It's a pleasure for my wife and myself to be here with you. I'm sorry that when we arrived here yesterday, I wasn't operating on all four cylinders. I think the cylinders are all going now, but some of the spark plugs are still inspiring. But I'd like you to turn with me, if you will, please, to Exodus chapter two, the second chapter of the book of Exodus this morning. We'll read from this chapter, one or two verses, and from the chapter which follows a few verses as well. as an introduction to our theme this morning. Exodus chapter two and verse twenty-three. And it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage. And they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. and God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back side of the desert, and he came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses, he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where I'll not standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid, to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land, unto a good land, unto a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites, and the Hibites and the Jebusites. Now therefore behold the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have seen their oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be the token unto thee that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you, And they shall say, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I am, that has sent me unto you. Now God will bless to us the reading of his word. A few months ago I was asked to come to a place called Mount Hermon, conference grounds in central California, and they gave me the topic to speak on, the God who meets our needs as Father, as Son, as Holy Spirit. Now, I often am given topics, and I usually don't object too much to the topics I'm given, but that topic really threw me for a loop. You know, they had a whole course of theology they wanted in one forty-minute session. And I'm probably not equipped to talk on theology anyway. And even if I were, I could not get through it all. But I began thinking about it. Thinking about the Father in his great capacities of loving and bestowing and giving and electing. I thought of the Son and his suffering and redeeming and interceding. I thought of the Spirit of God in his... regenerating and sanctifying and energizing and indwelling. And as I thought about these things, what happened was I became overwhelmed with the truth of a God who meets our needs. And that God has revealed himself. It was this God that revealed himself to Moses in the passage we read here. I'm not going to talk this morning on the subject of the burning bush. or even of the revelation of the name that God revealed himself to Moses, the name I am, or I am that I am, the fascinating topic. And I've spoken on it a number of times before, but that's not my subject this morning. But I am interested in the fact that we have a God who meets our needs. And as I thought about this, I began to realize what a need-centered world we live in. People obsessed with their own needs to the exclusion of thinking about the needs of other people. Obsessed with looking inwardly. Obsessed with our whole idea during this generation of what feels good is God and that experience is really the great criterion for truth. Of course, that's not true, but that's the way people are beginning to look at it. We have what they call an existential world. when they're looking at what feels good is good. And so we begin to think along these lines. Now when God appeared to Moses, the people of Israel were obsessed with their circumstances. They sighed by reason of the bondage in which they found themselves in Egypt. They had lost their perception of God, and their focus was on the trouble. on the circumstances. That's very easy for the people of God to do. To lose our view of the living God and to be obsessed with our problem and we have them. That's what happened to them. And in order to bring them out, God revealed himself by a new name to Moses. And later on, when Moses is told that he has to go and lead the people out of Egypt, Moses has this problem. Lord, what will I tell them is your name? By whose name can I lead them out? What shall I say is his name? And of course, that's when the whole revelation of this name, I am, comes out. Now there are a number of names in Scripture that reveal the character of our God that meets our needs. And what I'd like you to do this morning with me for the few minutes that remain is to focus our attention on the names of God and the living God behind them that meet those needs that are ours. The first one's in the last verse of the book of Ezekiel. The last verse of the book of Ezekiel. You don't have to turn to it unless you want. But if you'll notice, or maybe you remember, the last four words of the book of Ezekiel is a name of God. It is this. Jehovah Shama, or the Lord is there. And one of the names by which God wants us to know him, particularly those names revealed in the Old Testament, is this one, Jehovah Shama. Shama, the Lord is there. Ezekiel forty-eight, I think it's the thirty-fifth verse. Anyway, it's the last verse in the book. The Lord is there, and we learn from that name that God's presence is guaranteed when our world collapses around us. Many of you will remember that Ezekiel was one of the captivity prophets. That means he did not live in Jerusalem. He didn't live in Judea or in any part of the Holy Land at all. He was taken away in one of the three groups of captives that were taken off to Babylon. Ezekiel went with a second group that was taken. And Ezekiel became a captivity prophet there by the river Chebar in a farming community. It was really a canal. And there, among some of the people that were doing forced farm labor in order to provide the needs of the Babylonian Empire, Ezekiel had his ministry. And God called Ezekiel in that place, already now a captive, already living in a foreign land in exile. God called Ezekiel and gave him the job. to explain to his fellow countrymen, the fellow Jews he had with him in captivity, in exile, the meaning of what God was doing in history. You see, they didn't understand it. They were obsessed with their circumstances. They thought that God had forsaken them. They remembered God's promises that God was going to keep his people in his land and provide a king for them. And now here they were. in a foreign land, seemingly God had forsaken them, and they had no hope whatever of getting back. And Ezekiel has given the ministry of bringing encouragement to those people in exile. And Ezekiel had the job of explaining to them that the exile was not for everybody simply judgment. that God was doing more than judging His people for their lack of worship, for their forsaking of God, for their idolatry, for their sin. That God had a bigger plan than simply judgment, although that was part of it. But that in fact, God through that means of judgment was acting in a gracious manner. He was demonstrating His grace to them, although the people did not understand it. And Ezekiel told them, listen, You people that have been taken into captivity are not those whom God is judging. In fact, you happen to be the good guy. The bad guys are still back in the promised land. The bad guys are still back in Jerusalem. And the bad guys are really going to see the judgment of God. They are going to be wiped out. And so Ezekiel explains to them that through them in captivity, God was preserving his word, preserving his promises, preserving his kingly line, and was acting in grace toward them, that the future of Israel was through the exiles, not through those who dwell back in the land of Judea at all. Now, in order to bring Ezekiel to the point where he saw that this was true, God revealed himself to Ezekiel in a way that he revealed himself to nobody else in Scripture. Ezekiel is called the prophet of Jehovah's Glory, for he saw more of the glory of God than any other man in the Bible, more than Isaiah, more than other prophets in the Old Testament. And so in the first chapter of Ezekiel, and this is usually where Christians start reading, and it's about there where they quit reading when they come to Ezekiel. I mean, when they get to wheels within wheels and so on, they think, well, what in the world is going on here? I think this is beyond me. Let's go on and try the next one. And anyway, they read forty-eight chapters. Man, I can't have wheels within wheels for forty-eight chapters and get anything. There is plenty in Ezekiel to get, and we're not going to go through it all this morning. But what Ezekiel saw in that chapter was a vision of the glory of God. He saw this Merkaba, this chariot throne of God. He did have wheels, the wheel, and there were faces like the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle. He did see many wonderful and glorious things, but basically what Ezekiel saw was that God was on the throne of the universe. That God was in control. That even though they were in exile, even though it seemed like the world had collapsed, that God was on the throne. And so God begins to reveal himself. When Ezekiel was called, a few chapters later, he sees the same vision again. And then, if you remember Ezekiel, there is a departure of the glory that he saw. While God was sitting on the throne of this wonderful chariot, by the way, if you'd like an interesting thing to do, and some of you have some time, you try and read the description of that chariot in chapter one and then draw a picture of it. I'd like to see the variety of pictures you draw. It's explained there very carefully, but the numbers of ways in which people come up with it is quite interesting. You see what you can do if you'd like a little interesting thing. But what Ezekiel saw after that was that this wonderful vision of glory, and it was wonderful, we haven't got time to go into it, began to disappear. And in one of his visions, after seeing the filthiness that actually dwelt in the temple of Jerusalem, he saw the glory depart from off the ark of the covenant and out of the holy place and to the door of the temple itself. and then to the gateway of the temple, and then to the eastern gateway of Jerusalem, and then to the Mount of Olives, and then it disappears. And Ezekiel sees the glory of God gone. But God wasn't finished with him yet. For it's at this point in the book of Ezekiel that the fall of Jerusalem comes, and that's the turning point in Ezekiel's prophecy there. And when Jerusalem falls, Then God begins to describe a new temple, a new earth, a new kingdom, a new Jerusalem that was coming. And Ezekiel needed assurance that that new temple that was going to be built far grander, far bigger than the first temple, that that new temple was going to be indwelt by the glory of God, that God was going to be there. And so after the great explanation of this new kingdom and new temple and new city that we're going to come, you find that the glory returns. And he sees it coming from the east, from the Mount of Olives, and back to the temple again. And then the voice comes to Ezekiel, if you remember, I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And all of these things were vividly described. And the crowning glory of the whole book of Ezekiel is this name. And so he said. And the name of that city is called The Lord is There. You see, God had to depart from a wicked idolatrous immoral Jerusalem. The people had turned away from him. And so there could not be the dwelling of a holy God in Jerusalem. And Ezekiel saw all that and explains this to the captive people. But he also explains that there is going to be a greater city, a greater temple. And in that city God is going to be there. That the God who dwells on the throne of the universe is your God. Don't be discouraged. And I would say that to you this morning. God is there. And when tragedy comes, when sickness comes, when trials come, when problems come, God is there. Jehovah Shama, his presence when your world collapses. If you were to turn back to the book of Jeremiah, you would find in chapter twenty-three, verse six, another one of these double-barreled names of Jehovah. And it is this one Jehovah Sidkenyu, or the Lord, our