Message above all things. And notice James language. He
says in verse 12, but above all things. Everything that I've
said to you up to this point, this is the most important. Now I dare say that. If you tried to guess what the
most important statement in the book of James is, you wouldn't
have guessed this, would you? I wouldn't have. I mean, there
are all kinds of powerful statements he makes in this book, and yet
he pauses near the end of this epistle and says, this is the
most important thing I've said above all things. Swear or not. This is the most important thing.
Swear not, would you have guessed him to say that this is the most
important thing in this book? Above all things, swear not,
neither by heaven, neither by earth, neither by any other oath,
but let your yay be yay and your nay, nay, lest you fall into
condemnation. Now he's not talking about cursing
and swearing and using bad language. Would everybody agree that we
ought not curse or swear or use bad language? We shouldn't. But that's not what he's talking
about. He's saying don't say I swear. I promise I will fill in the blank. And this is the most important
thing I'm saying. Don't say, I swear, I promise,
I will fill in the blank. Do not invoke
anything in heaven or upon the earth. Surely don't say, I swear
to God. You've just blasphemed. You blasphemed
horribly. And you ought to know yourself
enough to know you ought not ever say anything like that.
I swear to God. Well, you're a liar. You know
that, don't you? Don't you know that that's just a thing like
that? It's a terrible thing to say.
Don't make a promise to God. God, I promise I'm going to do
this. I swear. I swear by his name. Don't say I swear on my
mother's grave. That's horrible. Don't invoke
anything. by this way of promising. I will blank. No, you know anything
that begins with an I will is no good. You believe that? Anything that
begins with an I will, write it down. It's no good. Let your yea be yea and your
nay be nay lest you fall into condemnation. Now I'm not real
sure why the translators use the word condemnation because
every other time the word is used in the New Testament is
translated hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. One time dissimulation. When Peter went up and left the
table and Barnabas followed him and Paul said even Barnabas was
carried about with his dissimulation or his hypocrisy. Anytime you
or I use anything other than yes, our yes means yes, and our
no means no, we are practicing hypocrisy. Now does that mean
that it would be wrong If you were getting married, and you're
going through the marriage ceremony, and the preacher says, do you
promise to be faithful? And would you say, I can't make
that promise? There'd be something wrong with
that, wouldn't there? Matter of fact, I might just
close down the ceremony. What's the point in going on? Does that mean if you're in a
court of law and you're supposed to give witness and testify regarding
something? And the judge says you promised
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
And you say, I can't do that. You're gonna lie? Maybe. You're
gonna be thrown out of the court real quick. What do you think
would happen if you were borrowing money to buy a car? And you had
to sign that agreement saying you'll pay so much every month
in order to make that payment for that car. And they put that
before you and you say, well, I can't sign that. Do you think they're
going to give you the money? I guarantee you they won't. This
is not talking about things of that nature. You know, I tried
to listen to some sermons on this to see what people had to
say, and I just have to turn them off real quick, because
all they were talking about is the importance of being honest.
You need to be honest. You need to have your yay-yay
and your nay-nay. Well, anybody going to disagree
with that? Yeah, we ought to be honest. There's no question
about that. But that is not the spirit of what James is speaking
about. But above all things, this is
the most important statement of all. And as I said, James
had already made a lot of statements of immense importance. I think
of James 1.18, of his own will, begat he us through the word
of truth. Isn't that an important statement?
What about when he said, faith without works is dead? alone. Isn't that an important statement?
What about when he says humble yourself under the mighty hand
of God that he may exalt you in due time? Isn't that an important
statement? Everything in here is important.
Yet he says this is above all. Do not swear. Yes is yes, and no is to be no. Less is hypocrisy. Now let me give you one reason.
I'm gonna give you some other reasons, but let me give you one reason.
You ought not promise you're gonna do anything. How do you
know you'll be alive? How do you know you'll be able?
