Lights in the World - PH43-02

Advanced Bible Doctrine - Philippians 2:14-15

In the previous session, we looked at verses 6-7. We have found that the first moral principle was that one will not have any other gods beyond Jehovah Elohim. There'll be no other focus of worship, and no other focus of our ultimate love. The second principle of morality that we studied said that we are to use no objects in worship. Idols represent demon spirits. The worship of idols will set in motion a chain reaction of divine judgment which can continue from parent to child, on through four generations.

The first generation of negative parents produces a generation of children who reject parental authority. These, in turn, produce a generation of children who are self-righteous in their own eyes. They are dominated by emotions that are controlled by the laws of nature that are subject to the whims of Satan. They are subjective in their thinking. They produce a third generation, which is arrogant and proud. These have a great lust for praise. They are extremely selfish. They desire recognition. Finally, comes from such parents, a fourth generation of extreme greed and ruthlessness. Then God says that's the end of the line, and He leads that line into destruction.

However, there is another side of the story, and that is that God preserves the righteous. Parents who are godly and who respond to the Word of God find themselves producing children in their own pattern. Just as children will follow the negative volition responses to Bible doctrines of their parents, so too, they will follow their parents in positive responses. Those of us who deal with children all around this campus; in youth clubs; in our schools; and, so on find this very evident. Particularly, the older a child becomes, the easier it is to analyze the attitude of his parents at home toward certain things that are done here in the ministry. These youngsters reflect very accurately the positive or the negative attitudes of their parents. As the negative attitudes of their parents lead them away from that which is pleasing to God, when they're negative to what they should be positive to, so the children are led away from the things of God by reflecting their parent's attitude of being negative toward something that God approves. When parents respond to God's grace, their family life is secure. Remember that any generation can bring this chain reaction of cursing to an end by simply returning in positive response to the Word of God.

In Exodus 34:6-7, we read, "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, 'The Lord Thy God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant, in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation.'" The Bible is very clear that God will bring cursing upon generation after generation. Again, I remind you that each generation does its own hating of God. The passage that we looked at in the book of Proverbs gives us a pattern of four generations which reflects that which we have in the book of Exodus, and in the persons that God has pronounced upon as negative parents.

Verse 6 speaks, in contrast to all this negative judgment, of a positive blessing: "And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments." The word "showing" is the Hebrew word "asah." "Asah" is a word that means to make something out of something. It is to manufacture something out of something else. It says that the thing that is made is "mercy." The word "mercy" is the Hebrew word "chesed." "Chesed" is the word for "grace"--what we commonly refer to under the concept of grace. It is a mercy or a grace which God shows. It is a statement of fact. It is active. God Himself does it. It is what is called in the grammar an infinitive absolute which means this is God's purpose. He makes something out of something. We have this in Genesis 1:26 where He told about making the women out of the man.

Now, what is God making? God is manufacturing grace unto thousands without number of them; that is, of generations who are positive in the patterns of their godly parents. He is manufacturing this for a certain group: "Those," He says, "who love Me." The word for love is the Hebrew word "ahav." "Ahav means "to breathe after," and thus "to love." It is very descriptive of the panting that is often associated with someone who is in love. It is again a "Qal" stem which means it is a statement of fact. It is active. That is, these individual generations, people as individuals, are actively loving God. They're actively reaching out for Him. They have positive volition in that generation.

This is comparable to the Greek word "agapao" which you know is mental attitude love. So you can connect these two. The Hebrew "ahav" is the same as the Greek "agapao." So what God is saying is that some have a mental attitude of love toward Him. This can only come from the intake of doctrine. That's how you build capacity to have a mental attitude of affection for God rather than bitterness for Him or resistance toward Him. It takes the intake of the Word of God to do that. To that generation, God says that He will show a kindness, a grace unto thousands of those who have this mental attitude toward Him. This is because they are doing one thing: He says, "They keep," and the word "keep" is "sharmar" which means "to guard." It is because they guard His commandments. It is a statement of fact that these are people who are obeying the commandments of God.

