Christians don't agree with this and don't believe in this and they actually will find
ways to explain away the passage in Matthew 5 and James 5 because they want to make allowances
for the swearing of oaths.
Okay.
So the mainstream position is probably to swear oaths and that it's fine for Christians
to swear oaths.
I think the words of Christ and the words of James here are crystal clear, you know,
that the Bible is telling us don't do it.
And I think this is a classic example of interpreting the Bible the right way by starting with the
clear scripture, starting with what's concrete, starting with what's explicit and obvious
and then moving on to the unclear.
False doctrine tends to come from unclear scriptures, vague scriptures, ambiguous scriptures
or kind of logical, well, we know this or we know this or we know this, you know, instead
of just like a clear statement, like don't swear at all.
That's pretty clear, right?
So if you would turn back to Ecclesiastes chapter five, Ecclesiastes chapter five, I'm
going to show you a little bit more teaching on this and then I'm going to get into the
objections of why most people don't seem to agree with what I'm preaching this morning,
even though it's explicit in scripture, I'm going to give you their arguments and why
they're wrong.
Okay.
But before I do, let's talk about these two scriptures that we're basing our doctrine
on, right?
Matthew five and James five.
Okay.
Why are we not supposed to swear at all?
Why not?
I mean, what's wrong with, I mean, if we're telling the truth, why not invoke deity and
say, the Lord do so to me and more also, you remember reading that in the Bible all throughout
the Old Testament, you'll hear people swear like this and they'll say, the Lord do so
to me and more also if I don't do X, Y, and Z or they'll say as the Lord liveth, you
know, and this and that.
And then they'll, they'll invoke these, these olds or make that now here's the thing.
The new Testament's clear.
Don't swear.
Why not?
Why did people do it back then and, and why are there even some vows and oaths that God
even prescribed in the law, but why is he telling us in the new Testament don't swear
at all?
Well, the first reason was in James five where we looked and in James five he said, lest
you fall into condemnation.
Why shouldn't we swear?
Because we could fall into condemnation.
Now what does that mean?
Look down at your Bible and Ecclesiastes chapter five verse two, be not rash with thy mouth.
Being rash with your mouth is just saying things without thinking and just blowing off
your mouth.
Be not rash with thy mouth and let not that heart be hasty or in a hurry to utter anything
before God.
For God is in heaven and thou upon earth.
Therefore let thy words be few.
Hey, be careful what you say to God.
Don't just blow off your mouth and start making all these promises to God and oaths to God
and swearing to God, all these different things he say, you better keep that few and be careful
what you say and don't rush to say anything to God.
For a dream cometh through the multitude of business and a fool's voice is known by multitude
of words.
Sometimes people who know the least talk the most.
For a dream cometh through the multitude of business and a fool's voice is known by multitude
of words.
When thou vowest to bow unto God, not something we should do hastily, but he says when you
do vow a vow unto God, when thou vowest to vow unto God, defer not to pay it.
For you have no pleasure in fools, pay that which thou has vowed.
Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
So here we are, we're in the Old Testament and the teaching is don't be hasty to make
vows.
And if you make a vow, you better pay what you vowed, right?
The Lord hath no pleasure in fools, pay what you vowed, right?
And it'd be better for you to just not vow at all than to vow and not pay.
But then when we get to the New Testament, what does Jesus say?
Jesus says, swear not at all.
Don't do it.
And he says, let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than
these cometh of evil.
So the first reason why we shouldn't swear or vow in the New Testament or make oaths
is that number one, we could fall into condemnation.
And this is what Ecclesiastes is warning about when it talks about you vowing and not paying.
Now you're in big trouble.
Now you're incurring the wrath of God.
When you just blow off your mouth and swear to do something and then you don't perform,
you're going to fall into condemnation.
You better just say yes and say no and let your yea be yea and your nay nay and that
should be enough.
But then in Matthew, he gives another reason why our communication should be yea, yea,
nay, nay.
He's basically just saying, yes, I'll do it.
No, I won't do it.
Or yes, I'm telling the truth.
No, I'm not telling the truth with no oath, no vow, no swearing.
Why?
Because he says, whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Now what does that mean?
This is a key phrase we need to understand.
Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Why should we say yea, yea, nay, nay?
And here's where people are misunderstanding this.
A lot of the modern Bible versions, they translate this wrong.
Consider of the five million reasons why you should be King James only.
The King James has it right when it says, whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
And many modern versions say the same thing, whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
But a lot of the modern versions, I think like the NIV and some other ones, maybe, I
don't remember which ones, but a whole bunch of the modern versions will change this to,
whatsoever is more than these cometh from the evil one.
So they'll make it like it's coming from the devil.
And that's where people get confused.
So I've heard people try to explain this away and say, well there's no way vowing comes
from the devil because God had some vows in the Old Testament.
You know, the Lord himself swears and vows, Jesus swears, you know, so how could it come
from the devil if it was prescribed in the Old Testament, if it was allowed in the Old
Testament, and if even God himself did it, how could it help?
But that's a wrong translation, that's why you need a King James Bible.
It doesn't mean it comes, oh vows are from the devil.
That's foolish.
So then they just try to gut this verse of any meaning and just explain it away, and
then there's nothing left at the end of it.
Here's what it means when it says, whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
It means that when you feel like you have to say something beyond yes or no, that's
coming from typically evil within you that causes you, let me put it to you this way.
When people swear, they're typically lying, ironically.
