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00:00 been an an irreverent
01:48 language.
01:55 You want to understand what
02:01 last Our sermon was on uh and our father and mother and our brother very
02:07 helpfully about two tables of the ten
02:13 commandments. The first table and the second table. The first table are the first commandments which have to do with
02:19 our relationship with God and the second table the last commandments to do with
02:24 our relationship one another. for some reason I don't know why we're going through the commandments a bit out
02:31 of order but uh it's a bit like I guess Malaysian style but if you look at where
02:37 the uh you look at where the third commandment is the first table okay
02:44 which means it has to do with our relationship the first commandment we've already
02:49 covered that is the most foundational has no other
02:54 bid and the commandment
02:60 expands on how we should obey the first commandment. Okay, that we should not have any visual images to represent God.
03:07 Now today we move from word. If we are going
03:42 name. And uh ESV is uh a translation that is somewhat more literal uh from
03:49 the Hebrew. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who
03:56 takes his name in vain. So we need to ask ourselves, well, what does it mean?
04:01 Uh maybe I'll base it on the lower one, the the because it's slightly more literal. It follows the word order in
04:06 the original Hebrew language. What does it mean to take the name of the Lord your God firstly? So to take is just to
04:13 lift up, to carry. In other words, it means to use the name of your God, to speak it, to repeat it. Now, we seldom
04:20 think about this, but actually we have a great privilege that we can speak the name of our God. Now, my wife uh loves
04:29 watching Korean dramas, so sometimes I'll watch with her. Okay? And I not that I know to speak any Korean, but I I
04:36 am always impressed when I watch them because I think these Koreans, they really know how to show respect. They know how to respect those people who are
04:42 older, those people who are uh, you know, in a higher position in the hierarchy to them because they use
04:48 different words, you know, when they're addressing someone in authority or somebody older than them and they call
04:53 people by their title and they never call people by their first name if they're older than them. Now, in Western
04:60 culture today, we emphasize or they emphasize individuality, you know, personal intimacy. So, you know, it
05:06 seems a bit stuffy if you call somebody by a title. Uh but even in western culture you know you you have titles
05:14 your majesty or Mr. president sir and so on. You know, imagine if you went up to
05:20 Queen Elizabeth for her diamond jubilee and you said, "Hi, Lizzy. How are you?" Okay, I don't think she'll be very
05:26 impressed. Okay. Now, God is the supreme
05:32 majesty of this universe. Yet, it's amazing that he gives us the privilege
05:37 to call him by name. And he revealed his name to us in the Old Testament. His
05:44 name is these four Hebrew letters, okay? Which are in in Hebrew everything is
05:49 written only with consonants, no vowels. So you have Y HW which pronounced as
05:55 Yahweh. And in the in our English Bibles today, uh is translated as the Lord. So
06:01 when you see the Lord in your English Bibles as capital letters, it's actually referring to God's personal name,
06:07 Yahweh. God uh gives us his name and he calls on
06:12 Israel to use his name to actually speak it, use it, swear by it. In Deuteronomy, God says, "Fear the Lord your God. Serve
06:19 him only and take your oaths in his name." So, we've looked at what it means to
06:25 take the name of God. What does it mean to take the name of the Lord your God in vain? The name. What's in a name?
06:33 Well, a name represents that person. So the name of God really stands for God
06:40 himself. If you take the name of the Lord your God in vain, you are actually taking God in vain. So if somebody
06:48 starts making fun of your name, you know, I I live in Australia and I don't have a name that is easy for Western
06:54 people, okay? So sometimes you get jokes about your name and stuff like that, okay? But uh if somebody starts making
06:60 fun of your name, wouldn't you feel a bit offended or belittled? Isn't it?
07:06 That's because your name is identified with you. And we want people to treat
07:11 our names with respect and with dignity. Now, so far so good. You shall not take
07:17 the name of the Lord your God. But the hardest bit is in vain. What does it mean to take the name of the Lord in
07:24 vain? Well, the the Hebrew word translated here can mean two things. Okay. Firstly,
07:29 it can mean falsely or deceitfully. That is you shall not use God's name in a
07:36 false or deceitful way. Now how can you use God's name in a false way? That must refer to making oaths or promises using
07:44 God's name to confirm it and then we end up breaking it. So that's number one. Okay. Secondly, in vain also can mean
07:51 lightly or emptily, meaninglessly. So that means using God's name in a very,
07:57 you know, like light-hearted, empty, trivial kind of way. that is also taking God's name in vain. Okay. So, it's not
08:05 just about uh using God's name as swear words. It's about using God's name in
08:10 any way that is not consistent with who he is. In any way that's not consistent with how great he is. Now, I said that
08:17 God has given us the great privilege to use his name. But we must use it
08:22 rightly. We must use it reverently. Whenever we speak God's name without uh
08:28 you know being reverent, without always remembering who he is, we mindlessly just say his name without meaning it. We
08:35 are actually using his name in vain. And when we lift up his name for
08:41 something that is empty, meaningless for example with idols, then we are also
08:47 taking his name in vain. Now I said that we live in an age of
08:53 irreverence. I don't want to uh trash our western brothers or sisters but I think that
08:59 some of this comes from the influence of western culture. Now if you had nothing to do all day and you sat and watch
09:06 American sitcoms all day or Hollywood okay what do you pick up? You know how
09:11 do people talk? Well you learn that actually it's cool to talk casually informally. It's cool to be cheeky,
09:19 sassy, uh funny, even cynical, but it's way uncool to be serious, to be earnest.
