Repent Daily: Take Not the Name of God in Vain

The command to repent is given to every gospel dispensation, but it seems as though there has been a great deal of confusion about what repentance is. We often don’t internalize that repentance is a commandment, a process, and a critical ongoing action that is necessary to be free of sin.

Israel was continually commanded to repent. The Mosaic Law included rituals for individual repentance as well as repentance for the whole congregation of Israel. Isaiah described personal repentance this way:

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment… Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” — Isaiah 1:16-18

Before Christ, “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” (Mark 1:4) During His earthly ministry, the Savior compared good fruit to things of eternal worth. He said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16) “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit.” (Matthew 7:17) He encouraged us to gather “fruit unto life eternal.” (John 4:36) He commanded us to“Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.” (Matthew 3:8)

This precious fruit symbolizes the wondrous blessings of the Savior’s incomparable Atonement that comes to us through a daily turning to God through repentance. Through our faith in Jesus Christ, our repentance, and our keeping the commandments, we can be forgiven of our sins and one day stand clean and pure before our Father and His Son.

Peter taught that repentance is a commandment and that it had two parts, a turning our hearts to God and doing the works of repentance.

“God… commandeth all men every where to repent.” (Acts 17:30) “That they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” (Acts 26:20)

“Repentance is one of the most vital and merciful doctrines of the kingdom. It is too little understood, too little applied by us all… each of us must employ repentance as the regular means of personal progression. Personal repentance is part of taking up the cross daily. (See Luke 9:23.) Without it, clearly there could be no “perfecting of the Saints.” (Eph. 4:12.)” — Neal A. Maxwell

“True repentance is not an event. It is a never-ending privilege. It is fundamental to progression and having peace of mind, comfort, and joy.” — Russell M. Nelson

What is the process of repentance that brings about spiritual progression? What are the fruits of repentance?

# 1: Recognition That we Have Sinned

Remorse for our sins: Real remorse quickly brings forth positive indicators, “fruits meet for repentance.” (Matt. 3:8; see also Acts 26:20; Alma 5:54, Book of Mormon) “In process of time,” these fruits bud, blossom, and ripen.

#2: Confession of Sin

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” — Proverbs 28:13

“Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers.” (Ezra 10:11.) One with a broken heart will not hold back. As confession lets the sickening sin empty out, then the Spirit which withdrew returns to renew.

“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner… For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation…” — 2 Corinthians 7:9-10

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light… the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” — 1 John 1:7-9

#3: Forsaking of Sinning

“Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” (Ezek. 18:30.) Thus, when “a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them.” (D&C 58:43.)

Through His atonement all who come unto Christ with a broken heart and contrite spirit, believing in Christ, will have their sins forgiven. This is the transformation that makes bad men good. Through regular, even constant repentance, and a sincere striving to “sin no more,” (John 8:11) the once sinful can be kept clean through Christ.

The purpose for the cleansing and justifying powers of the atonement is to bring the sinful man into a redemptive relationship with Christ, referred to as a covenant relationship, a relationship that has the power to make good men better until we are made perfect through Christ.

The scriptures refer to a person who lives their life in the active redemption of Christ, as a saint. This disciple of Christ grows from “grace to grace” (Doctrine & Covenants 98:13) through the Holy Spirit, activating the sanctifying powers of the atonement. This grace strengthens and enables them to “do all things through Christ,” (Philippians 4:13) not the least of which is to maintain themselves in obedience to the commandments of God. This progression from bad to good, and from good to better, is why the Lord refers to his faithful disciples as righteous rather than sinful.

Christ’s atonement was not only that we might not suffer for our sins, but so that we might be full of His Spirit, having our characters molded in His image, that we may become able to stand against the fiery darts of the adversary while sojourning in this fallen world, walking uprightly before God, having our very natures changed through our daily walk with Christ.

#4: Restitution of Sin, When Possible

“Because he hath sinned, … he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found.” (Lev. 6:4.)

Restitution is not always possible, but when it is this final step is very important. A sincere repentance followed by a recommitment to walk in the Lord’s way provides a complete covering and allows us to move forward unburdened by sin and clear of conscience.

To keep the third commandment not to take the Lord’s name in vain we must take his atonement into our lives daily and use it to repent as often as needed and continually be turning our hearts to God and our works to his glory.

Born Again: Take Not the Name of God in Vain

How do you take Christ’s name upon you? Well, do you call yourself Christian? Have you been baptized? Then you have taken his name upon yourself. When we do this we must be very careful not to take His name in vain.

When we come unto Christ our first act is to come into a covenant with God through the ordinance of Baptism. As we come out of the waters of baptism we “walk in newness of life” and take upon us the name of Christ, becoming Christians. As Christians we must not take this act in vain but we must strive with all our hearts might mind and strength to love God and serve him, and “henceforth we should not serve sin.”

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” — Romans 6:4-6

“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” — John 3:5

Without baptism we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. Why?

Because Christ said it was necessary to fulfill all righteousness. This is not only because it is a commandment, but because of the covenant power we have access to when we enter into his way and are sealed by his Holy Spirit of promise. We need baptism, and the continued walk in the newness of life, to make the name of Christ a transformative power in our lives. Without this first important step our belief would be in vain.

