So if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to Exodus chapter 20, and we're just in one verse. There's not three verses this time. This is one verse for one command, verse seven. Exodus chapter 20, verse seven says, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. So as we continue our study in the law of God, we need to be reminded why we are here. Why are we here in Exodus at Mount Horeb hearing about the law? We've just finished 12 wondrous lessons about the grace that we have in Jesus Christ. Why then are we moving from something so wondrous to something so terrifying? Something so liberating to something so condemning? And the answer is simple, because obedience is important. It's important to Christ, our King. Jesus wants us to be holy and prepare our hearts as blameless for his arrival. So while our hearts have been sanctified definitively by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we must continue to progressively be sanctified, endeavoring after holiness, even as God is holy. So where should we begin whenever we want to progress past the milk and move on and take our first baby steps? We need to be thinking, I think, about obedience. And I think the Ten Commandments is a good place to start. And it's long been the answer as the first place to go after discussing those core gospel truths because it introduces fundamental doctrines about the Christian faith that we all need to know. It helps us understand the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. It helps us to understand the curse that we're all under. It helps us to understand the moral character of God, because all of these commands are rooted in the very nature and character of God himself. And ultimately, it points us to Christ. So Christ met all of these commands perfectly, exhaustively, without a single momentary slip up. we need to have an understanding of how the law relates to the gospel. And the Ten Commandments then is a great place to begin that discussion. Jesus kept the first commandment, whereas how many of us so often place some person, place, or thing before God? Jesus kept the second commandment, whereas how many of us distort God's image and so craft a God after our own making? and Jesus kept the third commandment. And in this lesson, we'll see all the ways we fall desperately short of meeting the demands which this third word requires. So the outline for today's message fall under three headings. Number one, we're gonna explain the terms in the command. Number two, we're gonna explore the command itself and what it forbids. Number three, we're gonna end with Christ. Explain, explore, and end. Go ahead and take a picture. If you need to. That was the group discussion. Oh, I forgot to put that up. But yeah, here we are. We'll move on. First, explaining the terms. Psalm 8.1 says, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Psalm 111.9 says, He sent redemption to his people. He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. So God's name is majestic, holy, awesome. And this isn't just referring to His covenant name, Yahweh. Yahweh is God's self-given name, that He gave first to Moses, and it's found almost 7,000 times throughout Scripture. So it's an important name. Maybe the most important name we need to make sure we not take in vain. But God's name does not include just this name, but it includes all that He is and stands for. So whenever it says, to take His name in vain, also moving to this first word here, to take, this is the same word that appears in Isaiah 52, verse 13. And Isaiah 52 verse 13, God says, he shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. So when we say the word God or take his name, we're lifting up his name. And if we're Christian, we're bearing his name in a special way as representatives of Christ. And this word vain also needs some defining, so we'll move down to C. In vain, it's not the word actually used in Ecclesiastes when Solomon says all is vanity. The word Solomon uses there emphasizes the brief, fleeting nature of life. But this word, vain, in Exodus, is a completely different word. and it emphasizes emptiness, worthlessness, and falsehood. So God is saying we're not to speak of him and lift his name in our speech in a way that is empty, as if God's name was worthless or how we talk about him didn't matter. And the most obvious way we do this is by using his name as a blasphemous expletive, which brings us to our second point, exploring the command. So in our day, blasphemous expletives are everywhere and very much normalized. My wife and I, for instance, watched this kid's movie called IF, and IF stands for Imaginary Friends. It's a movie by John Krasinski. It's a kid's movie rated PG, and there were likely over 100 blasphemous expletives in this kid's movie. We wouldn't recommend it. And in the reviews, there was Christians that reviewed it and it was downplayed as, you know, just like a side thing. Oh, by the way, there's a lot of blasphemous expletives, but it's not given that much weight. If I remember correctly, the first words of that movie were, oh God. And then it was repeated by one of the characters 12 times over in succession. Those are the first words. And then the last word of this movie was the same thing. It began and ended with blasphemy. And all throughout the middle, that was our favorite word and phrase to use was, oh God. but it's not just in media, where I work, people love saying God's name in vain too. And one time in response, I told someone to finish it, like I was saying