Let me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to dishonest gain. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity and revive me in your ways. Establish your word to your servant as that which produces reverence for you. Turn away my reproach, which I dread, for your ordinances are good. Behold, I long for your precepts, Revive me through your righteousness. Well, as we continue our study of the law of God, specifically his law being that which directs our love, we are still dealing with the first table of the law, dealing with love of God, And last week we took a look at the second commandment and we noted that the general principle of the second commandment is that God is to be worshipped spiritually. And so we saw that that's the second particular or the second specific in the Ten Commandments. And as the entire law is one unified principle of love, the first table dealing with God, love of God, we saw that the second particular way that we are to love God is to love Him in spirit. And so when we put this together, the first commandment deals with the object of our love. The second commandment deals with mode and manner. And today, we're gonna see that the third commandment deals with our speech about whom we are to love, the object of our love. And so again, all of these are flowing out from one another, and they're all interconnected, and they interpenetrate one another. And so it's not just four segmented laws in the first table, they all work together, and so it's subsumed under love of God. So today we'll deal with the third specific, dealing with our speech about God. And if we're to sum this up together, we would say that we are to love one divine being exclusively and spiritually apart from images that can't capture his essence. And remember, we drill down when we get further revelation from God. So under the preface of the Ten Commandments, there's a greater specific for the people of God to worship Him in a particular manner. He gives greater light to us to understand exactly how it is we are to worship Him. And as Jesus is God, who is manifest in the flesh, the very word of God made visible to us, we are to love him exclusively and spiritually. images of God, of Christ, are forbidden in the second commandment as well. Since Jesus is fully God and fully man, we are not to try to make an image that would capture his essence, because any image that tries to capture his essence leaves out a part of who he is. And so we ought not make images of Jesus, much less bow down and worship them. Okay, today we're gonna continue to build on that as we move on to the third commandment. So if we're not to worship Him in images, we are to worship Him with our speech. We are to give honor and reverence and worship to Him with our speech. He speaks to us as we cannot see Him, and we speak back in our love of Him. So we are to love God and will properly what belongs to Him. We are to seek His good, our good in relation to Him, and the other's good in relation to us. So God is to be loved with our speech. So the third commandment in Exodus 20 is, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain. So as usual, we deal with the general principle, under the light of nature, And the general principle is that God is to be blessed, or the one divine being is to be blessed with our speech. And when I say speech, I'm gonna interchange tongue and mouth. So everything that relates to what comes out of the mouth, the tongue, our speech, the way we talk about God, we are to bless him with our speech. Now remember also, our speech about God adds nothing to God. God is perfectly blessed in and of himself. So really this relates to just the proper manner in which we are to speak about God. So we're not adding to or taking away from anything in God, but with our speech, we are displaying our love for him and in a sense, Among others and ourselves, he is honored and revered as we use his name properly. But the general principle or the common notion is that the one divine spiritual being is to be revered with our speech. I could list off a litany of multiple different religions that indeed do that. You can go to, we had, where I grew up, There was a group of Buddhists, and they had their temple, and they had their Buddha, and what did they do? They went and honored their Buddha with their speech. They gave him thanks. They went and revered him. It was an idol, so it was idolatry, but the principle is they understood that there was a divine being, and they went to revere and honor him. It would probably be a better way to say that. Even our confession. If you wanna turn there with me in our confession, we confess this. So this is not merely JD's opinion and study. This is something that we also confess. Chapter 22 of our own confession. And we've already read this, but I'm gonna bring this principle back out for us again. Chapter 22, paragraph one. says that the light of nature shows that there is a God, so there's that first commandment, who has lordship and sovereignty over all, is just, good, and does good unto all, and here's where the third commandment comes in, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served with all the heart, and all the soul, and with all the might. So here we have that idea of the common notion or the light of nature showing that general principle of the third commandment is upon the hearts of all men. And so they know that there is one divine being that is to be feared, praised, loved, called upon, trusted in, and served. If you look over at paragraph three, And the third commandment is where we get the command to pray. It's not explicit, but there's