How do you know you won't be incapacitated? Look what he says in James chapter
four. Go to now, verse 13. Go to now, you could say today
or tomorrow we will go into such a city. Notice the language,
we will go into such a city and continue there a year. We're
going to do this for a year. Oh, oh, really? How do you know? And we'll buy
and sell and get game, whereas you know not what shall be on
the morrow. For what is your life? It's even a vapor that
appears for a little time and then vanishes away for that you
ought to say if the Lord will. We know everything's contingent
upon that. If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or
that. But now you rejoice in your boastings. This is what I'm going to do.
I will do this. All such rejoicing is evil. Now turn with me to
Matthew chapter five. Now, James, most people think
he was the Lord's brother, and I kind of imagine that James
was sitting there listening in to this when the Lord was bringing
the Sermon on the Mount. And look what the Lord says,
beginning in verse 33 of Matthew chapter 5. Again, you've heard
that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt perform
unto the Lord thine oath. Now, if you make an oath to the
Lord, if you make a promise to the Lord, you ought to keep it,
shouldn't you? Lord, I promise I'm gonna do this. Y'all keep
that oath. You've heard it said by them of old time. Keep your
oaths to the Lord. But look what the Lord said,
but I say to you, I love this. I love it when the Lord says
this. I say to you, I'm the ultimate authority. You've heard it said
by them of old time, but here's what I say, and here's what counts. Swear not at all. Don't you be making any promises
to God. You ought to know yourself well
enough to know that you won't keep them. Don't swear at all. Are you giving somebody an excuse
to not keep their promise? No, I'm saying just don't promise.
Swear not at all. It's an act of presumption. It's
an act of self-righteousness. It's an act of hypocrisy. For
anybody to say to God, I'm going to do this. You ought to know
yourself better than that. What will you do if the Lord
removes his hand off you for just a second? You ought to know yourself. Swear
not at all, neither by heaven, for it's God's throne. You don't
have any business invoking his name. It's his throne. Neither by the earth. James said
anything on the earth, for it's his footstool, it doesn't belong
to you. Neither by Jerusalem, for it's... Neither shalt thou
swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair wider
back. Like I'm gonna do this. You don't have the ability to
do it. You don't have the ability to do anything. You believe that? Swear not at all, but let your communication be
yea, yea, nay, nay. For whatsoever is more than these
cometh of evil. James says it comes of hypocrisy,
and the Lord Jesus Christ says it is evil. Swear not at all. Now, yea is a very powerful word. It's used 34 times in the New
Testaments, translated yea. Even so, yes, truth, verily,
surely, It's a statement of strong affirmation. When you say yay
to something, it comes from the depth of your being and the depth
of your soul. Give you a few examples. Two
blind men came up to the Lord and the Lord looked at them and
he said, do you believe that I am able to do this? Yay, Lord. They believe from the depths
of their heart in the ability of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. And as a matter of fact,
if you look in Luke's account, this is the only time it said
he rejoiced in spirit. He rejoiced in spirit and said,
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you have hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. Yea, even so, Father. Yes. That was his response to
what the Lord does. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. I think of when the Lord said
to the Syro-Phoenician woman, it's not neat to take the children's
bread and to throw it out to dogs. And you know how she responded? Yay, Lord, that's the truth. I strongly with everything you
say. And you know, there's No more powerful word than the
word, no. A dog understands it. You can
say to a dog, no. They know what you're saying.
How that is, I don't know, but they do. What a powerful word. No means an absolute negation. Let me give you some examples
of the way it's used in scripture. Paul said, I know. No debating about this. I know
that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good. There is none righteous, no,
not one. What a strong negation. John said, as many as received
him to them, gave you the power to become the sons of God, which
were born. Not same word, not of the flesh
or not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will
of man, that strong negation, but of God. I think when they
came to John the Baptist and they said, are you that prophet?
No. That answer's clear enough, doesn't
it? No. Yes is a strong affirmation and
no negation. Yes does not mean no and no does
not mean yes. Let your yes be yes and your
no be no. Now turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. I think that this is the key
verse to understanding why James said, above all things, don't
make any promises. Don't make your religion a religion
of personal resolve. This is what I'm going to do.
