"Do Not Take God's Name in Vain, Part 3"

(Exodus 20:7)

Introduction: The Lord takes the honor of His name very seriously, more
seriously, perhaps, than many of us here understand. We must not think that
there were certain things which were important to the Lord in the Old Covenant
that are now unimportant to Him. Certainly in the present age of God's grace,
where His mercy seems far more pronounced than His law. it seems like,
although He demonstrated Himself to be very holy then, that He isn't concerned
about holiness now. It can seem as though He is willing to accept a shadow of
what He then demanded. I once heard a pastor say regarding something which
was clearly sinful, "The Lord isn't concerned about this. He laughs at these
things." But the Bible says that God doesn't laugh at sin. He didn't laugh
at i t in the past, and if what the Bible says about God is true, and it most
definitely is, that He never changes, then neither does He laugh at sin now.
God takes holiness very seriously, and especially the holiness of His name.
And He c.alls us to take that holiness seriously as well.
Last time we were looking at what this commandment forbids us to do,
namely the dishonoring of God's name in any way_ We saw that we dishonor it
first when we do not give Him the honor which it is our duty to give Him.
Remember, the Lord said to the priests in Malachi 2:2, "'IF YOU DO NOT LISTEN,
AND IF YOU DO NOT TAKE IT TO HEART TO GIVE HONOR TO MY NAME,' SAYS THE LORD OF
HOSTS, 'THEN I WILL SEND THE CURSE UPON YOU, AND I WILL CURSE YOUR BLESSINGS;
AND INDEED, I HAVE CURSED THEM ALREADY, BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT TAKING IT TO
HEART." God called them to take that commandment and to lock it away in their
hearts, as if the heart was a vault in which they should place their
treasures. We must make it a matter of conscience, not only to avoid
dishonoring the Lord, but also to positively honor Him, to represent Him
properly, and truthfully in all that we do. But most of all, to honor Him in
the eyes of the world. We also saw that we should not dishonor Him by
misHsing His name. We do this when we worship Him in a superstitious way,
such as the Athenians were doing; we do this when we treat His name as a good
luck charm, like the Israelites did when they brought the ark of God into
their camp to insure their victory over the Philistines; we dishonor His name
when we don't keep our oaths and vows, when we swear to something which is
false, or when we make a sinful vow and keep it., such as King Herod did when
he swore an oath to the daughter of Herodias, which ended in the death of the
greatest Old Testament prophet who ever lived; and lastly, we dishonor His
name when we use it as a common swear word, or when we curse or blaspheme His
name, as the son of the Israelite woman who blasphemed God and then was
executed for his crime.
But we have also seen that the commandment forbids more than simply the
dishonoring of God t s name. And that is what \.;te will want to look at this
evening, namely

You dishonor the name of the Lord wheneve.r you misuse anything by
which He is pleased to .reveal Himself.
Remember, Calvin reminded us that we should not think that this
commandment only forbids the misuse of the letters or sounds of God's
name. Since His name is a .revelation of His character and nature. this
commandment really prohibits us from misusing anything by which he makes
Himself known to us. We are called upon to treat as holy evel~thing by
which God reveals Himself to us.

Note: I want to begin by making a comment about Scripture. Obviously, the

book which God gave us is not a theological textbook. He did not
simply layout all of His divine truth .in a nice order so that we
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cou.Zd pick i t up and get the whole picture at a glance. Instead, He

gave us a book of history, poetry, prophecy, letters, and songs.
Sometimes He commun.icated the truth in straightforward statements,
and other times He left us to d.iscover the truth from the many
examples He provided for us from the history of His covenant peop.Ze.
This is all to say, that we do not always need clear statements .in
Scripture to reveal to us our duty. No matter how the Lord reveals
it, i f we can understand i t to be His win , i t is our duty to follow
i t out to the very best of our ability.
Also remember, with regard to this sermon, that we have a.lready
seen what the commandment means. But as we continue to see how i t
applies to our lives, we will learn even more about its meaning.
This sermon, as well as the last, is sinwly meant to give us a bigger
p.icture of what we are actual.ly called by God to do. What I am going
to do now is to give you several applications of this commandment.
First, I wiLl give you the application, then a b.iblical example or
statement of it, and then show you how i t applies today. Because
there are so many, I will deal with each briefly.

