1 PP Proverbs: The Name of the Lord Proverbs 18:10-12 5/31-6/1/2014 Tornados were a new experience for us when Denise and I moved to Atlanta, Ga Our area in Marietta was known as Tornado Alley A severe tornado touched down one dark evening while we were driving teens home from our Florida beach retreat, having just made it back to Marietta The next day, the damage revealed a devastating tornado touched down right where we had been Where do you want to go when a Tornado siren goes off? Into the most solid, interior structure you can find But where to do want to go when you find yourself in a storm of life? Right into the strong tower of the Lord! We have been in a message series in Proverbs called Living wisely in a foolish world And today we transition to a new series that will have us looking at the names of God The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. A rich man s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination. Before destruction a man s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. Proverbs 18:10-12 How are we to survive, even thrive in a world that hates Christ and Christianity? How can we endure and be at peace when life s storms overtake us? We are either coming out of one of those storms, heading into one, or presently in one Trials, suffering, storms are a given, and God allows them in our lives for our greatest good Solomon teaches his son and us how to live wisely when life becomes difficult PP 1-Christian, Know Your God The name of the LORD is a strong tower Throughout the Bible, names were given to children that had special meaning and significance Sometimes a person s name would be changed or a name would be ascribed to him, either by God or by someone else, indicating radical change of life Adam means red earth indicating his being created by God from the dust of the earth Jacob means cheat, supplanter but God changed his name to Israel, which means prince with God. Moses means drawn forth, having been plucked from the Nile river by Pharaoh s daughter In the Bible, the name given to a person said something about that person. The same is true with the names of God, but no single word can contain all that He is, so He has given us several names that we might know Him, and each one reveals His character God wants to be known by us In fact, I want you to hear what Jesus said in John 17, And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 3 God s is so infinitely vast, we will never stop knowing Him in new ways But eternal life does not start for believers the day you die, it has already begun for us So God has revealed Himself here, now, in many ways, but wonderfully, through His names Here, in Proverbs 18:10, He gives us the name Jehovah, the self-existing One Jehovah is the personal name of God, not given to the nations, but to Israel, His people To the nations of the world He was God, or Elohim, but to Israel alone, Jehovah
2 It is a private password into His faithful, eternal blessings, and He only gives that password to His people, or more accurately, only His people can use it You ever had an important powerful person give you his private cell phone number and tell you to call it anytime you need? Jehovah is God s covenant name with Israel, revealed to Moses at the burning bush as I AM A name that reveals God s essential, eternal, permanent existence and shows His unchanging faithfulness to His promises Whenever we see the word LORD in our bibles, printed in small caps, it is this name for God But the name Jehovah, actually started as the name YHWY It was a name so sacred to the ancient Jews (and modern conservative ones) that they wouldn t speak it or write it in full Jewish tradition holds that the only time this name was pronounced was on the Day of Atonement by the High Priest as he entered the Holy of holies When the Jewish scribes copied the scriptures, they would stop when coming to the name YHWH, bathe, put on clean clothes, take a new, unused pen, and then write it PP (show chart) In order to protect this sacred name of God, they took YHWH, which has no vowels, and added the vowels from another name for God, Adonai The result was the creation of the safe-to-speak-and-write name of Jehovah Today, there is a group called the Sacred Name Movement, which believes that God must only be called Yahweh, and His Son, Yeshua, and any other names are blasphemous And that all the followers of Yeshua must adhere to the Old Testament laws, especially the Jewish festivals, dietary laws and seventh-day sabbath This movement has splintered into several sub-groups: Assemblies of Yahweh, House of Yahweh, Yahweh s Restoration Ministry This movement started here in Pa, so you will likely encounter them at some time, as I have The pronunciation of God s personal name is far less important than trusting Him Yet there is something even more incredible about the name Jehovah PP Notice what Jesus said in John 8:58, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Whose voice spoke from that burning bush to Moses? The voice of Jesus But the Jews were irate when Jesus claimed this, quickly searching for stones to kill him PP Yet they missed the clear clues in Scripture, even those in Proverbs: Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His son s name? Surely you know! Proverbs 30:4 What is His name is an invitation to know Him as He has revealed Himself through His Word To know His name is to trust Him, and to trust Him is to glorify Him And each of these names for God will open a window into His character, increasing our faith in our God and our strength to stand firm PP the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. Daniel 11:32 Each time God wanted Abraham to reach higher, He revealed a new name to him The name of the LORD is a strong tower For His name means that He is eternally self-existent, owing to no one for His life His name means He is ever-above us, greater than we will ever be, greater than anyone
