Good morning. It's different traveling now.
Now I travel with two pairs of glasses and yeah. Well, I bring greetings from
the brethren at Hurricane Road Grace Church in Ashland. And
I appreciate your pastor asking me to come. I'm delighted to
be here with you. I was talking to Wayne last night. Just the burden that when he
has a message, and I believe I have a message, that I've been
blessed by the study. And the burden to share that.
Gavin and I were talking about that out in the car, because
he sees my concentrating face sitting out there in the car
parking lot, and he says, are you concentrating? And I say,
yeah. He says, what about? I say, it's
not so much the recollection, although that is a burden, right?
It's more the fact that through this study I have seen Christ
and I want you to. And that's what I was telling
Gavin. I think of him. I think of Rosalie. I think of
a lot of people. Anytime I'm asked to put a message
together, I think of people. And I hope that Christ gives
them eyes to see, as he's given me eyes to see through the study,
and that I don't stand in the way of that. I want you to see
purely Christ. Turn this morning with me, if
you would, to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. Let's pray together before we
begin. Our holy Heavenly Father, I pray
that you send your Spirit to be with us this morning, that
we may see Christ and that we may worship your holy name through
Him because of His work, because of His life, because of His death,
because of Christ's sacrifice. because of the full remission
of sin that he accomplished, that we may see him and through
Christ and your throne of mercy, that we may come to you through
Christ. I pray that you'd be with us and bless us and that
this time be honoring to you. We pray for those that are undergoing
trial at this time. Father, you know the need. I
pray that you'd be with them. I pray that you'd be with us.
And we pray this thankfully in Christ's name and for his sake.
Amen. So here in Exodus chapter 20,
our focus is on verse 7. But together, let's read through
the first 21 verses. But again, the text is really
in verse 7. So Exodus chapter 20, starting
in verse 1. And God spake all these words,
saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of
the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage, thou shalt
have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord thy God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquities, the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children under the third and fourth generation of them
that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love
me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath
day and keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and
do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work,
thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that
in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy
mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,
nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. And all the
people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise
of the trumpet, and the mountains smoking. And when the people
saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said unto
Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God
speak with us, lest we die. Moses said unto the people, fear
not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be
before your faces, that you sin not. And the people stood afar
off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God
was. So again, today our focus is there on verse seven. Thou
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. The Lord
will not hold him guiltless which taketh his name in vain. And
let's look at three main points. One, what is that? What is the
name of the Lord? The verse says, thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. What is the name
of the Lord? And two, what is it? What is
it to take the name of the Lord thy God in vain? And three, who
can take the name of the Lord thy God and it not be in vain? So what is the name of the Lord?
What is it to take the name of the Lord in vain? And who can
take the name of the Lord and it not be in vain? And if all
we do, I was reading through my notes last night and I thought
to myself, if all we do is we see this verse and we think to
ourselves, don't swear. If that's all we take from it
is, And you hear it in almost every show you watch now, and
you hear it in the street. It's constant, constant, constantly.
I hear kids, adults. Constantly I hear people saying,
God. Constantly I hear people saying,
Jesus Christ. And it's terrible hearing the
name of our Lord taken in vain like that, but if that's all
we get from this message is to not do that, then we've come
short and we've not seen Christ and we're wasting our time. What
is it? What is the name of the Lord
thy God? I'll give a brief answer to all three of those questions,
then I'd like to look together more in detail all three. What
is the name of the Lord thy God? The verse says, thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. What is the name
of the Lord? The name of the Lord, it's his
character. It's who he is. It's his person. It's who he
is. It's his holiness. It's his goodness. It's his absolutely
sovereign power. I love that word sovereign. You
cannot take that word too far. Take that all the way to the
extreme, sovereign. absolute authority. Take that
all the way to the extreme, as far as your mind can take it,
and then take it further. That's how sovereign our Lord
is. That's His name. He's sovereign. His authority
is sovereign and absolute. His name is all of God's holy
character and all of His position as master. That's His name. That's
His name. That's who He is. What is it
to take that name of the Lord in vain? Taking the name of the
Lord in vain is, it's whenever it's taken on our lips or in
our imaginations or in our hearts in a way that's inconsistent
with who God is. It's to take it flippantly. It's
to take his name irreverently. It's imagining his character
to be something other than what's revealed in the scripture. It's
a way inconsistent with who God is. That's taking his name in
vain. Or it's taken by someone who is unworthy to take his name.
