Good morning. Turn with me, if
you would, to Exodus chapter 20. While you're turning, I bring
love and greetings from our congregation at Hurricane Road in Ashland.
All your friends and family and brethren there, it never fails
that they always tell me, you be sure to tell everyone hello
and that we love them. Just as you heard, I'm sure,
from our brother Eric last week. You're constantly on our minds
and our hearts and our prayers. as I know that we are with you
all as well. Again, turn with me, Exodus chapter 20. We'll
read the first 21 verses. Exodus chapter 20. And God, God spake 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. 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, that is in the earth beneath, 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 unto 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.
This is our text here in verse 7. 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 labour, 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 hath made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that in them is, and rested on 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 neighbors. 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. And Moses said unto the people,
fear not, for God has come to prove you that his fear may be
before your faces that you said not. and the people stood afar
off, and Moses drew near into the thick darkness where God
was." So again, today we're focusing our
study, the message, on that in verse 7. 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. And we'll look at three main
points, three questions. What is the name of the Lord? This 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 to take the
name of the Lord thy God in vain? What is that, to take his name
in vain? And three, who can? Who can take the name of the
Lord thy God and it not be in vain? Who can take the name of
the Lord thy God not in vain? And I'd like to briefly answer
those three questions before we start, and we'll look in more
detail. But I want to briefly answer them first. We were with
some friends on Friday, and I'm putting on my shoes to leave
on the way out the door, and Stacey's talking to the wife
that had us over. And she mentions to her that
I'm coming here on Sunday. And as I'm putting my shoes on,
she says, what's the message? Like, a little on the spot, right? As I'm putting my shoes on, she
says, what's the... And this is what I told her.
I said, well, it's, 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? The name of the Lord is his character. It's his character. It's who
he is. It's his holiness. It's His goodness. It's His sovereign, absolute
power. It's His authority. It's who
He is. It's all of God's holy character,
and it's all of His holy position as Master. It's His name. It's who He is. It's His name.
What is the name of the Lord? What is it to take the name of
the Lord in vain? Taking the name of the Lord in vain is whenever,
whenever it's taken in our lips, whenever His name is taken in
our hearts, whenever His name is taken in our imagination,
whenever it's taken in a way that's inconsistent with who
God is, in a way that's flippant. How many times a day do we hear,
we hear it audibly, we hear someone say, So flippant. That's inconsistent
with who our God is. The people of Israel, they wanted
nothing to do with that smoking mountain. They said, Moses, let
not God talk to us, lest we die. Moses, you go. In a way that's
inconsistent with God is, flippantly, irreverently, or imagining his
character to be something inconsistent, as is revealed in this book,
that's taking his name in vain. Or it's his name taken by someone
unworthy to take his name. Someone unworthy, someone who's
not known. Would the Lord say to those people,
depart from me, I never knew you. I never loved you. Those
who aren't known, those who aren't loved, are unworthy to speak
his name. A friend of mine years ago was
telling me on the phone, well such and such said that you said
such and such. Don't you love that? Never once in my life had
I met such and such. Never spoken to the person. So
there's no way I could have said that, right? That man to me was
and is unknown. And I thought to myself, he needs
to keep my name out of his mouth. He's not known. He's not known.
He's unworthy to take my name. He's not known. Someone unworthy
to take the Lord's name is someone unknown. Someone unworthy. Taking the name of the Lord in
vain is inconsistent with who God is, and it's taken by somebody
who is unworthy. So who then can take the name
of the Lord? Who can take the name of the
Lord, thy God, in a worthy way, and have it not be in vain? Who
has the right? Only Christ has the right. Only
Christ, who is equal with God and who is God. Only Christ. Christ alone is worthy. Christ
alone has the right. Again, who is worthy? Only Christ. John says, in the beginning was
the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God, and the Word was made flesh, Christ,
and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. Only, only Christ
is worthy to take the name of the Lord and not be in vain.