FOR THUS IT BECOMETH US TO FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS

As disciples of Christ we look to him as our example, he shows us in deed as well as word what we are supposed to do to walk in his way.

“Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” — Matthew 3:13-15

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

“And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” — Mosiah 27:25-26

Thou Shalt Not Take the Lord in Vain

What comes to our minds when we hear the 3rd commandment “Take not the name of God in vain”? If you are like most believers you think of the use of the name of God as a profanity, an exclamation in passing speech, or a careless or irreverent speech of God’s sacred name as taking the name of God in vain. This is not untrue, it is one important way we break this commandment, but there is another much more harmful way we sin against this commandment and it has to do with what we do with the name of the Lord after we take it upon ourselves. How do we take his name upon ourselves? Well, do you call yourself Christian? If you do, then you have taken his name upon yourself. When we do this we must be very careful not to take this name in vain.

Vain: producing no result; useless. Having no meaning or likelihood of fulfillment.

The meaning of vain in the context of this commandment is to take his name with no meaning, as a useless gesture, with no result or likelihood of fulfillment of the purposes of God in our lives. The first commandment is concerned with our thoughts and desires to put God above all else, to have faith in him only. The second commandment is a prohibition against the worship of things over or in the place of the one true and living God. This third commandment is to put us under obligation to God to act upon our love, worship, and praise of him, to “be examples of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12) and to press forward with steadfastness in Christ until his name is engraved upon our hearts and we become saints through his sanctifying power.

Related to the third commandment is the commandment to be baptized and born again through water and his Spirit that we become a new creature, a son or daughter of Christ, a Christian. It is in obedience to this commandment and the receiving of this ordinance of the gospel of Christ that we enter into his church, his path, and begin our discipleship as Christians.

In order to keep this third commandment we must:

• Be Born Again: Take upon the name of Christ
• Repenting Daily for Our Sins
• Always remember God that we might have His Spirit to be with us
• Pray always that we might come off conqueror over our natural man and the fiery darts of the advisory
• Reverence God: Doing all we do in the name of Christ and with an eye single to his glory
• Be diligent in your efforts to keep his commandments and valiant in your testimony of Christ
• Working no hypocrisy in our words and actions

As you can see the third commandment is expansive and contains all the commandments related to our personal relationship with God and the bringing forth of the fruits of repentance and obedience. The order in which God gives us these first three commandments is very meaningful because it represents a pattern of conversion and transformation as we come into God.

No Other Gods: The Law of Tithing

Before I move on to the third commandment this coming week, there is a very important commandment related to the first two commandments to worship no gods except the one true and living God, and that is the commandment to pay tithing.

Why is the commandment of tithing in this category?

Tithing is a spiritual law related to the sacrifice of temporal treasures in faith and service to the Lord God. God has commanded us to tithe 10% of our worldly increase to the works of God in this world. The earliest scriptural record we have of the tithe is when Abraham brought his tenth to the high priest Melchizedek to square himself with the Lord before receiving the blessings he sought. We know this commandment of the tithe continued among the Israelites.

“And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground… and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.” — Nehemiah 10:37-38

If those references are not clear enough Malachi makes it very clear in Malachi 3:8-12, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, see if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” — Malachi 3:10

When we keep the commandment of the tithe we show God that our worldly treasures are not our god, we place our trust in him, and we serve him by giving resources to do his work in this world.

Thou shalt have no Gods but Me, Before No Idols Bow thy Knee

This week we will focus on the first two of the ten commandments.

1. Thou shalt have no Gods but Me
2. Before No Idols Bow thy Knee

During the time that the ten commandments were given the religions of the ancient world were entirely made up of false gods and idol worship of those gods. The first two commandments in the law seem to be directly related to the practice of idol worship, so are these commandments relevant to us in a modern time when idol worship is far less common? Yes. We have just as many, maybe more, false gods in our days and the same wicked impulses tempt us to worship them.

To examine these commandments are their relevance in our times, let’s think of them as representing matters of the heart and our behaviors.

1. Thou shalt have no Gods but me – A matter of heart, desire, and thought
2. Before No Idols Bow they Knee – A matter of action

The natural man tendencies that so easily beset us cause incongruence between our thoughts and our actions. We are just as capable as people in the past of paying lip service to our beliefs. We can say we love God but our actions may not bear that out. That would be like saying we believe in the one true God while we hold onto some of the gods of the world and bow our knees to them. What are some of these gods of our world that we are often tempted to worship?

Modern gods include: Cults of personality, ideologies, ourselves, worldly knowledge, love our favorite sins, vices, money, power, prestige, reliance on spiritual forces outside of God’s order, material possessions, recreation, and so on.

When we place our hearts and trust in anything above the Lord, we are worshiping our own false gods. False gods or idols include “everything which entices a person away from duty, loyalty, and love for and service to God.” (Spencer W. Kimball) Intangible things make just as ready gods. Whatever thing a person sets their heart and trust in most is their god; and their god doesn’t also happen to be the true and living God of Israel, that person is laboring in idolatry.

