Hallowed Be Thy Name

In your Bible, if you look with me to Matthew chapter number six this morning, Matthew six, we're going to read verse nine down to verse 15. Matthew six, this is the great sermon on the Mount.

Our Lord gives us the guidance on how to pray and also how not to pray. And we will pick up in verse number nine in Matthew six. The Bible says, after this manner, therefore pray ye our father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father, which father forgive your trespasses. God and our father, we do rejoice in this opportunity to pause and ask your blessing upon this service. Lord, we pray that your word would be like a fire and we would be would and it would consume us. I pray that your word would impact us in a glorious way that we would be conformed from ourself to the image of Christ. Lord, may we leave here today looking less like us and more like you help us to cast our minds upon the word of God and give it the weight and honor it deserves. I pray today that your people Lord, we would love you with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. God search us and know our hearts. We pray that you would try us and know our thoughts. And if there's any sinfulness in us that you would lead us in the right way. God, I pray today for anyone that doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ, that if they were to stand before you today, Father, that they would not know what to say. Lord, I pray today they might come and be saved and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is Savior.

Glorify your name for your own sake. Today we ask it in Jesus name and God's people said, Man, you may be seated this morning. Well, this is our third week as we've began to study on the topic of prayer. Jesus has been teaching in this great Sermon on the Mount, this really foundational sermon that launched his public teaching and preaching ministry.

He started out by preaching the true gospel, what the true gospel is, and now he's teaching us what true prayer is. And he started by warning us about how not to pray. He tells us in verse five through verse eight, there are things that can hinder our prayer life. There are wrong ways to pray, in other words. And we looked at 10 ways that can hinder our prayer life. And we looked at that on a Sunday and a Wednesday. You can go back and listen to those sermons.

It's important to know those things. Last week, we looked at how we are to view God as we enter into this great privilege of prayer, how we are to approach him. And today I want to look at the first of six different requests that Jesus says we are to make as we enter into prayer. Friend, I would ask you this morning, how is your prayer life? Have you began to focus on your prayer life over these last couple weeks?

I trust that is the case. I've been encouraged by so many people coming and saying, you know, Josh, I've really began to spend more time in prayer, praying and investing time every day more into that area of my life. I feel like all of us can always increase in our prayer life. I don't think anybody says, you know, I feel like I finally arrived in my prayer life.

I think we all have area to grow. This past Wednesday, we looked at a very important message on the importance to pray with persistence. And Jesus talked about that in Luke Chapter 11 and such an important message this Wednesday. I'm actually going to be preaching on how to pray using the word of God, using scripture. One of the greatest ways to pray is to pray with scripture and understanding how to do that. And so if you struggle with saying, hey, it's hard for me to pray for more than a minute or a few minutes. I tell you, if you come Wednesday, you will you will learn how to increase that.

And so Wednesday at six thirty, love to see there. But if we're not making time to pray, I want to challenge you with something that I think can help. Just just it's important to start somewhere. As a Christian, you need to build this into your life. You need to begin to set time aside for God. Very intentional time aside. We must realize God is not a God to find time for.

Do you hear me? God is not a God to find time for. God is a God to make time for. We find time for things that are that are casual in our life, but we make time for things in our life that are priorities. Let me ask you, is God a make time God in your life or is he a fine time God in your life?

Where does he rank in the priority scale? And I would encourage you to start somewhere. Begin by setting at least 10 minutes aside in the morning to read and to pray. I believe God's worth the length of a snooze button. Y'all with me this morning?

You believe that? And so this this week start tomorrow and wake up and spend five minutes at least in reading the Bible and then spend five minutes in prayer. Do this for 30 days and then after 30 days, bump that up to 15 minutes. And after 30 days, bump that up to 20 minutes and just begin to learn to pray and read every single morning, every single morning. Because when you make God a priority in the morning, guess what you can do through the day? He can become first in your life through the day. But if you don't get time with the Lord until the evening, well, I only read and pray at night. Pastor Joshua, what do you do the rest of the day?

If I don't put him first place in the morning, how is he going to be first place in the day? I don't know about you, but I need my thoughts fixated on him early. I need my heart fixated on God early. I was encouraged by talking to an older couple in our church who been living for the Lord for decades now.

And I they shared with me just years ago. The husband was telling me how he heard a pastor challenge him. He said, just to pray five minutes or read five minutes a day, read five minutes a day. And he said, I began to do that. And he said, he said, I would read five. He said, I was on a camping trip one time and I woke up like in the middle of the night and I realized I didn't read today. And he said, I got up and with the light of the moon, I read for five minutes. He had made it such a commitment in his life.

And he says, you know, by the grace of God today, I've read through the entire Bible over 50 times. I know we got some guys who play basketball. I remember playing basketball in college and my coach would tell me, hey, you got to make this a priority. Get out here and shoot free throws. You know, as a big man and you get fouls, you got to be able to make these. And if I wanted to be improving in that, I had to take time to practice on those free throws. I had a cousin that played basketball with me in high school in one of our last games and played at UD in one of our tournaments and he was 10 for 10 from the three-point line. And you don't do that by luck. You do that by persistent after practice when everybody's gone, still out there shooting threes, shooting threes, shooting threes.

They said Larry Bird would stay around to like hundreds of shots after the games, after practices, I mean, and just learning to do that. But in anything in our life, if you value it, you invest in it. And if you want to want to make God a priority in your life, you must make prayer a priority in your life.

