Intentions

Berean Baptist on August 27, 2018

Exodus 20:7

In this morning’s message, we take up the final exposition of the third commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.” In the previous messages, I have shown you there is more to taking the Lord’s name in vain than using it as a swear word. Today, we examine some of these other ways. Since there are several of them, I do not have a lot of time to spend on each one. I have already shortened the list to make the point in the briefest time possible.

I would like, however, to expand on the common usage of God’s name as “filler speech.” For want of some other expression, God’s name is inserted as an exclamation of surprise, of disgust, or some other emotion. The expression “Oh my God” is so common it is spoken without thought. Since most people do not actually talk to one another any longer, the expression shows up in texts, tweets, and emails as “OMG.” I would think to type this out surely requires a little bit of thought—more so than in spoken language because many are indeed so foolish as to speak without thinking.

The problem of determining whether this is sinful relates to intent. Is this intentionally disrespecting God’s name? Does intent rule, or is it overridden by the clearness of the command? In other words, if you do not intend to act wrongly are your wrong actions sinful? If you speak God’s name without intentionally disgracing Him, is it still sin? We only need to compare it with other things we do without intent. Go back to the second commandment. If we hang a picture of Jesus on the wall without the intent of worshiping it, is it still wrong? If you listened to those sermons, you hardly need to ask. If you offend someone unintentionally, is it still wrong? Ask Hilary if you use a private email server for national security conversations, is it wrong if you had no intent to put this country in harm’s way? Wait, don’t answer that—apparently it is okay. Usually, however, the government is not concerned with your intent. The law has been broken and consequences must be faced. Most people have no intent to run over people on the sidewalk, but it could happen if you text while driving.

Likewise, with this command. We do not expect the world to get this, but Christians are definitely under obligation to get it. We are supposed to think about what we say. We are supposed to be deliberate in our speech. Jesus said, “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). We can very well take this as His exposition of the third commandment: “The LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” There is no argument left to excuse the careless speech of those who say, “Oh my God,” “Oh, Jesus Christ,” “geez” and so on. They are clearly in violation of the command. The Christian should work overtime completely expunging these expressions from his vocabulary. Every word we speak has meaning whether said with intent. Our conscious thought should be as Paul advised: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Colossians 3:17).

Pay attention to this today and the other ways the Lord’s name is used wrongly. God allows no excuses. This is not the preacher’s opinion; it is the word of God. As the end of the message encourages, go to the Lord in repentance and contrition. He will forgive this sin as He does all others. The key is to recognize that you have offended the precious Saviour with or without intent, and to come with a promise to change your ways. I promise He will give great thought to intentional forgiveness.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith

 

 

The Perfect Name of God

Berean Baptist on August 20, 2018

Exodus 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.

Exodus 20:7 is the text of the third commandment which speaks of the glory and majesty of God’s name. The commandment says we are not to take the Lord’s name in vain. Many times, I have commented on the spelling of LORD in all caps which in this part of the scriptures represents the Hebrew name of God transliterated into the letters YHWH known as the tetragrammaton. The true pronunciation of this name is not known, although in English we say Jehovah or Yahweh. This is the name by which God was known to Moses revealed in the supernatural appearance of the burning bush.

The Jews held the name of God in such reverence that what they wrote in the transcription of His word they would not speak when it was read aloud. Since they would not speak the name, this leads to the confusion over how the ancients would have pronounced it. Instead as they read, they would substitute another of the many names used throughout scripture. Most commonly, this would be the name Adonai. This seriousness over speaking the name aloud may have gone beyond the pale of reasonableness, but it nevertheless strongly insisted that God’s name should never be used in light-hearted frivolous ways and certainly never with profanity.

I am reminded of the many ways this command can be broken. Thomas Watson identified twelve ways it can be broken and in most of those ways he posited many sub-points. Ezekiel Hopkins gave five ways but those five were equally as verbose as Watson. This tells us most Christians do not know how many times they have broken the command without realizing it.

One of the most intriguing ways to me is the misinterpretation and misapplication of scripture. Whenever we interpret that God said something He did not say, we attach the authority of His name to a falsehood. I believe many preachers would do this without intent, but I believe many others are malicious or otherwise very careless in their study. They shake the foundations of truth and utterly blaspheme God. The worst offenders are the priests of Roman Catholicism and the preachers of the charismatic movement. These are opposite extremes although the gap between them is rapidly closing. In the gap between these two, are many Christians who know enough to be saved but are taught multiple false doctrines.

The danger of breaking the commandment in this way lays great responsibility on preachers to be very diligent in their studies. Every text must be approached carefully. The word of God is the expression of God Himself. Jesus is the living word as John 1 shows, which means any misinterpretation of it is a misunderstanding of Christ. We do not often consider these misunderstandings seriously, and as I said they are often unintentional.

