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OBEY HONESTY (7 OF 35)

by Steve Jones

Scripture: Matthew 5:33-37
This content is part of a series.


Obey Honesty (7 of 35)
Series: Obey Everything
Steve Jones
Matthew 5:33-37


SERMON SUMMARY: This sermon deals with Jesus' prohibition against using ''oaths.'' We address this under four headings 1) Baseline Honesty 2) Next Level Honesty, 3) Highest Level Honesty 4) The Opposite of Honesty.

INTRODUCTION: My sister-in-law is an emergency veterinarian. One night a man brought a dog into her clinic that had been injured in an accident. She told him how much it would cost to operate on the dog and save its life. The man said that the cost was just too high. It was his wife's dog, he said, and he asked her to just put the dog to sleep. Then he left. My sister-in-law felt sorry for the man, the dog and the wife so she decided to do the operation for free. The operation was successful. Two hours later, she called the man to give him the good news. There was a long pause on the other end of the line. The man replied, ''Now I have a problem. I told my wife that her dog died at the scene of the accident!''
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to DECEIVE. Let's talk about honesty today.
We're in a sermon series entitled ''Obey Everything'' in which we are mining the gospel of Matthew for the commands of Jesus. Today, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus warns us against making ''vows'' or taking ''oaths'' but the essential commandment to obey is the command to be honest.
This commandment of Jesus could not be more relevant or needed. Susan Carnicero is a former CIA officer who spent more than 20 years interrogating, interviewing and polygraphing suspects. In her book ''Spy the Lie'' she states that the AVERAGE person lies an average of ten times a day. Now, you all know that I strive to be ''above average'' but in this case, maybe not so much. The Bible says Pr.12:22 ''The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.'' So, let's dig into Jesus' teaching on honesty and see what we can learn.

I. BASELINE HONESTY IS KEEP ...

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