Now, let's turn back in our Bibles
to the book of James, chapter 5. James, chapter 5. I want also to express my thankfulness
to the Lord for these men who have stood in this pulpit and
preached in my absence. Brother Ron Travant, Joe Bryson,
Aaron Wiles back there, and Brother Alan Eisen. You've just done
a tremendous job. The Lord's blessed you in your
preaching. I was blessed by the messages when I heard them on
tape and the ones that I've been able to be here and sitting here. And I've really, really enjoyed
and thank God for you. And I've had several of my dear
brethren tell me that when I first get back into the pulpit here,
they said, now, don't don't feel like that you have to preach
a long message. You can shorten them up, you
know, if you get tired. And I'm going to think the best
and think that they're really concerned for me. Who knows, you know, only the
Lord knows the heart. And I told him, I said, well,
I think you all got it made anyway. I'm not one of those long winded
preachers and somebody sitting out there saying, maybe you think
that. But I try not to be. I don't
want to wear you out, obviously. Certainly don't want to wear
myself out. But the last time I was here, I preached from these
verses that Brother Joe read in James chapter 5. And it's
been over a month that I've stood here, and I wanted you to be
reminded of the context. Actually, I'm going to focus
on just one verse this morning. And that's verse 12. And I've
entitled the message. Now, when you hear this title,
you may think it's kind of strange. And you may think, well, how
does that fit with the message? Hold on, hopefully I'll be able
to show you. But the title of the message
is, God's Oath in Christ. God's Oath in Christ. And it comes from verse 12 where
he says, Above all things, my brethren, swear not. Neither
by heaven. Don't swear by heaven. Neither
by the earth. Don't swear by the earth. Neither
by any other oath. Talking about don't swear oaths. And he says, but let your yea
be yea. Yes. Let your nay be nay. Let that be nay. No. Yes and
no. That's quite enough. Lest you fall into condemnation. That sounds pretty serious. Some
commentators say that's condemnation in the conscience. Some say that
it's denying the faith. Could be either one, dependent
upon the person. But now, when you look at that
verse, you might wonder, if you read through these scriptures,
you might wonder, what is that doing there? Now listen, here's
what James is talking about. Well, first of all, look at the
whole context. He's talking about faith. Saving faith. That's his subject. Saving faith. We know saving faith is the gift
of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That's not of yourselves. I believe
that refers back to the salvation as a whole and to faith, which
is the gift of God. It is the gift of God. We don't
have it by nature. It's not in us naturally. It's
not in us to will to believe because by nature we're sinners. That's what the Scripture says.
Born dead in trespasses and sins. We don't have the spiritual capacity. We've got mental capacities,
but they're sinful. We've got mental and physical
faculties, but they're sinful. They're under the sentence of
death and sin, and that's what we are by nature, slaves of sin,
dead spiritually. Faith is a spiritual matter,
isn't it? And if we're spiritually dead,
we don't have faith. It's the gift of God. It's the
product of the grace of God in Christ. So, for by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Listen,
if I believe, I don't have anything to brag about. I can't say, Lord,
I believed and that one didn't. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We are His workmanship. A safe
center is the workmanship, the craftsmanship, you might say,
of God. Salvations of the Lord. And He
says, created in Christ Jesus. That's the new creation that
Christ created by His work on the cross. That's what that means
in 2 Corinthians 5.21. For God made Him to be sin for
us. Christ who knew no sin that we
might be made. That's creation. Be made the
righteousness of God in Him. That's what He did on the cross.
when he paid the debt, the sin debt in full, when he paid the
ransom price, when he redeemed us by his blood, when he brought
in everlasting righteousness to enable God to be just and
justifier. We're not self-made people. in the Kingdom of God. We didn't
will ourselves, we didn't create ourselves in the Kingdom of God.
We're born of the Spirit, begotten again by the Word of Truth, James
said in James 1.18. And that's all the product of
God's grace in Christ, based on His blood and righteousness.