And finally, what then is the result? Because God did not hold
Christ guiltless. Isn't that what it says in our
text in verse 7? Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless. that taketh the name in vain."
God did not hold Christ guiltless, not because Christ took the name
of the Lord in vain. Christ is worthy to take the
name of the Lord in vain. He did not hold him guiltless
because we took the name of the Lord in vain. And God the Father
laid that on and in Christ the Son, and God the Father did not
hold him guiltless. And since he did not hold him
guiltless, but rather Christ the Son, took the iniquity of
us all. Sinners are now commanded, not
just invited, but commanded to call upon the name of the Lord.
In Christ, sinners call upon the Lord's name, never in vain,
never in vain, always in mercy. Isn't that what Mark read in
the bulletin? I didn't bring the bulletin up. Never did a leper come to Christ
that he wasn't healed. Never did a sinner come that
he wasn't saved. Never does a sinner come to God
the Father in Christ and declare the Lord's name in vain. Never
in vain. Not in Christ, and only not in
Christ. Never in vain. I got a chance
to say that to this lady in her foyer while I was putting my
shoes on. She said, what is the message about? And that was the
synopsis that I got a chance to talk with her about it as
we're going along. So that's the synopsis of the message.
Now, let's look at each point in more detail. I remember someone
else quoting Henry saying, when you preach, I think I've heard
Don say this too, Tell them what you're gonna say, say it, and
tell them what you said, right? So, that's the synopsis of the
message. Now, let's look at each one of
those points in detail, and I think to myself as soaking in each
one of the points, if you will. Number one, what is the name
of the Lord? Again, the name of the Lord speaks
to his character, it speaks to his position. Do you know that
some of the Jews a section of the old Orthodox
Jews, they won't even speak his name. They won't speak his name,
they won't even write his name. Because his name is too holy
and too good. It's too holy to be written with
sinful hands. It's too perfect and too good
to be spoken with these sinful mouths. It's too holy. And they're
right because they don't believe that Christ is the Messiah, these
Jews. And if Messiah has not come,
then they are absolutely right. There is absolutely no approach
to God. And they're right. They shouldn't
speak his name. Outside of Christ, no one should take the Lord's
name outside of Christ. So they're right. There's absolutely
no approach. I have that written in my notes
this way, absolutely period, no period approach, period, to
God outside of Christ. Absolutely no approach. 1 Timothy
2 says there's one God, there's one mediator between God and
man, that is the man Christ Jesus. Without the Messiah, without
the mediator Christ, any mention or any thought, or any imagination,
or any calling on the Lord's name, is in vain. It's in vain. If Messiah has not come, then
sinners cannot come to God. If there's no Messiah, listen
to how our approach to God is met. Here in our text, in Exodus
20, we read, starting in verse 18, this is how our approach
to God is met outside of Christ. 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 it and stood far off. They said unto Moses, speak thou
with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest
we die. Lest we die. Moses said unto
the people, fear not, for God has come to prove you that his
fear may be before your faces. But she said not. The people
stood far off. Moses stood there under the thick
darkness where God was. That's how our approach outside
of Christ is. The smoking mountain, Mount Sinai, that we cannot touch.
We cannot approach to God. It is all in vain. Man is altogether
vanity. Outside of Christ, we cannot
approach, cannot approach unto God. Turn over to Leviticus chapter
10. If there is no Messiah. Leviticus chapter 10, first two
verses, and before we read this, I think frequently of the third
of the host of angels that fell with Lucifer, and there's no
mention of Messiah for them. How could those fallen angels
approach unto a holy God? They cannot. They cannot. Neither
can we, outside of our God-provided sacrifice, Christ the Messiah.
