If you would, let's open your
Bibles together to Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9. Lord willing, we're going to
look at the saving name of Christ our Savior this morning, and
I thought this would be a good passage of scripture to open
our service. Isaiah chapter 9, beginning in
verse 6. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no
end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order
it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth
even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. All right, let's stand together
as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. No friend spoke in rapture of
Christ on the tree. keep my life from on high. Then legal fear shook me, I trembled
to die. No refuge, no safety in self
could I seek. Jehovah said, My Savior must
be. My terrors all vanished before
His sweet name. My guilty fears banished, with
boldness I came. Okay, if you would turn in your
hymnal to song number 37, how great thou art. 37. O Lord my God, when I in awe
subwonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling
thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Went through the woods and forest
glades I wandered And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down from lofty mountain granule And hear the brook and
feel the gentle breeze Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God His
Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross my burden gladly
bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When Christ shall come with shout
of acclamation, And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim, My God, how
great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! If you would turn your Bibles
to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. Pastors ask us
to read verses 1 through 12. And as they spake unto the people,
the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
came upon them. being grieved that they taught
the people, and preaching through Jesus, the resurrection from
the dead. And they laid hands on them and
put them in hold until the next day, for it was now even tide. Howbeit many of them which heard
the word believed, and the number of the men was about 5,000. And it came to pass on the morrow
that their rulers, and the elders, and the scribes, and Annas, the
high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many
as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together
at Jerusalem. And when they set them in the
midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done
this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel.
If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the infinite
man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all
and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom he crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him doeth this man stand here before you whole. This is
the stone which was set at nought of the builders, which is become
the head of the corner. These are their salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved. Let's pray. Our dear and most gracious and
merciful Heavenly Father, What a blessing, Lord, it is to us,
your people, to read these words. These are truly words we know. These are words of eternal life.
It's only by these words, Lord, that we have faith, that we can
have faith, God-given faith that comes By the hearing of these
words, and we thank you Lord for they we pray Lord that this
hour that we can look to him. Look to the one in whom you have
lifted up. Let all of our exaltation, let
all of our consecration be on him this hour. He's the one Lord
in whom we know had died. And only by his dying is death,
burial and resurrection. Can we have eternal life? and
what a blessing it has to be to read this morning this passage
of scripture where his name, Lord, his name, there was 5,000
people saved. Let that same name be exalted
here, Lord. Let it be a blessing, Lord. Let the words in which you have
laid upon our pastor's heart, Lord, let it be a blessing to
our ears to hear, hear with a rejoicing that only comes in the way of
the power of the Spirit. Let it be a blessing, Lord. And
we pray this blessing, Lord, not only for ourselves, but we
pray this blessing, Lord, especially to our loved ones, our family,
Lord. We want them to know Him. Know Him in the way in which
we know Him. Know Him in the way of the gospel.
We want them to hear. Draw them to Him, Lord, that
they hear Him also. And we pray, Lord, for those
in whom you have brought into these very, very troubled times,
These times of these afflictions of these fleshly bodies, the
trials and tribulations of this world that we're so easily afflicted
by. We pray, Lord, a blessing in
these things also. All these things we ask in Christ's
name for his sake alone. Keep your Bibles open there to
Acts chapter four, that'll be our text this morning. Titled
the message, The Saving Name of Christ. Let's begin reading
here in Acts 4 verse one. And as they spake unto the people,
the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people,
and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And
when they laid hands on them and put them in the hold until
the next day, for it was now even time. Now the, the disciples
and particularly Peter has been preaching here for, for a couple
of days. And a big part of every message
that he preached is the resurrection of Christ. You men put him to
death, but God raised him from the dead. Now remember, the Sadducees
didn't believe in the resurrection, and they hated somebody preaching
the resurrection just more than anything. And they'd do anything
that they could to stop this from being preached, this resurrection
of the dead. And I can't help but wonder if
part of their adamance, just they were so determined to stop
this preaching of the resurrection of the dead, that part of the
reason for that was In the back of their mind, they were worried. They had to wonder, did Jesus
of Nazareth really rise from the dead? I mean, we can't find
his body. Those men who were guarding the tomb said he rose
from the dead. Did he really? If he did, we're in trouble.
Because everything that we believe is founded on the fact that there's
no resurrection of the dead. And if he did rise from the dead,
There is an afterlife. The Sadducees didn't believe
in life after death. They didn't believe there's a
heaven or a hell or any such thing. If Jesus really rose from
the dead, he's gonna judge us. He's God, he's gonna judge us.