Isn't that right? That's right. And so faith is
the gift of God. Now, what James has been talking
about in his book here is the evidences of faith. We claim
to believe the gospel. You claim to believe, to know,
to trust, to rest in, to love and follow, to be a disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what James has been doing
in his book is giving us a manual of self-examination. Self-examination. Do I really believe, trust, know,
love, follow, be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? What are
the evidences of faith? Now, you know as well as I do
in 2 Corinthians 13, it tells us to examine ourselves. Most
people don't understand self-examination. Because what we normally do in
self-examination, what we naturally do, is look in ourselves to see
if we've done enough, or if we have enough, or if we measure
up. And that's not what self-examination
is about. In fact, if you'll read that
verse in 2 Corinthians 13, it doesn't say, examine yourselves
to see whether you have enough faith. Read it. It says, examine
yourselves to see whether you be in the faith. Now, what is
it to be in the faith? Tell you exactly what it is,
very simply. It's to look to Christ for all salvation. So
the self-examination is not for me to look at myself and say,
well, have I done enough? I can tell you the answer to
that right now, at my best moments. No, I have not done enough. And
you haven't either. And if you think you have, you're
just fooling yourself. Right? Enough for what? Enough to be saved? No. Salvation
is by grace. You can't save yourself. You
can never do enough. Enough to express my love for
God? Well, I'll spend eternity doing
that. How could I ever say I've done
enough? Can you love God enough? Can you love Christ enough? You
say, well, that's enough. No, sir. That's an eternal endeavor. We owe him a debt not of law,
but of love. And we'll spend our eternity
showing that love to Christ for our salvation. Not to earn our
salvation. So it's not examine yourselves
to see whether you've done enough. It's to examine yourself, am
I really looking to Christ for all my salvation? Am I really
resting in Him? Trusting Him? Am I really looking
to His blood alone for all the forgiveness of all my sins? And
His righteousness imputed, accounted to me alone for my incomplete
justification and right standing before God? That's what I want
to know. Am I looking to Him? Now, that's what James is all
about here. Saving faith looks to Christ. It looks outside of
itself. Don't have faith in me. I don't
have faith in you. Don't have faith in my faith.
I have faith in Christ. You see the difference? And that's
where my assurance comes from. Saving faith brings true repentance. The essence of repentance is
turning away from everything else for salvation. I turn away
from myself. I repent of ever looking to myself
and my works and my efforts to save myself. I repent of ever
thinking that anything I do or anything that proceeds from me
could make me righteous before God. I look to Christ. That's
what Paul described in Philippians chapter 3. Read that sometime.
Saving faith brings repentance from sin. It does. There's a warfare within us.
We will fight the desires of the flesh because God has given
us a new desire. That is to follow Him. Saving
faith brings obedience of love. Saving faith doesn't make you
a mercenary. You're not trying to earn your
way into God's favor and blessings. If you are, that's not saving
faith. Saving faith desires the obedience of grace and gratitude
and love. Serve God because you love Him.
Serve God because of what He's already freely given you, none
of which we've earned or deserve. That's obedience of love. Saving
faith. Now, here's one thing that James
is talking about in our text. And he talks a lot about this
through the whole book. And that's this, that saving
faith perseveres or endures under trials and persecutions. Saving
faith will endure. That's not to say that you're
going to endure those things perfectly, without any selfishness,
without any faintness, without any weariness, without any sin.
No, sir. But it will endure. You'll come
out on the other side by the grace and power of God, looking
to and clinging to Christ. That's what that means. And that's
what he's talking about here. He starts out in chapter 5 talking
about rich men. Now, these are men who are rich
in power, who are rich in money, who have the authority and the
influence to get their way, to fulfill their fleshly appetites,
and in the process step on the poor, the weak, and the downtrodden,
especially God's people, especially believers. That's why he says
in verse six here, you have condemned and killed the just. That's the
justified. What is the who are the just
as a sinner saved by the grace of God made righteous in Christ? And he does not resist you because
we're not zealots. We're not political uprisers.
