Exhortation

The Name of the Lord — An Exhortation Concerning the Third Commandment

The third of the 10 Commandments declares:

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

To take the name of the Lord in vain means to use God’s holy name as if it were cheap or worthless. How is this done? Human beings take the name of the Lord in vain when they curse God, also known as blasphemy, but there are other ways of mistreating God’s name.

We take the name of the Lord in vain when we attach his holy name to a promise we know we aren’t going to keep. When you swear by God’s name, it must not be a false promise.

We take God’s name in vain when we use his name to ascribe a false sense of authority to our plans, dreams, or feelings. We ought to be careful about using the phrase, “God told me…” To casually use God’s name to justify yourself or your plans is perilous.

Neither ought we to use God’s name carelessly. Prayer to God and in the name of Jesus ought not to be a flippant or phony practice. Christians may have differing convictions over phrases like, “Oh my gosh,” but every Christian ought to take seriously how they use the name of God.

You are called Christian—you bear the name of Christ, the Son of God. Your purpose is to bring greater reverence and care and attention to the name of your God.

So, hear God’s third command to you:

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

This reminds us of our need to confess our sin, so let us pray.

How, Not Just Who

The second of the 10 Commandments declares:

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (ESV)

It isn’t enough to worship God. You must worship him only in ways that he prescribes. The only effective means of worship are the ones God gives to us, not the ones we invent ourselves.

The Old Testament is filled with examples of human beings devising their own idolatrous acts of worship. The children of Israel worshiped the image of a golden calf. Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fire on the Lord’s altar. And every time the people infused their man-made images, incense, or words with spiritual efficacy God responded in judgment.

God is spirit and we are not to depict the divine as a created image. God’s Words are not our words, therefore we are not to present our words as holding divine authority.

This does not mean we ought to smash our nativity scenes at Christmas, but we are never to use pictures and images to focus our prayers or kneel down to them. We ought to avoid devotionals which pass off the words of a human as if it were Jesus speaking to us.

God has given us his Word. His Word has prescribed how we ought to pray, confess, preach, and believe in Christ. These prescribed means of worship are not merely enough for us, to go beyond or outside of them is to drift into spiritual disaster. So, read the Word, and worship in accordance with its instructions.

And, hear God’s second command for you: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God”

The First Commandment: A Prayer of Confession

The first of the 10 Commandments declares:

You shall have no other gods before me.

This commandment is the foundation for every other law God gives because this command declares God to be the ultimate foundation for everything else. There are no other gods, therefore we ought not to treat any other person or thing with the same adoration, trust, or respect that we give to God.

It’s good to compliment your spouse or children, but they are not to receive your highest praise. God certainly works through doctors and medicines, but we cannot hold them as our deepest trust. You can read books and go to universities, but God alone is your ultimate source of knowledge. You are to give thanks to your parents and benefactors when they are good to you, but you are to always remember who it is that made your parents, the ground you stand upon, and every star in the farthest flung galaxies.

It’s also important to note that when you break any of commandments 2-10 you are also breaking the first. The man who steals by cheating on his taxes breaks the 8th commandment. But he has also broken the first in loving comfort and possessions more than God. The woman who lies to her friend breaks the 9th commandment. But she also breaks the first because she values the approval of her friend more than the approval of God.

This means idolatry is our fundamental problem—and you need not bow to a stone image to be an idolater—rather all of our failures to trust God wholly and live rightly are, at the root, grasping for gods other than the one true God.

So, hear God’s first command for you: “You shall have no other gods before me.” This reminds us of our need to confess our sin, so let us pray.

CONFESSION

O Lord,

We confess that you alone are God and there is none beside you. You are the maker of all that is, and you sustain every living creature by your power and provision.

You made us. You formed us in our mother’s womb. We are the sheep of your pasture. And yet, Father, in our sinfulness we have not always loved and adored you above all else. We have broken your command against loving, serving, and respecting other things and persons in ways that elevate them to the level that only you occupy.

Lord, have mercy on us sinners. We humble ourselves and acknowledge our guilt. And we know if we say “Amen” to this prayer while intending to worship false gods this prayer will have no effect in our lives, so help us now as we silently confess our individual sins to you.

In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

Repentance Takes Work, But It Isn’t a Work

As Bible-believing Christians, we know that we are not saved by our works. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. So, we want to make sure that no one misunderstands what is about to take place.

Each week we confess our sins as a congregation. God requires that we confess our sins—but these confessions do not save us. Our repentance is not a good work that earns us merit or favor. Our faith in Christ is not a work that saves us from God’s wrath. When we say that we are not saved by works we really mean that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God.

