Let's open our Bibles now in the book of Exodus chapter 20. We will focus tonight in the third commandment, verse 7, but to deal with the third commandment, we will make the reading beginning verse 1. Exodus chapter 20, beginning verse 1 through verse 7. This is the word of the living God and He speaks to His church saying, and God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You should not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You should not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord of your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Amen. Let's pray. Close your eyes. Heavenly Father, we read your scripture and we ask you, Lord, that may you can guide us through your Holy Spirit to the knowledge of God. And may we change our hearts and may we will change our minds to please you and to glorify your name. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We are also covering Lord's Day 36. You can find it in the Forms of Prayer books, page 244. It's only two questions, and I will read the question, and I invite you to read the answer. Lord's Day 36, question 99, what is God's will for us in the third commandment? that we neither blaspheme nor minister in the name of God by cursing, perjury, or unnecessary hoax, nor share in such horrible sins by being sided by strangers. In summary, we must use the holy name of God only with reverence and awe, so that we may properly confess Him, call upon Him, and praise Him in everything we do and say. The second question, 100, is blasphemy of God's name by swearing and cursing really such serious sin that God is angry also with those who do not do all they can to help prevent and forbid it? Yes, indeed. No sin is greater or provokes God's wrath more than blaspheming his name. That is why he commanded him to punish with death. Thank you. We are dealing again with the Ten Commandments. And in this first part, we realize that one commandment is the consequence of another commandment. And looking to the three first commandments, we can see that commandment two and three, they are responses to what we find in the first commandment. you shall not have other gods before me." This is the first one. And then, knowing that there is no other gods besides Him, knowing that there is only one God and all the other gods of this world, they are not truly gods, they are false gods. And then, knowing that we should bow down and have reverence only for one God, we need to first take care of His image, and second, take care of His name. That's why the second commandment speak to us saying that we should not make any image of God because there is only one God and anything that we can produce is not able to reproduce the image of the holy God which arts in heaven. Everything that we make or everything that we can imagine with our minds will not be able to represent the greatness, the glory, the love, the kindness, and the eternity of holy God which is in heaven. And this, of course, is God taking care of His image saying, you should not do that because my image It's something that you cannot understand. He is the Spirit that the Bible says, and we will not go further on this because that is the subject of last week's sermon, and we will not take care of this again. But the second part of this idea is Since you know that there is only one God, and since you know we should glorify and respect and be reverent to this one God, we also need to understand that we should not take His name, the name of the Lord, or God in vain. This is the idea of the third commandment, and it is also speaking about the first commandment, because here what God is saying is, I am your God, and being your God, you need to know that my name is something precious. You cannot use my name as you want. You cannot do whatever you want with my name because you have a God. I am your God and you must know how to proceed according to the use of my name. The worst part of this It's because many times Christians are not understanding the meaning of this commandment. And it's very good that we have confessions like Heidelberg to help us to understand that keep the name of our God, it's much more than don't say some expressions that the people are using everywhere. Keep the name of the Lord is not only you not use expressions like we know, and they invent every day a different one. But it's much more than that, and that's what we will try to understand and see while we are looking through the Scripture to understand this commandment better. But we will break this commandment in two. to help us to understand it better. The first part says, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. And to understand that part, we need to look into two words specific. The first one, take, you shall not take, what is the meaning of this word? And the second one, in vain. So, we will be able to understand what God is asking through this commandment. The first word, keep, take, actually take, it's a word that It's not used in many places in the Scripture, but in the book of Exodus, we will find many uses of this word. I will not pronunciate the word in Hebrew. It's very difficult, and it doesn't matter for us, but the word is used again in three other parts of this book, in the book of Exodus. And we will take a look in these three passages, and that will help us to understand what He wants to tell us with these passages. commandment, you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. The first one is in Exodus chapter 28 verse 12. If you just move some pages in your Bible, you will see the priests' garments being introduced And in the priest's garment, in verse 12, we will find this verse, and you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod and stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance. And here, the same word is translated by bear their names. The idea here is that the priest, he would take these two stones, he would put in the upon his body, and in his shoulders, he will be walking and the name of these stones, they would be presented every time, so everyone who looked to the priest, they would see the image of the stone. So the stones, they were being bare by the priest. The idea is everyone would be able to see the stones, they would be able to understand the meaning of these, and they would recognize the idea of those stones. We don't go through the idea of these stones because the idea here is just to understand the meaning of this word, bear. So the idea is to show to everyone so everyone will be able to see it and to recognize the stones. Another verse is in the same chapter, but in verse 29. So we are still speaking about the garments of the priests, and in verse 29 we will find So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the holy place to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord. So, the idea here, it's the same. He was using a breast piece, it's like a plate in his body, and here he would put the names of the people of Israel. So, walking like this, everyone who sees him would be able to read the names of all the tribes of Israel. And he would bring these names