[0:00] Good morning. Warm welcome to all of you this morning, particularly folk who are visiting us. And we trust that as we meet together as God's people, we may be aware of his presence, his help, his encouragement, his blessing as we bring to him our worship and our praise.
[0:21] At the beginning of Psalm 115, it says this, not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness. When we come to church, we're coming not primarily for ourselves, though there's great blessing to be had, great help to be had. We're here to hear God's word, but we're primarily here to worship and to glorify the name of the Lord. Why? Because of his love and faithfulness, because he doesn't change and because his love and grace to us is always the same. And so we're here to speak out, to sing out the glory and the praise of our God. So let's do that as we sing our first hymn, 35. Tell out my soul the greatness of the Lord. Unnumbered blessings give me our first hymn, 35. Give me my grace, 35. Give me our first hymn, 35. Give me my confidence. Give me my spirit voice. Let's stand as we sing to the praise and glory of our God.
[1:21] God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[1:32] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[1:43] Amen. Amen. Anong the blessings give my spirit To the promise of his word In all my strength shall my heart rejoice Tell of my soul the glories of his word And his promise and his mercy shall Tell of my soul the greatness of the Lord To children, children and forevermore Please do be seated.
[2:48] Well we can tell out the glory of the Lord in song and we can tell it in speech but we're also to tell it to God in prayer as well.
[2:58] So let us pray together and let us come and worship him. Let us pray. Oh Lord we thank you that you have made yourself known to us and in making yourself known to us we realize just a little bit of what a wonderful and glorious God you are.
[3:17] We thank you oh Lord that you have caused us to see that you are great, great in majesty, great in power, great oh Lord in your loving kindness and faithfulness to us.
[3:29] Lord when we look at you we see ourselves in a different light. We see ourselves as those who are sinful. We see ourselves as those who are weak and foolish.
[3:41] Those who Lord are in great need. Those oh Lord who are lost. Those oh Lord who are dead. Dead in relation to your great love in kindness and life.
[3:54] Lord we pray that as we come in our need, as we come in our weakness and as we see you in your greatness then Lord that we might come ready to receive from you the good gifts you want to give.
[4:07] Thank you that your greatness and your grace means that you are generous. Lord not wishing to withhold any good thing from any of us but wanting that every one of us should know and enjoy and receive your good gifts.
[4:23] We pray oh Lord that we might come. We might come recognising our need but we might come recognising your greatness. We might come oh Lord hungry and thirsty for more of you. That we might come with that desire Lord to receive from your hand those gifts that come to us through Jesus your son.
[4:40] Because though they are freely given to us we know they were bought with great cost. Not cost to us but cost to your son. That in his life and particularly in his death upon that cross that he suffered for us and took our sin and our punishment and our blame.
[4:58] We thank you oh Lord that he purchased for us life everlasting. And when he rose again conquering sin and death and ascended to your hand it was so that we might receive blessing upon blessing upon blessing.
[5:12] Lord not just in this life and in this world but in eternity in that life to come which we shall all oh Lord enjoy who put our faith and trust in you.
[5:25] Be with us then this morning. Encourage us. Strengthen us. Lord cause us to see ourselves better and to see you greater. Help us oh Lord we pray as we hear your word to know you're speaking to us and as we come to worship and sing may it not be only with our mouths but with our very heart and soul and all that we are.
[5:46] May we give you all the glory and all the praise for we ask these things through Jesus Christ your son. Amen. In our Bibles and we're going to read from Acts and chapter 4 and if you've got one of the church Bibles one of the red church Bibles that's page 1095 page 1095 in the red church Bible.
[6:18] We are going to be looking at the third of the ten commandments but it's good for us to read a balance and to read something from the New Testament which will reflect upon what we study when we look back at Exodus 20.
[6:31] So Acts chapter 4 verse 1 page 1095 if you know that Peter and John have just been in the temple in Jerusalem and God has done a marvellous miracle of healing a lame man a man who was begging and and they healed him in the name of Jesus and he got up and walked and then Peter began to speak and to preach about Jesus again.
[6:59] So chapter 4 verse 1 the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
[7:18] They seized Peter and John and because it was evening they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed so the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000.
