Exodus 20 Bible Study (The Third Commandment) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Let's stand together. It's one simple verse, but it's still worthy of our reverence. And it's worthy of our attention. Exodus chapter 20 beginning in verse seven. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Father, we thank you again for this word, unending in revelation, blessing upon blessing. And, Lord, we just ask that as we continue in the 10 commandments, you would continue to reveal to us who you are and the blessings that come from your commands. Provide them, we have life. And we thank you, Lord, for Jesus who fulfilled the law for us because we could not do it. But, Lord, we also thank you that by the spirit, you have written them written them on our hearts.

So now we long for them. So, Lord, as we, with your word, through your word, and in your word, discover this command, give us clarity from confusion and give us willingness to obey. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.

The first two commandments of the 10 commandments and as we finish these 10 commandments, you're probably gonna hear the same introduction following up from what we learned last week. And that's okay because it's gonna stick in our brains that much more. The first two commandments dealt specifically with the people and their complete devotion and adoration towards God. That there were to be no other God but this God, the true and living God, the only God. And that they were not to even take this God, if they have decided to worship him, and try to manipulate him, or try to carve him into their own image, or try to remove things of him that they might not feel too comfortable with or add something to him that they might need concerning their carnal flesh to be fulfilled.

And we are motivated here to understand why these two commandments are important because he is what? Why is he giving these commands? It's in the second verse, and we talked about extensively. Why did God give these first two commandments? Because he's a jealous God.

He is jealous, ferociously jealous that he himself wants us for himself complete adoration, complete devotion, complete sacrifice unto him and him alone. And that is something that we can agree with concerning on a human level. If any of us wanna be in any covenant relationship, we want total devotion from that spouse, from that person, and God wants nothing less. Now when we come to the third commandment, we are still dealing with God's righteous passion. His fiery zeal for total obedience to him is found in verse one and two, and that passion continues in in in this third commandment.

But the object of his passion is not us. The first two commandments, the object of his passion is you and me. I want you. I'm jealous for you, for the spirit that I've made to dwell in you. You're mine, and we should be stirred by that.

But the third commandment, he has a he has a righteous zeal, but it's not for us necessarily. And we can rejoice that God gives us commands and God gives us instructions because he loves us, but there's something else that motivates God. What is it? Read it right there. You shall not take the name of the Lord.

What is he zealous for? What is he jealous for? What is he passionate about? His name. His name.

And though he is, yes, again, motivated by love to sacrifice and to show long suffering and to even demonstrate his power, isn't it wonderful that when you read Jesus performing miracles, oftentimes it's coupled with the revelation that he is compassionate? That he did his miracles because he was a compassion he is a compassionate god. But we can never imbalance that truth by removing the understanding that he's also jealous for his glory. And so you kinda have these two ideas concerning how God relates to man. You have those that say it's all about his love.

He loves us. He died for us because he loves us. That's true. But they don't they don't talk about the fact that he also wants to glorify himself. Then you have the other side that's all about God's glory.

Jesus died for his glory. Jesus did this for his glory. Jesus all these things, he saves for his glory. He heals for his glory, and then they don't really talk about the love. Can we just marry the two and just be balanced?

He loves us and he is jealous for us, but he also is jealous for his name. And this commandment has to do exactly with that name, his name. And so he's speaking to those who are familiar with his name. And what is he trying to say here? He's trying to say this.

I want you to be careful how you handle my name. Because based on how you handle my name will determine how I will receive glory, honor, and recognition. How we as his people treat this name will determine to some degree how God through us will receive glory to his name. And so we have to really take heed to this, but we're gonna realize, I believe more than anything, how God really values his name. It's probably gonna shock us the extent that God goes to to make sure that his name is protected concerning its reputation.

And so what does he do? He gives us different titles of his name. He reveals himself early on in Exodus as I am, I am who I am. And the beauty about all of his titles and all of these things that he relates to himself is ultimately a reflection of his character. We have to remember that.

Even names given to certain saints in the scriptures and certain people, as we know, are given because it reveals something about either that person's character or that person's destiny. And it's so much more true for God that his name why? Because when we mention his name and when we speak of his name, we would be reminded of a certain attribute. We would be reminded just by the mention of his name, we would know that he is holy, that He is powerful, that He is loving, that He is gracious and forgiving. Now if that name is associated with anything other than who He truly is, it becomes an assault to his character.

None of us in here would like our name associated to a certain circumstance or situation or even a person that is not living righteously or that is not acting holy or a situation that is not honorable. None of us wanna be associated, and we have the right to be frustrated if somebody does bring our name into something that it should not be brought into. How much more, God? How much more God? And so this commandment has everything to do with that.

