Sermon #9 Series: The Names of God

Title: Jehovah Jesus

Text: Isaiah 43:3 and Matthew 1:21

Subject: The Person and Work of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Date: Tuesday Evening, December 22, 1987

Tape #: I-12

Introduction:

In Isaiah 43:3, the Lord our God calls himself by three great names. By these three names, he encourages us to trust him, lean upon him and comfort ourselves in the knowledge of him. In the midst of raging storms and fiery trials, our God says to you and me, “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” If the Lord God has redeemed us, if he has called us, if we belong to him, we have nothing to fear, no matter how fearful our trials and circumstances may appear. Those who are redeemed by blood and called by grace belong to God. And those who belong to God are under the care and protection of his sovereign power. In order to encourage our faith in him, the Lord our God graciously reveals himself to us by these three distinct names. He says...

1. “I am the Lord thy God.” “I am Jehovah thy God.” The Lord our God, the supreme, almighty, sovereign, eternal God, the one true and living God of heaven and earth is our God. He is our God, because he created us. But he is especially our God, the God of his covenant people, the God of all believers, because he redeemed us and called us. He is the God of all men. But he is especially the God of them that believe. He is the God of all men by creation. But he is our God by his own eternal choice, by redemption and grace.

This is the name by which our God is pleased to reveal himself and make himself known to us--JEHOVAH. The word “LORD” in our English translation is the word “JEHOVAH.” This is the name which God claims for himself alone. It is his glorious name, which he will not give unto another (Ex. 6:3; Isa. 42:8; Psa. 83:18). It is not to be spoken, nor spoken of, lightly, but only with the highest reverence, esteem, and adoration (Duet. 28:58; Psa. 111:9).

This name, JEHOVAH, identifies our God as the one and only eternal, necessary, self-existent Being. He is the Being out of whom, by whose will and power all other things exist. He is the Creator of all things. Jehovah is the eternal One, which is, which was, and which is to come (Rev. 1:4). If this great and glorious Jehovah is our God, if he has redeemed us and called us, if we belong to him, who or what shall we fear?

2. He is also, “The Holy One of Israel.” Jehovah, our God, is our Holiness. He alone is holy. And he alone makes us holy. He is the One form whom we are sanctified. And he is our sanctification. He has made us holy by setting us apart for himself in eternal election, by washing away our sins in redemption, and by imparting his holy nature to us in regeneration. And he will bring his work to perfection by raising our bodies from the grave and making even our bodies to be holy in glorification. He is Jehovah our God; but more than that, he is Jehovah our Righteousness. The Lord our God is the Lord our Righteousness.

3. But notice this third name, by which our God reveals himself. He says, “I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior.” The Lord our God, who is the Lord our Righteousness, is the Lord our Savior. He is our Preserver, our Protector, our Provider, and our Deliverer.

The Lord who redeemed us, called us and made us holy by his almighty grace is our Savior. Who is he? What is his name? Turn in you Bible to Matthew 1:21, and you will see. Here the angel of the Lord said to Joseph, “She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS; for he shall save his people from their sins.” This is the name of God our Savior, JEHOVAH JESUS.

Proposition:

Jesus Christ is Jehovah our God come to save!

We have seen seven names of God, given in the Scriptures. Each of the names point us to the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord will Provide (Gen. 22:13-14).

Jehovah-Rapha: The Lord will Heal (Ex 15:26).

Jehovah-Nissi: The Lord our Banner (Ex. 17:8-15).

Jehovah-Shalom: The Lord our Peace (Jud. 6:22-24).

Jehovah-Ra-ah: The Lord my Shepherd (Ps. 23:1).

Jehovah-Tsidkenu: The Lord my Righteousness(Jer. 23:6).

Jehovah-Shammah: The Lord is There (Ezek. 48:35).

With the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ all these names of our God and Savior, and their messages, are fulfilled. The name by which the Lord God appeared to his saints in the types and prophecies of the Old Testament is Jehovah. And the name which our Lord assumed when he came into the earth is as a man is Jesus. The name of the God-Man, who is our Savior is Jehovah-Jesus, or the Lord Jesus. And he is the Christ.

Divisions:

1. Jesus Christ our Savior is Jehovah.

2. Jehovah-Jesus came to save his people from their sins.

3. All who trust Jehovah-Jesus are saved.

I. FIRST, I WANT TO SHOW YOU FROM THE SCRIPTURES THAT JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR IS JEHOVAH.

