Now this morning I want to speak
on this subject, the name above every name. We find the text
for that in verse 9, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every name, a name that
is above every name. Now the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned approximately a thousand times
in the New Testament and rightly so because the Bible is a book
about Jesus Christ. The Bible is a book about Jesus
Christ. Now certainly there are many
other characters that appear in the Word of God, but the Bible
is not about them. The Bible is about Jesus Christ. Now, from the book of Genesis
throughout the book of Revelation, all in between, this book is
about Jesus Christ. Who he is, what he came to do,
and where he is now. That's what this book is all
about. Now you can just boil it all
down, run it through the sieve, and that's what this book, the
Bible, the Holy Bible, is all about. Who Jesus is, what He
came to do, and where He is now. Now, beloved, if you want to
be a theologian, take this Bible and begin to read it, meditate
upon it, and study it, and it'll reveal those things to you. And
if those things are revealed to you, surely your salvation
will be found therein, in the revelation of those truths, who
Jesus is, what he came to do, and where He is now. Now in spite
of the fact that God has given us a Bible, in spite of the fact
that He has given us a revelation of His own mind, and that He
has given us His voice in print, and we have the Word of God before
us, in spite of this, and this generation knows very little
about the Lord Jesus Christ in reality. This generation, there's
not one in a thousand that can tell you who he is, really, and
what he came to do. There's less that can tell you
what he came to do. And then, of course, where he
is now, seated at the right hand of God, making intercession for
his people. I'm saying today that in spite
of the fact that God in his goodness God in His mercy, God in His
long-suffering has given us a Bible and given us His Word and His
testimony about His own Son. We still are in ignorance about
the Lord Jesus Christ. However, there is a sickening
familiarity with this generation about that name, Jesus. about the name of Jesus. While Jesus, His name is spoken
of, and of course some use His name in cursing, and religionists,
they associate His name with inability. They associate His
name. Don't they do that? They associate
His name with inability, with weakness, with failure, and the
Lord Jesus Christ Our Lord and Master is to many religionists
nothing more than a doormat upon which they wipe their dirty feet.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, that one before
whom we bow, that one that we honor and adore, that one that
we lift up and exalt, that one that God has exalted. He is by
religionists treated as we were. They prostitute His name and
He is nothing more than a failure in their sight. Now maybe you
and I even have become too familiar with that name. Maybe we've heard
it so many, many times that when that name, when we hear it, It
is no longer honey to our mouth and melody to our ears. No longer
is the name of Jesus, no longer does it move our hearts like
it ought to. We have a tendency to treat the
name of Jesus Christ as a household term. Well, we have, of course,
I think in this generation we have come to the place where
that we are on a first name basis with the Son of God. We call
him Jesus. Now there is Mike and there's
Carl and there's Dennis over here and then there's Conrad
back here and others here that we can call by name and then
there's Jesus. We are on a first name basis,
as it were, with Jesus Christ. Well, beloved, that should not
be. Now, if He were no more than these brethren, if He were no
more than these men, Then, of course, then that wouldn't be
so bad. But when we're talking about
Jesus Christ, we're not talking about some other man. We are
talking about the Lord. That's who we're talking about.
We're talking about the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, if you
please, that has been robed in flesh. He laid aside His glory
and honor in heaven above and was robed in flesh and became
a man. He came down here to this world
and became like unto us. He became one of us. He was no
less God when he was on earth than he was back in the council
halls of eternity before the world was. No, you see, the scripture
says that he laid aside, he came into this world here, he being
in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, he made himself of no reputation. He laid aside his reputation
and everything that would give him the appearance of being God
Almighty in flesh. He laid that aside and his flesh
appeared and men could look upon his flesh. But he laid this aside
for our good and our salvation while he was finishing the work
that the Father sent him to do. While He was accomplishing eternal
redemption for us, He laid aside His glory, and as the sun goes
behind the clouds for a little while, the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ was concealed. And men could see nothing but
a man in a body of flesh who was nailed to a cross, crucified,
he expired on the cross, and men said, well, he died in weakness,
he was defeated. He was a man with a cause, but
he was defeated, he was a martyr, and so on and so forth, but his
glory had been laid aside. But he was no less God when he
was on earth doing all of these things than he was back yonder
in eternity before the world was. He was no less God when
he was on earth than he is right now. seated at the right hand
of the Father in heaven. Though He made Himself, there
was a time when He made Himself of no reputation, He was God
when He was here in this world. Now look there at verse 6. Who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God? Now there is not a man, there
has never been a man on earth, Nor is there one now on earth
who is equal with God. Who is equal with God. Jesus Christ was equal with God
because He is God. He was equal with God. I'm talking
about Jesus Christ. He was equal with God. He was
all God, and He was all man. That's what verse 7 and 8, that's
what it teaches us. And whatever Jesus said on earth
when He was here, and He spoke the Word, whatever He said on
earth, it was what God said. This is God speaking. And whatever
Jesus did on earth, God did. Jesus said that when He worked,
the Father worked. And that was because the Father
was in Him. And so whatever Jesus did, God
did. And wherever He walked and left
His footprints on the seashore of Galilee, those were the footprints
of God Almighty. Do you believe that? I believe
that. That's what the Word of God teaches.