We're believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
world is not our home. We're not to lead rebellions
against governments and things like that. That's not what we're
here for. We're not to be political prisoners. Paul was in jail,
but not for being a political dead fly. He was in jail because
he preached the gospel. And the Jews hated him for it,
the self-righteous, unbelieving religious Jews. And so, he says
you've killed the just. So he says in verse 7, be patient.
Now that word patient there doesn't mean the ability to wait. We
are to wait upon the Lord. The scripture says that. Wait
on the Lord. God's going to do things in His
good time according to His will. He's working all things after
the counsel of His own will. And we're to be patient in that
sense of waiting. But patient here means to endure. It means to persevere under persecution. under resistance and under weakness. Later on, he's going to talk
about those who are sick. He's really not talking about,
listen, verse 13. He says, is any among you afflicted? Let him praise, let him marry,
let him sing songs. Is any sick among you? Now, the
sickness there in the original language doesn't really refer
to physical sickness. Now, don't get me wrong, we're
to pray for each other. in physical sickness. I'm glad
you all prayed for me as I was going, as I call it, my little
adventure. And I pray for you. I mean, when you get sick and
your physical body, under the consequences of the fact that
this body is dead because of sin, we're to pray for each other.
But what James is really talking about there is when we grow weary
and weak under opposition. The believer who is opposed,
who goes through the persecutions of this life, and you grow weary. You know that the Bible says
that we're to be patient, we're to endure. That's what he's talking
about. Look at verse 8 of James 5. Be
ye also patient. Establish your hearts. Fix your
heart on Christ. That's what he's saying there.
You're going through a hard, hard trial, many opposites, some
of you from your families. Boy, don't you grow weary of
that. Doesn't that just bring out a weakness in you, doesn't
it? When your family opposes you, your friends oppose you,
it seems like the people at work, the world opposes you. You wonder,
Lord, do I get the Elijah syndrome? Lord, am I the only one? And
you know better than that. That's why we need each other.
I'm going to talk a little bit about that tonight in Ecclesiastes.
We need the fellowship of brethren because of that. But you grow
weary, and he says, endure. Now, here's what he's saying.
Saving faith, if you truly believe, if you've ever been born again
by the Spirit, you will endure. You will not ultimately and finally
apostatize or fall away or forsake Christ unto damnation. That person
who claims to believe the gospel, who claims to know and love Christ,
but who totally forsakes, ultimately and finally, the Lord Jesus Christ
and His truth and the fellowship of His people, that person was
never saved to begin with. That's what the Scripture teaches,
and I'm going to show you that. But now let me say this about
endurance, this long-suffering. We call it perseverance of the
saints. And we persevere because God
preserves. That perseverance, that endurance
is a gift from God. It's not of my power or your
power, or your will or my will. Let me just read you some Scripture
here. You can mark these down. You look at them in the context,
because I'm not dragging these out of context. I'm not just
proof texting here. But listen to this. He's talking
about this in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6. Paul writes to
the Philippian church who were going through trials and persecutions. He said, I'm confident of this
very thing. that he which hath begun a good
work in you, he which hath begun a good work in you, now who began
this work? God did. We're the workmanship of God
created in Christ Jesus. He who began the good work in
you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God began
it, God will perform it, that means complete it when Christ
comes. I'm telling you, if God started
the work, He'll finish it. Don't you ever let anybody tell
you differently. These guys, I heard a fellow
on TV yesterday, somebody wrote him a letter and they said, is
it possible for a believer, someone who's saved, to lose their salvation?
And he just said, yes, if you don't meet the conditions. Now,
let me tell you something. There's two things there that
I want you to know. Number one, what are the conditions? Depends
on who you talk to, isn't it? Isn't it? Depends on what denomination
you're in. Some of them, too, their conditions
are pretty strict. Some of them are kind of lighter.
