Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.gracespringfield.com/sermons/91534/you-shall-not-take-the-name-of-the-lord-your-god-in-vain/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] By the way, as you get back to your seats, you know, I watched a few clips of Ben Sass talking about his life and his death and the Lord.

[0:11] ! And a few thoughts just came to mind, besides what I already shared. But you know, when somebody's dying, that's a great opportunity to just pay attention and to listen.

[0:28] I think it's always a good opportunity, or we should never give up an opportunity, I should say, to listen to someone who's dying.

[0:39] Because a lot of times those are the ones who really, really understand what's important in life. And they can tell us a lot of things. A lot of things that we don't always think about.

[0:50] One of my favorite movies is, I'm trying to remember the name, The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry. Anybody ever seen that? We actually have a copy in our library. The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry. Anyone? Oh my. I don't see anyone. I should see one hand. Maybe two.

[1:04] A tremendous, tremendous movie. It's about the life of an older man who, there's some kids in the neighborhood who he befriends. And he, at the beginning of the movie, he takes an opportunity to take them to a cemetery.

[1:20] And he takes them to the cemetery. And for them to say, hey listen, this is one of the most important places that you can go to. And let these men and women who are in the cemetery speak to you.

[1:33] And tell you about life. About what is really, really important in life. And you know, another kind of thought that came to mind with Ben Sass was, until you're prepared to die, you can't really live a full life.

[1:58] Until you are prepared to meet your maker, until you know and rest assured that you have that blessed assurance, that you have peace with God, you can't really live.

[2:08] And that's what God wants for us. To live lives that are full with that blessed assurance. Anyway, I just wanted to share those extra thoughts. Exodus chapter 20.

[2:21] We're going through the Ten Commandments. We had a few introductory messages. And then we've looked at the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before me. And then the second commandment, related to not making any graven images or carved statues.

[2:36] One of the things we've pointed out is that the Ten Commandments kind of is split into two groups. One is commandments that are related to God. And then the others are related to men.

[2:49] So commands related to our relationship with God. And then other commands related to men. This third commandment is another one of those that is related to God.

[3:00] Now, in our introductory messages, we made some kind of overview points on how, what our perspective as Christians should be towards the Ten Commandments and the law of Moses in general.

[3:15] And so I want to kind of keep that in mind. So I want to refresh our memories just a bit on that. The first one is that the law is good, the Bible says. And that says that in the New Testament for Christians, that the law is good.

[3:29] It's holy and righteous and good. Paul himself says that the law is useful as instructions in righteousness. How to think about right and wrong and morality.

[3:41] But he also tells Timothy it's only good if it's used lawfully. And he says the law was not made for the righteous, but only for the unrighteous, for sinners.

[3:52] Because, as we read in our memory verse this morning, as Christians, as those who put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and the blood that he shed for us, we are not under the law like the Jews were.

[4:08] Instead, we are under grace. And we talked about what that means. And that means that even though the law is good, even though it's something that we can reference and we ought to reference, we ought to honor, we ought to respect, that law has no more power over us as Christians.

[4:27] Well, what kind of power? The power to condemn us. The power of what Paul says in Romans, the power of sin and death has been defeated.

[4:39] That when you break that commandment, when you break that law, now as Christians, those of us who are in Christ, that law has no power to bring death to us.

[4:50] We have life eternal in Jesus Christ because of what he did for us. And so, that's what we ought to keep in our minds as we study these Ten Commandments.

[5:01] Today, we're going to look at the third commandment. Let's go ahead and read it. So, Exodus chapter 20 and verse 7. It says this, So, just think for a moment to yourselves.

[5:26] I think many of us have heard this commandment before. What does it mean to not take the Lord's name in vain? What would you say?

[5:39] I think most of us, most people would typically say something similar. That taking the Lord's name in vain is to use God's name in some kind of degrading way.

