Let us turn to God's Word again,
and I want to direct you for a short while this evening to
the words that we have in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 7, the third
of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 20 verse 7, of course
the word is repeated, in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 11. But turning
to the account that we have in the 20th chapter of Exodus and
the 7th verse. 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. I'm sure we're familiar
with the word. take it we're familiar of course
with this remarkable portion of scripture we have looked at
it in years past gone through these various commandments and
I was drawn to this after what we dealt with last Thursday evening
you may recall those who were present on that occasion that
we were in Ezekiel 36 And we consider that passage from verse
21 through 23, and took up the subject matter of God's holy
name. There, if I remind you, the name
of God was being profaned by the children of Israel. It had
been profaned. And what is it to profane God's
name? Well, it's to make that name common, to defile it, to
pollute it, It's the very opposite of sanctify, which of course
means to set apart, to separate to holiness, to consecrate. But instead of treating God's
Word with all that due reverence and regard, they were guilty
of profaning it. And we saw in that passage in
Ezekiel 36, Now, as God's name was profaned
by Israel, so God's name was pitied, pitied by Himself. We read in verse 21 of that 36th
chapter, I have pity, He says, for mine holy name. Again at
verse 22, I do not this for your sakes, but for mine holy name's
sake. And then in verse 23, I will
sanctify my great name. And after those verses, verse
24 following, we see how God would have pity upon his name,
how he would sanctify his name, and he would do that by a great
work of deliverance. He had judged them because of
the way in which they profaned his name. They would go into
exile, but God would restore them. there would be a deliverance. But in what we read at the end
of that 36th chapter, from that 24th verse, it's not simply the
deliverance out of Babylon that's being spoken of. It's a greater
deliverance. It's a spiritual deliverance.
It's that that God does in the souls of his people. It's the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's here, of course, that
we see how God has honored and magnified his name in what Christ
has accomplished in confounding all the powers of darkness. It's
God's own name, then, that is to be honored, glorified, because
it is holy. And so I was brought then to
think about what he said here in the commandment and I want
us to look at this commandment for a while this evening. The
seventh verse where we read of God's name and God's worship. And that's really the theme I
want to take up for a while from this seventh verse from the third
commandment. They shall not take the name
of the Lord by God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless
that taketh his name in vain. God's name and worship. And first of all to say something
with regards to the name of God. How his name was revealed to
Moses, of course, in a most remarkable manner back in the third chapter. How the children of Israel are
there in Egypt, languishing in their bondage, serving Pharaoh,
bond slaves really. And God is mindful of His people,
all what circumstances they are brought into. The children of
Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and
their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage, and God
heard their groaning. And God remembered His covenant
with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. and God looked upon
the children of Israel and God had respect unto them God knew
them God knows them you see in that awful plight as we see at
the end of that second chapter and then we have the call of
Moses in chapter 3 and how God declares himself to Moses verse
14 God says unto Moses I am that I am And he said, Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto
you. Oh, this is a remarkable revelation
of God, as we see from words that follow in chapter 6, where
God says at the third verse, I appeared unto Abraham, and
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but
by my name Jehovah, from which, of course, which is derived from
the from the name I am by my name Jehovah was I not known
to them I have also established my covenants says God it's that
fuller revelation then of the covenant name of God this is
the name of God's and thinking of the name of God as it is spoken
of here in the commandment just mentioning two things how we
are to consider the name revealed and then the name revealed. This name should fill the people
with awe. It certainly had that effect
upon Moses at the burning bush when the Lord God revealed himself,
declared himself. We're aware that in the Word
of God names are not just labels to distinguish things, but names
here in the Bible have a most profound meaning. Names declare
something of a person's character oftentimes, or tell us something
about the ministry of a prophet. For example, there are many examples
we could look at, but think of the name Daniel. Literally, Daniel
means God is judge. God is judge. And of course,
Daniel is there in a time of God's terrible judgment, ministering
at the time of the Babylonian captivity. There are remarkable
names scattered throughout God's words. We think of Isaiah chapter
8 and that strange name that The prophet is told to give to
his newborn son, Meir Shalalashbas. And what is the significance
of that? Well, the margin tells us what that word or those words
mean, making speed to the spoil, he hasteneth the prey. And this
is to be the prophet Isaiah's message to the kings of Israel
and Syria. They're in league. They're in
league together against Jacob. but God will deal with them and
He'll deal with them by means of the great might of the Assyrian
Empire when Sennacherib will come and lay siege to Samaria
and Damascus the cities of Israel and of Syria and they will be
given as a prey into the hands of the Assyrians. It's God's
Word then of judgment that will come upon those two nations in
league against little Judah and Jerusalem in the south. May her
shalal ashbats. Making speed to the spoil, he
hasteneth the prey. God is a God of judgment. But
of course, ultimately, we see the wonder of the revelation
of God in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. God who at hundred
times in diverse manner spake in time past unto the people
by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom we hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also we
made the world, who being the brightness of His image, the
express image of His person. Oh, the Lord Jesus is that one
who is the revealer of God and He declares Himself as the I
Am. Remember those words that we
have toward the end of John chapter 8, where Christ says to the Jews,
before Abraham was, I Am. Oh, He is before Abraham, He
is the Eternal One, the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. And he says previously in that
chapter, if you believe not that I am he, or literally, if you
believe not that I am, ye shall perish in your sins. There is a revelation then of
God in the name of God. And so the commandment stands
before us, 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. That name is to be reverenced.
