Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The commandment to not take the name of God in vain goes to the core of his nature and to the heart of respecting him as creator. Today, lessons we can take home from another of the Ten Commandments, lessons on how important his name really is. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line.
Pastor Lutzer, is common profanity the same thing as taking God's name in vain? You know, Dave, of course, when you use the word profanity, that covers a number of different words, a number of different attitudes, but even as you are asking the question. My mind went to the book of Ephesians, chapter five, where it says that there should be no filthy talk, There should be no uncleanness that comes out of our mouths. Boy, that's important. If we profess faith in Jesus Christ, our speech should reflect that.
and we're living in an era in which oftentimes there is so much loose speech which is really oftentimes an invitation to profanity. I want to share with you at the end of this message a very exciting story that comes to us from a Spanish listener. It's so important for us to recognize that the Ministry of Running to Win goes around the world in different languages. Whenever someone understands the scriptures and comes to faith in Christ, We rejoice, and I want you to rejoice. With us.
But for now, Let us listen.
Okay. Uh When Nathan came to David, he said, David. The Lord has taken away your sin.
However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die. That's the verse. What God is saying is, He's saying, David, because you lived inconsistently with my name, you took my name, you are known as a man of God, and now, because of your adultery and your murder, you are acting in a way that dishonors me, you are causing the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. You know, if we had two pianos here, you hit one middle C, there would be another middle C that would resonate. And what he's saying is that your life has impact, and when you disobey God under the name and the authority of God, you cause others to drag the name of God into the dirt from the standpoint of humanity.
You are causing them to blaspheme.
Now, that's what can happen very easily. It's when we ourselves Take the name of God and say that we are Christians, and then cause others to blaspheme because of the way we live. Down in Texas, there's a seminary in Dallas, and I happen to have graduated from it many years ago, and since that time, there have been many other students. And I'd like you to listen to the story of one of those students who wrote these words. While working as a salesman for a large company, I met a girl named Liz, who was in charge of phone solicitation.
She was an attractive young woman, but used profanity that would embarrass any sailor. Smoked one cigarette after another and lied. the customers. One day she stopped me and asked, you go to Dallas Seminary, don't you? I was shocked.
Then she really dropped the bomb. She said, I guess you're surprised that I would know about the seminary?
Well, I'm a Christian too. I go to a Bible church, and one of your professors is the pastor. By this time, he says, I was ready to be peeled off the floor. Then she said, I guess you wonder why I don't act like a Christian? He said I managed a o well well yes.
She said, The reason I don't act like a Christian is because of the bad witness I would be if these people knew that I was a Christian. It is better that they not know. That I am a Christian.
Well, you know, we're told in today's society you should always try to find some good in everybody. If you look long enough and hard enough, you'll find it.
So we take our magnifying glass here and let's take a look at Liz. There is something good about her. Yes, it's true that her conduct is despicable, and she might not even be a Christian. I mean, to talk like that. But there is one good thing about her.
It is quite true that it would be a very poor testimony if the employees around her knew that she was a Christian. If she is, it is indeed much better that they not know. With that, we agree. She does have some insight. You see, if there's somebody here today and you lie and you don't tell the truth and you swear at work, don't tell people that you're a Christian.
Help us. Don't say that I'm a Christian. And if they ask you where you go to church, You know, I mean, if you're lying already anyway, add one more lie to your sin and say that you just don't remember. call it temporary amnesia. Say, you know, sometime in the distant future, maybe in the next couple of years, it'll come to me, but just at this moment, I just can't seem to get a handle on it.
I know that many of you are the victims of divorce, and you've gone through an awful lot of excruciating pain and guilt, and in no way do I want to add any to you. I do want to quote the words of Charlie Tremendous Jones.
Now, Charlie Tremendous Jones. He is a man who gives speeches to Christian businessmen on motivation. One day he was being interviewed on television, and he said something that I wouldn't say, but I quote it only because he had a point. He looked into the television camera and he said, If any of you out there are trying or planning to get a divorce and you're a Christian, he said you could help the cause of Christ by telling your friends that you're an atheist.