an implicit principle there for prayer. Prayer with thanksgiving being one special part of what kind of worship? natural worship. So that's connected to paragraph one, the light of nature. Paragraph three says prayer is a part of natural worship. All men everywhere know they ought to pray to one divine being and to give thanksgiving in all things. There's another implication for that as well. So not only is prayer to be given, But what is one of the main ways, other than prayer, that we display our love and reverence to God with? When we come to worship, we come to hear the word of God, to pray to God, to praise and sing, praises and hymns and psalms to Him? What's another part of our worship? When we're doing all of these things, what are we doing? We're praising, giving, We're giving thanks to Him. And what is, other than prayer and hearing and reading the Word of God and singing praises, what is another aspect of our worship that we do every Lord's Day that is a part of our thanksgiving? Offerings and tithes are found in the third commandment. We'll get to a little bit more of that as we go on, but you can find in the light of nature that a part of natural worship is bringing in a portion of one's goods to the one divine being who is the source of all good things. And the whole idea of the tithe How did Abraham know to give a tithe to Melchizedek? Well, there's conjecture. Either God revealed it to him, or there was something implicit about a tithe that Abraham knew to give. In some of my studies, a lot of pagans would give a tithe. That was something of a natural, common practice, that a tithe would be part of their offering. It's not limited to that, but that seems to be a very common thing that was given, was a tithe. And perhaps with Cain and Abel, what was required in their offering was faith, perhaps there was also this requirement to bring a tithe as well. So perhaps Cain didn't bring in faith and he didn't bring the right sacrifice and he didn't bring the right amount. That's not the point of what I'm teaching. The point of what we're trying to get at is there's a part of natural worship and a tithe seems to be a part of that. which means we need further teaching from scripture for us to properly understand exactly how much we ought to give to God. But the principle exists that prayer, offerings, tithes, giving of thanks, praising God with our speech is a part of natural worship. One other thing that is a part of natural worship are oaths and vows. So what's the difference in an oath and a vow? Does anybody know the difference in an oath and a vow is? They're very similar. An oath swears by swears by something to put an end to controversy. This is why when you go to a courtroom, you swear an oath that your speech is there to help put an end to controversy. I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. Because, There are parties in the courtroom trying to put an end and determine a controversy so that the just thing can come about. And so that's where it relates to love of neighbor and love of God as well because there is swearing by something to put an end to controversy. So what's the difference in that and avow? is a promise to do something. It's a promise to do a thing, some thing. I will do this thing. But it's also swearing by something that I will do this thing. So it's not just saying, well, I'm going to go over there tomorrow. That's related to it. But you would say, I swear I'm going to come over to your house tomorrow, and I'm going to fix your leaky faucet. That is a vow. Leaky faucets not fixed. I swear I did it right. That would be an oath. Any questions about oath and a vow before we move on. All of these are related to the third commandment. because that principle of swearing by something is going to come into play here as we move on. Okay, so that's the light of nature. Light of scripture, we're thinking about this under the preface of the Ten Commandments now. This is what belongs to, this command belongs more explicitly to the people of God who have the covenant name of God revealed to them, who have seen and heard the covenant God, Yahweh, as revealed in scripture. So this helps us have an enlarged understanding of our speech in relation to God. So scripture, again, we remember that laws give us what we ought to do. And it enjoins the opposite, what we ought not to do, and it is that which binds the conscience. So it says, if I do this thing that ought not to be done, it is bad. If I do this thing that ought to be done, it is good. So the conscience commends when we do what is good, and pokes and prods and serves as a witness for when we do what is bad. So, the third commandment, should guide our conscience to love God in the way that we should with our speech and to not love God improperly with our speech. So under the preface, we have the personal name of God, we have an enlarged understanding of our speech in relation to God. So scripture gives us the prohibition and it joins the opposite. Do not take his name in vain. So the general principle is that there is a God who ought to be revered and called upon. The opposite is, do not call upon him in a vain way. That's the more specific, greater light that we have. That we are not to call call upon the name of God in a vain way because he has delivered his people out of the bondage of slavery. So we're no longer bound to idolatry, to groping after the true God and calling upon multiple gods as our witness. We're given the one true living God and we ought to call upon him in the proper manner with our speech as our God and to worship Him and honor Him as we ought. One of the reformed theologians, a