Let me read this verse to you in Exodus nine sixteen. He says this early on. But for this purpose, he's talking about raising up pharaoh, but for this purpose, I have raised you up to show you my power. Why? So that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

I want my name to be known throughout the entire world, And I want my name to carry such a reputation that when they hear my name, they would know my acts. That at the mention of my name, they would know that I am the God that delivered my people out of Egypt, that split the Red Sea, that destroyed all the false gods of Pharaoh and all of his nation. Psalms 111 verse nine. This is powerful. He sent redemption to his people.

He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. Holy and awesome is his name. So if we really want to get to the center reason for this command, it's for this. He wants to instill in the minds of his people an understanding of his name in such a way, pay attention, that we would be careful how to use it in our verbal activity, and we would revere it when it is mentioned amongst us.

Let Let me say that again. God, through this command, wants to instill in his people such an understanding of his name that we would be careful of how to use it in our verbal activity, and we would revere him when it is even mentioned by a whisper. This is what he's trying to do. He says, don't don't take my name in vain, which now we open up to one another. What does it mean to take God's name in vain?

To source like you said, associate with anything that, isn't glorifying him. But at the same time, if you if you you call yourself, for example, Christian call ourselves Christian, we should walk a life that, honors God. The same for them. If they associate themselves with God, they should have to walk the life that God intends for them, or else that through action is taking his name in vain. It's smearing his name.

So we're not just strictly talking about some lip service here, are we? Is God taking God's name in vain strictly restricted to how we speak of him or how we live? How we live. And we're gonna see that more than anything. Yes.

So we represent his name, so how I live must be in line with the person and the God that I represent. What other things involve taking God's name in vain? Associating to things that are not glorifying him? Absolutely. Yeah.

Using the Lord's name to push an agenda that's not up.

Oh, yeah. We see that a lot, unfortunately, today. We're gonna talk about it in a moment too. Taking his name for the purpose of advancing an agenda. Yeah.

Can you give an example of that?

Oh, we'll get into it. We'll see it. Yeah. We're gonna discover it in a moment. Yes.

I'm just gonna say

that, people think of the most, like, to attach his name to a curse or something that's just not his character that kind of, like, stain like, paints his name in a sense.

So dragging his name in the dirt to even associate him or to even say something in the same sentence that does not honor or glorify who he is. Absolutely. And that's kind of the common way we understand taking God's name in vain is that we put his name or we replace his name with something that is not holy. Sure. Any other way we can take God's name in vain?

This is important. So we said some surprisingly, because people have this narrow view of taking God's name in vain, is saying that three lettered phrase, when you receive bad news or when you're surprised or when you get startled by something, it's deeper than that. Yeah. Swearing. That's as simple as that.

When we use his name as a cuss word, that's the common view. Absolutely. And we shouldn't neglect that, though that is the main way. There are many ways. Yes.

The way we live, associating his name to what is not holy, not glorifying his name. Cussing and swearing. Absolutely. Advancing agenda. Yes.

Well, it would help us to look into what the word vain means. The Hebrew word for vain is shav. The root word is shav. And in this sense, it has three main words that are associated with it. One of them is worthlessness.

Worthlessness. The other is falseness. Falseness and valueless. So when we're talking about something being in vain, it's something that is false. It's It's associated with something that is false.

It's associated with something that is worthless and valueless. And in the root word, it even has this idea of destruction. Destruction. So when we look at the original language, god is saying and and we can we can look at it different ways. Don't use my name in such a way where you destroy it, or don't use my name in such a way that I am related to something that is false.

Don't use my name in a way that makes it worthless. Don't be so casual with my name that it's almost lost its value. And so it has to do with all these things. And so if we were to kind of rephrase this command, we can make it as simple as this. You shall not address God's name casually or represent it falsely.

You shall not address God casually or represent it falsely. Remember that. And this is what he's saying. It's beyond using my name in the same sentence as a cuss word, though that is part of it. And so I want us to talk about the different ways in which we can take God's name in vain.

Number one in our speech, and there's subcategories with that. In our speech, the first way that somebody can take God's name in vain is how we address his name. How one addresses the name that is above every other name. What did Jesus say when he taught his people how to pray? When you pray, what does he say?

Does anybody know the Lord's Prayer? Pray then like this. Don't pray this. You can pray it, but we have a whole system now that's built upon repetition and vain ritualistic addressing to God. No.

Pray then like this. Take the elements of this prayer and apply it to your own prayer life. What is it? What's the first thing that he says? Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Hallowed be your name. What does that mean? Sacred. Yes. Glory.

Yes. But what's the address being what is it? What is it? What are we saying when we say hallowed be your name? Holiness to your name.

Yes. Glorifying your

name? Set

apart. Yes. That's the main part, being set apart. So it's addressing God in this way. Your name is like no other name.

