In John chapter 10, the Lord
tells us that he calleth his own sheep by name. Now, your parents came up with
a name to name you. But do you know that the name
they named you was the name that had already been determined for
you before time began? You know, we read of the Lamb's
Book of Life. with the names of the elect inscribed
there. Whatever your name is, it wasn't
your parents who came up with that name. They were led to bring
you that name, but the Lord determined what your name would be. Now,
in this passage of scripture, I just read, we read in verse
two, where the Lord God of glory Jacob, Jacob. This is one of seven times the
Lord repeats someone's name. Abraham, Abraham. Jacob, Jacob. Moses, Moses. Samuel, Samuel, Martha, Martha, Simon, Simon, Saul, Saul. Now I know that there's a reason
for this being repeated on seven different occasions. It's to
let us know seven being the number of completion that the Lord has
called every one of his people's name. I love to think of Todd,
Todd, put your name there. He knows your name. He named
you. He loves you. If he knows your
name, he loves you. You belong to him. To think of
the Lord knowing me. You know, he said to one group
of people, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. But this is true of every one
of his people. He knows their name. He named them. And he repeats
their name, just as he did in this passage of scripture, not
to think that he knows my name, to think that he knows me. That's
an amazing thought, isn't it? I think of what Paul said in
Galatians chapter four, when he said, now that you've known
God, or rather, scratch that, this is a better way of saying
it, now that you're known of God. I wanna know him, but you
know, something I want even more than that, I want him to know
me. And I mean, know me by way of grace and favor and acceptance. And he says, Jacob, Jacob. Now the sons have come back from
Egypt with wagons filled with the good things of Egypt to tell
their father that Joseph is alive. Can you imagine how that must
have shocked him? He had thought for 22 years that
he'd been dead, but now he finds out he's alive. And Pharaoh had
sent wagons into Canaan to bring Jacob and all of his family back
to dwell in the good land, the land of Goshen. And Jacob is
getting ready to make this journey. Now, Jacob's 130 years old. He's an old man. And I can see
where he would be very intimidated by going to a land that he had
never seen. But nevertheless, there he goes. And as Israel took his journey,
verse one, with all that he had and came to Beersheba. This was
in Abraham's time. This was in Isaac's time. This is called the well of the
oath, the well of the sevenfold oath. What does Israel do? And Israel took his journey with
all that he had and came to Beersheba. and offered sacrifices under
the God of his father, Isaac. Now what that reminds me of,
he didn't offer a sacrifice once. Over and over and over again,
he offered these sacrifices. It's not that any of these could
take away sin, but they pointed to the one who does take away
sin. And if I'm a believer, I am aware,
I am consciously aware by the grace of God of my continual
need of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Continually. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth us. Present tense, active voice. A need of continual cleansing. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth us from all sin. Oh, I'm so thankful for the sacrifice
of Christ. And God spake unto Israel in
the visions of the night and said, Israel, Israel. No, it doesn't say that, does
it? Jacob, Jacob. Now you remember Israel is the
name God gave him. when he wrestled with him in
Genesis chapter 32 and changed his name. He said, what's your
name, Jacob? Jacob. Thou shalt no longer be
called Jacob, but thou shalt be called Israel. For as a prince,
thou has power with God. What a statement. Do you know
if I'm a believer, I have power with God. God listens to what
I say. Now, what I say is what he determined
for me to say. Let me don't take that to the point like God's
gonna do what I say to do, but the Lord is gonna do this. He's
gonna put in my words, my mouth, the words to say, and they're
gonna have power with him. Israel, as a prince, thou hast
power with God and prevailed. And when he speaks to him at
this time, though, he calls him by his old name. Jacob. Jacob. Do you remember when Esau said,
his name is well called Jacob, for these two times as he supplanted
me, he's deceived me. And when the Lord said, what's
your name? And he said, Jacob, there was
a confession there. I'm Jacob. I'm a deceiver. I'm a supplanter. I'm a heel. And the Lord addresses him at
this time, Jacob, Jacob. I love it the way, particularly
in the book of Isaiah, in the same verse, he'll call him Israel
and he'll call him Jacob. That's the two men. The two men. Jacob, what he is in himself,
the old man. Israel, what he is in Christ,
the new man. But here he addresses him as
Jacob, Jacob. And he said, here am I. And he
said, I am God, El, the God, Elohim, God in the plural of
thy father. And whenever We have Elohim,
God in the plural. This is a reference to God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is the
God of your father. Fear not. How many times do you think that
phrase is in the Bible? Fear not. Over 300. And we would have a
tendency to fear many things. But he says to Jacob, fear not
to go down into Egypt for I will there make of thee a great nation. This same thing he said to Abraham.