That's basically what this is saying, okay.
The tendency just, oh man, I swear on everything, Pastor Anderson, remember that?
Tyler Baker, oh, I swear on everything, Pastor Anderson, 10 seconds later, well, yeah, actually
I did say that.
I swear on everything, I mean, that includes Jerusalem, God, his head, the city of the
great king, you know, I mean, he swore on everything, and then literally 10 seconds
later admits that what he just said wasn't true.
So when you have people that are, and even like criminal investigators and interrogators,
they know this, that when people start invoking God and swearing by God, typically they're
lying.
Why?
Because whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil, right, because somebody who's telling
the truth doesn't have this need to just lay on this big facade of just how much they're
telling the truth, they just say, look, I'm telling the truth, yes, no, they just say
it and it's done and they don't have to lay on all these layers of oaths and swearing
and imprecation, okay.
What serves more than these cometh of evil?
He's saying, look, the tendency in human beings, and not 100% of the time, but the tendency
in human beings is that when they're lying, they feel like they have to beef up their
lie a little bit or bolster their lie, and it's very scary because now they're invoking
the wrath of God by making a false oath, which is very wicked, right, swearing falsely.
Look that up in the Bible, that's a wicked thing.
So here's what's going on, let me explain it to you this way, and if you would, flip
back in your Bible to Leviticus chapter 19, let me explain it to you this way, in the
Old Testament, God allowed for swearing oaths, he allowed this in the Old Testament, why?
Because swearing oaths is not inherently wrong, it's not in and of itself inherently sinful,
so that's why God has done it, you know, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, right, the Lord, because he could swear by
no greater, swear by himself, saying, surely blessing I will bless thee and multiplying
I will multiply.
God swears because swearing is not inherently in and of itself wrong, which is why in the
Old Testament, swearing was allowed, but he just said, look, thou shalt not foreswear
thyself, don't swear falsely, don't break your oath, was the teaching of the Old Testament,
and the teaching of the Old Testament was, don't swear by the name of other gods, you
know, don't swear by Jove, you know, by Baal, and by Ashtaroth, and all these false gods,
he's saying, if you're gonna swear, you swear by the name of the Lord, and there were even
certain vows, like a Nazarite vow, or other oaths, or swearing that are prescribed and
allowed in the Old Testament, so I'm not denying the fact that the Old Testament has people
swearing at times, and even prescribes swearing at times, and that God himself swears, why?
Because swearing is not in and of itself inherently wrong, it's not inherently evil.
Look at Leviticus 19, 12, and ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou
profane the name of the Lord thy God, I am the Lord.
So in verse 12 of chapter 19 there, he's saying, don't swear by my name falsely, and
don't profane my name, meaning using it in a common, everyday way, throwing it around,
so don't just, oh, I swear to God, don't throw that around, and if you do swear, you better
do what you've sworn to do, and you better be telling the truth.
That's the teaching of the Old Testament, but what happens is throughout history, man
messes things up, abuses things, does things wrong, and then God will sometimes have to
tighten up the reins on certain things, and say, okay, you've screwed this up, so we're
not going to do this anymore, and I believe that's what's going on in the New Testament
with the prohibition on swearing.
I think what he's saying is, look, throughout the Old Testament, this is something that
was there, swearing, oaths, vows, it was there, and man has messed this up so many times,
and was not able to follow that commandment of not for swearing himself, he ends up doing
it wrong, and so in the New Testament, he's tightening this up, and saying, you know what,
just swear not at all, just don't, just stop, because of the abuses of it.
This is not the first time that God has changed something that's not inherently wrong, it
just gets changed.
You know, for example, when they get off Noah's Ark, they're allowed to eat everything, and
then in the time of Moses, okay, now there are some dietary restrictions, and then in
the book of Acts, and the book of Colossians, and elsewhere, Hebrews, we learn that those
dietary restrictions have now been lifted, 1 Timothy chapter 4, I believe, these dietary
restrictions have now been lifted in the New Testament, we're back to like it was with
Noah, where you can, every living thing that breathes it shall be meat for you.
That's because there's nothing inherently sinful about eating pork.
There's nothing inherently sinful about eating shrimp.
What was wrong with eating pork in the Old Covenant?
What was wrong with eating shrimp?
The only thing that was wrong with it is that God said not to do it.
That's what was wrong with it.
So you might have this attitude that says, well, there's nothing wrong with swearing
an oath as long as I perform my oath, see, in the Old Testament they did it, see, God
did it, but here's why it's wrong, because Jesus said swear not at all.
That's what makes it wrong.
At this time, now, God has said, look, we're changing this because of abuses, you know,
just don't swear at all.
You don't need, just tell the truth.
Let your yea be yea and your nay nay, that's all you need, right?
You don't need to do all this other stuff.
Flip over if you would to Matthew 23, and I'll read for you from Deuteronomy 6 13, thou
shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and shalt swear by his name.
You shall not go after other gods of the gods of the people which are round about you.
So again, swearing is not inherently sinful, but since you have been commanded in the New
Testament by Jesus Christ and by the Epistle of James, don't swear at all.
If you do it, you're sinning now.
Why?
Because you're disobeying Jesus.
You're disobeying the New Testament.
You're disobeying what the Bible commands.
Once you've heard that commandment and once you know, okay, Christ says don't do this.
I don't care if you're telling the truth.
You should never say I swear.
You should never do any oath, you should never do any bow.