We cannot approach unto God outside of Christ. Leviticus chapter
10, first two verses. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons
of Aaron, took either of them, his censer, and put fire therein,
and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the
Lord, which he commanded them not. And they went out fire from
the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
They offered strange fire. The sons of Aaron brought fire
of their own, not the fire that was provided as part of God's
sacrifice. They brought their own fire, a strange fire. They
came to God outside of Christ and they were devoured. Rightfully
so. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. 2 Samuel 6 talks about Uzzah. When they came to Nachan's threshing
floor, Uzzah put forth his hand under 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. Motive is not a factor. Sinners must not approach the
Lord God outside of Christ. Must not. Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain. He will not hold them
guiltless. For us to take the name of the
Lord our God in our lips or in our minds, in our hearts, in
our imaginations, is to call upon His character. And what
is the character of God? What is His name? I'm going to
give you 15 scripture references, and we're not going to flip to
all 15. If you want to jot them down, I encourage you to write
down the scripture reference and go back and read them later on this afternoon.
It blesses me as I go through it, I'm sure it will to you.
I'll give you the 15 briefly, I'll tell you the references,
but the names of God as He has seen fit to reveal Himself to
us. God tells Abraham in Genesis 17, I am the almighty God. Genesis 14, he's called the most
high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. Exodus 6, he reveals
himself as master. Exodus 3, eternal God. In Exodus 17, Jehovah Nissi,
the Lord is my banner. when the Israelites were fighting,
and they looked up, and Moses' hands were lifted, and the Israelites
prevailed, and Moses' hands were down, and the Israelites were
overrun, and they looked up and said, the Lord, my banner. As long as the Lord is there,
I will prevail. And we can look and see the Lord,
our banner. Strike that. It's the Lord, my
banner. I like that. My banner. Yes,
he's the Lord, our banner. He's my banner. It's personal.
The Lord, my banner. Psalm 23, Jehovah-rah, the Lord,
my shepherd. Exodus 15, Jehovah-rapah, the
Lord, the healeth. Ezekiel 48, the last words of
Ezekiel, Jehovah-shammah, the Lord is here. Jeremiah 23, Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. Exodus 3, Jehovah Umkedesh, the
Lord who sanctifyeth you, separates you, sanctifyeth you. Genesis
21, El Olam, the everlasting God, and that was the Lord revealed
himself to Abraham after Abraham saw the promise of seeing Isaac
born. that long promise. Finally, and
Abraham got to experience seeing the Lord fulfilling his promise,
and he saw him as the everlasting God. Elohim, in Genesis 1-1,
in the beginning, God, Elohim, singular, God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit, singular, one God, Elohim. Genesis
22, Jehovah-Jireh, The Lord will
provide. Judges 6. Jehovah Shalom. The Lord our peace. Or also translated,
the Lord is peace. In 1 Samuel 17, Jehovah Sabaoth,
the Lord of hosts. What is the Lord's name? What
is his character? He's God of heaven and earth.
He's eternal. He's almighty. He's singular. He's holy. He's everlasting. He's master. He's our banner.
He's our righteousness. The name of the Lord. This, this
is the name of the Lord. This is the name of the Lord
that we call on And this is the name of the Lord that is worthy
to not be taken in vain. It's worthy to not be taken in
vain. So what is it, then, to take this magnificent name in
our mouths, and in our hearts, and in our minds? What is it
to take this magnificent name in vain? And let me give two
sides, if you will, to one answer. Left alone, left to ourselves,
a man has no right to even mention God's name, let alone call on
him. We lost that right in Adam. When Lucifer took God's name
in vain and said, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will be like
God. He took the Lord's name in vain.
And Adam took the fruit and sided with Lucifer. over our Lord. He took the Lord's
name in vain, and we and Adam have no right to call upon the
Lord. We lost that right in Adam. The Lord put fiery swords right
outside the Garden of Eden. Adam cannot approach. Neither
can we. We cannot approach. We lost that
right in Adam. We inherited our father Adam's
damnation judiciously, right there. We show evidence that
we inherited his same nature when we naturally, of ourselves,
naturally, we inherited his same nature. And we show this when
we skew or change his name, and this is how we take it in vain,
is when we either pervert his holiness by changing who God
is in our mind, we change his name. We change Him in our mind
to an imaginary God that will contradict the very essence of
His holiness. His name is holy. His name is
everlasting. His name is almighty. His name
is just. And we change His name in our
mind to a God that will overlook sin. That's taking His name in vain.