09:29 Okay, it's uncool to take yourself or anyone too seriously. Even the word cool, you know, chill, chillax. You know
09:37 what does this what do this emphasize? Emphasize, you know, don't get too perturbed by anything. Just be
09:42 unflapable. Just just be relaxed. That's the most important value nowadays, isn't it? It's not about being earnest, being
09:50 fired up over something that's really important. Now, I don't know if people really talk like that in America. I've never been
09:56 there. Okay, it might be just the the TV. But somehow we're not that much into
10:01 honor and respect anymore these days. You know, we're more impressed by celebrity than by true greatness.
10:10 You know, we have largely lost a sense of gravitas, a sense of solemnity when
10:16 the occasion demands it. And we have cheapened our words that we used to use
10:22 for truly great things. For example, the word awesome. Awesome really meant all
10:27 inspiring, awesome in those days, but now it's like awesome. You know, it has lost its meaning. Okay. All right. Now I
10:34 once had somebody in church in Australia who said you know he used to have he used to refer to God as the guy upstairs
10:42 you know with a cheeky twinkle in his eye the guy upstairs. Okay. Now I said
10:48 God has given us the great privilege of using his name but we must use it with
10:54 great respect and honor. And you may have heard people say God is my buddy.
10:60 Well I have a news flash for you. God is not your body. You know, God has never
11:06 told you to think of him as your body. He is the Lord Almighty. He's the one that you fall down before,
11:12 your creator, your God. So, if you think back all the way to when we did the first commandment on the 6th of May,
11:20 remember how Pastor Mike Rita preached from the book of Exodus, uh the the
11:25 chapter before the ten commandments, which is chapter 19. I'll just show you a short section from there. And this is
11:31 the place where Israel first received the ten commandments. And what happened there? On the morning of the third day,
11:37 there was uh thunder and lightning with a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast. And everyone in
11:44 the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the
11:50 mountain. Mount Si was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. The
11:56 smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace. The whole mountain trembled violently and the sound of the
12:02 trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. See, God did not come to
12:10 the people of Israel as their body. He showed himself as the great and the holy
12:15 God high and lifted up. And when the people saw the thunder, the the lightning, the cloud, the smoke, the
12:20 fire, they trembled. They trembled and they filled with fear. So God made it
12:26 clear he's way above us. He's so far above us. He's far greater than us. Now,
12:32 even the Muslims believe that God is great and holy and to be revered. But sometimes Christians have forgotten how
12:39 to fear God. Now, the context for the Ten
12:44 Commandments is this fearsome revelation of God at Sinai. And God is awesome in
12:51 the true sense of the word. He inspires true awe and fear. And we must bear this
12:58 picture of God in mind when we think about the third commandment. What it means to take his name in vain. So I
13:04 want to outline for us three areas uh in which we ought to apply this commandment
13:10 today. Okay. Firstly in our worship, secondly in our conversation and thirdly
13:16 in our promises that we make. Okay. The first two worship and conversation have
13:23 to do with not taking God's word lightly. And the third one about promises has to do with not taking God's
13:29 name falsely. Okay. So the first one revering God's name in worship.
13:36 Now in the olden days you know uh a king would command great respect. Right? So
13:43 uh you would prostrate yourself. You would fall flat on your face before the king and any word against the king any
13:49 hint of disrespect you could lose your head and you could be you know charged with treason. Now, if today you were to
13:57 walk before Queen Elizabeth, okay, would you fall on your face before her? I very
14:04 highly doubt it, right? I mean, she seems like a nice cuddly granny that you want to have tea with, right? But not
14:09 somebody that you want to fall down on your face before. And you know, it's the same with all of our leaders today,
14:16 okay? Obama, he's like your next door neighbor, right? So, not sure how we
14:21 think about our own country's leaders, okay? But uh I think the point is that
14:26 all of our authority figures, you know, sometimes the way we treat them, we are
14:32 guilty of projecting that onto the way that we treat God. Okay. So how do we
14:38 revere God in worship? Okay. The first point I want to make is there should be no irreverence. Okay. This is what the
14:44 book of Isaiah portrays God as. The last chapter in Isaiah. Heaven is my throne
14:51 and the earth is my foottool. Where is the house he will build for me? Where will my resting place be?