Now let me get into some of the objections, okay?
I think everybody understands the position from the Bible and the teaching of the word
of God on this.
I think it's crystal clear.
Let me give you some of the objections.
Well, what about when people get married?
I mean, we do it.
Now here's the problem with that logic.
Well, we do it, so it must be okay.
That's a flawed logic, isn't it?
To say we do it, therefore it's right.
So is that, that's the standard?
Well we know it's right because we do it, right?
That's where infant baptism came from.
You know, that's how theologians like Augustine would justify infant baptism by saying, well,
we know infant baptism is a thing because we do it.
It's been passed down to us.
Well guess what?
Wrong traditions get passed down.
Now again, I don't believe that getting married or doing a wedding violates this at all, and
I'm going to explain why.
But I'm just saying right there the logic is flawed immediately to sit there and say,
oh well, we do it, so therefore he must not be talking about that.
But let me explain to you why you're not violating this when you get married.
Even though we call it wedding vows, that's what we call it, you know what?
All you're saying is just an affirmation because this, what did you say when you got married?
What actually came out of your mouth?
Did you put your hand on the Bible when you got married and say, may God strike me dead
if I don't see this through to the bitter end?
Amen.
Is that what you said when you got married?
Did you say, I swear to be married to you, so help me God as the Lord liveth, the Lord
do so to me and more also if I don't stay married to you.
Look, that would be violating this and that would be wrong and I would be totally against
that.
Here's what you said when you got married.
I do.
You basically pretty much just said yay.
Will you have this man to be your wedded wife or your wedded husband?
Will you have this man to be your wedded husband?
Will you love him, honor and keep him in sicknesses and health and poverty and wealth and forsaking
all others?
Keep the only unto him so long as you both shall live.
Do you still promise?
I do.
That's not any kind of a radical oath or swearing or vowing anything.
You're basically, it's just like, are you going to do it?
Yeah.
Right?
I take thee to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward for better
for worse, you know, uh, for richer, for poorer and sickness and health to love and to cherish
till death do us part.
Where's the, where's the oath?
Where's the imprecation?
Where's the swearing?
You're basically just saying I'm going to do it and you know what?
You say, Whoa, well maybe it's a little easier to get out of than I thought.
No, it's not.
You're like, I didn't swear though.
I mean, did I swear though?
Yeah.
But here's the thing.
Look, first of all, let your yay be yay.
You don't have to have sworn for it to be binding.
When you said I do, that's binding.
When you said I take thee till death do us part, that's binding because you said I'm
going to do it.
So it's binding at that point.
Amen.
And not only that, the Bible says the Lord hadith putting away and putting away is old
fashioned speak for divorce.
The Lord hates divorce.
Okay?
Just let those three words sink in.
God hates divorce.
That's what the Bible says.
Look it up in Malachi.
The Lord hadith putting away.
He hates it.
And you'll see putting away and divorce is interchangeably by Jesus when he talks about
this.
This is an old fashioned way of talking about divorcing someone.
God hates divorce.
Let your yay be yay.
There are plenty of reasons why you should not break those quote unquote wedding vows
even if they're not actually odes or swearing vows in the sense that the Bible is talking
about.
So I don't believe that getting married is a violation of this.
And you know what?
Obviously, God commands marriage.
Marriage is not optional.
Now, it's optional to stay single, but if you are going to have a physical relationship,
you have to get married.
It's not optional for those who are going to have a partner for life and have that life's
mate and have that physical relationship.
Well, marriage is not optional.
Sorry, MGTOWs, but marriage is not optional.
It's only optional in the sense that you can stay single if you want, but it's not optional
for couples.
All right?
So if God commands marriage, marriage is not a violation of this.
Now, if there was something wrong with the wording that we use, then we need to change
the wording, not change the Bible.
Amen?
If Jesus said, swear not at all, if James said, swear not above all things, swear not,
that's a dumb argument to say, oh, well, we do it.
Well, I don't believe we do because I think when we say I do until death do us part, that's
just saying what we're going to do.
That's an affirmation.
That is just a yay there.
That is not an oath.
There's no putting your hand on the Bible and, you know, I swear and all this kind of
stuff that they do in courtrooms.
That's what we need to stay away from.
Okay.
So here's another objection that you'll hear is that they'll say, well, you know, in Matthew
five, when he says, don't swear by heaven, don't swear by the earth, don't swear by Jerusalem,
don't swear by your head.
Notice he doesn't mention the name of God, but he said, or any other oath, don't swear
at all.
Not this, not this, not this, not this.
All right.
Well, he didn't say this.
He didn't say step on a crack, break my mother's back.
He didn't say that.
He didn't say my mother's grave.
So they'll try to say, oh, because in the old Testament it says, yeah, swear by the
name of the Lord.
Don't swear by the name of other gods, but thou shalt swear by the name of the Lord.
They got, they're saying, well, you can still swear by the name of the Lord.
Just don't swear by heaven.
Just don't swear by folks.
That is a, that is just a really weak argument.
I mean, if that's how you're going to interpret the Bible, you can kind of start making the
Bible say whatever you want at that point.
You're going to start just twisting things around like that because look, he says, don't
swear at all.
Don't do it by heaven or do by, well, just don't swear by these specific things.
That's not what he said because couldn't he have easily said, swear by the Lord's name,
but don't swear by heaven.
Don't swear by earth.
Is that what he said?
Is he incapable of saying that?