We change the very essence of His holiness and goodness into
something that somehow, somehow He'll just accept me anyway.
And that is to say, I'm not that bad. And that is to say, He's
not that good. And that is to change His name. His name is holy, and that's
an absolute. And anything less than holy and
just and perfect is taking his name in vain and changing his
name. I have a nephew named Matthew,
and buddy, he's Matthew. He's not Matt. He doesn't want
to be called Matt. I've been corrected before. He
doesn't want to be called Matt. He's Matthew. He doesn't want
his name changed. It defends him. Don't change our Lord's
name. But we do that naturally when
we think that the Lord will overlook and the Lord will accept me anyway.
We change his name from something holy to something that is not
holy. Change his name from character revealed to character not revealed. Or we imagine that his goodness,
that this goodness that we have within ourselves is already good
enough to be on par with God. which is, again, to change His
holiness, which is to say, I have an inherent right to call upon
His name. I have an inherent right to enter into His presence,
which is changing His name. It's perverting His name. It's
perverting His justice. It's perverting His goodness.
It's perverting who He is, changing His name and taking the name
of the Lord, our God, in vain. In either case, what we have
done is we formed a God of our imagination, which is not holy. making him look an awful lot
like us. Or we have a much inflated opinion of our own righteousness,
again, making God look an awful lot like us. And we've created
a God of our imagination in our own imagery, we've created a
God in our own image. And that's the very definition
of idolatry, which is taking the Lord's name in vain. Calling
an evil idol by the name of our Lord, that's taking the name
of our Lord God in vain. left to our sinful selves, left
to our sin-filled, sin-filled nature. You ever seen a tick
on a dog get ready to fall off? Filled. I mean, not another drop
can go in that. That's the way we are with sin,
sin-filled nature. We show that, we show that nature
by either denying God altogether, or we change the good and holy
character of God into some polluted idol. some polluted version of
our own idea of goodness and holiness that's really on par
with my own. That makes me God, is what that
does. If I'm the decider, if I'm the standard of what is right
and what is wrong and what is good and what is just, if I'm
the standard of that, then I am God. And how is that any different
than what Lucifer said? How is that any different than
what Adam did when he took the fruit? It's not different, it's the
same. It's usurping God's authority, taking His name in vain, perverting
His image. We might as well be worshiping
Baal. An interesting thing, I looked
that up on the internet last night. Do you know that's still
a thing? People are today worshiping Baal,
still. And if we're coming to a holy
God outside of Christ, we might as well be, right? Outside of
Christ. There is no coming to God the
Holy Father, the Almighty, the Holy, the Just. There is no coming
to God outside of Christ. So what is it to take again the
name of the Lord thy God in vain, left to ourselves this sinful
heart? It's any mentioned thought or
imagination of him left to ourselves. We have no right again to call
upon his name. Everything we do is vain. Psalm
39 says, Verily every man at his best state is altogether
vanity, is altogether useless. At our best state, we're altogether
vanity. We have no right. Tell a story on your mom. You
ready? So I was a kid. I spent a lot
of summers at the community pool. The community pool in our little
town in Williamsburg is called Caneland. For whatever reason,
they like to drop the D off everything. Caneland. So I spent a lot of
time this summer in Caneland. And one day, my mom came to pick
me up. And I didn't hear my name announced over the house speaker.
So after a while, mom came into the community pool to come get
me. And there was a kid there named John Sear. Mom remembers. A kid there named John Sear.