Do not believe that your weekly or daily confession of sins earns you anything before God. We cannot, by our confession or good deeds put God in our debt. He is the one saving us. He is the one cleansing us. The Apostle Paul told Timothy that even our repentance—our turning from sin—even that is a gift of God’s grace. Our salvation was the Father’s design. The execution of that salvation is the work of Christ the Son. Our embrace of that salvation comes through the enabling work of the Holy Spirit. And, having been born again by the Spirit, we now confess our sins because we love God and his law. As a result, God receives the credit and glory.

Justice, Not Mercy

EXHORTATION

1 John 2:1 says:

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

The Bible says that Jesus Christ didn’t just die for you. He stands beside you as your lawyer. When you sin, what does Jesus say to the Father? “Oh Father, they’ve sinned. They are guilty. But have mercy on them.” Is that what Jesus says as your advocate? No! You don’t hire a lawyer so you can plead guilty and grovel for mercy. You want a lawyer to plead a case.

When a Christian sins, Christ stands before the Father saying, “Your law demands justice and payment, and I have paid. I do not ask for mercy. I demand justice. And justice demands acquittal.”

In confessing our sins, we trust the gospel promise, that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. We are also confessing that though our sins no longer condemn us, they do break fellowship with our Father, and we long to be close to him.

Non-Christian, as you hear us confess our sins, understand this: nothing is more important than to recognize your own need for mercy and to see Christ dying in your place, receiving God’s justice, so that he can welcome and receive you. So, even this is an invitation, to come and trust Christ.

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins, so let’s pray.

CONFESSION

Gracious Father,

We know that heaven is your throne, and earth is your footstool. You are great and glorious beyond our ability to comprehend. But we also know that you hear the prayers of poor and humble sinners such as us.

You’ve given us two commandments and we’ve broken both of them. We have not loved you completely, and we have not loved our neighbor as we love ourselves. And we could confess specific sins all day until night turned back into morning. Your word speaks truly when it says that we’ve become wise in doing evil. (Jer. 4:22) From the white lies we told this week to the war across the ocean, we can see that all have fallen short of your standard (Rom. 3:23) and there is none righteous (3:10).

Father, we know that if we say, “Amen,’ to this prayer while still regarding sin in our hearts this prayer will be useless to us, so hear us as we silently confess our individual sins to you now.

Father, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out our transgressions. Wash us and make us clean. (Psalm 51:1-2) Thank you that you have not repaid us according to our sins (Ps. 103:10), but instead have chosen to show mercy. We pray now that your kindness would lead us to even greater repentance (Romans 2:4)

And we ask all this in the strong and mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON – Ezekiel 36:25-26

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

The Sanctity of Life & the Noahic Covenant

EXHORTATION

Today, many churches across the nation are observing “Sanctity of Life Sunday.” This observance began shortly after the establishment of the Roe decision in the Supreme Court, and now that Roe has been plowed under in God’s mercy, we still observe this day because abortion remains legal across our nation.

After Noah’s flood, in Genesis 9, God established a covenant with all creation. That covenant restated the command God gave to Adam and Eve in Eden: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Gen. 9:1) God intends, and even commands, that men and women come together in marriage, bear children and raise them in the nurture and admonition of Christ—so that the earth might be full of those who bear his image and praise his name. All creation, for all time, is under this covenant.

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (Gen. 9:12, 13, ESV)

When God gave this covenant, he also granted the authority to punish those who undermine the command to be fruitful and multiply. Genesis 9:6 says:

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.

Sadly, instead of protecting life from those who would take it, our government and our nation has rebelled against God’s covenant. We’ve undermined the family with no-fault divorce laws and labeling as marriage that which can never be marriage. We’ve eroded the beauty of marital intimacy by flooding our nation with free porn online, and we’ve sought to protect it under the guise of free speech. And even though Roe has fallen, many in our nation daily work to pass legislation that would protect the murder of the unborn.

Our God is the author of life. He is also the author of mercy. He forgives even the greatest sins, and no sin is too great that the blood of Christ cannot cover it. No matter what you have done, confess your sins, look to Christ, and he will pardon and welcome you.

Church, we have to lead the way in confessing our sins if we ever want to see the nation do the same. Our witness to the world is totally compromised if we act as if we’re guiltless. So, let confession and humility begin with us, even now as we pray.

CONFESSION

Father Almighty,

You indeed are the author of life; the one who creates our souls from nothing. You form our fingers and toes in our mother’s wombs, and you know all our days before we take our first breath.

Father, your Word is clear, that you hate the taking of innocent life. And though our nation has often been warned by your Word against this great evil, still our nation has stiffened its neck. Though we pride ourselves in being loving, in truth, ours is a nation of hatred and indifference to those who are most vulnerable.