You must spend time with him. And so this prayer starts in verse nine. Jesus says, after this manner, therefore pray ye our father, which art in heaven. And last week we saw how in the Old Testament, God was seen as father only to the Jewish nation. And God's name was referred to his father only about 15 times in the Old Testament. But that changes in the New Testament because our Lord Jesus Christ alone calls God father in reference to his relationship as well as our relationship as believers to God over 160 times in the gospels and 245 times in the New Testament, God has referred to as our father.

That's a 1600% increase from Old to New Testament. And God is not simply a father of a Christian group, but God is father of the individual. As a believer, he is your father. So no matter what kind of earthly father you have, if you're saved, you have a heavenly father. And we saw last week the great many truths that proceed out of the scriptures about that relationship.

Now it could be easy for us to get a little bit sentimental about that relationship. God is our father and maybe maybe grow too much sentimentality from that. And so Jesus Christ immediately moves from the intimacy of God as Father to the glory of God as our Father, who is a Father in heaven. He says, Pray our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Psalms 103, which is one of my favorite songs, probably I would say my favorite song says in verse number 19, the Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth overall. That's who our Father is. It says in Isaiah 66 one, thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. That's the that's the picture the Bible gives us of God. Often in my prayers, I use all those verses I just shared with you that that God you are you sit in the throne of heaven, the earth is your footstool, that you are my father, but you are the God who's my father is in heaven. And the Bible transcends us from the earth to the heavenlies where God's throne is.

And the Bible likens the earth is his footstool. The Bible refers to us like grasshoppers to God, like like dust. In Psalm 103, it talks about this in verse 13. It says like a father pittieth his children. So the Lord pity them that fear him. But then he goes on and says, For he knoweth our frame, he remembers we are but dust. And in our days are like grass is the flower of the field. So he flourishes for the wind passeth over and it is gone.

The plates rev shall know it no more. We're like we're like the wind blows upon us and we're gone and and he pities us with mercy in such a state. And we are to see God in the glory of his transcendent majesty in the heavens. And so Jesus teaches us when we come to God in prayer, we need to enter through the door of humility, recognizing we're not praying to some local false deity. We're not spinning wheels and gaining favor with God. Rather, we are coming to God who is the father and he is our father and he's the father of the universe. This is who our God is. And so first of all, Jesus tells us that we are to see him in light of being our father who is in heaven. But first, as we enter into our message today, prayer must start with worship of our father.

Verse nine, he says, We need to pray after this man or our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Now the word hallowed comes from the Greek word hagiadzo and it means to separate from everything else. It's that idea of separateness, separating from what is common, from what is profane. It is to acknowledge something as being holy.

The Greek word hagiadzo comes from the root word hagiadzo where we get the English word holy from. It speaks about holding in reverence or holy all. And so to hallow God's name means to means to set God's name apart from every other name. His name is literally the name which is above every name. There is no name like his name.

And so in this first of six petitions that Jesus tells us we are to make to God, we are to start the petition with asking God to work in our lives in such a way that we would treat his name with the reverence and the glory that it is deserving of that we would uphold it in a way that there is no other name that we would lift up like his name. Now, why does Jesus say hallowed be thy name? Well, in biblical times, as well as today, a person's name stands for much more than just the word. The name stood for the whole character of the person.

Even today, if somebody spoke in slanderous ways about you, people can say, you know, they ruined your good name. And when it comes to the name of God, it speaks about God himself. It speaks about all that God is. And God has chosen friends to reveal himself to us with titles that he's ascribed to himself.

Now, you and I can give ourselves titles that don't always accurately describe us, that don't always define who we are. But with God, he can only define himself in perfect ways. And sometimes the way we speak about God can be inaccurate. And whenever we speak about God in an inaccurate way, it always brings him down. But for you and I, if we spoke about each other in an inaccurate way, sometimes we can actually build someone up.

Like you can say something about someone that's not true that makes them actually look better, right? But with God, that's not the case because he is an absolute perfection transcendent glory. Any way that we define him that is not accurate about him is always a decreasing of his glory. We are bringing him down. So we want to come to God and say, God, how do you define yourself?

Does that make sense? God, how do you speak about yourself? So he gives us some of his names in the scriptures.

And really, his names would be without end because God's glory has no bounds. And Jesus is telling us here when we pray, we are to seek God's name, his character, that it would be set apart and made known and glorified above everyone else. So prayer needs to begin with worship.

It needs to begin with hallowing God's name. Everything in the believer's life flows from a right view of God. If you and I have a wrong view of God, we will have a wrong view of ourself.

If we have a wrong view of God, we have a wrong view of reality. So it starts with the right view of God. We have to align our lives with truth, with our creator. We must get it right with our God.

Vertical wisdom will transport itself into horizontal wisdom. Until you know God, you will live like a fool. You will make foolish decisions.

You will have foolish thoughts and speak foolishly. But when you understand God, you begin to live accurately because he is the transcendent one. He is ultimate reality. And our prayer and our desire must be early in the morning that God my life would align to glorify you. You are my Father, but you are the God of the universe.

And I need to see you in that manner. I need to worship you. The glory of God is, as the reformers would say, is the chief end of man. The chief end of your existence is to glorify God. Jesus prayed this. He said in John 12 28, Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

The Bible says, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the what? To the glory of God. First Corinthians 10 31.