And we're gonna have to bow to him. And rather than bow to him,
what they determined to do was, let's just stop this preaching
the resurrection of the dead so I have to think about it,
don't have to hear about it anymore. I really do think that that was
part of their motivation. That's why they put these men
in prison overnight in the jail. But no matter what they did,
the apostles always insisted on preaching the resurrection,
on preaching the resurrection of Christ and preaching his people
will be resurrected in him. And no matter what, even if they
would be killed, they would not recant. They would not quit because
it's so vital to the gospel the resurrection of Christ. And the
resurrection, both spiritually and bodily of his people is so
vital to the gospel. Even if you killed them, they
wouldn't change their message. These men that Peter's getting
ready to preach to on this day, you can just imagine that this
crowd of self-important religious folks, kind of sitting in a circle
around them, put Peter and John in the midst of them. Peter's
gonna preach Christ to them. He's gonna preach to them that
the resurrection, these were some of the men that just a little
while ago put the Lord Jesus to death. It's not far-stretched
to think they'd do it to one of his disciples too, especially
one who's bold enough to preach the resurrection to him. I mean,
that's pretty bold, isn't it? That's bold. But here's the reason
that all of the apostles and men of the early church would
not compromise on this matter of the resurrection of Christ
from the dead because there's no good news of the gospel without
his resurrection. If Christ lived, this man, Jesus
of Nazareth, if he lived a perfect life and he suffered and died
and they buried him and he's still in that tomb, he's still
in Joseph's tomb, he was a charlatan. There's no good news. If he did
not rise from the tomb, his sacrifice didn't put away the sin of his
people. And we're yet in our sins. Christ's resurrection from
the dead proved his death justified his people. But now, if he didn't
rise from the dead, there's no justification. He promised eternal
life to his people, but now if he's still dead, he can't give
life to his people, can he? It's so important. They would
never compromise this thing of the resurrection of Christ. And
it's a good thing they didn't, because you know, that is the
only message. that God uses to save sinners. And that's what happened here,
verse four. Even though they took hold of
these men, they put them in prison, how be it many of them which
heard the word believed. And the number of the men was
about 5,000. Just about two days ago, the disciples were only
about 120. Now there's over 8,000 of them
that the Lord saved in just these matter of days. But it's always
been by this message. the message of Christ and him
crucified. And part of that message of Christ
and him crucified has to include his resurrection, because his
resurrection tells us what he accomplished in his death. So
they've gathered all around him now, verse five, and it came
to pass on the morrow that their rulers and elders and scribes
and Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander
and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest were gathered
together at Jerusalem. And when they'd set them in the
midst, they asked them by what power or by what name have you
done this? Then Peter filled with the Holy
Ghost said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel.
Now I want to stop there for a second. Now Peter is filled
with the Holy Ghost. Now he's going to have something
to say, isn't he? And you know, no man, can ever expect to even
attempt to preach Christ unless the Holy Ghost enables us to
do it. The Holy Spirit has to enable us to do it. If you ever
want to feel how impotent you really are, all you have to do
is try to preach once. I mean, my soul. Every Wednesday evening and every
Sunday morning, I'm just sick. And it's my constant prayer,
Lord, I can't do that. I've got such a cold, dead, sinful
heart. I'm just so weak. Oh, if you
don't go with me, don't send me. Who can expect? No man's
sufficient for these things. But you know what's just as important?
Nobody can hear without the Holy Ghost either. We both need his
spirit to be able to hear and preach and worship together. Peter's filled with the Holy
Ghost. Now he's got something to preach and we should listen
to him, shouldn't we? So he goes on in verse nine.
This is what a man says when he's filled with the Holy Ghost.
