The God Whose Name We Take

[0:00] Now, as we've journeyed through the Old Testament book of Exodus this year, we've seen, first of all, that God is great, that he rescued his people, the people of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by bringing great plagues on the Egyptian empire and by destroying the army of Egypt.

[0:17] And we've also seen that God is good, that God provides for his people's need, that God defends them from their enemies, that God gives them an identity and mission.

[0:31] And we've also discovered that God's goodness is on display when he gives them his law, when he gives them a specific code of instructions that guides them, that clearly communicates expectations for how they are to live, how they are to carry out their identity and their mission as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

[0:52] Now, over the last two weeks, Kyle Radburn has come and spoken to us about the first two of the Ten Commandments of the Law. The first two commandments, which forbid both worshipping other gods and forbid recasting the Lord God into an image that suits our fancy, an image that matches what we already want God to be like.

[1:16] Now, today we reach that third commandment in Exodus 20, verse 7. You'll find that on page 61 of our Bibles, if you use the blue Bibles that our ushers handed out.

[1:27] Commandment number 3 in Exodus 20, verse 7, it simply reads as follows. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

[1:51] Now, when I was just a mere lad, here's what I thought about this commandment. I thought of this as the no-cussing commandment. This was the, that was all this meant to me.

[2:05] I would hear some sort of scoundrel using the words Lord or God or Jesus as an expletive, as a cuss word. And then I would see that person be reprimanded by an adult for taking the Lord's name in vain.

[2:20] And so that's what I concluded this commandment was about. And being young and kind of a jerk, I took it on myself to do the same. You know, I remember correcting another kid at summer camp on this very subject for using Jesus' name as an expletive.

[2:36] And so, you know, my boldness was commendable. I had a bit, I learned I had developed a bit of a reputation for being a jerk about this sort of thing, though. So my own immaturity aside, there is actually a lot more to the third commandment than casually spitting out divine names and titles.

[2:54] This is actually one of the broadest of the Ten Commandments. It's significant in so many different ways. And it's hard to even know where to begin with this one.

[3:06] And so the best way that I know to start is to take this commandment and it's like bringing it into your mechanic. Putting it up on the lift, opening up the hood, taking out all the engine parts, one at a time to examine them.

[3:19] And then what you do is now that you've looked at those engine components, you put them back together and you fire up the engine. So that's what we're going to do. I'm going to do something that an auto mechanic does. And this might drive you crazy when your mechanic does this.

[3:31] I'm going to use a bit of technical language. You know, your mechanic starts using, when your mechanic starts using words that you don't understand. And you're like, well, I'm assuming that is actually a part of my car and he's not just using big words to charge me more money.

[3:44] Well, good news, I'm not going to charge you extra money for using big words here. In fact, actually, I don't really like using technical language a lot, referring to Hebrew or Greek words that the Bible uses.

[3:54] Because first of all, most of the time it's not really necessary. You can usually learn, almost always you can learn the meaning of a word by examining its context, by comparing English translations.

[4:05] That works almost all the time. And so, it's really not necessary to do this. This is one of those very rare exceptions, I think. This sermon, this is an exception because each of these engine components, each of the key words of this third commandment, each of these words is used throughout the Old Testament in many different situations.

[4:27] And as a result, each word is often translated with a variety of different English words. So, it's not always going to be clear from our English translations when these words are used elsewhere.

[4:39] So, as your mechanic, I'm going to do my best to show you each component. And we're going to have a nice color-coded slideshow. The colors aren't showing up super well, which is why we are in the market for a new projector right now.

[4:52] But hopefully, you can see a little bit clearly as we proceed through this. I'll give you an example of how each of these words is used elsewhere in the Old Testament. And then we're going to put the engine back together, and we're going to see how the engine is meant to function.

[5:05] So, let's look at that verse, Exodus 20, verse 7. And we're going to look at it one component at a time. And that first component is that phrase, The name of the Lord your God. The name of the Lord your God.

[5:18] Now, we could have a whole sermon on this subject. What is this? Name of the Lord your God. And, in fact, we did already. So, if you want another one, too bad. You can get on our website. You can go back to the month of January when we looked at Exodus chapter 3.

