So, have you ever behooved? Now, I don't know if that's correct grammar or not, but the word behoove means to be necessary proper or advantageous for. If we were using it in a sentence, we might say this. It would behoove the Children to clean their room before their mom gets home. Behoove. Now, what if we used it wrong though? What, what if we used it in the wrong way? It might sound something like this. Those kids better start behooving when their mom comes home from work. And if that be wrong that that behoove is supposed to be a behave probably when I was around 10 years old, I started using words in the wrong way. I think I initially did it just to kind of annoy my brother in law. But, but I have done it ever since I'll just use the wrong words at the wrong time just for my own entertainment. I, I just, I have fun just using words in the wrong way. But I have found over time that you could say maybe at the behest of those who are bestirred and bemoaning that my words are not befitting that it would behoove me to behave when it comes to the words I use, right? But it's not just me, there is a type of speaking, a type of word usage that applies to every man, woman, boy and girl. There, there is a way of speaking where it would behoove us to behave. And what is that way of speaking? Well, we continue our series 10 ways to change the world where we're considering the ultimate laws of the universe, the 10 commandments. And the reason we're, we're using this, this kind of big language, 10 ways to change the world is because underneath us, considering the 10 commandments, we're, we're asking a question of our hearts, how would the world be better if people really obeyed the 10 commandments? And our attention today comes to the third commandment. The third commandment is this commandment that is going to help us see that it is this law from God that we still need. It's going to help us see this way of speaking. That is super important for us to consider and evaluate in our life. It is this third commandment that's going to show us that the words that we say are a reflection of how we think and how we think is a reflection of our hearts. And so what we speak, what we say is a reflection of the character and nature of who we actually are. So words do matter the way we speak really does matter. So who are we? And how do we prove with our words, who we really are? Let's find out together. Our sermon today is called speak up. We're going to be looking at Exodus chapter 20 verse seven. God is giving a message to Moses to share with the people. It is God's law that is still good for us today. And this is the next part of God's message beginning in verse seven. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God in vain. It would behoove us to behave when it comes to using the name of the Lord. Now, is this talking about using God's name and, and cussing and cursing and swearing and profanity? Yes, it is. Is it talking about more than that? Yes, it is a lot more than just that I was reading something recently that said research shows that swearing can actually lessen physical pain, which may be why sometimes the wrong word slip out, right. You know, but research also says that those same words used over and over again have no impact on the pain. In other words, it's, it's kinda like a piece of fruit strike gum. You know, it fades immediately, you know, it, it doesn't have the the power that we think that it has. My pastor in seminary used to say that when people use profanity, he said it's just an evidence in that moment that they're just being dumb instead of smart. He said because any lazy person can use ignorant words. But a a thoughtful person has to take a moment and think about intelligent words to use legendary college basketball coach John Wooden taught his players to, to never use profanity. Kareem Abdul Jabbar was one of the players that played for him and, and in 30 years of being a champion on the high school and the college and the professional level, Kareem Abdul Jabar said he was never more afraid and scared of a coach than in a moment one day where coach Wooden looked at the team and said, goodness gracious sakes alive. So, is there a difference between cussing and cursing and swearing and profanity? Well, if we spent some time, we could probably make some categories creatively of how those things may be different. But ultimately, if you look at it linguistically and historically, all of those words have their origins connected to define and breaking the third commandment, define and breaking this notion of what it means to take the Lord's name in vain. Now, it may be helpful for us to remember that, that we have not been called to conduct ourselves according to the manners of a Jane Austen book. Ok. That's not our objective truth, our, our standard of truth, our guide for how we live and how we conduct ourselves is supposed, especially as believers, supposed to be God's word, the Bible. And the reason that's important is because we find that even in Philippians, when Paul is writing to the church at Philippi about the value of his salvation. He says the value of my salvation is more gain than all of my other accomplishments. He said, you can take my education, you can take my family heritage, you can take my accomplishments, you can take my possessions. And in the King James version, he says, you can take those and they are like dung compared to the value of knowing Jesus. And why does that matter? It just matters to say that sometimes there is really strong language that's used even in the Bible. And so we have to be careful that we don't disobey the second commandment while we try to think about the third commandment. And that is that we make an idol out of walking around with a checklist trying to pick off all the bad words that we think people are saying, which brings us back to the third commandment. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God in vain. What does that even mean to, to take something in vain? Well, it is about the name first and most that the name is the most important part of that one day Jesus was teaching his closest friends how to pray. And he said, when, when you begin your prayer, pray something like this. Matthew six verse nine, our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, hallowed holy other unique set apart. There is no one like the one true living sovereign. God. There's no one like Him. There's no one like God. There is no one that has the value that God has. There is no one who is a treasure like God is. There is no one like God. Therefore, there is no other name above and beside his name, he is holy. He is Majestic. He is awesome. And that's why we don't take his name in vain. We don't use his name in such a way that is inconsistent with who he is. And we don't use his name in such a way in word or deed. That misrepresents who he is. We noted last week that everybody's a worshiper, everybody's worshiping something same would be true if we use this language from Jesus, everybody's a hollower. Everybody is, is Halloween something. You may be Halloween yourself. You may be Halloween, your family may be Halloween, your friends may be Halloween, your, your job or your, your favorite team or, or your possessions or, or any other things. You could be Halloween, all types of things. But, but we are all Halloween something. We're either Halloween God first and most or we're Halloween something else. And how do we know what we're hallowing? Well, Paul was writing to the, to the Colossians church and, and he said something that is both profound and truthfully sounds impossible. Listen to what he said. Colossians 317, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. I pulled that off this week. Anybody, anybody, anybody do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Friday night. I mean, this sounds impossible, right? Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. But what he means is this, if we're going to profess to be followers of Jesus, then what we say or do should be consistent and in the ballpark with what Jesus said and did now, is that easy? No, will we do that perfectly? No. Should we aim for perfection? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because of what Jesus has done for us. He, he deserves our desire to do everything in his name. We're all going to have our moments. We're all going to have our days, we might even have some seasons. But if we are truly followers of Jesus Christ, if we're growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ, there will be a change tho those times where, where we are the opposite of Jesus are going to get fewer and far between or at least they're going to be super random. They're not going to be who we normally are. We may have a, a problem with our temper. We may have a problem with, with gossip. We may have a problem with, with apathy or, or 100 other things. But at some point in time, as Christians, we can't just say, oh, well, that's just, that's just how I am. Oh, Well, my mom and dad were like that. Oh, I get it from my grandparents or no, we, we don't get to say that. And here's why because who we are is a child of the king. We are Children of the king. So we should be striving with all the energy that God gives us to be more and more like the king. It's not easy, but it's our calling and we should realize that as we strive to be more like the kinging, not everybody's going to like it. Ok? We, we may not be the most popular person in the universe. If we're striving to be more like the king. Why? Well, because sometimes it is just easier to take the name of Jesus in vain. It just is, again, I ain't talking about cussing here. It's just easier to, to not do what honors Jesus. It's just easier to, to go our own way. You see, to take the name of God in vain is, is important because of the word vain. It means and by definition, something that's empty, pointless and a waste of time. So when we take the name of the Lord in vain, we're saying, oh God, God's just a waste of time. It's, it's pointless. Empty. I I'll do something on Sunday, but for the rest of the week, he's just not that important. It's, it's just in vain and see, we know what that feels like in life, right? I mean, all of us have moments in all the, the places that we go all week long where we feel like now I'm just doing this in vain. Somebody put it this way, you spank the Children, but there's no correction you put on makeup but there's no lovers. You put the wicked through the refiner's fire, but there's no repentance. You take the medicine, but there's no healing, you serve God, but there's no prophet. It all happens in vain. Ever felt that way. I felt that way this week more than once. There are moments in life where we just feel like man, I'm just, I'm just spinning my wheels, whether it's our marriage, our family, our work, or our health or any other things in life. We, we just feel like we're, we're spinning our wheels and that's not new to us. I mean, King Solomon said the same thing in Ecclesiastes. He's like, man, it's just all vanity, man. We're just, it's all vain. We're just wasting our time. The temptation is for us to say, well, well, this just isn't going anywhere. This is just pointless. And we're just tempted to say, well, uh why do it? And that's not new. In fact, 3740 years ago, that's exactly what the people of God were thinking and feeling. In fact, if they weren't thinking and feeling it yet, God knew they were going to, and that's exactly why God gave them this commandment. He wanted them to see and know that when those moments come in your marriage or with your kids or, or at work or with your health or, or whatever else you're going through, finances, whatever it may be, that what we need the most is to remember and to see that when it feels like everything is a pointless waste of time. Our first reaction shouldn't be to curse God. Why is God doing this now when it feels like everything is vain and empty and pointless and a waste of time in that moment, what we need the most and we're not convinced of it, but what we need the most is to see and savor Jesus Christ, we need to see Him as the treasure above all treasures. That's what we need the most. There is nothing about believing in and yielding to and, and relying on and trusting in and clinging to Jesus that is in vain. There's nothing in vain when it comes to Jesus. Jesus is not empty. He's not pointless. He's not a waste of time. Jesus was brutally executed by Roman soldiers on a cross outside of Jerusalem on a Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. And then his dead body was placed in a tomb owned by a man named Joseph from a place called Arimathea. And then three days later, God raised him from the dead permanently. Jesus is alive. He has risen. He is risen indeed. And there is nothing about the resurrected Jesus that is in vain. Nothing after he was resurrected. Jesus said this to his closest friends, Matthew 28 all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, the authority to make disciples, the authority to, to do what we did this morning at the beginning of our service to, to baptize that authority. All of that authority to make disciples of, of every type of person, every nationality, every color, every socio-economic background, all of that authority comes in the name of Jesus. There is no other name with that kind of authority. The name of God, the Son, the name of Jesus is never in vain. It is not empty, it is not pointless. It is not a waste of time. Not long before he was arrested and crucified Jesus again, was speaking to his closest friends and said this in John 14, these things I have spoken to you while remaining with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and remind you of all that I said to you, the greatest help that a Christian could ever need. And I would just say at this point, the greatest help that any non-christian would need would be the work of the Holy Spirit. The greatest help that we could possibly dream about is for God, the spirit to help us. And that help from God comes through the name of Jesus. That's why we say there is no other name with that kind of help. The name of God, the Son, the name of Jesus is not in vain, it is not empty, it is not pointless. It is not a waste of time. Early in his ministry on earth, Jesus sent out 70 of his disciples and he told him to, to go ahead of where he was going to be going. He's going to be going to these villages. He goes, go on ahead, tell them the truth about God and, and tell him that I'm coming to their village and when they came back from that, this was their report. Luke chapter 10 verse 17. Now the 70 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name, joy and power over demons. There is no name that has that kind of power. So that's why we say that the name of God, the son, the name of Jesus is not in vain. It's not empty. It's not pointless. It is not a waste of time. 244 years ago, Edward Perine wrote a, a hymn that is, is now famous and in his hymn, he included this one defining line that is the title of the hymn itself. All Hail the power of Jesus name. All hail the power of Jesus name. Not all hail the power of Bill Gates name or Billy Graham's name or Michael Jordan's name or Tom Brady's name or Joe Biden's name or Donald Trump's name or Mother Teresa's name or the Pope's name or Dal Welch's name or your name. All hail the name of Jesus period, exclamation point over and over only and only. All hail the name of Jesus. All hail. The only name, the only begotten Son of God. All hail the name of Jesus. There is no other name. The name of God, the Son Jesus is not in vain. It is not empty, it is not pointless. It is not a waste of time. It is the name above all names. He is the greatest treasure of all treasures. And that's why we need to be people of the name. If we claim to be followers of God, we need to be the same people. We claim to be to part of taking God's name is vain. Say, hey, I'm a Christian and then hey, I do everything. The opposite of that name that that's taken God's name in vain. Now somebody might say, come on man, it's 2024. What, what are you doing here? 10 commandments. We, we don't need the 10 commandments. We, we need some new commandments. We need some new laws, some new rules that fit today because those, those just don't work they just don't work in our time. They don't work in, in our culture. They don't work in our generation. Here's the funny thing. True, objective truth works in every time and every culture and every generation, that's what makes it objective truth. It's not subject to when we live. It is true before, during and after every generation. And that is the truth of God, the truth of God's word, the truth of God's laws. These 10 commandments 3740 years ago, they had great value because they were truth above all truth and they still haven't lost their value. In fact, all you have to do is look through the last 3740 years and you will see that it is in the 10 commandments that we see this unbelievable combination of mercy and justice that we cannot find in the Republican Party and we cannot find in the Democratic Party and we cannot find in the Baptist or the Methodists or the Episcopalians or the Catholics or anyone else. It's only in Jesus. It's only in God's truth. Anything else we're spinning our wheels? Does it mean we, we don't have a political party or we don't get a denomination? No, it's just that those are not the truth. The truth is in God only His mercy, only his justice is good for every marriage and every country and every generation, only his truth. He keeps proving himself over and over and over again. And that's exactly why the commandment is, don't take his name in vain because there's so much power in the name, there's so much power, so much mercy, so much justice, so much love in the name of God. That's why we don't take it in vain. That's, that's why in word and deed, we don't take it in vain. And why is that so important? Listen to the next part of God's commandment for the Lord will not leave him unpunished. Who takes his name in vain? What kind of punishment are we talking about here? Am I going to get struck with lightning? Maybe I don't know it could happen. But, but I think in the context, what we're seeing is this, that, that to take God's name in vain is to say, well, I'm a follower of God, but I'm not really following God. And so what we're doing is we're saying, I believe in God, but when it comes to the nitty gritty of life, I believe in my actions that He is empty and pointless and a waste of time. Yeah, I'll believe in God, but I'm not really going to obey His commandments. And if that's the case, if you say one thing, but you live something completely different again, none of us are perfect. We're going to have our moments. We're talking about pattern of life here. If the pattern is that you say one thing and you do something different. Then it is possible that you will wake up on the other side of death and you will not say g you'll wake up on the other side of death and you'll discover that there is one true, holy sovereign God and he is unswerving in perfect justice and he has accomplished perfect justice through the mercy of his son. So if you reject him here, then you are separated from him forever. Now, does that mean that we should never text someone? OMG? Look, we're not trying to make 483 rules about how to keep the third commandment. Ok. What we're doing is simply saying this. Don't take the name of God in vain. Hallow his name in your heart. Hallow his name in your mind. Hallow his name in your words. And when you hallow the name of God like that, when you set Him apart as, as unique and other and holy, you know, it's going to show up, it's going to show up in your text and it's going to show up in your speech and it's going to show up in your actions and it's going to show up on what you post on social media. See to Hallow, God's name means that that something has changed on the inside. It means that we are not so obsessed with speaking out our opinions. We are more obsessed with speaking up about the name of God because there's so much power and so much mercy and so much justice and so much love and so much grace and so much truth in his name. But what does all this look like in, in real life? Well, 30 years ago, Eric Raymond was in basic training in the military. He was a very strong non-christian and had a filthy mouth, lots of foul language. And the guy who was in the bunk next to him in basic training was always reading his Bible and he would tell Eric, hey man, could you just kind of quit taking God's name in vain? And how did that impact Eric? This is what he said. That didn't convert me, however it did unsettle me. I love that. But gosh, something's unsettling his story is that sometime after that, while he was still in the military, you heard the gospel and, and God saved him. He, he became a believer and this is what he said. One of the first fruits of my conversion was to stop taking God's name in vain. Why? Well, simply because I loved him, Eric said somewhere else. Can you imagine if someone started using your wife's name when they were cursing at people? You know, I mean, what would we do? Or, or one of your kids' names? You know, I mean, it would be strange if somebody just, you know, just started yelling expletives using some family members. That wouldn't you say, hey, hey, Bud, won't you? Hey, turn it, stop it. You know, how much more, how much more should our hearts and our minds be offended when God's name is, is being dishonored. When God's name is being thrown out is empty and pointless and a waste of time. That doesn't mean fight with everybody. It just means that let our hearts hurt when God is dishonored. Eric went on to say this. I began to understand how much I had offended His goodness and how he had loved me and gave his own son for me. I could but speak his praises, the dry and calloused hate speech had been overcome by the tsunami of Thanksgiving love and praise simply I went from hating God to loving him. That's, that's what changed it, not just his language, but it changed how he thought and how he acted his life. Quit taking God's name in vain, not just his mouth. 12 years ago, Eric was at the Nebraska Michigan State football game in Nebraska. And he had a guy sitting behind him who was using God's name in all the wrong ways with every drop pass and interception and miss tackle everything that was going on just over and over and over. And so like his bunkmate from the military, Eric decided that he would engage with this guy and this is how he described their conversation. Hey, what number is he who God, you keep on cussing him after every incompletion or mistake. I just wanna know what number is he Yeah. Well, he's, number one doesn't seem like it. You drop his name more often than a TV. Evangelist. Only you take it in vain. Did you know that? That's one of the 10 commandments. The Bible says that God will not leave him guiltless. Who takes his name in vain? Hey, buddy, me and God, we're, we're ok. In fact, pretty sure God's a Husker fan. You know, I'm not concerned about you being ok with God. I'm more concerned with how God feels about you because the Bible says that what you're doing is what his enemies do, whatever, whatever. Now it sounds like I just ended the sermon with a message about not cussing, but that's not really what I'm hoping for. What I'm hoping for is that, that we would see and hear the, the magnitude and simplicity of that interaction. And we would each one of us for our own hearts and our own good. Ask the question to ourselves. How does God feel about me? How does God feel about me? Does, does God see me Halloween? His name worshiping him first and most not perfectly but, but first and most or, or am IA a self worshiper or am I worshiping my family or my friends or my job or my team or my money or whatever else? It is and, and in worshiping myself is it, is it kind of one of those things where I'm kind of my own little God that. Hey, this is how I believe the world should be. This is how I think things should go. These are my politics. This is how I spend money. This is how I raise my family. If God can get in with that plan, I'm ok with it. I'll use the Bible when it's convenient to fit with my plan. Is that what God sees in you for the good of your family, for the good of your friends, for the good of this church, for the good of this community, for the good of the country, for the good of the world, for the good of your soul. Do not take the Lord's name in vain. It, it behooves you not to take the name of the Lord in vain. Why? Because he's not empty. He's not pointless. He's not a waste of time. He loves you and he gave his son for you. And there is nothing common about that so deeply, truly are things really ok with you. Thank God.