[7:32] The next day the rulers the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there and so were Caiaphas John Alexander others of the high priest's family.
[7:45] They had Peter and John brought before them began to question them by what power or what name did you do this? Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers and elders of the people if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed then know this you and all the people of Israel it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed.
[8:22] Jesus is the stone the builders rejected which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
[8:38] When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men they were astonished and they took note that they had been with Jesus. but since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them there was nothing they could say so they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.
[9:00] What are we going to do with these men? They asked. Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they've performed a notable sign and we cannot deny it but to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.
[9:18] Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied which is right in God's eyes to listen to you or to him?
[9:31] You be the judges. As for us we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened.
[9:47] The man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old. Old. Exodus and chapter 20 and verse 7.
[10:06] You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
[10:18] I'll read that once more. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
[10:32] There was a young boy brought up in Chicago. He had one dream, one desire to make cartoons and he would draw them everywhere around the farm upon which he lived.
[10:48] It wasn't until 1928 when he was 27 years old that he made the very first moving animation with synchronised sound. It was called Steamboat Willie.
[11:03] The star of that short cartoon was a mouse named Mickey and the man who created him was of course Walt Disney.
[11:14] When you hear the name Walt Disney or even just Disney you don't think of that man, that boy who grew up in the States and who died in 1966. You think of a certain type of film, a certain type of animation.
[11:29] You think of an entertainment brand. The name means the brand. That's true of every person. Our names do not exist in isolation.
[11:41] A person's name is connected with and represents the very real person themselves, represents who they are, represents what they've done. Famous names of course are associated with the products they produce.
[11:57] So if I say to you the name Heinz, your mind immediately thinks of beans. If I say to you the name Branston, your name immediately thinks of pickle.
[12:13] Hellman's mayonnaise. Mayonnaise. And so it goes on. The name is connected with the product, with the thing. It's not just in isolation. Same with ideologies, philosophies.
[12:24] Karl Marx was the creator of Marxism and so on. So a name is much more than simply a way of identifying one person from another.
[12:38] It represents us. It represents our character, it represents our personality, it represents our qualities and so on.
[12:50] We hear a great deal and are reminded a lot about the dangers of identity fraud. One person steals another's name, their identity and uses it to steal probably a lot more.
[13:04] Our name is our reputation. If someone uses our name it must be with our permission and in a way that is in accord with who we are.
[13:15] We don't want our name to be misused, we don't want our name to be associated with something which is bad or evil or wrong because our name reflects us.
[13:27] No wonder Proverbs chapter 22 says a good name is more desirable than riches. If that's how we understand our own names and how we think about our own name as being important, special and not to be misused, it's not surprising then that God has given us this third commandment not to misuse his name.
[13:51] God's name is not something random, it's not something man made. Each one of us almost certainly are named by our parents or by somebody else.
[14:02] We don't get to choose our names unless you've changed your name by depot when you were 18 which you can do but we don't get a choice but God chose his name.
[14:13] He chose it specifically for himself in Isaiah 42. He reminds his people I am the Lord that is my name. Now throughout the Bible what we find wonderfully is that God speaks of himself with differing names and titles expressing one or another particular characteristic or aspect of his personality or his nature.
[14:39] I am just going to read to you from the new Bible dictionary where it talks about the name God's name. It says the name is a summary way of stating what God is in himself.
[14:53] His name is all that is known to be true about him and his motives for action but also his name is what God is to others allowing them to know his name is letting them into his truth.
[15:08] Sharing his name with them is letting them into his fellowship. The name of the Lord is a great thing. So what does this commandment tell us about God?
[15:22] That's what we've been looking at when we've looked at these commandments we realise they are God showing us himself revealing us aspects of who he is. Well by God saying you shall not misuse the name of the Lord he's already told us what his name is.
[15:39] He's made it known to us that he is someone we can have communication with. He is someone who we can know personally. He's led us into the secret of the universe the name of God.
[15:54] He's entrusted us with something which is precious and personal to himself. I don't know whether you'll like that when you speak with people. We don't often necessarily give our name away too quickly to a stranger.
[16:09] But when we give our name then we are entrusting that person with the knowledge of us. We're entering into dialogue with that person, into a relationship with them. When God wanted the people of Israel to know him he gave them his name.
[16:27] Remember back at the beginning of Exodus some time ago we remember the meeting of Moses and the Lord in the burning bush. Moses is sent to go back to Egypt to God's people and to bring them out into freedom to worship God and know God.
[16:43] But Moses raises a question. Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me what is his name?
[16:55] Then what shall I tell them? God said to Moses I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses say to the Israelites the Lord the God of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob has sent me to you.
[17:14] This is my name forever the name you shall call me from generation to generation. I am and Yahweh which is the Hebrew name for God does sound exactly the same.
[17:28] We translate it the Lord. Often in your Bible you will have capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. It is Yahweh or the Latin Jehovah the Lord.
[17:40] God said that is his name forever. It was in the name of the Lord that Moses went back to Egypt. In the name of the Lord he confronted Pharaoh. Chapter 5 verse 1.
[17:54] Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said this is what the Lord the God of Israel says let my people go. Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should obey him.
[18:07] Pharaoh did not acknowledge God's name. He did not acknowledge or know the Lord. And so we find that in the name of the Lord Moses was the one who brought those plagues upon Egypt.
[18:19] Ten plagues until eventually Pharaoh knew who the Lord was and that he submitted to him. It was in the name of the a couple of D had commanded him to speak.
[19:04] And so when we come to this commandment you shall not misuse the name of the Lord. There's a lot of background isn't there to the name of the Lord. And this third commandment is connected with those first two.
[19:16] You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make an image to bow down and worship. you shall honor my name.
[19:27] God must be the only one who we worship. God must be the primary one that we love and are devoted to. That's what a God is. We're not to worship God as we imagine him, as an idol may be made, or an image, as we saw the other week, even just our own imagination about what God is like.
[19:47] We're to worship God as he truly is, as he reveals himself to us. But we're to worship him and to honor his name above all else.
[19:59] It only makes sense. It follows on. Well, what does this mean? What does this mean in real life, in practice? Remember, when we've looked at these commandments, we've seen, not only do they reveal God, but of course, they reveal the very person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the image of God, the representation of God.
[20:19] We've seen that every one of the commandments, has been fulfilled in the life of Jesus. He said, I've come to fulfill the law, not to take it away, but to fulfill it. So, if we want to understand something of this commandment, then we need to look at the life of Jesus again, and realize that in the life of Jesus, the whole of his life was given over to the honoring of the name of God, to the glorifying of the name of God, to the praising of the name of God, not to the misusing, but the right using, the name of God.
[20:54] In John chapter 12, Jesus is heard to pray these words, as he's about to approach that week before his death, Father, glorify your name.
[21:06] And then we're told a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. God was testifying to all the people that Jesus had lived his life to the glory of the name of his Father, and that in going to the cross, he was going to glorify his name again and bring glory to himself.
[21:29] And so when we read through the life of Jesus in the Gospels, we find from his incarnation, from his birth, which we're looking forward to celebrating at Christmas, all the way through his life, right up to his death, resurrection, and his ascension into heaven, to return to the place from which he came, every step of the way, there is glory being given to God because of him.
[21:50] Think of those shepherds that we're going to be singing about who watched their flocks by night. What happened when they went and saw Christ? Luke tells us, the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God.
[22:04] What about those miracles that Jesus performed where he healed people or raised them from the dead? Luke tells us in chapter 5, everyone was amazed and gave praise to God.
[22:15] Think about his death upon the cross, that suffering in between those two thieves who were crucified, one each side, about his death and those seven sayings from the cross culminating with, Father, into your hands I commit you my spirit.
[22:32] The centurion who was in God at that time, we're told, seeing what had happened, praised God. The very life of Jesus in coming into the world was to bring glory to God, not only by his own life, his own words, his own actions, the very purpose of Christ in coming into the world was to bring glory to the name of God by bringing you and I to salvation.
[22:58] The very thing that Jesus came into the world to accomplish was the saving of sinners. And so when we become a Christian, we realize that Christ changes us, changes us from men and women who previously abused the name of God, even hated the name of God, to become those who love the name of God and honor that name.
[23:24] Here's the writer to Hebrews in chapter 13, through Jesus he says, therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name.
