Morning. Morning. Kimberly had
found that music. She searched diligently online.
For that chorus, we'd come into this house. And that way, if
I'm reading, I go right up to the last minute. The song ends,
I know, okay, I stand up now. Study time's over. But it says
in that chorus, the third verse or stanza, so forget about yourself. and concentrate on him and worship.
That's why we come here. We come here to worship him.
We didn't come to church, we come to worship God. And it doesn't
say forget about the world, though we ought to. It doesn't say forget
about your enemies, though we ought to. It says forget about
yourself. Forget about yourself. I can talk louder than him. Forget
about yourself. Concentrate on him. Boy, I wish
I could do that. We'll be turning to Genesis 35 in a short text
this morning. Genesis 35 while you turn and
just an announcement if you've seen in the bulletin and in a
couple different emails Brother Eric Lutter and Michelle that
are gonna be here with us Lord will in the end of May he's gonna
be preaching for us Sunday the 28 and so that day before May
27th, which is I think same weekend. We had the crawfish Bowl last
year We're gonna have a cookout at my house. I and we're gonna
provide you all hot dogs and hamburgers. And you can come
if you want to, and Erica Michelle will be there. Maybe the RSVPs will go up. You
can hang out with him. She's fun too. Y'all love both
of them. I'm looking forward to that. Kimberly sent out a
reminder. If y'all got any questions, just get with her, it'll be fine.
All right, Genesis 35. Here we've been reading about
Jacob for quite a while. And the Lord told Jacob at the
beginning of this chapter to arise and go up to Bethel. He
said, you get up, you're wallowing around in the ground long enough,
now get up and you go worship me. You go to my house. And so
he did. And he got up and just like his
grandfather, Abraham, and just like those that the Lord works
in their heart to do so, he commanded his house and his servants also. Not just that one he was married
to, and the other one he was married to, and the two other
ones he was married to, and his kids, and children and things.
He commanded his whole household. He said, you put away your false
gods. Knock it off. Stop that idol worship. Put it
away. And you got your earrings in,
and you just dolled up so big, people quit wearing earrings
because of that. Do you know that? I know a lady, a pastor, self-proclaimed
pastor's wife, won't wear earrings. There's adorning of self. Put
it away, we're gonna go worship God. And they did. They did as
they were told. And he said, if you don't like
it, stay here. I don't care, you can stay in Chico. Well, we don't like a
boss like that. Well, stay, I don't care, we're
gonna worship God. Lord has to work that in somebody. To follow
him and nobody else to worship him. And so they went and they
went to Bethel and they got there and he named that place El Bethel,
the God of Bethel. And they worshiped God. He built
an altar and they worshiped God. And right after that, Deborah
died. I don't want to get knee-deep in the weeds on that, but it
was a nurse to Rebecca, his mother. And she was a close, dear family
friend, enough to mention, the Lord mentioned her, and they
buried her. What's that mean? Well, as soon as you start going
to the house of God, all right, that's it. We're putting away
this junk. Playtime's over. We're going to go worship God.
Then everything's going to be fine. No, you just, you thought
it was rough before. It's just about to get bumpy. That's what's going to happen.
There's going to be some death. I've known some people that Lord's killed
their spouses. So they'll go hear the gospel. They wouldn't
go hear the gospel. And God killed somebody that
they loved dearly right next to him, a family member. And
then they went and heard the gospel. And I know others right
now that God's killed their spouse. And I thought maybe they'll go
sit underneath the gospel. God's killed a child or a parent
or a loved one. Maybe now they'll go hear the
gospel preached. Not yet, not so sometimes. But we're no different
than anybody else just because we go to the right church and
hear the right doctrine. I don't mean squat. We're still people. Anyway, do
we still live on this earth? We still have woes just like
anybody else. And the Lord's gonna remind us of that. He's
gonna remind us of what we are, what this flesh is. And here
in verse nine, And God appeared, after they buried Deborah, God
appeared unto Jacob again, when he had came out of Padneram,
and he blessed him. God came to Jacob, and it says
there, he blessed him, he blessed him. How did God bless Jacob? Watch this. Verse 10, this will
be our text. And God said unto him, thy name
is Jacob. Thy name shall not be called
any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. and he called his
name Israel. That's my four points. Four quick
points, one verse. What a magnificent thing this
is. If the Lord blesses somebody, you wanna be blessed? I get drowned
out, boy, I just flinch. People say, oh, have a blessed
day. We're so blessed, we're so blessed. You don't know what
you're talking about. You don't know, they don't know.