to the presence of the holy God in the holy place. So Aaron was bearing their names. He was bringing their names to the presence of God. So the meaning here, it's very similar to the meaning of verse 12. But we have another one in the same chapter, this is very interesting, verse 36 now, and speaking about the garments, God will say, you shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a signet, holy to the Lord. And you shall fasten it to a turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front of the turban. It shall be on Aaron's forehead. And Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts." So the idea here, it's the same, the bear. He will take a plate. I will not explain everything in the text, but the idea is he will take this plate and bringing the plate to the holy place, he will put the plate in his forehead so everyone would be able to see. The first thing that we look to someone usually is the face. So in his forehead, those sins in this case, they would be brought to the presence of the Lord so the Lord will forgive them. and the Lord would accept them because Aaron was bringing them before the presence of this holy God. So, we are looking through this text, through this commandment, and the idea here is very simple. It's not take the name of the Lord in vain, it's not bear His name in vain, not to show improperly His name to the Word. And we will go deeper on that idea. But for the last idea, let's go to Numbers chapter 6, Numbers 6 verse 22 and 27. And this is very interesting because every time I preach here, I finish the service with these words. It's Aaron blessing, and there we will see God speaking to Moses and He says, verse 23, speak to Aaron and his son saying, thus you shall bless the people of Israel. You shall say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them." So here, it's not only the author, Moses, showing the blessing of the Lord, but using the same word to say, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord will keep your name. He will hold your name. He will make His face to shine upon you. He will lift up His countenance upon us. And verse 27 explains everything saying, they will put my name upon the people of Israel. So when the foreigners, they are looking to the people of Israel, they are not seeing only the people of Israel, but they are seeing their God. because they are bearing the image of their God. They are bearing the name of their God. So here, we go back to Exodus 20 verse 7, and we will understand better what it means, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. The idea here is that we are the people of God now, and we are bearing His name everywhere we go. When we keep His name, not in vain, it means that we are showing to this world the image of our God through what they see on us. This is not we change because we will continue to be ourselves, but is the meaning of being part of the church of Jesus Christ. And this is what Heidelberg will call us the attention. Because when we don't take care, when we not take the name of God properly, we are actually blaspheming against God. We are using His name in different kinds of sins like cursing, perjury, unnecessary oaths, or sharing horrible sins, and we are showing to this world something that doesn't represent the God that we should bear the name. So, that is what happens when we see the people of God bringing shame to the gospel through their sins especially. It's very common and it's impressive because if someone commits a sin, an ungodly person commits a sin, it's just a sin. But if someone from church, someone that should bear the name of God commits a sin, that's big damage for the name of Jesus Christ. If a governor, for example, commits adultery, he's just committing adultery and A lot of people probably will applause him because of his following his desires. But if a pastor, for example, commits adultery that goes through the news and everyone will speak about, and the church will be broken, and the damage will be huge. because we're supposed to glorify His name, and when we commit sin, we are bringing shame to His name. The problem is that we don't understand what it means to take His name in vain. So let's see what Heidelberg will speak in summary here, and we will understand better what we should understand by take His name, not take His name in vain. We must use the holy name of God only with reverence and awe. so that we may properly confess Him, call upon Him, and praise Him in everything we do and say." What it means is all the time, in every single second of our lives, God is being represented by us. We supposed to shine His light when we are going to the work, when we are studying, when we are washing dishes, when we are cleaning the house, when we are taking care of the garden. Every single moment in our lives, we should confess Him properly, call Him, and do everything to His glory, to His exaltation to manifest the power of our God because we are the bearers of His name. That's a big concern now because if you understand better, if you understand the meaning of this commandment, the commandment is saying that all the time The Word, the ungodly, and God itself, it's looking to you and waiting that you can show His face to you all the time. And that's a big problem because we usually don't want to hold His name all the time. We have sometimes where we want to hold his name, for example, when we go to church, we want to seem like Christians, right? We want to show to everyone that we are good believers, that we are good with the people in our family, that we take care of our kids, we know how to sing, we know the scripture. We want to show ourselves like Christians. There are moments where we want to do that. But there are other moments where we want to hide our Christianity. When we are, for example, among the ungodly, sometimes it's a shame to be a believer. And a lot of people will try to hide that deeply and strongly so they will not discover that you are an infiltrated Christian among them. We want to hide that, but that's not what this commandment is calling you to do. This commandment is calling us to hold His name, to take His name everywhere we go. So everywhere we go, we will show His face, we will show His glory, we will praise His name, and we will exalt the name of the holy God which art in heaven. So the world will know through all of us His ambassadors. that there is only one God in the world and we hold His name. Why is the world in need to learn about Jesus Christ? Because the church is not holding His name everywhere. It's impressive to find people that is among us and sometimes we don't discover that they are believers. That already happened to me many times when you go to work in some place and someone else will only say that they are Christians if you say it first. Because if you don't say, no one will know that there are Christians among them, because we don't want to endure the persecution or the shame that being a Christian can bring to you. It's not beauty to the word. to be a Christian, and it's becoming worse every year. Every year, being a Christian is