Now again, I wouldn't say that, but I'm quoting him. But you see, the point that he was trying to make is: when we live inconsistently by the name of God, we actually cause the world to blaspheme.
Now, it's true, of course, that sometimes we can minister to other people effectively simply by. The way in which we respond to circumstances that are just as tragic as those experienced by the world. That's true. But the point is that we can dishonor the name of God. We can take the name of God in vain by saying, I'm a Christian, and then live in such a way that it is inconsistent with the name of God.
And we call his reputation into question.
Now, let me ask you a question today. How does God respond to taking His name in vain? Is this a little thing that He takes lightly?
Well now I do want you to turn to Leviticus chapter 24, and I even think I have the right passage this time. Leviticus chapter 24, where there's a very interesting experience. that took place in the life of the children of Israel. Leviticus 24. Verse 10 talks about an Israelite woman whose father was an Egyptian.
And he went out among the sons of Israel, and the Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel struggled with each other in the camp. Just see the situation. They are in a fight. They're angry with each other. Verse 11, and the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the name.
What name? My word, there is only one name, and that is the name of the Lord. The woman blasphemed, that is to say, the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the name and cursed, so they brought him to Moses. Verse twelve, and they put him in custody, so that the command of the LORD might be made clear to them. Then the LORD spake to Moses, saying, Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who hear him lay their hands all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and then let all the congregation stone him.
And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If anyone curses his God, then he shall bear his sin. Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien, as well as the native, when he blasphemes the name. shall be put to death.
You say, well, surely God has changed his mind about this. I mean this was Old Testament. We live in the New Testament era. May I remind you that God has not changed his mind about this one idea? IOTA, not one iota.
The only reason that we don't do that today, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, is because in today's world, God has allowed it or designed it that the civil authorities are not responsible for inflicting the penalty.
So today we do not stone people for all of these things, but I want you to know that it is absolutely unthinkable and blasphemous to think that God has mellowed throughout the centuries. He has not changed his mind about this. And today, whether it's in the city of Chicago or wherever you may be from, in office buildings and in cars and in various relationships, in factories, and wherever the name of God comes out of people's mouths, thoughtlessly, cursing, either in anger or flippantly, God is monitoring those situations, and the Bible says He will not hold him guiltless. who takes his name in vain. No way.
has God changed his mind. He is just as insulted by it today as he was back then. You say, well, what is the answer then? Curse God, we can take His name in vain by Careless vows, careless speech, a careless life. What is the answer?
You know what I like about the Bible is it has the ability to go right to the heart of a matter. Because if you want to clean up your mouth and you were to go to some kind of a self-help seminar, they'd say, Well, you know what you do is try not to say it, and whenever you do, tell yourself that you're going to give $5 to charity, and if you do that long enough, soon you'll find out that you're giving too much money, and that'll help you to watch what comes out of your mouth, etc., etc. You know, Jesus has a totally different explanation for the whole problem. You know what Jesus taught? He said that if you want to clean up your mouth, there is a way to do it, and that is to clean up your heart.
That's what he said. Turn to Matthew chapter 12, where Christ speaks specifically to this issue. Of good speech. and what comes out of the human heart. Notice he says, The twelfth chapter of Matthew.
He's talking in verse 33 about making the tree good and its fruit good. Because he said That it is the tree that produces the fruit. And you can't solve the problem of a wrong tree bearing wrong fruit unless you deal with a tree specifically. Verse 35: the good man out of the good treasure. of the heart brings forth what is good.
And the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil. And I say to you that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be vindicated. and by your words you shall be condemned. Jesus said, The real problem with wrong speech, the real problem with evil speech is the pollution of the human heart.
An evil man out of his evil heart brings forth speech like that. May I say that the evil heart is in league actually with Satan? And Satan wants to curse and blaspheme God. That's why one of the symptoms sometimes of demon possession is a tremendous desire to curse. Curse and blaspheme.
And that explains, incidentally, why there are children that are born who, at the age of one or two years, curse with words they have never heard nor learned. They have never heard them, and they're coming out of their mouths. Under the influence of spirits that are given over to cursing God. And sometimes there are people who say, well, you know, I just blow up and I swear, but I just get it all out of my system. My friend, that is so wrong.
Even recent studies, not that we look to the recent studies to find the truth, but recent studies of two or three years ago prove that that is completely false. Theories that were taught years ago about it getting it out of your system are just wrong. When you swear and blaspheme God, you don't get anything out of your system. It actually inflames your temper. It actually magnifies the problem.
It never solves it because you're dealing here with a force that is really beyond the immediate situation. And so the text says that the evil person, out of the evilness of his heart, brings forth evil, but. A good man brings forth that which is good. You say, Well, how can I have a good heart?
Well, that's what Christ's death was all about. The reason that Jesus Christ died on the cross is not only that we might be forgiven, though that certainly is a great part of the story, but it isn't the whole story. The other part is that Jesus died on the cross that we might also be changed. A new heart I will give you, he predicted even in the Old Testament. He said, I will take aside that heart of stone, that heart that wants to stand against God, that heart that wants to speak against God, that heart that wants to blaspheme God.
I will take out that heart of stone, and he says, I will give you a heart of flesh, a heart that is sensitive towards God. A heart that will be so sensitive that the minute an evil word comes out of your mouth you'll be aware of it and you'll confess it right on the spot. Because you'll know that you said it in the presence of a holy God. That's what Jesus is all about. He's in the business of cleaning out hearts.
and changing them. That's the good news of the gospel. My friend, today, I don't care how bad your language is, you do not have to go on that way. Of course, after you receive Christ as Savior and He cleanses your heart, there may still be times when these words, these bad habits, come out of your mouth, but the blessed Holy Spirit who is given to you will build into you such sensitivity that soon you will not be able to speak lightly of God or, for that matter, other kinds of. Profane language without being aware of it and without it defiling you within and bringing about the ability to say no.
To the thoughts and the intents of the heart that are distasteful to the Almighty. That's what Christ is in the business of doing. And my challenge to you today is that we who name the name of God. And I want you to know that I don't think that there's a greater honor in all the world than to be identified with the Almighty and to be identified with Christ. I mean, to me, what else, what other honor could one ever suggest?
I would rather be known as a man of God than known as anything else in this wide world. And I know that you feel the same way. You would rather be known as a woman of God or a man of God than any other designation that people could ever latch onto you. But let's remember that along with the honor comes a tremendous responsibility because we can blaspheme and we can take the name of the Lord in vain in speech, but we can also do it in life. And God wants our lives to be brought up to date with the character and the name.
that he's been willing to share with us. Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers. And I hope that we will act as if we are his brothers. You remember that story of Alexander the Great, who was very upset with a soldier who was a coward who ran away in battle, and Alexander went up to him and chewed him out. Told him a whole bunch of things that probably would not be good if we could know what they were.
And uh Finally, Alexander was shouting at this coward and said to him, What is your name? And he said, my name is Alexander, sir. And Alexander even became more enraged, and he took that man and he just shook him, and he said, Either change your character or change your name. That's it. Who are you?
You're a Christian? That's great. I hope everybody in your office knows it. You belong to God, you walk with the king. I'm glad that that's true.
But let us remember that along with it comes the awesome responsibility of representing the God that we claim to love and to serve by our speech and by our life, because the text says, God does not hold them guiltless who take his name in vain. Don't easily, simply, flippantly be associated with the name. Because then you have the responsibility of living up to the name. The name. Check says.
And either we should Ask God to change our character, or maybe We should change our name and not tell people that we belong to the king. Lest we cause the world. to blaspheme. Let's pray. Our father today.
