And we're going to continue in our series in Exodus, Exodus chapter 20, and we're looking at the Ten Commandments. We're in the third commandment now. And in the third commandment, most people misunderstand what the commandment is meant for. It's not taking the Lord's name in vain. A lot of people put it in a single category of saying, well, it means taking the Lord's name in vain, like using the Lord's name in a cuss word. Well, it encompasses that, but it means so much more. And I want to bring that out with what the Hebrew is saying, and all the connotations that come from that, and the implications. And what you will see is, it is far more than what most people think about, thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain. It's way more than just speaking it in a negative way, in a blasphemous way, or anything of that nature. So what you're going to realize is that once we're done and we see the implications, is where our society is at in terms of judgment with God. Because this commandment has a penalty attached to it. And the penalty actually doesn't go away. It's going to come back on the culture, on the society, on the nation, or even on the individual. Now, if the individual is a believer and they ask for forgiveness, yes, they can be relieved of that punishment. But a society or a nation that takes the Lord's name in vain, will not go unpunished. This is the one commandment that says, I will make you pay for this one. And we'll see the gravity and the weight of that as we explore this. And as you can tell, our society is heading to Hades in a handbasket, heading straight for the tribulation. And I think what you start realizing about our culture is God is showing you and I why. The people of this world who refused to come to faith in His Son deserve the tribulation. The wackiness that we're seeing day after day, the Romans 1 mindset, the mentality of just God-haters, you're now starting to realize why God is justified in bringing the tribulation to people. And number one, here on this list, along with many others, is taking the Lord's name in vain. Not only is the world doing that, America is doing that, and even the churches are doing it. So let's jump in and explore this and try to understand this the best way we can so we can see the implications in it. It says, you shall not take, and that's where I want to stop and parse that out. So let's just look at that command. You shall not take. The Hebrew means several things. And so you're going to see in the idea of the Hebrew word take the implications. To take means to lift up, to raise up, to carry, to misuse, and then obviously to misuse on one's lips, to wear the name for no good. So when you take in all of what the Hebrew word is, it's more than just a verbal misuse of God's name. It means a lot more. And then it says, the name of the Lord your God. Now, obviously the Lord in your English Bible is capitalized, but it is the term, the personal name, Yahweh. And Yahweh is the personal name of Israel's God, the God of the Bible, the God that we serve. Now, to the Jews, they emphasized the taking of the Lord's name in vain on the lips. That's what they emphasized. to the point where even today the Jews will not say the name Yahweh. Again, we don't even know if we're pronouncing the name right. But they use the word Hashem. Hashem. And this is the word they use to substitute for the name Yahweh. So you'll hear them in their prayers and in their books and things of that nature refer to Yahweh as Hashem. Hashem is basically, ha is the, and shem is name, the name. So that's what they use in reference to Yahweh. They just call his name the name. They won't pronounce the name. And unfortunately, we don't know when this happened, but the Jews, because they forbid using Yahweh's name in case they did it in vain because they knew the punishment attached to it, we lost the pronunciation of how to pronounce Yahweh. We don't know if we're pronouncing it right. It's definitely not Jehovah, I can tell you that, because the Hebrew alphabet doesn't have a J. So it's not Jehovah, but it's... similar to something like Yahweh, but we're not sure. This is how strict the Jews were in pronouncing the name. They forbid it. The only person, it got down to the only person that could actually pronounce Yahweh's name He's the high priest of Israel. Once a year when he went into the temple, and I believe it was on Yom Kippur, he was the only one that could actually pronounce the name. And when he was there, he would pronounce the name and that was it. So when he was inside, no one heard him. Only he would know how to pronounce the name. So the Jews in the courts of the temple and things of that nature would not hear the name. And therefore, it got lost. So apparently, the correct pronunciation was passed on from high priest to high priest to high priest. Well, guess what happened in 70 AD? The temple was destroyed. There is no more temple, and there's no more high priest going through the temple doing this. Basically you could pinpoint it to 70 AD is when at least the Jews lost the pronunciation of the name because of only one priest being able to do it. So that was not passed on and so we've lost it. And eventually we will know it when we get to be with the Lord in heaven and whatnot, we'll know how to finally pronounce it. And by the way, Yahweh is a Hebrew name. We will be speaking Hebrew in heaven. That is the language of angels in heaven is the Hebrew language. We will one day speak Hebrew when we're in heaven. It's not gonna be English, Russian, or anything like that. It is Hebrew. Couple implications I wanna point out about this before we move into the application of it. Why? Why is this name of God so sacred that it would incur a punishment, even unto death, if you misused it? Let me point out four things. Number one, God is the greatest being, obviously. Therefore, his name is the greatest name that must be honored due to his power, authority, and holiness. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess." Have you heard that passage? The name of Jesus is Yahweh. That's the idea. And because he has that name, And it goes in line with his human name, Jesus. Remember, he took on an additional nature and became Jesus of Nazareth by taking on an additional nature. But before he became Jesus, the second person of the Trinity was called the Memra, or the Logos, or the Captain of the Lord's Army, right? And then he took on that additional nature, and the man part of the second person of the Trinity is Jesus of Nazareth. The God part of Jesus is Yahweh, right? So when he is resurrected, that name, that human name, Jesus, is now combined, so to speak, with the highest name of all, Yahweh. That is why at the name of Jesus, his earthly name, every knee will bow and every tongue confess because Saying the name Jesus is like saying the name Yahweh. It's one and the same, so to speak, because of the God-man nature of Him. And so that's why when you see in the demonic realm, they will obey that name Jesus. That name Jesus is powerful because of who he is. And obviously, we know at one point in time at the second coming, every knee will bow and confess that Jesus, when it says Jesus is Lord, it means that Jesus is Yahweh, okay? Second, the name reveals his personal relational name and covenantal name. God has over and over, shown by giving his personal name that he is a personal God, that he's interested in each individual. He's not some paganistic God that doesn't care about humanity. He is a God that loves people and he is personal. So to Israel, when he reveals his personal name, this is the same name he revealed to Abraham, obviously, and made Abraham a covenant. Because of that. And that's what the Jews are under right now. They're under the Abrahamic covenant. And they're protected because of the name. The name of God. And therefore, how about us as believers in Christianity? We're under the name, and the name obviously Jesus, Yahweh, under the New Covenant. That's where the covenant promises are made to you and I, under the New Covenant. But it does show you that God is personal. He cares about his people. He loves his people and the world, as you know. Third, the name represents his essence, his nature, his being, his character, and his reputation, known through the divine attributes. His omniscience, the three omnis, omnipresence, things of that nature, all are there. So when we name the name Yahweh, we're referring to all of this about him. So in the Hebrew culture, what they would do is, the name represented everything about that person, everything about their reputation, everything about their essence. That is why taking God's name is so in violation, because it violates his character, it violates his holiness, it violates his three omnis. Fourth, the name represented his revealed special revelation with his teachings and doctrines. Now this is further implication of thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. What do you mean? When you say Jesus, when you say Yahweh, it also communicates not just the person of Yahweh, but his teachings. The divine revelation that comes to us through the Bible that has been put down represents him. So when you violate this thing, this divine revelation, you're violating this third commandment. Thou shall not take the Lord thy God in vain. It includes his teachings and doctrines found in the Bible. Okay, so that's why It's so grave a sin when somebody, believer or unbeliever, takes the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Okay, let's talk about vain. Let's go to the next slide, please. In vain. Okay, what does this mean? Well, there's a whole host of names that define vain. It means empty, groundless, without basis, frivolous, with deception, insincere, and unjustified. So all those things represent vainness. It's a misuse, an unjustified misuse of God's name. So, with that being said, that's the commandment. Now let's go into the application. Everybody can understand the commandment. It's very simple. Even a child can understand the commandment. But the implications are far-reaching and very broad because of the language of the Hebrew in the text. And so I want to explore that a little bit. So let's go with the first thing, it forbids. It forbids any human being reviling God or cursing God. Well, what do you mean? Well, one of the ways that people revile God or curse God, it's not, they could do that with their