It's the song of heaven. Revelation 4 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor and power. Thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

I was reading in Isaiah this week and wonderful verse in Isaiah Chapter 43 verse seven says this. Even everyone that is called by my name, all the believers for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him. Yeah, I have made him. Do you understand you exist?

Not by accident. You're not a result of spontaneous generation by evolutionary processes. You aren't the result of a slug walking out of the water, slithering out, growing some legs and becoming a monkey turning into a man.

That's that's ideology. You you are created on purpose and for a purpose. God made you in his image, and we are the only creatures that God ever made that celebrates greatness.

Nothing else does this. We respond to greatness. That's why that's why we get sports jerseys with our favorite athletes. That's why we were hats with our favorite numbers of an athlete that we celebrate. Some of you need to change your sports jerseys to more accurate jerseys, right? We are Buckeye Nation here, right? In a physical fleshly sense. There's not a verse in the Bible on that.

I'm still working through the book of Joshua trying to find it. Okay, but we celebrate greatness. We're the only ones who keep stats.

Nothing else in the universe keeps records like that. Keep stats and numbers and details. We want to know who runs the fastest jumps the farthest who can throw that ball the farthest.

We celebrate greatness. I saw the other day Eli Manning dressed up like a like they put him in disguise, and he went on to a college Division one college recruiting, but it was a walk on setting. So he here's here's this great quarterback going up there, and these guys are like, Who's this hillbilly coming? I mean, his hair's all, you know, wonky and stuff. Don't Google search it.

You can watch it later. So but he comes in and all these other guys are like, you know, this guy's kind of silly looking. Who's this guy come? And then he starts throwing the ball and you can see all the other coaches are like, man, you know, this guy's got an arm on him. You know, he looks like a goofball. But man, this guy can throw. I mean, he's launching 60 yard passes just on the spot, man, just drilling these balls. And you can see all the other walk ons are like, man, our base over.

You know, I can't compete with this guy. And then he removes the mask. But but what was interesting was everybody began to like, get super excited because they saw somebody who could throw a piece of pigskin. Like how great that guys, you can take this piece of skin and launch it down the field, you know, and we celebrate those kind of things. Do you know that that God designed us to worship? Worship comes from an old word that means worth ship, something that is worthy to be celebrated. And and you need to understand that everything that is in existence that is glorious is a reflection of God. The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God. So when you wake up in the morning, you go out and you see that sunrise. You're like, wow, that is beautiful. That reflects the glory of God. It is not God, but it is a reflection of his glory. The the sunrise with the sunset.

When you see that harvest moon, isn't that awesome at night? And you begin to see these beautiful creations of God. Just know when we come into God's presence, we will be so overwhelmed with the glory of God that eternity will not be long enough of a time for us to fall on our knees and celebrate the greatness of God.

The Bible tells us when he calls the winds and the seas to stop, the disciples came to shore proskuneoed, which is a word that means they put their head on the ground and worshiped him. Do you think you have to be prompted to do that when you get to heaven? Guys, it's time to get excited about Jesus. Now there will be none of that. There will be no dry settings in heaven.

It will be fullness of joy. I remember when Ohio State won the championship, I didn't have to be like, hey, Josh, now it's time probably to celebrate your team. I was like, yes, texting every Michigan fan. I know we see this.

And then last year they they texted me. I said, I said, you Michigan fans are like cicadas. You come out every 17 years and make a bunch of noise. You're not saying it's bad. It's bad. I shouldn't have said it.

Don't write me a letter. I love you. You know, there's spiritual conversion, but also there's there's sports conversion.

Okay. We need to understand that you are created and designed to worship. And when we come into prayer friends, we have to come with a spirit to worship the king.

This is serious. This is this is the joy of our life. And I can tell you, everything in our lives will be unfulfilling until you get that right. Nothing satisfies nothing. It's only when you are satisfied in him.

Are you really satisfied? You know, the Bible says in flip in Psalms chapter 16 11 in his presence is fullness of joy. And in his right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Anybody want to enjoy that forever? So we must enter prayer with worship. Secondly, we must worship God through his names, because the names of God reflect his glory and because his glory is endless. Really, the names of God would literally be endless.

I mean, I could preach for months just on the names of Jesus in the Bible. He's called Wonderful Counselor, the father of eternity. Rose of Sharon, the first and last, the beginning in the Good Shepherd, the shepherd and bishop of our souls, the rock of ages, the rock, just the names of Christ just go on and on. But but there are some names that are used chiefly in the scriptures, and that's what I want to look at today is God comes and defines himself to us through some of these names. And I believe this can enhance our prayer life as you begin to pray about what the Bible says is true of God, because God is defining himself through his name. So how do it be his name? How can I worship God through his names?

What are some of God's names that reflect his glory? Well, one of the chief names of God that God has defined himself with is the Hebrew name Elohim. Elohim is used 2310 times in the Bible. It's actually used the first verse of the Bible. Genesis 1-1 reads this way. In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. It's interesting because the name Elohim is in the plural form in the Hebrew, which is extremely rare.

And in fact, you will find it in no other Jewish writing appearing this way. The I am on the end of a word made it plural, such as the word cherub is a single angelic creature where cherubim would be multiple ones. The seraph is one angelic being that would be in the throne of God and seraphim would be the plural rendering of that. And so when it says Elohim, it is a plural form of the name for God, and it reflects, some have said the plurality of his attributes, but it also, I believe, would speak to the plurality of the persons inside of the one Godhead. So there is one God in three persons, the Bible says the eternal Father, eternal Son and the Holy Spirit, right? That's why we baptize, the Bible says, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Bible says. And so God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit are co equal co eternal. It is one God in three persons. You say, I don't understand that.

