The Name of the LORD
November 30, 1997
Proverbs 18: 10-11

Introduction:

  A. We have visited this subject before. The women did a 17 week inductive study on the names of Gods. This subject is like the Pacific Ocean: every coast is different, each season brings its own character, and every day a unique experience.
  B. Solomon gives us an interesting lens through which to take in the breath taking vista of the name of God. For in viewing His name, we are seeing His personal revelation of Himself to you.
  C. The poem in these two verse set before us a stark contrast of two memorials: a city and The Name. We are going to view first the city as a jeweler would lay out a black velvet cloth upon which to place the diamonds for viewing which is for us this morning The Name of God.

I. Man’s Strong City

   A. Memorials to Men
     e.g. John Sutter (Sutter County, the town of Sutter)
     e.g. Modesto, Rockefeller Center, and Houston, TX

   B. Military cities
     1. the role of cities (protect and provide)
     2. "high walls" meant protection, important for a strong city (protect)

   C. Man’s search for security
     1. Education
     2. Possession
     3. People
     4. Jobs
     5. Fill in the blank... add them all together and if you could build a city out of it and feel secure within it, it is still "like a high wall in your own esteem." (11b)

II. The Name of the LORD
  A. What’s in a name?
     1. Romeo and Juliet: he could not give up his name as it was an essential part of him
     2. names today are more like numbers to designate us
     3. to the Hebrews, the names spoke
        "Ruth" (the name means "friendship)
        "Nabal" (the name means "fool")
        "Emmanuel" (God with us)
        "John" (loved one)
     4. The names of God are even more significant to each passage

  B. "Name"
    1. Hebrew for memorial i.e. how you would be remembered
    2. "A good name" means the character of the person....

  C. "The LORD"
    1. The Hebrew resistance to pronouncing His Name
    2. God’s insistence on reminding us of His Name (It is the Heart of the worship in the Psalms.)
    3. "This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation."

a. Exodus 3:14, 15: "I AM" ('ehyeh )and "HE IS" (Yahweh) i.e. first and third person of "to be"
b. Eternally existent: He lives in the ever present
c. Uniquely independent: only He can say I AM, all the rest are interdependent
d. Creatively resplendent: "He caused to be" in the causative
e. Relationally revealing:

1) e.g. (Exodus 2:23-25) there are four verbs that describe God's responses to His hurting people during the time of the Egyptian oppression. These verbs may be rendered in the present tense as elements of standard biblical theology: He hears, He remembers, He sees, and He knows
2) He also "came down" to "deliver" Israel and promised to "be with" Moses
3) His name is known to us in the context of covenant, of mercy, of deliverance, of relationship.

4) Other Names:

1. Jehovah Nissi (The LORD is my banner) This is the name Moses gave to the Altar to commemorate the defeat of the Amalekites. (Exodus 17:8-15) The banner of Jesus Christ over us is love.
2.Jehovah Shalom (The LORD is my peace) The LORD greeted Gideon with peace when he commissioned him to liberate Israel from the Midianites. At Ophrah he erected an altar an named it thus. (Judges 6:24) We have peace in our hearts shed their by the Holy Spirit.
3.Jehovah Shammah (The LORD is There) This is a prophecy in Ezekiel 48:35 (the name of the New Jerusalem) which is to be fulfilled when the New Jerusalem comes and the Messiah will rule from there. (Revelation 21:22)
4. Jehovah Rapha (I am the LORD who heals you) Exodus 15:26 At the bitter waters of Marah, God revealed this part of his nature. This was exemplified on the cross when he took all our infirmities and diseases on himself (spiritually through the lashes he bore) and nailed it to the cross.
5.Jehovah Tsidkennu (The LORD our righteousness) Jeremiah 23:6 This name is related the Him who will sit on David's throne. No man is righteous before God. You can obtain righteousness before God by faith in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).
6. Jehovah Jireh (The LORD will provide) The name Abraham gave the hill upon which he was about to sacrifice Isaac his son. God stopped him and provided him a Ram instead. Observe the relationship between this and the final sacrifice for our sins (The Lamb of God). God always provides for his believers needs. Genesis 22.

III. A Strong Tower

   A. City of refuge for the righteous
   B. "Strong Tower"
      1. Mankind’s wealth
      2. Personal, covenantial, continuing, revealing relationship with God

   C. "Safe" literally is "lifted up" and by extension means safe from earthly attack

   D. Application:
       1. Title one thing God has done for you
       2. Title what you found out about God in #1
       3. Give God a prayer of thanks using that name
       4. If you have not yet come to know Him personally, the name you need to learn is "Savior"