Is God incapable of saying, folks, we need to only swear by the name of the Lord and
don't swear by these other things, but it's funny.
That's not what James said, nor is it what Jesus said.
So we have two opportunities for God to have told us that and he didn't tell us that.
You know what he told us?
Don't swear at all.
That's what the text actually says.
Okay.
Now, look at Matt, are you in Matthew 23?
Is that right?
Tell you to turn.
Look at Matthew 23 verse 16, woe unto you blind guides, which say, whosoever shall swear
by the temple.
It is nothing, but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple.
He's a debtor.
You fools and blind for whether it's great or the gold or the temple that sanctified
the gold and whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing, but whosoever swereth
by the gift that is upon it.
He's guilty.
You fools and blind for whether it's greater, the gift or the altar that sanctified the
gift who so therefore shall swear by the altar, swear it by it and by all things there on
and whoso shall swear by the temple, swear it by it and by him that dwelleth there in.
And he that shall swear by heaven, swear it by the throne of God and by him that sitteth
there on.
So does it seem like God's splitting hairs about, well, swear by God, but just don't
swear by heaven.
Swear by the name of God, but just don't swear by the city of God or just don't swear
by, you know, the footstool of God.
Does it seem like that's Jesus's attitude towards swearing here?
Or is he just saying, look, if you swear by the temple, you swear by the God of the temple.
If you swear by the throne of God, you're swearing by God.
You know, he's just basically saying, look, no matter what you swore, you still swore
by the Lord or in the name of the Lord or in, and in that sense it's binding, he's saying.
Okay.
He's talking about people who are making oaths and breaking their oaths.
That's what he's rebuking here.
But we can see that this attitude of, well, swear by this, not that isn't what Christ
is teaching in Matthew 23.
It's not what he taught in chapter five.
It's not what James chapter five taught if we actually read what the scripture says.
So then some other objections are, they'll say, well, you know, you know, God swore.
We already dealt with that.
And then they'll say, well, the apostle Paul swore oaths in the new Testament because he
said, you know, for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his
son that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers.
Now look, here's the thing.
We got two options here.
We can just completely discard a clear commandment in Matthew five and James five.
Don't swear at all.
Above all things, my brother and swear not.
Well, cause Paul did it here.
I mean, you know, okay, but, but here's the thing, which one do you think were more likely
to be misunderstanding the clear statement?
Don't swear at all or interpreting this as an oath when he says, well, God is my witness.
How greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
Here's the thing about that.
Okay.
He's not, this is not in a context of Paul, are you sure you've been praying for me every
day?
Paul?
I, God is my witness.
I pray for you.
This is not him being accused of lying and he's just like invoking deity to show like,
no man, I really did.
This is just him saying, Hey, God knows the truth and he's not doing it in vain.
He's writing scripture.
This isn't just some vain thing where he's just blowing off, man, I swear to God, I pray
for you every day.
It's not like that because he's writing scripture and just saying, you know, God is my record.
He's just, he's actually talking about God and he's not swearing an oath here.
Okay.
Now you can say, well, I think he's swearing an oath.
Okay.
Well then you're gonna have a real hard time with James five and Matthew five.
I think it's a lot more likely to look at this and say, well, that's not an oath when
he says these vague things because he never actually says, I swear or the Lord do so to
me and more also or any of those type of things.
So basically this is not a good proof text to prove that.
Okay.
All throughout the Old Testament, we do have people doing actual oaths like the Lord do
so to me and more also, but, but again, back then it wasn't wrong for them to do that.
This is something that came up in the New Testament where God tightened this up because
of abuses.
Okay.
Now let me give you this.
This is what, this is from, remember a few weeks ago or months ago I did that sermon
where I talked about the Baptist 1689 confession, right?
And there are a lot of churches that basically just subscribe to this whole thing.
It's very Calvinist in its teaching on predestination and stuff like that.
And I was talking about there are churches who sign onto this thing like, yes, we believe
every part of it.
We believe the statement of faith in there.
And I talked about chapter one and chapter one was actually great.
It was actually right on the money, but there's a lot of false teaching in it too.
Well, listen to this.
Here's chapter 23 from that Baptist confession of faith.
Okay.
They have a chapter on swearing and oaths list.
And so this is what a lot of Baptists are looking to as their doctrine.
And I searched online for sermons on this and I could only find sermons teaching the
opposite of what I'm preaching this morning.
I can only find sermon saying, well, he just doesn't want us to swear by heaven, but you
can still swear by the name of God and come on, we do it at weddings.
So we know it must be right and all that.
And then also here's what they said.
The James chapter, cause they tried to wiggle out of Matthew five by saying, well, he just
doesn't want us to do those type of particular oaths.
And then when they were in James five, here's how they wiggled out of it.
They said, well, if you go back to the Greek, you know, you got to look at the word by other
there when he said, you know, neither by any other oath, you know, you got to look up.
It's just like, come on, give me a break.
I don't think there's anything unclear.
So let me read to you the position of the, this is what the, the reform Baptists and
Protestants, because you know, other Protestants have their confessions of faith like this,
the Lutherans and the Presbyterians, people like that.
And they pretty much teach the same doctrine.
Listen to what they say in the 1689 Baptist confession, a lawful oath is a part of religious
worship.
Wow.
Those are the first words.
A lawful oath is a part of religious worship.
Now again, they're not getting this from the new Testament.