And we just sit there and give them a thumbs up, don't we? Just
support them, we'll see that later. We'll quit that if God
saves us. What is it when God blesses a
person? What is it when he blesses a name? He blessed Jacob. He said, I'm gonna give you a
name. That's a blessing. He gave him a name. Shakespeare got it
wrong. I hate to break some hearts.
Mankind ain't as wise as he thinks he is. What's in a name? Shakespeare
asked. That which is called a rose by
any other name. would smell as sweet. You call
it anything you want, it still smells like a rose. Names don't
matter. That's what Shakespeare said.
That's what a man said. What did God say? God says a
name means something. A good name is rather to be chosen
than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and
gold. A good name, a respected name is important. The Lord says
so. Solomon also wrote this of the
believer. Not everybody. He wrote this about believers.
He said, a good name is better than precious ointment. We desire
that. It's precious. What do you do
if something is precious? You protect it, don't you? Do
I want my name slandered in this whole county? Where I'm from,
people know my family, and they know my name, my last name, my
surname. Out here, nobody knows me. That's a benefit and a curse
sometimes, isn't it? Old Maurice said, you have to
have A-list if you're as mean as I am. But people don't know
my name, so what name is the Lord establishes through me,
and that'll reflect on this gospel, won't it? If I have a good name,
an upstanding name in this community, oh boy, that's, my grandfather,
there's certain last names, buddy, you marry one of them, he ain't
gonna talk to you no more. Apples don't fall far from a
tree. But a good name is better than precious ointment, and the
day of death better than the day of one's birth. If we can
believe that, when we see believers die, we miss them. Boy, that's good news. It's a
better day than the day of their birth. God says so. It's true,
isn't it? But if the Lord gives a name,
that's just material in this world. You have an upstanding
name. You got a last name. You make it respectable in this
community. Good advice is good advice. Okay. It don't matter
what you, that's what Shakespeare said. He was weirdo. Listen to
what God says. Pay your bills, right? Show up
on time. There's a famous singer. They
said, we're going to start a concert at 7. I thought, well, you can
show up when you want to. They never start a concert at 6.59 and 30 seconds. The concert started. I said,
I like that. That fella did the floor. He said, I'll be there
at 9. At 8.59, he showed up. That's good. I'd be nice if he
was 15 minutes early, but I'll take it. That's good. You ought
to. You ought to. But how much more precious if
God gives a name? How much more precious is the
name that He gives, that He declares, that He protects, that He sustains,
that's His name. That's precious, how you treat
it. I don't matter, do what you want. Eh, I'll show up seven-ish,
no. If He gives it, He'll take care
of it. Four parts here to this verse 10. Let's look at this
blessing of the naming, when the Lord names Him. To start
off, we don't have a good name. Did you know that? Verse 10,
it says, and God said unto him, here's how he's going to bless
him. God appeared to Jacob, he's blessing him. And he says, God
said unto him, thy name is Jacob. He comes to Jacob and said, your
name's Jacob. Is he stating the obvious? You reckon Jacob didn't
know his name was Jacob? He's a hundred and something
years old. Yeah. If the Lord showed up and said,
Kevin, your name's Kevin. Yeah. He's speaking to the heart. He's telling him what his name
is, what his true distinction is. A name is something that
describes a thing, isn't it? Ought to be. Jacob's name, that
root word is circumvent. And it means supplanter. That's
where we get to the term planter, plantar fasciitis in your foot.
Cause he had to hold that heel. He's a heel catcher, but it means
circumvent also. That means he's finding another
way. Finding another way. other than
Christ's the way. That's what it really means.
He comes to Jacob and said, you're doing everything but bowing to
me. That's your name. When God found you, that's what
your name was if he's found you yet. What you're doing is wrong. You take care of yourself. You're
looking out for number one in any way possible. That's our
nature. That's our instinct. That's our
drive is to look out for number one. And who cares about anybody
else that gets in our way? Jacob, it means plotter, scheming,
conniving, conspiring. He was planning. You get that?
I got a plan. I can make this work for me.
Isn't that what is all over the airwaves? Is that what's on Christian
radio? God has a plan for your salvation. Planning, we gotta find a way.
Paul didn't say in whom, I know in whom I've believed. I know
the plan of the fellow that I believe. He said, I know whom I believe. We don't have a plan, we have
a person. We don't have a plan of salvation, God is salvation.
It's his salvation and it's him. That's who we're looking for.