Same thing he said to Isaac. The covenant is being renewed. I will go down with thee into
Egypt. And I will also surely bring
thee up again. His boys would bring him up after
he died. And I think this is also a reference
to the resurrection. I will surely bring thee up again. And Joseph shall put his hand
upon thine eyes. The last face you're gonna see
is Joseph's. And he's gonna close your eyes
when you die. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba,
and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, and their
little ones, and their wives, and the wagons which Pharaoh
had sent to carry him. How did he get to Joseph? And
the wagons provided for him to bring him there. And they took
their cattle and their goods, which they had gotten in the
land of Canaan, and came into Egypt. Jacob and all his seed
with him, all 70, His sons, his sons' sons with him, his daughters,
his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with him
into Egypt. Now this was prophesied to Abraham
in Genesis 15 that this would take place. He would go into
Egypt, a strange land, and he would spend 400 years there.
And that's when the nation of Israel would be birthed and brought
out during the Exodus. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
22. Verse 10. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand and took the knife to slay his son. Now he knew, even when the knife
was up in his hand, that when he plunged it into his son, that
God would raise his son from the dead. Scripture points that
out. Hebrews chapter 11. Look in verse
five. And Abraham said unto his young
men, abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. Now, was he just making
that up to keep them from stopping him from doing what he's gonna
do? No, he really believed that they would come again because
God had promised the Messiah will come through this boy. So he knew God can't lie. And
he knew that God would raise him from the dead. But you still
think of the grace God gave him to raise up his hand, to plunge
it into his son and kill him. as a sacrifice in obedience to
God. And the angel, verse 11, of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. I
don't believe it was a whisper. And he said, here am I. And he
said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything
unto him. For now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and look, and behold, this is very important, behind him. Not out in front of him, behind him. Now, I believe that
when Abraham and Isaac were walking up that mountain on the other
side of that mountain. Maybe a ram had got out of its
pen. It walked up the mountain on
the other side and it got its horns caught in a thicket and
it couldn't move. But the position was behind him. Abraham, Abraham behind him,
behind him. Not something he needed to do,
something that had already been done behind him. Behind him,
there was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went
and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. The Lord, from verse eight, look. And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Isaac said,
here's the wood, here's the fire, where's the lamb? God's the one
that does the providing. You can't provide anything, but
he does. He provides the lamb. He provides the lamb for himself.
For him to do something for me, he had to first do something
for himself in a way that honors his justice. He provided himself
as the lamb. Now, the Lord says to every one
of his people, behind you, behind you. Not something you gotta
reach out to get to, behind you. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world behind you is The Lamb. There is a substitute. There is a Redeemer. Jesus, God's
own Son. Precious Lamb of God. Messiah. Holy One. Turn to Exodus 3. this is after the children of
Israel have been in Egypt for four hundred years and uh... verse one now Moses kept the
flock of Jethro his father-in-law the priest of Midian and he led
the flock to the back side of the desert and came to the mountain
of God even to Horeb now he'd spent the first forty years of
his life in Egypt and he spent the last 40 years of his life
as a shepherd for his father-in-law's sheep. Big difference, isn't
it? A lot of changes. I think it's
interesting, 40 years before, when he tried to deliver his
brother that the Egyptian was persecuting, he thought that
they would understand that by his hand God would deliver Israel,
but they didn't understand. Forty years later, he's been
tending sheep for 40 years in the backside of the desert. And
the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out
of the midst of a bush. And he looked and behold, the
bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. Now, I
love thinking about this. He's out there in the desert.
I imagine he'd seen a bush on fire before. I imagine lightning
would come and hit something, catches fire and it burns and
it goes out. He sees this bush burning and
I suppose that he probably didn't think that much of it, but an
hour later, it's still burning. An hour later, It's burning and not consumed. And he was impressed with this. He wanted to find out what this
is all about, verse three. And Moses said, I will now turn
aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, I hope there's somebody turning
aside to see. When the Lord saw that he turned
aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush
and said, Moses, Moses. How do you reckon Moses felt
when all of a sudden out of that bush on fire, he hears his name
called twice, Moses, Moses. Now in this bush that could not
be consumed, we have one of the most beautiful illustrations
of who Jesus Christ is. This bush kept burning and it
did not need the energy of the wood to keep it burning. This bush was independent of
that. Jesus Christ is independent God. He has no needs. He doesn't have to have anything
to keep him going. He is independent in and of himself
as God Almighty. This speaks of the deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The fire did not need the wood
to continue to burn. This bush could not be consumed. This is the perfect humanity
of Jesus Christ. This bush, this man, this speaks
of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This speaks of the humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This man could not be consumed. And the most powerful thought
is to think of the wrath of God falling down upon him on the
cross He consumed the wrath. He satisfied God. God said, I
ask for nothing else. That's why he raised him from
the dead. The moment he died, every believer was justified. He couldn't be consumed by the
wrath of God. That's why he never went through
the process of decay. Yes, he died, but he never went
through the process of decay because he satisfied God. Now, is He able to save you? The one depicted by this bush
that didn't need, He doesn't need your works. He doesn't need
anything from you. Aren't you glad? He doesn't need
anything from you. And He can't be consumed. What
a Savior. He's exactly the Savior that
you and I need. How Moses must have felt when
he heard his name called from the bush. Moses, Moses. Turn to 1 Samuel 3. Have you seen the Lord in that
capacity like Abraham did as the substitute? The one behind. Have you seen him as Moses did?