14:59 You see, God is so great that he fills all of heaven. When he wants to put up
15:04 his feet at the end of the day, where does he put it? He puts it on the earth.
15:09 Our whole earth is just his foottool. So our proper response to God, it says
15:15 here, "This is the one I esteem. He's he who is humble and contrite in spirit and
15:21 trembles at my word. Our proper response is to tremble before God's word and
15:28 tremble at his name. And that means that we don't talk to God as though he was
15:33 our buddy, but we're always aware. He's a great and holy and majestic God. And
15:38 we are so privileged to have to be able to come into his presence. Now what is the first item of prayer in
15:46 the Lord's prayer? Our father in heaven, hallowed be thy
15:54 name. Isn't it the most important part? Hallowed be thy name. May your name be holy. Wherever the name of God is
16:01 spoken, whether it's in public or in church or in private conversation, we must treat it with great reverence and
16:09 respect because he's holy. And this definitely includes not cursing God's
16:15 name or blaspheming God's name. So this is the story of something that happened in Moses time where uh one of the
16:22 Israelites uh men okay blasphemed the name with a
16:28 curse. Blasphemed the name of God with a curse. They brought him to Moses and the
16:33 Lord said take the blasphemer outside the camp. You are to stone him. If anyone curses his God, he will be held
16:40 responsible. Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Now
16:47 we think that wow that is like that's such a heavy punishment, right? But
16:52 actually if you think of how great God is and the crime of blaspheming God, God
16:59 says it deserves a death penalty here in the Old Testament. We don't do it anymore now in the New Testament. Of course, just in case you think I'm
17:05 advocating death penalty, okay? But it is just as serious. It is just as serious.
17:11 Now the third commandment also uh includes us not using God's name in a in a flippant careless kind of way. You
17:18 know sometimes we like to do that. You know we want to sing I love you. I love you. I love you. But we don't really
17:24 love God in practice. I follow. I follow. I follow. But no following. Okay. All right. That is taking God's
17:31 name in vain as well. Okay. You must mean what you say. When you say hallelujah.
17:37 When you say praise the Lord, you have to mean it. It's not uh it's not an
17:42 unthinking kind of punctuation mark. Hallelujah. Everything also hallelujah, right? It's not a punctuation mark. You
17:48 know, in prayer meeting, my mother is sick. Hallelujah. You know, no, you see
17:54 the thing is when you say praise God, you must actually mean it. Okay? You must treat God's name with great
18:00 reverence. Now, I'm not saying that all of us must go around all day with somber long faces, so serious. life is such a
18:07 solemn affair. No, because in the Bible, we see that reverence and joy always
18:12 goes together. Worship comes with joy. In this uh passage that we just looked
18:18 at in Isaiah, God is the God who is far above all of
18:23 us. And yet, he is also the God who comes near to us, who comes near to the
18:29 one who is humble and contrite in spirit. So we honor the God who's far
18:34 exalted above us. Uh we honor him and we we revere him but we also rejoice with
18:41 joy in the God who comes near to save us. So there must be reverence, there
18:48 must be joy and there must not be trivializing or taking God's name in a
18:53 frivolous way. The next thing is no idolatry. Now what has idolatry got to
19:00 do with taking God's name in vain? Now remember that the the third commandment is in the first table that is it has to
19:07 do with how we worship God. And the first two commandments have stated very clearly we must worship God exclusively
19:14 only this God and no other God. Okay. So worship of God must be not only be
19:20 reverent, it must also be exclusive as well. Now um the phrase taking the name
19:27 of the Lord in vain, right? This word vain okay can mean just now I say lightly or it can be translate empty uh
19:35 meaningless things like that okay so in the old testament the words empty and vain and
19:40 meaningless are used to describe idols they are vain things they are worthless things so one way of translating no do
19:49 not take the name of the lord in vain is to say do not lift up the name of the lord with vain things in other words
19:57 pray to the lord alone alone and not also to other gods.
20:02 Now imagine if I got a phone call and my wife Cynthia rings me and uh I talk to
20:08 her. Yes. Yes, Cynthia. Yes, dear. And then put on the phone and then another call comes. Oh yes, Amy. Yes, dear.
20:17 You know, would my wife be very impressed with me? You know, I take out her name on my lips one minute, next
20:23 minute I'm taking out the name of another woman, right? Can I tell my wife, "Oh, it's not that I don't love
20:29 you. Actually, I love you, but I also love this person as well." Right? No. Right. God demands exclusive
20:36 exclusiveness that we take up only his name and no other name.