But by nature, we look for something that's on us. We're born plotting,
planning, scheming, plotting on the Lord. What can I get out
of him? What advantage can I take that'll
suit me in this situation? I'm gonna turn things to make
it my benefit. Or how can I take a word of the
Lord? Context don't matter, right?
That's what it says. And twist it and turn it and make it work
for me. I know people get messages and then they go to the word
trying to find a text that goes with it. Don't you ever do that.
You go to the word finding something about Christ and who we are and
who he is and then you get your message. Look over in Romans 2. That's
what happened to those Gentiles just like us, ain't no different. just like Jacob. Paul's speaking here in verse
13, Romans 2, 13. He was saying that outside of the
law, whether there's a law or not, you'd be judged by man's sin. And he says in verse 13, for
not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers
of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, they weren't given the law, that physical
nation was. Due by nature, the things contained
in the law. You know better. You can't kill
people. That's somebody else. You can't take that. That's somebody
else's wife. You can't take that wife. We know these things. It's
in us, isn't it? They have not the law, and they
do it. It's a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law
written in their hearts. Their conscience also bearing
witness." Well, I didn't know about these things. Jacob said,
I don't know. I didn't know I was plotting
on you. Yes, you did. It's written in your heart. You know there's
nothing wrong. God wrote his law in your heart. We know these
things. And when we see that law, no
matter if we were born in a nation of Israel or we were born in
Big Creek, Kentucky, it don't make a difference. When we see
what you're doing is wrong. Your name's Jacob. That's your
name. You're plotting on me. You're
persecuting me, Saul, right? Do we bow or do we butt? Look
here, and there are thoughts, end of verse 15, and there are
thoughts the meanwhile. This written in our heart, we
know it's wrong. What's it say right here in God's word? And
there are thoughts the meanwhile, accusing or else excusing one
another. Well, now he didn't mean to do
that, or you shouldn't have been doing that. Right? I know that's
what God's word says, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but
that's plotting, that's planning, and that's warring against the
inward law of God he's written on our hearts. We're Jacobs. We're plotting. What is it to
be a doer of the law? Paul was talking about there.
It's to be shown our sin. and be destroyed by it. You want
to do the law? Look at it. What's the purpose
of the law? Convince us of sin, isn't it? Look at the law. Be
destroyed by and bow, not budding by excusing and making excuses
and accusing, but to bow to Christ who did not come to destroy the
law. He came to fulfill the law. Now, instead of making up excuses
and plotting and planning and being conniving, you said, that's
the law. I'm dead. I'm a dead man. Christ fulfilled
that law. He's life. I'm gonna touch him. I'm gonna get where he is. I'm
gonna touch him in his garment. Isn't it? You want a blessing? Remember the first time Jacob
heard his brand new name? Look over in Genesis 32. Blessings not putting away outward
sin or anything like that or getting a new bass boat. Blessings
of the Lord giving us his name. Genesis 32 verse 26. The Lord came and wrestled with
Jacob next to that river. Genesis 32, verse 26. And he
said, let me go or the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go except thou bless me. He popped my hip out of socket.
And I'm a dead man. This is a necessity. I must have
your blessing. And he said unto him, I'm going
to bless you. Ready? What's thy name? And he said,
Jacob. I'm Jacob. You've declared I'm
Jacob. I'm Jacob. That's step one, isn't
it? And he said, thy name shall be
called no more Jacob, but Israel. For a prince hast thou power
with God and with men and hast prevailed. Why? Because God taught him what his
name was. He showed us what we are. It's a blessing to know
your natural name, your natural state. Most do not know that. Well, everybody's got a little
good in them. Most people's good for the most part. No. It's a blessing of God to show
us who and what we are. That's a revelation of God. Old
Joseph Hart said, a sinner's a precious thing. It's a sacred
thing. The Holy Ghost has made them
so. That's a work of God. An unregenerated person has no
need for peace because they aren't at war. An unregenerated person
has no need of comfort and rest because they're not disturbed
and they're not weary from their labors. They have no need of
a saving because they ain't really in that much danger. I mean,
it's getting a little warm in the kitchen, but I can get out
of here. It'd be all right. They have no need of a prophet. They
have their own discernment. They discern things. They have
no need of a priest. They can sort all this stuff
out with the man upstairs. Just let me, let me talk to him.
I'm gonna talk to the man upstairs. It's an unregenerated person.