What a name it is how God reveals himself by declaring
his name. The psalmist says that thy name
is near, thy wondrous works declare. The works of God are a revelation
of God. The heavens declare His glory,
the firmament showeth His handiwork. Oh, God reveals Himself. Oh Lord,
our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth. Creation,
providences have a voice. But ultimately, of course, God
reveals Himself to us here in His words. And as we read in
one of the Psalms, He's magnified His words above all His name. It's here that He reveals Himself. And of course all the Word of
Scripture directs us to Him who is the Incarnate Word. Search
the Scripture, says Christ. These are they that testify of
me. God's name then is the revelation
of Himself. But then, as I said, this name
is to be revered. The reverence that is due to
this name. And we read those words in the Psalm 111. Holy and reverend is thy name. That is the name that is reverend.
That is the name that we must stand in awe of. What do we read
here then, in the commandment? We see how it's couched in negative
terms. There's something that they're
commanded not to do. So many of the commandments are
spoken of in negatives because these are words being addressed
to a people who are sinful. And isn't that the chief ministration
of the law? It's a ministration of condemnation. It condemns the sinner. It's
a ministration of death. Whatsoever things the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world become guilty. What is the explicit
command that's given here? Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. Now the word vain literally means
emptiness. nothingness, worthlessness. And how many, when we think about
it, how many people today use God's name as an empty word,
an idle word? A name that they can take upon
their lips so easily, so lightly. All the time we may be hearing
these idle words, minced oaths. There are many minced oaths.
people just say, oh, good God. Sort of expletive, really. They
may say, gee. What to say, gee? Really, that's
a minced oath. It's a reference to God. Gosh! Gosh! And maybe you've been in
company with others who profess to be the Lord's people, believers,
and they do use these sort of minced oaths. Crikey is another
one. It's a reference to Christ. It's
a slang word. But you see, these are empty,
worthless words. The Lord Jesus says, Every idle
word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment. And God explicitly says in the
commandment, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain. All forms of blasphemy then are
clearly forbidden in this commandment. And we know that under the Old
Testament, under the law of God, blasphemy was a capital offense. We have an incident recorded
in the book of Leviticus, there in Leviticus chapter 24. at verse 10. The son of an Israelitish woman,
whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of
Israel. And this son of the Israelitish
woman and the man of Israel strove together in the camp. And the
Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed
And they brought him unto Moses, and his mother's name was Shalomith,
the daughter of Debrai of the tribe of Dan. And they put him
in ward, that the mind of the Lord might beshowed them. And
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring forth him that hath cursed
without the camp, and let all that heard him lay their hands
upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And thou
shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever
curses his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth
the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all
the congregation shall certainly stone him, as well the stranger
as he that is born in the land. When he blasphemeth the name
of the Lord, He, rather, when he blasphemeth the name of the
Lord shall be put to death. Now, it's interesting because
if you turn to that passage you'll observe now in verse 11 and in
verse 16 we have words that are in italics, the words of the
Lord, three words in each of those verses italicized And the
significance, of course, is that they've been introduced by the
translators. They're not renderings of any
Hebrew words. We can omit them. And if we omit
them, we see how stark the statement really is. The Israelitish woman's
son blasphemed the name and cursed. It's the name, as if there's
no other name. And in verse 16, when he blasphemeth,
the name shall be put to death. That is the commandment of God
then under the Old Testament dispensation. God's name was
never to be blasphemed. If it was, it was clearly a capital
offence. A serious matter then to take
God's name upon our lips at any time really. And yet, when we look at the
Old Testament, we do see that it was not improper to take God's
name upon the lips in an oath, to, as it were, appeal to Him
who is the searcher of all hearts. Deuteronomy 6.13, Thou shalt
fear the Lord, and shalt swear by His name. Fear the Lord, you
swear by his name. You could take an oath, but you
do it in the fear of the Lord. You don't do it as a light matter.