[5:34] And the sermon, I believe, is titled, The God Who Is. The God Who Is. When the Lord spoke to Moses, and he spoke to Moses out of a burning bush, telling him to go back to Egypt, telling him to confront the Egyptian king, to tell him to let God's people go, tell him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.

[5:54] And here's how Moses responded to the Lord at that time. Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name?

[6:10] What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, Say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you.

[6:23] God also said to Moses, Say this to the people of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.

[6:35] This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. So Moses is asking God for his name.

[6:45] That word name, that is the usual translation of the Hebrew word, Shame. Shame. Now keep in mind here that the word God, that word God is actually not his name.

[6:57] That word God describes what he is. It does not describe who he is. God has a name that tells us who he is, just as my name Dave tells you who I am.

[7:11] In Exodus chapter 3, God speaks his name to Moses, and he tells Moses, I am who I am. Now back in January, we learned how similar that phrase is to an expression that we use all the time in modern English.

[7:28] It is what it is. It is what it is. And we say that when we encounter, a circumstance encounter, situations that are unchangeable, things that are beyond our control, and that we are coming to accept, and no longer trying to change.

[7:47] I am who I am says the same thing about God. He is unchangeable. He is beyond our control. And so it tells us that God is great.

[7:58] I am who I am also tells us that because God is eternally unchanging, he is also faithful to his covenant commitments.

[8:11] He is faithful to his promises and plans for his people because he's not going to change. So I am who I am tells us not only that God is great, but also that he is good and always will be good.

[8:27] So then God tells Moses his name, which is written in most English Bibles in small capital letters as the Lord. Now that is because over the centuries, the Jewish people, they read this third commandment and they were so afraid of taking the divine name in vain that they no longer pronounced it.

[8:48] Instead, they substituted in this title, Lord, in its place. That's why our English translations, they carry forward that Jewish tradition. The original name of God, as best we know how to pronounce it, is Yahweh.

[9:02] Yahweh. And in the days of the old King James Version, that was incorrectly pronounced Jehovah. So if you've ever heard that word before, that's where it comes from. Yahweh comes from an ancient Hebrew word that means he is.

[9:16] He is. God says, I am who I am, so we call him. He is Yahweh. That's the name of the Lord. That's the name that the third commandment warns should not be taken in vain.

[9:33] So let's look at the second engine component here. The word translated take. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. So this word is Nasa.

[9:46] Nasa. In seminary, they would remind us of that because this word means often take up or lift or bear or carry. And so they told us, envision a space shuttle. Nasa.

[9:58] You know, going up. So this word Nasa can be translated in all these different ways depending on the context. And like the other two words we've learned so far, this is a very common word as well in the Bible.

[10:09] But this word Nasa, it is not very commonly used with the word shame, name. So this word take up and the word name are not often used together.

[10:20] There's only three times in the Bible in which these words are used together in which someone is said to take up a name. Three other times apart from this commandment. Conveniently, the first two times occur later in the book of Exodus.

[10:33] So that's a good clue. That's the first place where we would want to look. The Lord tells Moses later in the book of Exodus in chapter 28, the pattern for the garments of the high priest of Israel.

[10:46] One garment in particular is called an ephod, and we actually don't quite know what that means. But whatever this ephod was, we read about it in Exodus chapter 28. You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names, shame, of the sons of Israel.

[11:02] And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear Nasa. Nasa their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance.

[11:18] You shall make a breastpiece of judgment and skilled work. There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name for the twelve tribes.

[11:31] Aaron shall bear Nasa 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.

[11:45] So what the Lord is saying here is that as the high priest, Aaron, Moses' brother, Aaron is going to represent the people of Israel before the Lord. He's going to come in bearing their names, taking up their name.

[11:59] He will represent them spiritually, and that will be indicated by this physical act bearing the names of their twelve tribes written on his garments inscribed on them.

[12:12] So here we learn that taking up someone's name is an act, first of all, an act of representation. It's an act of representation. By taking up their name, you are acting as their representative.