Now, when his hands went out, when he stretched them out to
heal the sick of diseases, those were the hands of God that healed
men. This is God we're talking about.
Now we forget when we talk about Jesus Christ, and this generation
doesn't even know this, but most of us, We forget when we talk
about Jesus Christ as if He was a man down the street, somebody
who lived down the street from us, that He, Jesus Christ, is
all the God that we will ever know on this earth and all the
God that we will ever know throughout eternity. Now we forget that,
but I'm telling you the truth. Now I'm talking about The God
who created the heavens and the earth. Jesus said, I and my Father
are one. Without me, there's not anything
made that was made. And by me, all things consist. And all things were created by
me and for me. And so, I'm talking about the
God who created the heavens and the earth. I'm talking about
the God that has been, the God that is today, and always shall
be. This God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's the very image of the invisible God, He's the firstborn of every
creature. Now if you have your Bible, and
you want to, if you're marking down verses, write down Colossians
1, verses 15 through 19, and sometime you can read that portion
of the Word of God, and you'll find those very verses that I'm
quoting to you this morning. I'm talking about the God before
whom the four living creatures cried out in Revelation, Holy,
Holy, Holy. Beloved, that is a description
of Jesus Christ. That's exactly what it is. Now,
if you would turn to John chapter 14 with me. John chapter 14.
Now these are verses that may be familiar to some of you, but
I believe that it's necessary that we look at them this morning,
that we at least read them. I'm talking about Jesus Christ,
Him having a name which is above every name. Look at this, beginning
with verse 7. Jesus said, If you have known
Me, you should have known My Father also. And from henceforth
ye know Him, and have seen Him. I'm telling you that Jesus is
the only God you'll ever know in this world or in the world
to come. I'm telling you that this Jesus
is God. That's what I'm telling you.
And Jesus said, if you know him, then you said henceforth you
know him and you've seen him. You've seen him because you've
seen me. And Philip said, well, Lord, you show us the Father
and it'll satisfy us. Show us the Father and it'll
satisfy us. And Jesus, in verse 9, said unto
him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not
known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father, and how seest thou then show us the Father? Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, the Father in me? The words that
I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that
dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in
the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the
very work's sake. Now then, beloved, what we've
found here is supporting verses for just exactly the things that
we've been saying to you this morning already, and that is
that Jesus is God. Now, My purpose in this message
this morning is to establish in your heart and mine, and I
definitely believe that this is a much needed message, and
it's a message in which I hope that there will be established
in our hearts and mines this morning some fear and respect
for that name which is above every name that we've never had
before. A respect, an honor for that
name of Jesus Christ. Now the President of the United
States, he has a name. and his name is Bill Clinton. I do not think that it is right
for me to call him Bill Clinton. To me, he is Mr. President, whether
I voted for him or not. He is Mr. President or he is
Mr. Clinton. Now, if Mrs. Clinton wants to call him Bill,
that's all right. But I dare not be that presumptuous
if I was in his presence. I dare not be that presumptuous. Now, when Mr. Gorbachev came
over here to this country, he was referred to by the news media
as being Mr. Gorbachev. And that, of course,
was the right thing to do. But I remember hearing, at that
time Mr. Reagan was president, and I remember
hearing the news media say, but Ronald Reagan has his work cut
out for him. Mr. Gorbachev is here and Ronald
Reagan has his work cut out for him. That's very, very disrespectful. Now then, what I'm trying to
say, if it is right, and it is right, for us to show respect
to men in positions of authority, how much more How much more should
we show respect to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and
earth, who said in Matthew 28 and verse 18, all power and all
authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Jesus Christ
has all power and all authority. It is right to be respectful
to those that are in positions of authority. And how much more
should men respect the Lord Jesus Christ? The Bible says there's
no power but that which is ordained of God. And the powers that be,
the Bible says, are ordained of God. God, this power all came
from Him, and Jesus said, it's all been given to me. And nobody
gets it until I delegate it to them, until I give it to them.