And of course that has reference to, I suppose, swearing an oath
in a court of law, that one is declaring all the truth, appealing
to the Lord, who knows the hearts of all men. Here then we see
the significance of the name of God it's a revelation of God
it's a name to be revered but it's interesting because one
of the Puritans Thomas Manton makes this observation he says
swearing is an act of worship to swear an oath is an act of
worship and what Manton says is also found I believe in the
Westminster Confession of Faith the truth that to swear an oath
is an act of worship and as I'm sure you're aware the Westminster
Divines they didn't just draw up the Westminster Confession
of Faith they were very much concerned with the whole matter
of the proper public worship of God and so there's a document
amongst those various papers called the Directory for Public
Worship issued by the Westminster Divines,
swearing an act of worship. So I want, in the second place,
to see how this commandment really relates to the worship of God. We're told, aren't we, back in
Genesis 4, at the end of that chapter, when Seth, Adam and
Eve's son, begets a son himself and calls
his name Enos, then began men to call upon the name of the
Lord. Calling upon the name of the
Lord is worship. When we come to pray we call
upon the name of the Lord. Abraham, Abraham who is the father
of all believers, In Genesis 12, 8 again, in 13 and verse
4, we're told, Abraham called upon the name of the Lord. To call upon God's name. That's
what we do when we come together in this fashion. We come together
to worship God. And the highest part of our worship,
of course, is when we do address Him directly. in our prayers,
and we direct Him directly also in our praises. We are continually
calling upon Him. We speak to Him, we desire that
He will come and commune with us, that He will speak to us
in the reading of His Word, in the preaching of His Word. It's
an act of calling upon God that we're engaged in. Now, thinking
more generally about these Ten Commandments, in the Ten Commandments, of course,
we have the expression of that covenant that God entered into
with the children of Israel. But isn't the law really also
a revelation of God? And we see that in the opening
words of the chapter. God spoke all these words saying,
I am the Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the land
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. God is proclaiming himself. He is declaring something of
his own character as he speaks these words. the 10 words, the
10 commandments. It's a revelation of God. And
what do we see in the first commandment? Verse 3, Thou shalt have no other
gods before me. God is declaring His very being,
that He is. And they are to have no other
gods before Him. They are not to put anything
before Him. They are to recognize that He
only is the Lord, the God and Creator of all things. As we
read in Isaiah 46.9, I am God and there is none else. I am
God and there is none like me. God declares himself, God declares
his being, I am that I am. And then in the second commandment,
are we not being told something about God's spiritual nature? He says, 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 iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing
mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Here is God declaring that he
is a spirit. We think of the words of the
Lord Jesus, God is a spirit. And the true worshippers, they
worship the Father in spirit and in truth. How God makes it clear that there
is nothing at all that they could ever used to represent it and
again how these things are continually being spelt out to the children
of Israel turning over to Deuteronomy and there in chapter 4 at verse
15 God says take ye therefore good
heed unto yourselves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the
day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst
of the fire, lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven
image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male
or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the
likeness of any windfowl that flyeth in the air, the likeness
of anything that creepeth, on the ground, the likeness of
any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. They were not to try to make
anything that would be representative of God because they saw no image. There was no similitude. They
simply heard the word of God. God spoke. And so they had to
realize that God is a spirit without body that's what we see there in the
in the second commandment and then when we come to this third
commandment which we're considering more specifically are they not
being told that God's name is holy God's name is holy. First of
all, God declares himself, he declares his being, then he declares
his nature, that he is a spirit, and now he declares that his
name is holy. 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 those words that we've
already referred to in the psalm that we read psalm 111 and verse
9 holy and reverend is his name again psalm 105 and verse 3 glory
ye in his holy name and when we address God when we pray to
God As the Lord himself instructs us in the pattern prayer, the
Lord's Prayer, what is to be our first petition? Well, in
the language of Luke 11, it is when you pray, say, Our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. All we are to pray,
that God's name will be hallowed, reverenced, Now observe here
how there is a connection between the second and the third commandments
in that each of these commandments do contain a very real threat
on the part of God, a warning, a solemn warning. He says in
verse 5 I the Lord thy God am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." Beware that you never make any