They're going back to the old Testament where there were certain things, where there were
certain olds in the old Testament, like the Nazarite vow or where the woman is suspected
of adultery and she goes and makes the oath that she did not commit adultery.
Was that numbers chapter five, right?
So anyway, somewhere in the book of numbers, I believe it's chapter five, but it says here,
a lawful oath is a part of religious worship where in the person swearing in truth, righteousness
and judgment, solemnly calleth God to witness that what he sweareth and to judge him according
to the truth or falseness thereof.
And then their proof texts for this are all old Testament, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Jeremiah,
second Chronicles.
Okay.
That's point one.
There's five points.
Them and their five points, right?
Okay.
Point two, the name of God only is that by which men ought to swear and therein it is
to be used with all holy fear and reverence therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that
glorious and dreadful name or to swear at all by any other thing is sinful and to be
abhorred.
Yet as in matter of weight and moment for confirmation of truth and ending of all strife,
an oath is warranted by the word of God.
So a lawful oath being imposed by lawful authority in such matters ought to be taken.
So basically what it's saying is let's say there's a dispute between people in the church.
Oh, we just, we basically just need them to swear an oath then, oh, liars are great
at doing that.
They do that all day long.
Okay.
When the Bible says men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is to
them an end of all strife.
That's not prescriptive.
That's descriptive.
He's saying that's what people do.
He's not saying do that in the local church, do that in courts of law, do that in the courtroom.
Yeah.
Just get the defendant up there to swear by God that he didn't do it and then, all right,
all right, you're released.
You know, that's not what the Bible is saying, but that's what they're saying.
You know?
Yeah.
You know, we got to do the, the, the oath.
And then here's their proof text for this.
The name of God only is that which by which men ought to swear.
Matthew five 34.
That's not what Matthew said.
Matthew never brought up swearing by the name of God.
It just said, don't swear at all, neither by this, neither by that, neither by the other.
Their other verse is James five 12.
That's not what James five 12 says, is it?
Did James five 12 teach this?
No.
It didn't say that the name of God only is that by which men ought to swear.
That's not in James five or Matthew five because we read them together.
Hebrews six is talking about the verse that I just quoted, you know, an oath for confirmation
is them and end of all strife.
Uh, second Corinthians one 23 moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul.
Again, what Paul is saying there, they're interpreting that as swearing an oath.
Okay.
And then, uh, Nehemiah 13 25, which again is Old Testament.
Uh, let me find it.
Nehemiah 13 25 where, um, Nehemiah chases people down, beats them up, rips their hair
off their head and forces them to swear by God saying you should not give your daughters
under their sons nor take their daughters for your sons.
Now look, that's not a commandment of God for Nehemiah to go chase people down, smite
them, rip their hair off their head, and then be like, say it, say it, you know, okay, I
swear I won't do it.
Look, Ezra and Nehemiah did some wrong things.
In Ezra chapter 10 he's telling them all to get divorced and everything.
Ezra and Nehemiah are historical books, historical books.
We need to rightly divide the word of truth and understand that there are portions of
scripture where God's telling us do this like Matthew five and James five where God's telling
you what to do.
And then there are other portions of scripture telling us about what people did.
Okay.
And look, the Bible tells us all about people who had multiple wives.
It tells us all about people who lied and cheated and stole and even good people, people
like Moses and David and Ezra and Nehemiah were great people, but it tells us all the
bad things they did too.
And you know what?
We're supposed to interpret the story with the statement.
Okay.
So look, even if you're going to say, well, I think it's okay to swear odes as long as
you're doing the name of the Lord, please tell me that you don't think it's okay to
grab somebody by the hair and force them to swear an oath while you're ripping the hair
out of their head and beating them up.
Even if you're going to be four odes and this is what they put in the confession, Nehemiah
13 25.
I mean, think about that.
Come on.
Whose hair can I grab?
Come on up here.
John.
John, come on up here.
You're my victim.
All right.
Here's what, what Nehemiah 13 is depicting.
I'm going to depict this for you.
Here's what Nehemiah 13 is depicting.
Okay.
You're fleeing from me.
Flee.
No.
Say it.
Swear.
You are not going to give your daughter to them.
Do it.
Who, who thinks that that's godly?
Go ahead and have a seat.
So is that what the church should be doing?
Because this is part of religious worship.
Because that's what Nehemiah did.
Let me read it for you again.
Nehemiah 13.
Sorry, son.
You'll get your quaff fixed there.
He's smiling big.
All right.
So listen to Nehemiah 13 25.
And I contended with them and cursed them and smote you.
I forgot to curse you.
Damn you.
Say it.
Look what it says.
He cursed them, smote certain of them, just lucky I didn't spite you there, plucked off
their hair and made them swear by god.
This is forcing somebody to swear.
You're going to see.
Now look, I'm not saying Nehemiah is a bad guy.
I like Nehemiah.
I like that.
I like Nehemiah chapter 13.
I think it's a cool chapter.
I like it how he's beating everybody up and throwing people out.
He takes all that guy's stuff and dumps it out in the street cause he was lodging in
God's house and everything.
I like it.
But does that mean that everything he did is right?
Does that mean it's an example?
Does that mean, Hey, we're going to go do the same thing?
Does that mean, Hey, this is, let's put this in our statement of faith under vows Nehemiah
13 25 I mean, it's, it's an interesting choice of proof texts.
Very interesting.
All right.
Let's, let's move on to the third paragraph.