You are lovely. You are holy. You are beyond my understanding. You are great and greatly to be praised. And so what Jesus is even telling us as believers how to address God is that we should address him in such a way that you would not address somebody else.

How you address someone reveals a lot of how you respect them. Isn't that true? How you address an individual reveals much about how you respect them. Now no matter what your opinion is of the president, the president came here to give a speech. I don't know why he would, but if he came here to give a speech, and there was an open q and a.

I don't think well, this day and age, probably. Nobody would be bold enough to say, hey, Donald or hey, DT. If you've ever been in court, you know what you have to say to the judge when you wanna address the judge. Your honor. Why?

Because there are certain people who have been given a level of authority and their position carries power, and that alone deserves our respect. There are certain people who have been given authority in a position of power, and that alone causes us to address them in a way knowing that they can exercise that authority. Now how much more for the name that is above every other name? How much more are we to address the holy one? The one, again, who has been given the name above every other name.

You know what it means? That he has authority over all authorities. And all the powers of this world combined cannot even come close to the power that comes from his breath alone. And this is the one that you and I have access to pray to, which is amazing because there's a mingling of two realities. There's this understanding of him being father, but then I still in the same breath have to say hallowed be your name.

How do you reconcile that? That's an important question. How do you and I reconcile the fact that he is father, but he's also king of the universe? How do you reconcile that in your prayer life? How do you understand that in your walk with the lord?

That he is father, but he's also king.

Well, you would revere your father. Right?

Yeah. I hope so. Yeah. Absolutely.

So it's the same thing you you would honor your father. So you honor the lord. You have fear of your father as well. Are there anything along those lines?

Sure. And I think that's becoming increasingly difficult because we have a lot of this generation that doesn't even know how to respect their own parents, that don't even know how to address their own parents. And if you can't address people that you can see respectfully, how are you gonna address someone you can't see respectfully? Sure. How do you reconcile father and that if you were to even meditate upon his holiness, you would you would realize that the ground is not low enough for you to lay prostrate on.

How would you explain it to somebody who comes up to you and says, you believe God is like your father. Right? Sure. But you you also believe that he's the God of the entire universe. Right?

Sure. How do you reconcile that? And I believe one way to reconcile that, at least in my own mind, is that when I do understand him as father, the place for me to come to into to revering him is understanding how I became a son. When I realize that he's not just automatically my father, the world is not God's children. That is a right given to those who believe on his son.

So when I come to the place of understanding that God is father, I must also in that same thought realize that that's not something that came about automatically. And there was something done for me to become His son. And when I realized that that transaction of identity has come through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that the same one that I call father is the same one that poured out His wrath upon the son, and on the cross allowed him to experience a pain that is beyond anything that we can even comprehend. For me to be adopted as a son, in that same thought, you will feel the weight of his holiness. You will.

And you will realize that though he is father, for him as king to bring you to that place of having relationship with him is an astounding thing. That he is just, he is holy, he's all these things, yet I can still call him father and it brings you into that balance of understanding how, yes, he is king, but he deserves my reverence. And so that's the beauty of it. How we address him. And you've heard me say this before, but it's worth mentioning again.

There is there is a casualty towards God and even the way we address him. I remember when I was first saved and we were doing these group little things where we would come and just have group discussions after the church service. And I would hear this is just freshly saved. I would hear the way people would address God and just just a new as a new believer, I would say that just doesn't sound right. It just doesn't seem appropriate to say these words or to be so casual.

And as you grow in your knowledge of God, you will realize that. And if you really meditate upon who he is, even in your prayers, you will be careful with how you address him. Even behind pulpits, One thing to observe is to see how that individual addresses God. And oftentimes, you see a very flippant, cool, relaxed Jesus. Yet that person does not even realize that that sermon that they prepared will be brought up at the judgment seat of Christ, and they will be judged for what they just preached that day.

And so we have to have this understanding of addressing him rightly. Jesus even said, when you pray, say how holy his name is. Sanctify his name even in the way you address him. We do not take the Lord's name in vain by addressing him wrongly. Not just by how we address him, but how we apply his name.

The first one is how we address his name. The second way in which one can take the Lord's name in vain is how we apply his name. Leviticus nineteen twelve says this, you shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your god. I am the lord. You shall not swear by my name falsely.

Now what does that mean?

Don't take an oath by god's name.

Don't take an oath by god's name? Is that all what it means? That's part big part of it? Absolutely?

So if you make the promise in invoke the Lord as, like, your witness or I mean, his name, I promise you this, and you don't keep it, don't do that because you're saying his name.

What is he exactly what he's saying there? In your attempt to validate your statement to be true when in fact you yourself know it's false, and you bring in the name of God to that statement, you just took in his name in vain. And so when somebody says, oh, I swear to that I will do this, and I promise to that I will perform this, and you and your mind know that you will not. You are associating God's name to something like deception and a lie, and he wants no part of it because he's holy. And so he says, don't swear by my name falsely.

