From Greenville, South Carolina, we present, Let the Bible Speak. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, preaching Christ in all His fullness. Thank you for joining us today. This is Alan Cairns saying hello to you and welcome to the program. It's good to be with you as we continue our study of the Ten Commandments. Coming today to the Third Commandment, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. First, however, let me take a moment to remind you of how to make contact with us. We're always glad to hear from our listeners and to know how the Lord is blessing his word to your hearts. Over the past months, I have mentioned various resources on tape, CD and print. And if you'd like to receive any of these, or if you'd simply wish to comment on a program, you may write or call us. Our mailing address is Let The Bible Speak. 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, South Carolina 29615 Our toll-free telephone number is 866-877-LTBS 866-877-5827 And don't forget to visit our website ltbsradio.com There you'll find audio files of our broadcasts and printable text files of all our commentaries. We look forward to you getting in touch. I serve a risen Savior He's in the world today I know that He is living Whatever men may say I see His hand of mercy I hear His voice of change And just the time I need Him He's always near. He's here, He's here, He's here. He is my Jesus here today. He walks with me and talks with me along my fair way. He's here, He's here, He's here. Gives salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart. In all the world around me, I've seen His loving care. And though my life was weary, I never will despair. I know that He is leading through all the stormy blasts. The day of His appearing will come at last. He lives! He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He lives! He Rejoice! Rejoice! O Christian! Lift up your voice and speak Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ, our King! The hope of all who seek Him, the health of all who find Another is the loving, the good, and kind He lives, He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's peril way. He lives, He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me now, I know He lives. He lives. For decades, it has been the common wisdom that moderate consumption of alcohol is good for your health. According to reports, it reduces the risk of a heart attack by anything up to 25%. Now, however, we learn from a more meticulous study of the data that the reality is very different from the perception. I have no evidence that the booze industry had any hand in the production of the original data. What is certain is that it did capitalize on it to induce more people to buy its poisonous product. Now it's time to set the record straight. Earlier studies suggested that the equivalent of two pints of ordinary strength beer or three glasses of wine per day will lessen your chances of a heart attack by a quarter. But in a study conducted by a New Zealand team of researchers and reported in the British medical journal The Lancet, it is claimed that the research in the original studies was of poor quality and produced skewed results. The latest researchers conclude that any benefit from light to moderate drinking is probably small and unlikely to outweigh any harm to health. The lead researcher said, while moderate to heavy drinking is probably coronary protective, any benefit will be overwhelmed by the known harms. If so, the public health message is clear. Do not assume there is a window in which the health benefits of alcohol are greater than the harm. there is probably no free lunch. There's no probably about it. There is no free lunch. Beverage alcohol is a destroyer and a killer. It is responsible for more sickness and death than all other drugs combined. At any given time, somewhere between a quarter and a third of all hospital occupancies here in the United States are as a result of alcohol. The booze industry has succeeded in glamorizing drinking, masking the fact that it is the most debasing drug habit and the most destructive force behind the violence and carnage that ravage our country. The message is clear and simple. Booze is bad for you. But all this falls on deaf ears. America is sinking in an ocean of booze. But who wants to hear? Even Bible-believing Christians today seem more interested in asserting their own perceived right to drink than they are in combating the demon drink. Social drinking among Christians is on the increase. Among the Reformed, that's my theological camp. This is especially the case. Many Calvinists imagine that they've proved that they are not legalists by indulging in alcohol. Of course, they assure us, they are not dominated by booze. They are in complete control. Personally, I doubt that many of them are as much in control as they imagine. I have known of some of these Christian boozers who so heartily despise those who abstain that they have done all in their power to get them to drink, even in cases where they know they're dealing with people who in the past have had serious problems with alcohol. This is unconscionable. It savours of self, not the Saviour. I've often been told that the Bible nowhere prohibits alcohol consumption. Does it not? Proverbs 23, 21 commands, Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. The context is a warning to those who have woe and sorrow, contentions and babblings, wounds and redness of the eye, because they tarry long at the wine. So what is the sure answer to such a calamity? Our modern Christian boozers would say, be moderate. Solomon, however, takes a different line. To make sure you never fall a prey to the demon drink, he says, Don't even look at it. If that's not prohibition and abstention, then words have lost their meaning. Booze isn't good for you. It's not good for your children. It's not good for your testimony. It's time to quit propping up one of the most destructive industries Satan has ever unleashed on mankind. Stick to grape juice, or water, or the non-alcoholic beverage of your choice, and leave booze to fools bent on self-destruction. Oh, for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, a heart that always feels Thy blood so freely shed for me. A heart resigned, submissive meek, My dear Redeemer's throne, Where only Christ is heard to speak, Where Jesus reigns alone. Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart, Come quickly from above. Write Thy new name upon my heart, Thy new, best name of love. That was Randy Habegger with Oh for a Heart, to praise my God a heart from sin set free. Now we turn to continue our look at the third commandment, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, noting that God has given us a revelation of himself and that this lays on every one of us a very grave responsibility. The Lord has given us the law and the prophets, but now he has given us this full light of glory in his Son. And describing that revelation, we read in John 1.14, we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We have every reason to fear truth, but thank God with truth He combines grace. And that could only happen in Christ. The psalmist foresaw this in the 85th Psalm verse 10. He says, mercy and truth are met together. How easy it is just to jump over those words and miss their meaning. They seem to be antithetical. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. The only place that could happen is in the person of Christ, at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where grace and truth come together. That's where righteousness and peace kiss each other. That's where God can be just, and yet the justifier of ungodly men through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has been graciously pleased to give us a revelation of himself. The second thing we learn from our text is that that revelation of God's name imposes a very grievous responsibility upon us. This revelation demands a response I want you to understand, you cannot read the Bible without making a response to it. You cannot hear the Gospel without making a response to it. Every time God gives you the revelation of Himself, He demands and He will have a response to it. The Word of God is clear as to what it ought to be. In the book of Psalms we read in Psalm 29 and 2, give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Later in the 66th Psalm, the psalmist says, sing forth the honor of His name. Make His praise glorious. That's the response and the responsibility the Lord has laid upon us. In contrast, the Bible forbids taking upon our lips the names of other gods. Listen to what Moses was inspired to write in Exodus 23 and 13. In all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect. and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. The psalmist in the great messianic 16th Psalm and verse 4 says, Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god. Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. Now it's clear from this that taking the name of a God upon your lips is an act of worship. It's an act of acknowledgement of that God. So when you take the name of God on your lips, it should be in worship. The only proper use of the name of the Lord is to use it in a worshipping acknowledgement of His person, His word and His work. That's how to obey the third commandment. Isn't this what the Lord Jesus taught in the words of what we call the Lord's Prayer? He said, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. He's using the words of Isaiah 8.13, sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself. Let Him be your fear. Peter took up the same theme and he said, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. The only proper use of the name of the Lord, the only allowable way for us to take His name upon our lips is in holy awe. with the purpose of glorifying Him or edifying man. Thus it's proper for us to use His name in worship. We should use His name in prayer. Prayer is calling upon His name. Prayer is coming to God using the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should in worship use His name in song. But we should be very careful how we use His name and song. I get very disturbed at some of the so-called hymns and Christian songs that are used. If you turn to the fifth chapter of Revelation, you get a picture of how we ought to use His name and song. There you have the gathered company of the saints. They're surrounded by angels, and they're lifting up this mighty medium of the Lord, and they're crying, worthy, worthy, worthy! Thou art worthy! What holiness, what awe, what glory, what joy in their song! None of the light, stupid, frivolous, worldly and wicked nonsense using the name of God in meaningless gibberish that passes for song. I'm sure you had the chorus over here. I think it originated in America. It came to Britain, and it was the whole rage. Every children's meeting sang it. Every young people's fellowship sang it. And it was, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, praise ye the Lord. And as they sang it, they would have the boys sing Hallelu, and the girls sing the next Hallelu, and they would stand as they sang and sit down when they weren't singing. They were up and down and up and down, and it became just like a gymnastic exercise. Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, praise ye the Lord. I told our young people's fellowship in Balamony, I ban that chorus as utter, total, unmitigated blasphemy. And I told them why. And I thank God they accepted the reasoning. Wherever we went, yes, even in free Presbyterian churches, they were so dulled and stupid so insensitive to the Holy Name they didn't know when singing they were blaspheming. I remember a time we were making a recording in our studios in Ballymoney. I had nothing to do with making recordings, as you would know I have no skills in that direction, but it so happened on a Saturday afternoon I had a few minutes Myself and I drove out, and I heard what was the mix, as they call it, of this song. A young woman singing with a very pretty voice. Shall we gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river? Shall we gather at the river that flows from the throne of God?" She sang it a cappella, and as soon as they got to the words, the throne of God, there was a crashing of twelve-string guitars and whatnot, and that's the point at which I walked in. I said, what on earth do you think you are doing? They looked at me as something from outer space. I said, scrap it right now. That will never go out of this studio. What's wrong? The throne of God? And is that jangle? Is that what the throne of God suggests to your mind? Is that the only response you have to the throne of God? We never thought of it that way. Well, think of it now. Think of it now. Oh yes. It's proper to use His name in song, in doxology as the Scripture draws. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. It's proper to use that holy name in benediction as we did this morning in the morning service at the dedication of the little one. And the great Aaronic blessing, the Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Again and again in the New Testament, Paul and the other apostles give out these great benedictions. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is good and proper to use His name in worship. both private and public, but be careful even there. It's possible in prayer just to recite the name Lord meaninglessly as a filler in until you think of something else to say. Better to be silent. The name of God is a holy name even in worship. It's also proper to use the Lord's name and witness. From time immemorial, the solemn oath has been an appeal to God to confirm the truth of what we say. And in its proper setting, a solemn oath is a serious religious exercise. It is never to be spoken out of mere passion, anger, or vehemence. Paul said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 1.23, I call God for a record upon my soul. He said to the Philippians in verse 8 of chapter 1, God is my record, how greatly I long after you all. And in one of the most solemn oaths ever taken, in Romans chapter 9, Paul says, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. Let me say, any Christian who could, any professing Christian who could ever make that vow, or take that oath, and then deliberately lie, I think, is still an unbeliever in heart. a stranger to God, a solemn thing, a solemn oath in witness, for God is my witness in every word I say and every act I take. You've been listening to Let the Bible Speak, the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. I hope that you found today's broadcasting a blessing to your heart. If you'd like to email us, our email address is ltbs at freepres.org. Or if you'd prefer, you may write us at LetTheBibleSpeak 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, South Carolina 29615. We would love to hear from you. If you'd like to know how to be saved and how to be sure you're saved, we'd like to send you my booklet, A New Beginning, and I think that you'll find it very helpful. Each quarter we publish a free full-color magazine, Let the Bible Speak Quarterly, with a good variety of Bible teaching and testimony. It's available to all who request it. If you'd like to receive more information about the Free Presbyterian Church of North America and its ministry, we'd like to send you our booklet, Separated Unto the Gospel. Or if you'd like to have tape or CD copies of the messages here in Let the Bible Speak, you may have them by contacting us. Or you may visit us on the web at letthebiblespeakradio.com. Now that's a lot of information to digest all at once, but you can find it all on our website, LetTheBibleSpeakRadio.com. There you'll be able to listen to and download our programs, visit our online bookstore, and read a text version of each day's commentary. So visit us today at LetTheBibleSpeakRadio.com. This is Alan Kern saying, thank you for listening. I trust that you'll join us each day at this time, Monday through Friday, as we let the Bible speak.