Sinclair Ferguson

But before we look down our noses at Old Testament believers, I think we should remember the other occasion when God's name is said to be put on people.

And this time, people like you and me, if we're Christians.

Do you remember it?

Yes, it happened when you were baptized.

You were baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I hope we all understand that's a bigger blessing than the Aaronic blessing.

But here's the challenge.

Am I living as though that had never happened?

Or living as though my baptism was just an empty sign, or merely a sign of something I did in the past, so it doesn't really matter so much today.

If so, I couldn't be further from the truth.

I couldn't be more deluded, really.

I'm no longer on safe ground.

Exodus 20 tells me I'm on dangerous ground.

I've emptied the name of God that was put upon me of all of its significance.

He's pronounced a benediction, but I've forfeited the blessing by the way I live.

Remember how Paul found himself writing about this in Romans chapter 6 to counteract the idea that because God has been gracious to us, it doesn't really matter so much how we live or even if we dishonor God's name.

Remember how he says, don't you know the meaning of your baptism?

Don't you know that the name of Christ was placed upon you?

If the name of the Lord has been put on you in baptism, then the rest of your life should be a life in which you give yourself entirely to the Lord, whose name has been placed upon you.

Somebody listening today is going to be tempted to take the Lord's name in vain, to empty their baptism of all its significance.