Father, we confess as well, that we in the church are not guiltless. Even if we’ve opposed abortion, none of us have loved our own families as we ought. We have not fought the temptation of pornography as we ought. We have not cared for mothers who are considering abortion as their only option as we ought.

Father, above all this, we’ve forgotten that we are a people under the covenant you made with all creation in Genesis 9. We’ve lived as if we have no obligations to our Maker. We’ve lived as if your commands are of no consequence. Father, we confess this is a great and foolish evil.

Father, we know that repentance in the nation must begin with repentance in the church, so hear us now as we confess our individual sins to you in silence.

Father, you are he who blots out transgressions and will not remember our sins. You have said that you are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, so Lord, though our sins are as crimson—in your mercy make them white as snow. We trust that you made Christ to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. And we know that having been cleansed and made new in Christ, nothing can separate us from your love.

So, once again, Father, we give you great praise. We thank you for looking on our helpless state, seeing all of our sin and misery, and lavishing love and mercy; forgiveness, and restoration. Father, we pray the same would be done across our nation that your name might be praised all the more.

And we ask all this in the strong and mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (Rom. 5:8-9, ESV)

Rats in the Cellar

EXHORTATION

If we ended our day by listing how we sinned, we’d find that most of our sins were sins against charity. We’ve sulked, snubbed, sneered, or stormed against someone else. And it wouldn’t take long before we found ourselves making the excuse that we sinned because we were suddenly provoked or caught off guard and in the moment we’d simply reacted. If we’d had time to collect ourselves, we’d have acted differently.

What we do when we’re provoked is the real us. The way we react in an unguarded moment reveals what’s really in us. As Lewis said, “If there are rats in your cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way, the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am.”

Seen from this perspective we now understand why God doesn’t make our life easier; why he daily puts us with people who bump us about. He’s using the thousand provocations to teach us what we are. He’s turning the lights on suddenly to reveal the rats of resentment and vindictiveness. He catches us off guard so that he might subdue our untamed anger. And in doing so, even these bumps and blows are tools of his sanctifying grace.

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins, so let’s pray now.

CONFESSION

Our Father,

We’re tempted to believe that our reactions to the frustrations of life and the sins of others don’t really depict who we are. We spend a lot of time defending our sinful outbursts and hurtful words. Father, we declare with your Word that, “if we claimed to be in the right, our own mouth would condemn us.” And if we said we were blameless, or there was a good excuse for our sin, you would prove us guilty. (Job 9:20)

So, we come agreeing with your Word that we are sinners. We admit that our outbursts show us what we really are. We are often controlled by our anger. Instead of submitting every frustration to you, we lash out even at those who mean us no harm.

Father, turn the light of your Word on our sulking, sneering, and storming attitudes so that we might know them to be as hideous as they truly are.

We want to display Christ to our nation which has forsaken you, so we know that confession and repentance must begin with us in the church. So, Father, hear us now as we silently confess all the ways we have sinned against you as individuals.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON – Psalm 32:5

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Sin Makes Us Cold and Callused – Confession

EXHORTATION

These weekly exhortations are intended to embolden and encourage you to resist sin. As it says in Hebrews 3: “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” We see that sin hardens us. It curves us in on ourselves and makes us cold and calloused to God and our neighbor. Conversely, exhortations soften us. They expose the poison in our souls in order to humble us.

Our world has foolishly reversed this. Our world blames exhortations for hardening people. This is why the most often quoted Bible passage today is, “Judge not.” In a world that teaches everyone to look inward, find their true authentic self, and embrace it, an exhortation is seen as a cruel and traumatizing act.

And while it is true that exhortations can be given in a cold and calloused way, the basic fact of Scripture is that sin hardens us ,and exhortations are intended by God to wake us up to the destructive reality of sin, and to soften us to his grace and mercy.

So, hear the Word of God. Sin is evil and foolish. It’s unprofitable and deceitful. Sin loves to blame others and refuse responsibility. Sin finds a way to be miserable at the joy of others. Sin justifies and defends itself. Sin makes excuses and hides from the light. Sin doesn’t mind coming to church so long as you don’t confess it. Sin condemns others and it condemns you.

Sin is not your friend, it’s your enemy. God is your friend, and because he is your friend, he is the great enemy of your sin. And if you will uncover your sins to him, he will graciously cover them all in the blood of Christ.

CONFESSION

Gracious Father,

We pray that sin might be shown to be sin to us and appear in its own true colors. Keep sin from hardening us. We don’t want to be cold and calloused, self-absorbed people.

