How do we deal with all the words that fly from mouths all around us and our own mouths, especially when the words are hurtful? That's what we're going to look at here and we're looking at the third of the ten commandments. What does God command in His Word in Exodus 20:7. It says: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.
Well, I'm sure you all know the lie that's so common in our day and age, “Sticks and stones will hurt me, but words can never hurt me.” That's just not true. That's a lie. We all know that words hurt deeply. The old playground story where one child says to another, “your Mom is a beep-beep-beep,” creates a reaction, and of course, before we know it, fists are out and there's a biff-biff-biff and so often such words cause pain. It's not as if they do not hurt. The reality is all words can either bless or curse.
Words can build up or break down and so God tells us how we are to use our words. He warns us here that if we are to love Him, it is no wonder then that cursing and swearing hurt. That's why this verse in Exodus 20:7 is so important, because we are to love God with our words, with our promises. They are to be kept, without profanity. They are to be avoided. We need to be so careful.
I remember a promise made when my eldest son was just three years old. A well-meaning adult said: Oh, I promise I'll do this for you. Well I don't know if that adult forgot or if that adult couldn't keep his promise but I remember my son being heartbroken. He said: “But Dad, they promised that they would do this.” It was a week and then two weeks and many weeks passed. If my son had fallen and scraped his knee at three years of age he would have cried and after a few minutes of comfort he would have gotten up and played again. That scraped knee would have been forgotten. However, the promise was remembered for weeks, and my son learned a tough lesson: in this world people make promises that they do not keep.
So often we will say, “we must have lunch sometime, or we must do this, or go out for coffee” and we don't mean it. We break our promises at every turn. God reminds us that promises, broken ones, cuts deep. God hears every word that you or I speak. That's why He says: “watch your words before your ever-present God, and whether it's words of profanity or words of promise, we are to be careful with them.
As James said in chapter 3 of his book in the Bible, this little tongue can start a fire, it can bless or curse. We are to be like fresh water refreshing people with the words from our mouths. So let's look at this command here and why God gives it. The first part about it is that He warns us against profanity. Now you say what is profanity? Well profanity is bad language. Bad language, of course, is very common in our day and age. We hear it all around us in the town, in the city and on the bus. We hear it on the TV.
In the movies we hear blasphemy, where the Lord's name is misused and strangely enough no other god's names are misused. Our true, living God's name is misused. They'll “Christ” this and “Jesus” that or if there's not profanity they're swearing the “f” word and the “s” word and all the other words that are out there. There is also the foul mouth where the stories are just dirty and unpleasant, and everyday things like that seem to be around on all the media. We find this in books - sometimes even the set works that are set for university and school just have foulness in profanity all over them. Even if you are discerning, and you go to the movies you end up with something that offends your ears.
But you might say, “why is it wrong if everybody is doing it? Why, if it's so common?” Well, profanity is primarily wrong because God is still God. God is a Holy God and God is a powerful God, and God is an all-present God. So, watch your words before our all-present and ever-present God.
You might say that profanity also reveals a lack of vocabulary. Some people can't express themselves without using profanity. I remember one person who came to know Jesus saying to me, that when he became a Christian, he lost half his vocabulary. And maybe if you have come to know Jesus, you've experienced that profanity is most vile when people use the names of God, like “Jesus” or “Christ”. We must remember that every human being, you, and I included, will give an account for every word we speak. Let us watch our words before our ever-present God. There is forgiveness, but we are still going to give an account, even if we know Jesus Christ. This is one commandment that will never go out of date.
There was once a train conductor who was collecting tickets as the people came in to the train station and some young people were among the group. Some of them had lost their tickets or couldn't find them and some of the other group began heckling this conductor and saying to him, “well just let us through” and he said “no, you can't get on the train without a ticket.” They started swearing at him and calling him all sorts of names and saying things like: “you must be the most unpopular man in the world.” That train conductor said, “well maybe, but to that man looking through the frosted glass over there, the one-way mirror, I'm the most popular man when I make sure that you have a ticket before you get on the train.”
It's the same in our lives as well. You and I must watch our words before our ever-present God. We need to help others to speak well and remind them to speak carefully with their words. If we hear profanity on the TV, we can object to the Broadcasting Complaints Bureau and we need to do that if necessary. If there is going to be profanity in movies, don't buy the ticket. We also need to be careful what we watch on the television or on our cell phones or laptops. Put those parental-guards on your TV and change the settings on your cell-phone, if necessary.
Most importantly, we need to make sure that we are careful not to let profanity get into our hearts and minds because as it affects getting in, so it comes out. What's in our hearts will be reflected in our lives. You say, well what happens if a loved one swears, or a friend of mine has a foul mouth, or a colleague at work has profanity with every turn?