That's always gonna go astray. It's always gonna go awry. Don't
make your religion a religion of personal resolve. I'm gonna
do this. I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna,
no, don't make any promises. Now, 2 Corinthians chapter one. Let's begin reading. Yes, we believe the Bible is
our only rule of faith and practice. But we have a 452 page document
and confession that proves that. I listened to a fellow trying
to justify that, the confessions and creeds and so on. He said,
the Bible is a big book. I mean, you need to get something
condensed, man-made, Man-written, and yeah, we're going to look
at this. I'm not interested in anything men have to say. I'm
really not. And besides, I know the Bible's
a big book, but it's only got one message. If God has ever
taught you, you know what the message is. And you know the
meaning of every scripture. You might not know exactly how
to get there, but you know they all point to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, we believe the Bible's the word of God, but no, we deny
that by having all these confessions and creeds and all that kind
of foolishness. Is salvation all of grace? That's a question. Is salvation
all of grace? Yes, the Bible says that. Salvation's
all of grace. But if you don't accept God's
offer of grace, you won't be saved. Now what does that do? That puts salvation dependent
upon you accepting the offer rather than the grace of God.
That's saying yes and no to the same question. Is God sovereign? Oh, yes. I believe in the sovereignty
of God, and I believe in His sovereignty. He's decided to
let man have a free will. I've heard that from preachers. That's saying yes and no to the
same question. Is God immutable? Does He ever
change? No, He doesn't change. Of course
He's immutable. Except for the times He changes. He loves you, and then you won't
let him save you, and then you become an object of his wrath
rather than his love. He changes then, but he is immutable.
Yes and no to the same question. Did the death of Christ actually
put away sin? Yes. Yes. But you might go to hell anyway
if you don't accept him as your personal savior. Yes, he put
away sin, but your sin wouldn't be put away if you don't do something.
Even though he died for you, you might wind up in hell anyway.
Do you see how that's yea and nay preaching? Yes and no to
the precise same thing. Was the intention of Christ to
save everybody? Yeah. That's what he wanted to
do. But he didn't get the job done.
He failed. Some of the people he died for,
he wasn't able to save. Is the believer under the law?
No. No. Not in any way. Scripture says
you're not under the law, but under grace. Not under law, but
yes, we are under law as a rule of God of life and as a standard
of measurement to see how we're doing spiritually. How well are
you keeping the law? You see, it's yes and no to the
same question, isn't it? Can grace alone motivate? Yes. But if it doesn't work, we're
going to hold out hope for reward and fear of punishment. Is what we call sovereign grace,
election by the Father, redemption by the Son, regeneration by God
the Holy Spirit, is that the gospel? Yes. Yes. Do you think somebody can be
saved that doesn't hear that? Yeah, we believe that. Well,
if you believe that, you don't believe it's the gospel. You
don't believe it's the actual content of the gospel. That's
saying yes and no to the precise same things. Now, these are questions
that should be answered with a yes or a no. Is the Bible our
only rule of faith and practice? Yes. Is salvation all of grace? Yes,
from beginning to end, from election to glorification. Every aspect
of salvation is by the free and sovereign grace of God. Is God
sovereign? Absolutely. The very thoughts
going through your mind right now, He's in control of. He's
sovereign over the free, uncoerced actions and thoughts of men.
I love thinking about that. I love thinking about it. I think
of somebody rejoicing in what I'm saying and I think God's
sovereign in that. I think of somebody hating what I'm saying,
getting mad. God's sovereign in that. Don't
you love it that way? Is God absolutely sovereign?
Yes, he's in control of everything and everybody and every event.