[5:54] In the context of cussing, swearing, some kind of profanity. And while I think that's very much true, very much part of it, I don't think that it comprises the whole of what God is getting at here.

[6:12] And so, let's kind of start our study by looking at these specific terms. In taking the name of the Lord your God in vain.

[6:22] That word take just means to actually take up, as in to carry. That same word is used for carrying any kind of object.

[6:34] To bear something. You might carry it in your hands. You might carry it on your shoulders. But to pick something up and carry it away or carry it with you. That word vain is just a word that simply means, in a very simple way, empty.

[6:50] Something that is devoid of value or worth. Or it's empty in some kind of way. Hollow, fruitless. That word, again, is used very generously throughout the Bible for all kinds of things.

[7:03] It's a word used to describe the wilderness or a wasteland. And why would that be? Well, it's empty. It's devoid of maybe vegetation or animal life. So, that's a way in which the emptiness or vanity is described when it comes to places.

[7:21] It's a word used to describe somebody's deeds. Somebody's deeds that are vain or in vanity. Are things that are corrupt or useless. Think about being empty of integrity or empty of any kind of virtue.

[7:35] And then, when it comes to our words, vain words, think about things that are like lies and deception or disrespect.

[7:50] And so, those are words that are empty of truth or empty of honor. So, to take something in vain is to carry something in a way that it was not intended to be carried.

[8:07] It's a way that is to pick something up and to carry it in a way that is devoid of its proper respect. Devoid of the proper integrity in which you ought to carry it.

[8:19] Devoid of carrying it with the kind of weight and gravity that that object deserves. And what is that object that we're talking about this morning?

[8:30] Well, it's God's name. And is it, there are all kinds of names for God in the Bible.

[8:41] God, the Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh, our Father. When it comes to Jesus, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so, when we carry God's name, we ought to do so properly, with the proper respect.

[8:57] But, does that mean we're just talking about how we speak God's name out loud? Or is it something more than that?

[9:11] You know, Israel, these Ten Commandments were originally given to the nation of Israel. Israel was designated by God to be a special people.

[9:21] A special people that God said he would call them by his name. In Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 10, it says this.

[9:36] This is part of the law of Moses. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you, he's talking to Israel, are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.

[9:47] He's saying, to you people Israel, I'm making you a special people. And I will call you by my name. You will be identified by me, the Lord says.

[10:00] There's another famous passage in 2 Chronicles 7.14. Many of you may recognize this when I quote this. It says this, My people who are called by my name, or if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways.

[10:19] Then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. Who's he talking about? He's talking about Israel. They are the people who are called by my name. That I, the Lord, have called them by my name.

[10:33] And is God calling only Israel by his name? Well, back at that time, that was the case. If you wanted to be part of the family of God, to be called by his name, you had to join that nation.

[10:47] Become circumcised. Follow the law. Join the covenant. What about today? Well, as Christians following Christ under the new covenant, God calls us by his name still, right?

[11:00] As believers, as those who are part of his family. In fact, the word Christian is something that was a label given to the early believers right after, you know, during the book of Acts, as you read in the book of Acts, right after the resurrection of Christ, and he ascended into heaven, and all the apostles were preaching the gospel and sharing the gospel with people.

[11:24] And people were becoming believers in this man they called Jesus the Christ. There were a lot of people that thought these new believers were kind of nuts.

[11:35] And they wanted to ridicule and mock them. And so they decided to call them little Christs. These people, these people who believe in that man named Jesus, the Christ, they are just the little Christ.

[11:51] They're followers of his. And that is what Christian means. It means little Christ. And so we as Christians, we carry the Lord's name.

[12:07] And for anyone who carries the Lord's name, we ought to be careful not to carry it in an empty fashion without the proper care and concern and sobriety that it deserves.

[12:21] Instead, we ought to carry his name filled with reverence and respect and honor and the weight and the gravity that his name deserves.