It's taking his name in a way that is inconsistent with his
character. It's inconsistent with his name.
That's not his name. Or it's taken by someone who's
unworthy to take his name. Someone who's not known. I had
a friend of mine call me, I don't know, a number of years ago and
said, Such and such said that you said such and such. Never in my life have I even
met the person, let alone talk to him, right? So I don't know
how I could have told such and such anything. I've never even
met the person before. And I told my friend, it's just what naturally
came straight from me, you tell him to keep my name out of his
mouth. That's what I said, keep my name out of your mouth. He
had no business to be using my name. He's not known. He's not
known to me. He had no business using my name.
Someone who's unworthy to take his name, that's taking the Lord's
name in vain. Someone that doesn't have the
right to take the name of the Lord. So taking the name of the Lord
thy God in vain is taking his name in a way that's inconsistent
with who he is, inconsistent with his character. That's not
his name. Or by someone who's unworthy
to take his name. So then, who can take the name
of the Lord thy God and it not be in vain? Who has the right? to take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain. Do we have a right here, too, today? Do we have
a right? I mean, we're using the Lord's name. Is it in vain
right now? Who has the right to take the Lord's name and have
it not be in vain? And that's only Christ. Only,
only Christ who is equal with God and Christ who is God. Only
Christ is worthy. The scripture says, in the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, capital
W, Christ, the Word was God. Same was in the beginning with
God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld,
and he dwelt among us full, full of grace and truth. So then what
is the result when not only can sinners call upon the Lord through
Christ, but they must? What is the result? Because here
again in verse seven, where it says, the Lord will not hold
him guiltless that taketh his name in vain, because God did
not hold Christ guiltless, but rather laid on him the iniquity
of us all. And therefore sinners are commanded
to call upon the name of the Lord. We must call upon the name
of the Lord. In Christ, sinners call upon the name of the Lord,
not in vain, never in vain. but in mercy. And that's the
point of this message that we're going to spend the rest of our
time going through the verses and looking at them in a little
bit more depth. But that's the point. Coming to God outside
of Christ is always in vain. And coming to God in Christ is
never in vain. Never in vain. So again, let's
look at these three points again briefly in more detail. What
is the name of the Lord? The name of the Lord, again,
it speaks to his character. It speaks to his position. Do
you know that some of the Orthodox Jews won't even speak his name?
They won't even write his name. They write the word Y for Yahweh. They won't even touch his name. It's just too sacred to be written
by my sinful hands. It's too holy to be spoken by
my sinful mouth. And they're right. I mean, they're
right about that. because they don't believe that
Christ is the Messiah. And if those Orthodox Jews don't believe
that the Messiah has come, then they better not take the Lord's
name in their mouth. We better not call upon the Lord thy God
anyway outside of Christ. So they're absolutely right.
