Let Your Yea Be Yea

Introduction - Please take your Bible and open to the book of Matthew chapter 5.

This morning with the Lord’s enablement I would like to shed light on a subject that is hardly spoken about but has great impact on the life of this church.

In this next week will have our mission’s conference; pointing our hearts toward God’s plan for world evangelism.

About a month after that we have set aside time on our church calendar for Revival services.

Those are big events in the life of a local New Testament church.

The life of this church will be determined by the members that make up the whole.

Your decision today, and tomorrow, and next week will impact the life of this local church.

The local church is to be a light in a dark world.

The Bible says in Philippians 2:15–16 “15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.”

I was reminded just the other day in reviewing some notes out of the book of Revelation that one day every Christian will be in the Light… Amen.., the glorious light of Jesus Christ and God the Father according to Revelation 21:11, 21:23.

In this time, being in this estate, waiting for the redemption our corrupted bodies we are commanded that in order to have fellowship with God we must walk in the light, as He is in the light. (1 John 1:7)

In fact, as the Lord has given some light on this subject in the Scriptures, I would like to share this with you this morning.

Psalm 119:130 “130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; It giveth understanding unto the simple.”

We are going to look at a passage of Scripture here in just a moment that I believe will be help to us.

I want you to understand, that this subject that I am going to share with you is something I want you meditate on.

Certainly we will have an invitation. We will invite you to make a decision… But I want you to think about this. I would compel you to think about perhaps your actions from the recent past, your speech from the recent past alongside of this subject that I will be speaking.

As you consider what the Bible says, I pray you will as I did commit to make changes in your life.

For you and I as we mature in the Lord, the Lord reveals sin to us, that perhaps we did not understand in times past are displeasing to him.

Let’s read our text and then pray.

Matthew 5:33–37 “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: 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. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

Let’s Pray

In the book of James we find a quotation of what the Lord stated in Matthew 5 in James 5:12

Hold your finger here and turn over there with me in your Bible.

“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.”

Before this time, James has spoken about such sobering subjects in this letter.

As a matter of fact if you want to read a letter on practical Christian living, the letter that James has penned here for us is the letter to read.

In the first chapter, James addresses the trying of our faith— or you might say the revealing fires that discover the strength of our faith and perfect patience in the life of a Christian (1:2)

He has spoken about wisdom, trials and temptation all there in chapter 1.

He addresses the common malady of the Christian to not be a hearer of the word only buy a doer of the word. (1:22-23)

And He impresses upon these Christians he addresses the importance of laying aside the filthy life and receive the engrafted Word of God. (1:21)

In Chapter 2 James speaks about partiality and give us that wonderful understanding that faith without works is dead.

In Chapter 3 James addresses the problem of every man the wickedness of the tongue; which without God is impossible to overcome.

He tells us that we need wisdom from above— not wisdom from below -wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (3:17)

He continues along those lines and presents to some that they are worldly. He says they have departed from God—- and have run to the world (4:4)

He calls them adulterers and adulteresses….

We find an important principle given to us in the 4th chapter where he states, “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.” (4:4)

James tells us in chapter 4 to “10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

In verses 13 down through the end of the chapter James addresses the brevity of life, and the truth that we know not what tomorrow will bring.

And that brings us to chapter 5— where James addresses the deceitfulness of materialism and chasing after the riches of the world.

He commends us to be patient waiting on the Lord—- though we suffer affliction— we must suffer patiently we must wait on the Lord—- citing Job as an example.

But notice the language again of verse 12… James 5:12 “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.”

I want understand the emphasis that is given here.

“…above all things, my brethren…let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”

Please turn back to the book of Matthew now.

In the context of both of these passages the idea is that we ought not to swear, make oaths, or vow falsely.

In the passage in Matthew as the Lord was speaking He was using the examples that were common in the day,

People would attempt to elevate there oaths, in order to make the word more convincible by swearing by different objects.

In verse 33 the Lord references someone swearing by heaven. “I swear by heaven” what I am about to say is true.

In verse 35 the Lord references swearing by the earth.

