Well, you’re probably wondering what we’re gonna talk about tonight. It might have something to do with the name of God. The name manifested. And this is, for right now, unless there are some other extenuating circumstances, is the last of my series that I’ve been preaching on Sunday evenings concerning God revealing himself and how God reveals himself.

And we’ve studied some of the attributes of God, some of the things that we can learn about God and through what the Bible tells us. We know God has chosen to reveal himself in nature called general revelation. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. But we also know that this world and all of creation has been cursed. While it still does show the glory of God and his handiwork, it is marred by sin. And so we need a perfect revelation whereby we can learn of God without error that is authoritative, that is inerrant. And there’s only one source that we can go, and that is through the scriptures.

And so we’ve been having a biblical exposition of different attributes of God. And I’ve tried to take some of the more popular ones. What, two weeks ago, we looked at one that’s not real popular, but it’s one that is oftentimes let go, but one that I thought was extremely important for us to consider, and that was the wrath of God. And that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress or hold down the truth in Unrighteousness, Romans chapter one and verse 18. And so the wrath of God is manifested in different ways. It could be catastrophic, such as the flood, or such as the Tower of Babel, or Sodom and Gomorrah, that the wrath of God can be very cataclysmic that way.

But there are other manifestations of the wrath of God. The one that I heard a couple people say that they, wow, I’ve never heard that one, and it’s true, and that is when there was a judgment, against Ephraim and the prophets and it says Ephraim has his prophets. I’m sorry his idols let him alone. It’s like Romans chapter one where it goes on to say and God gave him over to a reprobate mind. And so we learn that sometimes God allows man just to continue with sin and stops intervening. Now, we don’t know when that happens and they don’t know when that happens, but the word of God says it happens. And that’s the reason why the exhortation to today now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Don’t think God’s mercy is going to be extended forever.

And so we’ve learned some different attributes of God, learned a little bit about God. Well, tonight, this one is gonna be just a little bit different, but it basically comes from the perspective that God has chosen to reveal himself in the scriptures through his name, or through his names, because we’re gonna take tonight and look at the names of God and the importance of names. And that becomes immensely important as we consider this.

Now we know that as theologians, we’ll discuss it and so forth, that God is incomprehensible or he is, we cannot fully know or understand God. The attributes of God that refer to that are called incommunicable. That is, is that ultimately we cannot fully understand. I would just propose that technically all of the attributes of God are there in one way, shape, or form, because God’s ways are not man’s ways, God’s thoughts are not man’s thoughts, and so all of them we cannot fully understand. But like, for example, that God has all power, and we would say demonstrated in the creation of the heavens and the earth. OK, how does God, who is spirit, which was another one that we considered, how does God, who is spirit, speaks and then when there’s no stuff and then all the stuff is created? Well, we believe in six literal 24 hour days, but just in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Um, that’s power and we can’t understand that, but that’s usually considered, you know, but we can understand the power of God and what he does. And we see it demonstrated in nature and so forth.

Um, or, uh, God is eternal. Well, what does that mean? And then if you listen to Brian Cox, who is an unsaved naturalist, humanist, physicist, who I kind of follow a little bit on some social media, just to find out, he’s extremely brilliant. Now, he’s a disciple of Einstein, but he does not believe in a creator. But as he contemplates and he has little short statements online, he refers to the fact that the galaxies and the universe has probably got to be infinite because you see, This is a way to say it in not a humorous way, but in a very human way. God is big. Well, how big is God? Well, however big God is, if you go another couple of inches, he’s still there. And then if you go another foot, he’s still there. You go a couple of more miles. And how big is the universe? Well, where is the end of the universe when you come to the end of the universe and there is no more verse to be in? I realize that’s really bad English, but it communicates, okay? You know, when do you come to the, what’s at the, what is there? And how can that exist? Does it go into non-matter, or as they would say, a black hole? And even Brian Cox refers to the fact that the black hole and some of the physics of black holes are still some hard things to understand.