20:42 In the in the book of Exodus, just a few chapters down from the ten commandments, it says, "Be careful to do everything I
20:48 have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods. Do not let them be heard on your lips." So the third
20:55 commandment is also a prohibition of idolatry. Now the temptation for Israel and the
21:02 temptation for us today is the same. It's not that we will completely turn away from God and go and serve other
21:08 gods. That's not what tempted Israel. So their temptation was to hedge their bets. You see, they want to worship God
21:16 and they also wanted to pray to other gods. They wanted to have it both ways. They wanted to, you know, uh, mix and
21:23 match. They wanted the best of both worlds. They wanted the benefits that God would give to them. But also at the
21:28 same time, they were not willing to give up the attractions of the world around them. They want to have their cake and
21:35 eat it too. And that is the temptation that all of us face today as well. The
21:42 temptation to take up God's name, but also other things as well. And that's
21:47 what uh the book of James in the New Testament calls being double-minded. Being double-minded. You know, this kind
21:54 of double-minded person is outwardly very religious but inwardly worldly.
22:01 This kind of double-minded person in the book of James is somebody who hears God's word all the time but doesn't obey
22:09 it. This double-minded person claims to have faith but has no works.
22:15 You see, somebody who calls on God's name on Sunday between 8:45 and 11:00
22:21 and then the rest of the week goes after idols. Now, someone once wrote, "The worst
22:28 blasphemy is not profanity, but lip service." The worst profanity is The
22:35 worst blasphemy is not profanity, but lip service. Isn't it? How true is that? Because if you profane someone, at least
22:41 I know you don't like me. Okay, that's good. Okay. But if you pay lip service to me, you flatter me. You But behind my
22:48 back, you you know, you do not actually mean it. That is worse. Okay. That's the
22:54 same. We shouldn't treat God in this way. That is to break the third commandment. We give him lip service
22:59 only. Now, what kind of idols are we tempted to go after? You know, the world
23:06 constantly tells us, "Hey, make more money. The more you have, the more secure you are." So we tend to love
23:13 money and we tend to trust money. You see that is already going after
23:18 something else. We're putting our trust in something else. Or you know look the family across the road have moved into a
23:23 bigger nicer house so you should do it too. So it doesn't matter if you spend all your time building up your wealth
23:29 and no time for church. It's okay. Or you know it doesn't matter if you spend all your time networking with those
23:35 people who really matter who are you know give you more opportunities to make more money. Don't go to Bible study. Doesn't matter. You see, slowly our
23:43 priorities may shift. God says this,
23:48 "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred
23:54 towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of
24:00 God?" There's only, you know, there's only two sides that you can be on. You cannot sit on the fence. Matthew, no one
24:07 can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he'll
24:12 be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and
24:17 money. God says don't take my name in vain. And that includes being exclusively loyal to
24:25 God. No idols, no other God besides him.
24:30 The third aspect of revering God's name in worship is no misrepresenting of God.
24:38 Now what I mean is uh when we claim to speak for God. Okay. And this is
24:43 especially relevant for the church leaders. Okay. Now in the Old Testament
24:49 the prophets began by saying thus says the Lord. Okay. And Bible says that the
24:57 prophets prophesy in the name of the Lord. And so if these prophecies are
25:02 false and they do not actually come from God, then that is a nasty case of taking God's name in vain, of invoking God's
25:09 name where they're not supposed to. And this happened in the Old Testament in Ezekiel. Okay, it says here their
25:15 visions are false and their divinations are this word false actually is the same word as the word vain in our
25:20 commandment. Their visions are in vain. Their divinations are lie. The Lord has
25:26 not sent them yet. expect expect their words to be fulfilled and so on.
25:31 So taking God's name in vain includes making false prophecies in God's name.
25:37 Now some of us here are spokespersons for God, representatives of God because we are in a position of uh uh privilege.
25:45 We have the responsibility of teaching or preaching. And if we speak our word
25:51 as though it was God's authoritative word and if we speak our own imaginations as the prophetic truth
25:58 which God has not spoken then we dishonor God's name.
26:04 So those of us who are responsible for teaching must take due diligence to
26:09 study God's word carefully to make sure that what we say is not our own words
26:14 but God's words. Now in some churches especially the mega churches leaders can
26:21 be so prominent so so you know respected they are like celebrities they're like everything that comes out from the mouth
26:29 not proceeds from the mouth of the lord proceeds from the mouth of the church pastor is like gospel truth okay so
26:35 pastor so and so said this so it must be true no checking the bible no discerning
26:42 and you know the biggest mega church in Singapore is the city harvest church.
