Let's read together Isaiah 52 this morning. Isaiah 52, awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion. Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust. Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith the Lord, ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money. For thus saith the Lord God, my people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for naught? May that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord. And my name continually every day is blasphemed. Therefore, my people shall know my name. Therefore, they shall know in that day that I am He that does speak. Behold, it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted his people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing. Go ye out of the midst of her, be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor by flight. For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rearward. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. As many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations. The king shall shut their mouths at him, for that which had not been told them shall they see. and that which they had not heard shall they consider." Thus far we read the divinely inspired scripture this morning. It's on the basis of Isaiah 52 and the whole of the Bible. Now we have the instruction of Lord's Day 36 of the Heidelberg Catechism. The third commandment is, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Question 99. What is required in the third commandment? That we, not only by cursing or perjury, but also by rash swearing, must not profane or abuse the name of God. nor by silence or connivance be partakers of these horrible sins in others. And briefly, that we use the holy name of God no otherwise than with fear and reverence, so that He may be rightly confessed and worshipped by us, and be glorified in all our words and works. Is then the profaning of God's name by swearing and cursing so heinous a sin that his wrath is kindled against those who do not endeavor, as much as in them lies, to prevent and forbid such cursing and swearing? It undoubtedly is, for there is no sin greater or more provoking to God than the profaning of his name. And therefore he has commanded this sin to be punished with death. Let us pray. Father in Heaven, as we proceed now to an explanation of this third commandment, make Thy name great to us and to our children this morning. Make the name of Jesus great to us. We ask this for His sake. Amen. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah 52 is a description of the wonderful deliverance that God would bring to His people who were subjugated in captivity in Babylon. Although it was true that there were many Jews who found themselves quite at home in Babylon, and they wanted to, and they did stay there, there were other Jews who belonged to the spiritual seed, the elect remnant, those whom God brought to repentance over their sins, who were groaning in that land of corruption, and they were longing for deliverance from Babylon. And then how elated they were to receive this call at the outset of Isaiah 52, really a promise of deliverance. O captive daughter of Zion." The time of their deliverance was at hand. Now one of the reasons God came to deliver His people out of captivity in Babylon was the vindication of His name. For the Babylonians were continually blaspheming His name. We read in verse 5, Now therefore what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for naught? They that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord. And my name continually, every day, is blasphemed. We exaggerate. God does not exaggerate. Every day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and so on. Continually, every day, all morning and afternoon and evening of Monday, and all morning and afternoon and evening of Tuesday. My name continually, every day, is blasphemed as the Babylonians were breaking the third commandment. If I could put it anachronistically this morning, in their palaces and courtrooms, in their police department and in their military, in their schools and universities, in their entertainment industry and music, in their city parks and in their ball fields and gymnasiums, in their shops and restaurants, in their inns and lodges, in their workplaces, God's name was continually, every day, being blasphemed by the Babylonians in Babylon. And although that blasphemy took many different forms throughout the history of the Babylonian Empire, it took a very specific form with the influx of all of these Jews coming into Babylon during the captivity. Prior to the Babylonian captivity, basically what the Babylonians knew of God was through his general revelation. But now, as all these Jews come into Babylon, And they testify of the name of Jehovah. And they sing the songs of Jehovah. And they pray to Jehovah. There's a testimony being brought out in the land of Babylon. All your gods are idols. And all the gods of the nations are idols. There's only one God. He's Jehovah. He's our God. He's the Creator and He's the Deliverer of us. He is our help in ages past. And Jehovah, the God of our salvation, is our hope for years to come. And as this testimony came out of the God-fearing Jews, it gave the Babylonians then this new occasion to blaspheme the name of Jehovah. As they took this name Jehovah and they cast it in the faces, of these Jews. Nonsense. If your Jehovah is God, and if He is a Savior, why are you wearing these ugly garments? Why are you lying down in the dust? Why are you held captive by our bands? Where is this Deliverer? Bel is God. Nebo is God. That's why we rule over you and cause you to howl. Your God is not God. And God said, my name continually every day is blasphemed. How guilty