They have no need of a king because they can manage their life just
fine. I make my own schedules. I know these things. They do
all these things. They're unregenerated until that day comes when the
Lord's pleased and his time through the preaching of the gospel to
drown out all of the sounds and echo in their heart. Your name's
Jacob. Now you got trouble. That's when
the comfortable get disturbed and the disturbed get comfortable.
That's called preaching the gospel. Old Scott said, wasn't it? He
just shakes people up. I want to find some lost people.
I want to find some. Let's look next hour. If I can find somebody
that's thirsty, I got water for them. I ain't thirsty. I wish
I could have enough sense to be like, yeah, okay. And leave
them alone. Not just that man's sin. Not
just the doctrine of total depravity. I'm the one depraved. One-on-one. Get you off to yourself. And
he declares it in the heart. Didn't Jacob already go through
this? Yeah, he did. That's what we just looked at
in chapter 32, wasn't it? Why again? Why did he have to
go through it again? If he's a prince of God, a prince
of God and has power, why does he have to be told this again?
You ever worked for a boss's son? I think any of y'all gangfully
employed right now, but if y'all have worked in the past, had
a job, and you worked for a boss's son, that makes for a real long
day. Keith Whitley got it right. My
boss is a boss's son, boy, that makes for a long day. It does.
You ever seen in a movie? Maybe you've seen a movie. You
ain't never done that. You ever seen a movie, and there's
this good king, and he just fought from early age, and he fought
all the battles, and he was loved of his kingdom. He etched out
that kingdom, and he carried for that kingdom, and then here
comes this spoiled prince son, and he just self-serving and
makes horrible decisions, and there ain't no fixing it. It's
too late. He's up in his 20s, his 30s,
or 40s, or whatever, and ain't no one doing it. You can't do
it. Our faithful king who sits on
his throne, he knows how to keep his princes, his sons and his
daughters from getting too epity. How's that going to be? He's
going to come show us your Jacob. That don't stop. And on this
earth, we are not going to grow in grace to a point of not needing
saving. Those have to show you're Jacob
if you think that. It's wrong. It ain't right. You'll die and
go to hell in your sins thinking self-righteous thoughts like
that. God's gotta save us. Second, you're Jacob. And you
aren't gonna be called and stand with, look here in Genesis 35,
10. You're not gonna be called Jacob
anymore. Genesis 35, 10, and God said
to him, thy name is Jacob, and thy name shall not be called
Jacob anymore. You're not going to stand with,
you're not going to be associated with that deceitfulness anymore. Are you still going to deceive?
You betcha he's Jacob. 40 years later, it's Jacob. That's your
name. Ah, I know. Nothing's changed in the flesh,
has it? But you ain't going to be associated with it. You can't. You can't be. You are going to
publicly, privately, in word, in action, not be called that
anymore. You Presbyterian? I used to be, not anymore. Oh,
did you grow from that? No, God saved me. You Calvinist? I hate it when people ask me
that. Me and old John would probably go to church together, but I
don't think neither one of us would like to be called Calvinist.
I'd like to be called a prince of God. That'd be good, wouldn't it?
Be called what he named me. Not what some old dead fella
named me. He wouldn't even hear it. Turn over 2nd Corinthians
4. Paul renounced these things,
all those good things he had done. I mean, he had a name,
but he was a good fellow, wasn't he? On the outside, you couldn't
hold nothing against him. He wasn't behind on his bills.
He didn't beat people wrongfully. I mean, outward, he walked right,
paid his taxes. He did everything, didn't he?
He was a good fellow. Saul was a good man. Saul good, man. Look here, 2 Corinthians 4, verse
1. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, this name of the
Lord's gave us, and this salvation he's given us, and we've received
mercy by him, we faint not. We don't faint, but have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty. Outwardly, openly, Saul looked
great, didn't he? Who, I mean, the sepulcher was
white on the outside. He was an upstanding man in the
community and a persecutor of the church. I mean, he was, boy,
he was out to, had a zeal for God, didn't he? Yeah, he ain't
talking about the outward things. He said the hidden things. That
Jacob that's on the inside, not the Jacob that's on the outside,
that don't matter. It's on the inside. It's the heart that matters,
isn't it? Not walking in craftiness. Two tongues, right? Hello. How
are you, buddy? And you hate somebody. If it was any sweeter, they'd
have live beedies, wouldn't they? They've got craftiness, and nor handling
the word of God deceitfully. You know how many times I've
told somebody, God says this, and they say, yeah, but it also
says that. Oh, well, you got it sorted then, you've handled
it yourself. Call me miserable, I didn't call you miserable.
You're the one in trouble. They handle the word of God deceitfully,
or using it to get for their own selves, filthy lucre and
all these other things. but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. Not speaking on the outside, speaking on the inside, to the
heart, speaking to the heart comfort. But if our gospel be
hid, we say it as plain as we can, if you don't get it, it's
hid to them that's lost. God ain't saved them yet, or
ain't going to. I ought not get upset, I ought
not be worried about those things. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus
the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He didn't recommend
that you be called Jacob, or he didn't recommend, if you'd
like, we can associate this name with you. He commanded it, didn't
he? He commanded it. He said, your darkness, I'm light.
And you're not gonna be associated with those things anymore. Look
around verse seven. But we have this treasure and
earth and vessel that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. We are troubled on every side.
Oh, I'm a Jacob. Yet I'm not distressed because
I see him. We're perplexed. I don't know what to do, but
not in despair. Why? He's my wisdom. We're persecuted. but not forsaken. He's my defender.
We're cast down. Oh, we're low. My heart pants
after him like a deer after the water brooks. But we're not destroyed. He's the water of life. Always
bearing. We used to be Jacob. We call
that no more. Why? Because we're always bearing
in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. That the life also
of Jesus might be made manifest in our bodies. He's told us who
he is. You can't forget it. Quit loving
your wife. Stop it. Stop loving your children. Stop
loving your parents. You can't. You can't. We've seen him. I can't go them
old ways no more. Turn over just a little bit there,
2 Corinthians 6, Phase 2. Remember what we learned about
that deaf fella? He had the impediment of speech, he couldn't say shibboleth,
right? He couldn't say shibboleth, that's
all, judges. I tried to listen to every sermon
everybody sent me this week, and I read every article everybody
sent me this week. We need to increase the number of hours
in a day. Turned into a long week. But we don't talk like
those anymore. You ain't gonna be called Jacob
no more. You're still Jacob. You ain't gonna be called that.
You got ears to hear now. You can't be yoked with those
people no more. You can't go to church with them. You can't
worship with them. You worship another God. You don't worship
my God. We ain't fellas in the same ship.
You get that? Look here, 2 Corinthians 6 verse
14. Be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? You can't have fellowship, you
ain't the same shit. And what hath communion hath light with
darkness? How can we just sit and remember
the body, broken body, and the shed blood of Christ? If you
broke your own body and you shed your own blood. We can't, we
can't have communion together. And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. You ain't gonna be called Jacob
no more. You're the temple of the living God. As God has said,
I will dwell in them. Christ is in me. He's revealed
Christ. He's already in there and he
took a napkin off, loosed it. Christ is in me. He's done a
work. I'm his workmanship. Well, now I'm gonna start walking
after faith, right? I'm gonna do good, no, and walk
in them. I will dwell in them and walk
in them. Who does the walking? He says he does. Is it my feet? Well, that's the means, is him
doing it. That means he gets all the glory for it, isn't it?
And I will be their God and they shall be my people. They're gonna
walk in light. Can't walk in darkness no more. Third, what are we gonna be called
then? Back in our text there, it says that God said, here's
the blessing. God said unto him, thy name's
Jacob. That's what you are. Thy name shall not be called any
more Jacob. Old things were put away. All things are new, ain't
they? But Israel shall be thy name. We're not our own. We're
Jacob's, aren't we? And we have no desire to associate
with those things of old anymore. I can't be around it. We have
a new home. It's not on this earth. Your
name shall be called Israel. That's going to be your name.
You are in this world. You ain't going to be here long
and you're going to be gone. You're going to glory. And your
name shall be called Israel. Let me tell you what this said.
Hebrews 11. It's talking about Abraham. It said, by faith, he
sojourned in the land of promise in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles and tents. with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs
with him of the same promise, for he looked for a city which
hath foundations whose builder and makers of God." He said,
this place ain't my home. This ain't it. I have a new citizenship.
Both conversation and you got your passport, right? We have
an earnest down payment. That's where I'm going to be.
I don't belong here no more. Paul told those at Thessalonica,
he said, for they themselves show us what manner of entering
in we had unto you, how you turn to God from idols to serve the
true and living God and to wait for his son from heaven. He said,
we know you're God's elect, because you're waiting for that. Lord,
come quickly. Come quickly. I want to be called
Israel, and I want to be there with you. I want to put away
this dead body of Jacob. I want to be with you, be made
like to see you face to face. Those 70, they went out preaching
and muddy. They was casting out devils and
healing sick folks and all kinds of stuff. I'm thankful I can't
do that. I think the apostolic era is
over. The definitive answer on that.
