Picking up where I left off yesterday, (yes, that’s a hint you might want to read it first)...we are admonished to consider, to think upon, and to take in the ramifications that God Almighty is indeed, a truly loving and merciful God, whose goodness knows no bounds. But in the same breath, we are also reminded to not neglect the fact that God can also be quite ‘severe’, and to overlook this fact would be to our own peril (Romans 11:22). And when we are guilty of emphasizing one aspect of God’s nature in our teachings at the expense of neglecting the other aspect, we then falsely misrepresent Him.

The reason God takes great exception to this mistake of giving a false portrayal of Him is because it tends to drive people away from Him (or to ‘other gods’)...and if there was ever a time when a lost and hurting world needed to know Him in all of His glory and goodness, and truth... that time is now.

I have stated before that the gospel of Jesus Christ was delivered to us intending to be ‘good news’ for all of humanity. But I like to remind people that it is hard to truly appreciate ‘good news’ unless we have first heard the ‘bad news’. If I tell you a firetruck just pulled up in front of your house, you might say: “hmmm...that’s news to me.” I would counter by saying this is actually ‘good news’ because the ‘bad news’ is the fact your home is on fire. Now as you probably already know...many people tend to shy away from wanting to hear ‘bad’ news, and for all the reasons. Yet, if we fail to truly understand the ‘bad news’ as revealed in God’s word, we can easily be tempted to ‘under-appreciate’, if not scoff at the ‘good news’ when it’s presented to us.

This ‘good news’ that the church has been commissioned to proclaim is a message that was to be ‘written upon our hearts’ by God Himself. (Ezek. 36:25-27). Paul mentions how we are ‘epistles seen and read by all men’ (2 Cor. 3:2); and may I point out from that passage in Ezekiel that God was going to write His ‘law’ on our hearts, and them cause us to walk in His statutes. Our transformed lives were to be a living testimony of God’s goodness and grace, which is why God ‘has this thing’ about us not representing Him in the way He intended for us to do so. That’s why I have always loved that quote I shared a week or so ago, about ‘preaching the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words’.

There is a message I shared here a few years ago that I have felt a ‘nudging’ in recent months to touch on once again. It stemmed from one of the 10 Commandments which I was looking over again the other morning. That would be the same 10 commandments that we refer to as ‘the law’, which Jesus makes clear... was never done away with either (Matt. 5:17). In fact, whenever He was asked what one ‘must do’ in order to receive or inherit eternal life, guess where He pointed them to? The law (Matt. 19:17; Luke 10:25-28); and be sure to revisit Romans 2:13 and 1 Cor. 7:19 if you have a quick second.

But it was that ‘third commandment’ that opened up to me a few years ago, the one about not ‘taking the name of the Lord in vain’. (Deut. 5:11). Funny, how we have always just assumed that had to do with ‘swearing’, as in loosely throwing around a few ‘GD’s’ or ‘JC’s from our lips. Would you be open to exploring this further with me today?

When God was delivering His law to His people, via Moses and the stone tablets, (Ex. 20), He was, in effect laying out the terms of His covenant to the descendants of Abraham. There are usually ‘terms’ to a covenant, or an agreement, much like those ‘vows’ you take when you enter in to a marriage covenant with your spouse. God was making it quite clear as to how the people could trust that things would go well for them and their children, IF...they kept up their end of the agreement; but woe to them if they failed to heed what God was commanding them to do. (Deut. 28; Acts 3:22-23)

This should not come across as sounding peculiar or strange or unfair to any of us who have lived life and know that there are benefits when we ‘get it right’... and consequences when we ‘mess up’, whether you are talking about a job, your marriage, etc. Oh, and one other note using ‘marriage’ as an illustration here. It has always been common practice for those entering into a covenant...to ‘take on the name’ of that person whom they are covenanting with; i.e. the wife takes on the last name of the husband. Both Abram and God did so when they entered into covenant. Now hang with me here....

When God issued the third command for those who were entering into (or renewing) this holy covenant with Him...He wanted it known they better not ‘take on His name’ lightly, or in vain. In other words, you better think twice about going around claiming to be ‘of God’ (or a ‘Christian’)...if you are going to continue to live your own life for yourself. Would you want your spouse to pledge such vows on your wedding day that he/she was promising themselves solely to you, but then turned around and continued to live their life as if they were single, and not married, or in covenant with you? I mean, after you return from the honeymoon, you discover your newlywed spouse wants to continue dating old bf’s/gf’s; what would be wrong with that picture?

Let’s now go revisit Romans 7:1-6, where Paul uses this fascinating illustration conveying this very same idea. But first ask the Holy Spirit to provide you some ‘spiritual glasses’ here where you ‘see it’. I’m not sure where or why that slang term that many people use to describe their spouse came about, you know the one...’my old lady’ or ‘my old man’, but let’s think in those terms here for just a moment as we read this passage. Paul is basically saying that if we claim to be a ‘Christian’, (married to Christ) or a part of His ‘church’ which is also referred to as the ‘bride of Christ’...and yet we continue to live where it is obvious that our ‘old man/lady’ is still alive...then we have a huge problem. One who does this in the ‘natural realm’ is known to be an ‘adulteress’ (Rom. 7:3). It is no different in the ‘spiritual realm’ either. Look how James calls out those who continue to love and want to remain friends with the ‘world’- (James 4:1-5). No, really...go look that up now and underline vs. 4.

Remember where Paul points out the continued unfaithfulness of that first generation of folks who received the law, before moving in the direction of the promised land, which they never were permitted to enter into? He then lists all those severe consequences that befell them, pointing out how this was to be a warning and example to ‘us, upon whom the end of the ages have come’ (1 Cor. 10:1-11). But it’s his question further down in vs 22 that I will end on for today. Look where asks: “Do we really want to provoke the Lord to jealousy?”

You mean...that is something we can do, today...in this ‘dispensation of mercy and grace’?

Meet me back here tomorrow if you can...