“Truth”

Exodus 20:16

The positive element of this command includes a call to become people who are trustworthy.

Jesus spoke to this calling in Matthew 5:33–37.

The point of this teaching can be found in Matthew 5:37, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

We swear by things outside of us because we know we have a credibility problem.

We can hear an example of how to address this problem in the message of James 3:1–12.

The Lord wants his people to be like himself, to be a people who do not lie. We can hear this truth in Numbers 23:19.

The big idea from James 3:1–12 is that we cannot bring God praise from the same mouth that is filled with lies, gossip, and the cursing of men.

Jesus makes this point clearly in Luke 6:43–45.

At the very heart of this message from the Lord is a question that each one of us needs to answer: “What kind of fruit do you want to produce?”