I Promise

I Promise

May 17, 2026

Matthew 5:33-37

Imagine if you will, a 24hr period where every single human being on the planet had to tell the truth. Not because some government or moral agency said they had to, but because it was built into them where they were incapable of saying anything false or misleading. Imagine the funny things you would hear with no filters!

Imagine we would have to perform every promise, be everywhere we said we would be on time, return every phone call we said we would, pray for everyone that we said we were praying for, read every email we said we would read, read every book that we kindly took saying that we would read.

Quick question, how would our day look? For some of you, you may be saying that it would not look any different than it does right now. But for all of the humans in this room, I bet our days would look different! You see, our entire world system and culture is built on the function of half-truths shrouded in the illusion of truth.

Here is what I mean:

A man goes to a job interview wearing a suit he can barely afford, smiling confidently, saying he’s “passionate” about the company. While the interviewer smiles back and says, “We’re like a family here.” Neither fully means what they’re saying.

Or a company exaggerates growth to investors while investors exaggerate confidence to the market. Do you notice that all advertisements exaggerate happiness? Or how people exaggerate success on social media and politicians exaggerate certainty.

Lawyers cast doubt on the truth of evert witness, salesmen exaggerate features, Customers say “I’ve read the terms and conditions.” (anyone actually read that thing?) Or the exit row instructions on a plane. They even ask you, DID YOU READ THEM? DO YOU COMPLY WITH THEM? The list is endless.

The uncomfortable point is people treat truth as optional. Society runs on managed appearances, selective truth, and incentives to present things better than they really are. That’s why honesty stands out so sharply when you encounter it.

It should not shock us that we operate in this system. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ”

Satan is the god of this world, and he is the father of lies. It stands to reason that the entire world system runs on his native language. Jesus knows that, hates it and teaches against it. In our passage today, we will see how the child of heaven (not the world) should view the weight of our spoken words. We will see how our words have eternal ramifications and that God takes them quite seriously.

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My big question after reading this passage is simple, how do you view the words that come out of your mouth? How do you view your promises?

Context and intro: Sermon on the mount is a six-part sermon. The intro is from 1-20 with the qualifier of the beatitudes. The main point is Vs 17. His first point was Anger, 2. Lust, 3. Divorce, 4. Oaths and promises, 5. Retaliation and revenge, 6. Loving enemies.

Remember that Jesus is re teaching and directing us to see that we (his physical audience and us) continue to play in the white spaces between the laws. With anger He directed us back to commandment #6 and with lust He hit #1, 2, 7, 10. For divorce and adultery, He hit #7 and a little 9. Today, he kills the white space around commandment number 9 “Thou shalt not lie”, and 3 “Do not use the Lord God’s name in vain”.

Today we look at the power of the tongue. James 3:3-5, says that it is a rutter that steers the ship, fire, full of deadly poison. One minute it blesses God but turns right around and curse people. It has a massive influence.

1. Oaths run amuck.

We read this section and say, we don’t do that now, and this is something that is only for the time of Jesus. Before we skip this text, let’s see what is happening.

The religious leaders and their society made a creative mechanism to make promises that afforded them an exit if they change their minds. They would condone promises and would swear by something larger than themselves for effect to get people to believe them. Examples include:

1. May it be by the Temple of God

2. May it be by the Gold in the temple

3. May it be by courtyards

4. May it be by the alter of God

They would string all these together for effect. If they included them all, it was like saying they REALLY are swearing that what they are saying will or will not happen. It would not be uncommon for you to hear in one heated exchange the entire list plus some. This is why in Matthew 23:16-22 Jesus again calls them out.

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred.”

Here is the important point. Even when they attached all these together, if they reneged or violated the oath, they are not guilty. Nothing on their list was high enough to force compliance. To them, they could string all these together and ignore the consequences of violating the oath.