All power's been given to me, and my name is that name which
is above every name, above every name. Now you remember that in
2 Samuel 6, when Uzzah tried to steady the ark, And he touched
the ark. David went down with his men
to get the ark out of Abinadad's house and bring the ark back
home to Jerusalem. And so they were on their way.
And two of Abinadad's boys, Uzzah was one of them, and Ahio, I
think, was the name of the other brother. Ahio was going in front
of the new cart that they had the ark on. And the oxen went
over a rough place on the road or something, and Uzzah was driving
the cart, and so he retched up to grab the box or the ark and
to steady it. He was stricken dead. He dropped over dead by the part
where the Ark of the Covenant was laid. Well, what was his
sin? What was his sin? Now I want
you to listen carefully to what I've got to say. It had to be
a very serious sin for God to strike this man dead just like
that. And David was so afraid of God
at that time that he didn't, he just turned aside and took
the ark over to Obed's house and didn't go on and take the
ark home because he was, such fear was struck into his heart.
Well, what was the sin of Uzzah? Well, for one thing, he was the
son of Abinadad and all his life, all this boy's life, that ark
had been there in his father's house. It had been right there
in the house, and it was a very familiar piece of furniture to
us. And he'd seen it day by day,
been around it, and the Ark had become to him just a box. Just a box. Now this ark represented
and was a symbol of God's presence among his people, but he lost
regard for the sacredness of this ark. He lost regard for
it, and what is the lesson that I learned from this? Here it
is, that familiarity, even of that which is most holy, is apt
to bring contempt. And it does. It breeds contempt. And it's a sad day, my friend,
when the ark becomes a box. And it is equally sad when you
and I become so familiar with the Scripture, so familiar with
worship, so familiar with the name Jesus, that we lose our
reverence for those things. It's a sad day, and it's tragic
when we do so. Now, Alexander McLaren said it
was a low sense of awe in the case of Uzzah that caused him
to do this. He'd lost his awe as he looked
upon that Ark of the Covenant. That was God's presence. That
was a symbol of the presence of Almighty God among his people. And he says, well, he lost the
awe of that and that's why he just, you know, he wasn't a priest. He was a Levite, but he wasn't
a priest. And the priest only could touch
that box or touch that ark. A priest only could do that.
And so, Uzzah had no right to do so. Nothing is more delicate,
Alexander McLaren said, than a sense of awe in our hearts
of holy saints. A sense of awe. Now when you
speak the name of Jesus, My friend, we must never lose sight of the,
we must never trifle with the awe of that name which is above
every name, the name of Jesus. Now listen, you trifle with a
sense of awe in your heart and it'll disappear. The awe will
be gone. One day you wake up and it's
just Jesus this and Jesus that, and there's no thought as you
express his name. There's no feeling down in your
soul when you breathe his name. It's just Jesus this and Jesus
that. I mean, Jesus has got a good
thing going. That's his generation. And, you
know, Jesus is running with me, and Jesus is my co-pilot, and
this is an unhealthy familiarity with the name of Jesus Christ. You trifle with it, I say, and
it'll disappear. Now, there was a tourist one
time in Africa that he came upon some boys that were playing marbles
in an alley. And he got up close to them and
a closer look. He discovered that these boys
were playing marbles with diamonds. That's where diamonds were being
mined, and they were playing marbles with diamonds. Now, beloved,
we're seeing that in the churches today in regards to the name
of Jesus Christ. People are fooling around with
that name, which is above every name, and they have no reverence
and respect for that name. Now, I read the story of a girl
who was touring Europe And she went to Vienna to a museum where
the piano of Beethoven was on display. And she sat down at
this piano, and she played some rock and roll on that piano. And the caretaker, he just endured
it. And when she was finished, why,
he said, You know, Paduleski, I believe was his name, was through
here some time ago, and the girl said, well, what did he play? And he said, well, he didn't
play anything, because he thought that Beethoven's piano was, that
he didn't, wasn't worthy to touch it. And if that girl could be
embarrassed at all, she surely went out of that place embarrassed.
Now you see what I'm talking about here this morning. You
see exactly what I'm talking about. Now someone said this
and I believe it's true. I don't know who was the author
of it. But here it is. There is no greater hindrance
to true spirituality than a superficial acquaintance with the language
of Christianity from childhood. Did you get that? Let me give
it to you again. There is no greater hindrance to true spirituality
than a superficial acquaintance with the language of Christianity
from childhood. Now if you've been raised in
a godly home, a Christian home, thank God for it, but my friend,
it's dangerous. It is very, very dangerous. Old Vance Havner, some of you
might have heard of him. He's a preacher and about across,
but probably a three-point Calvinist. But anyway, he's an old man and
maybe dead now, but the last I heard of him was about 80 years
old. That's a few years back. But
I was reading where he said that he was converted at five years
old. And at 9 years old, he was writing
for a Christian newspaper. And then at 11 years old, he
was licensed to preach. And at 15 years old, he was ordained
to preach. But he said this, he said, there
came a day when I had to back myself into a corner and say,
hey you, is this real? Is this real or is it something
you learned until you can recite it? Is this real in my life? And beloved, I'm telling you
that that'll happen in a person's life if they have been familiar,
if they've had an unholy familiarity, with Christianity and the name
of Jesus all their lives. They have to one day wake up
and say, well, is this something that I learned as a child? Or
is this real with me? Do I know who Jesus is? Do I really know what he came
to do? Do I really know that now he
is making intercession on my behalf? ...of God is Jesus. That's the name of God. Now,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are names. These are not names. These simply declare the truth
of the Holy Trinity. But the name of God is Jesus. Well, number one, let me just
give you three or four things here before we wrap this up this
morning. Number one, where did the Lord
Jesus get his name? Where did he get it? Well, that's
a good question, I think, and I'm sure he did not get it from
Mary and Joseph. No, he didn't. We read in Matthew
1, verses 20 and 21, that in a dream at night, the angel of
the Lord spoke to Joseph and said, this holy thing that's
going to be born of Mary, thou shalt call his name Jesus. for he shall save his people
from their sins. And so the angel of the Lord,
the name was of divine origin. It is the Lord that has given
him a name. God hath highly exalted him. God has given him a name which
is above every name. Now years ago the names of people,
they meant certain things. And that is the reason they were
given their names. Their names meant something.
For instance, Plato, the name Plato means thought. And you know, and you're aware
I'm sure, that he was one of the greatest philosophers the
world has ever known. And then the word Nero, it means
cruelty. And of course, Nero was a Roman
emperor, and perhaps he was the cruelest of all of the Roman
emperors. And then Napoleon, the name Napoleon,
it means a military genius. And the world seems to conclude
now that he was just that. Oh, Napoleon was a genius. Now then, the name Jesus, it's
Joshua in the Old Testament. And Joshua was that one whom
God raised up when he killed Moses, and the end of Moses represents
the end of the law. Joshua is that one that God raised
up to take the people on in to the land of Canaan. Well, the
name Jesus is Joshua. Jesus is our Joshua, and the
name means Savior. That's what his very name means
and a Savior he is on a very grand scale. Listen to this verse
in Acts chapter 4 verse 12. Neither is there salvation in
any other. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. But why is
that so? Because he is God's anointed
and appointed Savior and there isn't another way. He is the
only one who can save your soul from eternal judgment. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the only one that's able. The Lord Jesus is
the only one sufficient for this task of saving. men and women,
and so fixing them up so that when they come before God in
the judgment that even God as He looks upon them will not be
able to find anything wrong with them. Only Jesus Christ can do
that. I'm telling you, unless you are
in union with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is salvation, you
cannot go to heaven. You cannot be with God for all
eternity. You cannot miss the judgment
of God. You cannot miss eternal hell
unless you're in union with Him who is salvation. And that's what His name means.