I. The First of These Duties, Which Have to Do with Not Misusing Anything
by Which God Reveals Himself, Is That We Should Not Dishonor Him by
Wrongly Representing Any of His Attributes. God Reveals To Us Many of
His Qualities and Characteristics, and When We Misrepresent What God Is
Like, We Also Dishonor Him.
A. III 2 Kings 18:29-35, King Hezekiah and a.l1 of Judah were under
attack by the king of Assyria. The Assyrian king sent his
ambfl~;Bador Rabshakeh to ta.unt Hezekiah, and the people, by saying,
"THUS SAYS THE KING, 'DO NOT LET HEZEKIAH DECEIVE YOU, FOR HE WILL
NOT BE ABLE TO DELIVER YOU FROM MY HAND; NOR LET HEZEKIAH MAKE YOll
TRUST IN THE LORD, SAYING, "THE LORD WILL SURELY DELIVER US, AND
THIS CITY SHALL NOT BE GIVEN INTO THE HAND OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA."
DO NOT LISTEN TO HEZEKIAH, FOR THUS SAYS THE KING OF ASSYRIA, "MAKE
YOUR PEACE WITH ME AND COME OUT TO ME, AND EAT EA,CH OF HIS VINE AND
EACH OF HIS FIG TREE AND DRINK EACH OF THE WATERS OF HIS OWN
CISTERN, UNTIL I COME AND TAKE YOU AWAY TO A LAND LIKE YOl) OWN LAND,
A LAND OF GRAIN AND NEW WINE, A LAND OF BREAD AND VINEYARDS, A LAND
OF OLIVE TREES AND HONEY, THAT YOU MAY LIVE AND NOT DIE." RUT DO
NOT LISTEN TO HEZEKIAH, WHEN HE MISLEADS YOU, SAYING, "THE LORD WILL
DELIVER US." HAS ANY ONE OF THE GODS OF THE NATIONS DELIVERED illS
LAND FROM THE HAND OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA? WHERE ARE THE GODS OF
HAHATH AND ARPAD? WHERE ARE THE GODS OF SEPHARVAIM, HENA AND IWAH?
HA VE THEY DELIVERED SAMARIA FRON MY HAND? WHO AHONG ALL THE GODS OF
TlfE LANDS HAVE DELIVERED THEIR LAND FROM MY HAND. THAT THE LORD
SHOULD DELIVER JERUSALEM FROM MY HAND?'II
B. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had much the same thing to say. When Moses
and Aaron told Pharaoh, "THUS SAYS THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISP.AEL, 'LET
MY PEOPLE GO THAT THEY MAY CELEBRATE A FEAST TO ME IN THE
WILDERNESS, '" he answered, "WHO IS THE LORD THAT I SHOULD OBEY HIS
VOICE TO LET ISRAEL GO? I DO NOT KNOW THE LORD, AND BESIDES, I WILL
NOT LET ISRAEL GO" (Ex. 5:2).
C. These two spoke evil against the Lord and so fulfilled what the
psalmist said, "FOR THEY SPEAK AGAINST THEE WICKEDLY, AND THINE
ENEMIES TAKE THY NAME IN VAIN" (Ps. 139: 19-20).
D. Both Pharaoh and the king of Assyria did not fear t.he Lord, but
treated Him as a weakling. They denied that He had the power to
deliver His people. And in so do.ing they took God's name/lby,
U
speaking against Him w.icked1y. i>1·l. V''Ii
E. And what this teaches us is that we must study to know God's

attributes and to represent them accurately,

1. You must know the Lord. You must know what tbe Bible reveals
about Him.
2. Everyday you tbink about God, and you talk about Him. Is wbat
you think and say true? And are you living as tbough He is what
He says He is or are you living in the shadow of a false God?
3. One example might be the Arminian idea of God. Tbey think that
God is not sovereignly in contr01 of all tilings, and they live
accordingly. But in doing so, they are taking God's name in
vain, even i f they do not realize that they are.
4. And there are many Christian's today tbat do not accept the
Lordship of Christ. They believe that a persoll can come to
Christ and yet continue to live in rebellion against Him. They
v
believe that these who do this are still eternally secure. But
this again is a misrepresentation of God. And i t is taking His
name in vain.
5. Don't you be guilty of misunderstanding or misrepresenting what
God reveals about Himself. And especially do not allow
yourselves to .live with a faulty idea of God. Study His Word
and live in its Light!