earlier. They had no idea what I was saying, but I said, Psalm 63 begins by saying, oh God, exclamation mark. But then the Psalm continues saying, you are my God, earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you. So I found that people love to sing Psalm 63, but they don't know the rest of the words, and they definitely don't know that they're singing a psalm, and that's not their intent. The world chooses to desecrate God's name with the very words we use to hallow His name with. Whether it's attaching the word holy to the object of account, or holy to the cow's dung, or saying heaven and goodness or hell and damn in a vain way. These are things that God does. Hell is a place that God makes. It's a sacred reality. And we toss these words around as if they have no weight, as though they were light and ultimately in vain. Another popular phrase amongst the younger population is saying hella or OMG in texts all the time. We say these things and it's blasphemy. These are blasphemous phrases which to one degree or another fall under the umbrella of God's name. And these expletives used vainly and lightly as language we shouldn't be comfortable with. So there is a difference between saying what the heck And saying GD, like you were mentioning earlier, there's levels here. Old Testament stoned people for blasphemy. So you couldn't blaspheme, you would be stoned. And maybe there was... kind of second tier, what you were calling, second tier phrases people tried to get away with. But the third commandment, we're going to learn because of how Jesus exposes it, is so much more exhaustive than we realize. It's not just about obeying what's most explicitly revealed. It's about obeying all that this commandment is really given to guard, which is our tongues. So, Our tongues speak sacred words and our speech is important to God. And the third commandment goes deeper than just blasphemous expletives, but also includes broken promises and hasty vows. So Jesus says, again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not break your oath. but fulfill to the Lord the vows you've made. But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all, either by heaven, for it's God's throne, or by the earth, for it's his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply yes or no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. So swearing to the Lord is kind of like anger. It can be good, but more often than not, it is bad. And it is so often abused, Jesus makes the sweeping statement that just like how the anger of man is in general sinful, not of God, as James says, so too in general is swearing to God just sinful. So we need to know though, this is a general statement and not an absolute ban on all swearing because elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul uses the phrase God is my witness. And he says that seven times or something similar to it. And Hebrews 6.16 talks about how swearing an oath before God can actually be helpful to settle more serious disputes as it can confirm the integrity of a person's claims. Deuteronomy 6.13 also says, So here we actually have a command that if we are to swear, we're to swear to God and God alone in fear of Him. We're not to make hasty vows, but to reverently and sparingly swear to God. and only when we have complete control of our emotions and total conviction that what we are saying is actually true. But Jesus says this commandment goes deeper than just hasty or reckless vows. But fulfilling the third commandment means being true to our word. Let your yes be your yes, he says. To break our word, especially as Christians called to represent the character of Christ on earth, to break our word is to take God's name in vain. So if you are someone here who maybe is just not the most reliable, you know that about yourself. The third commandment is a warning to you. Be careful with your obligations and what you say you are going to do. If you are not, then be warned. You may find yourself breaking the third commandment. God says he will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. If you aren't ready to pencil in a plan, If you aren't sure you're ready to commit to a date, or RSVP with any certainty, then say, Lord willing. Or say, I hope so. Say, I'll for sure make it a priority. I hope it works out. Sometimes we do need to make commitments though, and that can't just be what we say all the time. Sometimes we just need to be relied upon to do something. And so we do need to make commitments, but when we do need to be ready to follow through with them, even to our own hurt, to our own misfortune. We want to be careful with our word because just as lust is adultery, flippant and untrustworthy speech is taking the Lord's name in vain. Who has made our tongues to be sacred, saintly, sanctified, and set on fulfilling our obligations and oaths. Ecclesiastes 5.2 says, Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God's in heaven, and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. Let your words be few. That isn't just advice for a prayer life. Christians should strive not to be ramblers, endless heapers of empty phrases. Maybe you might think, I'm just a talker. That's just the way God's made me. Now, God has given all of us our own personalities. And some of us are more talkative than others, and that's not sinful. But we just need to be very careful. there are no excuses or exceptions listed in the third commandment. And if your mouth is a fire hydrant of empty, meaningless phrases or words, spewing out disingenuous