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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Today, we're going to look at one of the most basic commands of God. It's the third out of ten basic rules for living God gave. And here's the command simply, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. What we're saying is you don't take his name in vain because his name is his character. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. When you hear someone say, do not take the Lord's name in vain, what comes to mind? Are Christians simply banned from certain forms of profanity?
Or is there more at stake? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes several ways we may be breaking the third commandment without even realizing it. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Again, to Pathway to Victory. Over the years, I've discovered the wisdom of setting aside time for a proper vacation. Our body, our mind, our soul need time to refresh and restore. And along those lines, I'm inviting you to join me on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean cruise.
The dates are May 5th through 16th, 2025. Yes, it's a luxury to set sail in the Mediterranean Sea. But this vacation isn't just about pampering. It's designed to impact your life on every level, including spiritual refreshment and life-giving moments to worship and celebrate our Creator. Check out the breathtaking views you'll see along the way. Look at the quaint villages we'll get to visit together.
And most importantly, reserve your spot today by going to ptv.org. Well, today I'm continuing our important study on the Ten Commandments. Is there a topic any more relevant than this one? And as parents and grandparents, it's our God-given role to instill a sense of security and safety that come when we follow God's foundational rules. And so I've written a brand new book that will equip you to share these timeless principles with the young ones you love. It's called The Ten Commandments for Kids. By providing these 10 moral guardrails to your loved ones, children develop resilience and inner strength, and no one is more qualified to communicate these truths than you. So request your copy of The Ten Commandments for Kids when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. We'll say more about my children's book and other resources later.
But right now, let's begin our study together. I titled today's message Revere God's Name, the Third Commandment. In 1968, a Maryland man named Irving West got involved in a fistfight at a high school carnival. When he was being arrested for disorderly conduct, he uttered a blasphemous phrase invoking God's condemnation. The next day, he stood before the judge. The judge sentenced him to 30 days in jail and $25 fine for disorderly conduct.
Nobody was surprised by that. But then the judge did something very unusual. He sentenced him to an additional 30 days in jail and an additional fine for breaking a 1723 law in Maryland against blasphemy. The 1723 law said, Anyone who shall write or utter any profane name or words concerning the Trinity, especially our Savior Jesus Christ, shall on conviction be fined not more than $100 or in prison not more than six months or both at the discretion of the court. Well, the civil libertarians were outraged by that. They thought Irving West was being treated unfairly.
But the truth is, Irving West got off quite easily. If he had been living in the Old Testament days, the punishment would have been much more severe. There was a zero tolerance level for using God's name in vain. Today, we're going to look at one of the most basic commands of God. It's the third out of 10 basic rules for living God gave. We're in a series on the 10 commandments called the 10, how to live in love in a world that's lost its way. And our study has brought us to Exodus chapter 20 verse 7. And here's the command simply.
Turn there if you will. Moses said, God said, You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain. What does it mean to take God's name in vain? Our own member, Dr. Eugene Merrill, in his commentary on the book of Deuteronomy summarizes or paraphrases the commandment this way, You shall not lift up the name of Yahweh your God without reason.
And that's what this command is all about. It's not just about profanity. It is about lifting up using God's most holy name needlessly. Today, we're going to look at why God gives such a severe command and how to avoid experiencing the consequences of breaking that command. You see a great illustration of how seriously God takes the use of his name in Leviticus chapter 24.
Leviticus 24 tells us a story about a man who got in a fist fight, much like Irving West. He blasphemed, Leviticus 24 says, and verse 11 says, he blasphemed the name Yahweh. He just said, this man blasphemed the name.
And so the people were troubled when they heard it. And those who heard this man's blasphemy, they brought him before Moses, said, Moses, what should we do about this? In verse 13 and 14, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, bring the one who was cursed outside the camp and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head. Now why were they laying their hands on this guilty man's head? They weren't ordaining him.