II. Secondly, We Must Not Dishonor Him through the Misuse of His
Ord_inances.
A. The psalmist writes, in Psalm 50:16-21, "BUT TO THE WICKED GOD SAYS,
'WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO TELL OF MY STATUTES, AND TO TAKE MY
COVENANT IN YOUR MOUTH? FOR YOU HATE DISCIPLINE, AND YOU CAST MY
WORDS BEHIND YOU. WHEN YOU SEE A THIEF, YOU ARE PLEASED WITH HIN,
AND YOU ASSOCIATE WITH ADULTERERS. YOU LET YOUR MOUTH LOOSE IN
EVIL, AND YOUR TONGUE FRAMES DECEIT. YOU SIT AND SPEAK A(;AINST YOUR
BROTHER; YOU SLANDER YOUR OWN MOTHER'S SON. THESE THINGS YOU HAVE
DONE, AND I KEPT SILENCE; YOU THOUGHT THAT I WAS JUST LIKE YOU; I
WILL REPROVE YOU, AND STATE THE CASE IN ORDER BEFORE YOUR EYES."
B. TIle probJern here is that there are those who claim to be in the
covenant of God, yet they Live like the rest of tbe World. Tl1ey
speak of the commandments, statutes and ordinances of God, they make
a covenant with God through their profession. But they do not
accept His chastening, and they do not do what He commands. They
are hypocrites. They have other reasons for their profession of
godliness.
1. They are like the men whom Paul said would abound in the last
days, "HOLDING TO A FORM OF GODLIN~/$~t,,-A~THOUGH THEY HAVE DENIED
ITS POWER." They have only a form,,; ~ellttiLle power of a godly
life is not within them. Paul says, "AVOID SUCH MEN AS THESE"
(2 Tim. J: 5) •
2. They are like the Pharisees and scribes whom the Lord pronounces
woe upon by saying, "YOU DEVOUR WIDOWS' HOUSES, EVEN WHILE FOR A
PRETENSE YOU MAKE LONG PRAYERS; THEREFORE YOU SHALL RECEIVE
GREATER CONDEMNATION" (Matt. 23:14). Such men as this practice
their righteousness before men, to be seen ol' them, but they are
really hypocrites? who".fa1l under God's condemnation (Matt.
6:1-2,5,16), v f'-Mf)ce,;i."".:.~

C. That is why you must be prepared to live a holy life, i f you a.re
going to make a profession of godliness, so that you will not: be a
hypocrite.
1. To take God's covenant upon your lips is to identify yourself
with the covenant community of believers. Your public
profession of faith is your identifying yourself as a foLlower
of Chris t , tha t you have an int eres t in His covenan t of Grace.
2. And this is reflected in your membersl1ip vows.
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a. The second vow reads, "Do you confess that because of your
sinfulness you abhor and humble yourself beforp. God, and
that you trust for salvation not in yourself but in Jesus
Christ alone?"
b. Here you are promis.ing that you w.ill trust in Christ and in
Christ alone for your justification, which is one of the
requirements of the covenant of grace.
c. And the third vow reads, "Do you acknowledge Jesus Christ as
your sovereign Lord and do you prom.ise, in rel.lance on the
grace of God, to serve Him with all that is in you, to
forsake the world, to mortLfy your old nature, and to lead a
godly life?"
d. Here you are promising to meet the second condition of tile
covenant, which is to turn from all of your sins, and to
embrace, w.ith whole - hearted obedience, al.l of His
commandments.
e. To take these VOtvS with a real intention of fulfilling them
is evangelica.l obedience: obedience out of thankfulness for
mercies received. Any other reason is hypocrisy and the
taking of the Lord's name in 1ra.in.