Whosoever taken the note warranted by the word of God ought duly to consider the weightiness
of so Solomon act and they're into about nothing but that he know it to be the truth for that
by rash, false and vain oaths the Lord has provoked and for them the land mourns Leviticus
and Jeremiah.
Now obviously that's the third paragraph is a true statement.
Hey, if you make an oath and you don't do it, it's going to be really bad and there's
going to be all these punishments and Leviticus and Jeremiah.
Amen to that.
Okay.
Point four, an oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words without
equivocation or mental reservation.
So here they're basically saying, Hey, if you make an oath, don't be like, you know,
I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Winski.
And you're like, well, but what do you mean by that?
So basically they're saying, don't play games with your words.
Now look, first of all, point four is unnecessary because we're just not going to swear at all.
Amen.
But we, when we make affirmations, we shouldn't play word games like this either.
Right?
Like, like, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're playing a video game and your
mom yells up, what are you doing up there?
And you just throw down the video game, grab something and start putting it away.
I'm cleaning my room, right?
Isn't that lying?
You know, it's like you're, you're, you're goofing off.
You're laying there doing nothing.
You're throwing a ball up in the air and catch it.
What are you doing up there?
You know, grab your homework.
I'm doing my homework, mom.
You know, that's lying.
Okay.
So that's what they're saying not to do, but we don't need it.
We don't need to do that in the context of an oath or a vow.
We just need to let our yay be yay and our nay nay because God hates lying, right?
Number five, a vow which is not to be made to any creature but to God alone is to be
made and performed with all religious care and faithfulness, but popish monastic vows
of perpetual single life, profess, profess poverty and regular obedience are so far from
being degrees of higher perfection that they are superstitious and sinful snares in which
no Christian may entangle himself.
Now, obviously they're right to condemn the Catholic vows of poverty and, and so let's
break that down.
A vow which is not made to any creature but to God alone is to be made and performed with
all religious care and faithfulness, but popish monastic vows, monastic vows are vows to go
live in a monastery.
You're going to go be single for the rest of your life and live in a monastery and monastic
vows of perpetual single life and listen to me, I've had some people come to me and say
to me, pastor, you know, the apostle Paul talked about people who remain single so they
can just be dedicated to serving God and you know what?
I think that that might be me.
I think that might be my calling.
I'm really not that interested in getting married.
I'd rather just remain single and serve God and here's what I always tell that person.
I always say, well, great, no problem.
If that's what you believe, God wants you to do it as long as you're not having a compulsion
in that area where it's a struggle and, and, and you're struggling not to sin or struggling
your thoughts or just burning with lust or, Hey, if you feel like you can handle that
single life, that's great for you then.
No problem.
But I always say this, but don't make any kind of a commitment to that nature.
You don't want to make a vow like that.
You don't want to swear that because you know what you, how you feel might be different
five years from now.
You know, you're talking to somebody who's 19, oh, I'm just going to stay single.
Okay.
But maybe five years into that, they might say, well, this isn't that cool, you know,
or whatever.
You never know, right?
You might change your mind.
So you don't want to make any commitment.
And everybody I talked to said, yeah, I'm not going to make that commitment.
I'm just, you know, so I said, look, if that's what you want to do for now and you're not
interested in dating, you just want to just serve God and live your life and then just
go do that.
But just don't make any vows like that.
But I would go even further.
Don't even make an affirmation like that.
Don't even make a statement like that.
Just say, Hey, for now, this is what I'm doing for now.
And you know, I'm going to follow this path that the apostle Paul did for now at this
time, you know, is the best way.
Because you don't know what a day is going to bring forth, right?
Perpetual single life or professed poverty.
The reason they put professed poverty is because it's like a little passive aggressive saying
like these guys aren't really poor.
You know what I mean?
Like, because what they're saying is these priests and, and monks that are taking vows
of poverty, a lot of them are super rich and they're lying.
So it's like a vow of professed poverty.
And then he says, regular obedience, like vow, like I promise I'm going to, you know,
read my, I swear I'm going to read my Bible every day.
I swear I'm going to pray.
Don't make vows like that.
It's bad.
Are so far from being degrees of higher perfection that they are superstitious and sinful snares.
Here's what they're saying.
These don't make you more righteous or holy.
In fact, it's just a bunch of superstitious hocus pocus Catholic mumbo jumbo is what it
is.
And no Christian should entangle himself in those things.
So you can see how even though this, this, this has a few good things about like, you
know, ripping on the Catholic church and not lying and stuff like that, this is all wrong.
This is totally wrong because this whole document here is telling you to make vows and that
vows are part of religious worship.
That's not what Jesus taught, is it?
Now I'm almost done with my sermon.
Let me just tell you about one of the worst vows that I've seen.
And that's the vow that the Mormons do.
Okay.
This is one of the most wicked vows imaginable.
Nowadays, with technology, people are smuggling hidden cameras into the temple in Salt Lake
City and into other temples and they are filming these secret ceremonies of the Mormons.
It used to be that you'd have to watch a reenactment.
You know, if you watch a documentary like the God makers, they would do a reenactment
of the ceremony.
Nowadays, cameras are so tiny, even though they make them change clothes and get rid
of everything and not bring their possessions in, you can smuggle a camera in folks because
cameras are tiny now.
So now you can actually watch high quality hidden camera and I've sat and watched the
whole ceremony start to finish and it's, you know, a current, I've watched actually a couple
different versions of it to compare and this endowment ceremony or when they go to get
married and they go through these ceremonies, it is just so satanic, it will blow your mind.