They weren't pronouncing a blessing upon him. They were transferring their secondhand guilt for blasphemy for just hearing the blasphemy. They were transferring any guilt they had to this man who was responsible for the blasphemy.
That's what laying on of hands meant in this sense. It was a transference, not a blessing, but of guilt. And then God passed judgment on him. Leviticus 24, 14, and 16, let all the congregation stone him. The one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. That's how severe an offense it was to blaspheme the name of God.
Now I know what you're thinking. I'm sure glad I don't live in the Old Testament times. Man, I'm sure glad I don't serve a God who is so uptight that he kills people for the simplest thing.
I serve a God of grace and forgiveness. I sure am glad God has changed. Do you think God has changed? Hebrews 13, 8 says God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
His name is just as serious today as it was 3,500 years ago. God hasn't changed. You know one way I know that is by reading the Lord's Prayer. Remember the disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray. He said, all right, here's how to pray.
Matthew chapter 6, begin with praying for world peace. Did he say do that? He said, did he begin by saying pray that the hungry will be fed? No. He said pray for social justice, that there'll be an outbreak of social justice in the world.
No. He didn't pray for those things first. He said pray this way. Our Father who is in heaven, what? Hallowed be your name, your name. He was praying for the holiness, the sacredness of God's name, that it would be realized.
Why did he pray that way? Because people link a person's name with their character. What they're called is based on who they are.
Let me illustrate that for you. When I say the name Abraham Lincoln, what comes to mind? You think about his appearance probably, tall, sullen expression, but more than that you think about his character. You think about his desire to bring our country together when it was torn in two.
You think about the emancipation proclamation. You think about his character. When I say Adolf Hitler, what comes to your mind? Well, you might think of a short man with a funny mustache, but more than that you think of his character, demonic intentions, the extermination of six million Jews during the Holocaust.
You think of his character or lack thereof. It's the same thing when we talk about God. You know, the second commandment we talked about last time said don't diminish God by wrong thoughts of God.
It talks about worshiping the true God in the wrong way. Don't have wrong thoughts about God that diminish him. This third commandment is saying don't trivialize God by the words that you speak. When we use God's name needlessly, we are trivializing and diminishing the glory of God. That's why God says don't use my name needlessly. How do we use the name of God in vain?
Let me mention several ways you may have never thought of. The most common way, of course, is through profanity. We use God's name when we have an accident, when somebody insults us. If we're not careful, we profane the name of God. But it's not just limited to outbursts of anger. So are outbursts of shock and outrage that invoke God's name.
That's profanity. But there are other ways that we take God's name in vain through falsehoods. That is through lives, half-proves, and outright deceptions. Some people use God's name to manipulate other people. For example, a high school student says, Mom, Dad, God told me that you're to buy me a new car. Well, unless God really told you that, you better not do that.
Our pastors are the worst about this. God has told me we're to build a new building. Now, I've said before I think God is leading us to build a new campus. I think God is opening the way.
I think it would be a good thing. But I was very careful never to say God told me to do that. There's a difference. When we attach God's name to a falsehood, that's especially a severe thing to do. When people say, as God as my witness, you better make sure the next words that come out of your mouth are absolutely true because there's nothing worse than attaching God's name to a falsehood. You know, in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said, let your yes be your yes and your no a no. You don't have to invoke the name of God. Let your yes be your yes and no be your no. Does that mean Christians should never swear, so help me God in court?
I'll let you sort that out whether you should or shouldn't. But if you do, you better be sure you told the truth what you say because you've attached God's name to your statement. There's a third way we take the name of God in vain, and that's through frivolity. Now, some of you are actually going to go back and see if you can find a sermon where I did this. And I will admit to you right now, I've done it in the past. I shouldn't have done it. I will try not to do it again.
It's innocent in one sense, but it's really deadly in another. We should never attach God's name to a joke. Did you hear the story about the Baptist preacher, the priest, and the rabbi who went to heaven and God said to them, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah?
