The Sin We’re All Pretty Good at Hiding | The Gospels | Matthew 5:33–37
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Why does Jesus say we should let our ‘yes’ be yes and ‘no’ be no?
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I'm Keith Simon. Everyone thinks lying is wrong, and yet we all do it. Today we're going to consider the ways we lie and how big of a deal lying is to God. We're in the Sermon on the Mount. It's one of the most famous passages in all the Bible. You read the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5 through Matthew 7. Much of the Sermon on the Mount is in red letters, meaning this is an extended portion of Jesus' most important teaching on how to live the Christian life. So we're in that part of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus is explaining the Old Testament commandments and how they don't just deal with our behavior, but also our heart. In this section so far, we've seen Jesus address issues of murder and anger, adultery, lust, and divorce.
Today, we're going to talk about lying. Before we dive into the passage, I just want you to think a moment about God's law. I don't know if we have the right perspective on God's commands. It's almost like we think of God's law as a bummer, like it keeps us from enjoying life, that the law is the hard part of being a Christian. But I think that's exactly wrong. Dorothy Sayers was an author who was also a good friend of C.S. Lewis, and she was attempting to explain the moral law of God. And she pointed out that in our society, there are kind of two kinds of laws. There's the law of the stop sign, and then there's the law of the fire. The law of the stop sign is a law that says the traffic is heavy on a certain street, and as a result, the police department or the city council or whoever decides to erect a stop sign.
They also decide that if you run that stop sign, it will cost you $25 or $35. If the traffic changes, they can up the fine. If too many people are running the stop sign, they can make the fine $50 or $75. Or if they build a highway around the city, they can take the stop sign down or reduce the penalty. The police department or city council controls the law of the stop sign. It's arbitrary. It's flexible. The punishment or the financial penalty is made by people, and they can change the punishment. But then Dorothy Sayers said, there's also the law of the fire. And the law of the fire says that if you put your hand in a fire, you'll get burned.
How does Dorothy Sayers’ ‘law of the fire’ illustrate God’s moral law?
Now imagine that all the legislatures of all the nations in the entire world gathered in one great assembly and that they voted unanimously, that here on out, that fire would no longer burn. The first person who left the assembly and put their hand in the fire would discover that the law of the fire is very, very different than the law of the stop sign. Because the penalty for breaking the law of the fire is wrapped up in the fire itself. Like the moral law of God is the law of the fire. You never break God's laws. You just break yourself on them. The penalty can't be reduced because the penalty for breaking the law is bound up in the law itself. So if you worship other things than God, you'll become enslaved by them.
If you break the principle of Sabbath rest, you will burn out. If you have sex outside of God's plan for marriage, you will reap the painful emotional and physical consequences. If you covet, your soul will be left empty. God's commands are not intended to steal our joy as if God comes up with an arbitrary punishment to keep us from having too much fun. God's commands are for our good and are for our protection. We don't always like God's laws, but following them leads to true life. All right, so now let's think about what Jesus says about lying. Let me read the passage. It's in Matthew 5, beginning in verse 33. Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.
But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why does Jesus say we should let our ‘yes’ be yes and ‘no’ be no?
0:05–2:21
2
How does Dorothy Sayers’ ‘law of the fire’ illustrate God’s moral law?
2:21–4:55
3
What does Jesus’ teaching on oaths reveal about the heart of honesty?
4:55–6:52
4
Which everyday situations count as lying in today’s culture?
6:52–8:46
5
Why did the early church punish Ananias and Sapphira so severely?
8:46–10:40
6
What does Revelation say about the final fate of liars?
10:40–12:06
7
How is Jesus described as the only person who never lied?
12:06–12:54
8
What practical steps does the podcast suggest for building a consistent Bible habit?
12:54–13:35
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