Down South, they used to have a kind of a little running joke
between Baptist and Methodist. They said, well, if you want
to be a Methodist, you can party. If you want to be a Baptist,
it's taste not touch not handle not. So it depends on who you
talk to, what conditions there are. I'll be honest with you.
If you're final glory in heaven were conditioned on you or me,
you'd have a hard time finding out what the conditions are according
to this book, because they'll vary a little bit. Well, let
me tell you something. It's not conditioned on you.
But here's the second thing I want you to know. If it were conditioned
on you or me, we would fail. to meet those conditions. At
some time, I'll guarantee you. You say, oh, no, not me. Peter
said that one time. Remember when the Lord told him? He said, Peter, he said, Satan
has desired to sift you as wheat. Satan wants to make an end of
you. But he said, Peter, you're such a good guy and loyal and
faithful. I know you won't forsake me. That's not what he said. You can read about it, I think
it's Luke 22. You know what he said to Peter?
He said, but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. There's our foundation. There's
the condition. It's the mediatorial work, the
advocacy, the prayers of our Savior for us. That's it. Well, you remember what Peter
said after, Lord, I'll never deny you. Peter did. But you know, even in denying
the Lord, he did not ultimately and finally, under damnation,
forsake the Lord. Because you know what it said
about Peter after he denied the Lord when that rooster crowed
three times? You know what Peter did? He said
he wept bitterly. Oh, Peter knew what he'd done. He was immediately brought to
repentance. And that's where we'll be brought
to in our weaknesses, in our shame, in our failures. We'll
be brought to repentance. We will be! If we're his child. He'll bring it to us. Paul in
Philippians chapter 2 and verse 12, listen to this. He says,
Wherefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation. with fear and trembling. Now,
when he says, work out your own salvation, people immediately
say, well, see there, it's based on our works. Oh, no. That's
not what he's saying. First of all, he says, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling. What's the fear
there? That's reverence for the God of all grace, who saves me,
keeps me, and will bring me to glory by His grace in Christ.
That's worship. And trembling. What kind of trembling
is he talking about? Am I to walk around this earth
all the time afraid of God? In fear of losing my salvation?
Now, let me tell you what that trembling is all about. It's
consistent with faith. This trembling is consistent
with assurance of salvation in Christ. Here's the trembling. Now, think about it. Now, you
who know Christ, you who know yourselves, imagine yourselves
standing before God without Christ. There's the trembling. I know
without Christ. I'm a goner. Without His blood,
without His righteousness, I have no hope. That's the trembling.
And he goes on in verse 13, when he says, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, listen to this in verse 13, for it is
God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. There's the salvation. There's
the assurance. It's God who works in you. It's
not you working it out. Meeting the conditions. It's
God who works in you. Jude. The last two verses of
the book of Jude. Listen to this. Verse 24. Now
unto him that is able. Who's able? Him. Christ. To keep you from falling. I can't
keep myself from falling. Only Christ can do that. And
to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and
majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Amen. Turn to
1 John chapter 2 with me. Listen to the words of the scripture
in 1 John chapter 2. Here John in verse 18 is talking
about the spirit of Antichrist. And that spirit of Antichrist.
Now, let me tell you something about Antichrist. And don't just
perk up your ears because you think I'm going to identify him.
Because that's not one of them. The spirit of Antichrist, alright?
The spirit of Antichrist is a spirit that comes in the name of Christ,
but denies the truth of Christ. In other words, Christian in
name only, but no truth. Now you know that's the spirit
of Antichrist. It means against Christ, but
disguised. There's a deception. Okay? Now
what John is talking about here is people who claim to know and
love Christ. And listen to what he says about
them in verse 18 of 1 John 2. He says, little children, it is
the last time. That's the time between the ascension
of Christ and the glory to His second coming. We're living in
those days too. And as you have heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know
that it's the last time. Now look at verse 19. They went
out from us. They forsook the gospel. They left it. He's talking about,
now he's not talking about just a believer strain here. Believers
can strain now. They can. But God's got us on
a leash. But he says, they went out from
us, but they were, now listen to it, but they were not what? Of us. For if they had been of
us, they would no doubt have continued, endured, persevered
with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us." Now he's talking
about apostasy there. They weren't of us. They claim
to be. We may have thought they were at one time. But they forsook
the gospel. They forsook Christ totally.