There are many parallels between the ancient worship of graven images and behavioral patterns in our very own experience. In spite of our delight in defining ourselves as modern, and our tendency to think we possess a sophistication that no people in the past ever had—in spite of these things, we are, on the whole, an idolatrous people — the proof of which is in the widespread sin among the professed believer and the unbeliever in our generation — a condition most repugnant to the Lord.

What is the antidote to idolatry? Is it the objects of worship that lead us into idolatry or the order of our desires?

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” — Matthew 6:33

It is the “things” that we tend to put ahead of our duty and loyalty to God and his commandments. But perhaps the sin is not in “things” but in our attitude toward and worship of “things.” Unless an acquisitive person can positively accumulate and hold wealth while still giving full allegiance to God and his plan — unless the rich man can keep the Sabbath, keep his mind and body and spirit uncontaminated, and give unstinted service to his fellowmen through God’s appointed way — unless the affluent man has total control and can hold all his possessions in trust, subject to the call of the Lord, then that man, for the good of his soul, should certainly “go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, … and come and follow me.” (Matthew 19:21.)

In addition to “things” that become idols to us and supplant God in our lives, there are real powers of darkness in our world. In our modern times we dismiss such supernatural power of darkness as mere superstition, which is a flip side of the denial of the power of God generally. Though modern people deny the existence of evil and look upon the real powers of God and Satan as superstitious nonsense, the reality is that the worship of darkness is a real and present idolatry.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” — Ephesians 6:12

If we set our hearts upon the material idols of our time, they will steal our hearts away from God and lead us to sinful behaviors that will darken our souls and cut our hearts off from the light of Christ and the direction of his Holy Spirit until the powers of darkness overcome us. We must believe in the power of God and see clearly the powers of darkness in this world. When we see clearly we can understand the paramount importance of God’s command to put no other God before him in our hearts, nor engage in acts of worship to any idol.

“Set your heart upon the service of the Lord thy God. From this very moment resolve to make this cause and this labor first and foremost in all your thoughts.” — Spencer W. Kimball

Scripture Passages for Commandments 1 & 2:

“Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean.” — Genesis 35:2

“I know that the Lord is greater than all gods.” — Exodus 18:11

“Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God.” — Leviticus 19:4

“Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him… Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you.” — Deuteronomy 6:13-15

“If thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.” — Deuteronomy 8:19

“Hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” — Deuteronomy 28:13-14

“Put away the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel.” — Joshua 24:23

“If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you…” — 1 Samuel 7:3

“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” — 1 Samuel 15:23

“Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands… The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish.” — Isaiah 2:8, 17-18

“Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.” — Jeremiah 2:11

“Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.” — Ezekiel 23:48-49

“But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.” — Daniel 5:23

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” — Matthew 6:33

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” — Matthew 6:21

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” — Matthew 6:24

“But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.” — Acts 15:20

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” — Acts 17:28-29

“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.” — 1 Corinthians 10:12-14

“We walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries.” — 1 Peter 4:3

“If ye then be with Christ, seek those things which are above… Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth… Mortify (Deny yourself and subdue) therefore your members (the parts and desires of the flesh); fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” — Colossians 3:1-5

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip… How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation.” — Hebrews 2:1-3

“Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?” — Moroni 8:39, Book of Mormon

“But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.” — 2 Nephi 9:30, Book of Mormon

“Did indulge themselves in sorceries, and in idolatry or idleness, and in babblings, and in envyings and strife; wearing costly apparel; being lifted up in the pride of their own eyes; persecuting, lying, thieving, robbing, committing whoredoms, and murdering, and all manner of wickedness.” — Alma 1:32, Book of Mormon

“He who is the author of all sin… doth carry on his works of darkness and secret murder, and doth hand down their plots, and their oaths, and their covenants, and their plans of awful wickedness, from generation to generation according as he can get hold upon the hearts of the children of men. And now behold, he had got great hold upon the hearts of the Nephites; yea, insomuch that they had become exceedingly wicked; yea, the more part of them had turned out of the way of righteousness, and did trample under their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver. And it came to pass that all these iniquities did come unto them in the space of not many years.” — Helaman 6:30-31, Book of Mormon

“For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant; They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.” — Doctrine & Covenants 1: 15-16

“And [He] gave unto them commandments that they should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they should worship.” — Doctrine and Covenants 20:19

“Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.” — Doctrine & Covenants 4:2

On These Two Commandments Hang All the Laws and the Prophets

After covering the greatest commandments in the law, the first to love God and the second to love our neighbors, I am going to explore the study of the laws of God through categories based on the ten commandments. It is of interest that the ten commandments can be understood best by thinking of them as subcategories of the two greatest commandments to love God and our neighbor.

When Jesus was asked, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” He answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” He then said that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

The ten commandments hang upon these first two greatest commandments. The first five relate to the first commandment to love God and the second five are connected to the second commandment to love our neighbors; though it is essential what we not forget the lessons we have learned in this study previously, namely that all commandments honor God and are the expression of his love for us, likewise, our obedience to them are the expression of our love for him. Let’s keep this in mind as we study the ten commandments.