Dutch man named Wilhelmus Abrakel says, the third commandment pertains to saying or doing something by which God is neither honored nor acknowledged to be the God who He is, but is rather dishonored. And he goes on to explain a bit more what is meant by in vain, what vanity is. He says, vanity is that which is without purpose, unsuitable. Vanity is thoughtlessness, irreverence. Vanity is carelessness. It is frivolous. And vanity is without a holy objective. So we are not to use God's name in an unsuitable way, in a thoughtless way, in an irreverent way, without purpose, without care, in a frivolous manner, and without a particular holy set-apart end, without a particular purpose. Okay. So hopefully that's gonna help us as we get on to how we are to use our speech in relation to God. And what's attached to that is a threat. An incentive is given by way of threat. Why does God say, do not take his name in vain, I'm gonna say carelessly for us. I think that would sum up everything that we're trying to say here. Why? God holds guilty those who do. God will hold guilty those who take his name in vain. Why? Because God has all the fullness of being within himself. He has all goodness. He has made all things. And because all things are summed up in him, to use his name in an empty manner is to do injury, not actual injury, but in a sense some injury to his essence. Mark, did you have a question? I understand not to take the Lord's title, His name's title, in the vain way, but would us as Christians who bear the name of Christ, living in an unholy way, would that also be considered taking the Lord's name in vain? What do you mean living in an unholy way? If we as Christians are willfully sinning, Yes. You see how it penetrates to every act, every act of love. All of our acts should be, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, should be loving God in the proper manner, not loving God in the improper manner, in our profession to others and to ourself, yes. Yeah, that's good. Cameron? Hold on to that because we're gonna unpack that and expand more on that as we go. Chris, do you still have a question? So all of us are probably right here, just the conscience is just bearing down on us, which is a good thing, because what's one of the uses of the law that we've already said? It teaches us what we ought to do, serves as a tutor in order to do what? Drive us to Christ. So this is how we love God, by seeing how he has revealed himself in Christ, the law giver and the perfect law keeper, so that we see that Christ has perfectly loved God with all of his works and thoughts and deeds, his heart, perfectly fulfilled that, sacrificed himself, so that others who are held guilty, would have that freedom of our conscience eased, so our conscience wouldn't bear down so hard on us, that it would be eased as it goes to Christ in faith, in hope, and in love. Isaac, one more question here. Maybe commenting on, or playing off of what Mark said, wouldn't this be also a huge caution for those of us who are lazy or want to take our doctrine of God lightly. Because when our thoughts are blasphemous, if we're thinking incorrectly about what God has done, whether it's sovereignty, you know, you hear it in movies, you hear all the time, oh, God doesn't do that, or God would never do that. Like that, in and of itself, is blaspheming his name. because God has revealed himself as sovereign. So it's one of those, when I heard that, I realized how many of my own thoughts were blasphemous just by having irreverent questions of, oh, does God really do this, or is this way? Yeah, I think, I think as creatures, as we're trying to learn these things, that's where the conscience helps us. Because it is supposed to direct and caution us. And so I think at one level, if you haven't developed a particular understanding of the doctrine of God, I think I would wanna be careful not to push down on your conscience too hard. I think it depends on the person. Yes, you're right, all of our thoughts about God as sinners are going to be in a sense irreverent and not appropriate thoughts of God. Now that can lead some people to despair who are more disposed to not having an assurance of faith and I would wanna drive that person to Christ a little bit quicker than just letting them stew in that and just slowly bring that person along to what is true. So I wouldn't want to press down too much on that particular use of the law. I would use a different use of the law and try to teach the same thing in a different manner. It just depends on that person's disposition. But yes, all of our thoughts as sinners are ultimately irreverent in the sight of God. It doesn't commend us toward God even when we get it right, because that's what we're supposed to believe. And so when we get it wrong, yes, that is irreverent. So we have to take great care with the third commandment and to speak about God properly. Okay. So speaking about God in a vain way is that which is careless. And God will not hold guiltless who does not honor His name rightly. And yet in Christ, all guilt was laid upon Him. Our guilt was taken away. So because of that, in light of that, our conscience free yet it is still bound to do what is right. So all these uses of the law start to really interchange. You really see this with the Third Commandment because it really does penetrate all the way down into all of our thoughts. I would also add that Not only is it the name of God, but it's his titles, his attributes, his works in creation and providence, his work in scripture. The third commandment applies to all of those things. So to say that, well, God wouldn't do that. Well, he has