October 16, 2002
I. Introduction:
A. Subject for tonight’s study—Word of Honor: Be Careful What You Say
B. We begin with the statement: “Word is power.”
1) From God’s word to ours, word is power.
a) Genesis reminds us that it is by God’s word that the universe came to be.
1. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
2. God said, “Let the land produce vegetation,” and the land produced all kinds of vegetation.
3. God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures,” and all kinds of fish existed.
b) The power of Jesus’ word
1. Mark 4:39, “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
2. Matthew 8:8, “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.”
c) Power of our word
1. Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
2. Deuteronomy 17:6, “At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.”
3. Matthew 17:20, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
II. Body:
A. Our words can used as tools
1) It can be used to inspire; it can be used to discourage.
2) It can be used to preach the gospel; it can be used to hinder the preaching of the gospel.
3) It can be used to tell the truth; it can be used to tell a lie.
4) It can be used to confess our sins; it can be used to cover it.
5) It can be used both for good and evil.
B. In view of the above, we are reminded to be careful with what we say.
1) Swift to hear, slow to speak
a) James 1:19, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:…”
2) Control your tongue
a) James 1:26, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.”
3) Think before you speak
a) Ecclesiastes 5:2, “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.”
4) Thinking of saying hurting words? Don’t talk.
a) Colossians 3:8, “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.”
C. What we say can and will be used against us. The vow that we make can cause someone’s life.
1) Jephthah’s pledge
a) Judges 11:30-35
b) In the hope of taking back their land, the king of the Ammonites attacked the people of God.
c) In response, the elders of Gilead sent for Jephthah, asking him to be their commander.
d) Jephthah accepted. But in accepting the challenge, he made a vow before God: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
e) Surely, the Lord gave Jephthah victory over the Ammonites. The only problem was, when he arrived home, the first person who came out from his house to meet him was his only daughter.
f) In spite of his great disappointment, Jephthah made a vow before God, and he fulfilled it.
2) We may question many aspects of this story, but the truth of the matter is this—what we say or pledge is binding. In this case, it caused the death of Jephthah’s only daughter.
3) In some cases, our pledge may cause our own death
a) Example of Ananias and Sapphira
1. Context of the story
i. Acts 4:32, “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”
ii. Acts 2:44, “And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”
2. Acts 5:1, “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
b) I am not sure if this is a very good motivation for church fund raising, nevertheless, at the time of the disciples, it worked very well.
1. Extreme circumstances, demanded extreme measures.
2. This is not to say that what we promise God today is less important than in the time of the disciples.
i. Matthew 12:36-37, “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
ii. Ellen White, in Counsels on Health, page 415, wrote, “Let your words be select; this will close a door against the adversary of souls. Let your day be entered upon with prayer; work as in God’s sight. His angels are ever by your side, making a record of your words, your deportment, and the manner in which your work is done.”
iii. Gospel Workers, page 451, Sis. White, wrote, “The thought should be ever present with us that we must meet the record of our lives, that we are building character for eternity. The influence of our words and acts will live, and will decide the destiny of souls. Angels of God are writing the history of our lives; let us be careful that the record is such as we shall not be ashamed to meet when the Judgment shall sit, and we shall receive according to the deeds done in the body.”
4) There is no doubt, our words has power. The words that we say are tools to inspire or discourage. It can be used to build up or destroy. The pledge and the vow that we make are binding. What we pledge can cause the life of someone very precious to us.
5) Question: How are we doing in the pledges that we have made before God?
D. Different pledges
1) Throughout our lives, we make different pledges.
a) At the beginning of every year, we make a New Year’s resolution.
b) When we received our Canadian citizenship, we made a pledge.
c) When we testify in the court of law, we make a pledge to “tell the truth and nothing but the truth.”
d) When we got married, we made a pledge to our spouses. We made a pledge to love our spouses in sickness and in health, in prosperity and in poverty, in good times and in bad times, etc.”
e) When we brought our children to the church to be dedicated, we made a pledge to bring them up according to the example that Christ has given us.
f) Just before our baptism, we made a vow before God. We proclaimed that:
i. There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
ii. We accepted the death of Christ on Calvary as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
iii. We have accepted Christ as our personal Savior.
iv. We have accepted by faith the righteousness of Christ
v. We proclaimed the Bible to be God’s inspired word.
vi. We have accepted the Ten Commandments as a transcript of God’s character and a guide for our daily conduct.
vii. We have accepted the Saturday as God’s true Sabbath.
viii. We proclaimed that Jesus is coming soon.
ix. We have accepted the biblical teaching of spiritual gifts.
x. We proclaimed that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and therefore we will take good care of it.
xi. We accepted the biblical teaching concerning adornment, simplicity in lifestyle.
xii. We proclaimed that marriage is a sacred institution given by God.
xiii. We accepted that the Seventh-day Adventist church is God’s remnant church.
xiv. We believed in the New Testament teaching on baptism by immersion.
2) Question: What have we done with the pledges that we have made with God?
a) How we forgotten it already?
b) How we ignored it?
c) Did we just make those pledges at the spur of the moment?
d) Did we make them because somebody pressured us to make them?
e) Did we make them to impress someone?
E. What is a vow?
1) According to Harper’s Bible Dictionary, the Hebrew word for “vow” or “oath” “comes from the number seven, the sacred and magical number in Hebrew culture.”
2) The number seven represents completeness and perfection. If this is true, then a vow is made with the expectation that something will be completed or perfected.
3) From this word origin, for a vow to be a vow, it has to be kept, completed and perfected. A vow that is not kept is now a vow.
a) Ecclesiastes 5:4 says, “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it . . .”
b) Deuteronomy 23:21, “When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.”
F. Just like the Hebrews
1) Joshua 24:21-24, “And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.”
a) Renewal of the covenant at Shechem
b) Joshua was old and was about to die
c) He summoned the people to renew their pledge before God.
d) After the people had made their pledge, they went again after other gods.
2) Jeremiah 42:5-6, “Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.
a) Babylon had just taken siege over Jerusalem.
b) Judah and the temple lay waste before the people
c) All of Judah’s noble and intellectual populace had been exiled to Babylon.
d) Only Jeremiah and a few poor people were left in Jerusalem.
e) At the same time, Babylon left a puppet ruler in Jerusalem by the name of Gedaliah.
f) Unfortunately, Gedaliah was assassinated.
g) And now the rulers have asked Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord.
h) They pledged to obey what God was going to reveal to them.
i) Jeremiah inquired the Lord. Told the people that God would protect the remnant of Judah if they would only stay in Jerusalem. If they decide to go to Egypt, the sword will overtake them.
j) While Jeremiah was telling them the message from the Lord, some leaders starting accusing him of lying. These leaders influenced the people to god to Egypt.
3) In the history of God’s people, we see this same scenario being repeated again and again.
G. A pledge is a sacred charge that we make before God.
1) When Jacob pledged before God that he would give a tenth for every blessing that God would give him, he made sure that he fulfilled it.
2) When Zaccheus vowed to give back three times what he owed to the people, he fulfilled his promise.
3) When Paul began testifying about his conversion, he was willing to guarantee his testimony with his life.
4) When Peter promised that he would follow Christ, he followed Him even to the point of being crucified upside down.
5) When John promised to serve Christ, he served Him even in the lonely island of Patmos.
6) John Huss paid his pledged to Christ by being burn at the stake.
7) The Anabaptists fulfilled their pledge by their willingness to be drowned at the Rhine River.
8) The early pioneers of the Adventist church fulfilled their pledge by sacrificing every means that they had to move the gospel forward.
9) Today, many of our missionaries leave the comfort of their homes, the support of their friends, for the sake of the gospel.
H. Question: What have we done with the pledge that we made with Christ?
III. Conclusion:
A. Heaven’s Council
1. Many years ago, a council in heaven was convened. A council composed of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
2. This is the most important council in the whole universe, for it is in this council that the fate of the whole universe depended upon.
3. In that council, a question was asked: Who would go to rescue the human race that is heading for destruction?
4. There was silence in heaven. The angels held their breath; perhaps thinking the worst.
5. But this silence was not long. Because out in the corridors of heaven, the eternal good news could be heard. Jesus made the pledge—He will be the Savior of the world.
6. Jesus then proceeded to remove His crown, cast it at the feet of His Father.
7. Removed His divine prerogatives, and cast it to the will of the Father.
8. The future passes before His eyes:
a) He sees himself being born of a woman, being raised in a carpenter’s shop
b) seeing himself surrounded by the wickedness of Nazareth,
c) being tempted by the Devil in the wilderness,
d) rejected by his people,
e) forsaken by his disciples,
f) interrogated by the high priests and the Roman governor,
g) whipped by Roman soldiers,
h) spit upon by those that he fed,
i) stripped naked by those he came to save
j) nailed on a cruel cross
k) pierced by his side
l) giving up the Holy Ghost
m) And suddenly, Christ could not see anything else.
n) Christ could not see beyond the grave.
B. But as He had pledged, He fulfilled His promise.
