Which of the 10 Commandments is the most powerful? This message explores the importance of not taking the name of the Lord our God in vain.

<p>Which of the 10 Commandments is the most powerful? This message explores the importance of not taking the name of the Lord our God in vain.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Collegedale Korean SDA Church

John Chung

The Most Powerful Commandment

This morning I want to talk about the most powerful commandment.

Now all the commandments are important and also powerful.

But I want to focus on 1 particular commandment.

If you turn to Exodus chapter 20, Verse 7, this is the third commandment.

It says, you should 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.

It's kind of, as I was studying the Bible, I realized this commandment may be the most powerful commandment.

I'd like to study this commandment a little deeper and look at it from a slightly different angle.

You know, when the Bible uses the word vain, what does that mean?

Okay, if you look at 1 Corinthians 15 verse 14, it says, if Christ be not risen, then our preaching vain, And your faith is also vain.

So, if Christ did not rise, then our preaching would be useless.

And our faith also would be useless, right?

If you look at Ecclesiastes chapter 1, 1 to 4, it says, The word of the preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem, says, Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.

What prophet has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?

1 generation passes away, and another generation comes.

So Solomon is saying here, everything is useless what is done under the sun on this earth.

So, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord God's name in vain.

That means don't take his name uselessly, right?

Now, you know, sometimes we go, you know, this commandment, it is important that God's name is holy, very, very holy.

And you know how a lot of people use his name most commonly used as a in a context of a cursing but his name is very, very holy.

But we're going to talk about a little different aspect of his name.

Now let's say you've been studying chemistry for days and nights, neglecting all other subjects because, you know, this chemistry test is the most important test.

So you even stay up all night studying chemistry, you're absolutely ready for the most important chemistry exam.

When you go take the exam, you realize that it's actually a biology exam.

You sit up all night studying and you go and it's a biology exam and you fail the biology exam because why?

Because you've studied the wrong subject uselessly or in vain.

Now, Israelites had a big problem, literally a big problem.

It's a well known story of David and Goliath that's found in 1 Samuel chapter 17.

In Spiritual Gifts, Volume 4a, page 79, it says, The Philistines proposed their own manner of warfare in selecting a man of great size and strength, whose height is about 12 feet.

And they sent this champion Goliath for to provoke a combat with Israel, requesting them to send out a man to fight with him.

He was terrible in appearance and spoke proudly and defied the armies of Israel and their God.

The lions challenged the Israelites for Goliath challenged the Israelites for 40 days, 40 days.

You know, what was the response of Saul, the king of Israel and the entire army of Israel.

All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, that's Goliath, fled from him.

They ran away and were dreadfully, what, afraid.

I'm sure that most, if not all of us, would have responded the same way.

He's a person who's tall and asking somebody to come and fight him.

He's a young kid, maybe 17 years old, he's a young kid.

And he hears this, the response, I mean this challenge from Goliath.

No, the last part of verse 26, it says, this is what David says, Who, for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he shall defy the armies of the living God.

If you turn to verses 40 to 45, it says this, Then David took his staff in his hand, and he chose for himself 5 smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand.

So Goliath came and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him.

And when Goliath looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and good looking.

So Goliath said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?

And Goliath said to David, Come to me and I will give you give your flesh to the birds of the air, beasts of the field.

And David said to Goliath, You come to me with a sword, a spear, and with a javelin.

But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

Now, look at carefully what the verse 35, David doesn't say, well, you come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I'll come to you with stones and a swing.

So, He, His dependence, His dependence, He did not depend on His instruments, but the power and the name of the Lord.

Now if you were to have lined up Saul and all the Israelite army and David all together.

And you ask this question, do you believe in this passage found in Philippians 4, 13, in New King James Version.

There's Saul, all the Israelite army, and David.

He asked him, do you believe in this passage?

We all know this this is a very well-known verse I can do all things how many things all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I'm sure they all would have said, of course, yes, we're Christians after all.

But David was the only 1 who truly believed Because he was the only 1 who actually acted Others fled because they were so afraid.

If you look at James 2, 26, it says, faith without works is what?

And also second Timothy 3.5, having a form of godliness.

So that is, you come to church and you, you know, in front of other people, you try to do the right thing.

The Most Powerful Commandment

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