III. These Last Several Ways in Which We Can Violate This Commandment Are
Fairly Clear, So I Will Go Over Them More Rapidly.
A. The Misinterpreting or Misapplication of God's Word Also Breaks This
Commandment for It Is the Main Way in which God Reveals Himself.
1. Jesus reproves the Pharisees in Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the
Mount, because they had misinterpreted the Law of God. They had
actually nullified its original meaning by their distortions.
Jesus said, "YOU HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID • • • BUT J SAY TO
YOU" to correct them (5:27-28).
2. God said to the women prophetesses and diviners through Ezekiel
the prophet that He wou.ld delilrer His people out of their hands,
"BECAUSE YOU DISHEARTENED THE RIGHTEOUS WITH FALSEHOOD WHEN I
DID NOT CAUSE HIM GRIEF, BUT HAVE ENCOURAGED THE WICKED NOT TO
TURN FROM HIS WICKED WAY AND PRESERVE HIS LIFE" (Ezek. 13:22).
They had misapplied the Word to call good evil and evil good.
3. Peter wrote that there are those who do not understand the
Scripture, and so misapply it. He said, "REGARD THE PATIENCE OF
OllR LORD TO BE SALVATION; JUST AS ALSO OUR BELOVED BROTHER PAUL,
ACCORDING TO THE WISDOM GIVEN HIM, WROTE TO YOU, AS ALSO IN ALL
HIS LETTERS, SPEAKING IN THEM OF THESE THINGS, IN WHICH ARE SOME
THINGS HARD TO UNDERSTAND, WHICH THE UNTAUGHT AND UNSTABLE
DISTORT, AS THEY DO ALSO THE REST OF THE SCRIPTURES, TO THEIR
OWN DESTRUCTION" (2 Peter 3: 15-16). Those who distort the
Scriptures do so at their own risk.
4. There were also those who were teaching false doctrine and
raising unprofitable questions. Paul wrote to Timothy, "IF
ANYONE ADVOCATES A DIFFERENT DOCTRINE, AND DOES NOT AGREE WITH
SOUND WORDS, THOSE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND WITH THE
DOCTRINE CONFORMING TO GODLINESS, HE IS CONCEITED AND
UNDERSTANDS NOTHING; BUT HE HAS A MORBID INTEREST IN
CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS AND DISPUTES ABOUT WORDS, OUT OF' WHICH
ARISE ENVY, STRIFE, ABUSIVE LANGUAGE, EVIL SUSPICIONS, AND
CONSTANT FRICTION BETWEEN MEN OF DEPRAVED MIND AND DEPRIVED OF
THE TRUTH, WHO SUPPOSE THAT GODLINESS IS A MEANS OF GAIN. • • •
o TIMOTHY, GUARD WHAT HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED TO YOll, AVOIDING
WORLDLY AND EMPTY CHATTER AND THE OPPOSING ARGUMENTS OF WHAT IS
FALSl!.'LY CALLED 'KNOWLEDGE' -- WHICH SOME HAVE PROFESSED AND THllS
GONE ASTRAY FROM THE FAITH" (J Tim. 6:3-5, 20).
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5. And there are also those who oppose the truth.. [,uke writes,

".4ND THE NEXT SABBATH NEARLY THE WHOLE CITY ASSEMBLED TO HEAR THE

WORD OF GOD. BUT WHEN THE JEWS SAW THE CROWDS, THEY WERE FILLED

WITH JEALOUSLY, AND BEGAN CONTRADICTING THE THINGS SPOKEN BY

PAUL, AND WF~E BLASPHEMING" (Acts 13 :44-45).