Well, that's fine. You and I are carrying around an eight ounce cup. God is like the ocean. We're not going to be able to fill the whole thing up.

And some of us aren't working with full eight ounces right now, right? Just 25 verses later, in Genesis Chapter one, it says in verse 26, and Elohim said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. I remember talking to a Jewish friend years ago and he said, you know, there was only one God. We reject Christianity because of the Trinity and he was going on some things. I said, you believe in the Pentateuch, right?

The Torah, the law of Moses for first five books of the Bible. He said, yes. I said, let's go to the very beginning. It says Elohim said he created the heaven and the earth.

Why is it in plural form? And he didn't know how to answer that. I said, well, we'll look at verse 26. God said, let us make man in our image. I said, why did he speak in a plural form? He says, I have no idea.

I said, I do. Let's talk about it. And it was a wonderful conversation about the glory of God and the person of Christ, the Holy Spirit and the father. Now the name Elohim indicates that God is the supreme deity.

He is to be feared, reverenced and worse if the name indicates God who is of unlimited power. God doesn't grow weary. Anybody sleepy this morning when you woke up? Anybody tired on Monday or Tuesday or by the end of the week, you feel fatigued. God never feels that way. You say, well, he rested on the seventh day.

You think he rested because he was tired. God literally just set a day aside so that we would understand the importance for our own rest. And you know, that's one right way that reflects on the Christian faith being the real faith. Why do you think we have a seven day week?

There's no other religion that teaches that. Where did that seven day week come from? It came from the B-I-B-L-E, the beginning, the one who created it, right?

Six days work, seven, you rest. But this name is also used in the Bible in different ways. The word Elohim, there's compound versions of that. And so it takes the name Elohim and it expands that into other definitions of God.

And I'll give you some examples. In Genesis 17, Abraham was 99 years old and the Lord appeared on Abraham, the Bible says, and said, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. He came to Abraham, who was 99, letting him know you're going to have a child in your old age. And Abraham needed to know that God had the power to pull this off. So God comes and uses an old Akkadian name and it's the name Shaddai and it's El Shaddai and it means like the almighty God who would stand upon a mountain. It speaks about his omnipotence and so he comes to him with the name El Shaddai.

I am El Shaddai, walk before me and be thou perfect. In the Old Testament, God assigns his name as El Elyon. It was the name that Melchizedek used to bless Abraham upon Abraham returning from the battle with King Sheremir and the other kings that he fought against in Genesis 14, 19. And here Melchizedek blessed him and said, blessed be Abraham of El Elyon, the most high God possessor of heaven and earth.

That name is used four times in Genesis chapter 14 verse 18 through 22. That's how God is defining himself and being defined by the scriptures. He is the God who is most high. There is no one who exceeds him. In Isaiah 40, 28, he is referred to as the everlasting God.

It says, hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, it's the Hebrew title El Olam, the everlasting God, the Yahweh, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary. There's no searching of his understanding. You know, God is in the eternal present. God sits outside of time. You say, well, that's kind of stretchy to my brain.

Okay, I understand that. Inside of the laws of physics, they've understood the great difficulty of grasping like quantum physics, of understanding that time can be stretched like gravity causes time to speed up and so forth. It can be stretched and slowed down. So time is actually dimension. We live in a four to four dimension world, three spatial one time. God lives outside of that.

So he can invade it, but he can also be outside of it. And it's just he's in the eternal. He's the eternal I am the eternal ever present God. And he's called the God who El Olam means that he's the God who sits in eternity.

That's who he is. In Genesis 16 13, the Bible calls him El Roy or the God who sees Hagar to use that title of him. In Isaiah 7 14, he's called Amenul, which means God with us. And there's many other names that are compounds off of the name Elohim.

The second basic name for God in the Old Testament is really the primary name of God. It's his personal name. It is the name Yahweh. Some of you have probably heard of the tetragrammaton. It's the four letters.

We spell like YHWH in English. But in the Bible, this name is used over 5,300 times, 5,321 times to be exact. It is the personal name of God. It's the name God assigns to himself when he comes toe Moses in Exodus, Chapter three, verse 14. And God or Yahweh said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say the Children of Israel.

I am hath sent you. You always know the name Yahweh in the Hebrew is being used in the English Bible because you ever read in the Old Testament. You say, Why is sometimes the Lord translated capital L lower case O R D and in other times it's spelled capital L capital O capital R capital D. Anybody ever wonder that?

The reason that's the case is any time the covenant name Yahweh is used, they capitalize the whole name. So this is one way to identify that in our Bible. And the meaning is Yahweh, the idea of that name is that God is the self existing one. God is the self existing one. It is what could be called the is ness of God in his expression, both of his presence and existence. God is in a sense in which no other being is. God is and the cause of his being is his own being.

God is because he is no other creation or creature cannot be said off. Everything that has been created has a beginning, even time as a beginning. But God has no beginning. He's eternal.

There is only one song that Moses ever pinned. It's Psalms Chapter 90 and in verse number two, he says this before the mountains were brought forth or ever that has formed the earth in the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. So we must come to God and recognize that he is the eternal self existing one. The God who sits in eternity. He is the God most highs, El Shaddai, God our omnipotent one. And listen to how God defines himself in Isaiah 45 verse five. God says, I am the Lord or I am Yahweh.