All these swearings would be predicated on the fact that the more you add, the more seemingly serious you are. However, notice what is NOT in this list that we are all too good with using in our time. We say, we would never do that, but we do it worse. They would never say “I swear to God”. But we do almost daily.

To them, to break that one actually meant perjury. Perjury means “the voluntary violation of an oath to tell the truth: lying under oath.” To them, to swear by the Lord meant that you really did break the 3rdcommandment along with the 9th. They would not even cross that line.

They also understood that to do that the punishment was Leviticus 24:16- death by stoning. The punishment for using the Lords Name in vain was blasphemy of His name and death was the penalty. How sad that we do nothing about it now. You see how this passage is not for just Jesus’s time?

As people do what people do, they came up with a work around. Instead of swearing by God, they swore by creation. That is why in Vs 34 Jesus said that everything on Earth was under and created by God, so violating your oath was still a violation!

But remember my introduction. How would society function without deception? As I said at the beginning, this is Satan’s system, he runs it as the father of lies. His influence is evident. Without bending truth, how in the world can we possibly exist Lord?

There is literally no one who does not have dirt on their hands from this. We all have personal preservation and gain at stake. For example: “I’ll call you back in 5 minutes…” 3 days later you make that call. “I’ll be there at 5 pm…” only to be there by 5:30pm. The list is endless.

Jesus said, “YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID”. Jesus is saying, just because it is acceptable does not mean it’s okay by God. When He says “you have heard it said” He is not quoting the OT. He is challenging their addition to the Law. They were twisting Leviticus 19:12 and Duet 23:21, 23. By using these verses, they are twisting God’s permission for oaths as tools to manipulate.

2.             Oaths worth making.

God does afford us the tool of an oath. God Himself uses oaths (although He didn’t need to) all over the OT and in Hebrews 6:13-18 and Acts 2:30. An oath is “a solemn appeal to God to witness to the truth of a statement or the sacredness of a promise.”

So how does God make an oath by appealing to Himself? Great question! There is no higher to “oath” by. The ONE who was in no need of making an oath still employed the tool. To make sure we are clear. An oath is not a covenant. A “covenant” is “a formal binding agreement.” An oath operates within a covenant. They are not the same yet they are not opposites. An oath operates within a covenant saying that the covenant will happen.

The study of covenants are for a future study. But, when God swears that something will happen, or employes an oath He is using language we would understand. We get the concept of a promise, so God uses it. He does not need to swear by a higher power but still uses oaths to get the point across to us.

To be clear, when Jesus is teaching this passage, it is NOT him saying, you can’t use oaths. Remember the reason for the sermon on the mount! He is directing us to hear the heart of the Law. We know this because Paul uses an oath in 2 Cor 1:23:

“But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth.” And in Hebrews 7:28, “For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.”

AW Pink stated that This verse also shows us the importance of comparing scripture with scripture, (This is how we teach here at MBC, Scripture to interpret Scripture) for it is quite clear, not only from the Old Testament but from many passages in the New, that in certain circumstances, and when they are ordered by the rules of God’s Word, oaths are lawful, yea, necessary.”

Remember what Jesus’s point was. He was calling out the heart, not the tool of an oath. There are occasions when oaths are condoned and valued and permissible. This is a passage we cannot build an entire theology off. Jesus is using emphatic language to re teach the importance of the heart of the Law.

Allow me to prove this to you how God uses oaths.

To Abraham: Following Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, God swore by Himself to multiply Abraham’s descendants and bless all nations through them (Genesis 22:16–17).

To David: God swore an irrevocable oath to establish David’s royal lineage forever (Psalm 89:3–4, 35–37). This oath is the foundation for the promise of the coming Messiah, Jesus.

The Priesthood of Christ: In the New Testament, the book Hebrews highlights that Jesus was made a high priest not by ancestral descent, but by a divine oath: "The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, 'You are a priest forever' (Hebrews 7:21, citing Psalm 110:4).