If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent
man, by what means he's made whole, be it known unto you all,
and all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him does this man stand here before you whole. This is
the stone which is set in awe of you builders, which has become
the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Now
when these men asked Peter, who gave you the authority to do
this? Who gave you the power to heal
this man? What name, under what name did
you do this? You notice how Peter identified
exactly who the savior is. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He met them at their point of
rebellion. But he also told them who the
Lord Jesus Christ is, because if you're going to trust the
Savior to save you, you better know who he is. You better be
trusting the right one, because there's many false Christs. There's
many other Jesuses, is what Paul called them. If you're going
to trust the Savior, somebody's got to tell you who he really
is. He's not the God that we've made up in our head. He's not
the God some false prophet told us. He's the one described in
this book, and we better know who he is, and Peter identified
him exactly. And you'll notice, Peter didn't
say, it's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. By his name,
I did this. If he'd have said that, the chief
priests and the scribes, they'd have said, oh, okay, we agree
with that. No problem, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Now if Peter had said that, that'd
have been true, wouldn't it? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob is the name by which he did this thing. But if Peter
said that, he'd have said it because he's trying to hide the
offense of the gospel, that it's Jesus of Nazareth that allowed
him to do this. If he'd have said Jehovah, the Lord, they'd
have said, oh, the name of Jehovah, we agree with that, we agree
with that, you know, you guys go on your way. Now it's true,
by the name of Jehovah, Peter did this, that's true. But it's
not the truth, is it? It's not the truth, it's Jesus
Christ of Nazareth. By his name, this man is made
whole. If Peter would have said, the Lord God, they said, oh,
you know, okay. Now that would have been true.
But if Peter had said that, he would have denied Christ. He
would have denied that Jesus Christ is God. He would have
denied the saving power of Christ. He would have denied the necessity
for us to believe Christ and bow to him. Peter could have
said true things that got him out of trouble, but he didn't.
He identified exactly who the Savior is. Who it is that has
the power to save is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And as soon as Peter
said that, now he's got a problem. He's got a problem. with these
fellas. And Peter knew it, but he wouldn't
back off. Even though these men disagreed
with him, even though by nature they hated what he was preaching,
Peter would not back off. He preached Christ crucified
anyway. Now that's boldness. That's absolute
boldness. There's no question about it.
But it's also love that motivated Peter to do that. It's love for
Christ. He's gonna tell the truth. He's
gonna tell about the glory of the Savior. He's gonna tell about
the glory of the Savior who saved him, who loved him, who wouldn't
abandon him, who wouldn't kick him out even though Peter denied
him. There's love for Christ there. There's love that makes
us determined we're gonna tell who Christ is. But it's also
love for people. Now there's a love for these
men who hate him, who eventually will put him to death, that he
would preach Christ to them because Christ is their only hope. He
would not let them stay in their false refuge without him telling
them the truth. Now that's love. It's boldness
and it's also love. Peter told them who the Savior
is, the Savior, the Christ. is the one that you crucified. You men got together and you
put him to death because you wanted to get rid of him. Your
goal was to get rid of this man, Jesus, so we don't have to deal
with him anymore. But brother, you got to deal
with him because God raised him from the dead. See, men put him
to death because they hated him. God allowed him to be put to
death by men so that he would die for sin, that he would die
for the sin of his people. This was the will of the father,
and Christ arose from the dead. The father raised him from the
dead, because like I said before, his death justified his people.
His death took away all of the sin that was laid upon him, and
sin's gone, so he couldn't stay dead. He must be risen from the
dead. And everyone for whom Christ died is the same way. They're
justified from all of their sin. The blood of Christ took their
sin away so that it does not exist and they must be saved. They must be because of the power
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They must be saved. That's why
none of us would compromise this gospel because believing this
gospel, you must be saved. Now, what a miracle that that
is. What a miracle to be justified from your sin. And these fellows
are all just wrapped up in a tight ball because this lame man has
been healed. And what Peter's been saying
for days, this is not the miracle. The miracle is God saves sinners. And the only way he does it is
through this man, Jesus of Nazareth. By this man, sinners, are saved. Now, you know, in our day, this
word saved is used by a lot of people. And I guess, you know,
it could mean a lot of different things depending on what they
mean or what they think. But let me tell you what God's
word says salvation is. Salvation is being saved from
God. It's being saved from the wrath
of God. You and I are born under the
wrath of God For our sin and being saved is being saved from
God's justice because somebody suffered it for us. If I would
be saved, I must be saved from God's wrath. Second, if I would
be saved, I've got to be saved from my own self. I've got to
be saved from my own will. The will of the natural man is
always away from God. always against God. There is
