Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!

MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK

JESUS, JESUS, JESUS

(This message is primarily a condensation & adaption of an excellent sermon b y Darren McCormick.)

Scripture: Exodus 20:7; Luke 6:45; James 2:14; Psalm 29:2

ILL. The game show was showing on TV. The contestant said “I’ll take Occupational Dialogue for $100.” The game show host tells the contestant, “See if you can guess the occupation of these people from their job-related quotes. Here’s your first job-related quote….”

“Would you like fries with that?” – “Fast-food restaurant worker.”

“After you miter the boards, you’ll nail them together with a #10 nail.” – “Carpenter or construction worker.”

“With the recent fluctuations in commodities I wouldn’t advise that move.” – “Stock broker/investment counselor.”

“I can’t wait for Spring Break!” – “Junior High or High School Teacher”

“Considering the frequency of infections, a tonsillectomy is in order.” – “Doctor”

Just one more… “He’s broken free! Touchdown! And the home team wins!” - That’s what many hope to hear from their next football game sportscaster.

Seriously now, we can tell a lot about a person by the things we hear them say. And please don’t take offense in what I’m about to say, but instead understand I say it with a burden on my heart.

The fact is when we hear someone in anger say “Jesus Christ” or when we hear someone tack the word “damn” onto God’s name with regularity, so it’s “G-D” this & “G-D” that. It really does tell us a lot about that person.

ILL, It is suggested that people who regularly swear & drag God’s name into their gutter talk fall into one of three categories: they’re either Uninformed, Uncontrolled or Unsaved; & that Uninformed people who use God’s name in profanity just don’t know that it’s wrong.

The fact is, the use of God’s name in profanity is so common that there probably are a lot of people who really have no idea as to how wrong it is.

They just hear it in swearing so much that they figure it’s okay to throw some of the most popular God-condemning phrases into their everyday conversations. But they are wrong as we’ll soon see when we look closely at God’s commands.

Besides the Uninformed, another category of people who mix God’s name in with profanity is the Uncontrolled. A lot of people will admit they know it’s wrong to swear using God’s name but then they’ll try to excuse themselves by saying, “Sometimes I just can’t help myself. Something will happen that will tick me off & I just blurt it out.”

People who fall into this category can perhaps take a little comfort from the fact that the Bible agrees that it’s hard to control what comes out of our mouth.

And to those people who struggle with occasional trash talk with God’s name I would ask, “Are you working at doing it less & less? Are you really trying to close the damper on the profanities that come from your mouth?”

If you’re not you should be, because when you make those occasional slips of the tongue they reveal that you have some heart issues deep inside of you.

Jesus said “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, & the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45

If you’re one who knows it’s wrong to use God’s name in profanity, but you find yourself doing it anyway, you need to go to God in prayer & not only ask Him for forgiveness, but also ask Him to change your heart, removing whatever is in there that could spill out in vulgar speech.

There’s a third category of people who mix God’s name in with their swearing - & it’s the Unsaved. Evidence of that is their ongoing calloused cursing using the name of God, which shows that they don’t really know, love & respect God.

If you didn’t know before today that it’s wrong to drag God’s name into your swearing, consider yourself informed. If you know it’s wrong to mix God’s name into your profanities & yet you’ve been making excuses for doing it anyway - OR if you don’t really care what God says about your speech & you’ve decided you’ll keep throwing God’s name around in your swearing & cursing - today, consider yourself warned.

Here’s how the third commandment reads, "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” Exodus 20:7 NIV

That same verse in the NLT of the Bible reads like this, “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.”