Then in verse 36 the Lord states, do no swear by your head either.

James chapter 5 pulls this together quoting again the Lord He says, do not swear by heaven, by earth or any other way.

The summation of this is in the final statement, Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay…

Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

The context of these certainly speaks to taking a false oath, but the root of this swearing points to a far greater issue.

The problem is lying.

It sad really that we can no longer speak to someone and simply shake hands on a matter. We have to have contracts with fine print. We have to have lawyers at the ready.

Its terrible that we cannot turn on the radio or the news and listen without second guessing what we are hearing because the world is made up of liars.

But what is more troubling that they fact that the lost are simply doing what is natural—- is that this sin of lying is found among God’s people.

The Lord did not begin by emphasizing this subject from this text to me here in Matthew 5, it was only afterwards that this verse kept coming to my mind… I was in fact reading in the Old Testament.

I was shocked as I read the early life of a man the Bible says was after a man after God’s own heart.

I was reading along in the book of Samuel about king David.

The narrative really begins before David comes on the scene.

You will remember how it is that Saul was charged to kill the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15.

The Lord clearly through Samuel told Saul to slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, the oxen, the sheep, the camel and the ass. In other words, God’s command to Saul was to kill everything.

Down in verse 9 of chapter 15 of 1 Samuel the Bible tells us that Saul disobeyed the command of the Lord. When Samuel confronted Saul on the matter, Saul lied, He told Saul, “I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” (vs 13)

In verse 28, we see that God would replace Saul with David.

It wasn’t so shocking to me to see Saul attempting to deceive the prophet of God, knowing the preceding chapters on the life of Saul as He lied concerning his disobedience to the Lord.

In chapter 16 of 1 Samuel, David the son of Jesse is anointed by Samuel as king of Israel.

But it would be some time before David would actually take the throne because politically Saul was still king.

In chapter 17 of 1 Samuel we read of David and Goliath.

In chapter 18, we read of the friendship of David and Saul’s son Jonathan.

In that same chapter we see a cause of jealousy springing up in the life of Saul because of pride… and in that same chapter Saul attempts to take David’s life by smiting him to a wall with a Javelin…

It seems in chapter 19, that Jonathan is able to make a covenant with His father concern David and Saul swears in 1 Samuel 19:6 that he will not slay David.

Four verses later he attempts to kill David again.

David is now on the run for His life.

Interestingly, David goes to Samuel —- and as Saul pursues David— God protect David—- for Saul is overcome by the Spirit of God. (1 Samuel 19:23)

In chapter 20, David asks Jonathan to try to find out if Saul is going to continue to try to kill him.

In verse 6 of chapter 20, David asks Jonathan to lie. In verses 28 and 29 Jonathan lies to Saul.

Chapter 21 of 1 Samuel David, on the run comes to the city of Nob.

He comes in to the priest Ahimelech. And Ahimelech asks, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? (1 Samuel 21:1)

In verse 2, of that chapter, David lies to the priest. The problem is that there is a man there by the name of Doeg who saw David and hear his speech.

In verses 10-13, David encounters Achish the king of Gath and was afraid and so the Bible tells us he acted as if he was a mad man. He lies in his actions.

The Bible uses the word, “He feigned himself mad in their hands…”

And it worked— He was not slain by that king, he was not captured… the deception worked.

Then later in this chapter Ahimelech and his entire father’s house is slain.

The only one that escapes is Abiathar. To which then David acknowledges the results of what He did.

1 Samuel 22:22 tells us, “22 And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father’s house.”

Among the rulers of Israel, king David has a heart for God.

He was one that was given to the Lord no doubt now He is fully given to the Lord.

David loves the Lord, there is no doubt about that.

David justified his lies by his situation. And so it is often how this matter of dishonesty can creep in to the life of God’s people.

I want to give you four points this morning to help us understand the danger of this particular sin, number 1 in your notes I would like you to write down:

I. The Synonyms of Lying

I have a sheet that I will have in the back when I am finished, I would like you all to have if you want it, to understand how deep this subject runs in the Word of God…

God in His Word uses all manner of synonyms each with their own nuances to describe this matter of lying. (The Lord does the same with sin—- He gives us many words to describe dangers and nuances of sin).