I want nothing to do with falsehood. I want nothing to do with deception. I want nothing to do with lies. Keep me out of it. And Jesus takes it up a notch.

He takes it up a notch. Does he not? Where does he do that? Does anybody know? Matthew five.

Matthew five, thirty four to 35. What did he say? But I say to you, do not take an oath at all. Why? Well, it tells us what we're not supposed to associate with an oath.

By heaven, for it is the throne of God, or in other words, it's where God dwells, or on earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And then he goes on to say, just let your yes be yes and your no be no. We have to understand this because what Jesus is saying here to believers is absolutely brilliant. So he's saying here, hey. Hey.

Hey. Don't even take an oath at all. Don't try to swear by this or swear by that or swear even on your own head. Don't. But just let your yes be yes and your no be no.

What is he trying to say? Because it's challenging. Yes.

To say if you're, truthful and no one or a man in the word, then you don't need to swear on anything. People know that you're honest.

Bingo. The Lord wants to develop believers that are so honest in their character and are so consistent in their commitment that when you just say, Yes, it's a done deal. It's gonna happen. And when you say no, it's no. And what he's trying to say is, I don't want you to try to enhance the truthfulness of your statement by trying to bring my name into it or you swearing by something.

I want you to be such an honest person. I I want you to be such a woman of your word, such a man of your word that when you say you're gonna do something, the person that you said yes to will not even question it. Oh, how convicting is that? Are you a person that if you say yes to something, that person can guarantee he'll do it? Or if that person says no, can you trust that person?

And maybe you know somebody that said yes to something so many times that if you were to ask them again, you know there's a question mark even when you ask them. Hey. Are you gonna do this? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And in your mind, you're like, you're not gonna do it. You say, what's a modern way of looking at it? Well, here's a modern way of looking at it.

Hey, can you do this? I'll pray about it. And you know the person who just said that, you know that the answer is no. Yeah. Yeah.

I'll pray about it. And maybe you are gonna pray about it. If that's the case, then pray about it. But if you know in your answer as that person is saying something to you, you're like, I'll pray about it, when the answer is no, just say no. Just be a man of your word and say, I can't.

I can't. I love the story about Nathaniel, that short little story because when he when he encounters Jesus, Jesus says something about him. What does he say? A man in whom there is no deceit. A man in whom there is no deceit.

He was so truthful in his statements. He said, what good can come out of Nazareth? And so what you hear is what you get. Now don't confuse that with rudeness. Don't confuse boldness with rudeness.

There's a difference. But there's something about a heart in which when they say something, you know that they're honest in their statement. That there's no fogginess. There's no haze. You're like, I don't know.

It's just plain truth. And Jesus wants to produce that in his disciples. He said, don't try to be somebody that says, okay. I'm gonna make this statement more weighty by associating God's name with it. I'm just gonna be a person that's so consistent.

When I say something, people will believe me. And so how we apply his name. Now there are certain circumstances, especially you're gonna hear this and you're gonna read through the epistles, and you're gonna see moments where even Paul takes an oath. There are certain circumstances, and that's beyond the the teaching now. Even in this life, you might have to take an oath in some circumstances.

That's different. There's a sense here where Jesus is saying don't be flippant and loose and voluntary with just making oaths as a habit or because you want to try to prove your statement to be more true. Just be an honest person. Build such a reputation that people will take you for what you say. Just feel the weight of conviction, just how powerful our words are and how Jesus takes them so seriously.

Not only how we apply his name to our statements, to our promises, but how we speak on behalf of his name. So we talked about how we address his name. We talked about how we apply his name. Now it's how we speak on behalf of his name. Let me read this text from Jeremiah.

You don't have to turn there. I'll just read it. He's talking about the false prophets. And he says this in Jeremiah twenty seven fifteen. I have not sent them, declares the Lord.

I have not sent them, but they are prophesying falsely in my name. The famous three letter phrase that you hear, I hope not too often, especially if it's not true. God told me, fill in the blank. And there are some people that say that so frequently for whatever reason. There are some people who say certain things and they just wanna say God told them so that they can just sound more spiritual.

It's like, listen, that's not that deep of a revelation. It's pretty plain. But just because I wanna be more spiritual you know, the Lord told me this. Really? And to a more serious level, there are people who, because they want to advance an agenda, will bring in the name of the Lord to affect the naive.

You know what it says in Romans about false teachers? It says that they affect the naive. It's the naive that buy into false teaching. And you might be thinking, really? This stuff happens?

I remember when somebody came up to me. I don't know why they did this. Maybe they would just try to test it. Who subscribed to a certain person's ministry. And They would get newsletters and different things, but this was like a text message thing.