And he looked a lot like me. We looked a lot alike. Back then
I had almost white blonde hair. And so did John Sear. And we're
about the same height. We even had the same name. His
name was John, my name was John. And that particular day we were
in the same swim trunks. So this kid looked a whole lot
like me, and I'm not coming when mom here, I don't hear the loudspeaker
call my name, so mom comes in the pool, and she grabs John
Singer by the elbow, and she says, John, come on! And me and John just stare at
her, like she's crazy, right? And she grabs him again, and
she starts walking, and she says, John, let's go! And he just stares
at her. Now, John Seeger didn't go with
my mom because she had no right to call his name. Now, John and
I look alike, we were dressed alike, we didn't say name again. And this was very quickly resolved.
Don't be too hard on mom. This was resolved all in a matter
of seconds. John didn't go with mom. But the point of the matter
is mom had no right to call his name because John Seeger is not
a Tate. He has a different heritage.
He has a different father. He has different blood. He has
a different family. Therefore, Mom had no right to
call his name. John Sear wasn't a Tate. John
Sear was Other, right? Not Tate. Other. And did you
know that that is one of the definitions of holy? Other. Holy Other. So Mom had no right
to call on John Sear's name, and again, a totally innocent
mistake. Because Johnny was other, holy other. God is other. We are not. We have no right
to call on his name. Does that make sense? Does that
illustration make some sense? We don't have a right to call
on his name outside of Christ because he is other, he is holy.
That's taking the Lord our God's name in vain. Who then, and this
is the comfort, because God could have put a period right
there. And out of his goodness, which
is his character, God is good. Out of his love, because that's
his character, God's name is love. Out of his goodness, he
saw fit to reserve a people unto himself. Who then can call upon
the name of the Lord, not in vain? He could have just left
us right there in judgment. He'd have been holy and good
to do so. That wouldn't have changed his character at all.
He'd have been holy and good to leave us right there in judgment. But God. But God. Turn over with me to Isaiah chapter
45. In the time that we have remaining,
we're going to be turning quite a bit, so be ready. But God,
Isaiah chapter 45, starting in verse 19. The Lord says, I have not spoken
in secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not under the
seat of Jacob, seek me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Here the Lord tells us, assemble
yourselves and come. Draw near together, either escaped
or the nations, they have no knowledge. Set up wood for their
graven image. Pray into a God that cannot save.
If this is you, this is me. If this is you, then this next
part is addressed to us. Tell ye, 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
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is 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. Who can take the name of the
Lord and not in vain? The Lord is telling us here,
look unto me, be ye saved. And I love that, that be ye. Only God can declare something
that is from something that is not. In the beginning when God
said, let there be light, the literal translation is light
be. He says, look unto me and be ye saved. Light be, be ye
saved. And our brother Mark read before
the service, Be ye clean, clean be. And he declares sinners clean. Unjustly, never. He declares
sinners clean. Injustice, because Christ took
the punishment of our sin when he bore our sin, our sin and
our sins in his body on the tree and bore them away. Therefore
God the Father in justice says, clean be. Be clean. And we're clean. Sinners are
clean. Romans 10, 13 says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Shall he be saved as a result
of calling upon the name of the Lord? That's perverting the Lord's
name again. We never oblige the Lord to do
anything by our actions or our thoughts or our calling. We call
because we are saved. And the Lord reveals that to
us. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. You say, but Jonathan, you just spent the first part
of the service telling me that I have no right to call. So who
then can call on the name of the Lord and it not be in vain?