26:47 They have 33,000 people. They're one of the richest churches in Singapore. And
26:52 last week, their pastor was arrested was arrested along with
26:58 four other senior church elders or leaders. And they were accused of criminal breach of trust because it's
27:06 alleged that they secretly channelneled 24 million Singapore dollars of the church's money uh to fund the secular
27:14 singing career of his wife here uh and tried to cover the trail by falsifying
27:20 the church accounts. That is the allegation. Okay. Now, of course, this
27:25 singing pastor's wife is no stranger to us. our our brother Ano very kindly uh showed us a video of her last year, one
27:31 of her provocative performances. Okay. Now, after his arrest, okay, uh he
27:38 tweeted this. He said, "Tough day. I trust in you, Lord Jesus. Thy kingdom
27:44 come. Thy will be done." But he missed out, "Hallowed be thy name."
27:51 Now, this kind of thing uh this kind of thing brings great dishonor to God's name. You know, it's a serious case of
27:58 taking God's name in vain. What would the non-believers who look at this think? Now, for us leaders and myself
28:05 included, we need to watch our words and we need to watch our lives. So, we need
28:11 to be the first to suspect our own motives. You know, never confuse doing God's work with gaining our own personal
28:18 power and glory and territory. Don't claim to speak for God unless
28:24 you're very sure about it. And that includes not going around telling people, okay, I think God has told me
28:29 you should marry you her, huh? Or, you know, uh, God told me you should leave your job and go and do some this other
28:35 job, you know, things like that. Or, oh, God told me you'll be healed of your cancer. Because if any of your
28:42 predictions come untrue, then you are bringing God's name into disrepute.
28:47 You'll be a false prophet. You could be responsible also for people turning away from God. So, don't take God's name in
28:54 vain. And this doesn't just apply to the leaders. It applies to all of us here
28:59 today. Don't claim to speak for God unless you are sure. Now, if you think you have the gift of prophecy, make sure
29:06 that you are really speaking God's words before you say, "Thus says the Lord and claim to be God's mouthpiece."
29:13 Now, we love to sing a song at this church, uh, God is able. God is able.
29:18 Okay? I think we sang it last week. And uh one of the verses in this song goes,
29:24 "God is with us. God is on our side." Okay? Now, there's nothing wrong with
29:30 that. God is with us. God is on our side. But sometimes they can be twisted and misunderstood. Now, we should be
29:36 very careful about bringing God's name into our battles. You know, especially
29:42 when those battles are political battles. You know, God is not a BN supporter.
29:48 God is not a Pakatan supporter also. God is not a Republican. God is not a
29:53 Democrat. We mustn't make God serve our own agendas.
29:59 Now, history is filled with people claiming God is on my side. George Bush
30:06 famously claimed that God told him to go to war in Iraq. And of course, the other
30:11 side also says God told them to send the airplanes. Okay. Now in 16th and 17 17th
30:17 century in Europe there were terrible wars fought between Catholics and
30:24 Lutheran between Catholics and the reformed churches between the reformed against the Lutherans and so on and each
30:31 group claiming God on their side. And what happened? Europe got so sick and
30:37 tired of non-stop war and death and poverty. People got sick of this. So
30:42 that by the 18th century people said enough is enough. Anything that we hear from the church we're not going to
30:47 listen anymore. Okay. They decided to stop listening to all church authority,
30:52 all religious authority and said now we will trust our own human reason. And that's what we call the enlightenment.
30:59 Okay. Which still uh we we are still following this philosophy today that we
31:05 trust in our human reason not in religious authority. It's all secular.
31:10 So next time you sing God is on my side, think very carefully what our side is
31:15 referring. What do you mean by God is on our side? What do you mean by our side? Think carefully. Okay? Don't falsely
31:20 claim God on your side because that is also taking God's name in vain.
31:28 Now the next thing I want to look at is revering God's name in conversation.
31:34 So the first thing and the thing that we often think about is there should be no profanity. That is sadly we often hear
31:42 the words God and Jesus and Christ as
31:47 swear words as exclamations to express anger or surprise.
31:53 Now there would be nothing wrong if we cried out to the Lord in dismay for help. But you see when these people use
32:01 God's names in this way, they are using it to express annoyance or resentment,
32:07 astonishment and that is a naming of God's name in vain.
32:13 Now nowadays I come across the abbreviations OMG quite a lot in
32:19 Facebook or SMS or something like that. OMG. Okay, what is OMG? You know, I mean you
32:25 might have forgotten. You do it without a second thought. You might think, "Oh, it's everybody does it nowadays, but it
32:31 stands for oh my god." Now, for some people, it's just a cool
32:36 way of saying, "Oh, wow. Surprise." Okay. But I think that's equally guilty
32:42 of trivializing God's name and therefore profaining God's name. What about words
32:48 like gosh? Oh my gosh. That sounds innocent, but when it first
32:54 started, gosh was of course a way to just avoid saying God. But it's the same thing. Okay. Now it depends on the
32:60 context in which you are in. Okay. Some people gosh does not at all mean God.
33:05 But uh you know I think it's better for us to avoid it because you know uh it
33:10 could mean that. Now on a related note I think that even making jokes about God is not
33:17 appropriate even if it is not an offensive joke because God is not on our
33:23 level. He's not material we can use for our jokes even if it's an innocent joke.
33:30 Remember the picture of Sinai. How high and how holy is our God. And everywhere
33:36 in the Bible from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation whenever somebody encounters God they fall to the ground
33:43 in terror. God's name is always to be treated with the utmost reverence. Now that doesn't
33:50 mean that Christians are to be boring people. We never make any jokes. No, there's lots of humor in the Bible as
33:56 well. But the humor in the Bible is not laughing at God. It's laughing with God
34:03 at ridiculous things like idols and pretentious sinners. You see, we do not
34:09 make jokes about God because that that uh belittles who he is.
34:15 Now, the next thing, no cursing others. Now, what has cursing others have to do
34:21 with taking God's name in vain? Let's have a look at this passage in
34:27 James. With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who
34:34 have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.
34:40 My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a
34:46 fig tree bear olives or a grape vine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. Now is you see the
34:54 thing is when we speak about God piously and respectfully and then next minute we turn around to our fellow men and curse
34:60 them in anger that is also impossible. It says here inconsistent. It's
35:06 impossible for fresh water and salt water to flow from the same spring. In
35:11 the same way, it is impossible that the same mouth can speak genuine praise to
35:16 God and at the same time curse people. So imagine this, you come to church
35:22 today, you praise God and amen, how are you and all that. Then you get in your
35:27 car and start talking bad about this person. You know that so and so I just spoke to oh this person is terrible and
35:33 so on. Okay. And then you get back home and you start harshly savaging your mate. You good for nothing. you useless.
35:40 Blah blah. Okay. With the same mouth, you praise God and you curse. Now, what
35:46 do you call somebody like that? A hypocrite. Hypocrite. See, when you
35:51 speak piously and reverently to God, it's all fake. Unless you also treat
35:57 your fellow men with respect. Because it says here, they are all made in God's likeness. They are people who bear the
36:03 image of God. Doesn't matter if they are Indian, Malay, Chinese, Indonesian, Cambodian,
36:12 African, it doesn't matter. You see, if you praise God and in the same breath
36:17 you curse those who bear God's likeness, you have not fulfilled the third commandment, but you have also taken
36:24 God's name in vain. Now, the last thing that we want to look
36:29 at today is revering God's name in our oaths and our promisekeeping.
36:35 Now, one of the meanings of taking God's name in vain, as I said, is using it in a false or deceitful way. In
36:42 Deuteronomy, I think we read this already, fear the Lord your God, serve him only, and take your oaths in his
36:47 name. So, one of the ways in which God's name was used is to use it to take oaths. Now, when we take an oath, what
36:55 we are saying is I'm being I'm telling you the truth, and I'm grounding this truthfulness in somebody who is higher
37:01 than me, authority higher than myself. That's why I saying God is my witness. I swear in God's name that this is true.
37:09 Okay. And so what higher authority is there apart from God? So that's why in the Old Testament, God commanded oaths
37:16 to be taken in his name. Now oath taking is a very serious thing. At least it was
37:22 a very serious thing in the Old Testament because when somebody in Old Testament took an oath, okay, they're
37:28 saying God is my witness. If what I'm saying is false, may God strike me dead.
37:33 And in the book of in Psalm, it says here, Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy
37:40 hill? And it goes through a list of things. And then the last one, it's not the last one, but I just stopped it here.
37:46 Who keeps his oath even when it hurts. You see, this is a godly person. Somebody who make an oath and then they
37:53 later find out, oh, it was going to hurt me to keep this oath, but they still keep it because an oath is a solemn vow
37:60 or promise that we have made before God. Now, some Christians say oath no longer
38:05 apply to the Christian. Okay? Uh we we should no longer swear any more oath in
38:11 God's name. And because Jesus has said in the sermon on the mount in Matthew,
38:16 okay? Jesus said this. I think I better read the whole thing again. You have heard that it was said to the people
38:22 long ago, "Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at
38:27 all, either by heaven, or for it is God's throne, or by the earth, for it is his foottool, or by Jerusalem, for it is
38:34 a city of the great king. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let
38:41 your yes be yes and your no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Now
38:46 Jesus, does Jesus prohibit us from taking any oaths or vows? Are we meant
38:51 to take this literally? do not uh swear at all. Now, as we've already seen in
38:57 the Old Testament at least, the Bible clearly refers to oaths as something legitimate, something useful, something
39:02 important. And even God numerous times swore oaths in the Old Testament and God commanded people to take oaths in his
39:09 name. Then people said, "But that was in the Old Testament." Now it's the New Testament. Jesus has abolished them.