And this person showed me a text message of this man of God who said, the angel of the Lord in the text message. I read it for myself. The angel of the Lord appeared to me and gave me instructions for you. Send via text or through PayPal $50 for me to reveal what the angel of the Lord revealed to you. Can you believe that?

You and I are sighing and we're laughing, but here's the thing. People actually buy into it, or else those things wouldn't last. And those people wouldn't be living in those kind of mansions and driving those kind of cars because people don't read their Bibles and don't have it under they're so moved by emotion. They're so moved by the supernatural that anything that comes, they're willing to buy into it because they do not have the filter of the scriptures before them. You've heard me say this before, and I will say it again.

You can come to such a place in your understanding and the handling of the sword of the spirit that even if you were to hear a sermon and you hear some statement being made, you can recognize when it's true or false because your your mind is saturated with the truth. Where an alarm goes off because you know the scripture, when somebody declares something contrary to the scripture, or somebody delivers the scriptures even in an unworthy manner, you can detect it because you have the wisdom of God. I fear terribly for those who casually use God's name to advance a message or their ministry or their reputation. And I would love to unpack this more concerning what do we do with somebody who says, you know, I feel like the Lord has prompted something on my heart. But listen, even if if you if you have that where the Lord puts something on your heart and you sense that and and and you pray about and you seek wisdom on it, we always have to, once again, approach it with caution.

Always with caution. Because what can happen is and what has happened is, and there are a lot of people who are experiencing this even now, that because somebody has been so flippant with this God told me, and whatever they told them happens not to be true or happens to be something that's false, affects that person to a level that you and I can't even imagine. And there are people who have been haunted by years by a statement being made by somebody who was so arrogant enough to not even say something in a way where they they approach it with humility And say, you know, I've been praying for you and I don't know if this is this is the Lord or what, but just take this and just bring it before the Lord. But come with such arrogance because they wanna seem bold and they wanna seem prophet like, and they damage people. And they walk with the sense of being haunted by something that they don't even know if it's true or not.

And so there has to be caution around his name. And ultimately, more than anything, though people might be damaged by it, and people can be greatly edified by it. Like I said, I won't unpack this too much. I'm trying to restrain myself here. But ultimately, God's name, God's name is involved with that.

The last thing anybody should want is somebody to be turned off by God because of how loosely we use his name. How we address his name, how we apply his name, and how we speak on behalf of his name is crucial to understanding this third commandment. Is there any other way we can do this? There's an example of this in scripture being played out, and it's tucked in a book that you wouldn't think is in there. Automatically, everybody knows what book we're talking about.

It's in first Kings.

First Kings? Okay. Maybe there's something I don't know about. Go ahead. What is it?

Where the prophet of God went and condemned Jeroboam, and God told him to stay in like, don't eat or drink in in Israel. And another prophet came and said, I'm also a prophet of God, but you know what? Listen to me and lie here and, rest. And when he came out, God sent a lion to, devour that prophet.

Yeah. Yeah. That's a that's first Kings 13, I believe. And that's a tricky, tricky text concerning this prophet that was sent by God, and he was told to not go back the way he was he came in and to not stop. He was supposed to just give his message and and go back, and then somebody comes in and tells him otherwise.

And he believed that man's word rather than his understanding what God spoke to him, and it's a whole mess. And that is that is an example we can explore. The one I had in mind is actually found in the book of Leviticus, chapter 24, verse 10. Let's turn that together. Leviticus chapter 24 verse 10.

Now an Israelite woman's son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel, and the Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel fought in the camp. Verse 11. And the Israelite woman's son blasphemed the name and cursed. Then they brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelometh, the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan.

And they put him in custody till the will of the Lord should be clear to them. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and and let all the congregation stone him. Wow. And speak to the people of Israel saying, whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death.

All the congregation shall stone him, the sojourner as well as the native. When he blasphemes the name, he shall be put to death. Don't lift up your hand. Don't respond. How many of us in here honestly feel comfort uncomfortable with that story?

How many of us just read that right now and your thoughts went automatically automatically to this question? That's a little bit extreme, isn't it? That's a little bit over the top, wouldn't you think? But I wanna challenge you with this thought, that we are so saturated in a culture of dishonor. We are so surrounded by people who speak with such vulgarity and blasphemy in our music, in our movies, in our conversations.

You can you can be you can be sitting I was just in the barbershop, Just sitting beside somebody just hearing he was on the phone just hearing the vulgarity coming. Just it's just everywhere to the point where we become so normalized. And it becomes so part of our day that when God brings the seriousness of taking his name in vain to this story, all of us are shocked. Do you do you understand what I'm trying to say? God has a different perspective on his name than most people do today.

And because even the people of God can be subconsciously trained to understand the normality of cursing and taking his name so lightly, when we come to the scriptures and see what God demands of us, it's almost offensive to us. It's almost offensive to us. That's not just true for the third commandment. That's true of any sin. Here here's evidence for it right now.

Homosexuality is a sin. The Bible declares that homosexuality is an unnatural desire. Now as I'm saying that right now, what's going on in your heart? Because even amongst the people of God, if you were to address a sin, what the scriptures revealed to be sin, an alarm goes off. There's a where you perk up and you go, did he just say that?

Did he just say that so bluntly? Did he just say that just like that? He should have came in a lot softer than what he just said. Do you understand what I'm saying? When the Bible is so clear about it, and I know there needs to be a wisdom and there needs to be an under understanding of how to address these things in love.

But what I'm trying to say is we are trying to remove even the sting of sin because we are being affected by our culture. So we pillow even the preaching of God's word to make sure that nobody's stirred and that nobody's uncomfortable when the very proclamation of the gospel and of sin is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. To bring you to a place of realizing that God has a different standard. And here's the disservice that we do when we try to remove what God wants to say so clearly. We bring people to a place where they think, well, it's not that big of a deal.

It's not that big of a deal. So if the preacher who represents God doesn't make it a big deal, then maybe it's not that big of a deal in my life. I remember sitting in a room with leaders in a q and a, and they were interviewing younger pastors that were just ordained to be pastors. And they were giving these younger people questions concerning our culture and everything else. And one of the questions is how do we address this problem of homosexuality?

And the moderator, as we were discussing, as people were they were going back and forth, he wouldn't even call it a sin. That when it came to addressing it, it was it there was so much hesitation. So it was replaced with an unhealthy way of living and not the way God designed it. And guess what? That's because we've allowed our minds to be saturated with what the culture says rather than what the word of God says.

I am not an advocate for bashing people even in their sin because Jesus didn't do that. Nevertheless, we are not to take on the perspective of the world concerning sin. We are to take on what God says about sin. And so we come to something like this and we go, that's a little bit extreme. And you know what?

That's okay. I'm not saying it's a sin to think that, But let's understand why this is happening. Notice with me here that this is in the book of Leviticus, this is something concerning the instructions given to the people at the birthing stage of a nation. This is not something down the road. This is in the developmental stage of them growing as a people.

And God does it in more than one way where he makes it abundantly clear of what he's expecting from his people. And we see here that this person blasphemes God, like, directly. So in this fight with this other Israelite, there seems to be an altercation. And this man apparently wants to get at this person by cursing his God. And there seems to be that ins that that truth because his father was an Egyptian.

He was part of that mixed multitude that came up. So maybe his father wasn't a believer in in Yahweh, or maybe his father had that practice and that just affected him as a child. No matter what angle you look at it, he tries to curse the name of God. And when he does curse the name of God, God puts his foot down. Why?

Isn't phraseology so easy to mimic that terms and slangs and words can so be contagious within a short you know, know, somebody comes in here and they say a statement, and it could just spread like wildfire. No? Right? And some of us can give examples of that. Or maybe you hang around with somebody so long and you appreciate that person subconsciously, you just begin to develop their phraseology.

You begin talking like them and maneuvering like them. K. This is what God's doing. I'm not gonna let this person infect the rest. I'm not gonna let this individual curse my name.

And so make that a common thing amongst the others, and it become a habitual, normal thing like it is today. And so I'm gonna make a statement. My name is holy. My name is holy. And I'm not gonna develop a people and raise a people that will, when they're frustrated, curse my name like it's nothing.

And so he makes this bold example out of this man, which I find so fascinating because you don't even know his name. Look at how it addresses him. It addresses him how? The Israelite woman's son. The Israelite woman's son.

The Israelite woman's son. Why? Because if you're not gonna honor God's name, God won't even recognize yours. That's what I believe is happening right there. It doesn't even wanna give him the name.

It wants to just show my name must be revered. Because when you assault my name, you assault my character, you assault my reputation. For there is no other name given among men under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. It is the access through the name of Jesus that we can come to God in prayer. The name of the Lord is a strong tower.

Right? Is it no wonder that Satan, the prince of the power of the air, has made the name of Jesus presented with such blasphemy filth and venom so that when that name is presented and when that name is heard, it would be defiled because it's associated with so much junk in this world. Do you see that Satan is is literally attempting to assault his name so so that when you hear his name, you wouldn't think about the power that he has. You wouldn't think about his salvation. You wouldn't think about his goodness.

It would just be something that you express in frustration. It would be something that you say because you just express yourself that way. It becomes something casual. The devil knows what can happen when people understand the name of Jesus rightly. And so he wants to try to mar it, drag it in the dirt, defile it and God is fighting for the glory of his name.

And we as his people have to honor that. He says here, through this, it's not a light thing. But we've talked up to this point, and we're almost done here. We talked up to this point about how the Lord's name in vain is something that's done through speech. But we have to understand that you and I could be a people that are squeaky clean and not taking the Lord's name in vain.

That we don't address it falsely, that we address it with holiness. All those things. And all of those things can be absolutely pointless and effectiveness based on another thing. And what's that? The way we live.

The way we live. I'm gonna read something to you in Romans chapter two. You can turn there if you want. Romans chapter two verse 21. While you preach against stealing, do you steal?

He's talking to the Jews. You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor hide idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, dishonor God by breaking the law. For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Right there. He's addressing the Jews for living as hypocrites. And their hypocritical living is bringing blasphemy to God's name to the onlookers of supposedly the people of God. He's saying, you Jews are saying how you're righteous, and you have the law, and you're not living according to law. And the Gentiles around are looking in and they're saying, wait a minute, but you're living contrary to what you're preaching.

And look at this. We think that this only affects us. No. God's name is violated in that. Do you see the depths of the dangers of hypocrisy?

No wonder Jesus came on the scene, and the harshest tone he had was concerning hypocrites. Not towards the prostitute, not towards the adulterer, not towards the the tax collector. The ones that had this portrayal of righteousness and Jesus says, listen. You're hypocrites. You have greed in you.

You're filled with dead man bones. You clean the outside of the cup, but inside the cup, it's filthy. You take God's word, and you are masters at twisting it for your own gain. You don't honor your parents. You say that you're taking this money for the temple when you have to honor your parents and providing for them in their old age.

And he addresses these things through and through, and it's no different for us. That any inconsistency in our lives because we represent the name of Jesus Christ, Anything in our lives that's inconsistent with his character or his lordship over our lives is an extension and a a very weighty way of taking the Lord's name in vain. And so it's beyond the tongue. It's in our character. It's in our responses.

It's in the way we just live. And if you have the King James version, this is a great advantage, but even in different translations it has that same understanding. Proverbs chapter 30 verse eight. Paul, can you read verse eight to verse nine? Please.

Remove far from the vanity of lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee. And say, who is the Lord? Unless I be poor and steal and take the name

of my God in vain.

So we know this wonderful prayer where Agar says what? He goes, Lord, I'm gonna pray this way. I'm not gonna pray that I would be filthy rich so that I would just abandon you in my walk with you because I'm just be becoming so materialistic and driven by the things of this world. But Lord, I'm praying that I would not even be poor as well. Why?

Lest I, in my poverty, begin to steal. And when I steal, bring your name in vain. In the ESV, it says, or profane your name. It's not based on what he's saying. It's based on how he's living, based on his dishonesty, based on the secret the secrecy of his life of taking something that does not belong to him.

And all that is an assault to the person that we represent. And so he says here that it goes beyond speech. It goes into the way we deal with one another, the way to deal with with finances, the way we deal with situations and circumstances. That in it all, take this to your heart, in it all, God's reputation is being demonstrated through your life. And so it's this constant awareness by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the meditation of his word day and night that I would realize that I'm not representing myself, but I've been bought with a price.

I've been bought with a price. And so in all my dealings, ultimately, the name of God, the name of my savior is written on my forehead. And what people see in me will ultimately testify of the one I serve. Now, it's understandable. Yes.

We make mistakes on all those things. But this is for the ones that feel like they can live in hypocrisy and that God will not hold them guiltless. He will. And this is why God is once again hammering in the New Testament against this idea of living one way, professing to know God, Titus one sixteen, but denying them by their works. It can't it can't work.

Does anybody know the root word for a hypocrite? It's like, it has to do with acting. Right? Yes. Like, Greek acting.

Am I right or wrong?

Well, it's

it has to do with acting.

On a mask? Yes. So in in ancient times when it came to acting, resources were not like what we have today. And so what would people do? An actor would come up and he would take a mask and we place it on his face and he would act as a certain character.

But once again, because of resources or even just because of the genre of the play, that person would take off the mask, put on another mask, and play as another character. That's where that word comes from. That's exactly what hypocrisy is. It's displaying you yourself one way, but in a moment, you can switch and become something else. All it all it takes is you stepping into work.

You're somebody else. All it takes is you stepping into church. You're someone else. All it takes is you stepping into home and who you were in church. Hallelujah.

Praise God. Arms high, praying on your knees, weeping in prayer. You step into home, you're a different person. That's hypocrisy. That's hypocrisy.

And that is greatly connected to God's name being represented. So here we sit with this commandment knowing that, yes, Jesus fulfilled it for us and there was no deceit found in his mouth. There was no deceit found in the mouth of Jesus. And his even his speech was transferred to our account in righteousness so that when we stand before God, you have never taken the Lord's name in vain. But because as believers, we are called to be holy as he is holy and this law is written on our hearts, can you imagine?