Who has the right? First, he has to be family. He
has to be holy. He can't be other. Can't be other,
like Johnny Sear. He'd have to have the right to
call, mom only had the right to call my name, because I'm
a Tate. Has to be family, can't be other. The only one like God
is God. Isaiah 45 again says, I am the
Lord, there is no other. No other. Who has the right to
call on the name of the Lord? He has to be God. He has to intimately
know and love all of God's name, all of God's character. I'll read a few. Who has the
right and who has the authority? Matthew 17 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. When the disciples
heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. Jesus
came and touched them and said, Arise and be not afraid. And
when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. Who has the right to call upon
the name of the Lord? Jesus only. John 17. These words spake 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 hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on
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. only God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, God the Father. They're the only that
aren't other, the only that can call upon the name of the Lord,
not in vain. John 1 says, quoted this earlier,
in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him. All things were made
for him. Without anything was not anything
made that was made. In him was life, and the life
was the light of men. The light shineth in darkness,
and darkness comprehended it not. And later in that chapter,
the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. That's
only Christ. Only Christ has the right. Only
Jesus Christ is holy. In the same manner as God the
Father is holy and God the Holy Spirit are holy, only Christ,
only the Lord Jesus Christ has free access to commune face-to-face
with the Father. Only the Lord Jesus Christ has
the right to take the Father's name and it not be in vain. We are a lost people on the outside
of Christ. There is no hope for us as a
fallen race yet in this message. Completely, completely lost.
Only Christ is worthy. But turn to John 3, and hold
your spot there for a while, over in John 3. John chapter three in verse 16, 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 so loved, so loved,
for God loved in this manner. that he did not leave mankind
to themselves, but rather he reserved a people unto himself,
because he chose to, as a reflection of his goodness, as a reflection
of his mercy, as a reflection of his love, because of his own
character. Nothing external that coerced
or forced or earned or paid nothing external whatsoever, of his own
goodness, of his own goodness, because that's his name. He reserved
people. He reserved people. Because God so loved in that
manner that he did not leave mankind to themselves. He reserved
people unto himself. God chose a people. Christ redeemed
that people. The Holy Spirit called that people
because of Elohim's goodness. Singular. Because of His goodness. Christ makes they who are not
family to be family. Elohim, that singular God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, makes us family
through Christ's suffering, through Christ's sacrifice, through Christ's
holy unblemished blood sacrifice to God the Father. Christ makes
us family. suffering in our place. 1 Peter
2 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 ye are healed. Do you still have John 3 there?
Go up from verse 16 and look in verse 14. This is God's Son. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
God the Son, verse 15, this is God the Holy Spirit, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Why? This is verse 16, this is God
the Father. 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 give him the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. God reserved a people, Christ
saved a people, the Holy Spirit called a people. That's his holy
name. Christ made us family so that
I can take the Lord's name as a son, as family in Christ. Outside the authority of the
scriptures, How terrifying. I'd be more scared to stand here
than the Israelites standing before that mountain, standing
before Mount Sinai. I'd be more scared to say what
I'm getting ready to say. If not for the authority of this
book in Christ, I am holy. I am other. in Christ. I have the right to call upon
God the Father's name, not in vain, in Christ. Because Christ
has made me, through His sacrifice and His suffering, He has made
me other. Christ my righteousness has made
me worthy so that I can take the name of the Lord my God,
not in vain, but in mercy. He's made me worthy in Him, in
Christ. And one more thing, so those
that take the Lord's name outside of Christ always take it in vain,
right? Outside of Christ, the name of
the Lord is always taken in vain. The flip side of that coin is
that whoever takes the Lord's name through Christ and in Christ's
name never, never takes the name of our Lord in vain, never. In
Christ, you take the name of the Lord, always in mercy, always
accepted, always accepted. Center, come, come to Christ. Center, with me. Center, come,
come to Christ. Access to the Father, who takes
our sinfulness and has put it completely away. The best description
that our feeble minds can understand is as far as the East is from
the West, because the two never touch. takes our sin, gone, because
he was the worthy sacrifice. He alone is the worthy sacrifice.