There are over 260 references are on this sheet, you are welcome to take it after the service and I would encourage you to do so—-

But let me read to you some of these synonyms along with some simple definitions.

Lie - A violation of truth… it is an untruth. A falsehood uttered for the purpose of deception.

Deceit - Catching or ensnaring… the misleading of a person; the leading of another person to believe what is false, or not to believe what is true, and thus to ensnare him.

Falsehood - That which is contrary to truth. It is counterfeit. Inconformity to fact or truth.

Feigned - Something that is invented, imagined, devised, assumed. To make a show of; to pretend; to assume a false appearance; to counterfeit.

Hypocrisy - concealment of one’s real character or motives. False appearance of virtue or religion; a deceitful show of a good character

Dissimulation - the act of hiding under false appearance. Dissimulation may be simply concealment of the opinions, sentiments or purpose; but it includes also the assuming of a false or counterfeit appearance which conceals the real opinions or purpose.

Guile - to disguise craftily, duplicity, usually in a bad way.

Deceit (34) - Job 15:35, 27:4, 31:5; Psalm 10:7, 36:3, 50:19, 55:11, 101:7, 119:118; Proverbs 12:17, 12:20, 14:8, 20:17, 26:24, 26:26; Isaiah 53:9; Jeremiah 5:27, 8:5, 9:6,8, 14:14, 23:26; Hosea 11:12, 12:7; Amos 8:5; Zephaniah 1:9; Mark 7:22; Romans 1:29, 3:13; Colossians 2:8, 1 Thessalonians 2:3

Deceitful (21)- Psalm 5:6, 35:20, 43:1, 52:4, 55:23, 78:57, 109:2, 120:2; Proverbs 11:18, 14:25, 23:3, 27:6, 29:13, 31:30; Jeremiah 17:9; Hosea 7:16; Micah 6:11-12; Zephaniah 3:13; 2 Corinthians 11:13; Ephesians 4:22

Deceitfully (11) - Genesis 34:13; Exodus 8:29, 21:8; Leviticus 6:4; Job 6:15, 13:7; Psalm 24:4; Jeremiah 48:10; Daniel 11:23; 2 Corinthians 4:2

Deceive (27) - 2 Samuel 3:25; 2 Kings 4:28; 2 Kings 18:29; 2 Kings 19:10; 2 Chronicles 32:15; Proverbs 24:28; Isaiah 36:14; 37:10; Jeremiah 9:5, 29:8, 37:9; Zechariah 13:4; Matthew 24:4-5, 11, 24; Mark 13:5-6; Romans 16:18; 1 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:14, 5:6, 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 John 1:8, 3:7; Revelation 20:3, 8

Dissimulation (2) - Romans 12:9; Galatians 2:13

Deal Falsely (2) - Genesis 21:23; Leviticus 19:11

Falsehood (14) - 2 Samuel 18:13, Job 21:34; Psalm 7:14; 119:118; 144:8, 11; Isaiah 28:15, 57:4, 59:13; Jeremiah 10:14, 13:25, 51:17; Hosea 7:1; Micah 2:11

Feigned (3)- 1 Samuel 21:13; Psalm 17:1; 2 Peter 2:3

Guile (11) - Exodus 21:14; Psalm 32:2, 34:13, 55:11, John 1:47; 2 Corinthians 12:16; 1 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Peter 2:1, 22, 3:10; Revelation 14:5

Hypocrisy (6) - Isaiah 32:6; Matthew 23:28; Mark 12:15; Luke 12:1; 1 Timothy 4:2; James 3:17

Liar(s) (20)- Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalm 116:11; Job 24:25; 17:4, 19:22, 30:6; Isaiah 44:25; Jeremiah 15:18, 50:36; John 8:44; Romans 3:4; 1 Timothy 1:10; Titus 1:12; 1 John 1:10, 2:4, 22, 4:20, 5:10; Revelation 2:2, 21:8