[12:36] And also in truth and integrity. And like I said, not just when we speak his name, right? Because it's not only that we speak his name, but we bear his name on ourselves.

[12:49] Back in the Old Testament, the priest, the Levite priest, actually had God's name on their garment. And in a similar fashion, us Christians today, we wear God's name.

[13:00] We are representatives of his. And we'll talk about that more in just a little bit. But what I'd like to do is look at four different ways that it's possible that we or anyone could use God's name in vain or take God's name in vain.

[13:21] And I want to start with the most obvious one, the one that most people think about when they think about this third commandment. So the first is how we use his name when we speak it.

[13:34] We can, it's appropriate to actually use God's name when we talk to him, when we pray. Say, our Father, remember Jesus taught his disciples how to pray?

[13:46] Our Father, who art in heaven, right? When we sing, right, we just sang some songs, the name of the Lord was in those songs. It's appropriate to use God's name.

[13:56] But we ought to be careful how we do it. One of the ways that people can use God's name today or any time in history is as a way to express disgust or outrage.

[14:13] Some people will be very upset and they'll use the name Jesus Christ to express how upset or angry they are.

[14:27] Or they'll use a phrase that basically is asking God to bring damnation in some kind of situation. They'll ask God to damn something, invoking God's name as an exclamation, usually in some kind of fit of anger.

[14:51] And by doing so, they take God's name, the one who gave them life, put breath into their lungs. They drag his name and not just his name, right, but drag him through the mud in doing so.

[15:10] Another way that people can use God's name in a vain way is just through simple exclamations, right? It's not intended to be offensive.

[15:21] It's not intended to express any kind of anger or rage or disrespect. But at the same time, it's used carelessly in a way that's not really showing the kind of honor that it should.

[15:41] And so it's very common today, right, you might see something surprising and you might say, oh my God. And are we really using God's name in a respectful way when we do that?

[15:57] Or is that a careless exclamation that is just being, using God's name, you know, tritely? We even, I know, today in popular culture, right, we like to truncate everything as much as possible, right?

[16:14] I don't know if this came from the text messaging thing or everything's short and abbreviated. And we have acronyms for everything. And I cannot keep up with them. I don't know about you, but I see all these acronyms all over the place and half the time I'm just completely unaware as to what they mean.

[16:30] But a popular one that I see today is OMG, right? OMG. And I'm sure that's fine, right? As long as we're not spelling out God's name, it's probably fine to express that same idea with an acronym.

[16:47] Many Christians think, ah, no big deal. But you know what? It is a big deal. God is very, and we'll read some verses here in a bit, but he's very serious here about how his name is used.

[17:03] I think that as Christians, we ought to be careful with whenever we invoke God's name. Again, like when we talk to the Lord, we can certainly use his name, and we ought to. But when it comes to other things, in just these trite, sometimes even silly ways, we ought to be careful what comes out of our mouth.

[17:24] So let's come up, you know, if this is something that you find coming up a lot in your language, maybe look at some alternatives. And there are plenty of alternatives, right, to make exclamations.

[17:36] Some of them are fun, some of them are simple, some of them are very plain. You can just say, yikes! right? That one works. Or how about blimey?

[17:48] I think the Australians use that one. Or gadzooks! I think that one's from like the 50s or 60s. Or my favorite is the one from Charlie Brown. Anybody know that one?

[18:00] Good grief! Good grief! Good grief! God's name is God's name but this usage of language I think is just barely scratching the surface of what it means to carry God's name in a vain way.

[18:15] And I want to look at the second one which is so we just looked at the first one using God's name as an exclamation or in cursing. The next one that I want to look at is where there's a lot of focus.

[18:27] We see a lot of focus in the Bible and specifically in the Old Testament but also in the New Testament and it's about oaths, making oaths or promises or vows. And it's something that the Bible speaks to actually a lot more frequently than you might imagine.