Don't do that. Don't invoke God's name in a joke. That is trivializing the name of God. A fourth way we do it is through phoniness, through hypocrisy. Jesus talked about that in Matthew 15.7 when he said, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.
You know what he's talking about there? He's talking about a worship minister, not our worship minister, but a worship minister who stands up leading the singing about praising the name of Jesus, and he never gives a name, a thought, to the name of Jesus Monday through Friday. He's just up there leading everybody, pretending he's holy. Or the pastor who stands up and talks about how important God's word is, how important prayer is, and he neither prays nor reads his Bible the rest of the week. Jesus is talking about church members who stand to worship. Their lips are moving. They're saying or singing the right things, but their thoughts are far away.
Their thoughts are around lunchtime and what they're going to have for dinner and what they're going to be doing the next week. One theologian said it this way. We misuse the name of the Lord by speaking hallowed words while living hollow lives.
Don't do that. Jesus said in Luke 6, 46, Why do you call me Lord, yet you do not do what I say? Why do people take God's name in vain? Why do they use the name of God needlessly if there's such severe punishment for doing so? Three reasons I've discovered.
One reason is a lack of knowledge, a lack of knowledge. There's some of you listening to this message right now or here in our worship center. You didn't know this, honestly. You thought using God's name was limited to blasphemy, but you realize there are many ways to use his name needlessly. That's understandable. That's honest. You can ask God right now for forgiveness.
If he hasn't struck you dead yet, you can ask him for forgiveness for what you've done and really make a commitment to him. You're not going to do that again. A lack of knowledge. A second reason people do it is because of a lack of self-control. They have used God's name so carelessly for so long that they find it a hard habit to break.
Maybe they grew up in a home where that was done on a regular basis. Again, that's honest, but it's not an excuse. Let me give you three keys for guarding your speech against any kind of unwholesome speech. First of all, admit to God that you need to control your speech. Admit to God you're having difficulty doing this. You know, in James 3, 8, James says, No one can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. But James didn't say we shouldn't try because Jesus said in Matthew 12, verses 36 and 37, We will be held accountable for every idle word we speak. We are going to be judged for this, so go ahead and admit to God your need to control your speech. By the way, self-control, including tongue control, is one of the evidences of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5, 22 and 23 says, But the fruit of the Spirit is joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Second key for guarding yourself against blasphemy, disassociate yourself from people who take God's name in vain regularly.
Now, in some cases you may not have a choice if you work for somebody who does that. But as you're able, remove yourself from close association with people who break this commandment. And then finally, fill your mind with edifying thoughts about God. It's not enough to say don't do this, don't speak God's name in vain.
You've got to replace that habit with a good habit. Start thinking about the holiness, the sacredness of God's name. In Psalm 111, verse 9, here's a great verse to remember.
Psalm 111, verse 9, Holy and awesome is your name. Or Ephesians 4, 29, Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word is as good for edification, for building up, that it may give grace to those who hear it. Why do people break this commandment and use God's name in vain?
A lack of knowledge, a lack of self-control. A third reason, a lack of a genuine salvation experience. Now, I'm going to tread carefully here, but I want to share a conviction of my heart and what I've seen for more than 40 years of pastoring. When people blaspheme, use the name of Jesus Christ as a profane statement, or they joke about Jesus, I don't think you can do that and be saved. I think if you've genuinely encountered the Lord, you're going to have the same experience that Peter did. Luke 5, 8, When he came to the understanding who Jesus was, he fell down before Jesus and said, Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man.
That's the attitude of somebody who has really encountered the Jesus of the Bible. Years ago, I was on a program for a Christian organization. The emcee for the program was a boisterous man, and every other word was God this, God that, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, and at one point he said, now, if you're not a part of our organization, you need to pray that Jesus will save you.