[12:23] To take up the Lord's name is to act as the Lord's representative, as Yahweh's representative, as a kingdom of priests representing the Lord.

[12:38] The third occasion in which those two words, Nasa, shame, the third occasion where they are used together is in the Psalms. It's in Psalm chapter, it's in Psalm 16, verse 4, and in this Psalm, the great poet King David, he writes this, The sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply.

[13:00] Their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take, Nasa, their names, shame, on my lips. I will not take their names on my lips.

[13:12] So here taking up someone's name is an act of devotion. It's an act of devotion. David says he will obey the first commandment by refusing to run after another God, by refusing to make offerings to another God, to offer sacrifices, by refusing to take up the name of any other God because David is a treasured possession of the Lord his God.

[13:37] His response is total, exclusive devotion to the Lord. So to take up the name of the Lord, it is an act of representation and it is an act of devotion.

[13:49] So one modern illustration, if we want to put this, use an image that we would probably be more familiar with. This is the, think of the jersey of a sports team. Now when I lived in Indiana for many years, people used to walk around all the time and they would wear the jersey of the Indianapolis Colts, my favorite sports team, my favorite NFL team.

[14:11] And people would even wear them to church on Sunday mornings when there was a football game that afternoon. So you'd walk into church and there would be all of these people wearing white and blue jerseys and on the back of each jersey would be stitched the name of one of the gods, I mean, sorry, one of the players that the owner of the jersey loved.

[14:31] Names like Manning and Wayne and Mathis. And so by wearing a jersey, the owner takes up the name, takes up the identity of his player and his team. It's an act of representation and devotion.

[14:44] That's what it means to take on the name of the Lord, to bear his identity and his name as his devoted representative. Okay, so those are the first two components of this engine. What we have left is this third component, those final two words that change the whole meaning of this commandment.

[15:02] In vain. Now that word vain, it's a lot less common than the other words we've looked at. The three words we've looked at so far, they're all over the Old Testament, all over the Bible.

[15:13] This one's a lot less common. It's the Hebrew word shav. Shav. And this word also has a range of meanings. Psalm 12, verse 2.

[15:25] We read, The word shav is translated here as lie or falsehood.

[15:41] It's used in parallel with expressions like flattering lips, a double heart. And so here it carries the idea of misrepresentation. Falsehood, fakery, fraud.

[15:56] You can see it used in a slightly different way in Malachi chapter 3 where the people of Israel complain. It is vain, shav, to serve God.

[16:08] What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? So here the word shav is translated as vain or futile depending on your translation.

[16:23] It's used alongside that question, what is the profit? What's to be gained? So here the word carries the idea of being empty, unproductive, fruitless.

[16:37] So if I were to pick two words that capture the possible range of meanings of this word shav, I would pick two words, fraudulent and fruitless. Fraudulent and fruitless.

[16:49] If a distant uncle left you an inheritance and that inheritance that was obviously set in stone a long time ago, that inheritance consisted entirely of shares in Enron, that would be shav.

[17:03] If a friend slipped into your birthday card, a gift certificate to blockbuster video, that would be shav. If a jeweler sold you an engagement ring and you got in Benedy and gave it to your fiance and your fiance took one look at it and said, that's a cubic zircon.

[17:22] That's not a diamond. That would be shav. To take on the Lord's name in vain means to take on the Lord's name in a fraudulent or a fruitless manner.

[17:37] Taking on the Lord's name in vain is representing him but fraudulently. It's expressing devotion to him but fruitlessly. All words, no action or the wrong actions.

[17:52] it's using the name Yahweh to exploit him for your own benefit. So in the third commandment, the Lord commands that his good name be preserved from exploitation.

[18:07] The Lord commands that his good name be preserved from exploitation. Now the problem is, that is a very broad statement.

[18:20] The problem with broad statements like that is they're so broad it almost seems to mean nothing at all. It's a big idea. We have to think though, what are some of the particular ways that plays out in our lives?

[18:30] What are the particular behaviors that the Lord is forbidding? And what are the particular behaviors he wants us to be doing in their place? Well the way that this commandment could be applied, this is why I said this is one of the broadest commandments.