done that. God wouldn't allow the Holocaust to happen. He did. Does that make him a wicked God? No, it's a reflection of just how far man has fallen and how wicked man is. And God will not hold those people guiltless. He will deal with sin. So ultimately, all of us need to flee to Christ and repent and confess our sins. So that's the light of sin and grace. So we see for the unbeliever, The use of the tongue will never result in righteousness, even though they show the work of God written on their hearts. It's our understanding that, After the fall, all of our thoughts become, yes, indeed, irreverent. And yet, for those of us who have been quickened and regenerated by the Holy Spirit through the Word, we have somewhere to go and flee to and know for certain where it is that we can swear by something great. So we're never, what we're not teaching is that we should never swear an oath or a vow. It's that we are to swear an oath or a vow in the proper manner, according to God's holy character, for the right reason, with a particular purpose, in a suitable way, in a thoughtful way, in a reverent way, in a careful way, and with a holy objective. So that's what our conscience is bound to do. When we swear by God in a proper manner, we are swearing in the proper way. We also have God's own character with that because in Hebrews, we've seen this, God himself swears an oath and gives a vow. Hebrews says, Because there's nothing greater which to swear by, he swore by his own name. God can't lie, and God cannot be undone. God exists at all times and in all ways. He can't die, so he swore by himself and held out the promise. So we are also not to swear by anything lesser than God. If we take an oath or a vow, we ought not swear on anything that God has made. We swear by God and by God alone. Okay, so I wanna talk about blasphemy a little bit. I think this is one of the applications. So obviously, when we think about blasphemy, we would talk about the willful, intentional, atheist who swears there is no God, I will never believe a God. Somebody who, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, somebody who will say, well no, those works are actually of the devil when they're actually the works of the Holy Spirit. That's blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Wrongly attributing to God what he has not nor will not do. But I wanna focus more on the careless way that we use God's name. So what I would say is the careless use of God's name is also done by way of substitution. I'm not gonna use my fingers this time. What do I mean by that? The careless use of God's name is also done by way of substitution. So it's not just that we're invoking God for a particular reason. It can also be substituting God's name for something that's not God. I swear on my mama's grave, We've probably said that ourselves, and we might say it carelessly. That would apply to the third commandment. Because we're not supposed to swear by anything greater than God, because there's nothing greater than God, nor lesser than God. In order to put an end to controversy, we don't swear on any created thing. Also with substitution, And this is something we all do, I do it, I'm not making an excuse, but frequently, in order to get around the third commandment, we'll just substitute something in there. Pick your word, we all do it. Because the intent is the heart. using, we're carelessly invoking God's name, but we're pulling His name out just so that we can make sure we don't break the explicit use of it. But the issue is the heart behind the commandment. Jesus says in Luke 6 verses 44 and 45, back to Cameron's question, Here's the important part. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth what is evil, for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. So the point is, we should take such great care of God's name that even any substitution of God's name would violate the third commandment. Because it's just a flippant use of it. And in order to get around it, we just substitute it for something else. But we're not supposed to do that. Any substitution of the name of God is an irreverent, careless, frivolous use of it. Okay. Any question about that? So we would say that a phrase like, oh my Lord, that is a breaking of the third commandment. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I mean, we could go on, but I don't want to be frivolous here. Is there a proper way to swear by the name of the Lord? Yeah. Yeah. It's got to be, as Albrockle says, and I think he's right here, it's got to pertain to saying or doing something by which God is honored and acknowledged to be the God who he is. So we should We should speak about God's name with a particular purpose. It's got to be a suitable manner. It's gotta be a thoughtful manner. Usually that oh my, whatever it is, is thoughtless. It's just, it's this thing we all do. We've learned it from our youth. I don't know exactly where it comes from, but it's a careless manner in which we speak. Maybe it's a complaint about something or, you know, that's usually what it is because we're usually talking about something we're frustrated with or something surprises us and we just, oh my. obviously that's more of an expletive than a vow or an oath. Yeah, but it's speech about, it's careless speech about God would be the point there. Not so much an oath or a vow. But an oath or a vow, prayer, giving in our offerings and tithes would be a proper manner. Thinking about God in the right way. Setting apart God's name, his works, his attributes, all that he does in creation of providence in a proper way. With a holy objective, Cameron, I think would be the