So today we'll be starting a
series called, What is Important to God? And we'll be looking
today at His name. His name. His name is important. Now oftentimes we think of that
which is important to us. When we were lost, the things
of the world, for we who believe, when we were lost, the things
of the world were the most important things for us and to us. I know. That consumed me. Now that I'm
saved, now that I'm redeemed, born again of the Holy Spirit
of God, the things of God are the most important thing to me.
Christ. And I want to know what things
are important to God. I want to know that. Because
what's important to Him is important to His people. It's important
to His people. So in this short series, I'd
like us to look at that which is important to God. And as I
said earlier, in no way are we gonna plumb the depths. This
is so vast. Everything about God is so vast. We just scratch the surface,
but we just rejoice when we do. We rejoice at what he reveals
to us. So it's important for us to consider
subjects from the word of God that are important to Him, that
are important to Him. Now these six subjects are His
Name, His Glory, His Word, His Grace, His Son, and His people. And this morning I was thinking,
and His Holiness, and His Righteousness. These are things that are important
to God, important to Him. And so, when something is important,
we tend to consider it. When something is important to
us, we tend to consider it a lot, don't we? We consider it a lot.
We ponder it. We give it our full attention.
And we will see from Scripture that these subjects are important
to God. And we always go to the Scriptures. We don't want our
opinion. We want to see from God's Word
what He has to say. We don't formulate what we believe
upon our own opinions. We believe what we believe because
the scriptures say. And how it's revealed in the
scripture. And it's precious to us. It's precious to us. And we know that God's ways are
unsearchable. They're unsearchable. They're
debtless. And I pray that God, the Holy Spirit, would give us
an understanding from this scripture. So turn if you would to Exodus
chapter 33. And then also put your finger
in Exodus chapter 3. We'll be going there shortly.
But Exodus chapter 33, verse 19. So let's consider that his
name is important to us. His name. And let us think this, our name,
what does our name do? Our name identifies who we are. It identifies who we are. God's name identifies who he
is. Who he is. With our name, you
can find out where we were born. You can find out where we live.
Because we're identified by our names. Look at Exodus 33, 19,
and he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee.
And we know that all his goodness is in Christ. And I will proclaim
the name of the Lord, Jehovah, the self-existent one before
thee, and will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, and will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy. So here in our text, we
have the Lord's name Jehovah. Jehovah, and this identifies
who he is. The self-existent one. The one
who needs no one or nothing. God over all. The one who spoke everything
into existence. The one who gives us the very
breath that we breathe. Jehovah. The Lord. His name represents all his attributes. His nature, His perfections,
and the glory of them. And beloved, let us remember
that all these attributes are displayed in Christ. In Him. He's God incarnated in the flesh. So His name, though, Jehovah,
identifies the self-existent one, and the Hebrew says the
self-existent one or eternal one. His name identifies who
He is. He's not like us. He's the eternal one. We're finite
beings. We live and breathe and die.
Now those of us who trust Christ will go to be with Him for eternity,
but only because of what Christ has done. So He's the self-existent one.
And the name Jehovah implies every perfection of the divine
nature. And they're all in Him. They're all in Him, beloved. Here we see before us, God identifying
Himself as the Eternal One. And note, He has to reveal Himself
to us for us to even know Him. The scripture's so emphatic.
There's none that seeketh after God. None. None. There's none righteous. But if
the shepherd seeks the sheep, we will willingly come to Christ. And we do. Because we're born again by the
Holy Spirit. Again, what comes first, faith
or regeneration? Regeneration! Faith is a gift
of God. You must be born again. You must
be. But here he identifies himself.
He identifies himself as the absolute sovereign over all the
universe. Turn, if you would, to Exodus
chapter 3. He identifies himself to Moses
as I am that I am, the great I am, the self-existent one,
the ancient of days. He's all-knowing, all-seeing.
He dwells in eternity. That scripture calls him the
Eternal One. In the Hebrew, as I said, Jehovah is translated
the Self-existent or Eternal One. He's eternal. He's God. Look at Exodus chapter 3 verses
13 to 15. And then actually put your finger in Joshua
2, Joshua 5. But look at this in Exodus chapter
3 verses 13 to 15. And Moses said unto God, behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto
them, the God of your fathers has sent me unto you, and they
shall say to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am
what I am. He identifies himself. And he
said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am
hath sent me unto you. God said, moreover unto Moses,
thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord
Jehovah, Jehovah, the self-existent one, the eternal one, God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob has sent me unto you. This is my name forever. And this is my memorial unto
all generations. So he identifies himself right
here to Moses. Turn, if you would, over to Joshua
chapter 5. He identifies himself to Joshua. And I believe this is a Christophany,
a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ right here before us in
Joshua chapter 5. And that was, we know who appeared
to him in the burning bush. It was our great king. Look at
this in Joshua chapter 5, verses 13 to 15. He proclaims who he
was to Joshua. Joshua 5, 13 to 15. One of my
favorite portions of Scripture. And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,
there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his
hand. Now remember, Joshua was a man
of war. He's looking at Jericho there.