So here is the contrast: a very severe judgment in verse 5 as to what God will do if you teach your children negative attitudes toward God. Please remember, I am not so naive as to think that any of you are going to go home and say, "Now, children, I want you to dislike God. I want you to hate God." You are going to do this without words. You are going to do this by the fact that your children are going to sit in church and hear the pastor-teacher say something as being the exposition of the Word of God, and the consequent implications of this from the Word of God. Your children are going to see you not follow the pastor-teacher's advice. They're going to read the church bulletin. They're going to see that several things have been said in there, and they're going to see what is champion to you; what you are negative to; and what you are different to.

Your kids will pick it up. They'll see that you don't think you have to do what you hear from the pulpit or what you hear from the expositions of the bulletin. Our church bulletin is an exposition of truth. It is written for that purpose. This is how you teach your children to be a negative generation. 20 years ago, I couldn't speak this forcefully. I care not whether anybody likes it or not, because I have two decades of experience with parents who look just the way many of you look today, and who were just as indifferent and self-complacent about what they heard--that this is the mind of God--and how they reflected it in their children. They have a trail of tragedy and grief behind them. So I know what I'm talking about. Consequently, I'm no longer intimidated.

Modern Day Idols

People

Possessions

Religious Objects

Organizations

Intangibles

Pleasure

Idolatry

1. Idolatry is the worship of deities through material objects; forces of nature; animals; deceased ancestors; or, ideals. All of these can be objects or idols for worship.

   All forms of idolatry are a worship of demon spirits behind the idol god (Zachariah 10:2). You cannot worship idols without worshiping a demon.

2. Idolatry uses sexual immorality as worship offerings to the gods (Romans 1:26-32, Ezekiel 22:3-18, Ezekiel 23:37-49). This is commonplace in ancient times and in current times.
   
   
3. Idolatry involves human sacrifices. This was one of the most loathsome things that Israel did when it picked up the practice of offering its infants in the fires of the furnace of Baal worship.
   
   
4. Idol worship was a national sin among the Jews until after the return from the Babylonian captivity. There was something about idolatry that was extremely attractive to the Jewish people in spite of all their experiences from their slavery in Egypt on down. It was not until after they returned from Babylonian captivity that they finally got over their affinity (their attraction) for idol worship.
   
   
5. Idolatry was a capital crime in Israel. It bore the death penalty (Exodus 22:20, Deuteronomy 17:2-7).
   
   
6. All idolatry, mental and overt, therefore is forbidden by God (Exodus 20:3-4, Exodus 23:24. Deuteronomy 4:28, Deuteronomy 5:7, Deuteronomy 6:14, Deuteronomy 7:16, Deuteronomy 8:19, Leviticus 19:4). There are many passages in which God makes it clear stay to away from idol worship number.
   
   
7. Idolatry is spiritual adultery, and rejection of love for Jehovah Elohim. It is treason to God (Jeremiah 3:8-10, Ezekiel 16:9, Ezekiel 16:23-43, Ezekiel 23:24-28, Revelation 17:1-5).
   
   
8. Soul devotion to idols always precedes overt worship of idols (Judges 2:10-13, Ezekiel 14:7, Exodus 20:3-4). The reason the Jews could readily turn to the golden calf and say, "Here is Jehovah your God to worship" is because they had come out of Egypt where they had picked up the practice of worshiping idols in their souls. While their bodies were free on the other side of the Red Sea, their souls were still enslaved to those idols.
   
   
9. Idolatry is Satan's communion table (1 Corinthians 10:19-21). We regularly gather at the Lord's Table, and we remember what He has done for us in the ceremony. When people worship an idol, this is exactly what they do. They put out food offerings and sacrifices, and they still do it today. In one way or another, they are participating in communion with Satan.
   
   
10. Idolatry is associated with emotional domination of the soul. Exodus 32:6 makes it very clear that the Jews were not operating on a mentality of divine viewpoint doctrine. They were operating through their emotions. When emotions run your soul, you have taken a big step toward idol worship.
    
    
11. Idol worship leads to psychotic conditions and to spiritual insanity (Jeremiah 50:38). Worshiping an idol in our day will lead to the same thing. It will cause you to have emotional and psychological problems of various kinds, and it will completely disorient you spiritually.
    
    
12. Idolatry leads to national disintegration and slavery because of national decadence and personal depravity. When people worship idols, they go down. This, of course, is why this is such an important moral principle. This is why God says, "Don't do that." When you have an idol that you use as a channel to worship God, you break down within yourself and you move from a human being level to an animal level.
    
    
13. All use of idols and images in the worship of Jehovah Elohim is strictly forbidden (Exodus 20:4:6, Leviticus 26:1).
    
    
14. The worship of idols in the Old Testament world included certain things. Among these are: sacrifices offered by fire (Hosea 4:13); libations poured out before the image of the idol (Isaiah 57:6, Jeremiah 7:18); the presentation of the first fruits of the earth and tithes were part of idol worship (Hosea 2:8); and, the setting out of tables of food (Isaiah 65:11).

    I remember as a boy sitting at a table at a Christmas Eve dinner and having a little wafer passed around, and everybody was to eat this wafer. But before you did, there was a dish out in the center of the table, and you were told to break off a little bit of the wafer, and put this on the dish as food for the angels. When everything else was passed around (as you served yourself), from everything you took, you took a little bit and you put it on the plate as food for the angels. I thought it was dumb as a kid. I understand now why it was done. These were Christian people. Even into a Christian orientation there has descended these practices to idols such as the placing out of food.

    Idol worship also included kissing the idol; throwing them kisses; or, blowing kisses to the idol (1 Kings 19:18, Hosea 3:2, Job 31:27). It also included stretching hands out in adoration to the idol. This is another thing which is done (Isaiah 44:20). Others include: kneeling; screaming; prostrating; dancing; and, slashing oneself with knives before the idols (1 Kings 18:26-28).

15. There are certain customs which were associated with idolatry which were forbidden to the Jewish people because these were viewed as magical procedures as getting the favor of the gods. One was sewing a field with mixed seeds or wearing a garment of mixed material (Leviticus 19:19). This was part of idol worship (of Satan worship)--to mix seeds or mix materials in the garment.

    Secondly was the interchange of garments between the sexes (Deuteronomy 22:5). It was the practice of idol worship and getting the attention of the demon god for women to wear men's clothing and men to wear women's clothing. The exchange is a contact with the idol world, and this is commonly done in the perversions of homosexuality and lesbianism today.

    Next was cutting one's flesh for the dead (Leviticus 19:28, 1 Kings 18:28). This was a custom in the Polynesian areas. One of the things that both the English and we sought to outlaw in the Hawaiian Islands was the custom upon the death of the ruler, particularly those who were like prime ministers in positions of authority. People would go out into a field and find a rock that came to a point at the top. They would kneel before it; strike one eye against the rock; and, gouge the eye out. This was a practice which was done as worship of the gods, and in respect for the ruler who had died who was associated with deity.

    Another practice was making a baldness between the eyes (Deuteronomy 14:1). They would cut a streak of hair out through the center of the forehead. That's what it means: between the eyes. This was a very common practice in heathen Indian tribes.

    Next was eating food sacrifice to the idols. Exodus 34:15 forbad that.

    Finally, there is tattooing your body (Leviticus 19:28). It's easy to look at primitive societies even today, and you see the tattoos made by the slashing of knives on themselves of various kinds. These basically have a worship significance to the idol.

16. Idolatry attempts to convey abstract concepts to the simple mind. This is part of what is behind idolatry. So you have an idol who has many hands. That's to convey omnipotence. Or you have an idol that has many eyes in order to convey omniscience.
    
    
17. Idolatry today is practiced in more sophisticated ways with equal devotion as in the past. You have your own idols. So the apostle John says, "Children, keep yourselves from idols."

The Third Commandment

So we begin. Exodus 20:7 says, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain." The first part of the verse "Thou shalt not take" is the Hebrew word "nasa." "Nasa" means to lift up. Here it refers to lifting up your voice. Therefore, it means to utter. You will not say something. Here are certain words that you are forbidden as a human being to utter. They are certain words that you are forbidden to use in certain contexts. That's what we are going to look at now. This is the "Qal" stem which means it's a simple statement of fact. It is imperfect which means never in the future. It is active. It is something that you yourself by choice are not to do. It has the negative "lo" indicating that you will not lift up your voice to do this. To do what? "To take the name ('sham') of the LORD thy God."

In "LORD thy God," you will notice, that "LORD" in your translation is all capital letters. That stands for the sacred four-letter word called the Tetragrammaton ("YHWH") for "Jehovah." So it's "YHWH elohim" that is the name specifically that is referred to here. Jehovah Elohim is the sacred name of God. It is referring to the self-existent Creator God. The names in Scripture reveal the character and the nature of a person. The name Jehovah ("YHWH") represents the supreme name of God, stressing His absolute sovereignty and His eternal self-existence. This is the way He revealed Himself to Israel: as Jehovah; supreme; self-existent; absolute ruler; and with no one beyond Him.

The word "Elohim" represents God in his creative capacity. He is the creator of the universe and the creator of life. So it combines His absolute supreme authority. He is king of the universe, and He is the origin of everything. Those two concepts are combined in Jehovah Elohim. This name is, in fact, what God is. God, in other words, names Himself what He is--the supreme and only sovereign ruler of the universe of all created beings. So His name connotes a certain rank; authority; pleasure; condemnation; love; grace; mercy; excellence; and, above all, His name reflects absolute truthfulness. That is a critical feature for us to remember as we go by.

So the use of God's name by human beings deals with that of which there is no greater. When you say, "Jehovah Elohim," you've said the greatest; the highest; and, the most authoritative thing you can say. It's the epitome of power; of authority; of righteousness; and, of truth. Hebrews 6:13 tells us that when God was going Himself to take an oath, He could only take an oath upon Himself. There was no one higher upon which He could take an authoritative statement. So the name of God represents the ultimate ground of human accountability.

The name of God includes words like: "Lord," "Jesus Christ," and, "the Holy Spirit." The name of the Holy Spirit is not generally one that people take in vain. They do that of God the father, and of the Son.

"In vain" is what we are forbidden to do. The word "in" is the Hebrew "le." "For" is the idea. "Vain" is the Hebrew word "shawe" which means "falsehood." You will not use God's name, and thus His character and His position, which His name represents, in a trivial and deceptive way. You will not use God's name to cover evil and to cover false testimony. If you lack reverence for this supreme way of confirming truth, then you lack reverence for God. That's what this is. When you take God's name, this is the supreme way of confirming that you are as truthful at that moment, in respect to that particular point that you're dealing with, as God himself is. So to use the name of God in a vain and trivial way is forbidden.

Therefore, I would be careful in common ordinary language to use such expressions as: "God as my witness," when you're trying to convince somebody how truthful you are; "May God strike me dead if this is not so;" or, "I swear to God." There are any other number are expressions that are trivial in the use of God's name. There is a place for taking a formal legitimate oath in the name of God. But this kind of trivial everyday talk is part of what is forbidden here.

Nor should you go around using God's name in a favorite trivial way that Christians use it by trying to get their way within a Christian organization. They tell people that God has told you to do something, and this is His will. That is a favorite Christian thing--to get up and say, "It is God's will that we should do this."

I have heard about girls going up to men (total strangers) in college and saying, "The Lord has just told me that you should marry me. It is His will that we should be husband and wife." How would you like someone to come up and tell you that? This is a trivial use of God's name, and it is done all the time. So be careful of getting up and saying, "The Lord told me," and then you give us a communication as God's prophet.

Swearing

The third moral principle specifically forbids the use of God's name in swearing. It forbids the use of God's name in verbal emotional releases. This is because swearing is ultimately a defaming of the attributes of God.

Here's the relationship. We have swearing at the top. Swearing may take an expression in terms of profanity. That is a profane name of the name of God. That is using the name of God and His attributes in a curse word. Or swearing may take the form of invoking a divine judgment upon the object or the person against whom you are directing the swear words. So we use a phrase like, "Damn it." This refers to cursing. This is swearing in the particular category of cursing. Then, swearing may take the form of vilifying or ridiculing God. That falls into the category of blasphemy.