[23:37] love the Lord. So we find that this commandment, along with all the commandments of course, finds its fulfillment, it's summed up in that wonderful great commandment that Jesus spoke about when he was questioned.
[23:54] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, Matthew chapter 22. Loving the Lord includes loving his name.
[24:07] Now we know that, don't we? We know that again in our relationships with those that we love, whether they be our parents or our children, whether they be our spouse, that their name is precious to us.
[24:21] When we hear their name or think of their name it sums up who they are. And so if we love God, which it is to be a believer, we love Christ, it means that we love the name.
[24:33] We count that name unique. We count that name as so special that we wouldn't think or dream of misusing or abusing that name. Now of course it goes without saying that in our own present society, here in the UK, the name of God, the name of Jesus Christ, are misused and abused every moment of every single day in every medium that there is.
[25:01] Why do people use the name of God in that way? Why do they use that name in such a dishonorable way? Clearly because they don't love the name, do they?
[25:13] They don't love God. They don't love the Lord Jesus Christ. They think little of him. They think little of the name that represents him. And so it's not surprising in one sense that they have no concern to shout, speak, or swear that name.
[25:29] What about us? What about those of us here? What about those of us who are believers, who are Christians? What about this commandment? How does it relate to you and I? Of course we recognize in the light of the New Testament that when we talk about not misusing the name of the Lord, as I said a little bit with the children, we are talking about the name of the Lord as he reveals himself in every way.
[25:49] So we're talking about the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you notice that when we read through Acts 4, how often the name is spoken about? Sometimes we're told the name of Jesus, but others it's just the name.
[26:02] And that incredible verse in Acts 4, 12, there is no name given under heaven by which we must be saved, but that name. So what do we find?
[26:15] Well, we find this, that when we become a Christian, as I've already said, we fulfill this commandment. When you become a Christian, what's happening is that immediately in your life, you are bringing honour and glory and praise to God.
[26:31] When we're trusting in him. Paul, when he became a believer, we're told that the people praised God because of me. Galatians chapter 1, 24, talks about his testimony.
[26:43] They praised God because of me. And when we see somebody coming to faith in Christ, what do we do? We praise God, don't we? So in you and I coming to faith in Christ, that's how we begin to glorify God.
[26:54] And we begin to use his name and honour his name. When somebody is baptised, Jesus taught us that we are to baptise them in the name, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
[27:07] And so in baptism, the name of God is honoured, the name of God is glorified. What did Jesus teach us to do when we pray?
[27:18] What's the first thing that he tells us and commands us to pray for? not our daily bread, not that we be kept from sin or temptation, rather, we're told in Matthew 6 that the very beginning of the Lord's Prayer, as we call it, the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, is a prayer that glorifies and honours God.
[27:39] Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. That's our first prayer. I wonder how often we pray that prayer.
[27:51] That, in one sense, is part of the guiding force and motivation for all of our prayers. When I'm praying for my daily bread, it's so that God's name should be hallowed.
[28:02] When I'm praying that I don't fall into sin, it's so that God's name should be hallowed. When I'm praying that his will should be done, it's that his name should be hallowed. What does that name mean? What does that word mean? Isn't it interesting, in all the translations, the English translations we have, which are helpful, bringing us into modern day parlance.
[28:20] No Bible translation has really changed the word hallowed, has it? But we never use it. It's a difficult word to update, isn't it? It means to be set apart.
[28:32] It means to count as holy, to count as worthy of the highest honour and worship. Hallowed be your name, worship, honoured, glorified, praised be your name.
[28:43] That's what we're to be praying for. And when we pray, that's what we're doing. When you and I are praying, we are praising God, we are honouring God, we are glorifying God, we're giving him the glory because we're saying, Lord, I can't do it myself, I need your help.
[28:57] We're recognising that he is the one who is able to do wonderful things for us. When we give, we are honouring God's name.
[29:09] When we give of our time, when we give of our finances, when we give to the Lord's work in one way or another, we are giving to the honour and glory of God's name. In 2 Corinthians 9, Apostle Paul writes, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
[29:35] So our giving, giving in obedience, giving in service, giving to the Lord of our time, giving of our finances and care is all for the honour of God. It's blessing his name, it's glorifying his name amongst others.
