Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have something to
say. Our words have power!
We love to believe this when claiming things and speaking positive statements;
‘When you vow a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for God has no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou should not vow, than that thou should vow and not pay.
Suffer not your mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?
For in the multitude of
dreams and many words there are also many different vanities
[imaginations]: but fear thou God.’ (Ecclesiastes 5:4-7)
So, here it is. When we say we will do something, be somewhere, help someone, and speak it all in the name of God, (not just a promise to God privately, but anything and everything we say, then conclude it with, ‘In Jesus Name’), we had better make sure we do what we have said.
We are told never to take the name of the LORD our God in vain. It is a commandment. Yet it has become very fashionable to use the name of Jesus almost glibly whenever we make a promise or make a proclamation over just about anything. Pastors, congregations, and individuals are quick to add 'In Jesus name', to everything they say, as though this adds some spiritual worth or divine approval to their claim. Maybe it just gives them an excuse when things do not happen, so that they can blame it all on God and suggest it was obviously not His will.
We need to take serious thought to this, because the Lord will not hold us guiltless when we take his name lightly and without due consideration (Exodus 20:7).
When we make a promise to someone and then add ‘In Jesus name’ to it, it may seem that we are putting the responsibility for its fulfilment upon God’s shoulders. God, however, is under no obligation to take our promise and make it His own, no matter how many times we may invoke His name upon it.
A promise we make lies squarely upon our own heads; and by using the name of Jesus to reinforce it we are actually making it a promise to and before God. It thus becomes a vow to the LORD. Our promise, our word is not somehow dependent upon God to fulfil it, but it is down to us to do what we say.
God is not obliged to keep our word. He is only
obliged to keep His word.
Now, making a vow before the LORD is a most serious
thing to do, for He looks to see us fulfil the vow. That is why He says that it
is better not to make a vow rather than make a promise and then fail to
accomplish it. James said, 'Let your yes be yes, and your no be no, lest you fall into condemnation.' (James 5:12)
The warning of the Scripture is: ‘Why should we make God
angry with us; why should we provoke him to wrath, and He come and destroy the
work of our hands for breaking our word? Better to say nothing, than to promise and then fail to keep our word.
We had better be very careful how we use the name of
the Lord our God in all of our conversation, and especially when we try to use
Him as a signatory to every promise we make. Our God is a consuming fire, and
thus Solomon said: ‘But fear thou God’ and reverence His name. His name is not an abbreviation i.e 'IJN', but is higher than any other name in all the universe.
‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name’.
His name is magnificent, royal, majestic, and to be held in the deepest of
reverence and highest of honour whenever it comes off our lips or the tip of
our pen.
Another glib habit of 'believers' these days is to constantly claim that "God told me this', or, 'The Holy Spirit told me' something or other. Have we somehow reduced the God of infinite wisdom and power to being a common 'mate' who sort of chats to us as we wander carelessly through our day? 'Thus saith the LORD' would make us stand to attention and godly fear if indeed it was God who spoke.
Before we start proclaiming that God spoke to us today, maybe we should find out if God is even walking with us or if we are walking with God.
There is no fear of God even amongst believers these
days, but a casual familiarity that seeks to cheapen the holiness and awesomeness
of the Almighty before whom the prophets of old fell on their faces and
trembled at His words.
We have exchanged reverence and holiness for an
imitation that costs very little and also has meagre worth. Cheap 'Christianity' is worthless and powerless. It is an institutional make-believe religion that creates nothing and effects nothing.
We would sooner dance to the musicians and soloists
than bow our knees before the King and wait upon His instruction.
If ever revival (true revival) is to come, then a
return to truth, to walking in the light, to standing in rightness in our lives
must be restored. God is light, and in Him is no darkness whatsoever. If we say
we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we are liars, and we are not
of the truth. (1John 1:5-6)
If we truly knew the LORD and His glory, our lives
would be radically transformed, and we would be like Jesus, walk like Jesus,
talk like Jesus: and light and transparency would evidence the reality, revealing
the love of God dominating and issuing forth from our hearts in truth and works
of righteousness.
This message may of course offend some, but, ‘If our preaching does not offend, then there is something wrong with our preaching.’ Those who walk in the light are not afraid of the light, for truth is transparency. The things that are hidden are hidden for a reason because men prefer darkness to light, in case their hidden deeds are revealed.
As it is JGM 2021