[18:46] In Israel oaths were taken and this was I think throughout the world at that time and we'll see that it's not too uncommon today either but that oaths would be taken in which God's name would be invoked in some kind of way.

[19:04] Maybe it was a way to kind of add additional veracity more emphasis even like kind of like a guarantee that what I'm telling you is true.

[19:16] And in a sense it's like you're putting God's reputation at stake not just your own but adding in God's reputation on top of it. And so a broken oath or promise didn't just make you a liar but it brought God into the equation to make him a liar as well.

[19:38] In Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 13 again this is part of the law of Moses. This is what God says. Deuteronomy 6 13 You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him.

[19:54] Now he's telling them you need to stay away from idols and false gods. But he continues on in this way he says and you shall take oaths in his name. You shall not go after other gods.

[20:07] He says listen if you take an oath I don't want you to take an oath in the name of Thor or Odin or Zeus or Baal or any of these other gods back at that time or any future gods that come around.

[20:20] If you're going to take an oath and it is appropriate at times to take an oath do it in the name of the one true God the one who gave you life and breath. Swear by his name not by the names of any of the false gods.

[20:39] And we actually have plenty of examples in the Bible where men godly men did this. Abraham he was and I'm trying to remember I didn't write it down but there was a certain tribe that he was negotiating with and they asked him and they said this is at Genesis 21 verse 23 and 24 they said now therefore they said this to Abraham swear to me by God that you will do what you told me that you will do and this is how Abraham responded and he says I will swear he swore by the name of God to keep the commitment that he was asked to keep.

[21:21] back in the story of Ruth when Ruth she has this encounter with Boaz and there's this kind of expectation that maybe he will take her in as his bride to be the kinsman redeemer.

[21:38] We won't get into all the details of what that was but there was some question about whether he would perform that thing which he was seeming to imply that he would perform.

[21:50] Here's what he said Ruth chapter 3 verse 13 he says I will perform the duty for you as the Lord lives. He invoked the name of the Lord.

[22:02] He says just as much as the Lord is alive as he's a living God I will do what I said I would do. So he swears by the name of the Lord. Jonathan and David we see them as two friends.

[22:15] They swear before God. when they made a commitment to stay friends and to be faithful to one another. That's in 1 Samuel 20 verse 42.

[22:28] Even when it comes to God making a covenant with Abraham. If you remember when God made the covenant with Abraham he actually had Abraham fall asleep.

[22:41] Right? And then there was a sacrifice where God himself went alone through the midst of the sacrifice the animal split in two. and in Hebrews it describes that whole scene in this way.

[22:56] Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 13. Because he could swear by no one greater he swore by himself. God himself swore by his own name to keep his promise to Abraham.

[23:13] Even in the New Testament we see Paul the apostle he's the apostle to the Gentiles. It's his books, his writings that are the most relevant to us today as Christians.

[23:24] That's who he's writing to. Christians who have been saved through the cross of Christ by grace. And I look this up and I count at least four times where Paul himself calls God as his witness in making some kind of a statement about some kind of truth usually or some kind of promise.

[23:47] And he uses phrases like this for God is my witness where he says indeed before God I do not lie. And even I call God as witness against my soul.

[24:03] And so these are things in the Bible where both in the Old Testament and the New that it is appropriate to sometimes invoke the name of the Lord when you are giving some kind of oath or testifying to some kind of truth.

[24:19] Yet in the law it also spoke to take care how you use God's name with these oaths, these vows, or these promises. In Leviticus chapter 19 verse 12 it says this.

[24:33] Again part of the law of Moses. If you are going to swear or take an oath by my name you better keep your promise.

[24:53] This is not something that you take lightly. You need to do what you say that you are going to do. Don't use my name to deceive someone.

[25:04] using his name to supposedly back up what you are saying so that you can deceive someone in some kind of bad deal.

[25:20] You know Jesus actually spoke to this commandment, this whole idea. And some people I think probably misinterpret this because, and it's easy I think to misinterpret, but it seems like Jesus is saying, well you should never take oaths in God's name.

[25:38] Let me go ahead and read this to you. This is in Matthew chapter 5 verse 33. Matthew chapter 5 verse 33. Again you have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not swear falsely but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.

[25:54] He's just quoting what we just quoted there from the book of Leviticus. But I say to you do not swear at all neither by heaven for it is God's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool nor by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king nor shall you swear by his head by your head because you cannot make one hair white or black but let your yes be yes and your no no for whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

[26:23] So Jesus is saying hey this is what the law said and I want to bring in some correction here. Now we have to be very careful. Many people would say that Jesus is correcting the law of Moses and that is absolutely not true.

[26:40] Jesus never ever ever undermined or corrected the law of Moses. In fact Jesus came the Bible says and Jesus himself said to fulfill the law.

[26:53] and he said nothing no jot or tittle will be undermined until you know the right time anyway.

[27:05] But I think what Jesus is saying here is that you should not take oaths in God's name in a light manner.

[27:17] Oaths are not to be for everyday commitments that you make. Oh I'll you know sure I'll come to your birthday party I swear to God that's not something that we ought to say or do.

[27:33] Also oaths are not a way and this is what I think that Jesus was specifically speaking to who was Jesus speaking to specifically when he was talking about these oaths? Well we can probably guess even if you don't know the context a lot of times it's the Pharisees right?

[27:49] And the Pharisees they wanted to make themselves look pious look extra holy and so hey they're going to invoke God's name on a regular basis and if it's not God's name well it's his throne heaven or by earth his footstool or by Jerusalem the city of the great king and so that's this is what Jesus is talking about he's saying don't try to wiggle your way around what God's commandment is about not using God's name carelessly you need to take this seriously and so using God's name or anything representing God should only be done in very serious and special occasions in all other cases just let your yes be yes and your no be no just stick to that in our modern day we have times where we swear we give oaths we give vows we don't a lot of times call them oaths or vows but we will do this and sometimes it's done carelessly like I said sometimes we'll say

[28:57] I cross my heart and hope to die most of us are familiar with that right we have other ways that we'll do that and again that's also kind of a careless thing you're talking about I hope to die that's probably not a wise thing to do at least in a careless fashion right well the one I swear to God I really saw a UFO right I really saw this strange thing and those are inappropriate ways in which we ought to invoke God's name but I think there are ways that we do it that are appropriate one when someone takes an oath of office in this country with a Christian background it's become less and less Christian over the years but this country was founded on the Bible as a Christian nation and so when civil servants take their oath of office a lot of times they'll put their hand on a Bible and take their oath that way invoking many times the name of God also in our courts right if you stand as a witness many times you'll be asked to put your hand on a

[30:09] Bible and to say I swear even using that term to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God invoking God's name and these matters are so serious right serving your nation taking an oath of office and in a court of law where someone's life might be on the line and I think those actually are appropriate ways or times in which we ought to invoke the name of God again not frivolously but in a very sober and serious manner but oaths aren't the only way that we can invoke the name of God you know the other thing that I think think of is it's very common for Christians to claim to speak on God's behalf right to have something to whether speak on God's behalf is actually having a word that God gave them or to maybe presume that something that they see happening in their own life and someone else's life in the world is

[31:27] God's work I think both of those should be taken very seriously if we ever do such you know there was actually something in the news just recently I can't remember the details so I won't try to make it up but there was something where somebody this is having to do with the current administration somebody spoke out of turn and represented to the news I think this was somebody in the White House staff represented to the news something that was not actually the view of the president and they got into big trouble for it we call that an unauthorized spokesperson there are certain people right what do you call the person who does the White House press briefings what's the name yeah what is it the secretary of the press secretary thank you sorry the press secretary and that individual is authorized given the authority to speak on behalf of the president and she will say you know well this is what the president thinks and this is what the president's view and this is what the president plans are because she has been given that authority in the