It's straight out of Freemasonry, which is demonic and it's just super evil.
But one of the worst things that they do, okay, is in their ceremony, they go through
the story of Adam and Eve and they have Lucifer come tempt Adam and Eve in the garden and
Lucifer comes wearing an apron in the Mormon version of this and they say to him, what's
that apron you're wearing?
And he says, this is the symbol of my power and my priesthood.
Everybody got it?
Then minutes later when they eat the forbidden fruit and God's coming, he says, oh quick,
here, put on these aprons.
So then he has them put on aprons.
What did he just say that apron was?
The symbol of Satan's power and priesthood is this apron and then he says, here, go put
on this apron.
Okay.
Then literally they stopped the ceremony at that point and they literally say to all the
men and women that are there to get married, all right, everybody, now go put on your apron
. So the Mormons, when they go to get, and any Mormon who's been married has done this.
If they got married in the temple, they went through this.
They were all white head to toe.
They're wearing only white and then everybody goes and they get a green apron and they put
on a green apron.
It's like a fig leaf apron.
So then as soon as Lucifer just said, this is the symbol of my power and my priesthood
and then he tells them, put on this apron and then they're like, okay, let's go put
on your apron.
They stopped the ceremony.
Everybody goes against it.
But the men, the women, they all put on a green apron now in obedience to Lucifer.
Then I kid you not, literally 25 minutes later in the ceremony, they go through and they
do the handshakes and this is a hand.
They feel like to get to the highest levels of heaven, they have to know a series of secret
handshakes and passwords.
So they learn these handshakes and passwords.
I'm not, this is not a joke.
I know it's funny, but it's not a joke.
This is real.
They learn certain handshakes and passwords and if you talk to former Mormons who've gotten
at it, sometimes they'll show you the handshakes and everything and they're all straight out
of Freemasonry.
Joseph Smith, by the way, was a Freemason on the record.
But anyway, when they're doing the handshakes and the password portion of the ceremony,
here's what they say, power and the priesthood be upon me and upon my seed forever.
Now what did Lucifer say about the apron?
This is the symbol of my power and priesthood.
They put on that apron and guess what?
They don't take it off, friend.
They wear that apron for the whole rest of the ceremony and when they get to the part
where they're swearing their oaths and doing their vows and saying, power and priesthood
be upon me and upon my seed, what power and priesthood?
You're wearing it, a picture of Lucifer's power.
Folks, how is that not just openly satanic?
Does anybody explain to me how that's not openly worshipping Lucifer and swearing vows
to Lucifer?
Not only that, but they have actors playing Adam and Eve and Lucifer acting all this out,
okay, during parts of the ceremony.
And the actor for Lucifer, he says, if you break any of these vows today, you'll be under
my power forever.
And he literally does like a cackle like that.
He says, if you break any of these vows, you'll be under my power, okay?
And then guess what the vows are that they make?
They vow all these vows to basically live a Christian life, do all the right things
and to abstain from, and they list all these sins that they're going to abstain from.
And then one of the things that they promise to abstain from is loud laughter, loud laughing.
So can you imagine?
Are you going to make this stupid vow in some temple to Lucifer with the Latter-day Saints,
okay?
And then what do you do?
Then all of a sudden, oh, you're under the power of Lucifer now forever.
You just damned your soul by laughing too loud.
Is that a stupid vow or is it just me?
I swear I will never laugh loud.
Look, I've laughed pretty loud before.
Who here feels like you've been guilty of loud laughing?
Look, loud laughter is not a sin, number one.
You know what?
We've all laughed.
That was kind of a weird laugh, but we all laugh loudly.
You guys are all damned.
You just all did.
I tricked you.
See, look, you guys are all laughing loud, but can you imagine swearing some oath to
Lucifer how you're not going to laugh loud?
Well, they're not swearing to Lucifer, they're swearing to God.
Really?
This is the apron that is the picture of his, quote, power and priesthood.
And then the vow they say is, power and priesthood be upon me.
Not specifying whom, but wearing the Lucifer apron.
Now look, for those of you who don't know the Bible very well, I don't want you to walk
away thinking that Lucifer gave Adam and Eve aprons to wear.
This is all made up Mormon junk.
In the real Bible story, they just make aprons just to cover up their nakedness because God
is coming and they realize they're naked, so they just make something.
It's not like the serpent's like, all right, now make an apron.
That's a made up part of the story.
But look, what I'm trying to say is the worst kind of vow you could make is vowing not to
sin.
And that's what they're doing.
They list all these sins.
I'm not going to do any of these sins.
And then even stupid things that aren't sins, like they're not going to laugh loud or something.
And you know, I had a Mormon come to my house to pick up some organic produce or something.
We had like an organic produce co-op at our house for a while.
And this Mormon came over to pick up organic produce and she burst out laughing loudly.
And I said, oh, I thought you'd sworn not to do loud laughter.
No, she was married.
Yeah, she wasn't.
She was married with children.
That's a good question.
All right.
A loophole, you know?
No, no, no.
She was married with children.
And she said, she laughed loudly.
And I said, wait, no loud laughter.
You made an oath like that when you got married.
And then she said, oh yeah, you're right.
Sorry.
She didn't even argue with me, but it's like, okay, now you're.
And I told her, I said, you're now under the power of Lucifer forever.
