Let Your Word Be Your Bond | Matthew 23:18-22

[00:00:00] We'll truth, Daily This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman

[00:01:04] The Promised and the Old This. 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.

[00:01:13] You blind men for which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred. So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it and whoever swears by

[00:01:25] the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it and whoever swears by heavens swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. In other words, there shouldn't be a descending order of things that you swear upon to fulfill a promise.

[00:01:42] If you're making a promise to someone, if you're making a promise to God, don't find loopholes by finding things that are lesser than God. If you're making a promise to God, keep it. If you're making an oath to God, keep it. That's Jesus' point.

[00:01:58] And of course, the Pharisees' subscribers were looking for loopholes, looking for things that word is binding as making an oath to God. In other words, you can kind of re-nig on your promises. You can re-nig on your oaths if you swear by something lesser than God.

[00:02:14] Oh my goodness. No wonder Jesus came down so hard on these guys. So what's the bottom line of my devotion today? Be a person of your word. If you make a promise to God, keep it. If you make a promise to someone else, keep it.

[00:02:28] I think of this guy that was a good friend of mine at Bees Lutheran Church and he said, I always trust people who say, my word is my bond. And if it is true, if it's like a handshake, if they fulfill their promises, they're trustworthy.

[00:02:45] Now, I'm asking you today how trustworthy are you? If the word is speak to other people or the words you speak to God. The problem is sometimes we're not trustworthy, sometimes we're not reliable, sometimes

[00:02:58] when we make promises to other people or to God, we have good intentions but we don't fulfill them because of our sin nature and the temptations of the evil one. And a willingness in our part to save faith.

[00:03:11] And so we don't fulfill the promises we make to God into other people all the time. That's why sin enters in, sin enters in and we fail on our promises. So what do we do with that? Yeah, there's no hope. What do we do with that?

[00:03:28] We confess it before God. We say God created me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. We confess it before the Lord. We give it to the Lord Jesus. He died for it on the cross.

[00:03:40] We have the Holy Spirit's power to amend our sinful life. And as we go forward, we say in the strength and integrity of the Holy Spirit, inside of us, we say Lord Jesus, Heavenly Father, give me the strength to keep my promises.

[00:03:54] Both you and to those who have made promises too. And when I fail and when I fall and we will, we go back to the cross. We go back to what Jesus has done for us on Calvary's cross, receiving the forgiveness

[00:04:10] and pardon that only God can give us through his sin Jesus. Isn't it great to know that even when we fail on our promises, we're still accepted, loved and forgiven by God based on Jesus' merits? What a wonderful thing.

[00:04:24] So bottom line of this devotion today, be a person of your word. Be a person filled with integrity, fulfill your promises to God and fulfill your promises to other people. Oh, that'd be good. And of course the Pharisees and scribes were looking for loopholes.

[00:04:40] Oh, we can make promises before not going to make them to God. No, when you make them to other people, when you make promises to God, fulfill them by the power of the Holy Spirit.

[00:04:51] And when you fail, go back to the cross and receive His cleansing grace in the precious name of Jesus. We say all these things. And that is today's daily truth. Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:05:05] Thank you for tuning in to daily truths with Dave Olman. Pastor Dave Olman is the pastor of Mount Hoorchurch in Boulder, Colorado. If this ministry is blessing you, please consider supporting us by sharing this channel with a friend. You can also like, comment, subscribe or leave a review.

[00:05:21] This helps us tremendously. Come back tomorrow for your next daily truth.