a way that seems right unto men, and it seems right unto me because
I'm blind, because I'm dead, because I'm a sinful man who
can only want sinful things. There's a way that seems right,
it sure seems right, but the end thereof is destruction. It's death, isn't it? I've got
to be saved from my own way. God's got to cross my will and
put me in Christ the way, not leave me to my own devices. And
thirdly, I've got to be saved from the controlling power of
sin. Now, if you're saved from the
controlling power of sin, don't think that that means you'll
sin less or you won't, you know, you won't sin as much as you,
you know, you'll be able to think, oh, I might want to commit that
sin, but I won't do it. That's not what that means at
all. The controlling power of sin is this. You can't believe
on Christ. That is the controlling power
of our sin nature. And if I would be saved, God
has got to save me from that. He's got to deliver me from that
dead nature, that controlling power of sin. He's got to cause
a new man to be born in me that's more powerful than the old man
so that I'll believe Christ And I can't not believe him. I've
got to be delivered from the controlling power of sin by being
born again. And one day, hasten Lord the
day, we'll be delivered from the very presence of sin, made
just like Christ. Now that's a tall order, isn't
it? That's a difficult thing. Now
by whose name, by whose power, by whose authority can that happen? There's just one name. There's
just one and none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. It's the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. And I tell you why it's so important
what they want to know the name, because his name tells us who
he is. His name tells us his character,
what he's like. And there's no other name that
saves a sinner, but the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Now, there are many, many, many names of the Lord given in scripture,
and we don't have time in the next month to look at them all,
but I want us to, I've picked out just a few for us to look
at, and these few will suffice to show us that the Lord Jesus
Christ is everything that we need, that he alone completely
and utterly in every way saves his people from their sins. And
the first one, Peter uses it here, is the stone. He says in
verse 11, the stone which the builders set at Nod of you builders,
which has become the head of the corner. Look at Ephesians
chapter two. Paul goes into this a little
more and tells us what this means. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
foundation stone of all of God's salvation. All of God's salvation
is built upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He holds it all up by
himself. Ephesians 2 verse 19. Now therefore, you're no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God. And you're built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets. You're built upon the same foundation
that the apostles and prophets were built on. Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone. In whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. In
whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit. Christ our Savior is the tried,
precious cornerstone. And by himself, he holds up the
whole church of God. The temple that he's talking
about here is every single one of God's elect. and Christ holds
them all up by himself, by himself. He's already been tried and proven
to be the successful savior, to be the mighty conqueror. Now
you trust him. If he's able to hold up the whole
church of God, let me ask you this, why don't you trust him? Why don't you? Look at first
Peter chapter two. First Peter two, verse four. To whom coming, as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. You also as lively stones are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also
it is contained in the scriptures, behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. If all of your hope of salvation
is built on Christ alone, if everything that you hope for
for your soul is all resting on Christ alone, you'll never
perish. If you're trusting him, you'll
never be ashamed. You'll never be ashamed that
you trust him. You'll never be ashamed because
in the end you are found guilty. You'll never be ashamed because
in the end you found to be trusting in a false hope. You'll never
be ashamed. This is the only foundation that
will not be swept away by God's wrath when it comes sweeping
through. If you trust Christ, you'd never be ashamed. Now,
if you're lost and you know it, You want to trust Christ and
you can't because that controlling power of sin tell you what to
do. Ask God for mercy, asking to
give you faith in Christ, make you one of these living stones
and you will be because this is the only hope of salvation
that we have is being built on Christ, the chief cornerstone,
the foundation. The second name I thought of
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you notice that around here,
we never talk about the Lord and just say Jesus. It's just
a sign of respect. Jesus is the name of the Lord's
humiliation when he was manifest in the flesh. And just like I
never called my dad by his first name, if we talk about the Lord,
we say the Lord Jesus. If we use the name Jesus, well,
I trusted Jesus, and Jesus said this to me, and Jesus... Doesn't that kind of sound like
you're talking about an equal? We're not equals here. So we say the
Lord Jesus, don't we? But all that being said, in the
name of Jesus, the sweetest name that you've ever heard, you call
his name Jesus. he shall save his people from
their sin. Have you ever heard a sweeter
name than that? Oh, the name Jesus means this, Jehovah saves,
Jehovah saves. Jesus is the New Testament name
for Joshua. And this I can promise you, the
Lord Jesus is gonna bring all of his people safely into glory,
just as surely as Joshua led the children of Israel into the
promised land. He's the savior. He's Jesus,
but he's the Lord Jesus. That word Lord means the master
who has absolute control. Now who has absolute control?