So swearing can take any one of these three forms: as profanity; in cursing; and, blasphemy. These will all have varying degrees of obscenity, depending on how far the old sin nature has gone in your particular case. Primitive societies have condemned, and often punish, people who swear. This is because even in primitive societies they have recognized that swearing is basically an attack against deity. That's the point to remember. Swearing is always a reflection against deity in whatever form it is expressed. It is either profaning deity; it is calling carelessly upon deity to act in a curse upon someone; or, it is blaspheming deity face-to-face directly. So primitive societies have recognized that the so-called gods can be displeased. So they regard it as subversive to the social and to the religious institutions of that group of people.

There are some nations, for example, like the Japanese that have no swear words. This perhaps is due to the fact that the emperor was looked upon as God. During World War II, the emperor was looked upon as being deity. Therefore, to use a swear word was, in effect, a reflection against the emperor, and that was a reflection against deity. Thus the Japanese have no swear words. To use a swear word is the equivalent of treason in a society like that. This is fantastic. The more you read about this, the more you see how even people who are completely in darkness spiritually recognize that swearing strikes against the supreme powers of the universe, whatever they call them, and however they view them. For this reason, God ordered the death penalty among the Jews for the blasphemy type of swearing in order to preserve society (Leviticus 24:15-16).

The use of what is generally considered swear words goes from words that are considered mild to words that are vulgar and obscene, and they increase perceptibly as a society degenerates morally. The words become worse as a society's moral level begins to lower. The movies reflect this in a fantastic way.

At the time of World War II, there was naturally a loosening, as there always is in wartime, of a moral attitude. The first inkling of the loosening of this moral outlook was reflected in a movie called Gone with the Wind. Up to that time, there had been a very strict moral code of censors on every movie that went out. Before a movie was released to the public, they censored it, and there were certain things that absolutely were not allowed to be shown or said, among which were swear words.

At the end of Gone with the Wind, Scarlett O'Hara, who has been a conniving; deceiving; calculating; operating behind her husband's back; and, resistant type of woman, finally has Rhett Butler fed up. Rhett Butler indicates that he is through, and he is walking out on her. Scarlett O'Hara, in desperation, realizes that everything else has collapsed around her, through all of her maneuverings, and she has nothing left except her husband, Rhett Butler. He is the one that she really wants. He is the one that she really finds her fulfillment in. He is on his way out the door. So he walks to the door, and she says something to the effect of, "But, Rhett, what's going to happen to me?" And Rhett turns and says, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

That was the last line of the movie. It's bad enough to use a swear word in a film, which had never been done before, but to let that be the last thing you hear was traumatic in itself. It got a lot of reaction. You almost want to laugh at that, don't you? Because where have we gone since? Down, down, down. There is the first thing I want you to understand about swearing. It starts with little innocuous stuff, but it always goes down, and I'm going to show you in a minute why. It always goes increasingly downward.

During the war, the gutter talk descended to much worse than the word in Gone with the Wind. One aircraft factory had a sign in it. There was a factory which employed many women. The sign said, "No swearing. There may be gentlemen present." This indicated the horrendous part of when a society starts going down--that women start swearing, and that really becomes crude and loathsome. It is bad enough when the men do it. But at a certain point, a society fades out from the men and they begin bringing in the women. So the women begin using the same language as the men in. In slum areas (areas of low culture, and scenes of moral degeneracy), the low level of swearing of the obscene, vulgar type increases precipitously.

So what I am saying is that swearing, in general, is to be rejected, for one thing, because it moves progressively downward among those who use it. Swearing in the form of foul language is forbidden in the Bible. This third moral principle covers what we call foul language for the very fact that foul language is always associated with deity. Pagan people recognize this, and the Bible recognizes this. When you insult deity, you are on the way out to degeneracy; to animal wisdom; and, to the loss of freedom. In the angelic warfare, Satan and his demons are seeking to blaspheme; to degrade; and, to profane God, and to belittle His authority. So they do this by influencing people to use swear words which are associated with the power and authority of the demon world below instead of the word above.

In the universe today, there are focus points of authority. One is God up at the top, and at the other at the bottom is Satan. These are two realms of authorities. What Satan is trying to do is constantly take people down toward recognizing his power base of authority. That's what this third principle of morality is seeking to avoid. Swearing moves from an illicit use of God's name. That's where it starts. That's what this commandment specifically prohibits. I recognize that it does not prohibit all the other curse words, but you will find that these are, in one way or another, associated also with God, and it moves progressively downwards to worse things. The words start up here by using God's name in vain. Then it moves progressively downwards. The closer you get to where it starts involving Satan's realm and power base, it starts to involve sex, and then a thousand words of excrement. It moves progressively down to vulgarity and obscenities representing the power base of Satan.