I want to encourage you: If they are swearing then speak to them gently. Take them aside and tell them why it is wrong. Explain to them that it causes you pain when they misuse the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Explain to them how precious Jesus is to you. And if they just swear at you and curse you as well and ignore you, do not be afraid. You've now spoken to them. They know that when you're in their presence that you are holding them to account. If they continue, don't nag them, leave it with God. Remember the second part of this command warns them and us, that the Lord will deal with it. Speak kindly to them first, not shouting, not threatening them and then pray for them. Maybe it's just that reminder that they are to watch their words, that will impact their lives for eternity. We all need to use our words carefully in each other’s presence but also in the presence of an ever-present God and then leave the adjustments to Him after you've spoken with them. Don't be silent. Remember to speak in love to those around you even if they do not know the Lord Jesus, because that is something that God can use in their lives. If they listen to you, if they're a good friend, they will be a blessing in your life.
We've looked at profanity, now let's look secondly then at promises. Promises are another way that we can misuse the name of God. You'll remember from school that old schoolboy promise: “Cross my heart and hope to die,” if I don't do this or that. This third commandment of the ten commandments says: don't misuse God's name. Don't make promises that you don't intend to keep. This is a prohibition against the taking of the name of God in vain. Now that word “in vain” is important. It's when you don't intend to keep that pledge or promise. Perhaps you have no intention of doing what you say you're going to do, or when you plan in a sense to later break that promise. Maybe it's inconvenient or maybe it's not comfortable for you. But the reality is that when you or I break a promise or a pledge, God considers it with utmost seriousness. This is a grave and serious sin.
You say, “well, what's so serious about breaking a promise? Everybody's doing it today.” Leviticus 19:12 says: A broken promise dirties God's name. In Jeremiah 7:9 - A promise broken, or perjury is put on the same level of evil as stealing, murdering, adultery, and idolatry. Malachi 3:5 ranks those who swear falsely with sorcerers, oppressors of the poor and those who do not fear God.
You might then say, well, if that's the case then why did Jesus forbid taking oaths with the intention to deceive? Jesus called out the Pharisees when they made a promises without the intention of keeping them. When they were deceiving the people they were speaking to, He called that wrong. The Pharisees of course, in Jesus’ day tried to get around this third commandment by promising, not in the name of the Lord - they'd promise in the name of heaven where God was, or earth which Jesus pointed out was His footstool or Jerusalem or they promised by the hairs on their head. But God gave them those hairs! This evasion was simply a way to try and leave a gap in their promises. A loophole in what they were pledging because God was not technically in their minds. A partner in the transaction such as when people say: “oh I promise to put the EFT through when I get home, or I promise that heaven's my witness that I'll do this.”
Jesus says “No! Don't do that.” Let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no. Don't make those promises to cover up a lie for God is present everywhere. Remember, God is listening to every word, every thought that we have. Watch your words before our ever-present God. God is present everywhere. Promises that are made, given and taken are heard by Him. Note that when people heard Jesus say: let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, some Christian denominations, like the Quakers, for instance, now no longer take any oaths. They will simply make a statement. They will never make a promise.
We know from the rest of the Bible that Jesus Himself made a promise. He made a promise in Matthew 26:63 when He replied under oath that He was the Son of God and He didn't avoid promises but when He made a promise He spoke the truth. He didn't try and hide behind a promise to get away with a lie. Paul himself promised the truth in Galatians 1:20.
There is a place for promises but we are to use them sparingly in day-to-day living. May our “yes” be yes and “no” be no.” Very simply, promises are to be kept because we are to watch our words before our ever-present God.
You might say, what are the types of promises that we are to keep? Well there are many different types of promises. Firstly, there are ordinary promises to keep for instance: I promise to do this for you. I promise to see you then. Or I promise to be here at that time. Or I promise to go there and do that, God helping me. You and I will do well to give our promises with more thought and to keep them more resolutely. We must remember that light promises lead to light memories and suddenly we get very forgetful and we break those promises.
The first type of promises are the ordinary everyday promises, which we are to keep. But there's even work promises, where we promise to do our work for our employer and our employer promises to pay us. We need to keep both of those promises whether we're an employee or an employer. We must make sure we do that, and we need to make sure that we do our work as unto God with efficiency and conscientiousness because these are increasingly lost virtues in our day. We must be careful not to fail to pay or underpay our workers. The same goes for promises we make when we become a member of the church When we stand in front of everybody and are received into membership may we make sure that we say we’re going to stick with this group and persevere and resolve conflict - not just run from church to church to church. May we forgive when we’re offended and make sure we ask for forgiveness when we offend others. Then we can live in good relations. Let us keep the promise of being valuable parts of the body of Christ and play our part where Jesus puts us.
We not only make work promises and church promises and ordinary promises, but we make promises in the law courts. You have all heard those scenes on television that before God the actors “promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Those promises need to be kept. Make sure the truth is spoken even if it means difficulties for us or for others. We need to speak the truth because that's when justice can be done. We read daily how many people even politicians break promises and yet the reality is we must not evade the truth – let’s speak it.