It means Savior. It means salvation. Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. That's what he's going to do.
That's what he came to do. He came to save his people from
their sin. And so God gave him a name which
was a name that would speak of his work. That work which he
would do on the back. Scripture teaches in John 17
that the Father gave him a work, and Jesus says, I have finished
the work which I came to do, which the Father sent me to do.
I finished the work. And so his name means Savior. Now then, he is to have our respect, our
honor, and our adoration, our worship, because he is our salvation. He is our deliverer. He's our
savior. Now then, secondly, that's what
I wanted to say about where he got his name. He got his name,
it was of a divine origin. It was from God. God gave him
this name. And then I want you to know with
me something about the superiority of that name. That name which
is above every name. Now in verse 9 of Philippians
2 it says, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. Now God does not go around exalting
men. Is that right? He doesn't do
that. Well then listen, but God does
not go around exalting men because men are sinners and men have
disgraced God and themselves and so no man is worthy to be
exalted by God but the Lord Jesus Christ. He was highly exalted,
God highly exalted Jesus, and He gave him this name, which
is above every name, a high name, a holy name, the superiority
of this name. Listen, in every area and walk
of life, we've had great men who had great names, and they
have become household names. And they were great names, and
whenever somebody mentions them, immediately everybody says, well,
that was indeed a great man. For example, in the field of
science, we had Pasteur, and we had Edison, and we had Albert
Einstein. And in literature, we had men
like Shakespeare, and Milton, and Tennyson. And in music, you
had Mozart, and Bach, and Beethoven. And, as I said, these are household
names, and you could go on and you could take government, the
names of great men that's been in government even since the
conception of the United States of America, and then you could
go on into philosophy, great men in philosophy, and theology. Go right on into that. There's
been great men in all the fields, all the areas, in every walk
of life. great men who had great names. But listen to me, name after
name of great men that are important in history, all of these men
had great names, but none, none of them, and I want you to get
that clear, none, no name that I mention here today, no name
that we could mention if we had the history books open in front
of us. And if no name that you could recall, or I could recall,
no name that, I don't care how magnificent a background a person
has in history, no name, there is none so high and exalted as
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no name that has been
mentioned or ever will be mentioned that is as high and exalted as
that name. I'm talking about the superiority
of the name of Jesus. Now my point is this, that if
we make so much ado about the names of great men, then how
much more should we make of that name which is superior to all
other names? How much more should we make
to do about that name? The name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because His name is above every
name that is named in heaven and in earth. That's how exalted
His name is. And we could not fault, young
man. Young man, listen to me. We could
not fault you if you were to take your whole life and to lay
it down at the feet of this one, Jesus Christ, Lord of heaven
and earth. Lay it down at his feet and all
your days preach him and exalt his name. We could not fault
you. We could find not one fault with
the way that you used your life. That name, my friend, is superior
over all names, the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now the Italians, they call Mussolini,
His Excellency. And the Masons, they call their
leader, Worshipful Master. And Judas, or Judges, let me
say this first, Judges are called, Your Honor. And the Pope is called,
His holiness. A king is called your lordship. But the name of God Almighty
is Jesus. That's the name of God Almighty. He's got this exalted name. This
name which is above every name. And we, if we're in our right
place, and I know this is a work of the heart. I know there's
got to be something in a man's heart. toward this name. That we are not worthy to speak
that name if we're right in heart. We feel that. We're not worthy
to speak his name. This exalted name. This name
which is above every name. Now notice next something about
the sacredness of that name. And you bear with me if you will.
These things I've got to get them out. They must be got out
today. John 13, 13 Jesus said you call me master and Lord he
was speaking to the disciples, and he said you call me Master
and Lord and you say well for so I am Now then the Lord Jesus
here. He as it were he Commends the
disciples for calling him Master and Lord he said For so I am
I am your master. I am your Lord now I have read
and I've heard it said But now I want you to know that I Haven't
taken the Bible. There's 66 books in the Bible
and there's a lot of chapters in the Bible and There's a lot
of verses in the Bible, but I have heard it said and I have read
that that the disciples never called him Jesus while he was
on earth. They called him Lord. They called
him Lord. Now, Judas called him, and he
was the one who betrayed the Lord in Matthew 26, 99, or 26,
I'm sorry, 26, maybe it's 19, I've got it written down. No, 26,
49. The Lord called him Hail, Master. I'm sorry, Judas called Him,
He said, Hail Master. And Peter in Acts 2 and 36 says,
God has made Him, this Jesus whom ye crucified, God has made
Him both Lord and Christ. In Matthew 14, 28, Peter, when
he was out on the ship, and the Lord Jesus came walking across
the water toward the ship, And he looked out and he saw Jesus
and he was afraid. And he said, and Jesus spoke
and said, well it is I, it is I, be not afraid. And Peter said,
he said, Lord if it be Thou bid me come unto Thee. Lord if it
be Thou bid me come unto Thee. And the Lord said, Come. And
Peter walked on the water. But when the winds got boisterous,
of course, he sunk into the water. Now turn over with me to John
chapter 21. The Gospel of John chapter 21. Now you can make that a study
if you want to about how the disciples spoke of Jesus when
he was in the world. They called him Lord. They called
him Lord, because he is Lord. Now, look at this in John chapter
21, and I want us to look beginning here with verse 4, where that
we find, but when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on
the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then
Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered
him, No. And he said unto them, Cast an
egg on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. And
they cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it
for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom
Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. John said, It's
the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that
it was the Lord, He girded his feces coat unto him, for he was
naked, and he cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples
came in a little ship, for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits,
dragging the net with the feces. And as soon as they were come
to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and feces laid thereon,
and bread. And Jesus saith unto them, Bring
on the feces which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up and
drew the net to the land full of great fishes, a hundred and
fifty and three, and for all there were so many, yet was not
the net broken. And Jesus saith unto them, Come
and dine. And none of the disciples doth
ask him, Who art thou? Knowing that it was the Lord. They knew that it was the Lord. They didn't have to say, well,
are you Jesus? No, they didn't even question,
it's the Lord. That's who it is. It's the Lord.
Now then, they never used that cheap familiarity with that precious
name that this generation has been so schooled in using. It's the Lord. They have respect
for the Lord. It is the Lord. Do we? All right,
now look, if you will, in Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9, and
I've got to get this in. Acts chapter 9, I want you to
look at verses 4 through 6. And this is when Saul of Tarsus,
I thought this was very interesting, when Saul of Tarsus was converted,
and he fell to the earth, and you heard a voice saying unto
him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art
thou, Lord? Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord
said, I am Jesus. Now if Jesus wants to use his
own name, that's his business. That's his business. He said,
I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished,
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do. The sacredness of this name. They had respect for his name.
And then over in Luke 23 and verse 42, you don't have to turn
there, but that's where the thief was on the cross. And right before
he expired, he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And that if that old rotten,
hell-deserving, hell-bound thief, just before he died, could look
across in an avenue of grace and call Jesus Lord, How much
more should those of us that have been brought to Him through
saving faith and have had time to read, to meditate on the Word
of God, how much more should we call Him Lord? Dare we cheapen
that name? He is Lord and Master to you,
to me, the Lord and Master. Now, I wanted to say a little
bit about the slander of His name. Let me just I'm not going
to give you these verses. I'm just going to just say a
little bit about this I believe that the unenlightened world
they speak of Jesus as being Like they did in the book of
John chapter 6 and 42 said this is the the son of Joseph and
Mary This is the carpenter's son. That's all the world knows
about it That's all they know about him. And you know, his
enemies, they don't call him Lord. And the demons, they didn't
call him Lord, and they knew better. On one occasion, they
called him Jesus. And they said, have you come,
they said, have you come to destroy us before the time? And they
said, we know who you are. Thou art the Holy One of God. That's what the demons said.
But they didn't call him Lord. They called him Jesus. And you
see the world knows Him as being Jesus of Nazareth. Most religionists,
you hear them speaking of Jesus of Nazareth. Religionists, lost
people, unregenerate people, unenlightened people, they speak
of Him in that way. Now, in John 18 and 3, there
was a band of men that came from the chief priests and the Pharisees
to seek the Lord Jesus. And they said, Jesus said, whom
do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
That's who we're after. We're not after the Lord. We're
after this imposter, this fake. We're after Jesus. They said
that twice right there in that portion of scripture. Now it's
a thing, as we said, it's a thing of the heart. And I'm not out
here on a witch hunt this morning, but it's so easy for us to fall
in with the world and become like this ungodly world. If anybody
ought to call Jesus, Lord, God, Almighty, Master, Lord, it is
God's people. Now people don't mind to be,
you know, if you speak of a little Jesus boy, and if you use his
name in such a way as to keep him as an infant in the manger,
some way or another if you keep him, you know, to where we can
handle him, why, people don't mind that. It's okay for you
to speak of Jesus, as long as you got Him just where we want
Him. But if you speak of Him as being Lord God Almighty, who
came into this world on a purpose to save His people from their
sin, and He accomplished that purpose, and God raised Him from
the dead, and He's sitting now awaiting the day when He will
judge the world in righteousness. Then, my friend, people don't
want anything to do with that Jesus. They don't want anything
to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, notice in closing, back
in Philippians 2 here again, something about the subjection
to that name. I couldn't quit until I talked
a little bit about this. And if you'll notice that he's
been given this name, which is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus, in verse 10, every knee should bow. of things in
heaven. Now, every knee should bow. Now,
that's my knee, that's your knee, that's every knee. Every knee. Everyone who has a knee, they
ought to bow to this one who has this name above every name. Now, of things in heaven, that's
talking about all of the heavenly hosts. That willingly, voluntarily,
bows their knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they run his errands. They come into the world and
they minister to those who are the heirs of salvation. They
are in submission to the name of Jesus. And then it says some
things in earth. good men on earth who have been
enlightened by the Spirit of God, saved men and women, men
and women who have been taken out of the kingdom of darkness,
put into the kingdom of God's dear Son, men and women who are
in Christ, men and women who have been delivered, they bow
their knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in this world. Those
who are in union with Christ, they bow their knee to Him. Those
who are in rebellion against Him, They will also bow their
knee. No, not, not, not if they bow
their knee. It's when they bow their knee
because they're going to do it. Because God has given one a name
and He's exalted him and He said every knee is going to bow to
this one. Every knee sooner or later is
going to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every knee. Say, well
I don't think he'll ever bow. He will. He'll bow. Things in
earth are going to bow. And then it goes on to say things
under the earth. Everybody is buried in the earth. They're going to come out one
of these days. God's going to raise them up.
Even the wicked dead are going to come out. And there's coming
a day. There's coming a day in the by
and by. There's coming a time when everybody is going to bow. Even the wicked who died. Old
Hitler is going to be raised up and he's going to have to
bow. He thought he was a great man. But he's going to have to
bow to this name which is above every name. You're going to bow
to that name. And you're going to bow to that name. Whether
you live or whether you die. Whether you're alive or dead.
You're going to bow to this name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
it's that name. God said I give him this name.
I've exalted him. I give him this name. It's above
every name. And every knee is going to bow. And not only that
but every tongue. Every tongue is going to confess.
They're going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. They're
going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and this will be to
the glory of the triune God. Jesus has been God all along,
and he will glorify himself in bringing into judgment all men
that he's ever created and bring them all to a place where they
acknowledge him as being Lord, this high and exalted one. Well,
I don't know, but I worked hard on trying to figure out some
way to impress your mind with the fact that that one that we
deal with, that one that we preach, that one that we talk about here,
that one we minister about, that one that we're declaring to men
and women, that He is the One Exalted of Almighty God, and
that there is no name above His. There's no power above His power.
He's Almighty God, and He's Savior. He's Savior. He's the only God
that can deliver. And He can deliver your soul,
whatever be your state, He can deliver you. Oh, I wish we could
be more taken up with Him. Don't you all feel somewhat Kind
of like them boys been playing marbles with them diamonds. Don't
you kind of feel that way? Don't you kind of feel like that
girl that was pecking around on Beethoven's piano a little
bit, playing rock and roll on that piano? I kind of felt that
way when I started studying this message and I just said, well,
it's a needed message. We've got to somehow or other
get away from some of this cheap familiarity with this name of
our Lord and Master. Father, thank you for your word.