Because of technical difficulties, we did not get a good tape at the church, and so this sermon was recorded in my office. I'm reading from Ecclesiastes 5, verses 1 through 7. Keep thy foot, when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou art upon the earth. Therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by the multitude of words. When thou vowest to vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, than thou shouldst vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. Neither say thou before the angel that it was an error, wherefore God be Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities, but fear thou God. The third commandment is this, as found in Exodus 20 and in Heidelberg Catechism 92, 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. Heidelberg Catechism No. 99 says, What is required in the Third Commandment? The answer is that we must not by cursing, or by false swearing, nor yet by unnecessary oaths, profane or abuse the name of God, nor even by our silence and connivance be partakers of these horrible sins and others. And in summary, that we may use the holy name of God in no other way 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. Heidelberg Catechism 100 Is the profaning of God's name by swearing and cursing so grievous a sin that his wrath is kindled against those who do not help as much as they can to hinder and forbid it? Yes, truly, for no sin is greater and more provoking to God than the profaning of his name. wherefore he even commanded it to be punished with death. Heidelberg Catechism 101 But may we swear reverently by the name of God? The answer, yes, when the magistrate requires it, or when it may be needful otherwise, to maintain and promote fidelity and truth to the glory of God and our neighbor's goods, for such an oath is grounded in God's word, and therefore was rightly used by the saints in the Old and New Testaments. Heidelberg Catechism, question number 102. May we swear by the saints or by any other creatures? No, for a lawful oath is a calling upon God that he, as the only searcher of hearts, may bear witness to the truth and punish me if I swear falsely, which honor is due to no creature. The interpretation of this commandment, the third commandment, by our Lord Jesus Christ is found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 verses 33-37. Again, you have heard it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, Swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. neither shall thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black, but let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. The sum of the commandment, therefore, is this. Number one, because we are sinful people living in a sinful world, On important and solemn occasions, we bind ourselves with oaths in order to establish the seriousness of the words that we say, so that we read in Hebrews 6.16, For verily men swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. So in court, in weddings, in licensure, in ordination for the ministry, for church membership, public office, we require men to take oaths that their word is true. They swear that their word is true, or that they will faithfully perform that which they have sworn to do. 2. God Himself, to accommodate our weakness, established Christ as a mediator by an oath. Of course, there is no one greater than He, so He swore by Himself. I have sworn by Myself, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, He tells us. And he goes on to say in Hebrews that we have two immutable things according which the two things are the word of God which is immutable and the oath of God which is immutable. And so therefore we have assurance that our salvation is safe in the hands of Jesus. So because we're sinful men living in a sinful world, in order to establish the seriousness of the words we say on important psalmic occasions, We bind men by an oath, in court, in weddings, licensure, ordination for the ministry, church membership, or public office, that kind of thing, because men are depending upon us to do what we say we are doing, or to tell the truth. We have an example by God Himself, who when He established the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, He swore by two immutable things, His word and his oath. Now, there are several ways that God's name is defiled by us. We defile his name when we refuse to swear by his name, pretending as if we are accountable to no one but ourselves. Hence the law said that Israel was to swear only by the name of God. Or, we defile God's name by swearing falsely, by not doing what we have sworn to do. or by making false promises that we do not intend to keep or that we would not be able to keep. That's why the Lord said, you've heard that you should not forswear yourself. That is, don't make a promise that you don't intend to keep. Don't swear by God's name. But Jesus said, I say to you, don't swear at all. That is, don't swear to do anything that you don't intend to do because you are taking God's name in vain whether you actually mention His name at all or not. Because God is in heaven, we are upon the earth, he hears everything we do. And for us to think that our words don't mean anything, that God will not hold us accountable for what we say, we are pretending that God is not the judge of all the earth. We are defiling his name by a false apprehension, a false pretense of the way that this life is. So if we use the name of God in a light and frivolous way, like, oh my God, which you hear constantly, it's evil in two ways. For it takes the covenant into our mouths when we don't mean anything by it, and we have sworn or we've used the name of God vainly. Oh my God is a covenantal phrase, and it is not to be used lightly. We also defile God's name when we use words in an empty and foolish way, chattering on and on about nothing, as if our words don't matter when Jesus said that they do. Finally, by living in arrogance, as though we were masters of our own destiny, James says, Do not say, I will do such and such, but if God wills, I will do such and such. We should live in reverence for the attributes of God, which should be called to mind by the mention of His name. Therefore we are to fear the name of the Lord, for he is in heaven and we are on the earth. Another way that we take God's name in vain is if we worship in a church that has no true apprehension of the name of God. For a church is where God has placed his name. If we worship in a church where the attributes of God are not recognized and he is not acknowledged as our Lord and our King and our Creator, then we are worshipping that which is not God, which is a form of taking God's name in vain. But let's look at the passage before us here in the fifth chapter of Ecclesiastes. I do not intend to look at the New Testament passages so much today because I intend to preach on the Sermon on the Mount after I finish this study. The Ecclesiastes passage will serve our purpose very well this afternoon. Verse one, keep your foot when you go to the house of God. The temple is a place where oaths and vows were to be made. It is an integral part of man's nature to worship God and to respond to God. Just as God makes promises to men, so men make promises to God. This is not wrong. It's an important part of worship. At Bethel, when God appeared to Jacob and made promises to Jacob, Jacob responded by prayers and promises to God. For it is far more important what God says to us than what we say to God. Preaching and the reading of God's word is far more important than singing and prayers, although the latter are not to be ignored. The sacrifice of fools means empty and vain promises and vows that men make to God. God is greatly pleased with the sincere offerings of praise and thanksgiving and earnest and reverent prayers. But he has no