In fact, let's bow our heads right here and pray that Jesus saves us for not being a part, and on and on and on he went in that vein. Later in the program, they gave an award to a missionary. When this missionary took the stand, she said, in a very soft-spoken voice, she said, any good thing in my life is because of what my Savior Jesus has done for me. He saved me, he called me to his service, and I dedicate this award to him. Now, two different people with two different attitudes about the name of Jesus Christ.
Again, I don't think it's possible to continually blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ and be a true follower of Jesus Christ. Many of you know the name of Jack Hayford. Jack used to tell this story about being with his family on vacation. They ended up out in the middle of nowhere and needed gasoline, so they pulled in, they found a fill-in station, and the attendant came out.
He looked like he was straight out of a sitcom. He had a greasy hat and a toothpick sticking out of his mouth, and Jack said, would you fill my car up with gas? He said, yeah. He was filling the car up with gas, and he said to Jack, hey, mister, this God blank tire of yours, but he didn't use a blank. He said the GD thing. He said, this GD tire of yours is about to blow, and if it does, it could be a disaster for you.
Can I change it? And Jack thanked him and said, well, thank you very much for doing that. And so for the next 20 minutes, this guy worked on the tire, and every other word was GD, this GD tire, this GD car, this GD highway, and GD this and GD that.
Finally, Jack couldn't take it any longer. He said, sir, would you please stop saying that? I don't want God to damn my car.
I don't want God to damn my family, and that's what you're asking him to do. Please don't say that any longer. And the attendant was startled. He said, well, sir, I'm so sorry.
I didn't mean to offend you. And Jack said, you know, you're a mechanic. You work with tires, and because of your observation, you saved me and my family from a potential disaster, and I want to thank you for that. But I'm a pastor. I work with souls. And as I heard you talking about God and the way you were, I thought, you know, this man saved my family from a disaster.
I want to save him from a disaster. So I'm here to tell you, sir, you can't use God's name that way without paying a heavy, heavy price. And I'd say the same thing to you. I don't pretend to be any better or any holier than you are. I'm a fellow Christian with you, but I'm your pastor.
I care about what happens to you. And I would say to you, you can't use God's name carelessly without disaster. Don't keep using the name of God needlessly. God's name is holy and sacred, and He commands us to give it due respect. That's one of the many lessons we draw from this third commandment.
And before I turn the microphone back over to David, let me remind you that you still have time to request my brand-new book for children. It's called The Ten Commandments for Kids. As a great schoolboy, I remember looking up from my desk and seeing all Ten Commandments clearly displayed on the classroom wall.
Wow, those idyllic days are gone. Not only have the Ten Commandments disappeared from public display, but some of our school administrators seem to despise them. Well, I'm convinced that God continues to bless those who adhere to His moral code. So let me send you a copy of my brand-new book written for the young people in your life. It's called The Ten Commandments for Kids, and it's yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. And that's not all, because I'll also include my bestselling book for adults as well. It's called The Ten, How to Live and Love in a World That Has Lost Its Way.
Polls tell us what we already know to be true. Fewer and fewer adults are attending church, which means that fewer and fewer children are learning God's way. Friends, please do what God has asked you to do. Pass along your faith to the children and grandchildren in your life. Let me send you these valuable resources today when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Now here's David with all the details.
Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request a copy of the brand-new illustrated children's book, The Ten Commandments for Kids, when you contact the ministry of Pathway to Victory with a generous gift. Plus, you'll receive a copy of the bestselling book by Dr. Jeffress called The Ten, How to Live and Love in a World That Has Lost Its Way. Call us toll-free at 866-999-2965 or visit our website, ptv.org. Now when you give $125 or more, we'll also send you the complete collection of audio and video discs for The Ten teaching series.
You'll get that along with the helpful study guide. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. Now if you'd like to grab an envelope and a pen, here's the address, P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Computers and smartphones have helped us become far more connected with each other, but sometimes we fail to take the time to slow down, learn why the Sabbath is still essential for life in the 21st century, that's coming up on Thursday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