idol, any image, any similitude of God. He doesn't wink at those
things. And then in verse 7, again with
regards to his holy name, the Lord will not hold him guiltless
that taketh his name in vain. We are to be careful then however
we would take upon our lips the name of this God. That means, doesn't it, with
regards to our worship, that we need to be aware that we're
not free just to do as we please. We're not to imagine that it's
right that we should introduce into God's worship the things
that we would reckon to be appropriate. It's not the will of man, it's
not the commandments of men that we're to follow. There in Colossians
2.23 we read of some who engage in a show of wisdom in will-worship. Previously that is speaking of
the commandments of men. They do the commandments of men
rather than the commandments of God. It's will-worship. And it is quite clear what Moses
was commanded Here in Exodus, after the giving of the Ten Commandments,
subsequently we see how Moses is the mediator, the people want
that Moses should go to the Lord God, enter the mount as it were,
and commune with God, and receive all the commandments concerning
the worship of God. And now he is there in the mount
with God for 40 days. receiving all that instruction
and how repeatedly the Lord God tells him to see that they'll
make all things according to the pattern shown unto thee in
the mount when he comes to the tabernacle and all the furnishings
and all the worship of God, all the sacrifices all is to be according
to the pattern that was shown unto Moses by the Lord God and
you know that passage that we have in Hebrews 12 where the
Apostle contrasts Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. Some would say,
you see, well we live under the New Testament and under the New
Testament surely we have greater liberty than ever they knew under
the Old Testament. We're no longer under those laws. We don't say now that a man who
is a blasphemer is to be stoned to death. we have much greater
liberty but it's interesting isn't it when we look at that
passage in the 12th chapter of Hebrews because there Paul makes
it plain that it is a more solemn thing
to worship God under the gospel of the grace of God He says,
at verse 18 in that chapter, "...Ye are not come unto the
mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor
unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest," and so on, the
sound of a trumpet, the voice of words. No, he says, verse 22, "...Ye
are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn written in heaven,
to God, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. And then
he says, See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for if they
escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall
not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. Oh, it is more solemn to come
to Mount Zion than it is to be there at Mount Sinai. Now we need then, as we would
come and worship God, to come with all due regard, all due
reverence, to realize who it is that we approach. Keep thy
foot when thou goest to the house of God. Says the preacher, be
more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they
consider not what they do. Or be not rash with thy mouth,
to utter anything hasty before the Lord. For God is in heaven,
thou upon earth. Let thy words be few. The language of the preacher
there in Ecclesiastes 5. And we need to take heed of these
things. How can we be guilty then of taking God's name in
vain when we come to worship Him? Well, we're not to come
in any insincere way. We're not to come like the Pharisees. How the Lord rebukes those Pharisees.
The hypocrite, says Christ, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
This people draweth not unto me with their mouth and honoureth
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in
vain do they worship me. teaching the doctrines of man.
And we are to be those then who are wholehearted, sincere in
our worship, our affection set upon things above where Christ
is. The Lord says, you shall seek me and find me when you
shall search after me with all your heart. We are to be wholehearted
worshippers of God. Again, the words of the Psalmist. He says, Glory ye in his holy
name, let the heart of them rejoice that seek God. How do our hearts
rejoice when we're seeking God, when we're wholehearted, when
all our affections are flowing towards Him? And yet, though
we're wholehearted and sincere, we're also reminded, aren't we,
that The sacrifice that pleases God is that of a broken heart.
As David says in Psalm 51, the sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God, thou wilt not despise
all which have come then as poor broken-hearted sinners. But those
who are sincere in their seekings after God those who approach
Him hungering and thirsting, longing to know more and more
of Him, those who would ever stand in awe before a God who
is a holy God. And yet, when we consider all
that God is revealed to us in the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, when we see the wonder of the goodness of God
and the grace of God and the mercy of God, that He doesn't
deal with us after our sins. He doesn't reward us according
to our iniquities. Oh, He's a God so patient with
us, so long-suffering. This is the God that we come
to worship then, and we're to heed what God tells us here in
His words, the principle that stands in this third commandment. 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." May the Lord bless
his word to us. Let us now worship God again
as we turn to our second hymn, the hymn number 15. And the tune is Vellurman, number
92. I praise the Eternal God, that
Infinite Unknown, who can ascend His high abode, or venture near
His throne. Hymn number 15, June 92.