1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,800 We are now in a series of messages on the Ten Commandments, or as I like to think of them, 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:16,240 God's Ten Rules for Living. And we are now beginning the Third Commandment. 3 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:21,760 But this is my sixth heart-to-heart talk in this series of messages. 4 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:31,840 All right, I'm not going to read you one single thing except just to read the first two of God's 5 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:41,120 Rules for Living before I begin with the third today. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought 6 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:46,960 thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And here comes the first 7 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:57,840 verse of all of God's great Rules for Living. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 8 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:04,880 God first, and all these things shall be added unto thee. 9 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:13,600 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, 10 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:20,800 or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow 11 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:27,280 down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, 12 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:33,600 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation 13 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:42,800 of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my 14 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:53,440 commandment. Remember something, whenever a man stops short of that face-to-face worship 15 00:01:54,880 --> 00:02:07,040 of the eternal God, that face-to-face worship of God Almighty, he's working ruin to his own character 16 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:17,200 because he is breaking the commandment of God. God wants us to come face-to-face with him. 17 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:28,800 All of our communication should be a face-to-face, a personal thing between the individual 18 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:37,280 individual and Almighty God. Now we're beginning the third commandment in this the sixth in the 19 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:49,840 series. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Get it? For the Lord will not 20 00:02:49,840 --> 00:03:01,280 hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. I wanted to see something that to me is very 21 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:08,160 precious, and as you study the word of God, especially as you study the Old Testament, 22 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:19,200 you'll realize that there is a definite meaning in each of the names that God calls himself. 23 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:29,760 The name of God in Scripture is always a revelation. By every title in which God made himself known to 24 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:39,840 man, he revealed some attribute of the divine character. In each instant, if you want to know 25 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:47,040 what God is really like, what the character of God is really like, begin studying the names 26 00:03:47,040 --> 00:04:00,800 by which he calls himself, and in each instant he has revealed through that name some attribute 27 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:09,760 of his character. Men learned some new facts concerning his nature or his methods 28 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:16,560 with each new name or title by which he made himself known to them. Now bearing that in mind, 29 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:24,160 a new gleam of light falls upon this commandment, this third commandment, thou shalt not take the 30 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:32,560 name of the Lord thy God in vain. It's a command. It isn't something that's optional. It isn't 31 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:41,440 something that you can either accept or reject. This is a command from God, and so great is 32 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:51,520 its importance that it is listed third in God's ten rules for living. Now if men use the name of 33 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:59,600 God, they must use it in a way which is true to its meaning and its intentions, and they must 34 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:06,560 use the name of God which denies these and the character of God thereby revealed breaks 35 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:17,520 this commandment. If in using the name of God, any one of the names that he has attributed to himself, 36 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:24,240 any individual who uses that name, not in truth, 37 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:39,280 but by any other usage denies literally the power of God himself and breaks this commandment. 38 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:47,520 Turn if you will please to Isaiah. Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, 39 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:55,040 which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, 40 00:05:55,040 --> 00:06:04,240 which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the house of Israel, but not in truth 41 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:14,480 nor in righteousness. Get it? Whenever we come to this commandment, the third commandment, we always 42 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:22,000 think that it means only one thing, and that is to use the name of the Lord in a blasphemous way. 43 00:06:23,280 --> 00:06:32,160 That is one thing that this refers to, but there are other ways that one can use the name of the 44 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:39,440 Lord. Take the name of the Lord in vain and break this commandment. I give it to you again. Let me 45 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:46,480 read it to you. Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, 46 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:52,560 and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, 47 00:06:52,560 --> 00:07:01,280 and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness. 48 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:08,400 That is the supreme form of breaking this commandment, swearing by the name of the Lord, 49 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:18,880 but not in truth, making mention of the God of Israel, but not in righteousness. These people 50 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:26,240 used the name of God, but did not obey the revelation contained therein, and so did the 51 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:35,840 third commandment. There is something else in the New Testament which makes this very clear. 52 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:46,880 Hear me, because there are some folk who would not use the name of the Lord God in swearing for 53 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:54,880 anything in the world, and yet they are breaking the commandment. They are breaking the commandment 54 00:07:54,880 --> 00:08:01,760 yet they are breaking this commandment just as definitely as the man who swears and uses it 55 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:12,400 in blasphemy. I give you this push in the word of God. Many will say to me in that day, 56 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:23,440 Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out devils, and by thy name do 57 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:32,400 mighty works? It doesn't say here that they used any other name except the name of God. 58 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:43,680 They used his name. They used it very freely, but not in truth, not in righteousness. He said sure, 59 00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:51,440 and they admitted they used his name. Did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out 60 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:58,640 devils, and by thy name do mighty works? And then would I profess unto them, I never knew you, 61 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:06,640 depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Now here again are people using the name to prophesy. 62 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,880 They're using the name to cast out devils. They're using the name to do mighty works, 63 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,800 but they themselves are unknown to the king. 64 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:24,800 Right here is a very subtle form of the profanity against which this commandment 65 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:34,720 utters its warning. And sometimes in this 20th century, I literally tremble. 