And I'm glad. But they come back and they said,
Lord, even the devils are subject to us. Can you believe it? He said, I saw Satan. You think
that's something? I saw Satan fall from the heavens like a
lightning bolt. Better watch it. And he said, notwithstanding
this, rejoice not. He said that the spirits are
subject to you. Don't you, don't you get rejoicing in that, but
rather rejoice because your names, that name I give you, I've changed
your name. You shall be called Israel. And
that's written in heaven. And that final judgment day,
that book's going to be open. And that's where I put your name.
You'd be happy about that. You shall be called Israel. What's
her last name going to be? Jeremiah 23 says, in that day,
Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is the name, his name,
whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Christ,
the Lord our righteousness does all this. And we shall be saved. He saved us. We're being saved
and we shall be saved. What's going to happen in that
day? And that final day, in Jeremiah 33, it says, In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. Everything's
the same. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called,
the Lord our righteousness. He said, I've given you my name.
That's what you're going to be called. You're going to look
like him. You're going to talk like him. You're going to walk like him,
smell like him, have his name. Fourthly, what are we going to
be called until then? We're Jacobs. You ain't gonna be Jacob no more.
You can't do that. Sanctify yourself. I think it's the next hour we're
looking at that. Josiah told him that, didn't he? The Lord
told him that. Sanctify yourselves. And he says, I'm the Lord of
your sanctification. Set yourself apart. That, too,
is kind of a little sarcastic thing. You go down to the Catholic
church and listen to them preach all their messages, and then
separate yourselves. Well, that's easy. Get your purse.
We're leaving. I ain't listening to this junk
no more. Or wherever. We'll pick on just them. Ain't
no different. What will we be called till then?
Till that last day when we're made like Christ, seen face to
face. Genesis 35 verse 10. And God said unto him, thy name
is Jacob. Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but
Israel shall be thy name. And, oh, get this. He called
his name Israel. Present tense. Present tense. Right now, your name is Israel.
If God's come to you and he's showed you, you are Jacob. Not
there's such things as Jacob. You're Jacob. You're Jacob. And you will knock that off.
That new man in you don't want nothing to do with that old man
in you. There's a war right then. I don't want nothing to do with
Jacob. Am I Jacob? Yep, still Jacob. Am I Israel?
Yep, sure am. I'm both. Both of them named
Kevin. I don't know where one starts and where one ends, but
that old man, I don't like him. I look forward to the day he
gets put away and I shall be like my Lord. I shall be called
Israel in totality. But right now, he called his
name Israel. God says his saved sheep are
his, and he gives them their name. That's my princess. Well
done. What a great prince this king
has. You know, I've been called a legalist and an antinomian
in the same conversation by the same person. I'm not joking,
it started out. Kevin, I tell you what, you telling
people to get out there and serve God and you're a legalist. And
then I talked to him for a little bit and I talked about the motivation
and all that stuff. I'm Jacob, I ain't nothing. I don't want
to be in this world, but I'm here. God gave me something to do.
And by him walking in me, I'm going to do it. Well, that's
an antinomy and you ain't got to know. Good night. I've been told from a young age.
Did y'all grow up with that? Being told using a cult? You might actually been in cults,
I don't know, but that's what I was told from a young age.
Henry came out here in 94, and I got in trouble at high school,
back at Paul G. Blazer High School. People picking
on me. I was told I was in a cult, and
I was told I was too liberal. You have too much liberty. It does not matter to me. It
does not, and it should not. It should not matter to me what
a man calls me. I'll never matter. It matters
what God calls me. You get that? Call not unclean
what I've called clean, Peter. Don't you dare do it. Who can
bring any charge to God's elect? It's God that justifies. Is that
right? Well, I'm getting charged. So
what? He called me Israel. Calls me
Israel right now. And I shall be called Israel.
And this body of Jacob's going to die one day. That makes me
happy. That make you happy? Let's pray
together. Father, we thank you for this
word you've given us. We pray that anytime we think
we're princes walking this earth, Lord, that you come to us and
show us what we are and who saved us, who did the work, who did
the calling, who does the preserving. Make us see our Lord, our King,
until we're made like him. Lord, and walk in us, use us
as your will and for your glory in this world. that your name
may be lifted up. Forgive us for what we are. We're
Jacobs, we know it. Lord, turn us from that to our
living king. It's in his name only that we
ask these things. Amen.