were the Babylonians. How vexed were the souls of the righteous Jews. And how kindled was the wrath of God. Now it is time. Time for God to show His power, His love, His faithfulness by taking Jerusalem and lifting her out of the dust. By pulling those shackles off of Zion. By beautifying Zion with garments. By calling forth the Medes and the Persians soon to come. and to conquer the land of Babylon. It is time for God to vindicate His name. And so we read then in verse 6, Therefore my people shall know my name, and therefore they shall know in that day that I am He that does speak. Behold, it is I. Do you know where you live this morning? in Babylon. The Babylon of this world, where God's name is continually, every day, blasphemed. We know Babylon's attitude toward the third commandment and God's name. We know God's attitude toward the third commandment and His name. What is yours? And what is mine? How do we stand? How do we view the third commandment and the name of God? Ought we not all to be grieved this morning over our own sins and over the sins of Babylon? And having the knowledge of our salvation in Jesus Christ, ought we not be more resolved this morning to use the holy name of God with fear and reverence. And may God give that to us by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Let's consider the third commandment. We'll take as our theme no profaning of God's name. First, the sin forbidden. Second, its provoking nature. And third, our grateful tongues. The sin forbidden this morning by the third commandment is taking God's name in vain. That's what the third commandment says. Do not take God's name in vain, which is taking the holy and high name of God and bringing it down for light use. The catechism explains this sin in Lords Day 36 with the word profane. 99. What is required in the third commandment? That we not only by cursing or perjury but also by rash swearing must not profane or abuse the name of God. Question 100. Is then the profaning of God's name And what follows is the question, and the answer is, it undoubtedly is, for there is no sin greater or more provoking to God than the profaning of His name. Profane use of God's name is simply irreverent use. And that's the implication of the catechism with its positive statement toward the end of answer 99 when we read that we may use the holy name of God no otherwise than with fear and reverence. Profane use and reverent use are opposites. And so, what is profane use? It is simply irreverent use of God's name. Now, I want to give three examples of very obvious, direct profaning of God's name. And then we'll give two examples of maybe less obvious, indirect profaning of God's name. First, blasphemy. We may not profane God's name through blasphemy. That's the word used in Isaiah 52 verse 5. And blasphemy is the deliberate act of taking the name of God and holding it down in contempt. And so blasphemy then is not only the sin of atheists who very explicitly and overtly spew out all kinds of vitriol against the Christian church and the gospel and the cross and the name of God itself, but blasphemy is the sin committed by two men who are homosexuals and get married in a Christian church. And when they're standing on the platform in their wedding ceremony, behind them, hanging up on the wall, is a rainbow, the token of God's covenant. And the officiating clergyman opens up a Bible, and he reads from the scriptures. And he says a prayer in the name of God, in the name of Jesus. and he explains some portion of the word of God and reassures the homosexual men that God loves them and he smiles upon them and he blesses them in this union. That's a violation of the third commandment. That's taking the holy name of God and bringing it all the way down into the filth and corruption of homosexuality. Blasphemy. Do you have any blasphemous thoughts in your heart? Do I? No blasphemy. Second, profane use of God's name includes cursing The Catechism says that we not only by cursing must not profane the name of God. God is the only one who can effectually curse, and that reality ought to send shivers down our spine. God can curse, which means God can render a man guilty, then God can damn that man to hell, And then one day God can take that man in body and soul and actually cast him into everlasting hell. That's God's curse. And now a man curses when he calls upon the name of God and he pronounces evil upon someone by using some word of judgment followed by the personal pronoun, you. And with an exclamation mark or two or three. Some word of judgment. You. Cursing. Anytime a person flippantly uses the words damn or hell. Damn is a curse word, and hell is the place of a curse. And uses those words to curse something or someone, he is profaning the name of God. And it's very common in Babylon then, when a man gets angry, when he's full of hatred or jealousy, he's becoming very impatient, that curses fly. We may not curse. Did you curse someone this past week? Did I curse someone in my heart? Thou shalt not curse. Third, the profane use of God's name not only includes blasphemy and cursing, but now a broader category into which we would put all kinds of vulgarity and cussing and swearing, maybe explicitly using the name of God, saying, oh my God, or holy, holy, holy is the name of God and taking His holy name and saying, holy this or holy that. All kinds of vulgarity now. In Babylon, it's cool. It's cool for the soldiers to cuss in the barracks, for the members of the team to cuss out in the dugout or in the locker room, for the employees to cuss in the back room, for the young people to wear their earbuds and listen to musicians who use vulgar language and cuss and swear. That's not cool. That's not cool for any young person of the covenant. And