Sundays at 9:00am & 10:45am

X Close Menu

The Third Commandment - Hallowing God's Name

February 18, 2015 Speaker: Ken Ramey Series: The Ten Commandments

Topic: Sanctification Passage: Exodus 20:7

The Bridge

Exodus 20:7

What does the Third Commandment mean and how does it apply today?

God sometimes refers to Himself as ’YHWH’ (Yahweh), or “I AM”, which characterizes His infinite and eternal attributes. These names signify the importance of God’s third commandment, which requires us to never take His name in vain.

In this evening’s message, Pastor Ramey teaches on the four most common ways that God’s Name is misused:

1. Swearing - People tend to exclusively take the Lord’s name in vain when they swear or utter profanity because they are actually doing so out of rebellion against Him or expressing rebellious rage against the God of the Bible (Matthew 12:34).

2. Purgery - This is taking oath or making promises. God tells us not to make an oath using His name because we should not have to call upon His name to prove that we can be trusted (Matthew 5:33, James 5:12).

3. Heresy - Teaching error or making false claims. Those who willingly or ignorantly make false claims in God’s name will be cursed (Jeremiah 14:13, 23:31; Genesis 27:20).

4. Hypocrisy - The name of Christ is most often used in vain at church! This is done in a number of different ways that can include:

Impure motives or meaningless repetition (Matthew 6:5).

Mindless veneration - Worship that is done using God’s name in a vain manner (Matthew 15:7). We should be sincere about what we say and sing and our hearts and minds should be focused on the Lord when we worship (Ecclesiastes 5:1).

Matchless Profession - Unsaved believers who profess to be a Christian, but do not live a life of obedience. Christ is in their minds, but not in their hearts (Matthew 7:21, 1 Timothy 6:1).

In the OT, God judged those who used His name in vain (Lev 24:10, Acts 19:13). But we see from the NT that those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Luke 24:46, John 1:12, 1 John 5:13, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:13). This is a powerful reminder that our eternal destiny depends upon how we choose to use the name of the Lord!