There is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee that there has not known me. So let me ask you, do you think there's any other God? How do you know there's no other God? Because the God said there is no other God.

Verse six, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am Yahweh and there is none else. You either believe that or you don't. And if you don't believe that, then you have some problems. Isaiah, you have some problems with how to be saved.

You have problems with how to be reconciled with your God. Isaiah 45 12 says, I have made the earth and created man upon it. I even my hands have stretched out the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded. He said in verse 18 for thus sayeth Yahweh that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it. He has established it. He created not in vain.

He formed it to be inhabited. I am Yahweh and there is none else. You know how to concludes this section in verse 22. He said, look unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else. You want to be saved? There's one God you can go to for that. There's only one savior. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is none else. I've studied the other major world religions. What do you do when you study into Hinduism and Buddhism and they say that earthquakes happen because an elephant bends down and gets a drink of water? Well, whoever the God that wrote those holy books is not the true God because that's not true.

And I could walk you through the other false religions and how they're falsified through scientific teachings that we know. You know, the Bible says in the book of Isaiah, it says the earth is a circle and hangs on nothing. How did they know that? The Bible talks about the expansion rate of the universe and we didn't even know that till the nineties with the Hubble telescope.

How did we know that? The Bible equates the sand of the sea like in number to the stars of heaven. But in the days of even Jesus's day, they could only count by eye about 7400 stars. How did they know that the stars of the sky were like an equivalence to the sand grains of sand on the seashore? Like the Bible says, well, now they know that because as you go out into outer space, they said the number of stars are like that of equivalence to the number of sand on the seashore.

They're just innumerable. Whoever the God is that wrote the Bible would also know science, wouldn't he? He would know that earthquakes don't happen because a giant catfish swims through the earth. That rules out Buddhism. That rules out Hinduism.

It's not built on layers of honey and butter, as they say. The Bible doesn't speak in such ways. It talks about the hydrological cycle in the book of Job.

How do they know this? You know, Matthew Murray, who many of his books are used as the chief book of oceanography. He was reading one day in Psalms chapter eight where it talks about the currents of the sea. He went out looking for the pathways in the sea that the Bible says and found the currents in the sea. And we now use those on all of our shipping lines. The Bible doesn't speak in silly ways about reality.

It speaks in accurate definitive terms. You know why? Because the God who wrote it knew it because he made it. This is who you pray to. Since this is the sacred name of God, it was so sacred among the Jews, the Jews would not even use the name Yahweh. They called God Hashim. Hashim is the Hebrew word for the name. They called God the name. And so they actually stopped writing his name all the way out. And when you study ancient, how they transcribe the Bible in the Old Testament as well as the New, but in the Old Testament, the Jews, when they were transcribing this, whenever they came to the name Yahweh, they would stop. They would go take a bath, change their clothes, get a new pen and write the name Yahweh. And every time the name Yahweh was used in the Bible, they would stop and do that every single time.

You need to understand this. There is no book in the ever has been written that is like this. Nothing has ever been copied down like this. That's why when they found the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s, it matched up with our Bible. The Dead Sea Scrolls were written 100 years before Jesus was alive. And they matched up, the Old Testament books matched exactly up with what we have. You know why? Because God preserves his word.

Amen. And he preserved it in a method that no one else has ever done before. Now, the name Yahweh is written with four consonants. Since the Jews didn't pronounce the name today, the correct consonants and pronunciation is uncertain. Also, the ancient Hebrew, in ancient Hebrew, they did not use vowels when they wrote words out. They just wrote the consonants. They used vowels in verbal Jewish language, in ancient verbal Jewish language, but they did not use it in writing. So you would only know the correct pronunciation if you knew the language in that day. By the sixth and seventh century, the vowels, what they found was the name Yahweh was just four consonants.

So they weren't quite sure what the vowels were. So they took the vowels of the name of God Adonai, which is another name we'll look at very briefly after this. They combined the vowels of Adonai with the consonants of Yahweh, and they came up with the name Jehovah. So Jehovah is the name that is basically created from the name Yahweh and the consonants of Yahweh and the vowels of Adonai.

By the sixth and seventh centuries, that's what happened. Now, we do know the consonants are correct for the name Yahweh, but we don't know if the vowels are right, and we don't know if the pronunciations even right if we got the vowels right. Some prefer Yahweh, some prefer Yah-ha-way, or Yah-hoo-ah-way, or Yah-hoo-ah-vay.

There's a lot of different ways that they fight over this. Some people say, is it wrong to use the name Jehovah? Well, the Jews didn't even use the J sound. There is no J sound, and I always find this interesting because Jehovah witnesses are like, we have the only true name, and we rediscovered the true name of God. I'm like, do you know the name Jehovah was created in the sixth and seventh century?

I could go down that road, but I don't want to take time for that. But they don't use the J sound, so Jesus would not be called Jesus in that day. His name was Yeshua. That's how the Jews would pronounce his name. So it wouldn't be Jehovah. It would be Yah-ho-vah. And it could be the right pronunciation.

It could be the right vowels. We don't know. But I would say it's not wrong at all to use the name Jehovah.

It's not. I don't believe that at all. I think the most important thing is not the sound of the vowels and consonants coming out and that we have those exactly all right, but rather that our hearts are right when we approach his name. But I wanted to give you a little bit of a taste of the level of weight that the Jews had upon the name of God. People will use God's name in a very light manner. They'll burn the biscuits and take God's name in vain. Miss a free throw and take God's name in vain.