[32:45] Bible there are people called prophets right or apostles who were given authority from God to speak on his behalf but only those people not just anyone and we do not want to put ourselves in a position to tarnish God's name by assuming presuming to speak on his behalf and Christians will do this very frequently well you know God opened up this door for me to go through well are you sure that that was God that opened up that door for you or maybe God put it in my heart to tell you something well that may be true but should we invoke God's name in telling someone that basically this is God's message to you and I'm the messenger do we want to take on that responsibility I think many times

[33:47] Christians do this kind of thing too lightly even though it's well intentioned but we need to be careful God's name carries enormous weight if we're claiming some kind of divine authority when we're just working with our own impressions then we may be using God's name in vain in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 20 this is the law concerning prophets it says this but the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak that prophet shall die this was serious matter in Ezekiel chapter 13 Ezekiel the prophet says woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing they just express whatever's in their own heart but God hasn't shown them anything so we as Christians need to be careful about putting words in God's mouth you know what we do have we have

[34:53] God's word in a book that he gave us written down in black and white that we can read and if ever we want to encourage someone or give them counsel or wisdom we can go to this word and we can tell them this is what God said to you and to me this is the wisdom from God on how we ought to live and we can be secure and confident in giving those words the ones that God put in this book to other people it's not that God has been silent right he's spoken plenty given us plenty that we can share we ought to be careful about invoking his name the last one so the fourth one when it comes to invoking God's name is really not really about what we say but how we live our lives like I said most people think about the third commandment is about what comes out of your mouth but it is so much more than that it's about what comes out of your life because we as Christians as believers bear his name on our very lives and we do not want to be poor representatives of God in fact

[36:15] Paul calls us in 2nd Corinthians he says we are ambassadors for Christ we represent him to the world and many times too often Christians will live lives of hypocrisy and their lives are not a reflection of who God is or what he is like or what he cares about you know when we look back again at the Pharisees I think that their lives of hypocrisy were were very prideful they were kind of proud of of their their power and their prestige and what they what they did and they used God's name and invoked his name frivolously but with pride I think many Christians even if they don't do it pridefully what I've seen so often is that there's kind of like a false humility behind it and so we are not representing

[37:22] God well because of how we live our lives and so we might use a phrase like oh I'm just a sinner saved by grace or you know what I'm not perfect I'm just forgiven now both of those phrases are absolutely true aren't they and it is not wrong in any sense to say those things because they are true but when we use those phrases as an excuse on why we do not need to bear God's name with sobriety and with gravity to be good ambassadors for him then we're breaking this commandment of bearing God's name or carrying his name in vain in Romans chapter 2

[38:23] Paul is speaking about the Jews who are believers and he says this Romans 2 24 for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written because he's quoting the Old Testament he's saying there are Jewish people the people who God put his name on them and because they did not live upright lives the Gentile people the unbelievers the pagans had reason to blaspheme God because it was those Jews who were the ones who besmirched his reputation his name Paul tells us in Colossians 3 and whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus you know we don't get to decide whether we're bearing God's name at any point well when I'm at church I will be a representative of the Lord but when

[39:23] I'm at work I'm going to take that representation off I'm going to take off my badge Do we as Christians get to do that? No we bear his name wherever we go and we ought to take that role seriously I want to transition here to the last part of this commandment because it's not just you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain it doesn't just stop there remember the last half what it says for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain and that is just a way to press impress!

[40:05] impress on the Jews here and to the whole world the seriousness of God's name his reputation among the nations and this wasn't just an idle threat by the way we actually see!

[40:24] part of the whole story of the Old Testament is the Jewish people going after idols and profaning God's name and what does God do? Well God didn't hold them guiltless he judged them in many many different ways in fact in Ezekiel 36 let me read this he says this this is what the prophet Ezekiel said Ezekiel 36 19 talking about the Jewish people So I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the countries I judged them according to their ways and their deeds when they came to the nations wherever they went they profaned!

