I Will Not Take The Lord's Name In Vain
Heb 11:1-6 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Exod 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
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The Ten Commandments and the literal meaning of our text.
There is power in the name of Jesus. John said that he wrote the gospel of John so that we might believe and have life through his name:
John 20:30-31 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
Peter told the Pharisees that the lame man was healed in the name and that there was no other name whereby we must be saved!
Acts 4:10-12 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
At the Jerusalem Council, James mentioned the importance of the name of Jesus being revealed to the Gentiles:
Acts 15:14-17 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, 16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: 17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
There is saving power in the name of Jesus! There is healing power in the name of Jesus! There is miracle power in the name of Jesus! Why? Because when we do something in the name of Jesus, we are saying we believe that it will happen as if Jesus Christ Himself were there saying the prayer! It is not our power that we are relying upon, but upon His power! Jesus said:
John 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
All things are possible in the name of Jesus! I said all things are possible in the name of Jesus!
The devil is a counterfeit. When the Antichrist comes and makes a law that you must take a mark, it is more than taking the number that damns the soul who takes the mark. It is the process. We believe and turn from our previous lifestyle (Repentance), we take on the Lord's name in water baptism, and then we are filled with His Spirit. I believe that when a person takes the number, they will also worship the Antichrist and after they take his name, they will become filled with an evil spirit!
Rev 13:16-18 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Want proof that the devil is a copycat? One of the characteristics of those who make it to heaven will be that they will have received the name of the Lamb in their foreheads.
Rev 22:3-4 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
In the Law, the High priest wore a mark upon his forehead to show that he was the holy one who could go in before the Lord. If leprosy, a type of sin, was to be identified one place that it would show itself would be on a person's forehead. David killed Goliath with a stone to the forehead. The New Testament speaks of the five-fold ministry for the perfecting of the saints. I don't know whether it was the pastor, apostle, a teacher, an evangelist, or a prophet that first told you about Jesus' name baptism, but whichever one it was, it knocked down the giant of your past that was threatening you! God told Moses and the children of Israel that they were to know God's law so well that it would be as if it were written on their foreheads (Deut 6:8).
What God was saying is that we should know the power of the name of Jesus and be so familiar with what is possible in the name of Jesus that it would be as if it was written on our foreheads. Our every thought and hope and dream should be permeated with faith in the name of Jesus!
What are you saying preacher? What does this have to do with me tonight? When we are baptized we are baptized in Jesus' name. You have all of the power of the name applied to your life. When the devil looks at you he sees a blood bought, sanctified person where he once saw a sinner. He sees the name of Jesus all over you! You are different, because you have taken the name! Right before Jesus told them that whatever we ask in His name that He would do it, He said:
John 14:12-14 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Did you catch that? If we really believe in Jesus Christ and the power in His name, then greater works than the miracles of Jesus Christ will be done through us! I looked up the word for "greater" in the Greek and it means "more." That means not only should we be able to pray and see the same miracles that Jesus performed, but we should see more of them as a result of our prayers!
We have taken on His name in water baptism! But if we do not allow Him to do the miracles and have the Apostolic revival through us that God desires to do, then we have taken His name in vain! If the power of Jesus is not working in our lives and we do not step out and be Jesus to this world, then what was the good of taking on His name! But I've made up my mind! I will not take His name in vain! I will not take His name in vain! I will allow Jesus Christ to change whatever He wants to change and work through me however He wants to work.
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Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Without faith it is impossible to please him! We cannot please God without having faith. That tells me that if I take on His name in baptism, and do not have faith, then I will have taken the Lord's name in vain! You've got to believe that God exists and that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him! The word for the phrase "diligently seek him" in the Greek means "to fervently seek after, to crave." You've got to be hungry for God to allow the supernatural to move in your life in order to see it! If I do not have that kind of faith to let God's Spirit work through me, then for what purpose was I baptized? I have taken on the Lord's name in vain.
Living for God is really just about faith. Faith is everything in living for God. But there are different kinds of faith. You need all three kinds of faith operating in your life to live for God successfully. The three types of faith are:
Faith of the Past
Right Now Faith of the Present
Faith of Anticipation or Faith for the Future.