6. Brethren, you must beware that you do not misinterpret or

misapply any Scripture, nor maintain any false doctrine in
opposit.ion to the truth. "LET NOT MANY OF YOU BECOME TEACHERS,
MY BRETHREN," says James, "KNOWING THAT SUCH AS WE WILL INCUR A
STRICTER JUDGMENT" (James 3: 1). It is for this reason that in
the OPC we carefully examine a man before we ordain llim, so that
we do not put untaught or heretical men into the teaching
office. A novice must never be allowed to teach God's Word,le..,0: I~ ~ne
~>ple. us-f."":;1"
B. This Commandment Also Forbids the Misunderstanding or Misapplication
of God's Decrees.
1. PauJ's imag.inary arguer in Romans 9, after hearing about God /s

sovereignty over the lives of His creatures, says, "WHY DOES HE

STILL FIND FAULT? FOR WHO RESISTS HIS WI!.,L?" To which Pau.l

replies, "ON THE CONTRARY, WHO ARE YOU, 0 MAN, WHO ANSWERS BACK

TO GOD? THE THING MOLDED WILL NOT SAY TO THE MOLDER, 'WHY DID

YOU MAKE ME LIKE THIS, ' WILL IT?" (vv. 19-20). The arguer

misunderstands the doctrine of God's decree and he misapplies

it. God does not force any to sin, nor does His decree make any

man inexcusable for his sin.

2. The same thing is tnle of Romans 6: 1-2. Here, Paul's imaginary

arguer believes that since God ordained sin that He might reveal

His grace, then we should sin a lot, so that God can reveal H.is

grace a lot. But this is a blasphemous way to understand God's

decree. Paul writes, "WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN? ARE WE TO

CONTINUE IN SIN THAT GRACE MIGHT INCREASE? MAY IT NEVER BE!

HOW SHALL WE WHO DJED TO SIN STILL LIVE IN IT?" (Rom. 6: 1-2).

3. There are many things about God's decrees that we w:i11 never

understand. And so we must not forget what Moses tells us in

Deuteronomy 29:29, "THE SECRET THINGS BELONG TO THE LORD OUR

GOD, BUT THE THINGS REVEALED BELONG TO US AND TO OUR SONS

FOREVER, THAT WE MAY OBSERVE ALL THE WORDS OF THIS LAW."

C. Lastly, This Commandment Can Be Broken By Your Be.ing Ashamed of His

Word, or by Bringing Shame to It.
1. Jesus said, and still says today to you through His Word, "FOR

WHOEVER IS ASHAlfED OF ME AND MY WORDS IN THIS ADULTEROUS AND

SINFUL GENERATJON, THE SON OF MAN WILL ALSO BE ASHAMED OF HIH

WHEN HE COMES IN THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER WITH THE HOLY ANGELS"

(Mark 8:38). To say you aTe a Christian and yet to be as11amed

of your Lord's Word is to l i f t His name up to emptiness.

2. This is also true when you bring shame to i t by your life. The

Lord, through Isaiah the prophet, says, "WHAT MORE WAS THERE TO DO

FOR MY VINEYARD THAT I HAVE NOT DONE IN IT? WHY, WHEN I EXPECTED

IT TO PRODUCE GOOD GRAPES DID IT PRODUCE WORTHLESS ONES?" (5:4).

Paul writes, "YOU WHO BOAST IN THE LAW, THROUGH YOUR BREAKING THE

LAW, DO YOU DISHONOR GOD? FOR 'THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMRLJ

AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU, ' JUST AS IT IS WRITTEN" (Rom.

2:23-24).
3. People of God, the third commandment, by which we are to frame our

lives, teLls llS that we must treat God's name and everything by

wl1ich He reveals Himself to us wit11 the utmost reverence. Knowing

this, the only reason why we would allow ourselves to bring Him

any dishonor wou.ld be because we do not fear Him enough. I f we

really feared Him as we ought, then we would carefully keep our

feet away from anything which might possibly displease Him. But
if we do not fear Him, then we wilJ end up s,'ilying with the pastor
I referred to earlier, "Don't worry about ,it. The Lord laughs at
these things." Brethren, the l,ord doesn't laugh at these things.
He takes them very serious.ly. So may the Lord graciously grant to
you that you might take them seriously as welJ. Amen.