The Greatest Sin

1. 0:00The Old Testament The Old Testament The Old Testament The Old Testament The Old Testament Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 36.
2. 0:12What is God's will for us in the third commandment?
3. 0:16That we neither blaspheme nor misuse the name of God, by cursing, perjury, or unnecessary oaths, nor share in such horrible sins by being silent bystanders.
4. 0:28In summary, we must use the holy name of God only with reverence and awe, so that we may properly confess him, call upon him, and praise him in everything we do
5. 0:40and say, "Is blasphemy of God's name by swearing and cursing really such serious sin that God is angry also with those who do not do all they can to help prevent or forbid it?
6. 0:53Yes indeed, no sin is greater or provokes God's wrath more than blaspheming his name."
7. 1:00That is why he commanded it to be punished with death.
8. 1:04So this Lord’s Day concerns the implications and the applications of the third commandment, that we're not to take the name of the Lord our God in vain.
9. 1:14How we talk, how we use God's name in conversation, perhaps even in expressions of joy, and surprise and even in anger that we don't take God's name upon our lips in
10. 1:24ways that would be an offense to him. But what always amazes me whenever I read this Lord’s Day and consider it and even as a reflection of my own life
11. 1:34and my own heart is what that second question and answer gets at by looking at this is saying, does this command, or rather, is this blasphemy, is this cursing and swearing
12. 1:46such an offense to God, such serious sin, that God is angry with it or even more angry than he is with any other sin that we commit? And the way the answer puts it, no sin is greater or provokes God's wrath more.
13. 2:02The reason I reflect upon that especially is because I think of all the other sins, all the other commandments and the sins that they address.
14. 2:09And we get down in the commandments of God, we're dealing with murder and we're dealing with subjects of personal purity and single life and married life.
15. 2:18And what about sins of covenant?
16. 2:19or lying. And yet you come back to this and go, "Well, why then does this Lord’s Day say that? What's the point here?" And I believe it must be because of this, because
17. 2:28this commandment is addressing the person of God. It's who he is in terms of his essence, his being, because his name is a representation of all that he is and of all all that he does.
18. 2:41And so to take God's name upon our lips in any way that's mocking or flippantly using it or using it in a lighthearted way, it's a mockery.
19. 2:50It's really an assault, it's an attack, it's an offense against the very nature and being of God.
20. 2:56And so we come to maybe some practical considerations of What are ways in which we see this third commandment being broken or even transgressed out there in the world,
21. 3:06but also in our lives? And I think, for example, of the sin of blasphemy.
22. 3:10I think of the fact that people, even Christians, would claim that if Jesus were alive today, he would be the one leading the gay pride parade. And other people would talk about about Jesus in terms of an even God,
23. 3:22or my God, they personalize it as if their understanding of God was something specific to themselves.
24. 3:28My God would never do that.
25. 3:30My God would never cast people to hell.
26. 3:32My God would never enter into judgment against others based upon their orientation.
27. 3:38And so we see in our society remaking of God in our own image, which is blasphemy. It's a lie about God, where they believe that lie in themselves, not only that, but they make it worse. They
28. 3:48want others to believe that lie also. But then we bring this a little bit more closely to our own lives and to some of the ways in which we, as it says here, we might also use God's name
29. 3:59in vain by cursing or swearing. The lighthearted use of God's name. Sometimes Christians lose their temper and they damn people or they damn things. Well, that's a violation of this
30. 4:11commandment. Other times we might think we're saying things in jest or we just go, "Ah, jeez." And we grew up with that too, where people say, "Well, you know, when you say
31. 4:19"Jeez, what do you mean?" You're really saying Jesus or Jesus Christ. So that's a form of violating the third commandment.
32. 4:26So we see even in those ways we can be guilty of that.
33. 4:29Whenever we're conversing with God, our words and phrases should be thought out, they should be sincere, not just routine phrases.
34. 4:37We're not just to throw around even names.
35. 4:39names like the Lord God or God or good God, great God, things like that that we can just use as filler, as words that might make our prayer sound more eloquent or even pietistic,
36. 4:52but really just be sincere in our prayers and every thought and word that we say in prayer. And then there's perjury where we're sworn where we're to take an oath in God's name.
37. 5:01We swear by God's name that we tell the truth, but we break that oath.
38. 5:06We intentionally lie under oath, or even unnecessary oaths.
39. 5:11Sometimes we joke about, "I swear in my mother's grave,"
40. 5:14because we want to make sure that someone really believes that what we're saying is true.
41. 5:17We take an unnecessary oath.
42. 5:19oath. The next Lord’s Day points us to oaths that we can take that are biblical, but these are unnecessary, even vain oaths that we're taking. And of course, sharing in such horrible sins as
43. 5:31being silent bystanders. And how many of us have been in that situation where perhaps a friend or even at a ballgame where someone is just shouting out the Lord's name in vain, and
44. 5:39the name Jesus Christ or something in a very, a way that makes us cringe, how do we go about prayerfully, gently rebuking them or maybe taking them to the side
45. 5:52quietly and saying, "I'm a Christian and your use of God's name in that regard is great offense, not just to me, but to God in me."
46. 5:59So just to ask you to refrain from speaking like that, for sure, when you're around me, but hopefully always.
47. 6:08And I think especially when we take that last phrase of this Lord’s Day and we turn that around a moment, maybe this can be an encouragement to us all, that if it's true, as it says,
48. 6:19greater or provokes God's wrath more than blaspheming his holy name, then it must also be true that nothing brings God more delight, nothing brings God more pleasure and joy than
49. 6:32when we, his people, we live according to his commandments and we walk in his ways and we bring him honor and glory.
50. 6:39with all that we say and do and think.

Made automatically from the audio, so a word here or there may be wrong. Tap any line to play from there.