3 His name means He is personally aware of and concerned for you and I His name means He is utterly unable to change, He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow His name means He is righteous, and absolutely unable to do wrong to anyone The mighty name of Jehovah is a strong tower to His people When pursued by the enemy or confronted with the pressures of life, the righteous flee to this indestructible fortress, and they are safe PP 2-Christian, Run Into Your Tower The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. There are three things I want us to see here: PP a) We are to run into the strong, secure name Jehovah Not take your time, not walk, or meander there, or get there when you have time, but run! Picture this scene you live in the country just outside the castle of fortress of the city You have brought in your harvest and your barns are full, but then a trumpet is blown from atop the hill or mountain and another trumpet answers it from the castle tower The signal is clear: a threat approaches You hurriedly gather all that you can transport, and you rush to the tower before the gates are closed and the portcullis is lowered A profound feeling of security comes over you as you enter the tower Often in the middle of a mess in our lives, God will show us a side of Him we never saw before He will put us between a rock and a hard place, a situation that seems to have no good outcome, allowing us to hit rock bottom, to learn that He is the rock at the bottom Are you in a financial mess, a marriage that is unraveling, your heart breaking over a wayward child, or physical illness or any number of things God will reveal Himself to you For the name Jehovah also means the self-revealing One And when these storms and threats invade our lives we are to run, to flee to our God No other hope, no other tower, no other power, the righteous man runs into it PP But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in, and they went up to the roof of the tower. Judges 9:51 PP b) To run into something is to wholeheartedly place your trust in it To run into the name of the Lord is to completely trust the character of God that His name reveals Don t debate, Christian Don t study for information in order to decide whether or not you can trust God Don t start a discussion group to decide if God is truly worthy to run to And don t wait until things get desperate, or you make yourself presentable to Him But, now listen because this has always been a mistake that God s people can make, don t reinvent God to be who you want Him to be and then run into Him He has revealed Himself the way He wants to be known, we are to know Him through His Word and worship Him accordingly
4 But I want my God to never be angry, always be kind, like a gentle grandfather Jehovah, the I am Who is every above us, will not be changed by anyone! He is Who He has revealed Himself to be in His Word, so we study God s Word to know Him We are to run into that strong tower for we live in a world at war with Christians But the proud cannot fit through its gates, will not stoop below its portcullis Before destruction a man s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. Proverbs 18:12 PP Destruction is a word that describes the result that occurs when a dream is crushed Isaiah uses the word to express the result of sin through the picture of a wall shattering The word commonly indicates the primary reason for suffering is due to disobedience to God. God allows divinely appointed trials to come into our lives, bringing the proud down Before these storms in life come, we believe we can fix our problems and manage our lives But soon, we see the destruction that comes to the proud, how the mighty fall! How much better to choose humility-self-forgetfulness-before we find ourselves eating the pods that are fed to the pigs like the prodigal son experienced How often children, when they are small, will cling all the harder to their parents legs when a stranger comes near, or when they are scared When terror comes into the night of our lives, run to the name of Jehovah, the eternally faithful God, repenting from our pride, confident in His power and character PP c) Our strong tower is Jesus Christ He is our Savior, He is our friend, He is God The Righteous man runs into this tower, the one who has been made righteous, made right with God because of the death and resurrection of Jesus PP This is the gospel: God saved us who could not save ourselves, saved us from eternal death, for eternal life, for the fame of His glory through Jesus His Son Our prideful hearts drift from this, until that storm blows into our lives, when the righteous remember and with humility run back to our unchanging, faithful Jehovah PP 3-Christian, Know how safe you are in Christ The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. 18:10 Christian, know your God, and run to Him, and you will be safe If you asked the ancient Jews what the greatest commodity in life is, the answer would likely be Shalom peace and well-being We, because we know Jehovah, can have peace, even in the storm To hear the word cancer, and yet be safely secure in the knowledge that Jehovah is utterly faithful and unchanging in His good, merciful ways, can bring us treasured peace To be rocked at the abandonment of a spouse yet to know that Jehovah will come around you with a love so strong does more than help you survive, it can help you thrive once again To be persecuted at work for your faith, yet to know the One Who spoke from a fiery bush but that bush was not consumed, empowers an enduring, confident faith and trust To have yet another car repair, and know that God has all-sufficient resources drives away fear
5 The Strong Tower name of God speaks of ever-sufficient power for His people in every situation Rest in this Christian, for God will lift you up above your enemies onto the high places of safety The wealth in this strong tower of God s name is a continual feast of peace This tower is unassailable, unbreachable, you are continually and entirely safe No power can pluck you out of God s hand, and this what is taught here in our passage You are eternally secure because of the One in Whom you have run! My all-time favorite movie trilogy is the Lord of the Rings, and interestingly, Tolkien himself didn t like the deadline harried title of the second installment: The Two Towers But one could easily see the two towers in this passage, for while the people of God are invited into the strong tower of Jehovah, there is a seductive invitation to another tower And again we see the two paths of Proverbs one of wisdom, and one of folly And many, even those who claim the name of God, enter into the second tower of folly A rich man s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination. 18:11 This tower s safety is an illusion, one of imagination PP Paul warns us about it: As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 1 Timothy 6:17 How seductive riches are If I have money I ll finally be secure, happy and at peace But peace can never be gained in the second tower, for it cannot make anyone safe It is unforgettable to read that billionaire Howard Hughes died emaciated, pale, sunken chest, fingernails in grotesque, inches-long corkscrews, rotting, black teeth, tumors, countless needle marks from his drug addiction and insane by all reasonable standards Peace comes when we are right with God, and He floods the hearts of His children who know His name and run into it PP And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10 Jehovah, our self-revealing God, unchanging in all His ways, utterly faithful to His promises, invites us to come and know Him, and we will find Him to be a strong tower of safety Are you ready to spend the summer knowing God through His names? It will, I m sure, be a blessing to each of us Let s pray