They'll have somebody scare them and take God's name in vain. I can tell you, friends, that is blasphemy. And our lips should be sealed from taking God's name in such a careless way.

The word vain doesn't mean taken with cuss words. It means to hold it in something lightly. You don't hold it with reverence. It's like you say you take my name light. You're taking me light.

It means that you're not holding me with any respect. And to take God's name in such a way that would just be flippant and nonchalant, we need to hold his name on the top shelf. It's the name above every name.

You're with me this morning? And so the name Jehovah is fine to use. You can use the name Yahweh.

Those are all wonderful to use, but just want to give you some history on that. I want to show you here, though, that when you come to the New Testament, Yahweh is revealed in the New Testament as Yeshua. Whoever Yahweh is shows up as Yeshua in the New Testament. In other words, Jesus is Yahweh.

Did you hear me? Whoever Yahweh is, is Jesus Christ. John 8 56. Let me break a couple verses down to you. If you have your Bibles, you can flip over to John eight.

And if you sneeze, we know you have not read enough this week, right? Some dust off that Bible. Look at John 8 56. Jesus is speaking to the Jews, and some of these guys were being very antagonistic against Christ. And Jesus says, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. It's a tremendous statement. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou are not yet 50 years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

They're like, You're, you're crazy. You're not even 50 years old. You think Abraham saw your day?

You were not in existence. Look what Jesus says here in verse number 58. Jesus said unto them, What's he? What's the next two words? That verily verily, as I've told you before, that's that's that. That's the Greek word all main.

It's where we get the English word. Guess what? Amen. And it's just saying, So let it be. This is true.

Let it come to pass. We amen stuff at the end. If we agree with it, Jesus, amen. His message before he preached it.

That's how good it was. He says, verily verily or Amen and Amen. I tell you, before Abraham was, what's he say?

I am. Whoever the I am is in Exodus three shows up here in flesh in John eight. You know the there was only one response to someone who claimed to be the I am.

It was to kill them. Verse 59 then took the upstones to cast at him. But Jesus hit himself, went out of the temple, going through the midst of them. So passed by all through Jesus's life, he claims to be the I am.

He says this over and over. And John four, he told the woman at the well, he said, I am the Messiah. And John 6 35. He said, I am the bread of life in John seven. He said, I am the living water in John eight. He said, I am from above in John nine. He said, I am the light of the world in John 10. He said, I am the door of the sheep. John 10 11. He said, I am the Good Shepherd. John 14 60 said, I am the way, the truth and the life. John 15 one. He says, I am the vine over and over. He claims to be the I am.

Who says such things? Either Christ is a lunatic or he is a liar or Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Romans 10 nine.

Many of you know this by memory. Such a wonderful passage. The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, what's the next two words? The Lord Jesus. If you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be what shall be saved. Anybody want to be saved? You've got to confess Christ is what does that say? Ask him to come into your heart, forgive your sins. That would says, no, it says you're confessing him as Lord. That means Jesus, you own my life.

Now you want, you know what? You know what it says in verse number 13. Look what verse 13 says.

Let's all read this together. This is a great verse for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be safe. So who is the Lord? Let me ask you, who is the Lord? Okay, let's go back to verse nine. You're not answering this loud enough. We're going to have to take our time. We're going to miss lunch.

Ready? That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord who? So who is Lord? So if we go to 13 and it says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Who are you calling upon? Gee, the Lord Jesus, right? Do you know, do you know Romans 10 13 is a quotation out of the book of Joel? I love doing this when I talk to like Jehovah witnesses or Mormons and I say, I'd say, you know, Romans 10 13 is a quotation out of the Old Testament and uh, because they say, well, Jesus is a God, but he's not the God.

Okay. Uh, well you look what Joel two 32 says and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of what, what, what's the word when it's capital l capital o capital r capital d, what's that word? That's Yahweh, isn't it? So if you, if you look that up in the Hebrew, it's Yahweh, it's a tetragrammaton. So whoever calls on the name of Yahweh shall be delivered. It's the same idea for being saved.

And that verse is what Paul uses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to speak about Jesus Christ. Whoever Yahweh is, is the Messiah, the Messiah, the Christ of the New Testament. Jesus is Yahweh and to be saved is to confess Christ is Yahweh. You are God.

You are the God of God. You say, but what's the difference between the father and the son? Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. There is a Trinitarian reality, three separate persons in one Godhead, but it is one God in three persons. You cannot believe in God. The father is God and reject Christ is God.

You don't have the father. Jesus said, if you don't have me, you don't have the father. And so you need to understand Jesus Christ is the eternal God. Some of the additional names of Yahweh or Jehovah in the Old Testament, there are compounds of the name Yahweh also, just like of Elohim. And all of these names are found true of Christ in the New Testament. It's very interesting when you study it out. And so one of the, the compound names is Yahweh.

Sitka me. Then it means Jehovah is our righteousness or Yahweh is our righteousness. And then you come to places like second Corinthians five 21 who's our righteousness in the New Testament.

Christ Jesus, right? For he has made him to be sent for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him or in Christ. Christ is our righteousness. When you come to Exodus 31 13 God says, I am the Lord that does sanctify you.

It's the, it's the Hebrew name Yahweh. And it's, it's God who sanctifies you get to the New Testament. Who's the one who sanctifies us?