And so things can become very difficult. And so can we comprehend God? No, those are incommunicable. But there are also communicable attributes. Love. Now we can understand love, but can you understand the depth of God’s love? Now we can see pictures of it, pictures of love in very literal illustrations. Abraham offering Isaac up on an altar and it’s going to kill him. And as we know, that’s a picture of God, the father for the son. That God so loved the world. Well, you see, we can love. I hope we have a lot of love in this room. You know, love of the brethren. love with spouses, love of children, children to parents, all of that, philia love, and we can understand love. But do we really understand it? And where does that come from? Ultimately, God is the giver of all good gifts. So it finds its origin in God. But what does that mean? And how does it manifest itself? I don’t know. And that’s the greatness.

Now that idea of trying to understand God or having thoughts about God, has led some people into heresy and that’s why we need to discuss these kinds of things. There was fairly recent this idea of the open theology or openness of God that well and it sounds so pious and it’s terrible. This is true wickedness with the stench of hell upon it. Well, I’m not going to limit God and I’m not going to say that God can’t have a new thought. Now, that sounds like you’re trying to help God out, but you see, it doesn’t understand everything. You see, God can’t have a new thought because he’s thought it everything that’s ever been thought. There’s nothing left. Your concept of God is too small. And so people try to get around these things concerning God. And that’s all by way of review, and I’ve mentioned those things before, and we understand that. But we do have these communicable attributes where we can see God so loved that he gave, and love has an object. And what is God willing to do, his works, for that object. And so God reveals himself in the scriptures by way of inherently and tells us about that.

But one way, and I’m lumping them all into one message, I mean, before several years ago, like a lot of, well, that wasn’t a lot, but it was several years ago, we had a major series on the names of God and we just went right through them. El, Elohim, Yahweh, Adonai, all the way through the Old Testament into the New Testament. And tonight is kind of a summary. And it’s a heavy task of what we’re going to do tonight to consider God through his name. And let me just say, the term name is extremely important.

Now you may or may not, well, I’m assuming you did not, have a choice in your name. Movie stars and people in Hollywood sometimes change their names to be more marketable. Well, that doesn’t count. But it does show the importance of a name and a name does identify. But biblically speaking, name giving was extremely important. And we’re gonna see that tonight. But what I want us to do is just to consider this. What name does God have that we do not have revealed to us, unfolded to us, except for what we find in the scriptures? There’s none. You see, this is one of the areas of the revelation of an incomprehensible God within Holy Scripture where he chooses to reveal himself unto those image bearers that he has created. He chooses to do so in the confines of Scripture and Scripture alone.

But now let me ask another question. gave God those names. Did the authors of the Old and New Testament? Moses. Did Moses come up with the name Elohim? No. So we’re on, as it were, we’re on holy ground. This is something where God has given to the writers of scripture, his name so that we would know the names of God. And the names of God were those things with which he reveals himself. Now, sometimes they are involved with things of what God has done, is doing, or will do. Sometimes they’re involved in prophecy. And you shall call his name, wonderful counselor, mighty God, Prince of Peace. And that was all prophetic about the coming of Christ. And we’re going into the holiday seasons. And so we said we sang a little bit about that in that in Excelsis Deo. And so. It is important for us to understand how important this is now for sake of helping you understand that in the grand scenario of all of scripture. There’s one particular psalm, it’s found oftentimes in the psalms, but there’s one grand scenario where this is found.

Out of respect and love for the word of God, would you please stand with me? Everyone, if you’re able, if you’re feeble or obviously we don’t want you to fall. Psalm 148 says this. Tune in to the name. Now we’ve sung this song, blessed be the name, blessed be. I heard that song on Andy Griffith, okay? That’s a great song, it’s old, and you don’t have to be real spiritual to sing it. This is a holy, inerrant, God-inspired song. Listen to what it says. Psalm 148. This is the word of the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights. Praise him, all his angels. Praise him, all his hosts. Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him, all you stars of light. Praise him, you heavens of the heavens and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord. You see where that was directed? The name and the Lord are the same. They’re in apposition.

For he commanded and they were created. He also established them forever and ever. He made the decree which shall cannot pass away.

Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures for all the depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy, wind fulfilling his word, mountains and all the hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, beast and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl, kings of the earth and all the people, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name is alone. exalted his glory above the earth and heaven. And he has exalted the horn of his people. Praise all his saints, the children of Israel and the people near him. Praise the Lord.

And God’s people said, Amen. You may be seated.

With that kind of a recognition of the importance of name, that includes technically about every perspective that you can get in all of creation. Well, we catechize, we use the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, which is very close to the Westminster. And what is the purpose of man? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever, enjoy his presence forever.

as we praise the name of the greatness of our God. Recently, I was listening to a couple of podcasts from R.C. Sproul. Now, obviously, they are recorded because he’s in heaven, but he talked about people that wanted to know or to have a relationship with God and with Jesus, but they don’t want a lot of doctrine. May I just profess to tell you that is impossible. You cannot know God and you cannot know about Christ unless you have some doctrine, some theology of Christology, unless you know some things about them.

We know God through images, through his works, through his attributes, reading the Bible, some historical events about all that, but God is incomprehensible. But God is knowable, and that’s one thing people tend to forget. We can see God in nature, we can see God in man, but authoritatively we only see him in the Bible.

Hence, as we tonight wrap up this Trinitarian biblical self-disclosure of God himself, we’re going to look at him through his name. Now, I was also listening, being a ministry partner with Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul, and had a CD, and I listened to it earlier this week, and it was a CD on the image of God, which was part of the topic of my doctoral dissertation, and I wanted to see how wrong I was in my writing by listening to him, and I think he would have still passed me.

But anyways, that God is known through his revealed names, and listening to this one, he made mention of something concerning God image that I honestly have to just tell you, I never really thought about it. I’ve already hinted to it a little bit, and it’s actually the importance of name giving. If you would, turn back with me to Genesis chapter one.

Genesis chapter one. Now, again, we believe that God is the creator of heaven and of earth. And when we come to this, and God created the things, and it’s interesting that as he creates, and I don’t wanna take too much time on this, but look at verse 10. for example, and God called the dry land earth and the gathered together. So he named the land and he named the heavens and the earth. And it goes on in this thing and you’ll see how that it points out the fact that God called these things and he gives them a name. But you know, pay attention to this chapter two and verse 19. the account of day six. Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. That was actually the first job that God gave to Adam, an image bearer, to give names to the animals.

Now up to that point, God named everything. And R.C. was making the point, part of this is, is the idea of the importance of naming things. Well, if we go on, take a look at verse 23 of chapter two. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman. It’s ish for Adam and Isha and so forth. And she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man. He named the woman. as a demonstration of how important it was as an as obedience and given a task by God to name.

For example. Abram. But once the Abrahamic Covenant was real, he changed what he changed the name, Jacob. Laughter. Changed to Israel, Israel. You have Hosea. and the naming of those children of Gomer and the demonstration of sin as she sent the kids back home. And he names his kids Jezreel, Lo-Ruamah, Lo-Ami, not my people. So historically in Israel, the names meant something.

Daniel and the other three guys We just know him as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That wasn’t their Hebrew names. That was their Egyptian names. Or not Egyptian, Babylon. Why is that such a big deal? You know why? He wanted them to forget who they were, and now they were this. It was a sense of identity. It was supposed to be the straw that would break their ancestry back. It was because the name was important.

So the scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, are very much given unto helping us to understand a lot about the people, the culture and that sort of thing. But when it comes from naming God and God is naming him himself. What can we learn concerning that? Well, many theologians have a lot to say about this. The following men have spoken to us about this and how we can know God through his names.

Dr. Burkoff, a theologian I like to follow in my systematic theology says, quote, the names of God are anthropomorphic and mark a condescending approach of God to man. Before creation, before there was anything and only God is, Did he need a name? Did he have a name? Are these names eternal or are they only in the revelation now that there are those who can now know him and he chose these names to reveal himself? Well, I don’t know.

