In the sermon titled 'Reverencing the Name of Our God' by Mike Davenport, the focus is on the Third Commandment, 'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.' The sermon is structured around three main headings: the meaning, manifestations, and motivations for not taking God's name in vain. Taking God's name in vain involves using His name, attributes, or anything pertaining to Him in an irreverent or frivolous manner. Manifestations include unnecessary swearing, blasphemy, cursing, and misuse of God's name in thoughtless ways. The sermon stresses the importance of not remaining silent when others misuse God's name. Motivations for reverencing God's name include recognizing His attributes as El Shaddai, Adonai, and Jehovah, among others, and understanding the serious consequences of dishonoring His name. The speaker emphasizes the need to respond to God's name with actions that reflect reverence and respect, as well as the importance of understanding and acknowledging the depth and significance of God's numerous titles and attributes.

We'll turn in your copies of the Word of God to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. Look with me at verse 7, verse 7 of Exodus 20. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Oh gracious God, we read in Hebrews 12 of the giving of this law and how the mountain quaked and smoked in your very presence, Lord, the fire, the lightning, the flashings, the trumpets that were blaring.

And Lord, you told the people, do not touch or even come near this mountain lest you die. And so fearful was the sight that even your servant Moses did tremble and quake." Lord, we read on in Hebrews 12 that we have come to a greater mountain. Lord, we have come to Mount Zion. We've come to the new Jerusalem. We have come to the saints who have gone before us, those disembodied spirits who are praising you even now, and we come by the blood of Jesus Christ that speaks better things than that of Abel's.

So Father, seeing we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, O God, give us grace that we may know how we ought to fear You and tremble as we worship You even today. For you, our God, are a consuming fire." Oh, God, help us in the many places where this, your Word, is being declared today. Oh, Lord, we ask for Your grace for Your church as she is in these difficult days. May she look to You, may she run to You as her strong tower that she might find safety. Help us as we study your Word.

Give me your Word alone in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the one-time slave-ship captain who was marvelous, marvelously saved by amazing grace and became a minister of the God of that grace, the well-known John Newton opened up a sermon on this very text in the following manner. Quote, the foundation of true religion is laid in a right knowledge of God and ourselves. How deficient we are in each of these, how far fallen from original righteousness is strongly implied in this prohibition, which would be wholly unnecessary if we were not wholly sunk in stupidity and wickedness.

That such worms as we should be liable to trifle with the divine majesty whose presence fills the heavens and the earth before whom the angels hide their faces, that such frail dependent creatures have need to be cautioned, that we do not profane the name of the God in whom we live and move and have our being is a striking proof of our depravity and that we can dare to break through this caution and slight the awful threatening with which it is closed is a dreadful aggravation of our guilt." Those are sobering words, but true words nonetheless. And so we come today to this third commandment. The title of today's message is, reverencing the name of our God. Reverencing the name of our God. We will endeavor to look at this commandment under the following three headings.

The meaning of taking God's name in vain, the meaning, secondly the manifestations of taking God's name in vain, the manifestations of taking God's name in vain, and then thirdly and finally, the motivation for not taking God's name in vain. The motivation for not taking God's name in vain. So look with me at the first point, the meaning of taking God's name in vain. To understand what is forbidden here, we need to take a closer look at the words as they appear to us in our Bibles. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

First, what is wrapped up in this word, name? What does the name of God entail? Well, the 1828 version of Webster's Dictionary defines name in the following way. In Scripture, the name of God signifies His titles, His attributes, His will or purpose, His honor and glory, His word, His grace, His wisdom, power and goodness, His worship or service, or God Himself. That is what is wrapped up in a name.

Second, we have the idea of taking in vain, taking in vain. What is meant by those words? Well, here are a few guidelines provided by Wilhelmus Abrakel. He says the following, the idea of taking pertains to saying or doing something by which God is neither honored nor acknowledged to be the God who He is, but rather is dishonored. Vain has the following meaning.

That which is without purpose, unsuitable, faultless, irreverent, careless, frivolous, and without a holy objective. So it could be stated like this, you shall not take upon your lips or engage yourself in anything pertaining to God, His attributes, His will, His honor, His glory, His grace, or His Word in an unsuitable, thoughtless, irreverent, careless, or frivolous manner that is without specific purpose or holy objective. I want to quote once again from our Reformed Baptist Catechism, And so I give you the following questions and answers regarding this very commandment. Question 57. What is required in the third commandment?

The answer? The Third Commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, words, and works. A holy and reverent use. Question 58. What is forbidden in the Third Commandment?