They're gonna go they're ready to besiege it. He's a man of
war And our Lord appears to him. Look at this a Man over against
him with his sword drawn in his hand and Joshua went unto him
and said unto him art thou for us or for our adversaries And
look at this response He said nay, but as the captain of the
host of the Lord am I now come and Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and did worship and said unto him, what sayeth my
Lord unto his servant? Now remember, it was holy ground,
holy ground in Exodus chapter three. Look at this. What sayeth
my Lord unto his servant and the captain of the Lord's house
said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy feet for the place
whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Oh, did he not say at the cross,
or did he not say to his disciples that I could call legions of
angels? What a Savior. So he identifies
who he is. He identifies himself with the
Joshua as the captain of the host of the Lord. And his name identifies who he
is. It proclaims that he is Lord
over all, beloved. The self-existent one. The one
who has no beginning. And the one who has no end. The
eternal one. Jehovah. The eternal one. It identifies who He is. Psalm
102 verses 4 to 7, if you want to turn there you can. It says
this, I said, Oh my God, take me not away in the midst of my
days, thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast
thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works, the work of thy hands. For they shall perish, but thou
shalt endure, Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment
as a vesture. Thou shalt change them, and they
shall be changed. But thou art the same. He's the
eternal. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. That's why we're so secure in
Him, too. Think of that. Those He saves, He keeps. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. But thou art the same,
and thy years shall have no end. Thou art the same. He is the
everlasting, the I Am, the unchanging One. He is immutable in His nature
and in His perfections, beloved. And this speaks of Christ, who
is God incarnate in the flesh. God incarnate in the flesh. His
name speaks of His love and His affections to His people. in
his power to protect and keep us, in his wisdom to guide and
direct us, in his righteousness to clothe us and to render us. What does he do? What does Christ
do? He renders us acceptable to God, doesn't he? He renders us acceptable
to God. His blood cleanses us from what? Some of our sins?
You know, the way some people act, I'm sure glad that God doesn't
forgive sins like others sometimes do against us. God says, all your sins are forgiven. A, L, M. They're all cleansed. They're all covered by the precious
blood of Christ. Oh my. And Christ speaks peace and pardon
to his people. peace and pardon to His people.
He fully supplies them all that we need, right? What does Scripture
say? All spiritual blessings are in
Christ. That's for us. His salvation is full. His salvation
is complete. And it's in Christ and Him alone.
And this is who we preach. This is when we get up in the
pulpit. We preach and proclaim a successful Savior, a finished
work. Just look to Him. He did it all. There's nothing
dependent upon us. It's all what Christ has done.
And we're made willing. We who believe are made willing.
And we flee to Christ, born again in the Holy Spirit of God. It's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
who gets all the glory then? He gets it all. He gets it all. And we just rejoice. We say,
glory to your name, Lord. You're so precious to us. You're
so precious to us. So we see from scripture that
the name of God identifies who he is. And he reveals himself
through scripture, doesn't he? He reveals himself through scripture. His Holy Spirit teaches us. And
He's God. God, the Holy Spirit, is God
too. And He teaches us and reveals to us. Scripture says He won't
speak of Himself. He reveals Christ. He reveals
Christ to us. So His name, God's name is important
to Him. And it describes God as being
Lord over all. He's Lord over all. Now this
is contrary to what men have cooked up in their minds. Because
men have cooked up in their minds a God who can't do anything without
them. A God who's dependent upon them.