There is absolutely no approach to God outside of Christ the
Messiah. In my notes, I have it written this way, absolutely,
period, no, period, approach, period, outside of Christ. Absolutely
no approach to God outside of Christ. 1 Timothy 2 says there's
one God. There's one mediator between
God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. So without that Messiah,
without the mediator, any mention of God's name is in vain. or
any attempt to come to God is in vain. Outside of Christ, we,
just like these Israelites, outside of Christ, we want nothing to
do with a holy God and a just God. Outside of Christ, they
said, Moses, you go speak to him for us, right? Lest we die. Moses, you speak to him and we'll
hear. Outside of a mediator, we want nothing to do, sinners
want nothing to do with a holy God. If Messiah hasn't come,
sinners cannot come to God. If there is no Messiah, and again
looking back here in our text, this is how our approach to God
is met. Look there in Exodus 20 in verse 18. All the people
saw the thunderings and the lightnings, the noise of the trumpet and
the mountains smoking, and when the people saw it, they removed
and stood afar off. They said to Moses, Speak thou
with us, and we will hear. Let not God speak with us, lest
we die. Outside of a mediator, they knew
we want nothing to do with a holy and just and an almighty, powerful,
righteous God." Leviticus 10, and we won't turn there for the
sake of time, but Leviticus 10 says, when the sons of Aaron
brought fire that wasn't the fire of God's sacrifice. They
brought other fire. Wasn't the fire provided by God's
sacrifice. That's a picture of Christ. They
didn't bring the fire provided by God's sacrifice. They brought
strange fire. It says, and Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron,
took either of them his censer and put fire therein, put incense
thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he
commanded them not. And there went out fire from
the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Thou
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Thou shalt
not approach unto a holy God outside of Christ. Second Samuel,
this is when Uzzah put his hand on the ark of God. When they
came to Nachor's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the
ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote
him there for his error. And there he died by the ark
of God. So motive isn't a factor. Motive
isn't a factor. Sinners must not approach a holy
God outside of Christ. The Israelites were right. Moses, speak thou with us. Let
not God speak with us directly, lest we die. Coming to a holy
God outside of Christ is taking his name in vain. For us to take
the name of the Lord on our lips or in our hearts or in our minds,
it's to call upon his character. And what is that character of
God? What is his name? Listen to 15
scripture references. And again, we won't turn to him
just for the sake of time, but listen to these references. No
one reference can paint a picture of our holy God. Listen to these
15 that he communicates with us who he is. This is the name
of the Lord. God tells Abraham, I am the almighty
God, the most high God. the possessor of heaven and earth.
Exodus calls him master, the eternal God. Jehovah Nisi, which
is the Lord my banner. Jehovah Repa, the Lord that healeth. Jehovah Ra, the Lord my shepherd.
Jehovah Shema, the Lord is there. Jehovah Sidcanu, the Lord our
righteousness. Jehovah and Kadesh, the Lord
who sanctifies you. El Olam, the everlasting God.
The everlasting God. That's what Abraham called him
years after the promise was made, when he saw Isaac, the promise.
He called him the everlasting God. Elohim, singular Elohim. In the beginning, God. That's
Elohim, singular. That's God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, singular. Elohim. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
will provide. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our
peace. Or the Lord is peace. Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of
hosts. What is the Lord's name? It's
his character. It's our almighty God. It's who
he is. The God of heaven and earth.
God who is eternal. God who is almighty. God who
is singular. God who is holy. God who is everlasting. God who is master. Well, he was
a young man when he did it. He was in college. He's close
to my age now, but when he was in college, he took a philosophy
class. And the professor had them go up to the board and write
one word, write what God is. And a lot of people wrote God
is love and God is love. A lot of people wrote a lot of
different words. My friend wrote holy, H-O-L-Y,
holy. And then the professor challenged
the class by talking about horrible things that have happened in
the earth, talking about the Holocaust. I would just talk
about horrible events and ask people if they wanted to get
up and change their word. And some people stood up and they crossed
out love, sadly, and they crossed out other things. And my friend
walked right back up there and wrote, H-O-L-Y, holy, goddess,
holy. Whether or not we understand
his holiness and see his holiness is not a factor. He is holy regardless
of us. He's holy, he's everlasting,
he's the master. This is the almighty name of
the Lord that we call upon. His name is worthy to not be
taken in vain, certainly. That's his name. So what is it
to take this magnificent name in our mouths and in our hearts
and in our minds? What is it to take that name
in vain? it's changing his name. Changing his name from Almighty