pleasure in fools who chatter on and on, thinking they are heard for their much speaking, or thinking that God will be impressed with rash and impudent promises. So keep your foot, that is, be careful, be sober, be reverent when you go to the house of God, and don't enter into worship lightly in a vain and frivolous way, for this is taking God's name in vain. Verse two, let your words be few. It's better to reverently hear what God says than to make your rash and proud promises to God. It's far more important to hear a sermon from the Word of God than sing light and frivolous tunes that simply make you feel good and leave us with a light and frivolous attitude toward God, for that is taking God's name in vain. We worship God mainly by hearing what He what he says and fashioning our hearts to love and revere and honor and praise him. That's the way we worship God, not by light and frivolous exercises that make us feel good. Don't enter into church membership lightly. Don't enter into marriage lightly. Don't enter into the ministry lightly. God will hold you accountable for your promises and your vows. Let your words be few when you go to church. Don't mutter and go on and on and on about what you're going to do for God. Listen to what he has to say. Verse number three. When a person is occupied with a great deal of business, often at night the confusion of the day will seep into his dreams, and his dreams will be disjointed and filled with chaos. His dreams may very well reveal the disturbances of the day, Our prayers before God are not to be like those disjointed dreams. Just as disjointed dreams may very well be the result of frantic daily activity, so a man's words may very well reveal a frantic and disordered life, a disordered and an irrational life. Our prayers to God are not to be the result of a restless and disjointed life, but are to be thoughtful and considered, for God is in heaven, we are on the earth. We must never forget that distinction. If frantic and disjointed prayers are not pleasing to the Lord, how much less will he be pleased with a speech that is irrational and unmeaning, a speech that makes no sense at all. It is interesting that as Christians have departed from the doctrine of scripture and the plain meaning of scripture, they have become more and more irrational in their speech, so that some think that God is pleased with speech that makes no sense at all, and they pour out irrational mutterings and ravings. Now these things are the result of a disjointed and irrational and disturbed inner man. A man who does not think clearly or who is confused will very often chatter on and on, going from one thought to another, making no sense at all, but using a lot of words. This is the mark of a fool. The wisest men I know do not talk much. Proverbs says a fool utters all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. So verses four and five he says, don't offer the sacrifice of fools. The sacrifice of a fool before the Lord is a promise that the man cannot or will not keep. So he's saying, don't make a promise if you cannot or will not keep it. God will hold you accountable, either for wickedness or for folly. Do not make promises, but if you do make them, recognize that you are accountable to keep them, even if it's very difficult for you to keep them. Psalm 15 says, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart, he that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is condemned, but he that honoureth him that feareth the Lord, he that sweareth his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved. And of course, this only applies perfectly to Jesus Christ. He's the standard of which we must shoot, frail and weak though we be. But he says here, the man who's going to abide with the Lord in his holy hill is one who swears to his own hurt and changes not. He takes an oath, and even when he finds out that oath is not going to work to his advantage, He's still going to keep the oath even though it costs him a great deal because he values the name of God. In verses 6 and 7 he says, Don't let your mouth lead you into sin. Of course a wicked vow is not binding. You may vow before the Lord to kill someone as those men did who bound themselves with an oath to kill the Apostle Paul. Such a vow is wicked and not binding. But it is a grievous sin to vow such a vow. For shall we call on God to confirm our wicked designs? He says, don't say before the angel it was an error. Who is the angel? Some say it's the angel of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, this no doubt is true, for he witnesses all we do. Some say it's a collective noun and stands for all the angels that witness what we do. As Paul says in our church, our worship should be biblical because of the angels. The majority opinion to which I lean is that it refers to the priests who witness the vow as a message of the Lord. Whatever the meaning, the vow is before the Lord, and we're not to say before the representatives of the Lord, well, I made a mistake. No, you can't get off that way. It's foolish to think that you can escape the sin of forswearing or taking God's name in vain by saying it was a mistake. This is the most common excuse given when people break their marriage vows. Well, I should not have married him in the first place. Church members say, well, I didn't know what I was doing, and so forth. A profane age that has no use for God, as he is revealed in the scripture, will take worship lightly and will take its vows lightly. If God doesn't mean what he says, then why should I? If he changes his mind in response to human history, then why can't I find reasons to break my word? Conditions have changed. It's my promises, therefore do not bind me. That's the way the modern man acts. He acts as if there's no God in heaven. Our passage says, Why should God be angry at the words of your mouth? Do you know that God can be very angry at what you say? You say, I didn't mean anything by it. Exactly. When you open your mouth, you should mean something, or you shouldn't say it. God always means something when He speaks. He knows your heart and He sees the difference between what you say and what is in your heart. He knows whether your words reflect the truth or whether you're putting people on. He's no fool. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 12, a good man out of a good treasure of a heart brings forth good things. An evil man out of an evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say unto you that every eye of the word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Every idle word is a form of profanity, for empty and foolish talking is against sobriety and reverence for God and His word. This does not mean that humor and entertainment and such things are wrong, for they may very well serve a good and useful purpose. This is not what Christ means, I do not believe, for it is good sometimes to make merry with your friends." He's not talking about having fun and being merry with your friends. That's a good thing. But vanity and emptiness are not good things. This is especially true when you go to the house of God. Leave your vanity and leave your levity behind. Do not seek such things in the house of the Lord. Yet let your words be few and seek the word of God. Seek churches where reverence for the holiness and dignity of God's name is held, where reverence for the Lord is not mocked and reverent worship is not ridiculed, where thoughtful and sensible prayers are offered and worship is not reduced to entertainment and irrationality, For this is taking God's name in vain, and it is a frightful offense in the eyes of the Lord. Seek a church where God is exalted, where the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified, and not the works and the personality and the praises of men. May God bless you. Amen and Amen.