Well, Hebrews 10 10 says by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all who sanctifies us. Jesus Christ does. We find God in the Old Testament. Yahweh is, is the provider. They called him Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide after the angels Lord remember when Abraham was getting ready to offer his son Isaac in an offering and then God stopped him and he saw a ram caught in the thicket after he offered that ram.

You know what he did? He called on the name of Jehovah Jireh. Lord, you provide. What did he provide? He provided a ram to be a sacrifice in the place of his son. When you get to the New Testament, guess who Jehovah Jireh is? It's the Lord Jesus Christ who provided himself. Hebrews chapter 10 says as an offering for us. That's why John said he is the lamb of God who takes away the center of the world. Jesus said, no one takes my life.

I can guarantee that. He says, I lay my life down willingly. He gave his life for us. Yahweh Shalom or Jehovah Shalom is Jehovah our peace. Judges six speaks about that. When Gideon built an altar and called on his name Jehovah Shalom and then you get in the New Testament and Romans five one reads like this, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our peace who have broken down the middle wall of perdition. Ephesians two says, and Jesus said in John 14 the day before he died, he said, peace I leave with you. My peace I given to you, not as the world giveth give out of you.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. He's giving them peace less than 24 hours before his own crucifixion. He's the God of peace. That's why peace transcends trials. When you know God, you don't live with the, with the, with the craziness of this world because God transcends the present reality.

We can have peace even in the midst of storms. He's called Jehovah Nissi and in the book of Exodus 17 15 Moses built an altar and called his name Jehovah Nissi. This was the day when remember when Moses was fighting against the malachites and they had to hold his arms up because as long as his arms were up, they got the victory. When they came down, they lost and he realized God is the one who goes to battle for us and he called him Jehovah Nissi and the name means God, you're our banner. You're the one who fights for us.

You're our banner over us. You, you are, are you war on our behalf and then you get to revelation 19 and who goes to war on our behalf. Revelation 19 11 says, I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him is called faithful and true and in righteousness he does judge and make war.

His eyes are like a flame of fire. His head were many crowns at no, uh, and he had a name written which no man knew, but he himself and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses. You think that's going to be a pretty awesome day when you come up behind Christ on white horses and out of his mouth go with the sharp two edges sword and smoke the nations and shall rule them with a rod of iron. He tread at the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty God. He is Yahweh Nissi in that day for us. You think you're going to have to be provoked to say, you know what? I think he's the greatest. I looked over the stats run the numbers. I think we should vote for Jesus this year.

You're not going to have to be compelled for that, right? When the Jews came out of Egypt, they needed water. God healed the water at Mara and they called him Yahweh Rafa, Jehovah Rafa, the Lord that heals and Isaiah 53 five. Speaking of our Messiah says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are what?

This isn't simply physical. This is spiritual healing. They called him in Psalms 23 one. The Lord is my shepherd. It's Yahweh Roy.

I shall not want. John 10. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and they and I know them and they follow me in either good shepherd we follow. He's also called in Ezekiel 48 Jehovah Shama, which means the Lord is present. Then you get in the New Testament. Jesus says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Do you see how this just it just flows through? I could just keep going forever because his names never end and the glory of God never ends. He also has the name Adonai. Name Adonai means Lord, Master, Owner. This is an Old Testament name given to God.

Joshua in the Old Testament fell on his face before Adonai and worshiped him. And the New Testament equivalent to Adonai is the Greek word Koryos. It's where we translate the New Testament word Lord. It's used 717 times in the New Testament Lord.

And you know who gets crowned with that name? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Koryos being God, Jesus, the man who died for us, the fleshly part of him. Christ is the Greek word where we get the Old Testament Hebrew word the Messiah from the Messiah, the anointed one of God. Jesus Christ the Lord is just his title. And so John 13 13 he says, Jesus said this. He said, You call me Master and Lord and you say, Well, for so I am. I am your Lord. And it's the idea that you you he owns you.

You're his possession. That's why the Bible says you're bought with the price. Don't glorify.

Don't live for yourself. You glorify God in your body, your spirit. They belong to God now. Anybody glad you belong to God if you're saved?

You think he takes care of his stuff? Amen. Yeah, I belong to Jesus. I tell you, the day you die, you're gonna be like, I belong to Jesus.

You know, I mean, I'm his possession. And if I don't belong to Christ and I belong to the slave of sin, the master of that, John 14 7 says, For none of us liveth to himself and no man died to himself. For whether we live, we live into the Lord. Whether we die, we die into the Lord. Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's for this. To this end, Christ both died and rose and revived again that he might be Lord, both of the dead and the living. He's Lord of all friends. This is who we come to in prayer.

Isn't that wonderful? You know what to be saved is for whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved. Let me ask you a question today. If you were to stand before God and he looked at you and said, Why should I let you into heaven?

What would you say? Well, I got baptized when I was young. You think that's gonna get you to heaven? Well, I went to church. You think going to church is getting you to heaven?

I came to lighthouse. You think lighthouse is gonna get you to heaven? Well, I I asked you to forgive me my sins.

You think asking forgiveness of your sins is gonna get you to heaven? Show me that verse. The Bible says whosoever shall call upon the leader of the thief on the cross said, Lord, remember me in your kingdom. Jesus that today you're coming with me to paradise out of all the voices that day heckling Christ. There was a thug who was crucified next to him and said, Koryos, remember me and your bacillus, your your kingdom. Remember me, Koryos, Lord.