something that's supposed to be finished. They want to stop the church They want to stop the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They want to stop the light of Christ shining among darkness. They want to shut our mouths completely and make us invisible in this world. And if we accept that, we are breaking the third commandment. because we are called to bring His name everywhere. And this is what the Scripture will say when we look deeper in the New Testament. First of all, a few weeks ago we studied here, for example, Acts chapter 9 when Paul, actually it was Saul, he was being called to be one of the missionaries of the church to the Gentiles. So, God, the Lord spoke to Ananias, and I don't know if you remember, but God said to him in Acts 9 verse 15, go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name. Pay attention, before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name. It's interesting because the New Testament is bringing all the time the idea of holding His name because we must hold His name. This is how we will fulfill this commandment, by holding His name, by keeping His name. And that's what Heidelberg is saying again. Everything, in everything we do and in everything we say, we must hold, keep His name. In Philippians 2 verse 9, 9 through 11, we will find the same idea in different words from Paul again. And he will say, therefore God has highly exalted Him, Jesus Christ, and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus Every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Are you understanding what the Scripture is telling all the time? Like, His name is precious. His name is amazing. Everyone will bow down to His name. His name is the name that every tongue will confess. It's His name. Jesus now is holding the whole idea of we taking, not taking His name, the name of the Lord in vain. We should not take the name of Jesus in vain. So when we confess His name, when we confess that we are believers, when we confess that we belong to Christ, we are holding His name. And if we don't live like we're supposed to live, we are not holding His name anymore. For the least, the Great Commission, it's the last call about His name that I will bring up today. And there in Matthew, verse 18, chapter 28, it will say, and Jesus came and said to them, our authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." We were baptized by His name. The name of the Lord is everywhere in the Scripture. It's in every part of the Scripture. And when we were baptized, we were baptized by His name. When we came in front of the church and when we were baptized by the Father, by the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a seal was put into our bodies, into our minds, into our hearts saying, that belongs to God. We are not ours anymore, we belong to Him. We hold His name everywhere. We partake on the Lord's Supper because we hold His name. Because we are called the people of God. We are called the servants of Jesus Christ. We are called Christians. This is our name now, we are Christians. We are holding His name everywhere. So, this commandment, it's a wonderful commandment, but a lot of people is not understanding completely the meaning of this commandment. And Heidelberg will bring something dangerous to the church. Because in question 100, Heidelberg will speak about blasphemy this name. And by blasphemy this name, We will see that Heidelberg says that those who blaspheme His name, they're supposed to receive the punishment with that. And of course, Heidelberg is speaking about Leviticus chapter 24, and there you see God itself speaking to His people and saying to His people that they should not blaspheme against the name of God, and if they do that, they should be stoned to death, because that was the punishment to those who blaspheme the name of God. But what we are not understanding sometimes, it's that when we don't keep His name, when we decide to not take the name of the Lord properly, when we live our lives as not Christians. When we hide our Christianity from the world, when we hide the name of the Lord from ourselves, when we hide the power of salvation that God gave for us, we are blaspheming against His name. Because instead of professing our faith and confessing the name of Jesus Christ, before the humankind, we are holding His name and saying that this name is not worthy to be said. If we don't speak His name, if we don't hold His name, if we don't show His name, if we don't speak the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we don't show through our acts that we are holding His name, we are blaspheming against Him. And we are saying that other things or sins maybe, as Heidelberg says, they are greater than our God, and we don't want to endure His name and the consequences of bearing His name. We must think wisely about that, and I will finish here. because during the ages, many Christians are being murdered because they are holding this name. Today, in many countries around the world, Christians are being arrested. Others are already in prison. Others lost all their possessions. Others are being destroyed, their bodies are being destroyed because they are bearing this name, because they know the meaning of bearing this name, because they know that if they take His name properly, that if they hold His name correctly, nothing will destroy them. They will receive eternity. but we are called to do the same. And for us maybe the consequence will be much easier to face than for those who are around the world. So, brother and sister, shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. Do not do Put a sign in your forehead like the priests and show to the world that there is a name that we want to praise. God is the only way for our salvation. And through Jesus Christ, salvation can come to this world. Let's take His name on high, and let's praise Him properly. This is much more than just don't say expressions. Can you see? Let's close our eyes and talk to our Lord, our Heavenly Father. Help us, God, to keep Your name. in all the situations that we need to. Help us to hold Your name properly, not using it in vain, not speaking about Your name in situations that we don't suppose to do, but help us to hold Your name every time to please You and to glorify Your name. When people are blaspheming around us, help us to glorify Your name. When people mocker You, help us to praise Your name and to show to those people that they should respect and bow down to You. when people are using Your name like expressions or symbols, help us to show them the great value of that name, and help us to teach them to look to Jesus Christ and to God respectfully, praising Your name and glorifying Your name. Help us to be a people who testifies the name of the Lord. And may God, through our acts, through our work, we will show to this world that there is a name that we can praise and glorify, and this is your name. Please, God, work on us. and help us to be good ambassadors of Jesus Christ, showing to this world that you are the only God and that we should bow down to you every day and in every moment.