there's not Christian liberty here. to curse and swear, and to profane God's name through vulgar language. And one of the great dangers for us in Babylon is that because we're surrounded by all this vulgarity, we become desensitized to it. It's everywhere. And now it's on all of these devices that we have that are connected to the internet. My name, continually every day is blasphemed, and the danger is that we're not perturbed. We're not fazed. Thanks be to God, and don't you admire little children of the covenant? who are then very different from the children of the world who get brought up in homes where it's okay to use vulgar language and they start using vulgar language at a very young age. Give thanks to God for the children of the covenant who are well trained in Christian homes and taught to be careful little tongue what you say. We don't say this here. And we don't use that kind of language here. And the little children become very conscientious, and they're very aware, and they don't even understand half of what constitutes profanity. But when they're carefully taught, they come to an understanding, and then when they hear something, they alert us, or they reprove us. They reprove us. Wood to God. we could all be as conscientious as a little 5-year-old boy or girl so that we don't become desensitized to all this vulgarity, blasphemy, cursing, and all sorts of cussing are forbidden as the profaning of God's name. That would also include, in answer 99, rash, swearing, and perjury, but those terms will come up again in Lord's Day 37. Now let's give two examples of indirect profaning of God's name. First of all, giving occasion to others to blaspheme. And professing Christians do that by unholy conduct. 1 Timothy 6 verse 1. Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed. You see, if we go to work and we identify ourselves as Christians, and we belong to such and such a Christian church, and everybody in the workplace knows that, and yet, we are muttering curses against our boss under our breath, or we are dishonoring the boss, or we are stealing from the boss, or we are wasting the time and the resources of our employer. Now, we professing Christians by that unholy conduct are giving others occasion to blaspheme, to speak evil of the name of God, which we bear. Similarly, the apostle says in Titus 2, verses 4 and 5, that they, older women, that they may teach the young women to be sober. To love their husbands. And now you can see Paul is thinking of young mothers. To love their husbands. To love their children. To be discreet. Chaste. keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." So that when you have young Christian mothers in the Christian church, giving a Christian education to their young children, and they go out and they have a reputation, not for being sober, but for drinking. And these young mothers have a reputation not for being discreet and chaste, but for speaking and dressing indecently. And when they have a reputation, not for loving their husbands, but very common for them to talk together and speak evil against their husbands, now they're giving others an occasion to blaspheme the word of God, saying the Christian church makes such a big deal of the gospel and the Bible and the Ten Commandments and morality and holiness of life. Look at these young women. Look at what they do. Look at what they say. And now there's an occasion to blaspheme the Word and the church of Christ, and to jeer and ridicule and mock the name of God. There are few things that the ungodly world loves and takes more pleasure in, since it does feel good to the conscience, than finding, exposing, hypocrisy, in the Christian church. And then here comes all the railing against the church, against Christians, against God and His Word. Let us not break the third commandment by giving others occasion to blaspheme our God. And then secondly, more indirectly, keeping silent when others blaspheme. The Catechism speaks of this in Answer 99 that We not by silence or connivance be partakers of these horrible sins and others? And then 100 deals with that again, that powerful question is then the profaning of God's name by swearing and cursing so heinous a sin that his wrath is kindled against those who do not endeavor as much as in them lies to prevent and forbid such cursing. and swearing. Society in general tolerates blasphemy, cursing, and swearing whether public officials, athletes, celebrities, next-door neighbors, co-workers. They may think nothing of profaning God's name and is generally accepted in the nominal church and technology makes it a real and constant threat for all of us. And now we have one of the great difficulties of the Christian life. not keeping silent. And this makes life in Babylon very, very difficult, especially in the workplace. We don't want to keep silent when we hear profanity. We don't want to give anyone the opportunity to imagine, even for a moment, that we don't take this seriously. We do love our God and the holy name of Jesus. We don't want to be silent And so there may come a time when we do not keep silent, but we pull aside our coworker. We don't do it publicly. We don't humiliate him. We're gonna find a nice opportunity. We've been praying about this, thinking about this. Call him aside and say, look, it's very troubling to me. It's very offensive to me. Why do you have to use the name of my God like that? And we've done that. Maybe we've done it twice. And they continue to profane, and now we don't want to give that which is holy to dogs, and we don't want to unnecessarily agitate one who appears to be a son of Belial, and continue to speak to him and speak to him so that now being agitated, he reviles the name of God all the more. And so we pray, Lord, what