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said this, the names of God are the summum bonum of salvation. Can you know God without knowing his name? Thomas Manton, the Puritan, said this, all men by nature are ignorant of God. No one can know the name of God without salvation. There is the necessity of inward light to know God. Leon Morris and R.C. Sproul both said the name of God stands for the whole personhood of God. James Montgomery Boyce said this, the names of God are the attributes. of God. John MacArthur said the name of God encompasses all that is his character, his nature, his attributes.

Psalm 910 says this, and they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord has not forsaken them that seek thee. It’s important for us to know the name of God or the names of God. We can’t fully understand him and this should be a lifelong pursuit. As we enter this tonight, I’ve already said we’re on holy ground and we need several things. First of all, we need a right attitude, the name of God. We need to have a right motive because we want to know God. We need to be careful not to go beyond what the scripture says That’d be a Martin Luther quote, but we need to maintain pure hearts to know him and to love him.

Now, different Bible scholars and theologians and Bible teachers, they normally divide the names of God into three sections. And Bavinck is one that I like to follow. His was a good way of doing it. He said there’s the nomina propia, and that means the proper names of God. Then there is the nomina essentialia, that is the essential names of God, and then the noma personalia, the personal names of God. That’s one way to divide it up and to look at it.

But what are these names of God? I’d like to address this in three particular ways tonight. Number one, the name of God in scripture generally. In Psalms, and we’ve read several of those tonight, we read many verses like this. How majestic is your name? It doesn’t give us the name, but the name is majestic. Exodus 34 says jealous is your name.

Now I’m gonna pause here. This is a good place and I’ve got it down in my conclusion. But it only adds to the gravitas, the weightiness of what we’re doing here tonight. God wants to reveal his law. Number four. Exodus 20 verse 7. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Boom. That’s enough. But that’s not the whole passage. For God will not hold a man guiltless. That’s a fancy way of saying he’s not going to hold him without guilt. So in other words, if you take his name in vain, you’re guilty. For God, thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for God will not hold a man guiltless who takes his name. In vain.

That scared enough, even of the unsaved Jews, that they were careful and they changed on how they would do that with Yahweh, and they would never say that holy name of God, that is, I am that I am. that God revealed to Moses before he led Israel out of Egypt. They would change it, they would call him Adonai, they would change vowel pointing and there was just all ways that they, because they didn’t wanna do it.

Well, we live in a different world. We figure out how many other ways we can do it and for what we can do it. I only with deep reservation give a few illustrations on even how we take this far too lightly. OMG. I’m sorry, but you need to be careful. Now, there can be times you might say that and really mean it, but when you take the name of God and whatever it is, it needs You need to be careful with that. There’s just so many places.

Tunnels to Tower does a great work, and they do these things, and they take those young families, and they’re so blessed, and I always want to think they’re saying it rightly, but when they go into this new house, and they say the phrase, oh my, and I’m going, I really hope you’re a believer and you just did not swear. And it bothers me that there can be cuss words that even this world will censor out. But if they want to talk about God condemning something and use phraseology that that is included, that’s considered OK because it’s not that bad. Excuse me. The Bible says, let no filthy communication proceed out of your mouth. God’s holding you accountable for your words. And when you let things flip, and there’s lots of words that ought not to be said, but the one you never say, unless you’re addressing him with the right attitude and in the right way, you don’t take God’s name in vain. And the term vain there means with emptiness, frivolously. God has not chosen to tell us, and he’s the only one who can, on why he named himself and revealed it in the way that he did. And when we drag it through the gutter, and unsaved people do it all the time, even if it’s just taking the name of Jesus, it has, in our society, only been lowered to show rank emotion.

Yeah, there’s one day they’re gonna show lots of emotion when God says, you remember all the times that you took my son that I crushed upon the cross of Calvary and you used his name flippantly to condemn people and to curse people. You see, there’s a gravitas to this that we’re looking at tonight and what we’re doing and what we’re saying.

Exodus chapter six and verse three says, I appeared unto Abraham, to Isaac and unto Jacob by my name God Almighty, but my name Jehovah was I not known to them. Now what’s that about? That’s because in the Bible we have what is called progressive revelation. In the Old Testament, they were progressively learning some of the names of God. In fact, that was a quote from Exodus six three, but thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, was it until Exodus 20. They didn’t know the penalty of it quite yet, although they could probably figure that out.

You see, in Psalm 22, 22, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, and in the midst of the congregation, I will praise thee. It is important how we use God’s name. in progressive revelation were given many new names of God. So that’s just, there’s so much more I could say, but I gotta keep moving or I’ll never even come close to finishing this. But that’s the names of God in scripture generally.

I wanna look at some of the names of God scripturally specifically. Specifically, and what I thought of, how can I get through this material and do all this? And so I am going to give credit where credit is due. Some of you know, a dear friend of mine, some of you were educated at Cedarville University by Dr. Alan Munro. And God in his grace brought Alan Munro into my life. And for whatever reason, that man fell in love with me. And he gave me his library. He gave me his bookshelves. He gave me all of his teaching notes. of all those years there, and he’s an elder in the PCA church where he is at, and he and I have worked together and taught in Haiti and in Seminario Reformado over, Spanish-speaking seminary over in Orlando, and he has given me his notes, all of them, and they’re in print and bound. I imagine some of his students wish they had these, well, definitely when they were taking his class, But it is it.

He has a section where he had been teaching the different names of God. And I’m going to just quickly go because he summarizes it so well. And I already told you that some divide the names of God by proper, essential and personal. There are others that are names that are given, such as the proper names of God. What is a proper name of God? El. Elohim. would be, well, for one of those, Yah, or Yahweh. Pastor Ryan has been preaching from the Legacy Standard Bible, and they like, well, you know, why use the translation? Use the name. And the idea there is, is because we don’t need to lighten it up now, because we can enter into God’s presence with boldness, and God is our father. but other ones would say Lord or so forth. But Yahweh, Adonai, in the New Testament, the Os, and Kurios, which is the term for Lord. There are the proper personal names of God, Father, Abba, Son, Jesus, Holy Spirit.

There are titles. He is the Creator God. He is Messiah, Christ, Pericle, Comforter. The essential names of God, And we’ve considered these in another way in attributes, the light, that God is light, love, and spirit. Descriptive names, he is a rock, he is master, rabboni, and shepherd.

But in the Old Testament, some of the names of God like El, Elohim, Elyon, are used over 550 times. It has the sense to be the first, he is Lord, He is strong. He is mighty. G. Campbell Morgan wrote this, quote, The name Elohim is the absolute, unqualified, unlimited energy. In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. The creator God. He is big. It is very basic.

But it wasn’t until later on that the term Yahweh was given. which is known more for a covenantal relationship. So what does that just teach us? Okay, that’s a name. We’re to praise this name. Well, what this means is, and then there’s some places, I think it’s Exodus 6-2, somewhere in there, where the two are made almost synonymous, or at least referring to the same being. The one who speaks when there’s nothing and then there’s everything, has now entered into covenant with mankind.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. We have covenant when he goes with Abraham. Those that bless you, I will bless. Those that curse you, I will bless. So we have a God, whether you’re a dispensationalist or a covenant theologian, and there’s all those divisions, but where we all understand that in the Bible, this great God who protects his name, wants his name praised, who is self-sufficient, whole spirit, is willing to enter into a relationship with us, God image bearers. In a way, he does not do anywhere else.

Because you see, angels don’t have God image. We tend to look at them as greater than us. Eh, no. They don’t have God image. Satan, that old rascal, that old serpent, but he doesn’t have God image. But babies have it, children have it, humans have it. I can jokingly say Republicans have it, Democrats have it. We bear the image of God and he has unfolded himself just in the name Yahweh. Yah, that he made covenant. And that even among the peoples of the earth, he’s in special covenant with the people of Israel.

But he’s also in special covenant with what the New Testament would teach as the elect or those that were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. But he’s entered into covenant. He wants to save a people, a peculiar people for himself. That’s the kind of God that we have. See, we can look at that he is spirit. We can look at that he is sovereign. We can look at that he has wrath. But in his person and in his name, he is a God who’s revealed himself in that particular way. He’s not identified with his creation. He is above it and beyond it.

Elion is a furtheration of that particular name. It is from the root mean to go up or to be elevated. He is designated as the guy of the God who is high and exalted. He is El Elyon, he is almighty God. Are there any other gods? I know not any. I love that thought of God saying that. There is, if you’re into Marvel, and if you know the Hulk who grabbed Loki, And they’re having this battle, and Loki says something of like, come on, you moron, or whatever. He’s just a big green monster. I am a god. And the green Hulk just grabs him. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And he goes down into the concrete. And the Hulk just goes off saying, puny god. I love that. I just love that.

Any God, the God of humanism, puny God. Satan, he’s a puny God wannabe, next to my God. I don’t need, nor do I really want a God that I can fully understand. God is unknowable, incomprehensible. I cannot fully comprehend, but I can know him. And it isn’t because I’m so hot and it’s the evidence to the fact that I do have God image and therefore I can know him, but I don’t find him in myself. It’s because God lowered himself to reveal himself to me. so that I can know him. That’s the kind of God that we have. He is not only transcendent, he is immediate. He is close to us.

Adonai is another name for God. It means almighty ruler. He is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And then of course you get the compound names of God in the Old Testament. And those we went through individually sermon on each one of these, like El Shaddai. Shaddai is also used alone, but El Shaddai is the one that we know most of all. It’s used over seven times in scripture. El Olam, that means the everlasting or the eternal God. El Gabor, that describes God’s power and might. oftentimes used to describe the Savior, Messiah, who would come. That Isaiah 6-9 where he’s called, where the Messiah is called the mighty God, that’s El Gebor. El roi, which means God as the seeing one. You remember that account where God gives us a name because of Hagar being kicked out. And she sets Ishmael off and he’s going to die. And the name that God gives to her is El Roy, the God who sees. He’s the God who is not so far out there, he doesn’t really know what’s going on. He’s the God that sees you crying over a wayward loved one. He sees you when the mother who loses a child. Because he’s God, he’s El Roy. You see, if we really know God and know God in his name, this is his person, El Roy.

And then, as I’ve already said, Yahweh and some compound names with Yahweh. Yahweh Jireh, the Lord will provide, Genesis 22, 14. And about with Isaac, Yahweh Ratha, I am the Lord who heals you, Exodus 15, 26. Yahweh Nisi, the Lord is my banner, Exodus 17, 15. We’re told Moses built an altar. and called the name of the place Yahweh Nisi, which is the Lord my banner, Yahweh Mekadesh, the Lord who sanctifies and makes holy. We sang about that this morning in that whole thing, his rags for my sin or my rags for his righteousness, his robes of righteousness given unto us. Yahweh shalom, the Lord is our peace. Judges 6, 24, given at Gideon at an altar. Yahweh Elohim, Yahweh Sikkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Yahweh Mekadesh, who provides righteousness to man. You see, those aren’t just fanciful reformed titles that we learn in church history. God is a God of righteousness. God must have perfect righteousness. God provides righteousness for us because we don’t have any. There’s none righteous, no not one, except for Jesus Christ and he provides all those who trust in him with his righteousness. That’s in the very name of God.

May I at least pick something that might communicate in thought, this is an illustration, it’s not further revelation, okay? Yahweh Sitkanu, the Lord our righteousness, righteousness is in the DNA of God. And he only accepts that kind of righteousness. We lost that. but he gives it to all those that come to Jesus Christ.

Yahweh Shammah, the Lord is there. That was the name of God concerning Jerusalem and in the temple.

Yahweh Sabaoth, you know, we sing about that. And I always think, I bet you when we sing, a mighty fortress is our God, and we have that phrase when it talks about the Lord Sabaoth, I’m thinking, you know, I wonder how many people think that they’re saying that he’s the Lord of the Sabbath. Yeah, no, it’s another word. One B, not two. The Lord is Sabaoth. He is Yahweh Sabaoth. He is the Lord of the hosts of heaven. How many angels are there? Don’t know. Unbelievable. And he’s the Lord over all of them. Who is the Lord over every human that has ever existed? Our God. He is Lord, Yahweh, Sabaoth.