Lie (41)- Leviticus 6:2-3; 19:11; Numbers 23:19; Job 6:28, 34:6; Psalm 62:9, 89:35, 119:69; Proverbs 14:5; Isaiah 63:8; Jeremiah 27:10, 14-16, 28:15, 29:21, 31; Ezekiel 21:29; Micah 2:11; Habakkuk 2:3; Zechariah 10:2; John 8:44; Acts 5:3; Romans 1:25, 9:1; 2 Corinthians 11:31; Galatians 1:20; Colossians 3:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:11; 1 Timothy 2:7; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18; James 3:14; 1 John 1:6, 2:21,27; Revelation 3:9; 21:27, 22:15

Lies (51) - Judges 16:10, 13; Job 11:3, 13:4; Psalm 40:4, 58:3, 62:4, 63:11, 101:7; Proverbs 6:19; 14:5, 25, 19:5, 19:9, 29:12, 30:8, Isaiah 9:15, 16:6, 28:15, 17, 59:3-4, Jeremiah 9:3, 5, 14:14, 16:19; 20:6, 23:14, 23:25-26, 23:32, 48:30; Ezekiel 13:8-9,19, 22, 28, 24:12; Daniel 11:27; Hosea 7:3,13, 10:13, 11:12, 12:1; Amos 2:4; Micah 6:12; Nahum 3:1; Habakkuk 2:18; Zephaniah 3:13; Zechariah 13:3; 1 Timothy 4:2

Lieth (1) - Leviticus 6:3

Lying (20)- Psalm 31:6, 31:18, 52:3, 59:12, 109:2, 119:29, 163; 120:2; Proverbs 6:17, 10:18, 12:19, 22, 13:5, 17:7, 21:6; Isaiah 30:9, 32:7, 59:13; Jeremiah 7:4, 8, 29:23

In Isaiah 63:8 “8 For he said, Surely they are my people, Children that will not lie: So he was their Saviour.”

God explains that His people are people who will not lie.

These are the synonyms of lying but I want you to see secondly,

II. The Source of Lying

This is not to say we are not responsible for our lying. But I want you to see something and make this connection.

Turn your Bibles to John 8.

Lets begin reading in verse 31.

vs. 31 - Let me just stop right there and tell you once you have trusted in Christ there is a need to continue in His word— Jesus said if you want to be a learner a follower of me— if you want to be disciple then continue in obedience to my Word.

Notice what he says, “And ye shall know the truth…”

“…and the truth shall make you free.”

vs. 34 Sin places one in bondage.

vs. 38 notice the Lord makes a difference between His father which is God the Father and he tells them, Your father…

vs. 39 tells us that we ought to act part of the family that we are a part of.

Notice now in verse 44. This is the connection that I want you to see.

John 8:44 “44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

A . The Father of Lies

When the devil speaks a lie, he is being true to his character. Because He is a liar and the father of it!

2 Corinthians 11:14 “14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

Revelation 12:9 “9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Genesis 3:1-24 gives us the account of the deception that convinced Eve to thrust the entire human race down the path toward sin.

In 1 Chronicles 21 apparently the Devil provoked David to number the children of Israel… How did he do that? The Bible does not say, but no doubt through lies.

2 John 7 “7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.”

It is abundantly clear that Satan is antichrist!

The Devil is the Father of Lies!

B. The Family of Liars

In this text, the Lord clearly points out that those who are ensnared in this sin of lying are presenting themselves to be a part of the the family of liars.

Did you notice what the Lord stated in verse 44, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.

C. The Family of Light

God is light and in him is no darkness. 1 John 1:5 “5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

Jesus Christ is the Light according to John 1:9.

Those who receive Jesus Christ are now part of the family of Light according to John 1:12 “12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

John 12:36 “36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.”

Matthew 5:14 “14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”

1 Thessalonians 5:5 “5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”

In Luke 11:35 the Lord gives this warning, “35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.”