39:15 Okay? But if we actually look carefully at the New Testament, okay, we find a
39:21 few instances where oaths are taken. So Jesus himself was charged under oath by
39:26 the high priest, okay, at at his trial. And the high priest said, "I charge you under oath by the living God. Tell us if
39:33 you are the Christ." And Jesus responded. He didn't keep quiet. He said, "Yes, it is as you say."
39:39 Paul numerous times, these are some examples, has affirmed uh using God's name that
39:46 he's not lying. I speak the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience confirms this. Or I call God as my
39:52 witness that it was in order to spare you. Or you know, you knew that you know that we never use flattery. You nor did
39:57 we put on a mask. God is our witness. And other examples and also I haven't given it to you here, but Paul has also
40:03 charged people in the name of God, okay? With with an oath. So we see this
40:09 practice even in the New Testament. So we look at the context of the whole Bible and the New Testament. And now we
40:16 want to look at the specific context of this Matthew passage again. You see in this sermon on the mount and we're not
40:22 doing a sermon on the sermon on the mount. Okay? So I just quickly tell you Jesus is not really just explaining God's law. Jesus is actually
40:29 specifically criticizing some abuses or misuses of God's law, some distortions.
40:34 Because the Jewish rabbis taught this. They said, you know, you have to keep your oath to God. If you mention God's
40:40 name in your oath, you have to keep it. But you can get around it by using something else that's kind of close to God, but not quite mentioning God's
40:47 name. So if you say, I swear by heaven, it's okay to break it. I swear by earth, it's okay to break it. I swear by the
40:53 temple, I swear by, you know, in my head, it's okay to break it. That's what they taught. They tried to find
40:59 loopholes, you know, where you can make an oath and appear really serious and solemn, but get away with lying. And
41:05 Jesus says, you know, you think you're not breaking the third commandment, you actually are. Because if you make any
41:12 oath, even without mentioning God's name explicitly, all of it in the end goes back to God. Okay? Because even if you
41:20 swear by your head, you know what? You don't have any power over your head. Only God does. Okay? So God has the
41:25 power over everything. And the heaven belongs to God. Earth is his foottool.
41:30 Jerusalem is a city of God. No matter what you choose to swear by, in the end you are still swearing by God
41:36 indirectly. So in Matthew here Jesus is saying don't misuse oaths to worm your
41:44 way out of telling the truth. Okay? Because everything that you say should be truthful whether you confirm it with
41:50 an oath or not. Even your yes should mean yes. Even your no should mean no.
41:55 When you say yes, it must always mean yes. So when Jesus says don't swear at
42:01 all, he's not I don't think he's categorically banning all oath taking.
42:07 He's just speaking in a black and white way. Okay, to hit home the message. Now this style of teaching Jesus used quite
42:12 a lot because it is forceful is memorable. Okay, you don't want to make any teaching die the death of a thousand
42:19 qualifications, right? You just want to state the main point. And this for example in here Jesus says if anyone
42:25 comes to me and does not hate his father and mother he cannot be my disciple. Of course Jesus doesn't really mean hate.
42:30 Okay because he tells people to love even their enemies. Okay. Uh Jesus is saying you know you should love him more
42:37 than you should love Jesus so much more than your own father, mother, wife and children that by comparison your love
42:44 for him your your your love for them is like hate. Or Matthew when you pray go
42:49 into your room close the door and pray to your father. So Jesus is not categorically saying you must always pray inside your room and nowhere else.
42:55 Okay. Uh because he teaches people to pray our father in heaven together.
43:00 So here what he's saying is that Jesus what I'm saying is that Jesus sometimes makes a black and white remark to make a
43:06 point but it's not necessarily you know uh completely what say covers everything
43:11 literally. So Jesus I don't think bans all of oath taking as long as those oaths are legitimate. They're not for
43:18 doing sinful things because even today uh our legal system still requires us to take oath sometimes. For example, you go
43:25 to court, you have to swear uh to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And you know, place your
43:31 hand on the Bible or some other holy book depending where you are. And uh also we hear words uh these words every
43:40 wedding that we go to. I in the name of God take you so and so to be my wife or
43:46 husband to have and to hold and so on and this is my solemn vow.
43:51 You see we still make oaths and vows today. The problem with our society is
43:57 that we don't keep them. People don't keep their word. People don't do what they say they would do. So you know how
44:04 many times have you rang a helpline, a government agency or some company, right? and they say, "Okay, we'll call
44:09 you back and deal with your problem." Right? And then do you hear from them? No. When I hear from them, I'm so surprised. Wow. They call back. Wow,
44:16 that's amazing. You know, because they just say something, but they never mean it. Okay? Now, Jesus says that
44:22 Christians must be people who keep their word. Now, we must be people of blameless integrity. Now, I don't know
44:30 about you, but I I find that really, really hard. Sometimes we are put on the spot. We're in a difficult situation
44:36 where it's easier to kind of fudge it a bit and tell a bit of a white lie. Okay?