do we do? How do we handle this situation in the workplace? I keep hearing this profanity. And the time may come where we do have to withdraw ourselves. And this environment is so toxic. I can't work here any longer. That might happen. The Catechism's main point here is You and I need to endeavor as much as in us lies to prevent, to stop this cursing and swearing. We may not keep silent when God's name is profaned. We groan, don't we? Don't you groan? It is so hard to live in Babylon. And how long, oh Lord, before we can be delivered out of Babylon, where God's name is continually, every day, blasphemed. The sin of profaning God's name is particularly provoking to God. That it is provoking is indicated by the words of the third commandment itself when it says that the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. That is, the Lord will hold him guilty who takes his name in vain. Now God doesn't say that explicitly about any of the other commandments, but He does say it. here with the third commandment. So that again, question 100. Is the profaning of God's name by swearing and cursing so heinous a sin that His wrath is kindled against those who do not endeavor as much as in them lies to prevent and forbid such cursing and swearing? And the answer is, it undoubtedly is. For there is no sin greater or more provoking to God than the profaning of His name. And therefore He has commanded this sin to be punished with death. Why is this sin so provoking to Him? Well, that's not hard to understand. How do you like it when someone messes up your name? Your name is Sean. And they always call you Shane. Your name is Bart, and you're five, and you're going to school for the first time, and you know your name, and you can spell your name, B-A-R-T, Bart, and you get shown your desk, and there's a big name tag taped to the top of your desk, B-E-R-T, Bert. What school boy will be okay with that and will not protest? I'm not sitting here. That's not my name. My name is not Bert. My name is Bart. Now that's very minor. How about slander? How do you like it when someone maliciously slanders your name? takes your name and behind your back, before other people, running that name up and down through the mud. What man does not go to great lengths to defend the integrity of his name? God's name is infinitely Now let's pause so that one word sinks in a moment. God's name is infinitely greater, more glorious, and higher than any one of our names. God is His name. and through His name He reveals Himself, the great Creator of the ends of the earth, the God who reigns supreme over all things, including Babylon and the Medes and Persians, and the God who reigns supreme over Zion, His beloved church, whom He loveth well, has chosen, and will redeem in Jesus Christ, so that according to Isaiah 52, verse 7, the word of the gospel to Zion is always, Thy God reigneth God reigneth. His name is so great. His is the name of matchless power and worth and glory and love, and it must always be used with fear and reverence. No one is as jealous of His name as God is jealous. No one is so determined to protect the integrity of His name as God is. No one will see to it with such zeal that His name is used with reverence as our God, and therefore sin against the third commandment is so provoking to God that as the catechism says, He will punish it with death. One of the explanations for the Babylonian captivity and why so many Jews were killed in those atrocities It's that God was angry that for generations Israelites were profaning His name. One explanation for the destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians was that God's name was continually, every day, blasphemed. One explanation for the final judgment in which God will come in Jesus Christ in great fury and will tread out as a man treads out a wine press his enemies in all of his fury so that his garments will be dyed as red is that God is so provoked by the profaning of His name. How guilty is the human race? How many times every second are human beings flippantly crying out, oh my God, all through the world, now God forbears before He finally pours out all of His wrath. But He will, and therefore concerning Babylon, we read in Revelation 18, verses 4 and 5, come out of her, my people. Be ye not partakers of her sins, and that she receive not her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities, especially Babylon's blasphemy." God is provoked. And now the provoking nature of sin against the third commandment raises the question, why does God's wrath not fall upon all men? All men are by nature guilty abusers of the name of God. Everyone breaks the third commandment. And if God will not hold any guiltless, how can any escape? Why was it that in the Babylonian captivity so many Jews were killed, and yet some of them did not go to hell like the rest of them, but went to heaven? And why was it in the Babylonian captivity that through all these atrocities, God was actually not punishing every single Jew? but He was correcting some of them in love. And why is it that we and our children break the third commandment every single week and God does not strike us dead with a lightning bolt and cast us to hell? Profaners all of us. And the answer is to be found in the good tidings of peace. In Isaiah 52 verse 7, The Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, who is the Servant of Jehovah, whose visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men. The man Jesus Christ God incarnate, who according to Isaiah 53 was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, one who was smitten of God, afflicted of God, was wounded and bruised and oppressed, Jesus, He came under the kindled wrath and all of the penal judgments of God for the sake