right. We can use God's name as it's with a holy objective. But in that, he is going after those who are calling upon God. They're swearing an oath. when all they need to do is just do what they say. That there's not a need to swear an oath that one is going to do what they say they're going to do. The purpose of an oath is to end controversy. A vow is swearing by something greater that you will do something, but it's a solemn, it has a set apart particular holy objective rather than just common, Tomorrow, I swear, I'm going to go to work. We shouldn't have to promise our bosses that we're going to show up to work every single day. use the Lord for a common purpose. Right, that's right. I mean, our chapter 23 says that a lawful oath is a part of religious worship. So when we're in common discussion about, I'm gonna show up to work tomorrow, we're not talking about, per se, religious worship. These are things that are designed to call upon the name of the Lord to give it a solemnness that what I'm about to speak, you can trust. because it will be the truth, because I'm calling on the name of the Lord to end this controversy. But unfortunately, I get to go into courtrooms all the time and I see people violated left and right. And it's a really sad scenario to watch. And for that, this land mourns. And for that, this land mourns. There is the Anabaptist. They're responding to the Anabaptist. and the Papists. So because of all the vows that the Papists were saying, vows of celibacy give you some sort of greater righteousness before God. That's not true. It doesn't add righteousness, which is what the Papists were teaching. The Anabaptists were saying, then we shouldn't swear, take oaths or vows at all. And one of the reasons they would do that is because they did not believe that they belonged to the common wealth as well. They wanted to separate out and create their own little kingdom, their religious society. So the Anabaptists were saying, you can't swear an oath or a vow at all. And so what we confess is that there are times in which an oath or a vow is proper because the third commandment teaches us that, so we ought to take great care when we do speak about God and when we do take an oath or a vow. And I think it's important that you pointed out in Hebrews the fact that God indeed swore by his own name. Let me come back to you, John. Okay, I'll come back to you. Okay, so that which comes out of the mouth is reflective of what's in the heart. So if we're careless about our speech about God, then that reflects what's in our heart. Perhaps we're not being as careful as we should be. So yes, let your yes be yes and your no be no. Turn to James 3 as well. James 3 I think is so helpful and I've been thinking about this particular chapter off and on at various times in my own life, but the last couple of weeks thinking about the third commandment, it's really come to the fore for me. Look at verse three. If we put bits into horses mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships, though they are so great as they're driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. You've got this giant ship and there's this little thing on the back that just does this. You barely turn it degrees and it will take a whole ship and will turn a whole ship further than that degree. Verse five, so also the tongue is like a rudder. It is a small part of the body and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. The tongue is a fire. The very world of iniquity The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race, but no one can tame the tongue. So this is a general wise principle. He's not speaking in exact language here. He's speaking in a general principle. It's a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? I mean, that right there is just convicting to me because the tongue is something that is such a display of our thoughts and our loves and our affections for God and for one another. So we ought to take great care with our speech. Okay. We ought to take great care with our speech. Okay, so back to oaths and vows. Because a vow is a particular thing by which we call upon God to testify to the truth of something, and not just to end a controversy, but to testify to the truth of us saying we're going to fulfill what we say we're going to do. So what are some common vows that we all have taken here? Marriage vows? Yep. Will you do this? Will you do that? Will you lay your life down for your spouse? Will you submit to your husband in all things? Yes, I will. I will do those things. And how often does that rudder steer us in the wrong direction? I heard another one. Did you say the same thing? Okay. Wedding vows? Okay. There's another one that all of us, well, most of us in here have taken. The vast majority of us. Membership vows. Membership vows. I would also add to that, when a pastor's installed at a church, he vows that he will serve the church in Christ-like manner. the membership vows that they'll take the man as a shepherd of the flock. Yeah. Yep. So, Paul, when he interviews everybody before the congregation, it's usually three questions, right? It's usually, have you made a profession of faith? What's another one? Have you been baptized? Have you been baptized? So those first two are oaths. Have you done this? You're standing publicly and in a sense you're calling upon God to witness, I have made a profession of faith, I have been baptized upon that profession of faith. The third one you mentioned is, will you? That's a vowel. Will you what? or you agree with our statement of faith and our constitution. We've added a fourth one recently, which is, will you put yourself under the authority of the, I'm trying to think how we word that. Are we gonna discuss that more later today? Okay, so the point is, when one becomes a member of a church, they're making a vow that they will do certain things and that they will fulfill certain obligations. And to just up and leave and not fulfill that vow is a rash oath. There is a way to get out of a vow. There's a proper way in which one can be released from that. But again, it should not be done in a thoughtless, careless, frivolous manner. Our speech should be reflective of our hearts, and our actions flow out of that. So our affections, our knowledge, and our will all acts with love of God with our speech and in our actions. And church officers also make a vow to watch over the flock. Well, pastors will watch over the flock and care for the doctrine, the statement of faith that the church has and will fully subscribe to it. The deacons also have a similar vow in which we will make a vow to fully subscribe to the confession of the church and perform the duties necessary for a deacon. Right. So we should not just lightly, carelessly or frivolously say yes. It should take great prayer and thought and care to make sure that our speech, that our heart and our speech are aligned with one another. And if something changes, to work through a process for that. And that is what the third commandment teaches us. We have just a couple of minutes. John, you had a question. I did, and it was a little bit more of a caution. The label Anabaptist originally was a derogatory label given to multiple different groups that broke away from different Reformation traditions. So you had some that broke away from Zwingli, some. They were not all total, let's separate from the government. There were some of them that were more connected to civil rights, but they had problems with the way, say, Zwingli was inconsistent with that, and they called them out for it. So they were called Anabaptists. They were one group. You have those that later would become the Amish, and those that would later become the Mennonites, which did what you were saying. But Anabaptist is such a broad term, just to Yeah, they were speaking about a certain kind of Anabaptist, yeah. And yes, the particular Baptists were called Anabaptists, but that was a thoughtless, careless, frivolous manner of speech. Yeah, yeah, so that was, those who called the particular Baptists Anabaptists were in violation of the Third Commandment and were not loving their neighbor in that sense. Isaac, last one. Okay, could you speak real quickly to word Lord as a filler we use God you know when we're just trying to think of something to say in our prayers and that's a hard one obviously because I don't think it's irreverent necessarily in our from coming from our heart because we're praying but even that I remember hearing somebody preach on it and I was like yeah that rules all of us guilty of this, because whenever we pray, it's rare that any of us can pray without kind of using God's name, just Lord, Lord, and not realize you're just using it carelessly as a pillar to sound more holy. And we have to be even careful with that. I don't know if you have a comment on how to rightly think about that. This is why we pray in the name of our one mediator, Christ. because all of our petitions are brought not in our own righteousness, but ultimately we end with something to the effect of we're bringing this in the name of Christ who has torn down that wall of separation and brought us to your very throne, to your very presence. So even when we ask unlawfully, We shouldn't ask in that sense, but ultimately in our prayers, we should be saying, Lord, conform our will to yours so that we do pray lawfully. And if we are praying lawfully now, Lord, forgive us, conform us to the image of Christ so that we will pray lawfully in the future. So I think under Christ, that would help ease the conscience a bit. Sure, any habit takes time to overcome, so we would ask the Lord to help us to change that habit. As our Lord was praying in John 17, He used, O Father, O Father, so we can't say that that's just wrong to use the name of God in our prayers. I think it's more using it as a filler. Exactly, I understand what he was saying, but I'm saying you may not be using it as a filler. That's my point. So the issue is always the heart, what's behind that. Some may indeed be flippantly doing that, but others may not at all. So be very careful about judging your brother or sister on that. Which is an important aspect of friendship. Mike, I think Mark had a comment just real quick. Yes, sir. Right, yeah, amen. Mike, quickly. Yep. Yeah. thanks be to God through Christ our Lord. Let's dismiss on that note. Father, we do indeed come before you confessing that our mouths do indeed reflect our heart. And so frequently, Lord, our heart is still affected by the fall of Adam, our own sins. Lord, we pray that you would convict us where we speak carelessly of you, Lord, and that you would help us to fulfill the command to love you in the way that we ought, that our affections would be drawn away from sinful speech and drawn toward what is holy and righteous and displays your glory and indeed your holiness, that we would bless you and revere you rather than and use your name in an improper manner. Lord, forgive us, we ask, where we sin against you. Help us to flee to Christ when we fail, that your spirit would be active, Lord, that we would look upon your word, that we would be instructed and conformed by your word. to bring the right offering of Thanksgiving to you with our tongues. In Christ's name, we pray all these things, amen.