Salvation is of the Lord. Does God love everybody without
exception? No. No. Thou hatest all workers of
iniquity. How are you going to get that
into universal love? Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Esau
hath a hated. And the point is behind something
like that, if God loves you, you'll be saved. That's the point. God's love is saving love. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Is faith alone enough? Well,
no. True faith is salvations by faith,
but if you don't have enough good works in your life to buttress
it, you don't have any right to believe. You need to see these
good works and so on in your life before you can really believe
you have faith. You need that golden grace. You
need to stop this sin and start doing this good thing, or your
faith is no good. That's not faith alone, is it? Faith alone is the only hope.
All you have that you think God would accept you is Christ only.
Nothing else. You see how in preaching there's
such yay and nay, yes and no to the same thing? Are you under law? No. Does grace motivate? Yes. Is sovereign grace the gospel?
Yes. Can you be saved if you don't
hear it and don't believe it? No. Let your yes be yes. And let
your no be no. Now let's go on reading. Verse
19. I love this. For the Son of God Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. Now our message is the Son of
God. Jesus Christ. You know, somebody
asked me recently, what is the difference between you guys and
the Reformed faith? And I said, well, number one,
Reformed faith believes this is not order of importance. The
last one's the most important. So I'm not saying this is the
most important. But the Reformed faith believes that people who
don't believe sovereign grace are still saved. I don't believe
that for a second. Number two, those people in Reformed faith,
they believe in progressive sanctification. They believe that you can progressively
become better by your works, by the things you do, by your
putting down the flesh and mortifying the flesh, you become more holy
and less sinful. And I said, you know, I'm going
to get that out of the scripture. It's not fair, and really where
that goes is if you believe that, number one, you gotta believe
in eventual Wesleyan perfectionism, and number two, you're denying
total depravity. You're saying the flesh can become
better by grace, which is a denial of total depravity in the first
place. But here's the main point. Those fellas don't preach Christ. They don't preach the Son of
God. You see, what we believe is determined by who we believe.
And he said our message was the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing yay-nay about
Him. Now look at this beautiful verse
of Scripture, verse 20. 4. All, all the promises of God In Him are ye. And in Him, amen. Unto the glory of God by us. Now, the first thing I want you
to notice is the word all. All the promises of God. God's got a lot of promises. All the promises of God are in
Him. That's why they're so sure. They're
all in Him. Turn with me to Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, before I go on
reading, when were these things given?
2 Timothy 1, 9 says, he saved us
and he called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which were
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. All these promises,
All these blessings, they're given us in Christ, and they
were given us before the world began. Now because of that, there's
nothing you can do to mess anything up. That's what's so blessed
about this. Verse 4, according as He hath
chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy. and without blame before Him. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted. Do you know what that
means? I can't get any more accepted,
any more loved, any more saved than I am right now. He hath made us accepted. And you know what? That's how
it was before the world began. The promises of God were all
made before time began. You see, the promise wasn't so
much made with you, it was made with Christ as your surety. Now
you're the one that benefits from that. But the promise wasn't
so much made with you. If the promise was just made
with you, if God just dealt with you, something could go wrong,
wouldn't it? You'd mess it up. But the promise was made with
Christ as the surety of God's people. Turn with me for a moment
to Galatians chapter three. Verse 18, for if the inheritance,
now don't miss that. Inheritance. You don't earn an
inheritance, do you? You get it because of who you're
connected to. That's why you get an inheritance. How many times have worthless
people inherited tons of money? They didn't deserve it. The only reason they got it is
because of who they were connected to. Isn't that what salvation
is? You see any difference? The inheritance. If the inheritance be of the
law, if it has something to do with you doing something in order
to get it, It's no more promise, but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. Now, if the blessings of the
inheritance were dependent upon something we do, it would not
be because of a promise God made before time began, would it?
But God gave it to Abraham by promise. And this is a promise
he made with Abraham surety before time began. before Abraham was
ever born. Look in Romans 4 for just a second.