of Zion. True spiritual Zion. The elect people of God and their spiritual seed. He suffered for us, the people of God. And Christ's affliction was so great. His bruising was so severe. His stripes were so deep. His wounds were so wide. And his sorrow was inexpressible. Why? The provoking nature of sin against the third commandment God's wrath was kindled, and this perfect substitute now stood in our place. And all those curses, all that wrath of God came down upon Him who stood in our place, wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And one of the reasons he is the only one who could stand in that place and be made guilty for us and pay for us and make an atonement for us is that he was the perfectly righteous substitute, the one who came under the third commandment, and he kept it perfectly his whole life long. Not only did Jesus, in his ministry on this earth, in his whole life, never blaspheme, never curse, never cuss, never use any vulgarity, He also never used God's name lightly. Every time He took the name of God, My God, My Father, He was using that name with perfect reverence. Even when He was suffering inexpressible anguish on the cross, with that impassioned cry, He cried out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Those words came out of his mouth from a heart of perfect reverence for his God. And this perfect Savior made the perfect atonement and obtained a perfect righteousness for us and for all of God's people through all of the ages. And that's why there were Jews who died in the captivity. and were taken immediately to heaven. That's why there were Jews in the captivity who suffered, but they were not suffering punishment. It was loving correction. And that's why there are believers in this world who will be alive at the very end when this great Babylon will go up in flames in the kindled wrath of God and those people will not be destroyed, but ever so gently lifted up into the glories of heaven. Why? Because all these people belong in their body and in their soul, in their life and in their death, to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all of our transgressions against the third commandment. Oh, the precious name of Jesus. Sin against the third commandment is provoking to God. And that explains why the cross was so awful for Jesus. Now, beloved congregation of our Lord, understanding our Savior, Let us use our tongues with gratitude to God. You have a tongue. May the Spirit make it a grateful tongue today, tomorrow, the rest of 2024. I don't know what you have planned for old year's night, wherever you're going, whomever you will be with, may you and I have a grateful tongue as 2024 fades away this week, knowing the cross. With our grateful tongues then, let us not blaspheme, but magnify the name of our God Let us not curse God, but bless God. And not curse those who hate us and despitefully use us, but as Jesus said, bless them. And let us use our grateful tongues not for vulgarity and profanity and cussing. Why would we do that? Let's talk about Jesus and the great things God has done for us, whereof we are glad. Let's teach our children the praises of Jehovah. Let's worship the Lord. The catechism concludes with this line in answer 36, that we use the holy name of God no otherwise than with fear and reverence so that he may be rightly confessed and worshiped by us and be glorified, through the rest of 2024, and be glorified in all our words and works. And when we servants then come under the yoke of our masters, or we are young women living in the church in our homes, let's not give occasion to anyone to blaspheme by our sinful conduct. But may others say of us, Honorable, sincere, respectful, obedient to the praise of God's name. With a grateful tongue, let's endeavor as much as in us lies to prevent all cursing and swearing. Maybe this week it's time. Maybe this is the week you do it. It's time to talk to Him, to talk to her. a co-worker, you've been praying and now it's time to talk. To prevent, as much as in you lies, profanity. Let's do it with a grateful tongue. And with a grateful tongue, we may have to say in our homes, we're finished. No more. This podcast, We're finished. Hugely popular. Everybody's listening to it. So insightful. But the host of the podcast has such a filthy mouth. We are finished this week because we love our God. We will not allow His holy name to be profaned in our presence. With grateful tongues, let's honor this name of our God. What great zeal the Muslims have for their idol. Blaspheme the name of Allah. Speak in a derogatory way about the Islamic religion and you may be shot, beaten, or incite a riot. Where is all of the zeal of the Christians Where? Where are the Christians worldwide who have zeal for the name of the Maker of heaven and earth and the Savior in Jesus Christ? Muslims are motivated by terror to appease their God. Christians should be motivated by gratitude, knowing the cross of our God So let's be zealous. Zealous to do what? To burn down the house of a blasphemer? To incite a riot? Christians don't do that. Christians have tongues. We have a tongue. And so let us testify of the name of our God. Let us warn all men everywhere of the wrath of our God. And let us call all men to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, the blessed Savior, whom to know is better than life itself. With a grateful tongue, let us all name the name of Christ and depart from iniquity in this wicked Babylon until God finally takes us out of Babylon into the pristine world of the new creation. Let us speak. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, thanks for the revelation of thy name, that we may know thee and speak thy name. Now give us courage and wisdom to do it. For Jesus' sake, amen.