The seventh verse of Chapter 20 is the third commandment. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain with the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Last week we looked as we've been trying to do with each commandment. What does this commandment require? What does this commandment forbid in the case of last week's commandment? Also, why is there a threat attached to this particular command? What what is the third commandment require not to take God's name in vain. It means that God's name is to be honored among his people. If you profess to be a Christian if you profess to be one of God's people that he has saved by his grace in Christ Jesus then you are never to use his name either by how you live or how you speak in a worthless empty or false way. In Deuteronomy chapter 12 when God sent the people into the promised land he said look I'm sending you here and you're representing my name. Every place you go, my name will be there too. And where you set up the place of worship, my name will be there too. And if you trash my name, it is my name that you're trashing. It's not simply the Hebrews. It's the people of God. In fact, by the time you get to Ezekiel chapter 36, a passage which, if you're familiar with it, you're familiar with it because the promise of the new birth is in Ezekiel 36. that I will put a new heart within you and put my spirit within you and I will give you new life. Well, that promise comes down in verses 25, 26, and 27. And because the first part of the chapter says, you know, Everywhere you go you trash my name and every covenant I make with you you break every commandment I give to you you break my name is attached to you and you've trashed my name in every conceivable way over the years. So I'm going to do something to change you so that from the inside out you will want to obey me. I'm going to do this new thing of giving the new birth so that you will bear my name in the right way that you will not trash my name. Well what is the Third Commandment forbid. Well forbids a whole lot of things it permits certainly things we call like trash talk or speaking in an edifying way. It certainly provides forbids blasphemy cursing taking false oaths taking oaths regularly to prop up your own lack of honesty. I shared my own painful illustration from my early days as a Christian of saying if if this isn't true my God strike me and God struck me boom and I went down. And we all had a laugh at my expense. But I was thankful the Lord did that to kind of give me a blinding headache and crack my skull to remind me that hey you better look what you're doing Buster and not be glib about taking God's name in a foolish fashion like this. In fact if you read the book of Job did you remember that in Job chapter 1 verse 5 it said Job regularly would get up and he would have a special time of prayer and he would offer sacrifices for his children or his adult children. Why. He said, because if any of them's hearts have wandered away from you and in the midst of their feasting and partying and living a little bit on the worldly side, should they curse you in their hearts? I know that that would be a fatal thing, so I'm interceding for them, I'm offering sacrifices for them. And in chapter two, his wife knows that there is a curse against cursing God, that it's a capital crime among the people of God to take God's name in vain and to curse. And we had seen that in other places. But when Job's wife makes her makes her famous comment to him when their kids are killed, their property is destroyed, everything they own is taken away from them. And then finally, Job is afflicted with very painful boils all over his body. And his wife says, why don't you just commit suicide? Now, she doesn't say it that way. She says, why don't you just curse God and die? Because to curse God would be a capital crime. You'd be worthy of death. God would just take you out. We can't speak that way. I can't speak that way even if I'm in the most excruciating pain imaginable. It's not my place to dishonor my God and to trash his name. Today we're going to look at the second part of this study. What did our Lord Jesus Christ in his life and his ministry and his teachings. What did he say about the third commandment. We began with a number of weeks. We spent 11 weeks looking as an introduction to the study of the Ten Commandments of the place of the law of God in the Bible. And one of the things that struck me, which I made an emphasis in at least one sermon, is the fact that one of the ways in which people can trash the Bible is to pit different members of the Trinity against each other. Well, the father does this, but the son's doing this other thing over here. And we saw how some people wanted to say, well, the Ten Commandments are a bad thing. They're an Old Testament thing. In the New Testament, Jesus and the apostles weren't worried about the Ten Commandments. Jesus has a whole new agenda. Jesus has his own separate, different commandments. But why would you want to separate the father and the son. The father gave the commandments through his emissary Moses to the people in an unusual way that wasn't spoken of or done in any other place in the Bible. This tremendous appearance of God this mountain out in the middle of the desert. There's this giant cloud in a cloudless sky. There's this giant dark thundercloud. And there's lightning coming out from the cloud in the midst of the darkness. And there's thundering. And God meets with Moses there in this terrible place. And the place is so special, so awe-inspiring, that Moses is given instructions. Look, this place is so holy. If a cow even just wanders over and steps on this mountain, you're to kill it. If a person comes over and sets foot on this mountain, they're to be stoned to death. I'm meeting with you here. This is a very holy place. And this theophany, this appearance of God, this giving of the Ten Commandments is like nothing else in scripture. This is my character being revealed in commandments. This is my righteousness being worked out for you in a public doable way. And now the idea that that was somehow a bad thing that Jesus didn't think was good and should be trashed and set aside for his own agenda is pitting the father against the son. Even as some people do that, for example, in salvation, where the father has one idea, the son has another idea, and the spirit has another idea. No, the father, the son, and the spirit all are on the same page, we'd say. They have the same agenda. They have the same will. They're working toward the same goals, the same purpose. And then we're going to look at the life and teaching, excuse me, and the life and teachings of Christ-inspired apostles. What did they say about the Second Commandment? Was it a small thing? Can you trash the name of God in the New Testament, but you shouldn't do it in the Old Testament? Well, hardly. Let's look at the third commandment, first of all, in the life and teachings of our Lord. We're going to look in two places. We're going to look at Matthew's gospel, and we're going to look at John's gospel. I could have bored you with a thousand illustrations, but let's just look at a dozen or so. Please turn to Matthew's gospel. And since this is a Christian church, we're to be taught from the Word of God and you're to have a brilliant spirit. You're to look in the scriptures to see if the things the pastor is teaching are really so. You're not here to listen to my ideas. You're not here to listen to a man give you his opinions about God. You're here to have a man teach you the Word of God and you're to see if these things are so. Let's look in chapter 5 of Matthew's Gospel in what we call the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is where Jesus says, this is how people live in my kingdom. I am a king. I have come to institute the kingdom of God. I am the king of the kingdom of God. And in my kingdom, this is how my people live. This is how my subjects are to conduct themselves. This is not an agenda for how governments of the world are supposed to run. They couldn't do it. They don't have the power source. They don't have the desire. But in my kingdom, if you really are one of my people, if you really have been born again by a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, these are the ways you're going to want to live. You're going to want to conform your life. And in chapter 5, verse 33, he talks about how people in his kingdom are to conduct taking solemn oaths versus people in the world. He says, again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not swear falsely but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you do not take an oath at all either by heaven for it is the throne of God or by the earth for it is his footstool or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil. Now Jesus is correcting a popular habit among the Jews of his time. We showed you for example One of the earlier messages that our Lord who was sometimes accused of correcting the Ten Commandments or correcting the Old Testament laws. Our Lord's not doing that at all. He's correcting the Pharisees false interpretations which I've chosen to call barnacles that have encrusted themselves upon the teaching of the word. He says in verse 33 again you have heard that it was said right. This is what the rabbis are teaching. He's not saying and it is written or you have seen it written. It's not what the scriptures teach. This is what the rabbis are teaching. This is oral tradition. And they talk about not swearing falsely and da-da-da-da-da. But he said, you know, one of your habits is you swear, and because you don't want to use God's name in vain, I swear by heaven, because I don't want to misuse the actual name of God. Or I swear by the throne of God, but I didn't use God's real name. Or I swear by the temple. Or I swear by God's footstool. Or some other euphemism or nicer sounding word than actually using the name of God. He goes, don't do any of this at all. Don't prop up your lack of honesty by making an appeal to God in kind of a roundabout way that, well, God's up there and he knows what I'm saying and he knows it's right. Just be a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, a retired person or a teen who, when you say it, it's true. And if you say it's not true, it's not true. But let your yes be yes and your no be no. And don't have to be using God's name to prop up your own lack of integrity. Now some have interpreted this to say you shouldn't take an oath at all. And some cults and some Christian denominations say you should never take an oath at all. You can't take an oath in court or whatever. And our Lord if you take all the New Testament teaching is not saying you shouldn't ever take an oath. But here in the context he's saying you people take oaths for everything and anything because of your own lack of honesty. Later, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself will take an oath and will testify under oath. But the point here is don't use oaths to support your own lack of honesty. Look in chapter 6, verse 9, in the famous passage called the Lord's Prayer. What is the first thing we're supposed to pray for? We're supposed to pray like this. The first line is an address. Our Father in Heaven. So that's who you're talking to. So what's the first thing you pray for how would be your name how it means holy may your name be treated as holy I want your name to be treated as holy that means I want you to be seen for who you are and I want your be seen for who you are in me I want your name to be seen for I want you to be seen for you are in your name among all those of my friends who profess your name fellow believers When we pray the first thing we're supposed to be concerned about is the honor of God's name. Will your name be treated as holy as special as set apart from every other name that we use. You know isn't that interesting. Would you put that in the top 10 things that God wanted you to pray about that God wanted you to understand as you came to him in prayer. I care how you use my name. I care how you represent me. I care how you speak. I care that my name be either honored or trashed by how you use it." Jesus says, that's the first thing you ought to pray about when you pray. Look in chapter 7. He says, there are people who take my name on their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Look in chapter 7 verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, here's somebody who knew the name of God, who took God's name upon their lips. They even referred to him as Lord, but he wasn't their Lord. That was just something they used to play the religious card. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will inherit the kingdom of heaven. In other words, not everybody is going to heaven who thinks they are, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. In other words, It's one thing to use the mouth to say I honor you and I submit to you as my Lord or my king. He goes but talks cheap beneath your neck beneath your lips. Do you actually obey. Do you do what God says. Do you conform your life to what God says is his will your marching order or is is it just something you say to placate the religious crowd on that day. Judgment Day. Many will say to me, not a few, not a handful, many people who are religious will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? That would be another. Didn't we preach in your name? Or in charismatic churches, prophesy? And cast out demons in your name? And do mighty works in your name? I did a lot of stuff. I was a religious professional. I was on television. I was a preacher. I was a deacon. I was an usher. And then I will declare to them, this is the many of verse 22, I never knew you. You were never one of mine. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. How do we know that a person's not Christ, doesn't belong to Christ? It's not simply by profession alone, but by possession. Does your life back up what you say? If you would have asked me to check a box prior to the age of 21, religion, Buddhist, no. Hindu, no. Atheist, no. Agnostic, I don't know. Kind of going down the list here of things. Christian, yes, I would have checked that box. Would that have been right? No, because I wasn't a Christian. I was an American. I had been to church. My name was on a roll. I had jumped through the hoops of a particular church. But I'd never had my life change. I had never repented of my sins and savingly believed on Christ and began to orient my life toward him. I was living how I always lived just to kind of put this label on an empty bottle. But a label on an empty bottle doesn't change the inside or doesn't fill up the bottle. You have an empty bottle and put Baptist, Mormon, Presbyterian, Jew, Atheist. It's just a label on an empty bottle. But until Christ actually, by his Holy Spirit, took up residence in my life and gave me spiritual life and a new birth, I wasn't a Christian and I wasn't honoring God. And if Christ had initiated Judgment Day, I would have been undone. I never knew you. Depart from me, Steve Martin, you worker of lawlessness. Would have been set over me and it would have been my end. But God is merciful and gracious to hypocrites like I was, pretenders. People who were deluded and thought they were Christians, but weren't. Let's go on to chapter 18. A sobering passage that we're familiar with, which we weren't, but we are, about church discipline. He said there will be unrepenting sinners in churches, and you're to deal with that. Look at chapter 18, verse 20. Where two or three are gathered in my name there am I among them. That's normally a promise that's stuck on prayer meetings. It's not entirely wrong but the context isn't a prayer meeting. Well it may be because you're there with your knees knocking and two of you are having to go up to somebody's house and talk to them about their soul and who are you a saved sinner to talk to someone else about their soul. But by the grace of God you're not in an unrepenting attitude as this person you're going to talk to. And I have sat in a vehicle, praying, scared to death, saying, Lord, You promised to be with us. You have to be with us. If anything is to work in this person's heart, You have to go. You have to work. We're just men. We can't change the heart. And what has been our encouragement? To actually open the car door and get out. For where two or three are gathered in my name, There am I among them to bear the name of Christ to go in Christ's stead as one of Christ's office bearers in a local church concerned about the soul of somebody who's in a non repenting state crisis. I take very seriously honoring my name and that is your authority. In fact the thrust of the New Testament is no you're not supposed to take God's name in vain because God's name in the person of Christ is your entree to heaven. Why do you get to heaven because Christ interceded for you. Christ was your go between. You're a dirty rotten sinner. I'm a dirty rotten sinner. I need someone to deal with my guilt. I need someone to change my heart. Christ bears the guilt that bears the consequences of the condemnation of guilt for my sins not his own. And he gives me his righteousness and he gives me a new heart. Well Christ is my entree to heaven. That's why we end every prayer in Jesus' name. Hear me because of Christ. Don't hear me because of my weak. Don't hear me because I'm a pastor. Don't hear me because I'm a Baptist. Hear me for Christ's sake. Christ is my entree. He is the one that you hear me. For all that he is to you, he is my letter of entree. If you're working in some kinds of environments, you can't get into some places. When I was working on my master's, and it's true if you're working on your thesis, there are big research libraries all over the United States. But if I worked at Emory Library, if I worked at Princeton Library, I couldn't get into the Emory Research Library, and I couldn't get into the Princeton Research Library. But my professor gave me a letter of entree. And based upon his credibility as a professor, they looked at that and they said, well, of course, Mr. Martin, you can use our facilities because you have Dr. So-and-so's letter of entree giving you access to this. What will be my access to heaven. Jesus Christ is my letter entry. He is the one who gives me access to heaven. Christ credibility. Christ righteousness. Christ atoning for my sins. He is my access to heaven. And so we close every prayer in Jesus name. And as two elders sitting in a car scared to death wanted to go talk to somebody. Lord we're doing this in your name. We don't bear your name in vain. We don't want to. Look over in Chapter 23. Look what it sees. See what he takes the Pharisees to task for. Twenty three. Sixteen. Fewer religious leaders who are doing the very thing that the Third Commandment says not to do. As a review from the book of Matthew, Chapter 23 is a very scary passage because Jesus pronounced seven woes and some numbers in the Bible have a certain symbolic significance. And seven is the biblical number for completion for fullness things being topped off. If God pronounces seven woes on something this is final judgment. I've had it with you Pharisees. I've had it with you Jewish professionals. I've had it with you the nation of Israel. The judgment is about to come upon you to the fullest. And in A.D. 70 Christ was crucified around A.D. 33 and in A.D. 70 The Roman legions under Emperor Titus came in and destroyed Israel, slaughtered a million Jews holed up in Jerusalem, slaughtered the ones later holed up at Masada, destroyed the city of Jerusalem, used grappling hooks and animals and pulled down the buildings and spread salt in the streets so you couldn't grow anything. He was so angry for all that the Jews had done to provoke the Romans. But God's judgment had come upon them finally. And there wasn't any Israel for 2,000 years practically. Jerusalem was an uninhabitable place for owls and jackals. Here is one of the woes pronounced upon the Pharisees and scribes. Verse 16. Woe to you blind guides. Well, you wouldn't hire a blind guide. He says, well, you guys are blind guides. You couldn't find a dead fish in a phone booth in July. Woe to you blind guides who say, if anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, Well, he is bound by his oath. He blind fools, which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred. And you say, if anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath. Few blind men for which is greater the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred. So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. You men multiply oaths. You men don't even know what you're talking about. You have all this religious rigmarole. You encourage the taking of oaths and vows in a frivolous way. He says, how can you be leaders to the people except you're leading them into a ditch? The blind leading the blind end up falling into a ditch together. Chapter 26, we have our Lord himself taking an oath. Contrary to the Reformation period when the Anabaptists said no one should take an oath, in some groups today that say that no one should ever take an oath, our Lord takes an oath himself. In chapter 26, verses 63 and 64, Jesus is being interrogated by the high priest. We'll back up to verse 62. And the high priest stood up and said, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, I adjure you. That's a legal term. I place you under oath. You are now commanded to speak. I put you under oath. I adjure you by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him. First time Jesus speaks here. You have said so. But I tell you from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven which is a reference to the book of Daniel chapter 7 and the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven is coming in judgment. You won't see me again until I destroy Israel. The point is, is Jesus is not against taking oaths, but he's saying you better back them up. And when he's placed under an oath, he sees the solemn obligation to speak the truth under the oath. You've asked me if I'm the son of God, if I'm the Messiah. You've said it correctly. But unfortunately, you're not going to see me as the Messiah, the Savior. You're going to see me as the judge because of your hardness of heart. And finally, in chapter 28, Our Lord says, how are you to honor my name? When you go out and take the Gospel and you make a convert, you're to baptize that convert into the name of the Triune God. Matthew 28, beginning in verse 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in or into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. The name of God is to be honored. Our God is a triune God, one God and three persons. God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, not interchangeable. There are three different persons in the Trinity, but they're each co-equal in majesty, glory, attributes. And when your person is baptized, you take upon yourself the name of this triune God. If you have been baptized as a professing believer, then you have the name of God attached to you. And we're not to take the name of God in vain. In fact, it is a high honor from the date of your baptism and public profession and being baptized into the name of the triune God. You're saying, I'm identifying with all that this God is and his work of grace in my life. I bear his name upon me. I bear the work of his son. I testify that this God is true and real and the gospel is true. The Bible is true. God really does change lives. I'm exhibit A. I've taken the name of God upon myself or rather the name of God has been placed upon me at my baptism. You and I bear a sober responsibility. We are not our own ambassadors anymore. We're not our own PR men. We are PR men. We are ambassadors for God. I bear the name of God out into the world. When I became a Christian in college and I would walk through my fraternity house, people knew that I was a Christian, not because I would jump up on coffee tables and preach at people and spook them or do weird things. For the first time in my life, I'd actually try to be sensitive and kind to some of these knuckleheads and try to be understanding and patient and all the things that previously, who cares? But now I cared. I was a nicer person than I used to be. But some of these guys, I was like holding up a silver cross to a vampire. Why? Well, because I was suddenly walking in the light. And they were walking in darkness. And some of them hated the light. And I lost friends for no other reason than I was changed by the grace of God and I loved Jesus. And I wanted to love them better. They go, get away from me. I don't want somebody like this who loves Jesus. I want somebody who loves sin in the world like I do. And so I lost friends because I was simply trying to live out the name of Christ and live for Christ. Did Christ have people push him away who he tried to love? Did Christ have people who rejected him and he wanted to embrace them and help them to help them in this life and to help them for eternity? And they pushed him away. No, we don't want that. Give me sin. Give me the world. And they didn't even realize what they had missed. To be baptized in the name of Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit It's a great privilege and a great honor. Our Lord himself in the Gospel of John, as I've said many times, it's my favorite gospel because it has more of the intimate dealings of Jesus's relationship with the Father. It's as if Jesus kind of pulls back the curtain and says, I'll let you into the inner relationship that I have with my Father and you can listen as I talk to my Father. The Apostle John, who was the one closest to our Lord in any relations in any sphere, there are different levels of relationship. You may have many acquaintances. You have a smaller group of friends within the smaller group of friends. You have some friends. You say, we're really tight. We're really close friends. And then you might have a best friend, somebody that you're closest to. Well, our Lord was gracious and loving to all people. He had many disciples, followers. learners who he treated specially. He had 12 who he called out from all the disciples and said you are being trained to be apostles. And of this 12 there was actually three who was an inner circle. James Peter and John and Peter was the spokesman. James and John were brothers. The the apostle John in teaching truth but trying to be humble about it says that This one apostle whom the Lord loved the most or who the Lord was most intimate with. He doesn't say it's himself which is to go. Wait a minute. He's talking about himself but he doesn't want to say Jesus love me more than he loved those guys. That's how I would say it in my sinfulness if I was writing the Gospel of John. But John had more grace and he's simply saying the apostle that the Lord loved or the disciple that the Lord loved or the one who was loved was sitting on his right hand or was leaning against his shoulder. And John says, I was privileged to go places that other people weren't. How does John give us the photographic record of the discussion with Nicodemus? Well, if you're there and you have the Holy Spirit, this is a never-to-be-forgotten interview with the most famous religious teacher in Israel. It's at night. Everybody else has gone to bed. He's asked for a special clandestine secret meeting when he won't be seen. And Jesus says, be quiet. Pay attention, pray, and learn. Now, I've done that with people. I've been training. I say, come along. We're going to have this appointment. You're a fly on the wall. Don't interrupt. Don't say something. Hey, it's great to be here. Let's build three tents. No, don't say stuff like Peter would say. Just be quiet and watch and learn. And John did. And the woman at the well, when all the other apostles had gone into town to buy food, but Jesus kept John there. He had this appointment with this woman. He's going to talk to her about eternity, about time, about her life, about a new life. And John's going to have this photographic recall of someone who's an actual eyewitness, a disciple who was being trained and was on the scene and can tell you in intimate details. Well, John's the one who gives us intimate details into our Lord's personal relationship with his father. Let's look over to John chapter 3. If you're thinking he's going to go to John 3 16 that's close but it's not exactly the verse John 3 18. Our Lord was very concerned that he honored the name of God and exercised the name of God for he was God himself and to honor his father and to exercise his own ministry. John 3 16 we know as God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but would have everlasting life. John 3 18 says whoever believes in him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe is condemned already. Hey wait a minute. What's going on here. I haven't rejected him yet. How can I be condemned already. It bears repeating because of the false understanding in American Christendom. People are not consigned to judgment because they reject Christ. That's only one more sentence added to all their other sins. People are consigned to judgment because they're sinners. Disbelief in Christ is one more sin added to all the other legions of sins that you've committed. You and I have broken every one of the Ten Commandments. We have failed to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength 24-7, 365 days a year our whole life. We haven't loved God as everything. And that makes us sinners in God's eyes. And he says that You're being consigned to judgment because you're a sinner. Disbelieving in Christ, failing to believe in Christ, refusing to believe in Christ is just one more big sin on top of a life of sin. So he says, whoever believes in him is not condemned. Christ has become your judgment bearer. But whoever does not believe is condemned already. If you're sitting here and you're not a believer, you're already sitting under judgment. Your lack of believing in Christ isn't going to be your biggest problem. Your whole life of sin is your biggest problem. He is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God, which is the only way you're going to get off. Unbelief is the sin that will seal your fate. You can be forgiven of every other sin, the most heinous, the most terrible sins. And I've had people confess things to me that would make your hair curl. People have confessed things to me that I've wanted to go take a shower for about two days after listening to the things that they've done, things that I wish weren't inside my head. Christ has forgiven all of those sins. But you cannot be forgiven the sin of unbelief. I can tell you as a minister of the gospel no matter who you are no matter what you've done you can be forgiven. But the sin of unbelief the sin of refusing to believe in Christ the sin of unbelief is the sin that will be your undoing because you can't be forgiven for that. You will not come to the Savior. I don't care how gross, how many times it's been done, how bad it is, how evil and wicked and unspeakable, Christ can forgive that sin and will forgive that sin if you turn to him. But he will not and cannot forgive the sin of unbelief. Go over to chapter 5, verse 43. A person fails to believe in the name of Christ for all that he is. In chapter 5, verse 43, he talks about what's going on with this. I have come in my father's name. I'm the son who perfectly represents his father. Jesus can say later if you've seen me Philip you've seen the father. How do you say show us the father. If you've seen me you've seen God the father in the flesh. My father and I are one one essence wasn't one purpose one and attributes the father and the son are co-equal or identifiably different but we're co-equal in power glory majesty All the things that make God to be God. He says, I have come in my father's name and you did not receive me. Speaking to the Jews in general, if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. And then he gets to the crux of the matter. How can you believe what's wrong with you? How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Here's how it works. It's September 1971, I'm talking to four students at Corona Del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California. And these four boys are listening to me talk to them about Jesus Christ. And three of them are politely zoning out. And one guy is very interested and very fascinated by what I'm saying and is really paying attention. And I can tell by looking at their non-verbals that three of them are zoned out and just waiting to meet the crew so they can leave. And one guy is paying really good attention and we're really engaging. But then he does something fatal. He simply does this. He looks over to what his friends are thinking. Oh, I shouldn't be caring, should I? You guys who are everything to me are important and I shouldn't be caring about this guy talking about God and salvation and eternity because you guys think it's uncool. OK, and then the zone went up and he turned off. He was killed a month later. In a car wreck and he went into what kind of eternity, I don't know, but the last time I talked to him, he says Jesus would say to him, how can you believe when you receive glory from one another? They like me. I'm significant because these people like me and I'm their friend. And do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. Do you really think a friend, when you're 14 years old, is more important than what Almighty God thinks of you? A hundred million years from now, is what another 16-year-old or 86-year-old person thought of you, is it really going to be there for you? When you rejected God Himself, who is the one being, the one person who, if nobody else in the world likes me, if God likes me, I can somehow make it. You say, no, I'd rather give up God because I care about the glory that people give me from their friendships and their relationships. I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, just whoever he is, Joe Blow from Kokomo, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? John 10, 25. How important is Christ's name representing God's name? Christ says, I would rather die than dishonor your name. I'm sorry, that's two verses down, that's two. Next one, John 10, 25. Jesus says, the works that I do, what I, the works that I do, I do in my Father's name, and they bear witness about me. I'm honoring the name of my Father, and I'm honoring the name of my Father by doing all the things that I do. My life is a testimony to my Father. That's my focus. I want you to see how I live and say, gosh, He serves a great God. Let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify. You're great. You're wonderful. You're tremendous. that they might see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Good works should be done to be a testimony to our God and Savior. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me. John chapter 12, verse 27 and 28. The cross is looming on the horizon. Christ knows, beginning in chapter 13, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 are all the events of the last 2440 hours of our Lord's life. Verse 27, John 12, 27. Now is my soul troubled? What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No! For this very purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. I don't have to live, but you have to be glorified. I tell you, I read this verse and I was cut to the quick, because I'll always save my skin. But the Lord says, I don't have to live, but you have to be glorified. So much that he loved his father and desired to see the honor go to his father, that he says, I'm not going to say, save me from what's coming. No, I'm going to say, even if I have to die and be damned, better than if your name be dishonored. I was so convicted. Because I always, it seems like, always opt out for myself. When you and I pray, it's because of all who Christ is. Our Christ is our letter of entree to the Father. I can come boldly into the Father's throne room. I can come... And there can be something cataclysmic going on. There can be shooting in the streets of Fallujah. There can be riots in another place. There can be an uprising in a third country. There can be volcanoes going off. There can be tidal waves. All this is going off in this world. I don't understand how that can be true. I'm managing a volcano. I'm managing an earthquake. I'm managing a tidal wave. I'm managing a building falling down over here. There's a traffic accident in 4,000 different places. There's riots going on over here. There's someone giving a message about Christ over here. But at the same time, our great God, you can have his entire attention and focus, and you are in his throne room, and so to speak, humanly, he's looking only right at you. John 16. Jesus talks about this very phenomena. Truly, truly, John 16, 23 and 24. Truly, truly, I say to you, truly, truly means amen, amen. This is a Hebrew way of saying, look, read my lips. With all the seriousness I possess, pay close attention. So whenever you see the word truly, truly or verily, verily, it's the Aramaic word amen, amen. Listen, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Well it never would have occurred to them. They didn't know Jesus as the Savior. They didn't know he was the Savior. They didn't know that he was the means of entry into the Father's presence. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy would be full. In fact, there are several other times in John 14, 15, and 16 when Jesus says, do you realize that you pray in my name? If you ask in my name, if you come to the Father in my name, my name is your letter of entree. My name opens doors. My name has the Father's attention. He hears you because you're coming in my name. I don't come in my own name. I don't come in the name of my church. I don't come in the name of my doctrinal beliefs. I come in the name of Christ and everything, so to speak, stops. And I have the Father's attention now because he's our great God. He is at the same time giving his attention to everything else, even as I have his full attention. And that is why God is God. And I'm just a puny little creature. But Christ is our letter of entree because of his name. I'm a Christian. I bear Christ's name. Father, I'm one of Jesus's. Hear me. Well, of course, my son. Why? Because I'm a great guy? Because I had a good week? Because I didn't do some of my pet sins this week? Because I did do this thing this week? No. Because I've come in Christ's name. John 17. Verse 6 and then drop down to verse 25 and 26. I have manifested Your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world i came to reveal god to these people i've revealed your name to the people that you gave me out of the world whirlwinds the non-elect they never get it i don't understand what do you think but he makes it clear to us he reveals the manifest your name to the people who you give me out of the world the dropping down the first twenty five and twenty six all righteous father even though the world does not know you i know you And these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. They have come to understand who you are by seeing me and by seeing me I have revealed you to them and I will continue to make you clear to them. Our Lord's earthly minister and earthly ministry was to make the name or the being and the character of God the Father known to men. God became a man that men might know what God is like. And finally in verses 11 and 12 there in the middle, why is it that you and I persevere? I was thinking yesterday on my walk, why have I not fallen into a hundred traps and snares? Why haven't I made shipwreck of my faith? Why haven't I just walked away and walked off into the world never to be seen again? I'm such a shrewd guy, because I'm so disciplined, because I do all these things right, and of course, I'm just a great human being. Well, thankfully, I wasn't in La La Land where I was walking. I was walking on this planet, and the Lord says, you only persevere because I persevere with you. Look at verse 11 and 12. Jesus says, I am no longer in the world, but they, these disciples, are in the world. And I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them have been lost, except the Son of Destruction, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. This man was never one of ours in the first place, and we knew that up front, and he was lost, but he was never found, so to speak, in the first place. But I kept all those you gave me, I kept them in your name. Would you keep the rest of these disciples? I'm coming to heaven. He's really praying for the Holy Spirit to be given to these men that the Holy Spirit would keep us. Why do I keep going? Why? How come I don't fall a thousand times? How come I don't make destruction of my life? Because God, the Holy Spirit, is keeping me in Christ's name, even as Christ kept me in the Father's name. He did not bear the name of God in vain, and I do not bear the name of God in vain, and God's keeping me, and I will make it. I'm going to have to wrap up in the remaining few minutes to talk about what did the rest of the apostles. This is just our Lord's teaching on the importance of honoring the name and not taking the name of God in vain. How important the name of God is. Turn to Acts chapter four. This might be the only other passage I'll have you turn to. Acts chapter four. How did the apostles start preaching Christ and what did they start doing with this idea of we have this great God and we're to honor his name. Acts chapter 4, we'll pick it up in verse 8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, you know, they just healed this crippled man. It's a big to-do. Hey, what are you doing healing this guy for? What's wrong with that? But they got arrested for healing this man. So anyway, If we're being arrested, for what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This man was healed not because we're anybody special, and we're not the founders of TV televangelist heresy ministries. We are apostles who periodically are given the power, not every day, because they didn't raise people every day. Paul had to talk about people he couldn't heal. I left Trophimus sick at Miletus, and Paul talks about other people that weren't healed. It came upon them. It was given to them at different times. But when they were given the power, who did they give the glory to? And now the Paul and Barnabas traveling evangelistic sideshow is now healing. Please come to us and we'll take care of you. No? This man was healed in the name of Jesus Christ. God come to earth. We're not taking any credit for this. This is all the work of the Savior. Now, keep on reading. Where does salvation come from? This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. If we're to be saved, it's by the name of Christ only. The name representing the person of Christ, all that he is. When you say the name of Jesus Christ, you have said a mouthful. That is the name of the Savior, and all that he is is attached to his name. It's in the name of Christ that we preach. A minister of the gospel is not to talk about being a Baptist. He's not to talk about being a Reformed Baptist. He's not to talk about this or that. That's not your hope. Your hope is in Jesus Christ, a person. Now, the details of the doctrine, that's fine. But we're to preach Christ and him crucified. We're to explain the teachings. Historically, it may have been called this. Historically, it may have been called that. But the thrust of the matter is Jesus Christ and his personal work as described in the Bible. I'm not going to go to war with somebody over baptism. I'm not sure that I would die for baptism. I hope I would die for the right things. I hope I would die for Christ being the Savior. I would hope I would die for the Trinity. I would hope I would die for the main things. I'm not going to die for church government. I'm not going to die for one's view of eschatology and the order in which the things work out at the end. But would you not want to be willing to stand for the right things, the main things? What do you want to be known by as your neighbor? Oh yeah, they were in some kind of funky thing called Reform Baptists. I have no idea what that was. Rather, on your neighborhood, they were Christians. They talked to me about Christ and a Savior who saves. They really believe He's God come to earth. That's what we should be known for. There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. The name of Christ. Honor that name. In verses 24 to 31. This is the name we pray in. Back up to verse 23. When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priest and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, that's the whole group, they lifted their voices together to God. This is at a heritage prayer meeting kind of and the elders were all arrested and beaten up and told not to preach anymore. So we can. They said this and they did this and they did this and it was great. Let's pray. Sovereign Lord who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them who threw the mouth of our father David your servant said by the Holy Spirit. Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. In other words, you were always in charge anyway. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. We're praying in the name of Jesus would you grant our Timid weak fickle elders the grace to stand boldly and preach the truth even though they've been threatened and beaten once. Would you grant them the power to convert people and would you grant them if it's your will. In the case of the apostles here pastors aren't given that gift but the apostles from time to time were given a testing gifts to heal people. God come upon these men. We ask this in the name of Jesus. When the apostle Paul is saved in Acts chapter 9 and the scared layman named Ananias is told Saul of Tarsus has been converted and you're going to go lay hands on him and you're going to introduce him to the first Christians. And Ananias is scared and it's a very comical reality of life that he doesn't want to go and this guy's public enemy number one, he's been killing Christians, he's probably faking it right now so he can find out who the Christians are. I don't want to lay hands on him, and he starts giving God a speech about why this really isn't a good idea, and if God really knew what he knew, God wouldn't ask him to do this. And God just interrupts him, and he never finishes the sentence. He says, Go! For he, Saul, is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles, and to kings and to the children of Israel. He's going to carry my name as an ambassador. But more than that, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. I'm giving you this unspeakable privilege, and it will exact a price on you over time. Paul says, I was beaten this many times. I was whipped this many times. I was done to stone. All these things happened to me. I did a lot of suffering for the name of Christ. for the name of Christ. But you know what? I will cut short and cut to the last two points here. What does the Father say about all this concern about Christ and Him bearing the name of God and us bearing the name of Christ? He says, well, Christ was faithful. And the famous passage in Philippians 2 when Christ comes to earth, Christ becomes a man, Christ becomes a servant, Christ becomes obedient, Christ is obedient to the form of death by crucifixion. And God raises them up and gives them a name which is above every name, that every name in heaven and earth will one day bow before this name. Every name in heaven and earth, every creature, everything will bow before this name that was the lowest, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confessed it. You are right. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. And finally, in Hebrews chapter 6, the author of Hebrews says, I'm asking you not to take my name in vain. My son didn't take my name in vain. That's part of your calling, to bear my name in a holy fashion. How seriously did I take this? Hebrews 6. He says, well, I made a promise to Abraham, and Abraham believed me. But I don't know that you have the faith of Abraham, so let me support my promise with an oath. I solemnly swear, for when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes, an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things. What are these unchangeable things. I promise when God promises that's it. God says you need more encouragement. You need a second encouragement. I solemnly swear. May I cease to be God. May my own judgment come upon my head. May I cease to be God if I don't do this. The unchangeable character of his purpose he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. We who have fled for refuge to Jesus might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. How do you know that you're going to make it. Because God has so taken his name seriously. He says, I promise that I will finish what I start. He who has begun a good work in you will continue to perform it until the day of Christ. Yeah, but men break promises. Well, God doesn't. And God's solemnly taken an oath. May I cease to be God. May I damn myself. If I fail to fulfill my covenant obligations to you, you will make it by my grace. That is great encouragement for the soul. Brothers and sisters, we have a high and holy name to uphold. We are very weak and foolish people. I'm tremendously convicted by looking through this material and what a poor example of a Christian I am. By the grace of God, I want to be a better Christian. By the grace of God, I want to make it to heaven and glorify God along the way. And I have his promise and his oath. He doesn't make promises and he doesn't make oaths in vain. We can trust him. Let's do that. Heavenly Father, the third commandment is full of things which we really don't think about at first glance. I confess how for many years I've been a Christian and for many years I have been very shallow and superficial and light and frothy. For many years, I didn't even know there was ten commandments. For many years, I couldn't have named them. For many years, I regularly broke them without even knowing it. Now, sad to say, I break them from time to time knowingly. I have taken your name upon myself in a vain way. I have not always lived as a Christian. I have lived before men in such a way that they have seen that I am still very much a sinner, and they wouldn't have guessed there was anything special about being a Christian. But I have sinned in private. I have sinned before the watching angels and before you, and before the devil and his minions, and I have not borne testimony that Christ is all in all. Lord Jesus, You would rather die than fail to honor Your Father's name. I would rather do anything else but die at times than I would for pleasure or self or ease or comfort trash Your name in order that I might have my comfort or my ease. Forgive me. Forgive my brethren. We want to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. We are so thankful that his obedience is imputed to us in the place of our wretched disobedience. Thank you that you hear me for Christ's sake. I want to pray hallowed be thy name every day and mean it. I want to trust in Christ's name as my entree to heaven, my entree to prayer. Lord, make this real in our lives, we pray, as we trust in You until the day of glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.