They never were saved. They never were of us. But he
says in verse 20, but you have an unction from the Holy One,
you know all things. What is that unction? That's
the power of the Spirit in the new birth who brings a sinner
to faith in Christ. True faith. And that's what he's
talking about. Skip across the page there to
1 John 3 in verse 9. Listen to what he says. Whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin. Now, does that mean that
when you're born again, you stop being a sinner? Well, if that's
what that says, number one, it's not true, and number two, it
contradicts the rest of the Bible. That's not what he's saying there.
Committing sin here has to do with this context, read it in
the context, about falling away, final apostasy. If you're truly
born of God, born of the Spirit, if the Spirit has imparted to
you spiritual life, Faith, repentance, the graces and gifts of the Spirit,
knowledge of Christ, love for Christ. If he's truly done that,
that's what the new birth is, you will not forsake Christ ultimately. That's what he's talking about
here. You won't do that. You'll sin. You'll grow weary. You'll grow weak. You may be
like Peter one day and openly deny Christ, but not ultimately,
you'll be brought to repentance. You'll weep with bitter tears,
and you'll be brought back. But it says here, verse 9, whosoever
is born of God does not do that, does not commit sin, for his
seed, that is Christ's seed, that word seed there refers to
the children of God. Listen, chosen by God before
the foundations of the world, redeemed by the blood of Christ,
justified in his righteousness, and born again by the Spirit.
His seed remaineth in him, in Christ. And he cannot sin. He cannot apostatize. He cannot
ultimately deny Christ unto damnation. Why? Because he's born of God. And he goes on to say, now this
is the children of God are manifest in the children of the devil.
See, he's not talking about a believer straying here. He's talking about
somebody who falls away. Believers can't do that. They
can't do it. Look back at James 5 now. So he tells them, he says, now
you endure under persecution. And he means for us to make a
concerted effort in our minds and hearts to do so, to persevere. But yet we know that it is only
by the power and the grace and the goodness of God that we'll
do so. Lord, don't let me go. That's our prayer. So here you
are, you're going through suffering. He tells them here in verse 10,
take my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of
the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience or
endurance. Think about the prophets. Think
about those men before. Read Hebrews 11 sometimes and
see what they went through. We think we suffer. And then
he goes on, he says in verse 11, behold, we count them happy
which endure. That's the happiness, That doesn't
mean that we're happy, happy, happy all the time. That doesn't
mean we go around in euphoria or on drugs or with some big
smile on our face all the time. That's an eternal happiness.
That's in Christ. And he says, you've heard of
the patience, the endurance of Job. You know what Job went through.
How God allowed Satan to work on Job. Take everything he had
away. Oh, think about that. You ever
had that happen to you? I've never had that happen to
me. You know, I felt pretty bad going through what I went through,
but it ain't nothing like what Job went through. I still got
my wife and my children, my grandchild. Job had that taken away from
him, his land. You afraid of losing your land? Job wasn't
just afraid of losing, he did lose it. He lost everything.
What did Job do? By the grace of God, he said,
naked I came out of my mother's womb, naked shall I return. He
said, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name
of the Lord. And I want to tell you something, you read the whole
book of Job, Job, really, he was not a perfect man in himself. He messed up. Remember those
miserable comforters that he had, good buddies, miserable
comforters. They just had the answers, you
know. Job again justified himself, but he was brought to repentance.
He said, I've heard of thee by the hearing of it, now might
I see of thee. I repent in sackcloth and ashes. And he sacrificed
unto the Lord. He worshipped God through redemption. Because he knew his Redeemer
would live, would stand on the earth in the latter day. And
that was all his salvation. So there's Job. He's going through
trials. You go through trials, I go through trials. And then
verse 12 pops up. 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, your nay be nay,
lest you fall into condemnation. What's he talking about? Why
is that there? Why would he be talking about endurance under
suffering? Then all of a sudden, boom, there's something about
oaths, swearing oaths. Well, let me tell you something.
Think about yourself. I think about myself. This is
what got me to thinking about this. I believe I can help you
to understand why this is here. I remember when I used to get
in trouble and I'd be hurting, one of the first things I'd do
is, Lord, I swear, if you get me out of this one, I'll never
do that again. Ever done that? Lord, I swear I'll do better. Oh Lord, listen to my trouble. I promise, I promise that if
you give me this or don't give me that, I'll do this. And those
times of oath-swearing and promise-making, they usually come when you're
under persecution, under trial. And that's exactly what James
is talking about. And you know why he's saying
this? Now listen to it. Listen, we who have saving faith,
we believe and trust in and rest in the God of all grace in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is able to save me, who is able
to keep me, who is able to provide for me, and who is able to bring
me through, and who is able to glorify me ultimately. And you
want to know something? I don't need anything or anyone
else. for my salvation. I don't need
to swear an oath. As if that confirms it. Lord,
I swear. What does that mean? I've already
broken the oath. How about you? You ever keep
one of those oaths you swore? No. So that's the assurance of my
salvation. Where is my salvation? It's gone.
I don't need my oaths. I don't need an oath for my assurance,
for my motivation, or for my power. We don't need to swear
oaths to confirm our salvation. I've heard people say, well,
I swear by heaven, or I even swear by God. And that's supposed
to seal it in your minds if that makes it true. Listen, next time
somebody does that to you, just turn a deaf ear. Because I guarantee
they're going to break that oath. That'll do it. Just give them
the right circumstances, put them in the right situation.
That oath is not worth the air it was blown into or the paper
it's written on. It's going to be gone. We don't
need oaths to confirm our faith and ensure our endurance. All
we need to do is to keep looking to Christ. That's it. You say,
Preacher, that's just too simple. I add some bells and whistles
to that, you know, so I can dance to that religious tune and feel
better about myself. No, you don't need that. You
don't need that. All you need is Christ. Turn
to Hebrews chapter 12. Let me show you this in just
a few passages now. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. In
Hebrews 11, you know, he's talking about believers of the past who've
gone through hard trials. Very hard trials. And they're examples. And he
says in verse 1 of chapter 12, he says, wherefore seeing we
also are compass or surrounded about with so great a cloud of
witnesses. Those believers of the past who
suffered like Job. Like the prophets. Let us lay
aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us.
Those sins that would hinder us in our endurance, in our walk. And let us run with patience.
That's endurance again. The race that is set before us.
We're in a race. It's a race of grace. Now, how
do you run it? Well, swear by heaven. Swear by the sun. Swear
by God. No. Verse 2, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. who for the joy that was
set before him endured with the cross, despising the shame, and
is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Our Lord
on that cross, you know what He said? He said, Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit. He didn't swear by heaven or
by earth or by the temple. He just said, my soul is in the
Father's hands. That's where my soul is. How
do I know it's in the Father's hands? Because I look to Christ.
And He said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. He said,
Philip, have I been so long with you and you don't know me? If
you've seen me, you've seen the Father. That's how I know that. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 1. Listen in. Paul's in jail here.
