This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Jesus and the Law” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 29, 1986.

This morning we are reading from Acts, chapter four, verses one through twelve. After they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being distressed that they taught the people and proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

They seized them and placed them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many who heard the word believed. The number of men amounted to about five thousand.

On the following day, their rulers, elders, and scribes gathered together, along with Annas the high priest, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high priest’s family. They were assembled in Jerusalem. When they had placed the men in their midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a man who was lame, by what means he has been made whole, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him this man stands here before you whole.

This is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. Neither is there salvation in any other name. There is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. Take note of this.

For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes the name of the Lord his God in vain. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless. Take it.

Father, we come in humility. Having been through a great deal in life, we come before You. Surely, Lord, the lessons of our lives teach us that we are to be dressed in the garment of humility. Lord, we acknowledge that in our flesh there dwelleth no good thing, but that because of Your mercy we have been born again, we have been renewed, and we have been brought forth from the dead to serve You. Your word has been the means of our life. It is now our nourishment. Father, we desire all of it for our good through Christ. Amen.

You have worked hard all day. Now You are very tired. Your youngest child is underfoot. Your oldest child is busy troubling his brother. The fact that the can opener does not work is a minor matter. But now it is jammed. The can of tomato sauce is only barely punctured. It just hangs there. You are unable to manage the situation. Amidst the general chaos of Your kitchen and Your home, You look for someone to blame and lash out against God with harsh and angry words. As soon as You speak them, You are deeply troubled.

This is a breach of the third commandment. It is a violation of it. Undoubtedly. But as important as this breach is, and as serious as Your words are, the key point is this: the words You have sworn. The harsh words You have spoken are the central concern of the third commandment. The main focus of this commandment is not merely the act of speaking, but the attitude behind it. First of all, I am concerned with the seriousness of contemptuous, disrespectful, and even blasphemous uses of God’s name. To be sure, this is the way in which the church has generally understood it, and they have interpreted it correctly, at least as far as they have gone. But what about the situation?

You are fourteen years old. You are baptized. You carry the name of God upon you. Your parents love the Lord, and they speak often of the Lord in your presence. You were taught to pray as a child, and you have done so. But now, in these years, you pray only rarely. To be perfectly honest, you find yourself strained against the instruction and the example of your parents. As has been said, you bear the Lord’s name, but now the Lord’s house seems to be an offense to you. You are not as excited as your parents about going to the Lord’s house. You see so many things. So many things turn your attention away. And there are so many things that you desire. It is now that you find yourself pushing God away, wishing yourself free of any responsibility to Him whatsoever.

Is this also a violation of the third commandment? Is there in that commandment, spoken of there, a threat—a threat of empty or vain profession? A threat in which the name of God is lifted up in life to emptiness? In which you ask, as if that name, the name of the Lord, that name which you have received, were actually meaningless? To take the name of the Lord in vain—does it mean to take upon yourself the Lord’s name in vain, and to live and act in such a way that you lift that name up to vanity by the way you behave?

Something like the way in which a child, acting disrespectfully, brings dishonor to the name of his parents. Or something like the way in which a disreputable person brings shame to the name of a respected family. Another consideration for us in thinking about the third commandment. But have we, as yet, touched the original intent of this commandment in its original setting? Let me give you one more illustration.

You are a follower of Jesus. And as such, you regularly attend certain types of gatherings. These gatherings always begin with a talk given by someone who is experienced in the community of Jesus followers. This experienced person shares how he became a follower of Jesus. You relate to his story. You have experienced spiritual joy and deep emotion in worship. The speaker then describes the opposition he has faced on his journey, and once again you identify with him, because you have also faced similar opposition.

The speech feels reaffirming and inspiring. It comes to a close, and then there is always a time of praise. During this time, you join in a prolonged, repeated recitation of the name of Jesus, lasting twenty minutes. The repeated chanting of Jesus’ name has a powerful effect. It brings release and purification. It also strengthens your spirit and deepens your confidence that Jesus is truly present with you. You are convinced that through this practice, Jesus is willing to do for you whatever you ask.

Is this also a violation of the third commandment? When we consider this final example, explain to us: is it not true that at the heart of this practice is a superstitious or magical approach to matters of faith? The use of the name resembles a mantra, a practice found in some Eastern religions, where the mere repetition of a name is believed to produce a desired result. We have now considered three illustrations.

And all of them relate to the third commandment. As we review them, we see violations of that commandment. But is one any closer to the center of the commandment’s intent as it was originally given? What about the first illustration? Is it the contentious, disrespectful, or blasphemous use of the Lord’s name? That certainly is an affront to God. It certainly can be related to the third commandment. But is that specific activity what is in view when we consider the third commandment in its original setting?

And what about the second illustration? The way in which a believer lives. Here, to be sure, we are drawing closer to the traditional Reformed understanding of the commandment. For if you were to read the exposition of the Third Commandment in the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, you would see that the Westminster Assembly understood this commandment as comprehensive in scope. It includes more than just the way in which you use your phone. It includes the manner in which you live and behave.

It is possible for you to empty the Lord’s name of meaning through your actions. But believe it or not, it is the third illustration—the superstitious and magical use of God’s name—that comes closest to the law’s original setting and intention. You see how those first three commandments hang together. I can get ahead of myself here. Do you see how the first four commandments hang together? They all pertain to proper worship. They all relate to proper worship.

We are to have no other gods before us than the true God. We are to make for ourselves no graven image or likeness of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. We are not to bow down to them or serve them. And here, in the third commandment, we are not to take the name of the Lord our God in vain.

