Taking the Lord's Name in Vain # 2

Taking the Lord's Name in Vain # 2

In like manner, we are guilty of this awful sin when we perform holy duties lightly and mechanically, our affections not being in them. Prayer without practice is blasphemy; and to speak to God with our lips while our hearts are far from Him is but a mocking of Him and an increasing of our condemnation.

God's name is taken in vain when we swear lightly and irreverently, using the Name of God with as little respect as we would show to that of a man, or when we swear falsely and are guilty of perjury. When we are placed on oath and we attest that to be true which we do not know to be true, or which we know to be false - we are guilty of one of the gravest sins which man can possibly commit, for he has solemnly called upon the great God to witness that which the father of lies has prompted him to speak!

"He who swears in the earth, shall swear by the God of Truth" (Isaiah 65:16), and therefore it behooves him to consider well whether what he deposes be true or not. Alas, false oaths have become so excessively multiplied among us, and so generally disregarded, that the enormity of this offence is scarcely considered.

"Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; and do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate! Says the LORD" (Zechariah 8:17).

And what shall be said of that vast thing of profane swearers who pollute our language and wound our ears, by a vile mixture of execrations and blasphemies in their common conversation! "Their throat is an open sepulcher, the poison of asps is under their lips, their mouth of full of cursing and bitterness" (Romans 3:13, 14). Utterly vain is their thoughtless plea that they mean no harm. Utterly vain is their excuse that all their companions do the same. Utterly vain is their plea that it is merely to relieve their feelings. What a madness is it when men anger you, to strike against God and provoke Him far more than others can provoke you!

But though their fellows do not censure, the police arrest, or the magistrate punish them - yet the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who takes His Name in vain.

God is dreadfully incensed by this sin, and in the common commission of this Heaven-insulting crime - our country has incurred terrible guilt!

It has become almost impossible to walk the streets or enter mixed company, without hearing the sacred Name of God treated with blasphemous contempt. The novels of the day, the theater, and even the radio, are terrible offenders! And without doubt, this is one of the fearful sins against Himself for which God is now pouring out His judgments upon us. Of old, He said unto Israel, "Because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil" (Jere. 23:10). And He is still the same: "The Lord will not hold him guiltless, who takes His Name in vain." Sore punishment shall be his portion, if not in his life, than most assuredly so, eternally so, in the life to come!

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)