The Third Commandment- Exodus 20:7

We are examining the third commandment this morning, the command not to take the name of the LORD in vain.

It is one that everyone can grasp. We know that to take the name of the Lord in vain would be using it in the form of a cuss word.

However, as I hope you are seeing, it is much more than simply a prohibition against using the Lord’s name in a cuss word.

As we consider the Lord’s saving work in our lives, how He brought us from death to life, from bondage to sin to freedom in Christ, from eternal damnation to eternal life, we see that these commands are not only prohibitions of what we should not do, but commands for what we should do as well.

The Third Commandment teaches us to esteem rightly the Covenant-Keeping-LORD.

We will ask four questions of this text this morning and see that the third commandment teaches us to esteem rightly the Covenant-Keeping LORD. To esteem means to hold the right view of, and to act in an appropriate manner in relation to that knowledge. This esteem is attached to the Covenant-Keeping LORD, and with that understanding we will never fully grasp the Divine. However, as the LORD imparts more of His goodness, as we grasp more fully and more deeply the great God, we must treat Him differently. Our responses should grow more weighty as we grow in the grace and the knowledge of God.

I. “Who is the LORD?”- Ex. 20:7a

We will not dwell long on this question, but it must be both asked and answered to see how wicked a failure to obey this command truly is.

When confronted by Moses to allow Israel to leave Egyptian slavery, Pharaoh asks Moses, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?” Later in God’s dealings with Egypt, Moses is told by God, “But for this very purpose I have raised you [Pharaoh] up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Ex. 5:2; 9:16)

The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith provides us with an excellent summary of the Scripture’s teaching on Who the LORD is:

“The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of Himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.” (Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, 2.1)

This LORD is the LORD who brought Israel out from Egyptian slavery, too, and called them to be His people and His kingdom of priests. What a glorious and incomprehensible God!

Yet we in the New Covenant experience incomprehensibly greater blessings. Listen to Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:1–10 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God’s name is a representative phrase to describe everything that God uses to reveal His glories.

We dare not take such a gracious and gloriously good God’s name in vain. But what does that mean?

II. What does “take…in vain” mean?

Vain empty, common, or insignificant. This includes not only the use of God’s name in cuss words, but it is much more than that. It is to treat God’s name with irreverence. It is to sing “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made...” and then “sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, How great thou art!” without heart or worship.

In the Mosaic Covenant it meant identifying as an Israelite but not obeying the Covenant God made with them. For us in the New Covenant, it is identifying as a Christian without worshiping God in Spirit and in truth, without following the Lord Jesus Christ.

What happens when we treat the name of the LORD in vain?

III. What is the punishment?

You will not be held guiltless if you take His name in vain. This is a sin against the LORD, and it will be punished. But does this mean that anyone who takes the name of the LORD in vain will never be forgiven?

No, this is not what the text says, nor indeed what the Scriptures teach. One of the purposes of the Law was to reveal sin, was to pull back the tarp of our dead, sin-ridden bodies and show us our need for salvation (cf. Rom. 7:7–12).

All have committed this sin of taking the name of the LORD in vain. We all have failed to hold His name up in reverence, we all have assumed oaths and failed to keep them, we all have treated His name lightly. We all stand guilty.

The only difference, and what a difference this makes, are those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, we have had our sins forgiven. In Christ, our sins were placed on Him who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:20–21). If you are not saved by the Lord Jesus, you are not being held guiltless. You stand under the righteous judgment of God.

Your only hope is Jesus Christ, the very one who’s name you take in vain is the very name whereby you must be saved. He truly is, as the London Confession says, “most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.”

IV. What are the protections?

Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley say this,

“The first commandment specifies the God whom we worship, the second regulates the outward means of worship, and the third mandates reverence for the God whom we worship.” Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley

(Beeke and Smalley, RST, III: 894)

What protections, or guardrails are there to aid is in our efforts?

A. We are protected by Jesus Christ

The protections are, first of all, Jesus Christ. As I mentioned in our previous question, Jesus is the only hope we have for breaking this commandment. We call on the name of the LORD that we have taken in vain, and through faith in that Name we will be saved, Rom. 10:13. (This, by the way, is why God can tell us this, Exodus 34:6–7 “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””)

And we return to Jesus our Advocate with the Father again, and again, and again (1 John 2:1–2).

B. We esteem rightly the Covenant-Keeping God

This is our goal, but how do we esteem Him rightly? What are some examples which we can follow?

1. We esteem God rightly when we worship in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24)

Worshiping in Spirit and truth means worshiping God with the growing-knowledge of Who He is and conducting our worship in accordance with that knowledge. It means singing praises to His name fervently, not halfheartedly.

2. We esteem God rightly when we relish His Word (Psalm 119)

I cite Psalm 119 because, as a whole, it displays the beauty and sweetness of God’s Word. Consider a handful of examples, and ask yourself, “Do I relish the Word of God this way, or am I talking His Name in vain?”

Psalm 119:16 “I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

Psalm 119:24 “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.”

Psalm 119:97 “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

Psalm 119:103 “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

3. We esteem God rightly when we adore His Bride (Eph. 5:25–32)

You will take care for how your interact with His Bride, for whom He shed His blood.

4. We esteem God rightly when we live for Him (1 John 5:1–3)

We summarize these methods of protection with the words of John Calvin,

“Whatever our mind conceives of God, whatever our tongue utters, should savor of his excellence, match the loftiness of his sacred name, and lastly, serve to glorify his greatness.” John Calvin

The Third Commandment teaches us to esteem rightly the Covenant-Keeping-LORD.