Only God. So the Lord Jesus is God. You know, if you're Jesus, you're
your savior, the one you're trusting in, the Jesus that you're trusting
in, if he's not Lord, if he's not God over you, I'm going to
tell you what, He can't save you. He can't do it. The Savior
must be Jesus. He must become a man to be our
representative. But if He's going to save us,
He's got to be God. He's got to have the right to save. You
know, all of our sin is against God, so our Savior has to be
God. The only one who can forgive our sin is the one who it's against.
Our sin is against God. He's got to be God, so He's got
the right to forgive us. but also he's gotta be God, so
he's got the power to give us. He's got to have absolute control.
He's gotta have the righteousness and the holiness to save us.
The Lord Jesus, you know what that tells us about the Savior?
We are completely dependent on him. He's got to do all of the
saving for us. And since he's God, he doesn't
have to save me. Now he could, if he wants to
display his glory, make me an object of his mercy, a trophy
of his grace, he could, but he don't have to. I'm his to do
with as he pleases. And whatever he does is right.
Whatever he does is right. If he saves me, he's gonna be
right to do it by the suffering, the death, the obedience of his
son. And if he damns me, he's gonna be right to do it, because
that's what my sin and my unbelief deserves. Salvation involves
bowing. It involves surrendering. It involves being humbled so
that we see the only place I belong is at the feet of Christ, begging
him for mercy. And if God hadn't humbled me,
he hadn't saved me. Because the Savior is the Lord
Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ. That word
Christ means the anointed of God. You know, before time began,
the father, he elected a people. He elected a people out of Adam's
fallen race to save. He chose a people. And when he
did that, he elected a savior to save them. He chose those
people and he put them in his son. At that time, the father
appointed his son, elected him, appointed him, chose him to save
his people from their sins. When the father did that, he
trusted all of his glory to his son. All of the glory of God
depends upon the Lord Jesus Christ saving all of those people that
the father gave him to save. He's the appointed savior, there
isn't another one. God didn't send another one,
he didn't have a plan B. It's all in his son. And when the father, now, The
Father's greatest glory, God's greatest glory is showing mercy
to sinners. I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. Didn't he tell that to Moses? When it came time for
God to glorify himself in his greatest glory, he did not send
a boy to do a man's job. He sent God in human flesh, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to tell you, he got
the job done. If the Lord Jesus Christ came
to save you, you must be saved. That's what Peter said, by this
name, if you believe in this name, you must be saved. Now, what does this name, the
Lord Jesus Christ, tell me? It tells me I need to be begging
him to save me. Lord, save me. Lord, choose me. Lord, call me. Lord, give me
faith in Christ. Lord, keep me, the Lord Jesus
Christ. All of salvation is totally dependent
on his doing and his dying, but it has to be all three, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The next name I thought of is
Elohim. That name means the creator or
the almighty. That's the name we find in Genesis
1.1, in the beginning God, Elohim. created the heavens and the earth.
Where did salvation, or where did creation begin? It began
with God, didn't it? When there was only God in the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Salvation began
in the same way. It began with Elohim, with the
Almighty, who's going to save his people by his might, by his
purpose, by his grace. Our salvation has got to begin
with God, got to. If our salvation's gonna be dependent
on us beginning it, it'll never happen because we're dead and
we can't do anything. It's got to begin with God. And I'll jump
ahead to my conclusion here. It's gotta be God in the middle,
it's gotta be God in the ending too because he's alpha and omega,
the beginning and the ending. Our salvation must begin with
God. And it's got to be something
that God applies to our heart. Elohim applies to our hearts.
And God said, Elohim said, let there be light. And there was
light. I just love reading that story
of creation. I never get tired of it. God
said, and it was so. I love it. And when God said,
let there be light, he's speaking there of Christ, the light of
the world. The sun, moon, and stars weren't
created till the fourth day. Let there be light. is the glory
of Christ shining forth. Only God has the power to create
light in the darkness. And this whole story of creation
is given to us as a picture of the new creation, of the new
creature that God causes to be born in every one of his people.
And if you look at 2 Corinthians chapter four, I can make good
on that. 2 Corinthians chapter four. Verse six, for God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. You know, our hearts by nature,
they're so dark and they're dead. We're born in the darkness of
unbelief so that we cannot believe. We're born in the darkness of
ignorance. We don't know who God is. We
don't know who we are. We don't know how God saves sinners.