Thankfully, the Lord knows our human frailties. He knows this commandment will not be kept perfectly until we reach the glorification of heaven. Then, we will know God face to face in all His perfections. Our service to Him will be perfect and all misunderstandings will fade away in the face of Christ. I cannot wait until that day comes. Until then, we will do our best to depend on the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith

All Creatures of Our God and King

Berean Baptist on August 13, 2018

Psalm 148

In the last week of Jesus’ life, He entered Jerusalem to the wide acclaim of the people. They hailed Him as the King whom they believed would deliver them from the occupation of Rome and restore the kingdom to Israel. With one voice they shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” It was a remarkable display as palm branches were strewn in His path. The people wondered as He approached.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of this display is the way Jesus chose to enter. It was not on a fine steed with bright regalia but on the foal of a donkey. No Roman official would enter a city this way. They would have a full cohort of soldiers in a display of power and they would ride on white horses with heads held high. Jesus, however, was meek and lowly and riding on a beast of burden that was the transportation of the common man. This fulfilled the ancient prophecy which said: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” (Zechariah 9:9).

In Luke chapter 19, the story is told in a little different way. Like did not concentrate on the people’s shouts of praise but rather on the disciples. A multitude of them gathered to join the people’s homage. The Pharisees protested and asked Jesus to rebuke them, to which He replied, “If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” From this we can see that all creation was made to glorify Jesus Christ. Stubborn men may withhold their praise and never make mention of the majesty of His name, but the creation shall never cease to give their maker the acclaim He deserves.

The psalmist would certainly agree. In 14 verses of the 148th psalm, he bids all of creation to witness the glory of Christ. He encourages all from every corner of the universe to sing their maker’s praise. He begins in heaven with the powerful angels. They were made to protect God’s throne and His holiness. They always do His perfect will and never stop as messengers of His good will to men.

Then the psalmist moves to the celestial creation. He calls upon the sun, moon, and stars to join the chorus. And then it is the physical earth with its wide variety of creatures and natural beauty. From there, kings and rulers must lend their voices. Finally, it is all people especially those who are called by His name. The creation cannot be silent. Wicked men will not lift up their voices, but need we be disappointed because of them? Jesus was not. The Pharisees would not give Him praise and insisted others should not. Jesus simply said, “They may be silenced but you cannot silence the creation.”

Christ will have His glory. We do not worry that the race of fallen men will not bow. We are not offended by what they may or may not do. The mighty vast creation is sufficient for this beautiful chorus. It will not be silenced no matter how loudly unbelieving skeptics may rail against Him. Remember this when you are worried about what America will do. The leaders of this country will not trample the sovereignty of God. He will triumph with all of the hosts on His side. “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest” (Luke 19:38).

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith

 

 

Stars, Stars, and More Stars

Berean Baptist on August 6, 2018

He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. (Psalms 147:4)

In our study of the Ten Commandments, we have noted the personal nature of the commands. The old English pronoun thy in Exodus 20:3 is an indication of this individual emphasis. Thy is a singular personal pronoun while you found in modern versions of scripture can be singular or plural. I point this out to show how God is concerned with the individual. Your personal response to His commands is vitally important. God’s people are not a faceless mob but consist of those whom God knows personally and intimately.

I want you to notice how Psalm 147 indicates this truth in a very special way. In verse 4, the psalmist wrote, “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.” I am not sure the psalmist could understand the full significance of this statement. However, he did observe more stars with the naked eye than most of us today.

Recently, I watched a short video on light pollution and how it obscures our view of the stars in the nighttime sky. Hardly any stars are visible when viewing the sky from our large cities because of the extreme amount of ambient light in which the small pinpoints of the light from the stars are diffused. However, to look at the night sky in a place like Death Valley where light pollution is reduced to much lower levels, the universe is dramatically opened to the human eye.

The psalmist would have seen this kind of sky especially if he was out in the hills of Judea. This lends much more meaning to the scriptures when we see in places the stars are spoken of as examples of vast multitudes. Looking at the night sky in Santa Rosa would not cause us to number the stars in comparison to the sands on the seashore as the Bible does (Gen. 22:17; Heb. 11:12). And yet, with what the psalmist could see and with how he would lose track while counting, he had no idea of the real impact of the Bible’s comparisons. With modern telescopes, we have learned the stars really cannot be counted. There are about one hundred million galaxies visible with each containing billions of stars. This is the visible portion of the universe. There is no reason to believe that beyond what we can see there aren’t one hundred million more galaxies.

Take all this information and put it back into the context of Psalm 147. Verse 5 says the Lord is infinite. Only He knows how many stars were created. Whatever the number is beyond the 1024 number of stars that are observable, He knows the name and exact coordinates of each one. We are told this because God has such grasp of minute details that He could not fail to know about every one of His children. He certainly knows their names and every trial they encounter.

If you feel alone and think nobody cares, who would you rather would know about you—the infinite God or fallible, finite men? Who has the real ability to help you, God or man? Who is to be depended on and can never fail, God or man? Your most intimate relatives may forget you—father and mother may forsake you—but never God (Psalm 27:10).

Some of you grew up with abusive fathers and/or mothers. Some of you never had anyone to hold you or care about you. For your entire life, you’ve had to forge through on your own. When you became a Christian, you gained a loving church family. This is a wonderful experience, but you should still remember it is God that brought you to where you are. Learn to trust God and lean wholly on Him. Your brothers and sisters in Christ are still fallible and they may fail you. Remember, God knows your name. He has your number. You never get lost in His filing system because He has your name written in the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:16). “He heals the broken heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (147:3). Such knowledge is more glorious than all the stars.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith