3rd Commandment Exodus 20:7

Introduction

Good morning friends,

Here we are its the first Sunday of March and we are a month away from Easter.

Easter is a special time, it is a time to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. And we will focus on that as we approach that time, but here… no matter the time or the season our focus in naturally upon the Lord and living for Him

Today we return to our sermon series on 10 Commandments, and we have already looked at the first two…

You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image or likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

Now if there is one thing we are going to notice right off is that the 10 commandments are divided into two sections.

The first 4 commandments deal with our relationship with God, they teach us how to live in front of God.

The last six speaks to our relationships with those God has placed around us. Family, friends and acquaintances, literary humanity!

So in the 10 commandments we find the vertical and horizontal of the cross.... explain

So today we are going to the 3rd commandment and strive to hear what God desires to speak to us through His word.

So lets take our Bibles and lets find exodus chapter 20, and lets find verse 7.

Read Exodus 20:7......

Exodus 20:7 ESV

7 “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.

So lets begins this morning.....

I want you to begin and consider this thought with me this morning...

1. Consider What's in a Name....

Well I would present to you that a name, it is a reflection of a person, it speaks to who they are, what they do.. if they are good or bad.... A name is important.

So if you consider my name, you might have something good to say I hope, you might come up with a variety of thoughts about me. But this passage doesn’t speak to me.

But we are not here to talk about me today.... no!

We are here and will consider our heavenly Father, He is called God, Father, his most perfect name is YHWH, but He is also referred to as Lord, Jehovah, Elohim… there are a variety of names that describe the Lord our God.

So look at the word Lord… the word here is Jehovah....this is the national name of of God for the Jewish people. Jehovah, which means the Lord, but also the self existing One. The one who has always been.

But the phrase continues with this “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God”....

So we know the meaning of the words, “The Lord”.... but then we find the word God.

This word is Elohim; which speaks to his nature as the supreme God… He is uniquely the God who is truly the Godhead, 3 in 1. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

It is important my friends to know who precisely we are speaking about..

we are referring to the Lord God of the universe, He is supreme, He is eternal the one who has always exited, no beginning and no ending.

He is the one creator and sustainer of all we have my friends.

There is so much we can say about the name of our God.

We know He is holy and righteous, we know that He is love, in that while He hates sin, He has given Himself as a sacrifice for sin… He loves us!

Like the old songs says, there is something about that name....

Let me ask you a question: What does your name reflect in front of God?

Are you faithful, right in your ways, good..... what describes you?

God knows.... if you are a born again believer, are you living up His expectation for your life.

Now lets move on to my second thought for today....

The command of God is simple for this 3rd commandment....

2. Do not take His name in Vain....

Consider this thought.... How would you like it if your name became a by-word of disgust, hateful talk, complaint, something just mean and ugly.

Well I believe you would say, “I don’t care for it at all...”

Well then what do you think God says about it? I would say He doesn’t care for it at all...

Lets look at our passage again...

Exodus 20:7 ESV

7 “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.

Do not take His name in vain.... what does that mean?

Vain… refers to a worthless or empty way.

You are not to use the name of the Lord in any empty or vain way.

Augustine, one of our early church fathers said to take the name of the Lord in vain is to empty him of His divinity and essentially you are treating him like the rest of creation.

The name of the Lord is holy and since it reflects who the Lord is personally, we are to use his name only to call upon Him in prayer or in our worship to Him....

Year and years ago, Marci and I had this old, little strange professor Professor Oldham.

He was a odd little name, but he addresses this topic. He essentially said that even in prayer, to continually call out his name says we are misusing his name. I am not sure if in the state of prayer and worship that is really truthful.

But for Him, it was a matter of His conviction....

Think of this....

Do we ever stop at a problem or frustration, and in the mist we say.... Good Lord....

We do something like that, or even at times we substitute words for the name of god, something like jitney Christmas....

We must be careful in how we talk, what we say when we think about our precious Lord.

And then one last thought, today

3. The Lord will punish the Guilty

Have you ever considered this idea: the Lord will punish those who are guilty of using His name in vain....

I do not think we do, I do not think that society does, since we find so many times, we find people who curse and use the name of the Lord has a by word, as slang or as a curse....

Lets go back to our passage one more time...

Exodus 20:7 ESV

7 “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.

Now the word of the Lord says that He will not hold that person as guiltless for taking his name in vain.

The phrase “not hold him guiltless” speaks to the issue that the Lord will not allow the guilty to be pardoned, to go unpunished...

A person who speaks, who uses the Lord’s name in a empty and vain way is guilty, and as such they deserve to be punished.

Exodus 34:7 ESV

7 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 the Prophet speaks to the nation was suffering for their sin....

Jeremiah 30:11 ESV

11 For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

The Lord loves us, do you believe that my friends?

There is no way can we say that He does not.... but he will discipline us, punish us when we are guilty.

He will not fail to do this....

Listen here is a great truth for you to consider:

To not punish us… speaks to the fact that He would not be our Father if he didn’t punish us. Only the true Father will punish His child.

So we are almost finished rounding up what the Lord says about our relationship with Him, next week we will address the last topic of keeping the Sabbath day..

But we......

You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image or likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain...

Each of these speak very personally to our walk with the Lord. How are you walking with Him??