God also uses oaths to confirm the certainty of judgment, such as swearing that the rebellious generation in the wilderness would not enter His rest (Psalm 95:11) or swearing by Himself that certain nations would become a desolation due to their pride (Jeremiah 49:13; Amos 6:8).

When God swears an oath, the text often uses specific phrases to signal the binding nature of the statement. "As I live, declares the Lord" (Ezekiel 33:11). "By Myself I have sworn" (Isaiah 45:23). "The Lord has sworn by His holiness" (Amos 4:2).

Okay, but what about us? Where should we use oaths? Marriage, when you sign a contract, or sign your taxes. A legal testimony. Or when you purchase that drivers license that you will obey traffic laws. When you become a citizen of the US or raise your hand and swear in for the Army.

Tell Army story.

Oaths are an important part of our lives that we cannot avoid. Jesus’s point is cautionary. He is warning that the true child of God must be very careful about how we employ them.

3. Be cautious with oaths.

Please turn to Matthew 12:36-37 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

You can use them, but you need to be very careful! Imagine every word being called into question. On this verse, John MaC writes:

“The most seemingly insignificant sin-even a slip of the tongue-carries the full potential of all hell’s holiness is therefore no trifling thing, and each such indiscretion. There is no truer indication of a bad tree than the bad fruit of speech. Every person is judged by his words, because they reveal the state of his heart.”

 Every deed will be held in account: Ecclesiastes 12:14 says “14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

That word “EVERY” means, EVERY! Allow me to bring weight to these statements. Hell will be full of people who are constantly being convicted by their own conscience of who they really are, rebellious haters of God.

Matthew 13: 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The action of weeping and gnashing is in response to the knowledge of who they are verses who HE is. There are two types of people, the weepers (ones who know they missed knowing Him and the gnashers, those who still hate Him. The point is that they KNOW!

While they lived they can sear that awareness but when they are in hell, they will not. 1 Tim 4:1,2 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.”

When in hell, they are left with that understanding that every idle action landed them there. The potency of this sin casts people into the pit of Hell and Jesus is warning us, do NOT take this lightly! We all have dirt on our hands here!

Even if you are shy and never say anything, it doesn’t change what you are thinking! Just like anger is to murder, lust is to adultery, broken oaths are to perjury, the sin is internal as much as it is external. Just because you may not say it, does not change the risk of violating your word.

The real question that Jesus is getting all of us to, “why are we so flippant with our words?” You may be saying that I don’t make oaths but we do:

1. I’ll take care of that for you…”

2. I’ll meet you here and help you do…”

3. I’ll do it, but my attitude says that I HATE that I have to honor my promise…

4. I’ll show up late…but at least I make the appearance.

5. On my honor I promise, but under my breath I am doing it from a wrong attitude.

Words and thoughts matter! That is what Jesus is teaching here! Your words matter. That is why He says, Vs 37:“But I say to you, do not take an oath at all…let your what you say be simply “Yes” or No and ANYTHING more than this comes from evil.”

So, how do we combat this? Do not let sin reign in your bodies. I can hear you say, “pastor, there is no way I can do this!”

Remember what He has done in you and through you! If Jesus is LORD, then He has caused you to resist this sin! Romans 6:11,12 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members (your tongue) to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

Here it is, if in Christ, He is equipping us to not give in to the dominant trait of sin. The HS is there to convict us that our oaths, words, and attitudes will be evaluated. When sin is strong, God is equipping you through the power of His Spirit to quell the potency of this sin.

I’ll leave you with this. Does Satan control the world system of lies? Yes. But we who recognize the new life through Jesus Christ, are equipped to withstand this! Christ Jesus, who walked this sinless life, was 100% perfect and tried as a criminal by sinful men.

Although He never violated a single sin, He was murdered for our sake so that we may live. He paid the sin debt that we have by His innocent sacrifice. Then when HE conquered death, He gives us access to HIS righteousness to withstand sins like anger, lust, and broken promises.