The Third Commandment. You Shall Not use the Lord's Name in Vain.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
121017

Dispensation of the Mosaic Law. The Third Commandment. You shall not take the name of the Lord God in Vain.
Doctrine of Ambassadorship.

We are still noting the Third Commandment which is found in EXO 20:7 which says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

So, with all of this in mind, we have begun to note the Doctrine of Ambassadorship.

Point 1. Definition and Description.

Point 2. The Profile of the Ambassador.

1. An ambassador does not appoint himself. We are appointed by God Himself at the moment we believe in Jesus Christ. God also gives use the power and ability to handle the job.
2. The ambassador does not support himself. The Church-age believer, as an ambassador for Christ, is provided for by logistical grace.
3. The ambassador’s instructions are always in written form, so he has no doubt as to what he should do. We have the policies, problem solving devices, instructions, principles, doctrines, and concepts in written form in the scripture.
4. The ambassador does not belong to the country to which he is sent. Our citizenship and home is in Heaven. We are also citizens of a client nation to God.
5. The ambassador does not live in the foreign country for his own personal interest. We live here on earth solely to serve in the interest of our Lord.
6. The ambassador does not treat any insult to himself as personal or most important. This is the royal ambassador’s function in both spiritual self-esteem and impersonal love for all mankind.

We tolerate others and hold no grudges. When we are insulted, treated unfairly, or ridiculed, we have tremendous problem solving devices.

1. When an ambassador is recalled, his recall is tantamount to a declaration of war. This is analogous to the Rapture of the church. The Tribulation is analogous to the period of war.

Point 3. The Royal Ambassadorship is Specialized and Intensified in the gift of pastor‑teacher.

All communication gifts (evangelists, apostles, pastor‑teachers) become critical and specialized functions of the royal ambassadorship because they communicate spiritual truth.

This is why the Apostle Paul said in EPH 6:19-20, for which [the Gospel] I am an ambassador in chains; so that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak or “I might communicate with confidence as I ought to speak.”

Point 4. The Royal Ambassadorship is Directly Related to the Evangelism of the believer, 2Co 5:20.

2CO 5:14-21, For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This is the function of every believer who witnesses and realizes that one of the main functions of the believer is to evangelize. We are to witness through the verbal communication of the Gospel of the word of God.

And as I mentioned, we are not to witness only through our lifestyle - but more importantly through our words. This is why I say to those who say “I don’t say I’m a believer, I live like I am one” = stop being a coward!

What does that mean?

An atheist can be moral. A Muslim can quit certain sins. A Buddhist can refrain from immorality. Even Christians can make vows and not keep them and don’t think there are any consequences but there are.

PSA 50:14, “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High;

PSA 56:12, Thy vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to Thee.

PSA 61:8, So I will sing praise to Thy name forever, That I may pay my vows day by day.

PSA 76:11, Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them; Let all who are around Him bring gifts to Him who is to be feared.

PSA 116:18, I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people,

Well, two passages really come to mind:

MAT 5:13-18, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck‑measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished.

JAM 1:21-25, Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.

What does all this mean?

For many it means, “I don’t have enough courage to live like I should”.

Point 5. The Royal Ambassadorship mandates the function of spiritual self‑esteem and impersonal love, PHILE 9.

PHILE 9, “Yet for love’s sake, I rather appeal to you, since I am such a person as Paul, the ambassador, and now a prisoner of Jesus Christ.”

Virtue‑love is the greatest of all problem-solving devices. When your momentum takes you to personal love for God, you now have spiritual self-esteem. And with this spiritual self-esteem comes impersonal love for all mankind. This is the giant step in the Christian life.

While personal love for God is the function of our royal priesthood, spiritual self-esteem and impersonal love for man are the function of our Royal ambassadorship. Everything the believer does in life becomes a part of the procedure and policy as a royal ambassador.

Every believer, therefore, makes a pulpit out of his circumstances in every area of life. Your ambassadorship is basically made up of two factors:  How you live, and what you say as a result of what you think.

In private, you function under your priesthood; In public, you function under your ambassadorship.

Point 6. The Royal Ambassadorship is also related to the Angelic Conflict.

The Church-age believer is not only an ambassador to human creatures but to angels as well. Angels observe and rejoice when ambassadors lead others to Christ, LUK 15:3‑10.

LUK 15:3-10, And He told them this parable, saying, “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety‑nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety‑nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”