You need all three and there is a vast difference between the three. Chances are if you are sitting in this church, you do not have a lack of Faith of the Past. You believe that God spoke the worlds into existence even though you were not there. You believe that the stories in this Bible are true, even though you were not around to witness them. That is Faith of the Past. And I do not want to belittle that kind of faith, because Faith of the Past is very important! You must believe that the Bible is the Word of God and is truth or you have no chance of being saved. Let me also point out that decreasing or increasing your faith in the past will never change the past. God created the heavens and earth just by speaking it into existence whether you believe it or not! What has happened has happened. You can believe with all of your might that Jesus Christ did not come and die and rise again, but that doesn't change the facts! He did, and I'm living proof of it!
Most of us also have no problem with Faith of Anticipation or believing God for things that He has prophesied about in the future. When I read about the Rapture of the church and how that the dead in Christ one day will rise first and we who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet Him, I've never seen that happen before, but I believe that it will happen! I believe it with all my heart. I've never seen gold-paved streets and the tree of life and gates of pearl, but I believe with all my heart, that I will one day stand there! I have Anticipatory Faith! I have faith for the future! Let me also point out that Anticipatory Faith will not change the future. If you choose to believe that there will be no Rapture, oh well, but it will not change a thing, for one day the trumpet's going to sound and the Rapture will take place, and you just will not go!
Where most of us have faith deficits is in Faith for the Present. We believe that all those miracles happened back then, and we believe that all those wonderful things will one day happen, but we aren't real sure if God can do it right now, today, in our life! Our problem is right-now faith! And that is sad, because RIGHT NOW faith has the power to change my life! Whether or not I have it will make a difference in what happens!
The Jewish people had for years looked for the Messiah. They believed that everything that was recorded in the Old Testament had really happened and they had no problem believing that God had delivered Moses and revealed Himself to the Jewish people. They had no problem believing that God had made some great promises to Abraham and given them the promised land. They also had no problems believing that one day in the future the Messiah would come and deliver them. That God was going to set them free! They believed it, any scripture talking about what the Messiah would do when He came was their favorite ones to hear read in the synagogue!
But when Jesus read the scripture, He did not quite get the welcome that He expected:
Luke 4:16-22 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?
Jesus was bringing them good news! The Messiah that they had expected to come in the future was there in the present! They should have rejoiced, they should have been glad, but instead they rejected Him and missed the time of their visitation because they did not have "right-now" faith!
I'm preaching to our church tonight: You do not have a problem with believing that thousands got the Holy Ghost back in the book of Acts and you believe that God did for you as well. You believe that one day, when all of the stars line up and everything goes perfect, God will also fill many people in this area with the Holy Ghost, but you are not sure if God can do it today! You are not sure about this week! What about in this service?! But I am here to tell you and proclaim it far and wide that the days of miracles and signs and wonders, and Holy-Ghost outpouring and Apostolic revival and growth are not in the future or past, but is right now! The anointing that God wants to bring upon you and to work through you, is not some future event but is available tonight! Deliverance and joy in the Holy Ghost is here right now! There is power in the Spirit available tonight! You have taken on His name! God will not break His commandments! God will not help you sin! If you are willing to step out in His name, He will perform it, God will not let you take His name in vain!
But we must diligently seek the work of God! We must be craving and hungering after the supernatural work in our life! No Apostolic revival ever happened by accident, but came about when people got hungry to have God work in their lives! {The Early Apostolic church, Samaria, and Cornelius. The Latter rain movement in the 1900s}. We've got to believe that God is no respector of persons and will do it right now! The scriptures say that TODAY is the day of salvation! God wants to start an Apostolic revival in our lives and church today! If I do not hunger and thirst after righteous and receive this blessing and step out in faith and enact it, then I have taken the name of Jesus for nothing! But I have made up in my mind: I will NOT settle for second best! I will NOT settle for just an average walk with God in my life! I am hungry to see hundreds get the Holy Ghost from Medina County! I am hungry to see the supernatural at work! I have the name of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords written upon my life, and I will NOT take the Lord's name in vain!
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We cannot view things as the world views them because the world does not view things through faith. The world views things through whatever they can see with their natural eyes. Whatever makes sense to their human brain, whatever their intellectual logic tells them and whatever they desire and their flesh wants is what they give into and act upon!
True faith has two characteristics: 1. It must be for something that you have not yet seen physically, and 2. it must produce action. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the "substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." In other words, you believe that God will do something before it ever happens. James tells us that "faith without works is dead." In other words, if faith is true, "right-now faith" then it will produce action! If what you are calling "faith" does not cause you to act, then it isn't really faith.
If I believe that the Rapture is going to take place and I have not made myself ready and am not living my life so that I would go if it took place, then I really do not believe. I only truly have faith if you can see some action produced! James said that:
James 2:19-20 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
The devils believe in one God! And it is true faith because it causes them to tremble! True faith always produces action! I know that you cannot earn your way into heaven and that works alone can't save you, but if what you call "faith" does not produce action in your life, then it isn't faith!
Some people say that they will pay their tithes and give in the offering when God blesses them greatly, but that's not faith! You've got to be willing to pay your tithes and offering BEFORE you see God's blessing to act in faith! Faith must be for something that you haven't seen. You can say that you believe that God will bless someone who gives their tithing and offering to the church, but if you don't do it, then you really do not believe it! True faith always produces action! On the flip side, you can give your tithing and offering to the church but if you do not really believe that God will bless you abundantly, then He will not! Why does the Lord loveth a "cheerful giver?" Because if you are giving cheerfully, then you have faith that God is going to bless you, that is why you are so happy! People who give grudgingly or resent the fact that God's word teaches to give 10% of their income plus offerings usually do not receive the blessings because they really do not have faith in God's plan!
In fact this applies to everything about living for God. If prayer is a drudgery, then that person doesn't really expect God to answer their prayer! If church attendance is a chore, then that person doesn't really expect God to bless them at the service. If fasting seems foolish to you, then your real problem is a lack of faith! If obeying His Word, or taking correction, or forgiving others, or being baptized, or staying encouraged are hard for you to swallow, then your problem is a lack of faith! Because all of those things when received or done with faith in God produce blessings and promises! And the sad thing is that when you do not expect God to do something, then you will not receive it! And if you are not acting in faith, then what good does do you to have taken the name of Jesus upon your life, and if God can't work through you and bless you, then you have taken His name in vain! But listen to me, I've made up my mind that I will NOT take the Lord's name in vain! I'm going to have "right-now" faith!
In my life, I have a financial burden in my life because I'm having to pay my house note in San Antonio and do some repairs on it as well as pay for hotel rooms for district stuff. Don't get depressed for me, but learn from what I am about to do: I believe that God will start the financial blessings right now! But if I just say that, then I really do not believe it! So what I am going to do, is I am about to give a sacrificial offering to foreign and home missions. Do I really have the money? No. But if I really believe that God is about to bless me financially, then I must act and give! If I do not it is not real faith.
What do you need right now? The Holy Ghost? Just saying that you believe that God will give it to you is not enough. You must have action. You must express your faith by beginning to surrender everything in your life to Him and praising Him! If you want your family saved and you say that you believe that it can happen, that will not be enough. You must have action from your true faith! Why don't you set aside a time each day to begin to pray for them to be reached. Why don't you start studying the answers to the questions that you know that they are bound to ask? Why don't you begin to fast each week for them? Do it in advance! True faith always produces action! If you need forgiveness then Repent and confess your sins. If you need a financial blessing, then you need to give an financial offering to the Lord in faith. If you believe that God can fill this church up but do not ask anyone to come and give your testimony, then you don't really believe!
What's the point preacher? The point is this: If I say that I believe that God can bring Apostolic Revival and I claim it in Jesus' name, but do not act as if Apostolic revival is about to come, then I am taking the Lord's name in vain! But you listen to me! Not only do I believe that Apostolic revival is starting right now, but I am about to start acting like it is happening! God always responds to true faith! I will not take the Lord's name in vain! When I ask in His name, He will respond! Why? Because it is true faith! I am hungry and craving for the supernatural and so I will begin to act according to what God is going to do!
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The story of Elisha praying for His servant's eyes to be opened!
II Ki 6:15-17 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
We need to pray that we see thing through God's eyes, and not fleshly eyes! God is already here and ready to do the work! He is just waiting for someone to catch the spiritual vision and step out in faith and claim Apostolic Revival in His name!
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Jude 1:17-21 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.