2 Corinthians 6:14 “14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”

My friend if we are saved we are part of the family of light not of darkness. Our lives should be characterized by light not darkness… and yet if we are entangled with the sin of lying… whose character are we portraying that of light or that of darkness?

III. The Subtlety of Lying

Listen my friend, the point I am trying to get across is that most of time Christians are not guilty of just outright lies.

However, we cannot put that far from ourselves either.

But often, when we look over this list and we realize that hypocrisy is lying, deceiving is lying, guile is lying… Lying can be actions with no words.

My friend, if you are as I am, we have to say woe unto me, I am a man of unclean lips!

Most often our lying has to do with situations that we find ourselves in.

Phrases such as “Let me be truthful with you…”

“Let me be honest with you…”

“The truth of the matter is….”

“I am going to tell you the honest truth…”

…speak to how deep the problem of lying is in our lives and our speech.

In other words, just as the religious crowd of old attempted to bring credibility to their dishonesty by swearing by heaven, the earth or the temple, we often use these phrases to try to add credibility to our speech.

Our speech and our actions should not need to be propped up by such phrases, but rather we ought to be known as God’s people of truth.

I’ll give an example— if you have ever looked at your loved one and they have asked the question—- How do I look today?

And most of the time, that loved one looks wonderful—- but in this instance they don’t look so wonderful—- so instead of you saying in a loving way —- hey you do not look the best today, you might say you look great!!

My friend, you have allowed the situational ethics to excuse yourself from the lie you just told.

In the life of David as we already saw, some read that account and do not even catch the fact that David is lying, because in their mind they have justified the lying because of the situation. I myself did not pay too much attention his lying myself.

From chapter 16 of 1 Samuel forward following God having Samuel anoint David to be king of Israel; all the hoards of Satan could not have taken David’s life.

You say how do you know that?—- well when you read in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, you discover that the Devil — who in chapter 12 is called the Great Red Dragon did everything in His power to derail Jesus the Christ the Savior of the World.

And yet God as He always will, prevailed.

When you read the book of Job you see a man that was persecuted by the Devil through God’s allowance, but the Devil could do no more to Job then what God allowed Him to do.

What are you saying Pastor James… What I am saying is that David did not have to lie— David was protected by God!

Lastly, we have seen not only the Synonyms of lying, the source of lying - Satan himself, the subtilty of lying, but notice lastly:

IV. The Sin of lying.

My friend this matter is so serious that God speaks of it in His Word at over 260 times.

In the decalogue, God specifically mentions speaking falsehood about your neighbor…. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

As we discover in the gospel records—- perhaps we ask the question of God trying to skirt the issue like the doctor of the law, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29)

Many of us may not be found speaking falsehoods, but I am afraid that many of us often lead others to believe something that is not true.

We omit information on purpose with the aim to deceive.

Or perhaps we manipulate words in order to cover up.

According to the Bible, as we already saw, when we commit the sin of lying, we present ourselves to be a child of the Devil rather than a child of the King.

When we omit information with the purpose to deceive, we lie and do not the truth.

1 John 1:6 “6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:”

I think for the Christian here today there is only one proper response to such light.

Confess, forsake, and ask forgiveness for this matter of lying.

Commit with God’s help to examine your actions and speech to be free from all forms of lying.

Continue tomorrow as you get up to let your yea’s be yea and your nay’s be nay.

Perhaps you are here this morning and cannot say, “I am part of the family of light…”

Maybe for you this morning your would confess, “Preacher I am still in darkness I do not know God…”

I have good news for you… Acts 26:18 tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ came “18 To open …eyes, and to turn …[people] from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith …”

The fact is that if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, you are still in darkness and according to the passage we read earlier lying… deceit… dishonesty will be natural for you because Satan is the Father of lies…

In order for you to take care of your sin problem, you must repent of your sin and by faith trust in Jesus Christ. I would invite you to come forward and allow us to have some take the Bible and show you how you too can be part of the family of God.

The most wonderful thing about Salvation the One in whom we trust, the Lord Jesus Christ. My friend He will change your life…

Let’s pray