We know that your Word is true, so we pray that these exhortations would soften and humble us. Open us up to receive your grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. So, Father, hear us now as we confess our individual sins to you in silence. Receive our prayers.

In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON – Romans 8:1

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Election Day Confession

As we approach the midterm elections on Tuesday many are asking themselves, “How did our nation get here? How did we get to the point of denying what a human is or installing a Supreme Court Justice who says she can’t define the word “woman?” Abraham Kuyper tells us how we got here when he said:

In any successful attack on freedom, the state can only be an accomplice. The chief culprit is the citizen who forgets his duty, wastes away his strength in the sleep of sin and sensual pleasure, and so loses the power of his own initiative.

Kuyper reminds us that while it is true that the nation voted itself into our current situation and fixing it will require voting ourselves out of this situation, the chief culprit is not the leaders we have elected. We are not a good nation with wicked leaders. We are not a righteousness people who’ve had a string of bad luck.

No. We, the nation, are in this situation because we, the nation, have sinned our way into this situation. We have not recognized Christ as King and Lord. We have forgotten him, dismissed him, and silenced him. We have not lived according to his commands but instead have become a law unto ourselves.

And this means that while electing good leaders is necessary to get us out of this situation, it is not sufficient. The only sufficient way out is through the cross of Christ. The only way out is to repent of our sin, repent of our worship of man, and receive God’s pardon for sin which can only come through faith in the crucified and risen Christ.

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chron. 7:14)

This promise was made to the nation of Israel, but the principle it contains is applicable to us in the church. The only hope for any person or any nation is humility, turning from sin, and turning to the Living God and his Christ.

CONFESSION

Almighty God and Father,
Your Word calls us to humble ourselves, to turn from our wicked ways, and to turn to you trusting in your salvation. (2 Chron. 7:14) So, we come agreeing with your Word: we are sinners. We have all turned aside. All we like sheep have gone astray, and each of us has turned to his own way. (Isa. 53:6) You are the fountain of living water, but we have forsaken you and dug out for ourselves broken wells which can hold no water. (Jer. 2:13)

As a nation, we have neglected confession and repentance for so long. In our prosperity, we have said, “We shall never be moved.” (Ps. 30:6) We have encouraged our souls to relax, to eat and drink and be merry as if we had goods laid up for many years when perhaps this night our souls will be required of us. (Luke 12:19-20)

As a nation, we’ve trusted in our vast wealth, our military might, and our own reason and wisdom. We have forgotten that all of these are on loan from you, and you require us to serve you with these gifts. (Deut. 6:12) We confess that we have been given much, and much has been required of us, yet we have forsaken you. (Luke 12:48)

Father, we know that we are accountable to you, and therefore you might justly be angry with us until you consume us. (Rom. 3:19; Ezra 9:14) If you kept a record of sins, we know that we could not stand. But we also know that with you there is forgiveness. (Psalm 130:3, 4)

Father, forgive the sins of our nation, that your kindness might lead us to repentance. (Rom. 2:4) Wash us from all the filth of sin and cleanse us from every stain of evil. Be merciful by convicting us of our sin and showing us our need for forgiveness. Open our eyes that we might see Christ crucified for sinners, full redemption made available to us. Father, blot out our transgressions like a cloud and our sins like a mist. Though our sins have been like scarlet, let them be as white as snow.

We know that if we in the church say “Amen” to this prayer, while still holding onto our sin, this prayer will have no effect, so hear us as we confess our individual sins to you now in silence.

Hear our prayers.

In the strong and mighty name of Jesus, we pray, Amen!

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself (2 Cor 5:17-18)

No Record of Wrongs

For the last few weeks, I’ve tried to give practical instructions for seasons of busyness. What are the practical Christian disciplines that are easily forgotten when things get busy?

In 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul says that love keeps no record of wrongs. This means that true love doesn’t calculate. It doesn’t keep ledgers of debts owed and dents paid.

With school in full swing, sports games scheduled, and your company making a big push for the end of the year, families can become exhausted not because they sin against one another (we all do that), but because they hold onto grievances. They keep hidden mental file drawers of all the things done against them.

Consider one example:

Knowing you are out of half-n-half for the morning coffee can frustrate you, but if you add to that thought the frustration of why you are the only one who remembers to buy the half-n-half, you’ll be frustrated and bitter and weary in no time. But think of how much lighter your mental load will be if you chose not to document your grievance.

We are to overlook small offenses. We are not to keep records of wrong. This isn’t belittling the reality of sin. It’s not being a pushover. But it is choosing to not see yourself as the judge and executioner. God is the judge. He keeps a record of all wrongs. And those which are confessed in Christ receive pardon.