All the promises of God in him are yea and amen. Verse 13, for the promise, the promise that he should be
the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Now what is the righteousness
of faith? It's the righteousness of Christ
given to you by God that you're relying on by faith. And the
reason God gives you everything He gives you is because of the
righteousness of God by faith. Not because of something you
do. Now He says in verse, I turned away from it, Let me get back
there. For the promise that he should
be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the
law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of none
effect. It becomes completely meaningless. Now the promise of God is the
will of God. The promise of God is the divine,
unalterable, irrevocable will of God. It's the link between
the divine thought and the divine act. The promise of God. He thinks it, and it's done completely. Think of his truth being bound
up with his promise. If one of his promises didn't
come to pass, his truth would not come to pass. If one of his
promises didn't come to pass, his immutability would be over.
He Wanted something that didn't happen, he would have to change.
If one of his promises didn't come to pass, he would call into
question his power. He didn't have the power to make
sure it came to pass. If one of his promises to his
people didn't come to pass, he would question his love. Can't
his love save? Isn't his love powerful enough
to save? His love would be meaningless. All the promises of God in him
are yea and amen. That means certain and accomplished. Everything we have, we have by
the promise of God in Christ Jesus. The promise of justification. Right now, I don't have any sin.
That's what justification means. I have no sin. Right now, I'm
a son of God. A real son of God where God owns
me as his son. Right now, there's no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Right now, all these promises
of God, they're all in Christ and they're all absolutely sure
and positive for sure. Yay and amen. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
six for just a moment. Hebrews chapter 6. Verse 4. For it is impossible
for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly
gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted
the good word of God and the powers of the world to come,
if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing
that they crucify to themselves the son of God afresh and put
him to an open shame. Now, I remember looking at that
verse of scripture and reading different men who said, this
is how close you can come and still be lost. If that's what it means, I'll
be lost. I mean, look at that. To be enlightened. To taste of the heavenly gift. To be made a partaker of the
Holy Ghost. To have tasted the good word
of God and the powers of the world to come. If they fall away,
Does this mean that you can come that close and fall away? And
if they do fall away, there's no way they can be recovered.
They put the son of God to an open shame. They crucify him
afresh. Now the key word is found in
verse four, for it is impossible. It's impossible. If you have been enlightened
by God, If you have tasted of the heavenly gift, not something
you earn, the gift, if you were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
if you've tasted the good word of God and the powers of the
world to come, why? If you'd fall away, I love this
last phrase, you put Christ to an open shame. You know, you'd lose a lot. I've
said this before. If I end up in hell, I'll lose a lot. But you know
who'd lose more? The Lord Jesus Christ. Because His honor is engaged
in saving the weakest of His sheep. And if any of His sheep
would end up perishing, yeah, we'd lose a lot, no doubt. But he'd lose more. For them
to be saved, he'd have to be crucified all over again. And
that's never going to happen. He died once. This is how secure
the promises of God are. It's impossible. It's impossible
to fall away. David said, although my house
be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, and this is all my
salvation, and this is all my desire, though he make it not
to grow. Now, do you see the incredible
importance to us of God's yes meaning yes? and his no meaning
no. Our salvation is wrapped up in
that. And in our communication of the
gospel, we're not to be yay, nay, for all the promises of
God in him are yay and amen. So be it to the glory of God Now the only words that describe
yea and nay to the same thing are hypocrisy and evil. Above all things, don't swear,
don't make some kind of resolve, I'm going to get better, I'm
going to turn things around, I'm going to start doing this
or I'm going to start doing that, I'm going to, I'm changing. Don't
talk like that. That's a religion of personal
resolve, and it's nothing but flesh. Nothing more. Let your
yea be yea, and your nay be nay. Anything else is evil and hypocrisy. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
promises of your promises that are in Christ Jesus, that are
all yea, certain, immutable, and amen, already accomplished. We give thanks. Lord, bless this message to our
understanding, to our hearts, for our good and for your glory,
and deliver us from preaching or believing the yenai gospel,
but teach us what it means for the yes to be yes and the no
to be no. We ask these things in Christ's
name, for his sake, amen.