Examples of promises in the law court are promises of marriage and unfortunately the promises of marriage are some of the most frequently broken promises. You see if we are answerable to God, modern society shows how lightly the vows of marriage are taken and broken. For better or worse we say, and that means that when it goes badly, when it's difficult, when there's periods of disagreement and fighting, we mustn't give up but work through those problems getting help if needed without giving up on marriage itself. We have made a promise before God for better or for worse and so if we're not prepared to face the consequences and the punishment that will go with it then rather do not get married and do not make those promises before God. If there's promises in marriage keep them.
There's the promise of baptism. Here we stand up before people and promise that we have received Jesus Christ and we die to self and are buried with Him under the water and we rise to new life. And those promises of baptism, mean that we turn from Satan and live for Christ.
We also need to keep promises of dedication when we dedicate our children and say that God helping us, we will teach these children the Word of God and speak to them. So often parents say to me that we've got Sunday school teachers. We've got the Awana leaders. We've got the youth leaders. They can tell them about God. No. They'll have them for an hour or maybe two a week. The reality is, you have your children every day. Every day as you drive down the road, as you tuck them into bed, as you sit around the table rather than watching the television, tell them about the things of God. Keep the promises you made when you dedicated your children to share what God has done in your life and what He has done in time and space throughout history. Tell them the great stories of the faith that they might be built up.
I recently was called into a crisis situation at a creche. And I was there because there were some robberies in the area and the children were traumatized. I sat with about 15 children and prayed with them and encouraged them. I was saddened after asking whether they had ever heard the story of David and Goliath. Out of the 15 children not one of them had ever heard about David in the Bible. They were all pre-schoolers under six years of age. It saddened me that none of them had ever heard about David and Goliath. You see, we need to tell our children about the things of God.
There are many different kinds of promises we make. We need to remember that promises need to be kept and not broken. And these and others are examples of the types of promises that God calls us to keep because God is everywhere, and God is always with us.
In Leviticus 24:11 we even read of a man who was fighting with another man and in the middle of the fight cursed God and then the question was asked what must we do with him? When God was asked, God said stone him to death. In other words misusing your mouth is a capital offense in God's eyes. It's this serious.
When Peter said, “Oh Lord I will die for You.” In the very next breath he said to that servant girl who questioned him about being one of Jesus's followers, Peter cursed and made promises and denied Jesus. Not just once, but three times. What happened in this example shows how serious this is.
But you say, “Well, this is all around us” and tragically it is. For this reason, watch your words before an ever-present God. There are consequences to how we use our words. Now maybe you're like Peter that apostle and you look back on your week. You look back on this year past, two years. three years or your whole lifetime and you see them littered with many broken promises. I want to tell you that you need to hear today, the other words that Jesus spoke to Peter after Jesus restored Peter.
Jesus specifically came to Peter and said, “Peter do you love me?” To you the question also is, do you love Jesus? Even if you've said the wrong thing. If you love Jesus, then, do you know that He died for you on a Roman cross and that He rose from the dead on the third day? Have you put your whole life in His hands? Hear these words: Peter (or put your own name in there): Go and feed My sheep. Go and care for others. Go and put back into the Kingdom of God what you have neglected through breaking your promises or through profanity. Go and know that you are now forgiven as you confess your sins. John writes in 1 John 1:9, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and He is just, and He will not only forgive us our sins but cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Ask Him to fill us with His Holy Spirit that once we've confessed our sins the Holy Spirit then becomes a guard on our lips and a rein on our tongues. The Holy Spirit enables us to speak blessings and not curses. He empowers us to speak what is good, what is pure and what is lovely.
If you know the Lord Jesus and you've broken your promises, run to Jesus right now. Ask him to forgive you. If you don't know the Lord Jesus, then with your tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour of your life and in your heart believe that. Put your whole life in His hands right now. Even as you read this, cry out to Him in a prayer.
As I lead you in a moment, join me now in a prayer as we pray: Oh Lord Jesus save me. Forgive me my foolish words; my sinful words; my profanity and my broken promises. Forgive me all of this Lord Jesus and all my sins in thought, word and deed. What I have left undone, not only forgive me but cleanse me I pray. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Firstly to be Your child to be born again. Save me Lord Jesus I pray. Then Lord Jesus as Your children, to remember that we need to watch our words before You because You are always present with us everywhere, all the time. You know every thought in our minds, every concern in our hearts. You know every word even before it's on our lips and so set a guard on our lips we pray. Enable us Lord Jesus to love You: to praise You with our lips and not to curse and not to promise things we cannot fulfil. Even if we don't know what we're going to do tomorrow, to say God willing that it might, if we can and You will it. We might be here or there. Oh Lord Jesus guide us to live as new creatures in this broken world of bad mouthing, of big mouths that make false promises. Make us to be people of Your word and people that keep our word as we speak gently in this broken world. For this we pray in Jesus Christ's name, amen.
I pray that this message has helped you. If it has, share it with others. Please comment by emailing me, but make sure you live for Jesus and speak for Him and use your tongue to the glory of God and so to Him then, be all the praise and the glory now and forevermore, Amen.