Answer, the Third Commandment forbids all profaning or abusing of anything whereby God makes Himself known." And so that, dear ones, is the meaning of taking God's name in vain. We move secondly to the manifestations of taking God's name in vain. The manifestations of taking God's name in vain. What are the ways in which mankind takes the name of God in vain?" Well, first I would say, and this is by no means an exhaustive list, but first I would say swearing unnecessarily or falsely. Swearing unnecessary or falsely.

In Matthew 5 verses 34 to 37, Jesus instructs His audience, but I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your yes be yes, and your no, no, for whatever is more than these is from the evil one." Now as commentators point out, it is swearing in common conversations and on frivolous occasions that is here meant. Every oath, Christ is saying, carries an appeal to God. Whether His name is specifically used or not, The very taking of an oath is an appeal to someone greater.

Now there are times when it is lawful to take up the Lord's name in an oath, such as a swearing-in ceremony or in a court of law. When that is the case and we take up the name of God upon our lips, we must seek with everything that is in us not to proceed with falsehood or neglect of what we enter in upon if it is a duty. So that is the first thing. Swearing unnecessarily or falsely, it's forbidden. Secondly, blasphemy.

Blasphemy. Webster defines blasphemy as an injury offered to God by denying that which is due and belonging to Him or attributing to Him that which is not agreeable to His nature. Blasphemy is the adding or subtracting from the being and attributes of God. It is in essence a misrepresentation of God. Brethren, as we saw from the previous commandment, Doctrine matters.

We cannot afford to be ignorant Christians. We must know our God so that we in no way misrepresent Him. Blasphemy, purposeful or not, is forbidden. Third, cursing. Cursing.

Unlike blasphemy, when God's name is taken up in the midst of cursing, it is often done with no true thought of God. It becomes a habit to many. It is to treat the holy as common. It is to attach the pure and holy name of our God to filthy and profane thoughts and imaginations. It's to drag the name of our God through the filth of this world, through the mud.

The use of God's name in cursing is forbidden. And brothers and sisters, we live in a culture that's more worried about the attached word than it is the name of our God. Fourth, the misuse of God's name. The misuse of God's name. This is to take the name of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords lightly, to use His name in a flippant and irreverent way.

How commonplace has it become in our culture for people to exclaim, Oh my God, or even using the name of Jesus in response to excitement, to fear, to surprise, or even sorrow. I hope no one here uses that language, but dear ones, we must not be self-deceived by a sanitized misuse of God's name. The use of the letters O-M-G are nothing less than a misuse of God's holy name. But there are other sanitized misuses. Gosh and golly.

The 1828 edition of Webster's doesn't show anything for these words. It knows nothing of these words. But if you look at more modern editions of Webster's, it declares gosh and golly as oaths and or expletives. And under the heading history and etymology there in the dictionary, both of these words are declared to be euphemisms for God. Webster's understands the root of these words.

They are euphemisms of God. The same applies to the use of the word G, not the letter G, the word G and all its derivatives. It's defined as an expletive whose history and etymology is a euphemism of Jesus. Dear ones, we are not at liberty to misuse the name of our God and Savior no matter how sanitized it is. It may look and sound different from the world, but these are the definitions given in Webster's dictionary.

We must not misuse God's name. Fifth, remaining silent when God's name is misused. Remaining silent when God's name is misused. This is not the sin of the tongue, but of the eyes and the ears. I know we cannot control all situations.

To not hear God's name taken in vain would necessitate us going out of this world. But, beloved, there comes a time to defend the name of our God. Do you recall the alarming words of Jesus found in the Gospels, for whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation of Him, the Son of man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. There Christ talks about being ashamed of him, of his name, of His words. But do you remember the context?

Do you remember the context? It really struck me when reading these words afresh for this sermon. These words and the words that go before them are hardly ever united together, if ever. It seems I have always heard these words and the words before read separately. People just read this or this passage about being ashamed.

Hear the words of Jesus that precede this statement. "'Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up His cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake in the Gospels will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Then he says, if a man is ashamed of me, it's in that context of being concerned about ourselves and gaining the world and their approval. Christ says, if you do, you'll lose your soul. That's what's at stake. That's what's at stake. Having said that, There are occasions when it is under our control, when it is under our control, those many times when we hold in our hands the remote, The phone, the on-off switch, what are we allowing in our homes?

Some of which were under control. We allow. Sixth, using God's name in a thoughtless way or as a manner of habit. Using God's name in a thoughtless way or as a manner of habit. How often have we prayed to God without thought of Him, without contemplating that we are without contemplating that we are actually coming into His presence, without believing that He hears us and delights to answer prayer.

How often have we said, the Lord willing or prayed in Jesus' name or signed a letter or an email in Christ or in Him, or something similar. All of these out of habit, out of a sense that this is what a Christian is to do, or what I've always or what I've always done out of a sense of obligation that it is expected. But in the very midst of all of these things, God is far from our thoughts. There is no sense of Him even as His name comes across our lips or is written by our pens as it's spelled out across our screens by means of a tap or stroke. We must not use God's name in a thoughtless way or as a manner of habit.

Seventh, using God's seventh, using God's holy word and holy things as the source of jokes and lightheartedness. Using God's holy word and holy things set aside as the source of jokes, of silliness, of lightheartedness. In Psalm 138, 2, David declares, I will worship toward your Holy Temple and praise your name for your truth, for you have magnified your word above all your name." Get the sense of that. He's magnified His word above all His name. Dear ones, the word that we hold in our hands is the very declaration of God's name.

Apart from this word, we would not have His name revealed to us. Revealed to us, it is His Word that reveals His titles, His attributes, His will and His purpose, His honor, His glory, His grace, His wisdom, His power, His strength, and the means of His worship. How should we treat this word? Isaiah 66, 2, the God of heaven and earth declares, but on this one will I look, on Him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles, trembles at my word." The Word of God is described as a pounding hammer, as a burning fire, and as a sharp two-edged sword. How do we handle such objects?

With care. With care. We should never use any portion of God's holy word for jokes or silliness. It's forbidden. Well, having considered first the meaning and then secondly some manifestations of taking God's name in vain, let us close by a consideration of the motivation for not taking God's name in vain.

The motivation for not taking God's name in vain. The motivation for not taking God's name in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. The taking of God's name in vain may be done openly, where others are able to hear or to see it. It may not result in a rebuke from men.

In fact, it may lead to momentary smiles and laughter. But know this, it does not escape the all-seeing eye of God. It doesn't escape it. Those around us at the ballgame, at the office, at the store may not view it as such a big deal, But this verse tells us that God will not hold us guiltless. He will hold us guilty.

But the stakes are higher for us who name the name of Christ. Our taking God's name in vain is often done more in secret, where others can't see or hear. But though it may escape the condemnation of men, God sees it for what it is and will not hold us guiltless. It's a serious thing. We are those who have been redeemed.

We are His children. We are those who truly know God. We are those who were called to proclaim the praises of Him, who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Not only should such a threat of guilt motivate us, but we should also look to the names of our great God for motivation for reverencing His great name. Children, children, let me ask you a question.

Let's say you were found by your parents hitting your brother or your sister, calling them names. Would you be in trouble? Would you? Would you be in trouble? I dare say you would be in trouble.

You would most likely receive the rod. But what do you think would happen if you started hitting a policeman and calling him names? Do you think you might be in a little bit more trouble? I think you would. But let's say in the courtroom you began hitting the judge and calling the judge names.

What do you think would happen then? You would be in a mess of trouble. You see, the higher the station of the one we have aggravated, the greater the guilt. The greater the guilt. So it is with God.

God's not our sibling. Say that reverently. God's not our sibling. He's not our neighbor. He's not a mere enforcer of law.

He is the judge of all the earth. He is our Creator. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. So as we think of how our view of God should motivate the reverencing of His name, consider with me who He has declared Himself to be. First, He is El Shaddai, Lord God Almighty.

El Elion, the God Almighty, El Elyon, the Most High God. Lord God Almighty, the Most High God. When we pray with small or no faith at all, we dishonor the name of our God, for He is almighty. He rules over all. He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? What He has promised He will perform. As Joshua came to his dying day he challenged Israel you know you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you all have come to pass for you not one word of them has failed Joshua 23 14 This is the God that we claim is ours. He has not changed. Where is your faith, my friend?

Where is your faith? Why do you doubt any of His promises? He is Almighty. Do not take His name in vain. Second, He is Adonai.

Adonai, Lord Master. When we seek our own will instead of His, when we live to please ourselves, We dishonor the name of our God. We take it in vain, for He is our Lord and our Master. Malachi 1.6 reads, a son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am the father, God says, where is my honor?

And if I am a master, where is my reverence, says the Lord of Hosts, to you priests who despise my name." Jesus told those who were following Him in His ministry, but why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say? To say that He is your Lord and to turn around and not do the things that He has expressly told you is to dishonor His name. If He is your Lord and Master, dear brother, dear sister, then serve Him, obey Him, and do not take His name in vain. Third, He is Yahweh. He is Yahweh.

He is Jehovah. Jehovah. This is God's covenant name. Dear ones, these Ten commandments were introduced by means of God declaring himself as Yahweh, as Jehovah. I am the Lord your God.

I am Jehovah Elohim. This whole moral law rests on the name of God. And as we saw in the first two commandments, God takes His covenant seriously. When we take that covenant name to ourselves, declaring that He is ours and we are His, then we obligate ourselves to the keeping of that covenant. We are not free to have wandering eyes and lusting hearts to seek the pleasures found in any other relationship, in any other thing.

Spiritual adultery is nothing short of taking the name of our covenant-making and covenant-keeping God in vain. Fourth, he is Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord my banner, The Lord my banner. This name was uttered after God defeated the Amalekites by the sword of Joshua, Exodus 17. If you recall, Moses was up on the mountain with the rod of God in his hands, outstretched toward the heavens, sitting on the rock, Aaron on one side, her on the other, supporting this raising of the rod of God up to the heavens. You see, there was a recognition that God was to them that day, a banner over them, that they were victorious through Him and Him alone.

When the arms came down, the Amalekites started winning the day. When the rod was raised up to the heavens, Joshua proceeded in victory. Do you see God as a banner over you? That you are not left to fight your battles under your own banner or under your own strength in your own name when we wage war against the world, against our own flesh, against the devil. In our own strength we take the name of our God in vain.

Let us rally under His banner, and from that position of strength, fight the battles He calls us to. We also dishonor the name of Christ when we before men are ashamed to be associated and found under that banner, as Peter did on the night before the crucifixion, as one after the other came to Him and said, Hey, aren't you under the banner of Jesus Christ? And He cursed and He swore and he said, I don't know the man. Is God your banner? Then don't dishonor his name.

Fifth, he is Jehovah-ra-ah. He is Jehovah-ra-ah, the Lord my shepherd the Lord my shepherd and Because he is your shepherd You shall not want Because he is your shepherd You have no fear of harm Because He is your Shepherd, you have no fear of harm. Because He is your Shepherd, you will not want, you will not lack, you're not alone. Because he is your shepherd, goodness and mercy are your experience all the days of your life. My dear ones, by the hand of Providence, the world is experiencing this current pandemic.

The news media, social media, shopping patterns at stores all reveal to us that the people of this world are like sheep without a shepherd. They have great needs. They manifest great fear both in the things that they say and in the way they conduct their lives. If we are to reverence the name of our God before a watching world, we must be those who show that we do not fear but trust in the name of the Lord our God. Our shepherd will tend his flock.

He will not abandon us as a hireling would do. The good shepherd laid down His life for the sheep, and along with such a great provision will not God freely give us all things. When we doubt, when we fear, when we worry, we take the name of our great Shepherd in vain. Sixth, Jehovah-Rapha, Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord that heals, the Lord that heals. In Exodus 15, we read of the people of Israel coming to Marah, and what did they find?

The drinking water there was bitter, or we might say it was brackish. It was impure. They couldn't drink it. God commands that a tree be cut down and thrown into the waters whereby the water is purified and made drinkable. Well, we read in verses 25 and 26 of that chapter there God made a statute and an ordinance for them and there he tested them and said, If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you." Now, this passage does not teach that God never brings sickness or disease upon His people.

To declare that would to contradict this context, and it would contradict the rest of the context as we see it in the Bible. What it does teach us, however, is that it is God who brings disease and it is God who heals. That's what we read in this text. That's what we learn. It is God who brings disease, and it is God who heals.

The coronavirus can go no further than the hand of our God will allow it. It can go no further. God dictates the bounds of this virus. And dear ones, to fear the microscopic germs of this virus is to take the name of the Lord our God who heals in vain. Where is your confidence?

Where is it? Seventh, he is Jehovah Shema, Jehovah Shema. The Lord is there. The Lord is there. And he is Emmanuel, God with us.

The reality of this name was experienced firsthand by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They refused to bow down to a false god. Their confidence was in their god who was there, and they trusted in the one who could deliver them if he chose to do so. They did not know whether it was his will to spare them or not, yet they still acknowledged Him as the God who was there, and they refused to bow the knee. And children, do you remember what happened?

Do you remember? They were thrown into the fire. How many thrown? Three. But when the king looked in, how many did he see?

Did he see three? That's what was thrown in. There were three thrown in. Is that what he saw? No.