In the bush that burned and could not be consumed. Now look here
in 1 Samuel chapter three. And the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was
precious in those days. There was no open vision. The
Lord was not speaking to anybody at this time. And it came to
pass at that time when Eli was laid down in his place and his
eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. And there the
lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord where the ark of
God was and Samuel was laid down to sleep. Then the Lord called
Samuel. Remember, he calleth his own
sheep by name. And the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, here am I. And
he ran unto Eli and said, here am I, for thou callest me. He
didn't know who it was that was calling him, did he? He thought
it was Eli. And he said, I called not, lie
down again. And he went and lay down and the Lord called yet
again, Samuel. And Samuel rose, and went to
Eli, and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And he answered,
I called not, my son, lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet
know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed
unto him. He was not a believer at this
time. And the Lord called Samuel again
the third time, And he arose and went to Eli and said, here
am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord
had called the child. Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel,
go lie down, and it shall be, if he shall call thee, that thou
shalt say, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went
down and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and
called, as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Now, the first three
times he called, It was Samuel. Now he calls Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, speak for
thy servant heareth. Now let me say this, when the
Lord calls my name, you know what I want? I want to hear what
he has to say. When he calls my name, my response
is, speak, Lord, from your word, what you say, thy servant heareth. Now, as long as I'm not concerned
about hearing, he hadn't really called my name like he did Samuel's.
But when he said, Samuel, Samuel, now Samuel wants to hear the
word of God. Turn to Luke chapter 10. Verse 38. Now it came to pass
as they went that he entered into a certain village And a
certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary. Now we know from John's account,
you remember in John chapter 11 when it says, now Jesus loved
Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus. These were three dear
people that the Lord Jesus loved. Now, I want you to think, particularly
you women, what if the Lord Jesus Christ was coming into your home? You would do everything you can
or could to make that the best place he could enter. The house
would be clean, I guarantee you. The house would be clean. Your
best meal would be brought out. You would want to entertain this
glorious guest in a special way. And Martha was like that. Now it came to pass as they went
that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named
Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called
Mary. which also sat at Jesus' feet
and heard His word. But Martha was cumbered about
much serving." Now picture this in your mind. The Lord is speaking.
Mary is sitting at His feet, hearing His word. And Martha
is trying to get everything ready. And I guarantee you, while she
was doing things, she'd look back and look at Martha and she'd
say, Look at all this stuff I got to do, and there she is just
sitting there. And all of a sudden, she blurts
out, Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath left me to
serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help
me. Now, I know one thing we ought not ever do is tell the
Lord what to do. She was telling the Lord what
to do. Don't do that. Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, Martha. He loved this woman. She belonged
to him. Martha, Martha, thou art careful
and troubled about many things, anxious, worrying, stressed out. Thou art careful and troubled
about many things. He acknowledged that. I would
say the same thing that could be said of many of us right now,
maybe all of us. Thou art careful and troubled
about many things, but one thing is needful. All the things that
you are troubled about, that you're caring about, I think
of when the Lord said, can you, by carefulness, anxious thought,
add one moment to your life, one cubit to your, can you do
anything by worrying? Does it change the outcome of
anything? Does it help anything? No. He says, if you'd be not
able to do that which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Martha, Martha, you're careful,
you're troubled about many things, but one thing is needful, to
sit at my feet and hear my word. Mary has chosen that good part,
and it's not going to be taken from her. And I will assure you
that that made Martha think differently. Turn to Luke 22. Verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon. Now you'll remember that the
Lord had given him a new name, Peter. Thou art Peter. Thou art Peter, upon this rock
will I build my church. Peter, but here he says, Simon,
Simon. He didn't call him Peter at this
time. He calls him by his name. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you. He's made a request for you.
He's actually asked me if I would give him over, give you over
to him. This was a request. Satan hath desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, Let me remind you, when he says
when you're converted, he's not saying when you're regenerated.