[29:51] And why do we gather together as believers in this way? Why do we meet? Not only just meeting on a Sunday, but why do we gather together as a local church? Why do we have fellowship with one another?
[30:03] Surely that is that we might bring God glory. Here's Romans 15. Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God.
[30:16] Isn't it a travesty? Isn't it a tragedy that the church of Jesus Christ in the West, in the UK, on the whole, sadly as often brought dishonour and disglory to God?
[30:30] By divisions, by fighting, by fractions, by all sorts of terrible ways in which it speaks about one another and to itself. How awful it is when a local church splits and there's acrimony.
[30:45] Dear friends, how that dishonours the Lord, how we need to work at unity in Christ, how we need to strive for it, that we might bring praise to God and glory to him.
[31:00] And when we talk about Jesus Christ to our friends, we're doing that in a way which honours and glorifies God. God, when you invite people to the Christmas events, please do that.
[31:11] When you talk to them about what Jesus means to you, when you stand up for his name in the workplace or the school room, when you are sharing the good news of your testimony, then you're bringing glory to God.
[31:24] In Romans 10 verses 8, what does it say? The word is near you. It's on your mouth and in your heart. That is the message concerning faith that we proclaim.
[31:37] What's that message? Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Again and again. Your life and mine is for one purpose, one goal, it's for one prize that we might see the name and hear the name of the Lord used in a wonderful way.
[31:58] That we might have the name of the Lord honoured, the name of the Lord glorified, the name of the Lord praised. Even in those things which seem to be so mundane, so unimportant we might think, so disconnected with the Christian life, but in everything we're to see that God's name is honoured in it.
[32:22] When we're brushing the path outside the house to sweep away the leaves, we're to do it so that the name of the Lord may be honoured. When we're, yes, doing the washing up, it's that the name of the Lord may be honoured.
[32:38] In everything. When we're doing the shopping, when we're at the tash till, it's that the name of the Lord may be honoured. 1 Corinthians 10 31, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
[32:51] God. So this commandment is not simply a piece of just to do with your mouth, though it's partly to do with that, it's to do with our whole lives.
[33:02] It doesn't say you shall not speak the name of the Lord wrongly, it says you shall not misuse the name of the Lord. It's a great challenge to us then, this commandment.
[33:16] It's a great encouragement because we know that Christ has fulfilled it and he has enabled us to live it out and to be the embodiment of this commandment so that our lives daily honour him. But there's a challenge isn't there because there's a severe warning.
[33:32] The Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. It's not a trivial thing. Sadly it's seen like that.
[33:46] Sadly often as we ourselves find ourselves we become hardened by hearing OMG and all those other phrases that pour out of people's lips and pour out of the TV all the time.
[33:58] But it's not a trivial thing to say that, says God. God says I'm not going to let anybody off using my name in that way. I'm not going to count it as unimportant because it's dealing with me and I am important and I matter.
[34:14] But the challenge to us as Christians is this. Is my life lived in the world and amongst those who do not know Christ is my life lived in such a way that they do not break the commandment because of me?
[34:31] Why do I mean that? Here's just part of what Paul says in Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 6. Talking about slaves but he's talking about all people in that sense. All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered.
[34:52] In other words there is such a way for a man or a woman to live that causes the name of the Lord to be slandered. And this is again sadly what we're seeing again and again in many parts of the Christian church in our world.
[35:09] In the West the name of the Lord is slandered because of hypocrisy. The name of the Lord is slandered because of immorality. The name of the Lord is slandered because men and women take the name of Jesus upon themselves but they do not live the life of Jesus for themselves.
[35:26] So the great challenge to you and me dear friends is this. Do my words, my actions, my way of life show that the Lord's name is precious to me? Is there some hypocrisy in my life?
[35:38] Hypocrisy really is there a divide between what I say I am and what I do? Now of course none of us are perfect. Of course we all fail and we all fall into sin. But if I am bearing the name of Christ to my work colleagues, if I'm bearing the name of Christ to my neighbours, bearing the name of Christ to the people I speak to in my family, is there aspects of my family, of my lifestyle which actually go contrary to the name I bear?
[36:04] What am I doing when I'm doing that? I'm actually saying, well I'm misusing the name of Jesus, I'm applying the name of Christ to myself but I'm not living the life of Christ. Instead the opposite needs to be the case.
[36:21] The challenge and the encouragement to us is the opposite. Here's Peter, he writes to the Christians who are being persecuted and attacked, he says, live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
[36:39] Whatever people may think of us, dear friends, whatever they may think about us being fanatics or mad or stupid or whatever it may be, does my life actually bear up the name Christian?
[36:52] Does my life actually show, even if I didn't have to say anything to people, that I'm someone who is a follower of Christ? Someone who bears his name? And to bear his name means to act on his behalf, doesn't it?
[37:07] The ambassador who goes from the UK to another part of the world, he acts on behalf of the Queen, he acts as a representative of the country that sent him and the authority that he bears.
[37:18] You and I as Christians, followers of Christ, believers in Christ, we bear a name, a vital name, an important name, we bear it before the world.
[37:31] But do we bear it so that it is misused? So that people can say, well if that's what a Christian is, I don't want anything to do with it. You see there's coming a day, isn't there?
[37:46] A day when the name of Jesus, the name of the Lord, is going to be heard and understood rightly. A day when every person, living and dead, who has ever lived in this world, will actually honour the name of the Lord Jesus and fulfil this commandment.
[38:06] A day when everybody, even those who now misuse Christ's name, even those now who blaspheme Christ's name and mock Christ's name, will bow before his name and honour him.
[38:19] Paul writes about that day when he writes about what God has done for the person of Jesus Christ. He says in verse 9 of Philippians 2, therefore God exalted him, that's Jesus, to the highest place, gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[38:53] We know that that day must come that people who now resist and will not bow the knee and will not confess the name of Jesus as Lord will do so.
[39:05] But let me urge you, let me say to you again, dear friends, that if you have not bowed before the name of Jesus, if you haven't seen that the name of Jesus is the name of God, the name to be honoured and worshipped and adored, the name to be trusted and delighted in, then do it now while there is opportunity in time, not when it's too late.
[39:25] Because when Christ comes again and you are forced to bow before him and recognise him for who he is, and you will recognise who he is, it will be too late for you, too late to receive the blessing and the joy of the name of Christ, too late to receive the forgiveness of sins, too late to receive eternal life, it will be too late.
[39:48] Now is the time of salvation, now is the day of God's favour, now, while you have opportunity, in your heart, in your life, say, Jesus, you are my Lord, and I love your name.
[40:02] It's the name of the one who died for me. It's the name of the one who took my sins away. It's the name of the one in whom I trust and who I follow. Please, please, don't put it off till then.
[40:17] Don't put it off even another day, but make sure that the name of Jesus is the name of your Lord. We're going to sing a wonderful hymn together now.
[40:33] How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear, soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear. We're singing it to a slightly newer tune than the one that's there, which means that we sing verses one and two together and repeat the last line.
[40:51] Many of us will know it like that. Let's stand and sing this hymn together. One, five, two. A... among us whonea seems to be great to hear his affect us with fear.
[41:06] A solemnly beal hazard from rushing to heaven to heaven, thành of heaven, took him and الس o Comic Heal his wounds and guides away his feet.
[41:34] It makes the wounded spirit hold and counts the troubled rest.
[41:47] Tis the death of the hungry soul and to the weary rest.
[42:00] And to the weary rest. In anger on which I build my shield and hiding place, I am a failing treasury filled with boundless source of grace.
[42:34] Jesus, my shepherd, brother, friend, my prophet, peace, and fear.
[42:48] I lot my life, my way, my end, assert the praise I bring.
[42:59] I said the praise I bring. It is the effort of my heart and God my honest Lord.
[43:20] But when I see thee as a heart I'll praise thee as I own Till then I would thy love proclaim With every fleeting breath And may the music of thy name Refresh my soul in death Refresh my soul in death Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts Since as members of one body you were called to peace And be thankful Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly
[44:23] As you teach and admonish one another With all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit Singing to God with gratitude in your hearts And whatever you do Whether in word or deed Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Giving thanks to God the Father Through him Amen