And everybody would have looked at that guy like you're a fool. And Christ said, you just you're coming with me now. If you don't know, Christ is Lord and Savior. You know, before I got saved, I live for me.

Jesus, forgive me. My sins come to heart and save my soul. Praise name.

Amen. And then I go out and live my life for me. I was the Lord of my life. I did what I wanted. I watched what I wanted.

I talk like I wanted. I was a sinful man. But when I truly got saved, Jesus became Lord of my life. He changed me from the inside. You don't know who's ruling my life from that day forward.

It's Christ. Have I been perfect? No, but I've been on a different road, my friend.

It's not the perfection of your life, but it is the direction it shows your safe. Don't tell me you're a Christian and you live like the world. Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruits.

You'll know them by their fruits. Jesus Christ will change you because he becomes Lord of your life. I remember when I tried to go back and start living in sin like I used to after I got saved and he pull he got a hold of my heart and he shook me up. I remember thinking I'd rather die than live in sin.

I am so miserable. And why did he chase in my life and other people who say they're safe, they live unchastened. I can tell you because your father in heaven will chase in those who belong to him, but those who don't belong to him, he doesn't chase it. You know why some of y'all are here? Because he's whipped your tail right to get into the church. Amen.

Anybody know what the whipping of God feels like? Amen. We're hard headed around here.

We've got some good weapons. I just don't want to keep getting them right. I'm like, Lord, let me learn everything I need to know through this thing because it hurt me.

I don't want to go through this again. And so just know today God loves you. But if you're if you if you profess, you know Christ, the question is, do you truly possess him and the possession will be shown in the evidence of a life transformed.

I'm going to close by saying a couple things. prayer needs to start with worship. It's only when you get your worship right, you get your prayer right.

You need to come to God with a worshipful spirit. Our father who art in heaven, let me let me just dwell upon that. The glories that I have a father who loves me sent his son to die for me. Hallowed be your name.

Your name is above every name. Your name every knee will bow and every tongue confess and just rejoice in the name of God. You know, it's interesting about the six petitions that Jesus lays out for us in Matthew six, the first three have to do with our with the glory of God.

The next three have to do with our needs. Worship purifies our prayers. It is only when we get our worship with God right, do we get our prayer requests right. And so we need to come to God in prayer. Sometimes we don't receive because we we could we rush into God's presence. Oh, Lord, I need this.

Can you do this for me? I need this. And we start focusing on self and and as James says, we ask and receive not because we ask for the wrong reasons that we consume it upon our own lust and desires. One way to cleanse our prayers is to baptize them in the worship of God. Bring our prayers and just worship him glory in his presence.

And I can tell you what that does. It begins to conform you to the greatness of God. You begin to just celebrate him and the trials of life seem to fade in the glory of the presence of the king. When you when you realize that you know what I I'm praying to the God of the universe.

My father is the God of the universe. You're just overwhelmed with joy and you get to read through the Bible and you're like this is the this is my father writing to his children. And Wednesday you need to be here so you can learn about how to pray with the scriptures.

This is just such a wonderful truth that will expand your prayer life. I guarantee you if you were to stand before God and he said, Why should I let you into heaven? Are you ready for that day? If you're not, we're gonna have men and women stand into that door. I'll be down here. We'll have men and women stand at that door.

You could just walk up and say I need to know more about that. I don't want to die and be separated from God. I need to know how to get to heaven. They'll pull you aside in a private prayer room. Show you from this book, the word of God, how you can know when your life's over. You'll be in heaven. Wouldn't that be great news?

Best thing in the world. Wouldn't it be great to know that that Satan's not your dad, but God in heaven is your father. The Bible says if you're saved, the judge becomes your father. You can know for sure when your life's over, you'll be in heaven today. Let it be the day of salvation. If you are saved, maybe just want to come today and say, You know what, God, I just needed to get on my knees for a moment and just worship you and thank you for how good you are and celebrate the greatness of God, whether at your seat at an altar or watching from home. Let's all stand this morning.

Ted's bow nice closed. If God spoke in your heart, you're welcome to come. If you're here today and say, Pastor Josh, if I stood before God, I know heaven's my home. If that's you today, would you just raise your hand as a testament of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? You know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You've been saved. Your life evidence is that you say, well, maybe not perfectly, but I, I have been changed since I've been saved. Praise God.

You can put your hands down. If you're here this morning, say, Pastor, could you remember me in prayer? Because if I stood before God and he said, why should I let you in heaven? I'm not quite sure what I would say, but I really want to know that. I do believe Jesus died on the cross and rose again and I, I would love to make sure that I'm a child of God. I need to know that I'm saved and I'm not 100% sure of that today.

It has about nice clothes. If that's you today, would you just raise your hand? Then I might know to pray for you. Wherever you're at, just, just raise your hand.

I'm not going to come to embarrass you or anything like that, but if that's you today, would you just lift up your hand today? Amen. Father, we just thank you for your word this morning. We thank you for the gospel. We celebrate your greatness. We come today because you're worthy of our time. I pray that your word would not return void. Let it accomplish everything you desire to accomplish in our hearts. I pray that all of us today would give you at least as much time as we would give a snooze button that we would wake up at least 10 minutes earlier, set time aside to read and to pray you would grow your people. Father, thank you for mercy, for grace, for salvation in Jesus' name.