mouth, there's no doubt about that. We call that blasphemy. And we obviously have a culture full of blasphemy, and I'll show you one in just a second. But it also means that when someone goes against the Bible, when someone mocks the Bible, reviles it, and just simply hates it, that is taking the Lord God's name in vain, because they're mocking what He says. Look at these people now in our culture, what they're trying to do to our kids. Next slide. So you now have kids watching cartoons where there's drag queens on there. We showed this to our Wednesday night audience, and when the kids see this, they're being groomed into this mindset. Next one please. And so now you have all kinds of whatever you want to call on cartoons. When you see this, we know it violates Genesis, because of two in the kind of humans, you have male and female, and then it violates the sexual prohibitions in the Bible. So when they do this, when these people do this, they don't know this, but they're taking the Lord God's name in vain because they're diametrically opposed to his law. Whether they know it or not, they have taken the Lord's God name in vain. Now, verbally, like I mentioned, you could do this as well. We have people in our Congress now that are taking the Lord's name in vain. Listen to Jerry Nadler. This guy's crazy, by the way. He's evil. I'm sorry, there's no other way to put it, but listen to how this evil guy speaks in our Congress. It's not clothing or personal style that offends God, but rather the use of one's appearance to act out or take on a sexual identity different from the one biologically assigned by God at birth. In his wisdom, God intentionally made each individual uniquely either male or female. When men or women claim to be able to choose their own sexual identity, they are making a statement that God did not know what he was doing when he created them. I'm going to quote directly from Dr. Tony Evans' commentary Bible on this passage of scripture. Men and women equally share in bearing the image of God, but he has designed them to be distinct from and complementary toward one another. The gender confusion that exists in our culture today is a clear rejection of God's good design. Whenever a nation's laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against him and will inevitably bear the consequences. The House will be in order? Gentlemen, may I continue? I'm going to read that line again. Whenever a nation's laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against him and will inevitably bear the consequences. And I think we are seeing the consequences of rejecting God here in our country today. And this bill speaks directly against what is laid out in scripture. Our government, through this bill, is going to redefine what a woman is and what a man is. It can be anyone who identifies in that gender, Mr. Stubey, what any religious tradition ascribes as God's will is no concern of this Congress. There you go. Did you hear that? God's will is no concern of this Congress. Violation. Nadler, unless he repents and comes to faith, and repents of what he just said, will have a more severe punishment in the end, whether it's in this life or the next, because he is in violation of taking the Lord's name in vain. God has no place in our Congress. But that reflects the attitude of America. America doesn't want God in its public square anymore. You Christians, you just keep him private in your little houses and stuff like that. Folks, it's happening more and more. You know, the interesting thing, I saw this, there's a blasphemy challenge on the internet. Yeah, a blasphemy challenge. These atheists put out a blasphemy challenge, daring God to send them to hell. And all these people sign up on this website, daring God to send them to hell. How stupid. How arrogant. How prideful. Because if they continue on, they will be cast into the lake of fire, and that'll be it. But this goes to the implication of reviling, cursing God, which you're seeing more and more of it. The schools, even though they don't verbally say it, don't want God there. Hollywood, media, entertainment, they don't want God there. Politics don't want God there. Number two, it remains making vows, oaths, or promises with God's name when one doesn't intend to honor them. Now, the fabric of American society is based on truth-telling, that when we swear in courts, you plan to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. You're supposed to be honest, but we have a whole slew of people that swear to God in His name, and then they flat-out lie for the rest of the time. He's gonna have to answer for God for lying. But this is the problem, right? Or how about this, three, giving legal testimony with God's name when one does not intend to be honest. Now that's another twist on this. But think for a moment, the last four years, how many liars that they did not intend to be honest perpetrate lies through the American populace? Let's move on, number four. Using God's name for personal gain. Now this is the idea where a politician or somebody will come off and say they're a believer and pretend to be pious and talk about God, and politicians are notorious for this, right? They'll go to evangelical circles