If you read the book The Exorcist, this was splendidly and classically illustrated. And the movement through that story progressed, there was the dissent in the language of using God's name in vain, and gradually the language, as well as the practice (and we're going to see in a moment that the practice is always tied to the language), the language and the practice gradually moved through the areas of sex and excrement in the foul language which is used, and in the foul practices which was portrayed. As the little girl became more completely possessed by the demon, she began reflecting the power base of Satan through the foul language which was used, and the foul practices which were displayed.

So swearing moves (learn, first of all) from an illicit use of God's name, which represents the power and authority of absolute righteousness, down to the use of words which are associated with the realm of Satan. In recent years, this downward trend of swearing has included words that have never appeared before. Only in the last half of the 20th century had these words even been heard. They evolve out of the radical movements on college campuses and the Black Revolution movements. These words included one referring to mother incest and homosexuality. The most obscene; way down; and, lower level type of foul language was invented because we began with the innocuous word like "damn" in Gone with the Wind, and it progressively descended toward the power base of Satan, reflecting that which respects him as the authority. That's what your language does. Your language either respects that God is the authority in the universe, and absolute, or that Satan is a power to contend with, and as a matter of fact, to be viewed as a superior authority.

Swearing moves some innocent words like "hell" and "damn" to the progressively worse. Notice what the word "damn" says. "Damn" is a vain use of the name of God because it's calling upon God to exercise reprobation on an individual or on a thing. "Condemnation to eternal death" is what the word "damn" means. It's damnation. You're calling upon God flippantly to exercise eternal condemnation. The word "hell" is also a vain reference because it is wishing this same condemnation in terms of the lake of fire. It is referring to the lake of fire as a power base of authority which is designed for Satan and angels.

So you can't say, "Well, I'm just using innocent words. They're not words that are very bad." That is because people will not stop there. Swearing moves from a defiance of God through the use of "hells" and "damns" to the invocation of excrement and sex. It moves to perversions of sex. It always moves downward. Swearing always moves progressively down toward this base. Verbal profanity is a witness to social profanity. The elicit; the obscene; and, the perverted act, therefore, today is publicly displayed. Why? Because the perverted and the obscene words are publicly portrayed. You hear them all the time if you attend motion pictures. You even hear them on television. Society seeks renewed vitality and energy and freedom by new and lower profanations.

The Berkley University campus in California had the free speech movement. The free speech movement was using words down on the lower end of the scale, near Satan. They were inventing these new oaths and curse words, calling for freedom. Freedom expressed itself in increased perversions. Their perversions expressed themselves in practice as well.

So the level of foul language in a society or segment of people indicates the level of rebellion against God and biblical morality. This is the level of social disintegration toward Satan. Swearing, therefore, is subversive of the social and spiritual institutions of a society, and it reaches, as you know, into the highest levels of our governments.

Notice what happened in the Watergate situation. They could not transcribe the tapes without putting in "expletive deleted." Why? Because men who are leaders in government were sitting there and they were talking on the power base of Satan. Therefore, along with it, came another thing that this commandment forbids, and that is taking a false oath: perjury. There was no problem for them to perjure themselves. Their language took God's name in vain and descended the scale to obscenities. It was no problem for them also to take an oath and say, "By Him who is the eternal absolute truth, I now speak truthfully as He talks," and never intending to do it. Do you see the connection?

People who use swear words are people who will lie, even on the Bible. I want you to understand that when you use "hell" and "damn," you are appealing from Satan's power base and authority center in order to impress minds. You better think whether you want to impress the minds of people on Satan's authority base, and whether that is what you mean to do, because these words are associated with him.

So now, you know. Next time, I want to give you the fact that there are subtle ways that we swear without realizing it. Then I want to give you a list of appropriate accepted swear words that you can use, for those of you who may need them. If you'd like to know about those, please see the next session.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1973

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