The Names Of God

Heritage Message May 4, 2003

Introduction

- Carla’s niece

- Caroline Grace

- Caroline - “after grandma”

- Grace - “The grace of God we were able to conceive.”

- Zachariah Robert

- Zachariah - “God remembered”

- Robert after the father.

- Hannah Lynne

- Hannah - “after the woman in the Bible who couldn’t conceive, but God finally heard her and opened her womb and also I was involved for 3 years with Hannah’s Prayer, a support group for infertile women,”

-Lynne - my middle name.

- unusual in our day.

- Biblical days when a name meant a lot.

- God changed Abram’s name to Abraham

- Jesus - “Immanuel” -- “Jesus”

- Psalm 9:10. “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

- Knowledge of the name of God

- experience God and discover his character,

- come to trust Him.

- By what name have you come to know God?

II. Holy God

- I have some clothes which I wear when I am working outside or in my workshop.

- not afraid to kneel down in the dirt, get dirty.

- Sunday suit.

- clean,

- more expensive

- a strong sense of making sure it doesn’t get dirty.

- Cleanness separates.

- true spiritually.- Isaiah 57:15 says, “For this is what the high and lofty One says - he who lives forever, whose name is holy: I live in a high and holy place…”

- holy

- means set apart.

- above all in sinless-ness, in purity

- “pure as the driven snow.”

- God is absolutely pure.

- unmixed in all his characteristics.

- When we meet God by His name “Holy,”

- majesty, holiness and “above-ness”

- we know instinctively that we can never reach him.

- to even come near to him would soil the perfection of His holiness.

How do we handle the holiness of God?

III. Forgiving God

- Jeannette George tells the story of a flight she took from Tucson to Phoenix, as she got on the plane, she noticed a young woman with her baby. They were both dressed in white pinafores. The mother was smiling, and the little baby was saying "Dada, Dada." And the little baby was darling. She wore a little pink bow where there would probably be hair pretty soon. They sat down opposite me and I heard that every time anybody went by, the baby would say, "Dada, Dada."

The young mother said they were going home, and Daddy was waiting for them.

Everybody was so happy, and we all enjoyed the little baby. The mother had a little Thermos with orange juice in it. She kept feeding the baby, a little fruit and then a little juice. It was a rough flight. Every time the baby cried the mother fed her a little bit more orange juice and a little more fruit. Because of the rough flight, inevitably the fruit that had gone down came up. I think more came up than had gone down; I think there was more up than there was baby, and it was startling; the carpet was not in good condition. It was a mess.

Those of us on the opposite side of the aisle were not in good condition at all. We kept trying to tell the young mother it was just fine. We were handing her tissues and things. It was a very loving time, but a mess. The baby was crying, and she looked awful. We couldn't cry, but we looked awful. The mother was so sorry about it.

We landed and the minute we landed, baby was fine: "Dada, Dada." The rest of us were just awful. We began to get off the plane, and we all moved very carefully. I had on a suit, and I was trying to decide whether to burn it or just cut off the sleeve. Have you ever tried to get away from something really unpleasant and it was you? Well that's the way we were. It was really bad.

I looked out of the plane, and there waiting was the young man who had to be Daddy: white pants, white shirt and white flowers. I thought, I know what's going to happen. He's going to run to that baby who now looks awful--I mean the hair and the pinafore were dreadful. He's going to run to that baby, get one look, and keep on running, saying, "Not my kid!"

As he ran to the young mother, I wouldn't say she threw the baby at him, but she did kind of leave quickly to go get cleaned up. He picked up that baby, and I watched him as he hugged that baby and kissed that baby and stroked that baby's hair. He said, "Daddy's baby's come home. Daddy's baby's come home."

I watched them all the way to the luggage claim area. He never stopped kissing that baby. He never stopped welcoming that baby back home. I thought, Where did I ever get the idea that my Father God is less loving than a young daddy in white pants and white shirt with white flowers.

- Exodus 34:6-7a - “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”

- context.

- camped at the foot of mount Sinai.

- heard God thunder

- God had given the tablets

- had built a golden calf

- God was so angry

- told Moses, forget about these people,

- Moses prayed

- Exodus 34:1-10.

- glory of God is that He is a loving God.

- loving and forgiving.

- New Testament believers, - Romans 5:8 encourages us when it says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

- God is love, - name is compassion and grace,

Have you met him as the one who is compassion and forgiveness?

IV. Defender Of Orphans & Widows

- I grew up in a photographers family. Our photography studio was in our home. When I was 11 years old, my parents bought a larger home that had space for a larger studio and lab. A few years later, my dad was doing quite well and opened a second studio. Things were going along quite well.

            Because of the business we were in, we had few vacations. Saturdays usually meant weddings had to be photographed and so my father stayed pretty close to home. One year, however, we took a week off and went to Banff for a holiday. Although my mother helped my father in the studio, she did not take pictures. On our vacation, while my father was driving, he asked my mother to take a picture of the mountains as we came near to them. Later when we had the pictures developed, we saw that my mother had taken a picture of the tips of the mountains and mostly sky. She was not a good photographer and did not know how to frame pictures well.

When I, who am the oldest child, was 18 years old, my father was diagnosed with cancer. A few months after I turned 19, my father passed away. Before he passed away, he asked my mother to keep the business opened until I and all my siblings had a chance to decide if we wanted to go into the business or not. For about 6 years my mother ran the studio alone. During that time, she was able to keep it going. In fact, she entered photographic competitions and actually won national awards for her pictures.

When we all grew up, she sold the studio and gave the cameras to my brother. She does not own a camera today. A number of years ago, we visited the Grand Canyon with our family and she was there as well. We asked her to take a picture of our family on the edge of the canyon and when we got the picture back, we noticed how poorly framed it was.

I learned an important lesson by that experience. In fact, I got to know God’s name through all of that experience. I discovered that God is the one who looks after widows.

- Psalm 68:4,5 we read “Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds— his name is the LORD— and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.”

- If the name of God is “defender of orphans” have we learned to trust Him as such?

Conclusion

We know God by experience.

We know God from His Word.

He is:

            Almighty

            Holy

            Compassionate and forgiving

            Defender of Orphans and Widows

Do you know Him enough to trust Him?

What do you need to trust Him for today?