66 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:44,880 A cold perspiration just breaks out over my entire body when I listen to some who profess to know 67 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:57,200 the person of Jesus, and they use his name in blasphemy, not in the way that the man of God 68 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:06,720 uses it, but they use it in relationship to religion, casting out demons, using it 69 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:18,960 in religious services. When beloved, the spirit does not believe in the spirit, 70 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:30,480 but in religious services. When beloved, the spirit does not bear witness. They are using it for their 71 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:43,520 own glory. And it's just like that. That's wrong. Those same people will condemn the man, the woman 72 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:52,880 swears, who were blasphemed. They will denounce the sinner, the one who is not a Christian, 73 00:10:53,920 --> 00:11:04,000 and damn their souls and call them everything under the sun. When in reality, they are 74 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:17,760 using profanity and they are misusing the name of God, not in righteousness, not in truth, 75 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:30,960 but for their own glory and using it selfishly under themselves. Oh, that's it. A man takes the 76 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:37,760 name of God in vain when he does not use it in the way that God intended that it should be used. 77 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:48,960 When he himself is not true to the revelation of God that the name makes, the scripture says, 78 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:58,960 the Lord will not hold him ruthless. And the Hebrew word here is clean. In other words, 79 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:10,480 the Lord will not hold him to be clean that taketh his name in vain. This is deep. There's a whole 80 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:15,200 lot more involved here than what meets the eye and that which appears on the surface. 81 00:12:16,560 --> 00:12:27,120 This is a very solemn assertion. We must be very careful how we use the name of God. 82 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:38,720 I must be very careful how I use his name. Now, the test of moral cleanliness is the 83 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:48,880 attitude of a man to the name of God. He is clean or unclean as he uses the name of God in truth 84 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:57,680 or for vanity, so that the man who never uses the name of God after all, now I'm going to say something 85 00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:06,800 and get it just exactly the way I say it. Don't you quote me or think you're quoting me and tell 86 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:14,480 somebody else something that you said that you heard me say that I didn't say. If you're going 87 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:24,560 to quote me, quote me correctly. The man who never uses the name of God at all, the man who through 88 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:34,800 sincerity of questioning doubt has dropped the name of God out of his vocabulary has a great deal 89 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:41,920 better chance of being clean than the man who's always talking about God but is all the time 90 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:55,280 denying him in his life, misusing his name, using it for selfish gain. That's right. This is indeed, 91 00:13:55,280 --> 00:14:09,360 my friend, a very searching test. God says that a man's relation to his name is the proof of what 92 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:20,400 that man is in the fiber of his being as to cleanliness or uncleanness. That's saying something. 93 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:28,480 You know it's amazing. You can talk to somebody not more than five minutes 94 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:38,240 regardless of what they profess. It's very strange. I don't care if the man speaking with me 95 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:50,240 is garbed in clerical robe. I may never have seen him before. I don't care what his degrees may be, 96 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:58,800 all that he may have obtained through learning. It is one of the most amazing things in the world. 97 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:08,160 Give me five minutes with that man and if he is talking about God, the person of God, the things 98 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:16,800 of God, I can very quickly tell you in those five minutes what his relationship to God really is. 99 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:25,680 Whether it's something that's very personal, whether it's something that is mystical, 100 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:35,200 or if his relationship to God is way off someplace, in exactly the same way, I can hear somebody 101 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:41,600 going 60 miles an hour, raffling it off in five minutes, talking very rapidly, 102 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:52,880 and they too are using the name of God, but it's such a common conversation and the name of God 103 00:15:52,880 --> 00:16:02,880 has become so commonplace to them that there is no reference there, nothing. You know immediately 104 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:20,240 that to them, God is not the one who is worshipped with every fiber of their being. There's 105 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:33,040 every fiber of their being. There's something about speaking the name of God, God Almighty. I think the 106 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:40,240 greatest illustration I can give of that is found in the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. 107 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:46,240 We refer to it as the Lord's Prayer, but really it isn't. It's the prayer that Jesus taught you and 108 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:53,920 taught me, taught his disciples to pray. And of course the opening petition begins with, 109 00:16:54,880 --> 00:17:08,320 Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 110 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:19,760 as in heaven so on earth. Oh there's something, this beautiful approach of the soul to God, 111 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:31,440 our Father, and you speak it in reference. There's something about when I talk about Papa, 112 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:41,600 just the word Papa. I can't help but speak it almost in reverence. I loved him so deeply. 113 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:52,080 Papa, there's such strength in even speaking the name. There's such encouragement. There's a oneness. 114 00:17:52,080 --> 00:18:02,800 There's something that's very marvelous. Watch it. Thy name be hallowed, not used promiscuously, 115 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:22,480 not used for selfish gain. God is one to be worshiped. He's a holy God. He's God Almighty. 116 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:32,640 Thy name be hallowed, as in heaven so on earth has reference not merely to thy will be done, 117 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:39,200 but to thy kingdom come and to hallow it be thy name. These thoughts in the Lord's prayer, 118 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:44,000 the hallowing of the name, the coming of the kingdom, the doing of the will, 119 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:51,040 are different phases of the same thing. For a man hallows thy name 120 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:57,120 by submission to the kingdom and by doing the will. 121 00:18:57,120 --> 00:19:07,200 Hallowing the name is not simply holding it in reference. It is doing his will. 122 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:17,120 Oh, that's one of the most beautiful things. One of the names by which God is known is that of king. 123 00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:27,840 The men hallow the name of king when they submit to God's kingship. Another name is that of father, 124 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:37,120 and they hallow the name of father when they do the will of their father, which is in heaven, 125 00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:46,480 even as Jesus did. Amen.