instead to a God whose will is somehow, it's ridiculous to even
say, but it's to somehow be handcuffed by my will. That his will is
handcuffed by my will. That he can't act until I give
him permission to, or until I call him to, or until that He can't
act until I act, it makes His will handcuffed to my will. If
His will is handcuffed by my will, guess who God is? Me. He's
our Almighty God. What is it to take that name
in vain? If God leaves us alone, we have
no right whatsoever to call on His name. We lost that right
in Adam. Lucifer took God's name in vain,
didn't he? When he said, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will
be like God. Lucifer took God's name in vain,
and Adam took God's name in vain when he sided with Lucifer and
took the fruit. He sided with Lucifer over the Lord, and he
took the Lord's name in vain. And we inherited our father's,
Adam's, that damnation, we inherited that judiciously. And we show
evidence. What we do and how we act is
just evidence of that nature. It's evidence of that sin nature
that we inherited from our father Adam. Like I've heard said so
many times, if you're wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it
all. At the fall, right, when Adam broke the Lord's, our representative,
father Adam, broke the Lord's commandment and died. And we died in him. And left
alone, if God leaves us alone, everything that we do is just
gonna show the results of that. It's just showing proof. We naturally,
left alone, we show that we inherited that same nature when we skew
God's name, when we change his name by either perverting his
holiness and changing who God is in our minds to some imaginary
God, and that will contradict the very essence of his holiness
and goodness, and will just accept me anyway. He'll just accept
me anyway, outside of Christ. Left to ourselves. That is absolutely
what we think. I'm good enough. And what that
really is to say is that I'm not that bad. I'm not really
dead. And he's not that good. He's
not really holy. I'm not that bad. He's not that
good. He's going to accept me anyway.
which is to make a God that is altogether like ourselves. Or
we imagine that the goodness we have within ourselves is already
good enough to be on par with His holiness. Yeah, yeah, He's
holy, but I am too. It's to bring me to His level,
which is to say that I have an inherent right to call on His
name. I have a right to enter into
His presence. Which again, just speaking those
words, it's ridiculous. You can't just walk into the
mayor's office, right? I mean, we don't have the right
to just walk into the presence of our little local government.
But we somehow, and this just shows the depth of our evil nature
and our deadness, is that we do believe that we can walk into
the throne room of God, that we have the right to. If God
leaves us alone, that's exactly what we believe. In either case,
we formed a God that isn't holy. And we've made that God look
an awful lot like us. Or we have a much inflated opinion of ourselves.
Of our own righteousness, and again, that makes God look an
awful lot like us. And creating a God of our imagination,
in our own image, a God that looks an awful lot like us, is
the definition of idolatry. And it says that in our text
also. Verse 4 there in Exodus 20, Thou shalt not make unto
thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is
in heaven above, or is in earth beneath, or is in the water beneath
the earth. We form a God that looks an awful lot like us in
our mind, and bends to our will, and we've created this idol right
here. That's what we've done. Calling this evil idol by the
Lord's name, that's taking the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
That's what it is to take his name in vain. And if he leaves
us to ourself, we're gonna show that sinful nature either by
denying that God exists altogether or changing some version of his
good and holy character into some version that looks an awful
lot like me. Left to ourselves, we're idolaters,
worshiping ourselves. So what is it to take the name
of the Lord in vain? Left to ourselves from this sinful heart.
It's any mention, any thought, any imagination of him outside
of Christ. Left to ourselves, again, we
have no right to even call upon his name. Left to ourselves,
it's all in vain. Psalm 39 says, it says, right?
Verily every man at his best state is altogether, altogether
vanity. We're altogether vain in coming
to him outside of Christ. When I was a kid, I spent summers
at our community pool there in Ohio. And there was a boy that
was about a year younger than me. His name was also John. You
see, we have two Gavins here. We had two Johns then. And at
that particular day there at the pool, We happened to be wearing
swim trunks, looking an awful lot alike. And his name was Johnny
Sear. And Johnny had blonde hair, the
way I used to have blonde hair. And we were out in the sun all
summer, and we were tan, and we were running around in the same looking
swim trunks. And my mom came to pick me up, and they announced
over the loudspeaker, you know, come to the front, the way they
always did. But I was underwater, I was doing something, and I
never heard her. So mom eventually came in looking for me, because
I didn't come to the front the way I was supposed to. And she
saw a little Johnny Sear that looked a lot like me. And she
thought that was me. And she said, John? And he turned
to her, because that's his name, right? She said, John, come on. And she grabbed his elbow and
started pulling. And of course, he looked at her terrified, right?