He's a prisoner. And he looked up in jail and
he said, Lord, I swear if you'll get me out of this jail. No. He just wrote a letter to Timothy,
the young evangelist. And he said, Timothy, verse 7,
look at 2 Timothy 1, 7, Timothy, God hath not given us the spirit
of fear, that's fear of men, but of power and of love and
a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. Not the power of
men, not your power to endure, but according to the power of
God who has saved us, called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, But according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, this
is an eternal matter, it is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher
of the Gentiles, for the which cause I also suffer these things
nevertheless." Listen, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. Why? For I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day." There it is. It's not because he swore
to do better, tried to do better, promised to do better. It's because
he knew Christ, who is able, who is able. Look at Hebrews
6. Now, I titled this message, God's
Oath in Christ, and here's my point here. Now look at Hebrews
6. Our security in salvation, even
when we go through trials and affliction and persecution, is
not our oaths. Our security Our confirmation
and our comfort is not in our oaths. That's what James is saying
here. In fact, he says, don't swear an oath, pray. That's what
he says, and we'll get to that next time. Pray, he says. Pray
is an act of dependence upon God. Prayer is looking to Christ. Our security and our confirmation
and our assurance under these trials is not in our swearing
an oath, but it's in the oath that God swore. Look at it in
Hebrews 6. And look at verse 16. He's talking
about Abraham here as an example. Hebrews 6. Well, look at verse
13. He says, For when God made promise
to Abraham. Now, I want you to understand
what God promised Abraham. The promise that The apostle
is talking about here is the promise of eternal salvation
in the Messiah who was to come. That's the promise he's talking
about here. God gave Abraham a lot of promises. Some of them
were temporal and temporary. Some of them were eternal. And
the promise he's talking about here, you'll have to read the
whole context now to see that, is the promise of the coming
of Christ to save Abraham from his sins. And Abraham looked
forward to that by promise. We look back at it. It's an accomplished
event in time. So he says, for when God made
promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he
swear by himself. You know, when you do make an
oath, when you do swear an oath, You try to swear by something
greater than yourself. That's what he's talking about.
In other words, if you hear kids on playgrounds, I swear by that
earthworm down there. I swear by God. Or I swear by
heaven. I swear by something greater
than us. That's the way a note is. Well,
how is God going to take a note? There's nothing greater than
God. He swore by himself. He swore an oath by himself. Verse 14, look at it. Saying,
Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
multiply thee. And so after he had patiently
endured, that's Abraham, he obtained the promise. For men barely swear
by the greater, something greater than themselves. And an oath
for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. That ends
the argument. Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise. Now who's that? Who are the heirs
of promise? Everyone who trusts Christ. Believers. The immutability of his counsel,
it cannot change. Confirmed it by an oath. What
oath? He swore by himself. He engaged
everything that he is to see through this promise. And he
says that by two immutable things, two unchangeable things, that's
God's oath and God's promise. He cannot go back on his word.
He cannot fail to keep His promise. In which it was impossible for
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, strong comfort and
assurance. In what now? Those two immutable
things. God's oath and God's promise.
Not your oath. Not my oath. Not your promise.
My promise. I promise to do this, God. That
confirms it. Oh, no. I'll break that promise.
Just put me in the right situation. Show me my weakness and my failures.
But not God. He says, a strong consolation.
Now, who's to have this strong consolation? Who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we
have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and
which entereth into that within the veil, whether the forerunner
for us is entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. God's promise and God's oath
is in Christ. who fulfilled all the conditions
of my salvation and who is my assurance." 2 Corinthians chapter
1 and verse 20. Now, you remember back here in
James 5, he said, let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. In
other words, it does no good for you going through this trial
to say anything more than yes and no when it comes to discussing
the issues of salvation and assurance You don't have to swear an oath.
It's no good anyway. Don't swear an oath. You just
look to Christ. And 2 Corinthians 1.20 says,
for all the promises of God are in Him, yea, and in Him, nay. Your yea and nay is in Christ,
not in yourself, not in your oaths. That's what James is talking
about. Now, he says, lest you fall into
condemnation. It could be that a believer,
in a moment of weakness, who doesn't utterly forsake Christ
unto condemnation, could be condemned in their conscience. That's possible.
That happens. And you'll be brought back. It
could be that you're just, or I, or somebody, just a false
professor, and we just totally deny Christ. I know this. If
we're born again by the Spirit, that won't happen. So what do you do? Keep looking
to Christ. Keep looking to Him. Run the
race of grace, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
your faith.