You are now Satan's thrall.
Folks, what could be stupider?
But you know what?
I don't think the Mormons are the only ones who've done that where they swear not to sin
or swear not to do this sin or that sin.
You know what?
That's stupid because you know what?
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
As is written, there's none righteous, no, not one.
So basically the re I believe strongly that one of the reasons why Mormons are so hard
to get saved is because they have ensnared their soul with all these oaths and ceremonies
that I literally think that they're under some kind of spiritual bondage to evil spirits.
Now, I'm not saying that the gospel can't cut through that.
I'm not saying that God can't deliver these people.
I do believe that many of them are reprobates, but I do believe that many of them can be
saved.
So I'm not saying that they can't be saved, but I'm saying it's going to be hard to save
them because of the fact that I believe that these curses that they're doing are real.
And I believe when people sell their soul to the devil, he often takes them up on that.
Okay.
So to sit there and say, and not only that, they do it to their kids.
They swear oaths on their kids.
That's why my grandpa came from a Mormon family, but he wasn't Mormon.
He got saved.
He was Baptist, but he came from a Mormon family.
The Mormons are really into genealogies because they want to get baptized for everybody and
their brother literally.
Okay.
So they would call him up and try to get the name of his kids and he would refuse to give
them the names of his kids because he said, I don't want you doing a bunch of voodoo in
the name of my kids.
And so it's interesting.
There was, we got this book about our family history from the Mormons and I was reading
in the book and it talks about how my grandpa, Duane Anderson, he had two daughters and it
named the two daughters and then it said, and a son and they didn't know my dad's name.
That's why my dad turned out right.
That's why I turned out right because they didn't do the voodoo.
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, I'm, I'm kidding, but I'm only half kidding because I do believe that if
you're going to walk in and, and knowingly be told, all right, I'm Lucifer, go put on
my Lucifer apron.
All right, now swear this oath that you're not going to do anything wrong.
And as soon as you do it, you're under my power forever.
I mean, look, that's going to bring you into some kind of something bad is going to come
from that.
That can't be good.
Okay.
So that's, that's kind of extreme example, but again, sermon's over.
I'm just going to leave you because we've gone all over the place here and kind of covered
this whole subject from what the reformed Baptist with their confession, they're wrong
about this.
Protestants are wrong about this.
A lot of mainstream Christianity is wrong about this.
The Mormons are just way wrong.
The Catholics are way wrong.
You know, we've talked about all these things.
We've explained their proof texts and where they come from, but let's, let's just get
back to let's, let's end where we began folks with the clear teaching of scripture.
And this is a lesson on how to interpret the Bible.
Go with what's clear.
You say, well, you know, the Bible sees me saying two different things.
Go with what's clear.
Cause you know what you're missing.
If you feel like there's a contradiction, you're misunderstanding something.
So which one are you more likely to be misunderstanding the clear or the unclear, the explicit or
the implicit?
Go with the explicit clear teaching and look, it's super easy to make all scripture reconcile
when you realize old Testament vows were okay.
Man abused it.
Jesus comes along and tightens it up and says, swear not at all.
Don't go one mile, go two miles and don't swear at all.
And then James hammers that again to give us a second witness to, you know, and then
the dispensationalist could be like, Oh, well, Matthew five is a different dispensation.
Okay.
What about James five?
Well, some of them are stupid enough to even say that's a different dispensation, but it's
like he's given us an epistle and he's given us Jesus and he's given us both.
Let me just end on clarity folks, clear scripture, but above all, you can just listen, listen
to the words of the Bible, but above all things, my brethren swear not neither by heaven, neither
by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yay be yay and your nay be nay,
lest you fall into condemnation.
You say, I don't understand all the doctrine in this sermon.
Okay.
But do you understand what I just read?
It's not hard to just do that.
Hey, don't swear.
Say yes or no and mean it.
I mean, I'm sure a little child can understand that.
I'll bet there are toddlers in here that if we just say, Hey, if somebody asks you a question,
you just say yes or no, you don't start saying, Oh, I swear to God.
I promise you on everything, you know, and then Matthew five again, you have heard that
it has been said by them of old time, thou shall not forswear thyself, but shall perform
unto the Lord thine oaths.
But I say unto you, swear not at all.
There's no reason.
Look, the Nazarite vow is not a thing anymore.
We're in the new covenant.
There's no reason for us to ever swear at all for any reason.
Let your communication be yay, yay, nay, nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of
evil.
People who feel the need to invoke deity and swear oaths are likely to be not telling the
truth, not all the time, but they're likely to be not telling the truth because that is
coming from an evil place.
The, the, the, the inordinate desire to swear these oaths.
Okay.
And, and, and again, you know, Tyler Baker, all right, let's probably just have a word
of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word Lord, and we thank you for these clear commandments
Lord.
I know that, um, everyone here would let this sink down into their ears and that this would
avoid us of falling into condemnation.
You know, when we, when we make an oath and then we don't keep it because Lord, I know
a lot of times we might even make an oath and we have every intention of keeping it,
but the spirit is willing.
The flesh is weak.
So Lord, thank you for protecting us in the new Testament.
Thank you for showing us a more excellent way of just not swearing at all because that's
so much safer for us.
Lord, help us to just follow that teaching.
And we thank you for these clear scriptures.
And I pray that everyone here would understand them and put them into practice and take these
words out of their vocabulary of swearing and cursing themselves if they are not telling
the truth or whatever.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.