But the scripture plainly declares we've seen, and as I said, the
word Lord there is Jehovah, the self-existent one, the eternal
one. He doesn't need us. But yet he's chosen to save a
people, to manifest his glory and grace And we who believe
are recipients of that. And we marvel, don't we? Oh, what a great God. So the
truth of the scripture, even from his name, he identifies
himself as an absolute sovereign. His name identifies himself as
that, the eternal, the ancient of days. God over all. King of kings and what? Lord
of lords. And nothing that's not under
him. This is our Savior. This is our Redeemer. God is a trinity of persons,
right? Turn if you would to 1 John 5,
7. Look at this. God the Holy Spirit is fully
God. God the Father is fully God. And God the Son is fully
God. And the three are one. Look at 1st John 5-7. For there
are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost. And do you know that all three
are involved in our salvation? All three. The Father chose us
in eternity. Christ died to redeem us from
our sins. Holy Spirit regenerates and draws
us to Christ. Perfect unity. Perfect unity. Those who deny the Trinity deny
who God is. I had someone tell me one time
that one of these TV guys that I know from doing a little research,
totally denies the Trinity. He tried to tell me the guy was
a Christian. I said, you're lying to yourself. Scripture plainly shows us that
God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And I brought
up how they all are an action. So you deny the Trinity, you're
denying who God is. Over in the New Testament, turn
if you would to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28. We see this truth proclaimed
in Scripture. In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy
6.4, it says, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
So the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. And we see this truth over in
the New Testament too, in Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20. And Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen." And also the words of our master,
listen to this, John 10, 27 to 30. Look at this. God has sheep. God has sheep, and they hear
his voice, and they know him, and they follow him. And who's the one Christ died
for? He didn't die for everyone. He died for his people. He died
for his sheep. Look at what Scripture declares
here in John 10, 27 to 30. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them, what? Eternal
life. And they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave me them is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. Look at this. I and my Father
are what? Oh, the great three and one. Turn back, if you would, to Exodus
34. Exodus 34. And we'll look at verses five
to seven. So God's identifying himself
in Scripture who he is. Did not Christ right there say
that he's the Eternal One? Because if him and the Father
are one, that means he's the Eternal One. He's God incarnate
in the flesh. And this is our Savior. Look
at Exodus 34 verses 5 to 7. And the Lord descended in a cloud
and stood there with them and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Now this is the Lord proclaiming
who he is. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth. keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions
and sin. And that 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 to the fourth
generation. Look in verse 6, the Lord God. He identifies who
He is. The Lord God. This title shows
His glorious being. All-powerful. All knowing, all
seeing, He has all authority. And didn't Christ Himself say
that He had all authority in the New Testament? Didn't He
say that? Oh my. And look at the following
attributes. Merciful, gracious, long-suffering,
abundant in goodness and truth, And also note, it's Jehovah who
declares with a loud voice. It's Jehovah himself who declares
with a loud voice. Out of the cloud, his divine
majesty. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, long-suffering,
abundant in goodness and truth. He proclaims who He is. He identifies
Himself below. He identifies Himself. And what is proclaimed or declared
concerning Himself? That He's merciful. That He's
gracious. That He's long-suffering. That
He's abundant in goodness and truth. This is all found in who
He is. He's identified Himself. God is merciful. He's rich and
plenteous in mercy. Freely giving it. Freely giving
mercy, He delights in bestowing it. And He constantly shows it
to His people. And it's manifested and displayed
in Christ alone. Our great God is gracious. He's
good and kind without any merit or deserving on our part. So he's merciful, he's gracious
to us without any merit from us. We have no merit. And he's done it freely. All according to his good will
and grace. Giving us all grace and all spiritual
blessings in Christ. By Christ being our substitute,
by Christ justifying us. By His grace. By Him imputing
His righteousness, His perfect righteousness to us. What a gracious
God we have. By pardoning A-L-L all our sins. Is that not gracious? We don't
get what we deserve. But no, remember, we looked on
Wednesday night that upon the children of disobedience falls
the wrath and justice of God. But that which was meant for
us as believers fell upon Christ. Justice extracted what it demanded. Oh, but in our great substitute
below, in our great substitute. He's gracious to his people,
regenerating us, calling us, preserving us, and one day taking
us home. He's long-suffering, both towards
a wicked man, the vessels of wrath, and the vessels of honor. He's long-suffering towards us. His name is being abased and
despised. He's long-suffering. He's long-suffering
towards His elect, on whom He waits to be gracious in the time
that He has appointed for them to be healed. Think of that. Now, you and I have talked about
how we were before the Lord saved us, and the mercy that He had
upon us. I've talked to many of you about
that. God was gracious and merciful,
long-suffering to us, wasn't He? Wasn't He? And one day, you
know, He came to that to Lazarus is
such a picture of actual calling Lazarus Lazarus is dead
That's our state Lazarus forth and what this Lazarus
said he can't do anything. He's dead right now He's alive
and he comes forth, right? That's the power of God. That's
a picture of us right there Right there, and it's beautiful And
he's long-suffering before we're saved to us abundant in goodness
and truth and providential goodness to all men in special goodness
to his chosen people and which He has laid up and wrought out
for us, and showing us in Christ, and all our salvation is wrought
out by Christ, and it's all in Him. What goodness, abundant
goodness and truth He's shown we who believe. Oh, He saved
us from all our sins. So three quick points, three
quick points, I got five minutes, three quick points. God's name
is important to Him, and He commands Israel not to take His name in
vain. In Leviticus 24 16 it says this,
And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely
be put to death, and the congregation shall certainly stone him, as
well as a stranger. As he that is born in the land,
when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall he be put
to death. I'm thankful God has long suffered. As he was to me. This is a warning also though
to us to Use his name loosely. He's not the man upstairs, as
some flippantly say. He's the great I am. I am that
I am. That's who he is. He's identified
himself. We who believe he's identified
himself thus. And is his name not precious
to us? It's precious to us. Blasphemy is slander and insult
against the holy God, as it's uttered with the intention to
deframe him. His name is tossed around as a byword, and this
expresses the hatred of those who do that. This expresses the
hatred inward that they have for him. He's merciful, though, isn't he? He is merciful. So the blasphemy God's name is
an assault upon the holiness of God's name. Number two, the
Lord's name is to be published in praise. Deuteronomy 32 verses
3 and 4 says this. Because I will publish the name
of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the rock,
his work is perfect, perfect. For all his ways are judgment,
a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. So we as
God's people are to publish and proclaim. that Jesus Christ is
the Lord of Lord and the King of Kings. And we are to publish
and proclaim salvation in Christ alone. And we do that. We send
it out on the internet. Out it goes. We preach. Faithful men get up and preach
the gospel whenever they're here. And I endeavor to preach the
gospel as well as God allows me to do. And anyone who steps
in the pulpit, We endeavor to preach and proclaim salvation
in Christ and Him, and to publish the greatness of Christ and what
He's done alone, and what He's done for sinners. We publish, which is tell of
who Christ is, very God of very God. We proclaim what He did.
We proclaim why He did it. We proclaim where He is right
now. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord.
Praise Him. O ye servants of the Lord. So
we publish and proclaim His precious name, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we publish that one day, at this very name, every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
God. To the glory of God the Father.
We praise and proclaim Christ's greatness. We praise and proclaim
His goodness. We praise and proclaim His perfection.
We praise and proclaim His salvation. We praise and proclaim His mercy.
We praise and proclaim Christ in Him alone. He is the only
Savior for sinners. Job said this, then Job arose
and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the
ground in worship and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb.
Naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave And the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
That's what God's people say. Blessed. We bless and praise the Lord
for all his gifts of providence. We also bless and praise the
Lord for his grace, which has been bestowed upon we who are
undeserving sinners. We who are his people. We whom
Christ died for upon Calvary's cross. And the last point is, his name
is an object of worship. Genesis 4.26, and to Seth, to
him also there was born a son and called his name Enos. And
then began man to call upon the name of the Lord. And in the
New Testament, in Hebrews, turn if you would to Hebrews 7. We're
finished with this. Hebrews 7. Man began to call
upon the name of the Lord, it says in Genesis 4.26. And look
it over in Hebrews chapter 7, verses 22 to 25. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. And they truly were many priests,
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
that he liveth to make intercession for them. God's people call upon
the name of the Lord. He's the one who's able to save
us. He's the one who's able to save them to the uttermost. I
don't care how black your sin is. Oh, Christ can save any sinner
who comes to Him. He does. We absolutely rejoice. So may God's name be magnified.
May it be proclaimed from this place. And may God's people leave
this place with our hearts full of joy and peace. Joy and peace,
which only comes from Christ Jesus our Lord. He is the name
above all names, the Lord Jesus Christ. And salvation is only
in Him. It's nowhere else. It's nowhere
else. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
come before thy throne with thankful and grateful hearts. We who are
redeemed by your precious blood. Undeserving sinners, we marvel
in your mercy towards us. We marvel that you chose us before
the foundation of the world and that you drew us. We would never
have sought you, Lord, but you drew us. You turned us and showed
us our wonderful, merciful Savior. Lord Jesus, we thank thee for
leaving the glories and splendor of heaven to redeem a people
A number that no man can number, but you know every one of your
sheep. We thank you and praise you for your mercy and grace.
We look to exalt your name, to publish your name in Jesus' name.