He saw four. He saw four. There in that fire with those three men was Jesus Christ, Jehovah Shema. He was there with them in the flames. Isaiah 43, 1 through 3 says, But now thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you.

I have called you by your name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.

For I am, " here he goes stating his name, for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Dear ones, when we conduct our lives as if God is not there, we take His name in vain. And Even we read in Psalm 23 even if we were to walk through the valley of the shadow of death God says I'm there. I'm there We should not fear because our God is with us. May we not take His name in vain.

Eighth, He is Jehovah Tsidkenu, Jehovah Tsidkenu, The Lord our righteousness. How easy it is for us who have believed on Christ to begin to look somewhere else for righteousness. If asked directly, we would never declare our righteousness to be in any other, be it a person or thing, than Jesus Christ. But often our hearts and the response of our hearts begins to rest on our deeds, or on our faith, or on our own righteousness. Often our daily disposition, Our readiness to pray or not, our enjoyment or lack of enjoyment of the means of grace, our assurance or lack of assurance of faith, they'll fluctuate depending on the source of our confidence.

Are we looking to Christ as our righteousness alone, or are we trying to earn favor with a God whom Jesus has already reconciled with us? Are we trying to make ourselves acceptable to Him who bids us to enter His presence because we have Jesus, our great High Priest who intercedes for us? If we daily fail to acknowledge Christ as our only righteousness, we take God's name in vain. He is the Lord our righteousness. And we'll consider but one more, ninth, Jehovah-Jireh.

Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. Brothers and sisters, our God is the Lord who will provide even before He provides. He doesn't become the provider because He grants us answer to our prayers. The all-sufficient one is the Lord who provides. He is the one who gives us life, who gives us breath, who gives us all things.

The use of this name of God, Jehovah-Jireh, first appears in the account of Abraham's offering of Isaac upon the altar. You remember he was going to obey and God stops him, And he finds what? He finds a ram whose horns are caught in a thicket nearby, and that ram becomes the offering. Well, The context, brothers and sisters, emphasizes an often neglected reality. The provision there for Abraham, the provision was not what Abraham wanted.

The provision was what God required. It's not for what Abraham wanted, not to say that he didn't want to do something, he was ready to sacrifice. The provision was what was required, what was required. We rob God of the glory due His name If we always and only contemplate that name in regard to our wants and needs Jehovah-Jireh the Lord will provide this need and that need and if that's all we ever think of we rob God of the glory of that name as the great provider because of Jesus Christ. Now, is God the provider of our daily wants and our daily needs, absolutely.

He gives us our daily bread. When we seek His kingdom first, He provides all the other daily needs. But Paul would have us to know that the greatest provision of God was Christ Himself. And so he argues from that perspective in Romans 8.32, he who did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Dear ones, first, let us always consider our daily wants and needs as lesser needs than our great need, the need of a Savior, a substitute that God marvelously provided. Let us never stop marveling at that great provision. But second, let us always consider that He who took care of our greatest need is able to meet every other smaller need. He is the Lord who will provide. Are you without work in the coming week?

Whether temporarily or of a more permanent nature like you lost your job, the Lord will provide. He provided a Savior for your soul. Will He not provide you a daily sustenance of food? Let us not take that name in vain by despising what he has already provided or doubting what he said he will provide. And these are but a few of his names.

We have not touched the other elements attached to his name, His attributes, His will and purpose, His honor and glory, His grace, His wisdom, His power and goodness, and the means of His worship. When we stop to consider the name of our God, His titles, how great is our propensity to take that great name in vain. God will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. A search for the phrase the name of the Lord, That clause with all of those words, the name of the Lord, it provides some 110 occurrences in the New King James Version of our Bibles. And there are many things that the Bible calls us to do in or through or for the name of the Lord.

And the Psalms do it more specifically. The reality of who our God claims Himself to be should stir us to action. I would argue that the name of our God demands a response from us, and this is a motivation. It demands a response from us. The scriptures exhort us to call on the name of the Lord, to sing praises to the name of the Lord, to trust in the name of the Lord, to love the name of the Lord, to walk in the name of the Lord, to run to the name of the Lord for safety.

In Colossians 3, 17 sums it all up, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all In the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Do all. Do all. Every word, every action. Dear ones, I hope This study has increased your love for our great God and a greater desire to reverence His name.

When we consider the subject of the name of the Lord, we dare not leave the topic without touching upon Matthew 7, 21-23. This passage paints for us a terrifying picture of a people who are very familiar with the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is upon their lips. The name of the Lord is the banner under which they conduct their ministries, but in spite of these realities Christ.