The issue before the people of God, as they are gathered together at Mount Sinai, is specifically the threat of violating the covenant by the people of the Lord turning away to follow other gods. That is its focus. The threat that the Lord is prescribing against is precisely that threat. No other gods, first of all, Commandment 1. No graven images, no fashioned gods, Commandment 2. But now, specifically, as we come to Commandment 3, it is clear that we are face-to-face with practices that may well prove the most dangerous. Therefore, this Third Commandment is given extended importance.

For you see what will happen. The misuse of the Lord’s name in vain occurs when Israel, the people of God, look out toward the nations and observe how the nations live and worship. They see how the nations, the heathen cultures, use the names of their gods. The magical use of divine names becomes so attractive that the Israelite is drawn to it. He then brings those pagan practices into his own life and gives them the name of his own God. It is as if one takes a large cauldron and places within it all the practices of the nations, all their superstitions, all their use of magic. Then, one adds the name of God to the cauldron, thinking that by doing so, those things are sanctified. But instead, the name of God is lifted up to emptiness.

But the heart of the pagan religion is emptiness. Vanity, deception, untruth. When Jesus gives his people instruction about how to pray, he reminds them, do not pray like those who are ignorant, because it is vain. There is the word—vain repetitions. What is the hope of vain repetitions? They believe that by speaking many words they will be heard. So it is, you see, with pagan religions in general. They are not afraid. At their heart they are magical. And Israel is to flee from such things.

This brings us into contact with the original purpose of the commandment. I might say, by way of application, I know that our practice has been to focus on the second commandment, which forbids making images or likenesses of things in heaven or on earth, and to relate that to certain practices in churches today, drawing comparisons back and forth, we being of the pure reform tradition. We are not very patient with people or churches that use images and statues in their worship. And I know they will tell you that these are only for the ignorant, that statues are not meant to be worshipped. But it remains true: the people, the people of the congregation, do worship them at this point. They pray to them, and this is the truth.

Now the common habit has been to relate these practices and to oppose them based on the second commandment. But the second commandment, as I tried to point out last week, is not directed against the way we approach the truth. It is directed against any approach to a false god, a false idol. It is actually the third commandment that addresses the incorporation of pagan practices into the worship of the Lord, the true God.

And that is to be avoided, rejected, and opposed. That is the power of it. But having come to the heart of the third commandment, have we said everything? Of course not. There is one thing yet, quite important, that we must say. I think perhaps some of you noticed it in that third illustration. Is it possible to use the name of Jesus in a vain way? Yes. Is it possible for the name of the true God to become empty and meaningless in itself? Yes. How am I able to say that?

Let us consider the progress of God’s redemptive plan. Here is a Jew living in Jerusalem in the first century. He is high in official position among the Jews. He sits on a court, and before that court come Peter and John. These officials revere the name of the God of the Old Testament, but is that sufficient? By holding up the name of the God of the Old Testament, can they ever be in harmony with God and with the intent of the third commandment? Or is it possible for them to uphold that name and still be guilty of breaking the third commandment? Yes, it is. How so?

Because there is no name given under heaven among men by which men must be saved except the name of Jesus. The only way to know the name of God is through Jesus. No other. No other. But someone can say, “I know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I know about the God of David and Isaiah.” He can make these claims. Yet because he does not confess the name of Jesus, he is in violation of the third commandment. As the progress of God’s plan unfolds, as one of you stands before the law, do we fear any better?

The question claims that he reveres the name of his God. We claim that we revere the name of Jesus. The reality is clear: we have broken the commandments, we have violated them. We are weakened by our violations of the commandments of God.

Do I stand before you merely to preach more law, to lay upon you more things that you cannot do, to leave you without any hope, to send you home more depressed than when you came in? By no means. My intent is that you might leap with joy, just as the impotent man in Acts 4 leaped, that you might go out of this place rejoicing in the Lord, knowing that even though there is weakness in you, even though there are failures evident to you. As you face up to the third commandment, even before that commandment, yes, you tremble and must say, I break that commandment.

But do you see, do you see what is now available to you? There is one, there is one. In fact, that one by whom the name of the Lord is known. In him, there is found the perfect reverence and the perfection of a ministry and a life in which the name of the Lord is completely and wholly sanctified. Through Jesus, the name of God has been perfectly glorified. So what is the invitation before you? What is the offer before the law? Before the commandment? Whether you are Jew or Gentile, what is extended to you now?

Do you see it? It is entering into the perfect glorification of the name of God by Jesus. You enter in by grace. And his perfect glorification of the name of God becomes yours. You are not a lucky person. Rather, by virtue of his perfect life, his atoning death on your behalf, you are made part of this. One last word. There is a constraint in this. For if this is true, you have been welcomed into the perfect glorification of the name of God by Jesus. How are you to speak? How are you to live? How are you to worship?

There is no other way. You are in Him. If you do not bear His name, if you are not in Him, there is no hope, because there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now, Father, before Your law. May we rightly tremble. Father, may we see it clearly. Your intent. But also may we see our own violations.

And Father, as we do, may we run to Jesus, the one who bears the name by which our God is known, the name that is not to be taken in vain. O Lord, as we rush to Him, may we find all the sufficiency, for we have been welcomed into the perfections He has established for our good, we have been welcomed into the perfection of His glorification of Your name. Therefore, Lord, we see ourselves as those who fulfill the law, not as those who violate it. We ask now, Lord, for strength through the obligation placed upon us, we who bear the name of Jesus and confess it, that we may be sanctified, yes, in our use of the name itself, in the way we live, but most importantly, in the way we worship.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.