[18:44] It is so open-ended. We need specific direction here. We need some way to narrow down the possible ways to apply this or otherwise we're going to be here for a five-hour sermon.

[18:55] So, I don't want to do that. I guess you guys probably don't either. So, we would be best served to see how the idea of this third commandment is picked up in the book of Exodus, how it's picked up in the rest of the law of Moses, and how those are vocabulary words we just looked at.

[19:11] How they are picked up in the rest of the Old Testament. Once we've done that, then we can see how Jesus Christ has fulfilled these laws. Then we can see how they're significant to us as Christians under the new covenant.

[19:25] So, what we've done now is we've taken a look at each of these engine components, we've put them back together, now let's look at four ways that engine breaks down. Four Breakdowns to Avoid as We Take on the Name of the Lord Our God.

[19:39] So, these four breakdowns, this is not an exhaustive list. I was originally going to put six. The sermon got too long. Four might still be too long. We're not going to even, I really want to go into even more detail with each one of these, but, you know, there's only so much time in the day and the children's ministry workers would kill me.

[19:57] So, I don't want them to be taking the name of the Lord in vain when they find out how long we're going. So, here are the ones in Scripture which I feel most confident that there is a real connection with the third commandment.

[20:11] That first engine breakdown is this, it's reviling authority. Reviling authority. And that's found in the case law of Exodus chapter 22.

[20:22] You shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people. Well, this is one of those commandments where you're like, wow, you know what?

[20:33] Straightforward and refreshing. It really could not be more obvious what that means. Don't revile God, don't curse a ruler of your people. Now, this doesn't use those vocabulary words we've learned, but the theme is the same.

[20:45] This commandment, this commandment simply means that, you know, we don't revile God, we don't speak, slander against him, we don't say false things about him, we don't tear him down, and we don't do the same thing for human authorities either.

[20:59] Human political authorities over us. This commandment, it was perfectly fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Jesus not only honored his God at every opportunity, God his Father, he even showed honor and respect to men like Caesar.

[21:16] Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, he told the Jewish authority. He showed honor and respect to them even as he was being crucified by them. And in the New Testament, the Apostle Peter writes, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, keep in mind, this is an emperor, these are governors who are persecuting the church, whether to the emperor as supreme or to governors assent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

[21:52] Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. So not only do we not misuse the Lord's name by reviling him, but by extension, we also are not to revile human authorities that God has instituted.

[22:08] And this means that if you lived in the Roman Empire, you were not to revile the emperor, even if the emperor was Nero, who was throwing Christians to the lions, and you were not to revile your governors, even those who were persecuting you, taking your property.

[22:25] This means that if you are a Canadian citizen, you are not to revile your prime minister, whether it's Justin Trudeau or whether it's Stephen Harper. You are not to revile your premier, whether it's Christy Clark or John Horgan.

[22:40] You are not to revile your MP or your MLA. You are not to revile the mayor or the city council of Squamish. This means that if you are an American citizen, you are not to revile your president either, whether it's Donald Trump or whether it's Barack Obama.

[22:58] You are not to revile your state governor. You are not to revile your federal or state senator or representative. Now, you may disagree sharply with the policies, with the behavior of any one of these people, but you must express your disagreement in respectful terms.

[23:18] Because in so doing, we honor the name of the Lord who instituted these authorities. We honor the name of the Lord and we are not guilty of reviling his authority.

[23:31] So that first engine breakdown is reviling authority. A second engine breakdown is spreading false reports. Spreading false reports. Now, this too is found in the case law of Exodus chapter 23, only a few verses later.

[23:47] And it also contains a simple commandment. You shall not spread a false report. You can see where I got the language from. This verse contains vocabulary that is found in the third commandment.

[24:01] In the Hebrew, it's saying, you shall not take up, nesah, a report that is fraudulent, shav. So by spreading false reports, we characterize ourselves as dishonest people.

[24:15] Which means that the God whom we represent, we are representing as a dishonest God. We are miscommunicating who God is.

[24:28] Taking his name in vain. Taking up his name in vain. Jesus Christ, our Lord, did not do that. He perfectly fulfilled this commandment. He only said things that were true and accurate about the Lord our God.

[24:44] And in the New Testament, in Ephesians chapter 4, we too are commanded, having put away falsehood, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

[25:00] Put away falsehood, replace it by telling the truth. So that means as Christians, we don't go around relaying reports that aren't true. That's how we are meant to live.

[25:14] This means first, so three ways that this gets applied. Three ways I often see reports relayed that aren't true. First, we don't promote fake news. We don't share any news story, we don't share any health advisory on social media unless we've done the proper research first to confirm it's genuine.

[25:34] Don't just say, oh wow, that man, that gets me fired up and that matches what I believe and man, I've got to share this with all my friends. I've got to send an email out to all my friends. I've got to put this up for them all to read.

[25:46] No, we do the proper research first. You search around about it. You try to confirm it's genuine. If you have any doubts whatsoever, you don't put it up. It is the Lord's name that is at stake.

[26:00] It is the Lord's name at stake. So we don't promote fake news. Second is Christians, we don't go around spreading rumors about other people and we don't know for sure whether what we know has really happened.

[26:14] We do not gossip. We don't go around talking about people behind their backs unless we are doing it to build them up and to help them.

[26:25] And we are very, very careful not to spread false reports. Third, we take great care about using language such as God told me or I have a word from the Lord.

[26:37] Lest we speak falsely on his behalf. Be very cautious about that. By holding our tongues, by speaking only the truth, we honor the name of the Lord and we are not guilty of spreading false reports.

[26:54] There's a third engine breakdown. Swearing deceitful oaths. Swearing deceitful oaths. So to the original readers of Exodus, this may have been, this probably would have been the first application of this commandment that would have occurred to them.

[27:09] This is the first thing that would have popped into their minds. Now people in their culture would affirm the truth of what they said. They would confirm commitments and promises by swearing by the name of their God. And people do that today still, so this is not an unfamiliar concept to us.

[27:24] It may be less common now, but it still happens. And that was very common at the time this command was given. You'd swear by the name of your God.

[27:34] So in the legal code of Leviticus chapter 19, here's what we find written. You shall not swear by my name, shame, falsely. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God.

[27:49] I am the Lord. I am Yahweh. So in other words, when we are swearing, when they were swearing by the name of Yahweh, one must tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

[28:07] And one must carry out any commitments, any promises that are made. Now what's interesting is the warning that Jesus Christ adds in Matthew chapter 5.

[28:19] Jesus says this about swearing. 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.

[28:31] 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.

[28:44] 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.

[28:59] Now what Jesus is saying here, and there's actually much more in the New Testament about this sort of thing. What Jesus is saying here is that as his followers, under the new covenant, we should be, live lives, we should behave in such a way that we are so trustworthy, we are so characterized by honesty and integrity, that a simple yes or a simple no should be enough to satisfy anyone that knows us.

[29:27] Yes or no. And when you answer, the other person says, I believe it. Because they know what you're like. They know. They don't have to get you to swear to know they're getting the truth from you.

[29:39] They know you're not hiding things. They know you're not distorting the truth or misusing it. Based on other New Testament teachings, it does seem there are occasions when swearing an oath is necessary.

[29:54] I would say for legal purposes, for example, in a court of law. But for nearly all the situations in our lives, there is no need to use the Lord's name to authorize our word. There is no need to use the Lord's name to authorize our commitments because our obedient lives will be authority enough.

[30:10] By living in integrity, we honor the name of the Lord. And we are not guilty of swearing deceitful oaths. A fourth and final engine breakdown is living a double life.

[30:27] Living a double life. Now that word shav, the word for fraudulence or fakery, you may recall we saw that in Psalm 12 where the poet of David wrote, everyone utters lies, shav to his neighbor with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

[30:50] And we all have met people like this. People who say one thing and do another. They say the words that they want you to hear. They say the words that they know that you want to hear.

[31:05] They don't mean a word of it. They're living a double life. One person on Sunday morning, a different person the rest of the week. One person in public, a different person in private.

[31:18] One person in their words, a different person in their actions. Double life. In Proverbs 30, Proverbs chapter 30, there's a wise man named Agur who prays that the Lord would preserve him from living a double life.

[31:34] He writes, remove far from me falsehood, shav. Remove far from me falsehood and lying. Give me neither poverty nor riches.

[31:46] Feed me with the food that is needful for me. Lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Who is Yahweh?

[31:57] Or lest I be poor and steal and profane, profane the name, shame. Profane the name of my God.

[32:10] Agur is praying for just enough wealth that he is not tempted to take the Lord's name in vain. He's not tempted to do it either by acting like he doesn't need the Lord.

[32:23] He's not tempted to do it by dishonoring the Lord out of desperation. Agur doesn't want to live a double life. In which he honors the Lord with his lips while denying the Lord with his behavior.

[32:37] Remove far from me falsehood and lying. It may not surprise you to know that Jesus Christ did this perfectly. Jesus lived a life that was completely in sync with his teaching.

[32:49] And everyone around him knew it. Even his enemies. Even the people who hated him. Jesus taught you and me to do the same under the new covenant. Jesus warned repeatedly. You only have to go back a few weeks when we were looking at Luke chapter 11 and 12 where Jesus is warning repeatedly against living like the religious teachers of his day.

[33:09] Many of whom were hypocrites. That's what he called them. Hypocrites. Actors. Putting on a mask. By living as we speak, we honor the name of the Lord and we are not guilty of living a double life.

[33:28] So as a whole then, the third commandment calls us to a lifestyle of obedience to the Lord in all things. A lifestyle of recognizing our lives are meant to honor him.

[33:41] Recognizing that you and I, we as Christians, we are a billboard advertising the goodness of the Lord. So we take heed of the Apostle Paul's warning in Romans chapter 2.

[33:56] You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

[34:08] You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, dishonor God by breaking the law. For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

[34:23] Oh, we stand in fear of the Lord our God, the God who ends that third commandment with a warning. The Lord, Yahweh, will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

[34:37] This is the same God who warned his people in Exodus chapter 23. Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way, the way to the promised land, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

[34:54] Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name, shame, is in him.

[35:07] Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression. And that is a word of warning. That taking the Lord's name in vain, that is an act of treason.

[35:22] It is an act of rebellion, a rebellious offense against the Most High God. Taking that name on yourself and living that double life and disobeying his commandments.

[35:39] Let us pay careful attention to him and obey his voice. And if we, and when we fail at that, because I am guilty of misrepresenting the Lord.

[35:53] I am guilty of taking his name in vain. And so if you do not turn for help to Jesus Christ, our Lord, Jesus paid the penalty for our misuse of the Lord's name.

[36:10] He paid it on our behalf. He did this by being crucified. He died the death of a traitor, the death of a rebel, crucifixion.

[36:22] He did it on our behalf. He took the penalty. He was buried in the tomb. And everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, everyone who is united with him by faith, if that's you, Jesus takes the punishment for your sin.

[36:41] He takes the punishment for your rebellion, for your transgression, for your treason. If you've taken the Lord's name in vain, and who among us has not done that? Then cry out for salvation through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

[36:57] Jesus not only bore the punishment for our rebellion, but he did so much more than that. He also perfectly fulfilled the third commandment on our behalf.

[37:08] Because Jesus not only obeyed the negative side of that commandment, he not only did not take the Lord's name in vain, but he took the Lord's name upon himself and honored his God. He called himself the I am on several occasions.

[37:25] He lived a life of perfect representation, a life of perfect devotion to his father. Jesus took that name. And in John chapter 17, Jesus speaks to his father in his disciples' hearing, and he says this, I have manifested, I've shown, revealed your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.

[37:47] 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. So now that Jesus is raised from the dead, now Jesus has been exalted, publicly honored by his father.

[38:09] And in Philippians chapter 2, the apostle Paul writes that because Jesus humbled himself to die on a cross, God has highly exalted him 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.

[38:40] Every knee will bow, whether they wish to or not. Both living and the dead, those who believe and those who don't, to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

[38:54] Jesus perfectly fulfilled the third commandment. Not only because he obeyed the negative commandment, but because he fulfilled its converse, the positive side of the commandment.

[39:07] He honored the name of his Lord. He exalted the name of his God. And he did this on our behalf so that we could follow in his footsteps as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

[39:18] So we could live out our identity and mission as a treasured possession of God, as the people of God. The Lord commands that his good name be preserved from exploitation and reserved for exaltation.

[39:32] The Lord commands that his good name be preserved from exploitation and reserved for exaltation. And so you and I, we are not to avoid speaking of the Lord our God, afraid that, wow, if people know that I'm a Christian or if people hear me talk about the Lord, you know, I've just got to avoid any possible way that I could misrepresent the Lord.

[39:58] No, we're not supposed to do that. We are supposed to speak of him. We are supposed to live lives worthy of him. We speak highly of him, in fact. We back up our speech with behavior that is fitting of our great God and King.

[40:13] At the beginning of the service, we sang that song, Blessed be the name of the Lord. Those are words spoken by Job in the book of Job, where upon losing every possession he owned upon all his children dying in a single day, he responded, The Lord gave, Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away.

[40:40] Blessed be the name of Yahweh. Your suffering is an opportunity. I just want to say that.

[40:51] When you suffer, you can suffer well. You can suffer well because you are taking the name of Yahweh and you can say, The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, and he is still good.

[41:09] And I still say he is good. It is good to be counted worthy to suffer for the name of the Lord.

[41:24] And you can suffer with joy, with an underlying joy, as Jesus did. When Jesus spoke of his Father in heaven, his words were dripping with love, with affection, with satisfaction, with joy.

[41:41] In his God and Father. Even when pressed from all sides, even when persecuted and chased, and even when people were trying to put him to death, trying to ruin him.

[41:56] Even in his sorrow, even in his suffering, he had the joy of God his Father. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. When you talk about God, our Father.

[42:11] When you talk about his Son, Jesus Christ. When you talk about his Holy Spirit. Can people read it on your face? That you love him. That he is good.

[42:25] Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him. How I've proved him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. Oh, for grace to trust him more. He is so good to me.

[42:38] And the Lord promises great rewards for those who honor his name. To the people of Israel, in Exodus chapter 23, he promised them a land where they could be with him.

[42:51] That not only would God be great and God be good, but that he would be with them. He spoke to them about the angel, about that messenger that bore his name.

[43:03] And he told them, So in other words, the Lord is going to side with them.

[43:28] And protect them from anyone who wishes to harm them. Or to corrupt them. The Lord will preserve them.

[43:40] And the Lord will give them a place of rest. A land that he promised. For believers under the new covenant, we too have a promised land.

[43:52] A place of rest. We have a new heavens and a new earth that the Lord is preparing for us. We have a new land and a new city. The land of Canaan, the city of Jerusalem, they were just a shadow of this new land.

[44:05] This new land is the real land. This new city is the real city. In Revelation chapter 3, the Lord Jesus Christ, he tells the people of a church who are suffering for his sake.

[44:15] I know that you have but little power. You have but little power. And yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

[44:29] The one who conquers. I will make him a pillar. A pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it. And I will write on him the name of my God.

[44:42] And the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven. And my own new name.

[44:57] And then in Revelation chapter 22, the concluding words of the Bible. Jesus gave you and me this promise. That we will take on his name.

[45:08] Take his name upon ourselves forever and ever. They will see his face. And his name will be on their foreheads.

[45:20] We will see his face. His name will be on our foreheads. That our God is great. Our God is good. And our God will be with us forever and ever. We will not only bear his name.

[45:35] We will see his face one day. We will see that beautiful and lovely face. All that hardship. All the pain. That we carry.

[45:48] It's worth it. It's worth it. We will enjoy the blessing of the third commandment.

[46:00] The Lord commands that his good name be preserved from exploitation. And reserved for exaltation. And so he will be good to us. And he will be with us forever and ever.

[46:11] Let's give thanks. Our God.