I hope you feel the weight of this. That not only in my speech can I take his name in vain, but in my actions I can take his name in vain? What is that supposed to produce in you and me, especially in light of James three? What does James three talk about? Yeah.

Who can control this tongue? Nobody's able to control this tongue except one person, Jesus. And so it brings us to this place, God almighty, I need your help. I need you. Lord, help me be aware that in every moment of my day, I'm representing you.

People know that I'm a Christian. People know that I've committed myself to the local church. People know that I've given my life to the lordship of Jesus Christ and they're watching me. Help me be consistent. Help me know that in all my dealings, whether privately or secretly, your name, your reputation, who you are displayed through me is at hand.

And we go back to Exodus 20 verse seven, and he says something concerning those who do not take this command seriously. He says what? Looking at that. We have to understand that God is able to bring about retribution to those who take his name in vain in this life. There's that famous story of the Titanic that you probably heard.

Did you not? People are debating whether it was the captain or one of the workers of the ship who said this statement. But before this, this ship was launched, the Titanic, somebody made this bold proclamation, not even God himself can sink this ship. And we know what happened there. And you can even hear different stories concerning even biblically.

We see Leviticus 24 where God can step in for the sake of the honor of his name and his wisdom knowing that this would bring glory to him. He will bring that person to guilt and condemnation because of taking his name lightly. Which he will judge every man. What did Jesus say in Matthew 12, verse 36? I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak.

Every careless word that has been spoken has been recorded in heaven. In secret, one on one, alone, in public, behind the pulpit, every word will be taken into account. Even the ones where we're just loose with. And that to me brings much comfort. You're probably looking at me like, are you serious?

I don't even remember what I said ten minutes ago. Now I'll tell you why it brings me much joy. Because when I'm in a room and people use the name of Jesus so carelessly, or perhaps you're watching something and innocently not knowing somebody goes on and just trashes the name of Jesus, Or these celebrities that come and speak of their success and boldly even say, I remember one I heard one person said this so boldly at one of the award shows said, I'm not thanking Jesus for this. Because so many people are in the habit of doing so. Every politician, every false teacher, every great leader throughout the ages, all of those who have taken that precious, holy, righteous name and have attempted to squander it and to defile it and to pull it out of the hearts of people as something to be treasured, every single one of them will declare with their mouths that he is Lord.

And they will give an account and they will realize how foolish they were for declaring his name to be so low and trying to squash it and try to put it in the dirt. They will realize they made a great mistake when they stand before him. And they will realize that he is the name above every other name. And so that brings us to this place to say, Lord, while people wanna ruin that name, when people wanna take that name and associate it with so much filth and garbage and wickedness, may I represent it well? May I speak to you, about you, in the fear of you.

Help me understand the wonderful balance that you, Lord, are father, but you're also king. And Lord, more importantly, though it is important, may my life demonstrate the consistency of the fact that you are the Lord of all. And let the world do what it wants to do. One day they will pay for it. One day Jesus, his name, will be exalted in the earth.

Right? Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted in nations. He says that. And we can take joy in that.

The third commandment deals with God's desire and passion for his name. May we have that same passion. Let's pray. Lord, we we say tonight how beautiful is your name. That Lord at the mention of the name of Jesus, even a whisper can bring so much peace, can offer so much hope, and is the name by which we are saved.

Teach us how to uphold that name. Teach us how to meditate on that name. Teach us how to faithfully proclaim your name. Lord, may we be may we be brought to a place where even the mention of your name stills our fears, sanctifies our thoughts, and brings us to a place of holy reference to you. And father, we address you and say hallowed be your name.

There is none like you. You are set apart. You are transcendent. There is none like you. And God, we recognize your name as such.

And father, we ask by the power of your spirit that you would teach us how to speak and live in a way that brings honor to the name that we represent. And lord, if there is any inconsistencies in our life that would make others that are looking at us to question the god that we serve, forgive us. And lord, by your spirit, from head to toe, bring us to a place where people would want to know the name that we live for. God, we need your help. In all these things, we thank you that in Jesus, they are fulfilled and they have been transferred to our account.

But Lord, in living this life representing you, we not only say that you are the only God of our lives. We not only say that we will not make you into something that fits our idea of who you should be, but we in the third commandment say, help us. Help us treasure and value and uphold the name of Jesus. Help us. And Lord, soften our hearts to such a degree.

Again, we ask that the name of Jesus would never lose its charm. That it would do something to our faith. And that would bring us to a place of wanting to even rejoice and worship you. And so lord, even tonight, we sanctify your name. We bless your name.

And lord, we sing to you in response to the glorious name. In your name, we pray.