He alone is the willing sacrifice. He's the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world, removing, absolutely removing sin, and
giving us his righteousness so that we are family, so that we
are others, so that we can and should and do call upon the name
of the Lord, our God, as family. When mom came and called Johnny
Cedar, Johnny Cedar looked at him like she was crazy. 10 seconds
later, I saw her. I didn't. I know my mom. I'm family. So I went right with
her. We can call on the name of Lord our God in Christ that
same way. Never rejected in Christ. Psalm
20, excuse me, Psalm 50 says, and this is from our Lord, call
upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, thou shalt
glorify me. Hebrews 4 says, let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Matthew 11 says, come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you
rest. Sinner, come to Christ as you
are. We went, we took the kids. a month or so ago to the Van
Gogh experience in Cincinnati. I don't know a whole lot about
art. I appreciate it, but I just don't know a whole lot about
art. But I notice when we look through all the Van Gogh exhibits,
and I've been doing some studying with Rosalie on arts and humanities,
academic thing that she's part of, and I don't even have a fifth
grade education on arts and humanities. This is all above me. So everything
that I'm studying in fifth grade about art, I'm learning for the
first time, right? And one thing I notice, there
seems to be a common thread through a lot of art, through painted
art, written art, and music that's sung. It's an expression of very, very
intense emotions. And I grew up in the grunge era,
and I remember the expression of these songs were all so painful
and lost and helpless and hopeless. There were all these songs. I
don't think it's that unusual for people, even in our own sinful
minds, we can tell that we are other from God. We know that
inherently. The universe describes that to
us. I believe that we know that inherently and have from the
history of man. Even someone who hasn't seen
or heard of a Bible knows that inherently. I am other from God.
I am lost. And they stay in this state of
just constant turmoil, lost from God. And some of the old monks,
that was their holiness. Their knowledge of sin was what
they were bringing as their sacrifice before God. Just the dreadful
knowledge of just how bad they were, and they'd whip their backs.
you know, they beat themselves until their backs were bloody,
and other cultures sacrifice their children, and do all these
horrible things because we understand we're so far from God, and we
understand that, and then we pervert that, and so I'm gonna
punish myself, and bring that before my God by my contrition,
or by my beating of myself, or by my... And left to ourselves,
That's vanity, that's uselessness, right? To realize some semblance
of our sinfulness and stay in it, that's our best state. In our best state, we realize
that we are other from God and we're depressed about it. That's
our best state. But the Father says, Christ says,
come. Don't stay there. There's no
holiness there in the knowledge of your sin. There's no holiness
there. There's no righteousness. There's
no sacrifice. There's no coming to God there in the knowledge
of your sinfulness. Come to Christ. Come to Christ.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. For here's
where rest is. That's what Christ says. I'll
give you rest. Here's, I am rest. Come to Christ as you really
are. Bring all of you. to Christ as He is, as He's revealed
in His Word. This isn't an invitation, this
is a commandment. God give us ears to hear that,
to hear the commandment, to hear it addressed to me. Even if I
came a hundred years ago, to hear it again today addressed
to me saying, sinner, come. And I come today, I come now.
By His grace, I come tomorrow. Come to me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden. I will give you rest." His name's
never taken in vain. Take his name on your lips and
in your hearts, in your minds. Beg him for what your heart really
wants. There's never time that I don't
write notes, that I don't think to myself 30 years from now when
my kids might be listening to this. And that's what I tell them. Take His name on your lips and
in your heart and beg Him for what your heart really wants.
If your heart wants mercy, if your heart wants mercy for sin,
that was given. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. If you're coming to Christ as your master looking
for mercy for your sin, that's given. Come to Christ. And the
Lord says, by the power and authority of this book, the Lord himself
says, that will not be in vain. That is not in vain. Come to
him in mercy. Amen. Let's pray. Our Lord, our Father, we pray
that you keep us from taking your name in vain, and we pray
that you forgive us for Christ's sake, that we do. Remember that we are dust, and
that's, we don't bring that to you as an excuse, we bring that
to you as our high priest, that we are dust. We pray that Christ
make intercession for us and that you receive us for Christ's
sake. See us always and only in Christ. Father, we thank you
for mercy, and we thank you for the time that you've granted
us to be together and worship together. I pray that you be
with us. We pray for those of our friends
that have been mentioned that are struggling and and for others.
Father, you know the need. I pray that you comfort. As you
see fit and according to your will, we pray this thankfully
in Christ's name, always and for his sake alone, amen.