He said when you're turned around from this awful position that
you've been put in. Now what was that position? One
of you are going to deny that you know me. What did Peter say? This other bunch might, but I
will never do it. I'll never deny you. And Peter was serious, I mean,
he didn't think he would. I can see where John would, I
can see where James would, I can sure see where Thomas would or
Nathaniel, but not me. That's when the Lord said, Simon,
Simon, Satan hath desired you that he may sift you as wheat. And he did. He did. I mean, Peter ended up denying
that he even knew the Lord three times with cursing and swearing,
saying, I know not the man. But the Lord said, I've prayed
for you. that your faith fail not." He
didn't pray that Peter wouldn't fall. Peter needed to fall. You
see, the Lord brings good out of evil. He knows exactly what
we need, and Peter benefited greatly from this fall. But what did he say? I prayed
for you that your faith fail not. Now, I have no doubt that
after The Lord died. Peter was remembering what the
Lord said, who so denies me before men, him will I deny before my
father, which is in heaven. He thought about those words
and he thought, it's over for me. Lord said, anybody that denies
me before men, him will I deny before my father, which is in
heaven. Let me say this about what Peter did. Peter did not
deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He denied that he
knew Him. Out of fear of man, out of cowardice,
he denied that he knew Him. Because he knew or thought of
the trouble that that would bring on him if he confessed that he
knew Him. But you know what? He never quit
doing. While he denied that he knew
Him, he never quit believing that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. That tells us what faith is.
Faith is what you believe concerning Him. Not what you believe about
yourself. I guarantee you Peter thought
he wasn't saved after that took place. He thought, I've been
reprobated, I've been cut off, I denied the Lord. But he didn't
deny who he is. And his faith never did fail. And he said, when you're converted
from this high view of yourself, go strengthen your brethren.
Now, Peter and Judas. I wouldn't say that, I mean,
what Judas did was horrible, but what Peter did was horrible.
What's the difference between Peter and Judas? Did the Lord
ever say to Judas, I prayed for you? No, but he said to Peter,
I've prayed for you. The difference between an unbeliever
and a believer is Jesus Christ. He is the difference. He said,
I prayed for you, that your faith fail not. And his faith did not
fail. He continued to believe that
Jesus Christ is who he said he is, the son of God. Simon, Simon. Here's our last
one, Acts chapter nine. Well, let me read a verse out
of Acts chapter 7, verse 58. This is at the stoning of Stephen.
And they cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the
witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name
was Saul. Chapter 8, verse 1, and Saul
was consenting unto his death. He was agreeing, this man needs
to be put to death. Verse three, as for Saul, he
made havoc of the church and entering into every house and
hailing men and women and committed them to prison. Now you think
about this, he's out on the prowl looking for believers to have
them thrown into prison, entering homes and legally able to do
that. Look in chapter nine, verse one,
and Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord. went unto the high priest and
desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he
found any of this way, this way of grace, this way of Christ,
this way of faith, whether they were men or women, he might bring
them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came
near to Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? Now, Saul was persecuting the
Lord's disciples. But if you persecute the Lord's
disciples, you persecute him. Inasmuch as you've done it to
the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. This man
is whom the Lord told Ananias before this happened. He's a
chosen vessel unto me. Saul, Saul, you're fighting a
battle that you cannot win. You're a chosen vessel unto me. When Ananias came to him in The
account in Acts chapter 22, he looked at him and Paul was trembling,
still, blinded, scared to death. And Ananias says, the God of
our fathers. Well, first he said, brother
Saul. Isn't that glorious? He comes up to this man and says,
brother Saul, receive thy son. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. First thing he heard was divine
election. I think it's amazing the way
people say, well, you ought not preach election to unbelievers.
It might confuse them. Well, they're already confused.
This is who God is. This is the best thing somebody
can hear that God's on the throne, that he's in control of everybody
and everything. And he says, the God of our fathers
has chosen thee that thou should know his will. You're not talking about, well,
what's the will of God for my life? His will of redemption. This
is the will of Him that sent me, that of all which He has
given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. The God of our fathers has chosen
thee that you might know His will. See that just one. I love the way the Lord Jesus
Christ is the just one, the only one who has made a way for God
to be just and justify the ungodly. There's just one, just one. He's the just one. And hear the
voice of his mouth. You hear him say, Saul, Saul. Jacob, Jacob. It's interesting
how that he names him Israel, but now he says Jacob, Jacob.
And let me tell you why I think that is so. He believed he was Israel by
faith. He knew he was Jacob. And when he heard the name Jacob,
Jacob, he knew who he's talking to. But the Lord has said to
every one of his people, he's called you by name and he's called you twice. This is just as true of you as
it is of Abraham and Jacob and Moses and Samuel and Martha and
Simon and Saul. He calls his own sheep by name. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you. For your knowledge of us. And that your knowledge of us
is in your son. and that you know our name. Lord, we confess freely from
our hearts that is because of the freeness and the sovereignty
and the glory of your grace. And Lord, we Always ask that
we might be found in thy son. And that his name as the Lord,
our righteousness would be our name. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen.