His Presence is in His Name, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. The presence of God is when the Spirit of God takes the name of God and the love of God and begins to make it real in your heart by declaring to you His glorious name that He has saved you and He renews His covenant with you in that moment. That's the presence of God. Hey, welcome back for another week of teaching here on Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer of the Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.

As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Have you ever wondered what is the presence of God like? Is it just a warm, fuzzy feeling or an emotional worship encounter?

I think we'd agree it's something that we all want to experience, but it seems so elusive. Today, Pastor J.D. takes us back to Moses's encounter with God on Mount Zion. We'll see how the presence of God changed Moses's goals and desires forever.

And guess what? It can change us too. We know you don't want to miss any of Pastor J.D.

's messages, so if you ever need to catch up, you can hear previous broadcasts by visiting online at jdgreer.com. But for now, here's Pastor J.D. I think this series could be a game changer for many of you. During this series, I think some of you may find true faith for the very first time. For others of you like me, you might discover that path to really knowing and loving God. In fact, I would say that many, if not most, of our emotional problems are connected to our view of God. For example, if you think of God as capricious and untrustworthy, then you will feel anxiety about your life. If you think of God as a judgmental tyrant, then it will turn you into a fearful, insecure person. If you think of God as aloof or distant, then you'll feel insignificant. If you think of God as an angry warlord, it will turn you into an intolerant bigot. If you think of God as a warm, tingly, sentimental, but powerless love force who looks down on the rest of us because we are not as enlightened as she is, it will turn you into a UNC Chapel Hill professor.

All right? So what comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you because it will define you and shape you like nothing else in your life. So our text for the next few weeks is going to be what is arguably one of the most, maybe the most important passage in the Old Testament, Exodus 34, 6, and 7, where God declares his name to Moses. If God offered to you everything you've ever dreamed of, you get the million dollar salary, you get the health, perfect health, you get a legacy, you get a family, a healthy family, and your kids grow to be senators and congressmen and doctors, and you get everything you've ever wanted, just not God's presence in your life, would you take it? Moses said, not me.

Not today, not ever. And I think he says that really for two reasons. Here they are, number one, because Moses saw God as beautiful, not just useful. There are many of us who come to God and we say, God, I need this. God, I need that.

And my relationship to you is going to be dependent on how well you provide those things that I want from you. But Moses had come to see God as beautiful in himself. He saw God not as a means to an end. He saw God as the end himself. He saw God as the ultimate reward, the ultimate prize. Is that how you see God? If this afternoon you had to choose, you can have everything in the world without God, or you can have nothing in the world and God. Which of those two things would you choose? Here's the second thing Moses realized.

It goes with that. He saw that without God, everything else was useless. Furthermore, Moses understood that not only did those things fade without God, those things end up fading you.

They rot your soul. You know the story of Moses? He had been the prince of Egypt. He lived in the palace.

He was in command of the largest army in the world. And then he was driven out from that palace and he wandered in the wilderness for 40 years with nothing but God. Can I tell you something I've observed? If you ever meet somebody who's had it all without God and then had nothing with God and ask them which they choose, every single time they will tell you, I'll take nothing with God. I've told you guys before, if you're going to follow Jesus, follow him 100%. Because the most miserable people on the planet are half-committed, half-hearted Christians. Because you're just enough into the world to be miserable in God, and you're just enough into God to feel guilty in the world. If you're going to follow Jesus, the only joy in it is when you go all the way. And I don't mean to be mean, but I know that I'm looking at a number of people that you're in that half-committed place.

And I've told you this before. Listen, church is a terrible hobby, if that's kind of how you think of it. And for many of you, that's what church is. Find a different hobby.

I mean, this hobby, you get up early on Sunday morning and you drive to a place where you go through the nightmare we call the parking lot. And then you come in to the place and there's a lot of room. There's a lot of people in the room.

There's not a lot of room. And you end up sitting in the lobby half the time. And then we're always up here pressuring you to volunteer and serve with the kids and give money. And then some dude stands on the stage and yells at you for 45 minutes.

This is a terrible hobby. It's like going through Halloween every week where you have to dress up like something you're not and act apart that you don't really want to play. And we're all walking around looking spiritual and we're like, how are you? And you're like, I'm just fine. Thank you, brother. Praise the Lord. And you know that you don't mean it. So you go back and you feel bad because you just lied to everybody.

Find a different hobby. The joy in this kind of place is only for those who have developed such a craving and a taste for God's glory that the taste of his glory outweighs all the pain of coming and being a part of a community like this one. So if you're going to go with Jesus, go all the way or don't go at all because the most miserable people in the world are half committed Christians who are just enough into the world to be miserable in God and just enough into God to be miserable in the world. Moses said, I want all of you.

I want all of you. And by the way, Moses didn't understand how the contradiction resolved, which is why he only got to see the backside of God's glory because it was something that was a missing piece that he did not understand. He just had to kind of shrug his shoulders and say, well, I don't get it, but I guess that's the way it is. The gospel teaches that God is just and therefore there must be a penalty for sin, but the gospel also teaches that God is infinitely loving. And so God poured out on Jesus the wrath that was reserved for you and me so that God could love us eternally and God forgive us and God could satisfy his justice. Substitution is the mystery of the gospel that Moses did not understand. Moses could not understand it, and that's why he only saw the backside of God's glory. You and I understand that Jesus Christ was the justice of God and the compassion of God.

He died in our place and the justice of God was upheld and the compassion of God was extended and you and I can be saved and God's justice can be upheld and that's why we say we see his glory face to face. The name of Jesus is the name into which God has now loaded all of his power. You want to know where the power and presence of God are? They're in his name. And that's probably what I would say is the one big idea that I want you to walk away from this message with.

In fact, you may want to write it down. It says this, God's presence and his power reside in his name. You see, when God passed in front of Moses, it doesn't say that he saw a brightness. That's how, if I told you this afternoon you were going to see God's glory, you would think, oh, there's going to be like some big vision and some, no. It says that when God passed in front of Moses, he didn't see a brightness.

He heard a proclamation, a proclamation of a name. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones says there is a British pastor, says there is no passage in the Bible that more clearly depicts for us what it's like to be in the presence of God. The presence of God is not a warm, tingly feeling. The presence of God is not the hair in the back of your neck standing up. It's not the crescendo in a choir special. It's not when the pastor goes on an alliterated roll and says everything that starts with the letter P and there's like 19 words and you get goosebumps and you say, hallelujah. That's not the presence of God. The presence of God is when the spirit of God takes the name of God and the love of God and begins to make it real in your heart by declaring to you his glorious name, that he has saved you and he renews his covenant with you in that moment.

That's the presence of God. When I was, after Veronica and I've been married about seven years, her wedding ring needed a small repair on it. And so we were going to take it to a jeweler. And so she was going to take it one afternoon and she stopped at a restaurant to meet a friend for lunch and she had the ring in the pocket of her coat. And evidently at the restaurant, it fell out because that was the last we ever saw it. And so I remember because I had mortgaged my entire future to be able to purchase the ring in the first time. It's not the kind of thing that you just replace. And back then I didn't have insurance on it because I was young and stupid.

And so I'm just, you know, nothing. And so you can't just go out. And so I remember we paid like $50 to get her something to put around her finger so guys wouldn't hit on her. And so I didn't tell her, but I started little by little to put some money away. Cause I was like, I gotta get enough money to buy this ring.

And so I saved for what felt like a long time. And there's a jeweler in our church. And I went to him and I said, listen, this is what I got. And I drew the ring. Now, if you ever see me draw anything, you know how humorous this is. I was like, it's a one of a kind.

I've never seen it. It had all these little things on it. Can you make this ring? And he's like, well, so we, I drew all these different diagrams of it. And he says, I think I can do that.

And so he worked on it. I said, this is all the money I got. He came back and I'm telling you, he came back with what looked like the exact replica of that ring. And so on one of our anniversaries, I take my wife and basically I try to reenact our engagement. And I go through the whole rigamarole and I get down on one knee and I pull out this ring that she has it, you know, doesn't know that I've gotten made. And I said, I want to give you this. The first time I gave you this, I did not know what I was doing because we had just dated for a year and I didn't know the real you because we both lied to each other for a solid year. And now, now I've lived with you now for over a decade and I know the real you, and I still want to spend the rest of my life with you. And I hope if God gives us 40, 50 more years, that every single moment is going to be spent with you. And so I want to ask you again, will you marry me and spend the rest of your life with me? Now, in that moment, when she took the ring the second time, she did not become more my wife than she was the moment before, right?

Legally, we've been married for over a decade. But in that moment, there was a renewal of the covenant and the sense of my relationship with her was renewed. When the spirit of God brings you into the presence of God, that is exactly what happens. The spirit of God, Romans five, verse three, sheds abroad in your heart, the love of Christ. Romans chapter eight, verse 15, the spirit in you cries up, I have a father, my daddy. And you begin to sense that you are a son and a daughter of God, as God declares his name to you.

In scripture, power and presence are always tied to the name of Jesus. We'll return to our teaching in just a moment, but I wanted to quickly tell you about our brand new featured resource this month. It's a bundle meant to help make praying regularly a little easier. It's three books that are each called Five Things to Pray. They will cover how to pray for your city and community, how to pray for your kids, and how to pray for your parents. Our hope is that you'll start to get a bigger view of God and a bigger view of prayer, and that as a result, your prayer life will be transformed. Take a step towards growth in this important discipline right now by donating to the Ministry of Summit Life. Give us a call at 866-335-5220, or check out this new prayer resource at jdgrier.com.

Now let's get back to the final few minutes of today's message. Here's Pastor JD. The first sermon ever preached, Peter stands up and he says, Acts two, verse 21, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Do you ever think about why it's worded that way? Why would you just call on the Lord? Why would you call on the name of the Lord? Why would you just call on the Lord?

Because the name is where God has put all of Jesus's power and everything that belongs to Jesus is in that name, and you got to take that name to yourself because everything, all the blessings of salvation go with it. I have a friend who let's just say is a man of considerable means, and a few years ago, he calls me in November and says, hey man, I've got this private jet and I'm contracted with the pilots of this jet to use a certain amount of hours, and I'm not going to be able to use it by the end of the year. Do you know anywhere that you might want to take your family somewhere by the end of the year? It's only like six weeks, and I'm like, let me worry about it. Yes, and so he tells me where to go, and I just go to this private hangar, and so I show up and I go into this private hangar, and I'm telling you, the moment I stepped foot in the private hangar, it was obvious to me and everybody in there, I did not belong.

I mean, I got my four kids and my wife. We look like the Clampett family coming on vacation, and everybody kind of looks over like, who is this? We don't recognize him, and the lady at the front desk has just got this look of death on her face like this is not where you're supposed to be, and I kind of walk up to the front of the thing, and she's looking at me with suspicion, and I said, I'm the guest of, and I said this guy's name, and when I said that guy's name, her entire demeanor just shifts, and she's like, oh, you must be Mr. Greer.

I said, actually, it's Dr. Greer if you want to be technical about it. She said, oh, we've got your plane ready. She goes, how can we make you, what would you like to drink? Can I get the bags for your kids? Your kids want to watch TV. They want candy. I got all kinds of stuff for them. You guys just sit back.

This is going to be a great experience. All that happens not because my name is Mr. Greer, Dr. Greer, J.D. Greer, or anything. It happened because of the name of this man that had been suddenly tied to my name, and all the blessings of that room and that private jet got transferred to me because I was connected to him. When you become a Christian, it means that Jesus' name gets associated with you so that all the blessings of salvation begin to become yours. I am saved not because the name of J.D.

Greer has any notoriety to it, not because it has any righteousness associated to it. I am saved because Jesus Christ has given me his righteousness, and when his name got associated with my name, all the promises of God were given to me. Like Paul says, all the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus. I didn't earn a single promise. I don't have to do anything to maintain the promise. God gave it to me as a gift, and he said, you take the name, you get them all.

You get everything. Calling out of the name of Jesus is how God raised his son from the dead. You ever wonder what God the Father said to Jesus after he'd been in the grave for three days and it was time to resurrect? Resurrect, arise, or whatever.

I mean, there's all kinds of songs about it. Listen, if my son had been dead for three days, I can tell you what I would say to him. I wouldn't be like, resurrect, be thou, resurrect.

I would say, Adam, get up. And it says that when Jesus, God called Jesus' name, the powers of death itself couldn't hold Jesus, and he burst out of the grave. And what that means is that when I call out the name of Jesus in faith over my chains and my condemnation and those things, those chains shattered just as surely as the bounds of death shattered over Jesus. It's like the hymn writer says, long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast-bound in sin and nature's night.

Thine eye diffused, a quickening ray. I rose, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my soul was free. I rose, went forth and followed thee. Jesus is the name to which one day the knee of every creature in the universe will bow. Philippians chapter two, verse nine, says it this way. Therefore, God has bestowed on him the name, the name that is above every name. By the way, have you ever heard somebody say that Jesus is not really God? Well, then how in the world does God give Jesus a name that is above every name, including his own name?

God's not going to give a higher name to somebody than he gives to himself. So of course Jesus is God, because he's got the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every knee would bow. Every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth. I sometimes wonder like, why does under the earth, why did that have to be qualified? You know, evidently there's things under the earth that we are going to bow to.

They're all, it's all included. Philippians two, verse 10, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory. See, Paul's thinking about Exodus 34, to the glory of God the Father, it's all bound up in that name. That means that one day, one day, I don't know who's going to say it. Maybe God the Father, maybe an archangel, I don't know, maybe one of us is going to say the name Jesus. And at that moment, the entire universe, everything living, everything past, present, and future, every king, every cynic, every scoffer, every doubter is going to be driven to their knees.

Some of them will drop in worship, some will drop in fear, but all will drop in recognition that there is power in the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name. By the way, I think you get a picture of it in John chapter 18. In fact, this is one of those every once in a while in the New Testament, something squeaks out of Jesus's life and you don't see it much.

And it's almost like it comes right back in, but it just, you know, this is one of them. John 18, Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane and Judas and the temple guards are coming to take him to the crucifixion. And so they come up and they're in the dark and Jesus walks out to meet him and he says, who are you seeking? And they say, Jesus of Nazareth. And all Jesus says, John 18, 6 says, I am. Evidently he said it in Hebrew, Yahweh, the name of God.

And it says that when he said it, they suddenly just fell backwards on the ground on their faces. I think that is a glimpse of what's going to happen in Philippians 2, 9, when one day somebody utters that name and every living creature is driven to their knees, some in worship, some in fear, all in recognition that Jesus Christ is the Lord. The apostles, Acts 5, 41 says that they were willing to suffer for the name.

Why? Because they'd seen that name drive out demons. They'd seen that name heal the sick. They'd seen that name give sight to the blind.

They had seen that name give hearing to the deaf. Acts 4, 12, Peter would say, there is salvation in nobody else, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name given under heaven, given among men. So we got to be saved for the name of Jesus. You ever wonder why Christians teach that salvation is only found in Christ? It's not because we're mean. It's not because we feel like, oh, we're special and, you know, and we're better than everybody else.

Exactly the opposite. It's that we understand that our salvation was not an easy thing. It was not something that anybody could fix. It wasn't a better program to live by.

It wasn't a few suggestions. Our problem, what we needed to be saved from is we were dead in our sin. And we were under eternal crushing guilt, guilt that would have merited hell for us. And there was only one name that can bring life back from the dead and can remove that kind of guilt. And that name is the name of Jesus.

So what we have to start saying is not, hey, whatever way you want to get to God is okay. Choose the name that you like. What I say is my name ain't gonna work.

Your name ain't gonna work. A demon's name ain't gonna work. Any other God's name ain't gonna work. The only name that's gonna work is the God who went into the grave, came back from the dead and died for your sin.

That's the only name where you can find salvation. And when you understand that, you stop begrudging the idea that Jesus is the only way. You become grateful for it. If you were physically sick and the doctor said, you will die within the month, but I have good news. There is a medicine, one medicine that can heal your sickness. It's in this pill. You take this one pill and you will be healed. You don't hate the doctor for saying that. You don't begrudge the doctor for saying that. You're grateful to him for telling you that.

You take the pill and if it works, then you probably spend the rest of your life telling everybody who's got the same sickness you are, there is power in that one drug. Pay attention to it and take it. Christians find the name of Jesus precious.

Why? Because we know their salvation, the power to save that we needed was only found in him. Everything in the Christian life is in the name of Jesus.

That's why we find it precious. The Jews would not even write Jesus's name, or they wouldn't write God's name. They wouldn't write God's name.

They had such fear and reverence for them. The name of Jesus has a different effect on us. Yes, it is fear and reverence, but instead of making us cower backwards in fear, the name of Jesus makes us draw close in worship because the name of Jesus means literally Yahweh saves. I would say that if all you know, listen, is the name of God.

If all you know is the name of God, then what the Jews felt, the reason they wouldn't even write the name is probably similar to how you feel about God. There's this sense of your, there's a sense of fear, dread, a sense of distance and alienation. When you come to know Jesus, that dread and alienation is removed.

And then in its place is put this invitation that draws you close. Sometimes just the mention of Jesus's name will fill my heart with a sense of wonder and hope, because I know that when I have messed things up and I know that when I feel like I'm at my lowest, I know Jehovah saves. And I know that God did not put his love on me because I had earned it. God put his love on me because God is a savior.

And that fills me with such hope. And like the old hymn we used to sing, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name. Master, savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain.

Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there's something about that name. I would dare say that we could measure your relationship to God based on how much emotion you feel about the name of Jesus. And if you are one of those people who say, God, yeah, I get the big deal about God, but I don't understand what the big deal is about Jesus. I would say, I don't mean this to be mean, but I would say that just shows that you don't know God at all. Because all you know is a God who rules, a God who creates, and a God who judges.

That's not a God you can be close to. But when you come to know the God who saves, you'll find that sense of dread and anxiety removed and in its place, put an invitation that draws you close. Everything in the Christian life is in the name of Jesus. Spiritual growth occurs as you press deeper into the name.

Do you crave God? That kind of passion and desire doesn't come from learning more facts about the Bible or by doing more good works. It comes from basking in the glorious truth of the gospel.

That's our goal every day here on Summit Life, so thanks for joining us. Now, J.D., the teaching series you've just begun is about learning the character of God. So why are we offering books on prayer this month? Yeah, you know, whenever you learn about who God is, that's what prompts prayer. The more you know about who God is and who you are, the more natural prayer comes. This series will show us that there's a God who is both more awe-inspiring and worship-deserving and at the same time more intimate and more aware of our needs and more willing to help than we ever imagined. If you look at anybody's Christian life who is fruitful and flourishing, you're going to find a vibrant, vibrant prayer life, which is why we're giving this bundle of three books as a discipleship tool that will help you.

Now, you reach out to us at jdgeer.com. There's five things to pray for your kids, five things to pray for your parents, and five things to pray for your city. I use these books in my own personal quiet time, which is why I'm excited to commend them to you, help give some structure to a part of your Christian life that a lot of people struggle to thrive in. That's really helpful, J.D. Thank you. We'd love to get you these three books on prayer today. It's our way of saying thanks when you donate today to support Summit Life at the suggested level of $35 or more. This ministry is made possible by friends like you who come alongside us with financial support so that people across the country and even around the world can hear this program on the radio and web. Join that mission when you donate today and remember to ask for your five things to pray bundle.

Call 866-335-5220 or give and request the books online at jdgeer.com. I'm Molly Bedovich. Tomorrow we'll continue our new study called The Name, learning how to set aside our own assumptions so we can know God as He truly is. That's our subject Tuesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.