thoughts, a ceaseless spring of complaints, a senseless sprinkler of hasty promises, always sorry but never learning, Be warned, your personality does not necessarily mean your innocence, but God says he will not hold you guiltless, those who take his name in vain. And on that last day, Jesus says, I tell you, on the day of judgment, people, includes all of us here, will give account for every careless word they speak. for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. There are many other ways that we can take the Lord's name in vain, too. How the Jehovah's Witness blaspheme God's name, how the Catholics blaspheme God's name with their supposed pope, how the non-denominational church blasphemes God's name with their light, lukewarm, and vain worship. Empty religiosity is to break the third commandment. God's name is not empty. He is not vain. And the Christian life is no light affair. If that's how you approach the Almighty, then He will spew you out. So what about you? Do you reverence the name of God in your dialogue? in your devotion, in your good deeds? For the evil idol of niceness and people-pleasing, do you communicate plans or commit to a relationship that you actually have no desire following through with or keeping up? There are so many ways we can all fall so far short in our speech. And I personally have been extremely convicted by this one more than any of the other commandments so far in this lesson. God's hammered me hard this week about how often I can fall short and disobey his third commandment, understood exhaustively like this. So a little bit about me. Before I was saved, I would say I was a characteristic liar. I didn't mind cutting corners. And probably most of all, I was a liar because of how much I lied to myself. Despite how truly twisted and perverse I was, I honestly thought I was pretty good, actually kind of exceptional, pretty special person, better than others. I was proud. I wasn't afraid to cheat on an exam if I thought I could get away with it. And I actually got caught cheating on the ACT exam, which is like a college entrance exam, like the SAT. and I had to talk to my principal about it, and I got kicked out in the middle of the test, and it was this big ordeal. Whenever God saved me in college, that all changed. I drastically reoriented my life to living no longer in lies, but before Him, and yet I still found it extremely hard for me to confess my sins and to be discipled. I would say it's still hard. But earlier on, I wanted the benefits of a deeply personal relationship with Christ without the difficulty of confessing my sin. And so often I knew I had fallen, I needed to talk to somebody about it, and I didn't want to. And I didn't end up telling anybody because my flesh was winning. That old way of living a lie. was having the victory in those moments. And I'm learning now that was to break the third commandment. That's hypocrisy. That's taking God's name in vain. I was looking for a shortcut. And so what God gave me was a long and windy road of hard knocks to teach me patience, humility, and integrity. It's a road I'm still on. And so I'm praying this week, Lord, forgive me for how often I break this third commandment. Help me to be a man of my word, true to my word, hasty not in speech, but reverent in all I say and do. So you too maybe need to pray this, this week. Maybe you have a history of being loose and careless with your words and promises. Maybe you have a tendency to play the hypocrite and hide your sin. Maybe you have a habit of making big oaths and saying, I swear to God, but it's about things you honestly aren't that sure of, or it's in a spirit of reactive self-defense. Maybe you just haven't honestly considered the weightiness of your word in a world that mocks reverence and integrity. Whatever it is, the third commandment is exhaustive. Who is sufficient to meet its demands? It's clearly not you. It's clearly not me. but thanks be to God, he sent his only begotten son. So we're gonna end with Christ. 1 Peter 2.22 says, he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. The same law that exposes our sin now leads us to the only person that can fulfill it. Jesus Christ. Galatians 3.24 says the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. So the law acts as a mirror to convict us. It's been the goal of most of this lesson. But it's also a compass to guide us. Where? To Jesus Christ. The law does not justify us by our keeping of it, but points us to Christ, the greater lawgiver and law fulfiller, who satisfied the demands of the covenant of works, and who never once carried his father's name in vain. He bore the name of God with perfect integrity, perfect obedience, perfect reverence, and then he bore the wrath of God. perfect submission for all of us who have profaned it. He didn't just die for you begrudgingly or half-heartedly, so we had to do it. It's just a duty. Sometimes we think about the law as just what we gotta do. No, even now, God looks upon those clinging to him in faith with his infinite affectionate love. No lie or secret sin is big enough to cast aside the great and steadfast love of God towards his children. So if you are wayward, run home, come home. God's there and he's gonna see you and he's gonna open up his arms, he's gonna embrace you and have a big celebration ready for you. Our Father's love knows no bounds and is no lie. Run to him. live for Him, speak His truth, and may Christ be glorified and our Father's name hallowed on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.