We are Trinitarians. We worship one God in the Trinity, or tri-unity, of his sacred Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. There are three distinct Persons in the eternal Godhead. But those three Divine Persons are One (I John 5:7). The Father is God. The Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet, they are not three gods, but One. And this eternal Godhead, in all the fullness of the Divine Beings is revealed by and forever dwells in the body of that man whose name is Jesus, the Christ (Col 2:9; John 1:1, 14; 14:1-10).

This is what I am saying--The triune God reveals himself to men, deals with men, and is known by men only in the Person of that One who is the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (John 14:6). And this man, Jesus Christ, is himself Jehovah, the eternal God (Rev. 1:4,8). He is Immanuel (Matt. 1:21-23; Isa. 9:6).

This is the wondrous mystery of the incarnation. “God was manifest in the flesh” (I Tim. 3:16). Jesus Christ is really and truly God, as much God as though he were not a man. And he is really and truly man, as much man as though he were not God. Indeed, he must be both God and man in one glorious Person, or he could not be our Savior. Someone said, “God could not suffer and man could not satisfy; but the God-man both suffered and satisfied.”

Jehovah-Jesus bridged the gulf between God and man. Our Savior is God; therefore he is able to save. But he is also man, therefore he has compassion upon men. He is God come to save. God, who spoke to our fathers in times past by the prophets, has spoken to us by his Son, whose name is Jehovah-Jesus (Heb. 1:1-3). And the thing he speaks is Salvation!

A. Jehovah-Jesus is God over all and Blessed forever.

B. Jehovah-Jesus is a real man, touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

1. Temptations of every age.

2. Loneliness and Isolation.

3. Scorn and Mocking

4. Betrayal by friends.

5. Sickness.

6. Sorrow.

7. Sin.

8. Death.

Whatever it is that touches you, it has touched him. He knows what you feel. He knows the pain that crushes your heart, which no one else can understand. What is your trouble? What is your sorrow? What is your burden? Tell it to Jehovah-Jesus. He is a friend who understands and a God who is able to help.

C. Jehovah-Jesus is our Mediator, our Savior, our Brother, and our Advocate.

II. SECONDLY, OUR TEXT DECLARES THAT JEHOVAH-JESUS CAME TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS.

The angel did not say, “He shall reward his people for their righteousness.” He did not say, “He shall save his people from becoming sinners.” He said, “He shall save his people from their sins.” The connecting link between Christ and his people is not their goodness, but their sins. Christ never gave himself for our righteousness. He gave himself for our sins. If we had never sinned we would never have needed a Savior. Had we never sinned, the name of Jesus would never have been heard. “The first link between my soul and Christ is, not my goodness, but my badness; not my merit, but my misery; not my standing, but my falling; not my riches, but my need” (C.H. Spurgeon). Our Lord comes, not to admire the beauty of man, but to remove the deformity of man; not to reward virtue, but to remove sin!

1. Every promise of God in the gospel is made to sinners.

2. When we own and acknowledge our sins, then we obtain the mercy of God in Christ (I John 1:9).

D. Be sure you understand this part of the angel’s message too--The Lord Jesus Christ “shall save his people from their sins.”

This is not a faint wish, or hopeful desire. This is a Divine prophesy. Jehovah-Jesus “shall save his people from their sins”, everyone of them.--(Illustration: Joshua)--Jesus is a name fully justified by the facts. Many children are given great names, which they can never live up to; but not the Christ of God. His name is Jesus; and he lives up to his name.--(Illustration: Ex. Here lies Methuselah Coney who died at the age of only six months’)--Many fake Jesus!

1. Jehovah-Jesus has saved his people from the penalty of sin by his blood atonement.

2. Jehovah-Jesus is saving his people from the reigning power of sin by the grace and power of His Spirit.

3. Jehovah-Jesus shall save his people from the being of sin by his glorious advent.

Blessed be his name, it is true, Jehovah-Jesus saves his people from their sins. Earth knows it. Hell hates it. Heaven chants it. Time has seen it. Eternity shall declare it (Isa. 45:20-25).

III. NOW, LET ME SHOW YOU ONE LAST, BUT GLORIOUS THING--EVERY SINNER WHO TRUSTS JEHOVAH-JESUS IS SAVED FROM ALL HIS SINS (JOHN 3:14-16).

Some of you here have lived through yet another year without Christ. The harvest again is passed. The summer again is ended. And you are not saved. Will you perish forever? Look to Christ and be saved. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ now, right where you are. If you can but trust him, Jehovah-Jesus has saved you from your sins.

He has saved you from the penalty of sin.

He will save you from the power of sin.

He shall save you from the very being of sin.