And he didn't come. And of course, he didn't. So
little Johnny Sear didn't go with my mom. Because even though
she called him by the right name, my mom had no right to call his
name. Right? She's not his mom. She had no
right to call his name. John and I looked alike, we dressed
alike, we even had the same name. But little Johnny Sear was not
a Tate. Mama had no right to call his
name. He had a different heritage. He had different blood. He had
different family. John Sear wasn't a Tate. He was
other, right? And since he was other, mom had
no authority whatsoever to call upon his name. And this was an
innocent mistake, and it was quickly resolved, and I went
away home with mom, right? Everything is fine with little
Johnny Sear. We just had a nice laugh about it. But did you know
that another definition of the word holy is other? Other. Holy is other. God is holy. God is other. And as such, if
he leaves us alone, if he leaves me alone, I have no right to
call upon his name because he's other. He's holy. He's not family. I have no right
to call upon his name. So then finally, and this is
where we wanted to get, who then can call upon the Lord and it
not be in vain? Who can call upon the Lord's
name and it not be in vain? And from the moment our father
Adam sinned, we all judiciously, we died. And again, we have no
right, no ability to call upon the Lord's name. And the Lord
could have finished the book right there. He could have left
us alone in judgment, and he would have been right, and he
would have been holy, and he would have been just in doing
so. Turn with me now to Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah chapter 45, we'll read
a few verses starting in 19. I have not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I said not to the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I said not to the seed of Jacob,
seek me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves together,
and come, draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations.
They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image,
and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them
near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I, the Lord? There's
no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There's none
beside me. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
So he could have left us there in judgment, praying to a God
that cannot save. But that's not what he says,
right? He says, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth. I am God and there is none else. He calls, he commands,
come to him. And I love that, look unto me
and be ye saved. Those words, be ye. It reminds
me of in Mark when he told the leper, be ye clean. He declared
him clean. Or when he created the heavens
and earth and he said, light be. and there was light. He says, come unto me and be
ye clean. Be ye saved, all the ends of
the earth, for I am none else. Romans 10 says, for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. You say,
but Jonathan, we just spent a half hour saying that no one can call
upon the name of the Lord. And here you read a verse in
Romans saying, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. How is that? Who then can call
upon the name of the Lord without it being in vain? Who has the
right? Well, first, he has to be family.
He has to be holy. He has to be other. Just like
my mom calling Johnny Sear. She had no right because she
was other. Who can call upon the name of the Lord? He has
to be other. He has to be family. He has to be holy. Like God. And the only one that is like
God, and in my notes I have like in quotes, that is like God,
is God. It's Christ who is God. Isaiah
45 says, I am the Lord and there is none other. There is no other.
Who has the right to call upon the name of the Lord? He has
to be God. He has to be God. He has to intimately know and
love all of God's name that we read, all of God's character.
Who has the right? Who has the authority? I'll just
read you a few verses in Matthew. If anyone wants the references
to read later on this afternoon, I'll be happy to give them to
you. In Matthew, he says, while he yet spake, behold, a bright
cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud,
which said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
Hear ye him. And when his disciples heard
it, they fell on their faces and were sore afraid. And Jesus
came and touched them and said, arise, be not afraid. When they
lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. In John,
it says, these words spoke Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy
son may also glorify thee. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. And this is life eternal, that
they may know thee, that they may know thee, the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. I have glorified thee
on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Christ,
who is God, he has the right to call. Only Christ has the
right. Only Christ is holy. in the same manner as God the
Father and the God the Holy Spirit are holy. He's holy as they are. Only the Lord Jesus Christ has
free access to commune face-to-face with God the Father. Only the
Lord Jesus Christ has the right to take the Lord's name and it
not be in vain. Only the Lord Jesus Christ is
worthy. And again, God would have been
holy and just and right to put a period right there. And he
would lack nothing, but he didn't. Turn with me to one more scripture
in John chapter three. We'll look at John 3.16 and hold
your spot there. John 3.16 says, for God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It
says, for God so loved, not a matter of degree so loved, but a matter
of manner, in this manner. He loved, he so loved in this
manner that he didn't leave mankind to themselves, but rather he
reserved a people unto himself. God chose that people and Christ
redeemed that people. The Holy Spirit calls those people.
Christ makes them that were not family to be family. Makes them
that were not holy to be holy. Makes them that were to be other. People who were not family in
Adam, he makes them to be family in Christ. So that we, in Christ,
may call upon the name of the Lord and it not be in vain. Not
only may we call on the name of the Lord in Christ, we must
call on the name of the Lord through Christ. We're commanded
to. Sinners are given life to. do
call upon the name of the Lord in Christ. And not only is it
not in vain, it's never in vain. Calling upon the name of the
Lord thy God in Christ in mercy is never in vain. It's always
fruitful. When sinners are given life,
their birth through Christ's work to come to the Holy Father,
the throne of mercy in Christ, sinners coming to a throne of
mercy in Christ are always, always, always accepted. Always have
been, always will be. Calling upon the name of the
Lord thy God in mercy in Christ is never, ever in vain. And that blesses me so much.
And Wayne and I were talking last night, and he says, someone
had told him years ago, he was comforted by this, I'm comforted
by it now. There's never a bad message. There's never a bad
message if you're preaching Christ. If you're preaching Christ, there's
never a bad message because it's never in vain. If you're coming
to a Holy Father, if you're a sinner, if you're listening to this or
you're sitting here and every time I make a message, I think
of Gavin and Rosalie and I think maybe they're gonna be sitting
somewhere 30 years from now listening to this. And who knows who the
Lord will have here But if you're that sinner who can't, who can't,
I have absolutely, I have no right to think upon a holy God's
name. I have no right to ask him for
anything. Maybe you've been given some wisdom. You're absolutely
right. We have no right to ask him for
anything. In any way that we come to that Holy Father is vain
outside of Christ. And sinner, and I speak to my
heart as we say this, sinner, come to Christ. Continuous to
whom coming. Come now. Come again tomorrow. Come again after lunch. Come
to God, the Holy Father, in Christ. And that's never in vain. Always
in mercy. Never in vain. Real quick, I'm
a couple minutes over, but bear with me. Listen to a couple verses. This is God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, Elohim, singular, right? First Peter,
this is Christ, this is God the Son. First Peter says, who his
own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we,
being dead to sins, should live under righteousness by whose
stripes we are healed. Back in John 3, right before
John 3, 16, if you still have it, is verse 14. Again, this
is God the Son. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That's the Son. Verse 15 is the Holy Spirit.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Why? Because in verse 16, this is
God the Father. Why? For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but rather that the world
through him might be saved. This man, Jesus Christ, who is
perfectly God, and perfectly man, He made those people's sin
his sin. Right? Didn't 1 Peter say, in
his body on the tree? He made his people's sin his
sin. He made his righteousness their righteousness. So that
I, this sinner standing here right now, can and must take
the Lord, my God's name, as a son, as family. I am holy. In Christ. In Christ. I am holy. I am family. I can call upon
my Father's name, as we have been the entire time we've been
sitting here. I can call upon my Father's name in Christ, and
it's not in vain, because Christ is worthy, and because God the
Father has made us worthy in Him. And I invite whoever's listening
to come to, come to Christ, come to that throne of mercy. Pardon
my word, invite. That's my word. The Lord's not
inviting anyone. If you're a sinner and you hear
this, the Lord is telling you, he's commanding you to come.
Come, come as you really are. Don't, don't dress up first.
Come as you are. Bring it all. All to that throne
of mercy. It's commandment. He says, come
into me all either labor and are heavy laden. I will give
you rest. He will. He will. And it will
not be in vain. His name will always be accepted
by God the Father. Christ's work will always, always
be accepted by Christ the Father. So we come to Him. And I pray
that you see Christ there the way I did. I pray. Amen.