to try to get their vote and pretend to be pious. That's taking the Lord's name in vain. When I was reading this last week, I could think of none other better example is when Rick Warren, the false teacher Rick Warren, had Obama at his church. You remember this? This was before Obama's first term. And I remember in that he brought him to his church and asked Obama, do you support traditional marriage? And what did Obama say to the evangelicals sitting in Rick Warren's church? Oh yes I do. Do you know something different now? Yeah, he lied. He pretended to be pious, pretended to be a so-called Christian. But Rick Warren, being the false teacher that he is, would bring in a guy and be schmoozed by a guy pretending to be pious. Let's continue on. Using God's name in profanity, carelessness, and any type of irreverent use of God's name verbally. Now obviously, this is the most obvious one, is using God's name as a cuss word, whether it's Jesus or just God. Now the point is, you and I know that, and I cringe every time I hear the public use it, To the public, using God's name or Jesus' name in cuss words is like a second language for them. You should hear the kids in high school now. Their language, their foul mouths that includes taking God's name in vain, they don't even know they're cussing. They don't even know they're swearing. That's how pervasive it is because when those kids go home, the parents do it as well. And so they think like interchanging cuss words with God's name in vain in their sentences is just adding like another adjective or whatever. They don't even think of the difference. That's how bad our language is now. It is totally irreverent. I hear cuss words when I hear commercials now. It's that bad. Every movie, it seems like, has to have a quota. We've gotta say this word at least 150 times, and we gotta say this word at least 100 times, or whatever. I don't know if they have a quota, but why is it that every other word is a cuss word in the movies or TV programs, including God's Name in Vain? It's because This is where they're at spiritually. Because out of the mouth, what happens? The heart speaks. This cursing and this reviling of God is coming out of their hearts and out of their mouth. By the way, if you've ever dealt with a demon, a demon that's either controlling an individual or actually possessing the individual, do you know what the hallmark in listening to the demon is? It constantly cusses, like with every other word. They're the most foulest creatures, and they speak the language of swearing and cursing. I think, isn't it amazing? The demons speak that way, and now people speak that way. I wonder what's controlling them. Six, using God's name to commit evil. Now, This happens quite frequently. The biggest example of this, obviously, in history, is what Hitler did. And think about this. Look at what Hitler did. October 27, 1928, we tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity. Our movement is Christian. Wow! Wow! And there's more and more quotes from Hitler that he used to galvanize the support of the churches. And the churches bought into this guy. This guy was satanic. And yet he was saying, we're doing things in the name of God, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Christianity. And so the German people got fooled by him. Not all of them, but most of them. They just took him on his words. Here's the problem. There are people today that think they're doing things for God when they're doing absolute evil. Right? And they package it in the sense that this is what God would want. This is what Jesus would want. And in their minds, Jesus wants a global government. Jesus wants to solve poverty. Jesus wants to do this and do that. And all of it is a social justice stuff coming from Marxism. Look, right now, the churches are involved in perpetrating Marxism with the veneer of Christianity. That's what's happening to American churches. They are being infiltrated and taken over by woke pastors. And they are doing this under the guise of this is what Jesus would do. Jesus would get a vaccine, they said. Didn't Franklin Graham say that? How dare he say that? What's wrong with him? But again, remember, evil's not gonna come to you in all its ugliness. What does evil come to you as? An angel of light. To do good, right? Seven, using God's name for a false version of him or a false theology. Again, remember, we refer to taking his name in vain means going against his word, going against his laws and his principles and precepts, okay? That being the case, look what is happening now where people are using a false version of Jesus, a false version of God, because now the churches are involved in promoting lesbian pastors, gay pastors, and transgender pastors under the name of Jesus. That's a guy. She's a lesbian. She's a lesbian. That's a guy in the Lutheran church. That's a guy. And all these people, their ordinations, they've been ordained, they've been sanctioned by their denomination, and the congregation celebrates them all under the name of Jesus, all under the name of Yahweh. Let alone the new movement and having a woman pastor. That's all part of cultural Marxism. It is forbidden for a woman to be a pastor. Absolutely forbidden and it's plain in scripture. And yet this is all celebrated under the name of Jesus. The biggest perpetrator, obviously, now, that's taking the Lord's name in vain is this guy, who I think he's the candidate, I think, for the false prophet. If not, he's in a good running, and the false prophet better take notes on this guy. This guy, promoting globalism, promoting Marxism, hates America, hates evangelicals, says that we are the scourge of society. You and I. This guy says we're the scourge. Promoting the Green New Deal. Promoting the Agenda 2030. Promoting the Great Reset. Guess what? He looks like a lamb, but what the scriptures say, he speaks like a dragon. Man, if this guy's not the false prophet, you're getting a preview of what the false prophet will be. This guy is dangerous. He's the most spiritually dangerous guy on the planet. And all your Catholic friends better wake up because this guy is evil. They have the head of their church as wicked as you can get. And he's worse because he does it in the name of Jesus. Scary stuff, man. Number eight, believers who misrepresent God's name. Now this starts coming home to us. See, the idea of taking the Lord's name, the Hebrew word take could mean to carry on yourself the name. to wear the name. And so this is where you get into a believer's behavior, believer's attitudes, and the way the world sees them. So this starts getting real personal real quick. You and I, we call ourselves Christians. What does that mean? You have taken on the Messiah's name. That's who you identify with. and so therefore we represent him. And I know I'm speaking to the choir. And I know you're doing everything you can to be a good witness to this fallen world. But guys, we're being undermined. We're being undermined by the rest of these other people out there who claim to be Christians. And whether they're Christians or not, or they're apostate, or they're immature, or worldly, whatever category they fit in, they're doing us a disservice. We have lost the culture war based on people watching so-called Christians. So for instance, let me show you some guys. Ravi Zacharias, what in the world? Thank you very much, Ravi, for what you just did. You put us all back 30 years for your antics. And if you don't know the story, you need to research it. Bill Johnson, stay right there. He's got a cult going up in Redding, California. And this cult is grade A. It combines word of faith, it combines all kinds of cultic tactics and stuff, and then they have a musical group called Jesus Culture. Promoting nonsense. But anyway, all these people think this is great. All these Christians go, oh, this is wonderful. And the guy says, oh yeah, we had angel feathers falling in our services. And we had gold dust falling in our services from heaven. And when the outside world looks at these jokers, what do they see? What a clown. That's what they think. That's Christianity? I don't want anything to do with it if I have to deal with that guy. Next one. We've got to find a better picture for that one. This guy, the worst. One of the worst. Absolute. Now he says he's repented. He doesn't believe in word of faith anymore. Here's what I want to say to Benny. Benny, if you repented, then give everybody back their money. The millions and millions of dollars you took, give it back. Look at this video. Look at this nonsense. Now when the world sees this, what do they think? They're crazy. These Christians are crazy. I don't want anything to do with that. Look at that. That's a two-bit carny hypnotist. That's all that guy is. So this is the face that people see for Christianity. They don't see you and me. They see this guy, this clown. And they see these other clowns. Look at these other guys. Bill Hybels has ruined most of American Christianity, along with this other guy, Rick Warren, which is the next guy. Those two guys produced the church growth movement, which all these churches are now following. And it's always about nickels and noses and results oriented. We want to grow a large church, and oh, that's great. They're the cause of the megachurch. The megachurch is not what is intended by the church. because the pastor turns into a CEO and he turns into just a public speaker because of these guys. And what's behind the church growth movement is nickels and noses, and what's behind it is we want a mile wide and an inch deep so that the people in the congregation are dependent on the church, dependent on the pastor for information. They're never trained up to be able to be independent on their own mature believers. They are the major cause in the last 30 years for the destruction of Christianity in America, and that's what everyone sees. Let's go to the next. This guy, and there's a whole host of people like this guy. This is like Rick Wiles, true news. He's not true, it's false news. Rick Wiles is a God-hating anti-Semite, and people think he's a Christian. He's out of his mind, and people follow him. and he curses the Jews left and right. But I'm just showing him as an example of the kinds of Christians that are out there. Oh, I thought we were supposed to provoke the Jews to jealousy according to the Apostle Paul. This guy drives them to hell. When you see the