righteousness. in chapter twenty three verse six of Ezekiel and that you don't necessarily have to turn to it but listen as I read one or two thing verses out of here behold the day shall come saith the Lord that I will raise up David a righteous branch a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice and the earth and in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Sid Kenyu. And this was the assurance of their acceptance, his righteousness, no matter what happened, no matter whether the accuser may roar or not. Now Jeremiah was living on the opposite end of things than Ezekiel was. Ezekiel was in captivity during the same time that Jeremiah was still living in Jerusalem. Jeremiah had the terrible job of living in Jerusalem and trying to minister to God's people and watching everything he loved decay and going to ruin. And finally he had to sit down and watch Jerusalem burn. And the temple be destroyed. And the people killed. And a few of them carried away captive. A few of those that were left. And Jeremiah sees everything vanish. And to him God gives this name. The Lord... our righteousness. In these central chapters of Jeremiah, chapter twenty-two, the chapter before gives a kind of overview of what righteous government should be like. And that was important to Jeremiah, because the king on the throne at that time, his name was Zedekiah. And Zedekiah's name means the Lord, my righteousness. or something very similar to this name Sidkenyu. Zedekiah was his name. And he was a wicked man. And he ruled wickedly, unjust, immoral, cruel. He would not listen to the prophets. He would not listen to God. And so Jeremiah pronounces judgment on this king, Zedekiah. And in pronouncing judgment on him, He tells examples of other kings that have gone before, that God has had to judge as well. And then Jeremiah speaks of a coming king who was righteous. His name wouldn't be Zedekiah. His name would be Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. He should be a righteous branch of David, and he would stand up for his people. He would be their name. He would be their king. He would stand in their place. This is one of the great themes that carries over in the New Testament. Paul picks up this theme, the book of Romans, where righteousness is the great theme. And that our standing before God is on that very fact that God is our righteousness. He provides righteousness, and that's what justification means. to be declared righteous. Even though we have an accusing enemy, Satan, he is our righteousness. And we are perfectly safe because of his righteousness. Sometimes we think that him, I hear the accuser roar of ills that I have done. I know them well in thousands more. Jehovah findeth none. And that's where the great Encouragement is here. This is of tremendous support to us as believers. Sometimes when we're weak, we need assurance. We have failures. We have weaknesses. And then we remember that the Lord our righteousness is there. And what comfort we can get. Jehovah said, can you? His salvation, His righteousness. when the accuser roars. Psalm twenty-three begins with another one of these double-pronged names of Jehovah, and it's this, the Lord is my shepherd, or Jehovah Roe. I don't want to dwell on this too long this morning, but here is assurance of our direction. If we get assurance of acceptance, when the Lord is our righteousness, that nobody, nothing, No way can take away my salvation from me because he is my righteousness. When I am assured of his presence because Jehovah Shema is there, the Lord is there, then I also am assured of his direction. Some of us don't know which way to go. The Lord is my shepherd. And the shepherd leads. And the shepherd never goes in the wrong place. His guidance. when the way is dark and sometimes it is dark. Psalm twenty three is really the song of sheep that is found by the shepherd. We have no fear of going in the wrong direction when he is our shepherd. Really Psalm twenty three is built around three direct statements. I shall not lack or I shall not want. I will not fear. And I will dwell forever. You look at Psalm twenty-three. You see, if you don't see, those three direct statements. And everything else in the Psalm surrounds them. I shall not want. I shall not fear. And you will not, or not lack. You won't lack anything. If you follow the shepherd, he'll lead you. You won't lack rest, for he makes you to lie down. You won't lack sustenance. For he'll make you to dwell in green pastures, succulent grass with a sheep. You won't lack refreshment, for he leads, besides still waters. You won't lack restoration, for he restores our soul. By the way, he doesn't always restore our bodies, but he does restore our soul. And the health of our soul is even more important than the health of our body. We will not lack guidance, for He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. And even though we've been on the road a long, long time, we still need that leading and guiding of the Lord Himself. He leadeth me, O blessed thought, O word with heavenly comfort brought. Where I go, where I be, still tis God's hand that leadeth me. Yes, we shall not lack guidance. We shall not lack peace, for though I walk through the valley, He's there. I shall not lack companionship. Thou art with me. I shall not lack comfort. For thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. I shall not lack victory. For he prepares a table in the presence of his enemies. I shall not lack joy. For thou anointest my head with oil. And I shall not lack anything. For my cup runs over. I shall not lack. The Lord is my shepherd. Jehovah Roe. And, of course, that leads on to the fact that I shall not fear. And also that I shall dwell forever. Well, enough on that. Jehovah Roe, the Lord our shepherd. The Lord is there. The Lord our righteousness. the Lord our Shepherd coming back to Judges six you have another of those names and it surrounds the character called Gideon in the Bible and it is this Jehovah Shalom the Lord our peace and you remember the story where the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon while he's behind the wine press there and The angel says, the Lord is with you, mighty man of valor. Go and deliver Israel. And Gideon begins to argue. He says, how and so on. Well, says the angel, I am with you. Gideon's still not sure. And so the angel says, show me a sign. And so the angel touches an offering that was placed upon a little altar on a rock there and touched it with his rod and almost vapo. It's gone. And Gideon believes now that he has seen God. And he says, Alas! I've seen the Lord face to face. I'm afraid. I'm in fear. He's conscious of his sin. He's conscious of God's holiness. And then what happened? The Lord says, Wait a minute, Gideon. Peace. Peace to you. You shall not die. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to lead you. And my peace is going to garrison your heart. Even when the enemy is in front of you, you need to learn about my peace. And so at that point in Gideon's life, he builds an altar. And he calls the name of that altar Jehovah Shalom. The Lord our peace. Now Gideon can face the enemy. Now Gideon can send back the thousands that would not fight properly and that did not believe in the power of God. Now Gideon can go ahead in victory because he's learned that God is his peace. And a lot of us need this. Sometimes our own fears increase. Can we make it? At a mass, we're moving to Iowa. Some of you know. to Dubuque, Iowa, a campus moving a hundred and seventy miles west of where it now is in Oak Park. And there are big needs. And there's a lot of work to do. And it's easy to be a little bit fearful. Can we make it? Can we do it? We knew that God was with us, but, but, but, the Lord is our peace. And we moved forward. Confidence. in that very fact. Now we all need to learn that. Be still my soul. Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide. He faithful will, in every change, He faithful will remain. We need to learn that. Jehovah Shalom. Well, in Exodus seventeen there's another one of these names. Jehovah Nisi. I'm not going to comment much on it. But it had to do with the Lord our banner, a banner of victory. For when the Israelites were in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula, the Amalekites came and attacked them. And Joshua, I mean, Moses was up on the hill, you remember, and his arms were held up. And while his arms were held up, there was victory. And when his arms went down, there was defeat. And so he got Aaron and her to hold up his arms so that the victory would be won. And it was. And this was the name that was revealed. Jehovah Nisi. You see, there's his victory when enemies attack. And I'm quite sure that the older I get, the more subtle are the attacks of the enemy. Some people have the idea, you know, that's only when you're young and youthful that there is any real attack from Satan on our lives. That older Christians have no attacks, and it's not true. And I'm finding that out myself. And so do all of us. We need Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner. I haven't got time, but in Exodus fifteen, there's another one. Jehovah Rolfaga, the Lord our health. For the Israelites were needing water, and they came across the pool of Mara, and it was only sweetened by the application of the tree. Speaking of the cross, And that brought health to the waters. And it did away with the bitterness that was there. And they came through on the other side. And finally, the first of all those names revealed in the Bible, and perhaps the loveliest of all, is that revealed to Abraham when he offered up his son. Father, here is the fire. And here is the wood. But where is the land? Abraham's reply, my son, God will provide himself the land. Then Isaac himself is laid on the wood that was on top of the altar that Moses built, that Abraham built. Abraham, Abraham, Jeremiah, Lord, he looks around and there's a ram caught in a fish. God will provide. And so he called the name of that place. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide, or the Lord our provision. And that place, Jehovah Jireh, was the place where Isaac was offered, but where God provided himself the Lamb. And this theme is picked up by Paul in the New Testament in the climax of Romans eight. and said that if we can appreciate the human cost, that Abraham did not spare his son, but gave him up for us all, how much more? The Lord who spared not his beloved son, but freely gave him up for us all, how much more will he not also freely give us all things? And if that's true, my friend, then God has a great deal of providing he can do for us. All he's looking for are confident people who will realize the provision that God gives. We sang this morning, and when I think that God, his son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarcely can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bears. He bled and died to take away my sin. And if he provided his son for us, will he not provide every other need we have? Of course he will. His name is Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide. And he provides everything that his people need. There's provision when he commands, when we obey his commands. There's healing, even in times of bitterness, as it was at the pool of Mara. There's victory when enemies attack. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord, our banner. and so on there is guidance when the way is dark the Lord our shepherd there's peace when our fears increase Jehovah Shalom there is righteousness when the enemy accuses us Jehovah is Kenyon and there of course is what God provides his print when our circumstances collapse the Lord our the Lord is there. What a wonderful thing is revealed in the names of our God. And may he help us to live in the light of this wonderful God that we have. It's so easy to take him for granted. Gracious Father, having perused rather quickly some of the names of this wonderful God, your name, Lord, Help us to appreciate our God even more. Help us to depend on him. And may all those characteristics found in him find a response in our lives as we live to please him, as we live to become more like his son. Bless each one we pray today in Jesus.