We think of the awesome responsibility that we have. To bring out from the good treasure of our hearts that which speaks good and not evil. And we think today, Father, of the cleansing that must take place in many hearts, undoubtedly, that are bowed in your presence. And we pray, Father, that you will. Enable all of us to see that we can clean up our mouths by cleaning up our hearts, and that specifically you're the one.
But does it? Oh, open us up to your presence. We think particularly of those today whose hearts are closed to you. They've listened to this sermon and they've said one more. And that's about all.
Oh, Father, would you crush them? gently but firmly. And we think, Father, today of those who have named the name of Christ. And if the truth were known, they've lived in such a way that They've taken his name in vain. Father, we've all done that on occasion.
Cleanse us, forgive us. Forgive us, Father. and enable us to live up to the name. the name.
Now I say to you, whoever you might be, Would you just pray to God for a moment? If you're a Christian, you may need cleansing. If you are clean before the Lord, then pray for others who perhaps need it.
Some of you may not know Christ as your Savior. I want you to know that you can believe on him today. He can give you a clean heart, a new heart. There is no reason for you to have to live with guilt and defilement. None whatever.
Jesus paid it all. Would you receive him? Father, do whatever you have to do in everyone's life that is bowed in your presence. Each need is different, but we thank you that you're great enough to meet it. In Jesus' name, amen.
You know, my friend, the scripture rebukes us. It tells us that no uncleanness should proceed out of our mouths because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. But I'm so glad for the ministry of running to win and for those of you who support this ministry. because you are a part of what we are doing. And I'm holding in my hands a testimony from a Spanish-speaking listener, because running to win is in different languages.
It goes on to say that you have helped me to be aware of false prophets and their lies. I had tears in my eyes because of the great truth revealed in this series that is settling my faith and putting my faith on track.
Now I mention that because you are a part of this testimony. Running to win is not the ministry of a man or of a church. It is your ministry. And I can visualize right now as people are holding hands with us and saying, yes, we're with you, as running to win goes around the world. Would you consider becoming an endurance partner?
Of course, you need some info. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy. Endurance partners are those who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts, so that every single testimony we receive. Is a testimony of your faithfulness as well. Here's what you do.
Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. And when you're there, you click on the endurance partner button. Check it out. RTWFer dot com, the endurance partner button, or you can call us right now at 1-888-218-128.
ninety three thirty seven. Thanks in advance for helping us. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. End of Life Issues. People have many questions, including this one from a running-to-win listener.
Pastor Lutzer, give me your biblical perspective on cremation versus burial. I've always said that if you as a Christian have an option, I encourage you to be buried rather than cremated. I say that because the early church believed in burial, Jesus was buried. And the imagery in First Corinthians chapter fifteen is this, that the body is sown into the ground. It has sown a corruptible body, it has raised an incorruptible body.
It is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength. The imagery is that of a kernel.
Now I'm not saying that cremation is a sin.
So nobody need write to me about it, because oftentimes I have been asked about it. And the argument can be made that our bodies are going to disintegrate anyway, and I understand that. And sometimes there are economic reasons for cremation. and you go to some countries of the world and they have run out of burial plots, and I understand that too. But my bottom line is, if you have a choice, Be buried.
Like Jesus was. Be sown in the ground. and then at their day of resurrection be raised to new life. Of course that will also happen to you if you've been cremated. But the imagery of burial Is biblical.
Some wise counsel from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you once again, Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer.
or call us at one eight eight eight two one eight ninety three thirty seven. That's one eight eight eight two one eight ninety three thirty seven. You can write to us at Running2Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. A century ago, British Olympian Eric Little refused to run on Sunday. Made famous in the movie Chariots of Fire, he held to a conviction that the Lord's Day was sacred.
These days, people look forward to Sunday football games. Have we gone off track? Long ago, the Lord's Day was sacred. Stores and taverns closed. Family and church were the focus.
Nowadays, anything goes. On our next Running to Win, why God Set Apart one day a week for us to rest. Don't miss what Sunday should mean to you. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
I'm going to use the same method for the first time.