44:41 But here Jesus says, "Let your yes be yes." You must be people of your word.
44:46 You know, we live in a society where lies and deception are the norm are the mode of operation. But we are called to
44:54 an absolute honesty. So if you don't keep your word, you are also breaking
45:00 the third commandment. And if you don't keep your promise, you are taking God's
45:05 name in vain. I won't go through this whole thing, but
45:11 this is another teaching on oath by Jesus in the book of Matthew as well. Basically, he's criticizing the Pharisees for uh you know using those
45:18 formulas to try to avoid uh you know keeping their vows, keeping their oaths. And Jesus says it doesn't matter whether
45:25 you swear by the gold by the temple or gold or the gold of the temple whether you swear by the altar or the gift on
45:31 the altar or anything that you try to do to get out of it. Everything in the end points back to God because all of these
45:37 things belong to God. So whether you actually physically state God's name, it
45:43 doesn't matter because every statement that you make, every promise that you make, God is the witness. Okay? So do
45:51 not take God's name in vain by breaking it. If you have made a vow to your
45:56 spouse those years ago to have and to hold until death do us part, keep your
46:03 vows. Make sure you keep it because it is a vow that you have made solemnly to God. God is your witness.
46:10 And even something simple like this. Okay, brother, I pray for you. Huh? I pray for you. Everyone, I pray for you.
46:16 I pray for you. Then go home like never pray. It's just it's just like a way to kind of express comfort. I pray for you.
46:21 Uh you know, that is wrong. Don't make a promise that
46:26 you cannot keep. If you say, "I pray for you," you better pray. Otherwise, don't say, "I pray for you." Say, "God bless
46:32 you." and walk away. Okay? Just like what the book of James says. Okay? All right.
46:38 Now, punishment and grace. We haven't looked at the second half of that verse. We only look at the first half. Do not
46:44 take the name of uh the Lord your God in vain. The second half says, for the Lord
46:50 will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. And that is important
46:55 too. Every day we hear God's name being taken in vain. We hear it all the time.
47:00 God is not worshiped for who he is. We see irreverence. We see people misrepresenting God, idolatry,
47:06 profanity, cursing of other people, lying and so on. And most of the time it
47:11 goes unpunished. Nobody takes it seriously. But God is listening to every word. God says, "I will not hold you
47:19 guiltless." And God says in Matthew, "Men will have to give account on the day of judgment
47:25 for every careless word they have spoken." Every care callous word. For by your words, you will be acquitted and by
47:32 your words you will be condemned. The words that we speak are very, very
47:37 serious. Okay? God records every single one of our words and on the day of judgment he will review them all.
47:45 Now if we are honest with ourselves we have all broken the third commandment have we not time and time again. Now I
47:52 don't want to end without reminding you that God is a gracious and merciful God.
47:60 Okay, that remember that and this was from the first sermon on the ten commandments that the ten commandments
48:05 were never given to us as rules for how to earn God's acceptance because if it were we will all fail miserably.
48:13 But remember that the ten commandments are set in the context of God's grace.
48:18 You see ten commandments were given to people who were already saved already redeemed from Egypt. God said I carried
48:25 you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. This is one chapter before the ten commandments. Okay. They are not
48:30 rules for earning salvation. They are indication of how people who are already
48:36 saved ought to live because they are holy people. They are kingdom of priests and a holy nation and they are God's
48:43 treasured possession. We are God's treasured possession. God has given us these things so that we can learn the
48:49 kind of life that he wants us to live and at the same time he gives us the grace to be able to and the forgiveness
48:56 when we fail and the grace and strength to help us. So let us seek God's
49:02 forgiveness for our sins for our failings. Let us seek God's strength
49:09 uh to be able to his name in our worship in our conversation, in our promise
49:15 making. Let's pray.
49:21 Our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
49:27 We praise your name for your name alone is exalted far above the heavens and the
49:34 earth. Please forgive us for our sinful irreverence, for the times that we have
49:40 dishonored your great name, both in word and in deed. Forgive us for every
49:46 careless, thoughtless use of your name, for not hallowing your name exclusively,
49:53 for being double-minded, for our hypocrisy in cursing others while blessing you, for not being
50:00 radically honest, and not keeping our word. Grant us your grace and strength that we
50:07 may not take your name in vain, but proclaim in our speech and in our lives
50:13 the greatness of your name to all those around us to the praise of your great
50:19 glory now and forever. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
50:34 Thanks. Yeah. Thanks.