[41:02] they said of them these are the people of the Lord and yet they have gone out of his land but I had concern for my holy name which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went therefore say to the house of Israel this is God speaking to Ezekiel the prophet!

[41:23] says the Lord God I do not do this for your sake O house of Israel but for my holy name's sake which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went I'm not just doing this to judge you just because of your sins I'm doing this because of my name you have represented me in a wrong way to the pagan nations of the world this is a very serious thing but I also want to show a contrast here what did we say in the very beginning that we are not under law but we're under grace and what we're seeing here this is the condemnation the judgment of the law and this is the part that we need to rightly divide we need to know the difference we ought to revere and respect God's name but we as Christians should not put ourselves under the condemnation that is described in this latter half of the third commandment the law says for the

[42:30] Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain the Lord won't hold him guiltless but here is what grace says the Lord will hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain what for somebody who drags God's name through the mud he's just going to pretend that they didn't do so you know what there is no pretending required because Christ accomplished something real not pretend on our behalf when he died on the cross for our sins when we put our trust and faith in him when we hold on to his life instead of our own when we trust in his blood that was shed for us when we unite ourselves with him not only does he hold us guiltless but he declares us 100% righteous even when we break the third commandment and so that ought to change how we live as

[43:44] Christians and our motivation for life instead of what many people do is look to the law and the threats of the law as a motivation for living a good life we can look to God's grace his love for us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us in light of the incredible gift of righteousness that is given to us as believers with hearts full of gratitude to what he's done for us we can honor and respect his name in every area of our life as the king above all kings but you know what for us he's not just the king of kings he's also our Abba father but you know what that like I said applies to believers those who are putting their faith and trust in him what about those who don't who aren't putting their faith and trust in

[44:49] Christ they're living life on their own terms they're going to you know live life their own way and just you know take take whatever comes and be judged by their own rules their own conscience for those who don't trust in Christ this threat this warning applies to them for sure he will not hold you guiltless he's not going to pretend that you're not doing what you're doing that you're innocent he's not going to pretend that you're not dragging his name through the mud but you know what he did do something on your behalf he sent his son to die for you and he makes this offer for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish right that threat goes away will inherit eternal life and you know what

[46:05] God doesn't ask anybody that they clean up their life first that they clean up their language that they you know fix those bad habits the words that come out of their mouth or the habits that are in their life you know what if it was me I probably would make people clean up their life first makes more sense it seems like kind of a dumb idea to life first what do I know Paul says the wisdom of God is foolishness to men and aren't you glad that God didn't put me in charge or you in charge and you know what there are a lot of Christians who just don't get around to cleaning up their life in any kind of meaningful way but regardless God is willing for anyone who just puts their trust and faith in him to declare them righteous to take them out from under the law and the condemnation and the judgment that it has and put them under his grace under his life join them to his family all you have to do is say

[47:21] I want it I receive it and if you haven't done that by the way this if that's not something that you know for sure that you've done consider doing that even this morning and to finish up with this when God saves us when he adopts us into his family when he sheds his love abroad in our hearts as the Bible says that does something in our lives or at least it ought to right to make us so grateful for what he's done and as the Bible says in Romans chapter 12 hey in light of all these things that God has done for us let us lay down our lives as a living sacrifice to honor the Lord in a way that is pleasing to him God's help

[48:41]  God's help when it comes to these things Father we love you we're so grateful for your love for dying on the cross for our sins that we don't have to be under the law even though it's good it's righteous it's holy and these matters of how we bear your name whether it's speaking your name or bearing your name as Christians as believers we ask that we are not properly using your name or representing you to the world we might make those adjustments whether again big or small that we might express our love towards you in those ways we ask you for that in Jesus name amen amen all right thank you everybody don't forget we've got the directory so if you want to copy the directory