We're born in the darkness of ignorance and we cannot understand
a single spiritual truth. The only way we can have light,
light to see, the light of life, is if God creates it in us by
the same power that he created the heavens and the earth. I
know we're born in darkness. And the best thing for somebody
in darkness is to consistently hear Christ crucified preached. Because if God ever says, let
there be light in your heart, you're not going to be in the
darkness of unbelief anymore. You're going to believe. If God
ever says, let there be light in your heart, you're going to
be in the darkness of ignorance anymore. Now you see. You're
gonna see who you are. You're gonna see who Christ is,
and that's gonna make you run to him, because you see the only
way God can save me is through this one, the one name that's
given whereby men must be saved. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Once
I see, I'm gonna run to him, and I'm not gonna be in ignorance
anymore. Now, only God has the power to create life and light
in you. If you're in darkness, tell you
what to do. Call out to God and ask him to
give you life. It's his to give. Beg him to
do it. Then the next name I thought of is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord
our righteousness. Your righteousness is just, it's
not a thing. It's not a legal document that
God writes and he stamps and he gives to you and says, okay,
now you've got a righteousness. Brother Walter Groover used to
call that diplomatic immunity. That's not righteousness. When
God makes his people righteous, he makes them righteous. It's
right now. It's not like, well, you're a
sinner now and you gotta wait to be righteous when you're in
heaven. No, sir. That new man born of
God is as righteous as God. The righteousness of God in him. That's a mystery, isn't it? I
mean, that's a mystery. Because when I look at myself,
I don't see it. I promise you, when you look
at me, you don't see it. But it's so. That new man born
of God is righteous, and he'll never be more righteous than
he is right now. And it's through union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Jeremiah chapter 23.
I'll show you this. I've read this to you before.
Maybe somebody's forgot it. Maybe somebody's never heard
it. But this is precious. This is precious. Jeremiah 23
verse 5. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days, Judas shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely. Sounds just like what Peter was
saying. In his name, sinners must be saved. And this is his
name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah
Sidkenu. Now look over just a few pages,
chapter 33. Now that's not hard to understand, is it? That the
name of Christ is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. He's
the righteous one. He's the one who makes us righteous.
That's easy to see. He's righteous. But now look
what the Lord says, Jeremiah 33 verse 15. In those days, and at that time,
will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up under David, and he
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days, Judah
shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this
is the name, wherewith she shall be called,
the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Sidkenu. Now the only
way that you can reconcile those two verses together is salvation
is union with Christ. There's nothing about any believer
that we've ever done righteous. That righteousness cannot come
from us. Here's what these two verses
when you put them together mean. The believer has union with Christ. So we are what he is. So that when the father looks
at me, he doesn't see me and Christ. He only sees his son. He only sees Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord, our righteousness. And that is the only way a sinner
can be righteous. But now if when God looks at
one of his people and he says, there's Jehovah Sidkenu, that's
being completely saved, isn't it? And the only name that you'll
find that in is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then fifthly, there's
Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide. And you
didn't know the story there. In Genesis 22, Abraham's taking
his son up to the mountain that God showed him to offer him as
a burnt offering. And they're going up alone. They left the
servants back there. And Abraham and Isaac are going
alone. And Isaac says to his daddy, I see the wood and the
fire. Where's the land for the burnt
offering? And Abraham told his son, my
son, God will provide himself a lamb for the sacrifice. Now
God's just not going to provide a ram up there on the mountain.
Abraham's talking about a whole lot more than that. He's talking
about God providing the lamb for himself. God has to provide
a lamb that will satisfy God's holy character, that will satisfy
his justice. And Abraham said, God's going
to provide him. He's gonna provide a lamb for himself, and the only
lamb for God that can satisfy God is God himself. Does that
make sense? The only lamb who can satisfy
God is God, so God's gonna provide himself as the lamb for the sacrifice. And that lamb is a man, someone
who's come in the flesh, and just in case you missed him,
John the Baptist pointed him out to us. Behold, there he is. The Lamb of God, that's the one
that Abraham prophesied up to Isaac. Behold the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world. The Lord will provide. The Lord Jesus Christ provides
for his people everything that God requires. He provides for
us, we call it a robe of righteousness, but that's not a good term. If
it's a robe of righteousness, you think, well, I'll just put
it over top to cover up all my sin. That robe of righteousness
is a righteous nature that God gives to his people. Christ provides
that for his people. He provides a perfect heart.