In the New Testament, we don’t have time to go through these, but we know theos is the term for God. Elyon is used with another phrase and brought over into the English on curios, meaning the mighty one, the Lord, the possessor.

The one of the New Testament names of God that got Jesus in trouble with the Pharisees. when he would refer to God as what? His father. How dare you? And what was it? You refer to God as your father making him, well, and that was part of the trial, making himself what? Equal with God. They got the name. But then Paul writes, what can we call God? Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. Our Father. Can you imagine that God would take hell-bound lost sinners and dare to allow us to take Yahweh Sabaoth and to call him Father? Technically, in the epistles, we can call him Abba, Daddy. The term of endearment of a child.

The names of God scripturally specifically given. John chapter 17, take and turn with me there. A phrase I think that oftentimes are sections that we tend to forget. On the night in which he was betrayed, he prayed. This was the night that he sweat drops of blood And Jesus prays the prayer on the eve before the crucifixion. And we don’t have time, I mean, this is a whole exposition in that, but if you know the prayer, Jesus prays for himself, Jesus prays for the 11 disciples, and then Jesus prays for us by way of, for those that will believe on me through the word of the disciples.

But look at John chapter 17, verse, well, verse six. I wanna go back up to verse five. And now, so that you get the pathos, the passion. Oh, Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. That’s before Genesis 1.1. I have manifested your name. That’s how Jesus took it. The name represent, I’ve manifested you father. But he used the phrase, I have manifested your name to the men to whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word.

Drop on down to verse 11. Now, I am no longer in the world. but these are in the world and I have come to you, Holy Father, keep through your notice, not your power, your hand, your sovereignty, keep through your name those whom you have given me and that they may be one as we are. Now that’s to the 11.

Verse 12, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me, I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the scriptures might be fulfilled. The name of God was important or just the concept of name was important to Jesus Christ as he prayed these words. and the way to pray for their protection. Well, there’s so many other things that we could say. Jesus said that he had seen the Father and revealed him and his name to his disciples. For in him, that is in Christ, dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And as I said, that he kept them. The doctrine of security of the believer is founded upon the very name of God, which refers to God himself.

But now I suppose if you’ve been with me and you go along and you know your Bible very well, there is a passage that then sees something that is extremely, extremely important. And that would be Philippians chapter two. Turn there, Philippians chapter two. Now that’s a common passage, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider robbery to be equal with God, but made of himself of no reputation. And this is talking to us about that. But look at verse nine, Philippians two, nine. Therefore, God also, has highly exalted Him, that is Jesus, and given Him, what is God the Father gonna give to the Son? He gives Him a name. And He has given Him the name, which is above every name, a highly exalted name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, those on earth and those under the earth, and that every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

In fulfillment of Psalm 48, 148, 148, and Psalm 6, Psalm 3, praise the name of God. Let all creation, how do we do that without Jesus Christ? You can’t. It’s important for us to know, to have a relationship with God, it comes through a name. Hebrews chapter one, the first four verses, God has revealed himself in different ways in previous years, but in these last days, he has revealed himself in his son and in his name. Well, there’s so much more that could be said. But in the words of Psalm 113 verses two and three, blessed be the name of the Lord from this time to evermore, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same. The Lord’s name is to be praised. May we do that.

Let’s pray. Our Father in heaven, We have but just barely scratched the surface about the name and names of our God. Father, we praise you. We thank you for the revelation, self-revelation that you have given to us in your names. Father, we also need to be warned that we not take your name in vain or flippantly or lightly. but that we also realize that you’re a God revealed and you’re a God of love. Father, I pray that we might take these things seriously, but also with the sense of joy that we can know our God. Father, this evening, as we close in song, may it bring this home that we have a God who is great and is God Almighty, but He loves us. And Father, tonight, if there’s ever a person here that knows not Christ, may their eyes be opened by the Spirit of God to see the risen Christ, for we ask it in His precious name, amen.