face of Christianity with these kinds of clowns, this is what we're up against. This is why we lose the culture. It's not because of you and I, it's because of these clowns. Do I have any more pictures of clowns? Okay, last clown. Max Licato. This guy, during the shutdowns, apparently got the spirit of wokeism. And all of a sudden became woke. let alone his baptismal regeneration, because that's what Max Locato believes. He believes in baptism for salvation, but comes out woke and says, we need to apologize for our white privilege. We need to apologize for our racism. We were born racist. Hey, Max, what happened to you, man? I thought you know the Bible. I thought you could discern cultural Marxism versus Christianity. Apparently not. But then when you have an author like this with millions of people following the guy and he comes out woke, guess what all those people do? They get woke too. They start absorbing cultural Marxism and they go down the path that he goes down on. It's sad, but this is what we're up against. This is them taking the Lord's name in vain. Let's go to number nine real quick. Believers who deny God's name. Believers who deny God's name. What do you mean by that? Well, there's passages, and especially in the churches, the seven churches of Revelation are giving warnings. And one of the commendations that he gives to the Philadelphia church is that they have not denied his name. which means they have stayed with the theology. They didn't give, they didn't compromise on their Christian views. That's what you and I have to be, a Philadelphia church. We never compromise. But what you're watching right in front of you is Christians starting to compromise, giving in to this culture, going along with it. Why is it now half the churches are supporting gay marriage? Why is that? They are denying the word. They are denying his name. How could a church license a transgender? That's a denial. How do churches promote abortion now? That's a denial. And you're seeing so many that you thought were good now starting to fall away in the great apostasy and now they're denying. Denying the Lord that bought them. Denying his teachings. Ashamed of his teachings. It's happening. Lastly, making a name for ourselves. Making a name for ourselves. You remember the Tower of Babel? If you read the Tower of Babel, their whole point of creating this thing is to make a name for themselves. See, before that, they were supposed to exalt the name of Yahweh, but they said, no, we do not want to exalt the name of Yahweh, we want to exalt our own name. And basically, they got out of the culture and started building the Tower of Babel. And folks, I hate to tell you this, this is what's happening now in America. They are building their own Tower of Babel because these people of this world want to make a name for themselves. They want to make monuments to themselves. Like Bill Gates and Fauci and the rest of all of them as examples. They're building their own towers. And ultimately it's going to culminate in the rebuilding of Babylon, as you know prophetically. This is where the world's going. Humanity is wanting to build a name. They're kicking God out of the entire globe. Look at the last warning though. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless. You know what that means? The Hebrew says, I'm not going to let anyone get away with this without punishment who takes his name in vain. So the punishment will follow whether in this life or in the next. Those who take the Lord's name in vain will answer for what they did. Now, I found this video this week. It's just a short video. And I want you to see this boat and the situation that's going on. And I want you to see that this boat, to me, looks like our culture. Look at this video. Now, This really happened. I know it looks like Photoshopped. This really happened. So what was happening is they were in a boat, they rented a boat, and the reason that boat stopped is there's cement underneath that it hit, but that's how close they were from going over the edge. And so they got a rescue boat and pulled them back, obviously. But when I see this picture, guys, it's a picture of our society. It's a picture of our world. They're that close to getting pulled over to the other side and going to go off the cliff, going off the edge. So what do we do? This is our society. We're still on our rescue mission. You wear the name of Jesus proudly, and you take the grief that comes and the shame that comes from this world by holding that name because we have to get as many people off of that boat right there onto the rescue boat with the Lord. They are taking the name of the Lord is in vain, no doubt, and the punishment is coming. It's coming, and it's close, but while we're here, We gotta throw the lifelines to see if anyone will take that lifeline at the end of the day. And repent of them blaspheming the Lord, repent of them taking the Lord's name in vain, and ultimately, coming to faith in the Messiah. And hopefully, while we're here, we can see that happen onesies and twosies and threesies. But at the end of the day, It's close. We don't have much time. So let's be about the Lord's work and trying to rescue as many as we can. Let's pray.