He provides good works. He commands us, his people, to
do these good works, but the only way you can do it is by
him working in you. He provides that. We must persevere to the
end. The only way anybody will be
saved is if they persevere to the end. The Lord will provide
that. He'll provide it so that you
persevere to the end. The Lord will provide everything
that God requires of you. That's the only name that you'll
find it in. Then there's Jehovah Rapha, the
Lord who heals. Christ our Savior heals every
spiritual disease. In Isaiah chapter one, Isaiah
kind of gave us a picture of that. He said, from the sole
of the foot to the top of the head, there's no soundness in
you. There's not even a pinprick of healthiness spiritually. You're all wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores, sores that are stinking and they stink and
they run. From the sole of your foot to
the top of your head, that's all you, there's no soundness
in you. He said, and here's the problem, your whole heart is
sick, your head is faint. That's the problem. And Christ
comes and he heals his people. He heals them by pouring in the
sweet balm of Gilead. His precious blood cleanses us
from all sin. His blood atones for sin and
gives eternal life. If you need life, I tell you,
the only thing to do is call on Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who
heals, and ask him to heal your sorry soul. Healing is only found
in his name. Then there's Jehovah Shalom,
the Lord our peace. Now you know how Christ made
peace for his people? It's by the blood of his cross,
by his blood. His blood took away the sin that
made God angry. And there's peace. So that goes
back to what I said earlier about what salvation is. We've got
to be saved from God. The blood of Christ took away
the sin that made God angry. And there's peace. There's peace. God is not angry with his people. There is no fury left in him. None. And when the blood of Christ
by the Holy Spirit is applied to our hearts, we surrender. We're given a new man that loves
God, that trusts God, that has faith in Christ. and we lovingly
surrender. Not only do we bow, we want to
bow. We willingly, lovingly bow at
the feet of Christ and worship him and serve him because there's
peace. The gospel of men's works never
gives peace. A, because you've never done
enough, and B, because it makes you angry with God because you
can't satisfy him. The blood of Christ gives peace
so that you love God. You're not angry with him. You
love him. You love the way he saves sinners. You love the way
he takes care of his people. You love the way that salvation
begins in the middle and ends all with God. You love it that
way because you're at peace with God. And then last, there's Jehovah
Rea, the Lord, my shepherd. Christ, our savior, is the great
shepherd of the sheep. and he's going to find every
one of his sheep. If he's got 99 of them, but there's one that's
out there in the wilderness, he's going to leave the 99, and
he's going to go find that one. And I don't care how far he's
got to go, over hill and dale, he's going to keep going until
he finds it. He's going to search so diligently for his sheep,
he'll never miss one of them. Not one of them. And not only
does he diligently search for his sheep, He lovingly searches
for his sheep. When he finds that sheep, he
doesn't beat it up. He doesn't say, what are you
doing out here, you dumb sheep? And whack him and beat him on
the head and say, well, come on, follow me. I had to go all
this way to get you. And you're a real pain in the
neck, aren't you? All of which would be true. But
he lovingly picks that sheep up, holds it on his bosom, and
carries it all the way home. That's the Savior that I need.
The Savior who will do everything it takes to save a sinner, and
not one of them is too much trouble for Him. That's the Savior that
I need. That's the name, the Lord our
Shepherd. That's the only name that you
find salvation in. And I'm out of time, but there's
so many more. I'll list these and you can look
them up or think about them if you want. This is the name of
our Savior. He's the friend of sinners. He's
the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. He's Emmanuel, God
with us. He's the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the ending. He's that prophet. He's the great
high priest. He's not a high priest like after
the order of Aaron. He's the great high priest. He's
the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the only potentate. He's
the way, the truth, and the life. Now those are just a few of his
names. But you think about all those names, you have to see
this. There is full, complete salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you trust him, you trust
in that name, you must be saved. God make it so. Let's bow together. Our Father, I thank you for this
time that you've given to us to look into your word. And oh,
how I beg of you that you would bless it and that you take your
word and apply it to each heart here. That you'd enable us to,
by faith, see the glory of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and trust him. Father, cause us to trust him
and together to be enabled to worship him and praise his precious
name. and continue preaching this saving
name to our generation. Father, it's for Christ's sake,
for his glory we pray, amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnal to song number 318 and stand as we sing, I Need Thee
Every Hour. I need thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can
peace afford. Oh, I need Thee, every hour I
need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
my Comforter. I need thee every hour. Stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when thou art nigh. Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour. Come quickly and abide, for life
is vain. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee,
every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
my God, I need Thee every hour, most
holy one. O make me Thine indeed, Thou
blessed Son. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee.