I have looked forward to this particular session.
In fact, this one and the next one
are especially important to me, and I think
you will begin to see why as we
move along.
First, though, I need to see if your
memory is good.
You remember as we've been going through the
nature of Jesus, you've been memorizing this as
we go along, right?
Right.
And the first one was?
Servant.
Very good.
I knew you could remember that.
And the next one was?
Not lorded over others.
Very good.
And the third one was?
Excellent.
And the fourth was?
Humble.
You folks are awesome.
And the fifth was?
As a child.
And the sixth as the?
Younger.
And the seventh as the?
Last.
And the eighth as the?
Least.
And the ninth?
No force.
And the tenth?
No blind ambition.
And number eleven?
No reputation.
That was a fun one.
Number twelve was?
Human.
Fully man, fully God.
Number thirteen?
Obedient even unto?
Excellent.
Oh, you guys are great.
I'm impressed.
This is great.
Now, we tend to see, or at least
many do, tend to see God the Father
as different from Jesus.
They see them as different personalities, in a
sense.
Well, they are different persons.
But the thing is, God doesn't change.
What you see in the New Testament should
be the same as what we see in
the Old.
And yet we tend to think that God
the Father is this angry, white-haired old
man sitting somewhere up on a cosmic rock,
just waiting for a human being to come
along.
And when he sees one, ha-ha, zap,
got him.
And then Jesus comes along and says, now
look, I know Dad has moods.
But you stick with me and I'll get
your thing.
But that cannot be.
Because Jesus says, when you've seen me, you've
seen the Father.
Well, surely we've missed something.
Surely, if this is true, that when you've
seen Jesus, you've seen the Father, we've missed
something.
So, I went back into the Old Testament
using this list that you have memorized.
As a lens, to see if I could
find places where the Father has revealed himself.
Well, I found it.
I found something that meets the criteria.
I was so excited, I could hardly stand
it.
I hope I do not insult your intelligence
with what we're going to go over tonight,
but, because you know it, basically.
But let's have some fun.
This story begins, well, actually begins in Genesis,
but we're going to take it up in
Exodus.
And most of what I will share with
you tonight, and in our next session, when
we dig into the New Testament side of
this.
I will narrate to you, tell you approximately
where we are, and you can then find
it on your own as you look it
up.
But let me just basically narrate it for
you.
I'll read a few passages specifically.
It starts in Exodus chapter 3.
My good friend Moses.
I like Moses.
He had a PhD in Egyptology.
But he had thoroughly messed up his life,
and now the best job he can get
is herding sheep way out on the back
of the desert.
They weren't even his own sheep.
For 40 years.
Think of it.
40 years.
What have you ever done for 40 years?
So boring.
Same path.
Same sheep.
Same back.
And finally, I think God says, I think
I can talk to this man now.
You know, I have often prayed, God, please
don't let me get so hard-headed that
it takes you 40 years to get my
attention.
So God says, I think I can talk
to this man now, and he sets a
bush on fire.
You ever wondered which bush?
I mean, how did God pick one?
Did he, there were billions of thorn bushes
like that in the desert.
Did he have a Mr. Thorn Bush of
Israel contest, or what?
Well, I think he just looked for one
that would burn, and that was available.
So he sets this bush on fire.
And Moses, bored to tears in the desert,
sees it.
All right, something different in the desert.
Let's go check it out.
He was 80, you know.
And he gets over there and discovers that
it was not your typical bush.
It didn't burn up.
In fact, it was even more different than
that.
It spoke.
And it knew his name.
Moses, Moses.
What?
Take off your shoes.
You're on holy ground.
He took off his shoes and promptly entered
into an argument with the bush.
I love it.
Folks, that takes nerve.
In fact, Jewish people have a stronger word
for that.
What is it?
Chutzpah, chutzpah, something like that.
That's sort of like murdering your parents, then
throwing yourself on the mercy of the courts
as an orphan.
That's nerve.
Well, the bush won.
And Moses says, okay, okay.
I'll go.
I'll talk to Pharaoh.
I'll talk to the children of Israel.
But who are you anyway?
What's your name?
When they ask me who sent me, what
name will I tell them?
Now, name is an important thing in life.
They realize that when you know someone's name,
you own a part of that person.
I can see Bruce across a crowded area,
and no matter how many people are out
there, all I have to do is yell,
hey, Bruce!
And he stops right there.
I've got him.
Just by knowing someone's name, you own something
about them.
So God responded and he said, you tell
them, I am, that I am, or who
I am has sent you.
Oh, I get goosebumps when I say that.
I am has sent you.
If I were to send you, I would
have to say, tell them I ain't has
sent you.
Or the great maybe.
But God is an I am.
Now, you know that this is written, these
letters Y-H-W-H are the letters
that spell out this name.
If you ever see the word tetragrammaton in
any technical religious writing, you know it's speaking
of these four letters.
The problem is, it's just a little hard
to pronounce.
Now, I have a dear rabbi friend, outstanding
rabbi, with whom I've been in conversation over
this passage.
And he says to me that we lost
the pronunciation of this name many centuries ago.
And rather than insult God and embarrass ourselves,
we never, ever attempt in any way to
pronounce it.
And in its place, we will write the
word LORD in capital letters, usually.
And a little lesson, you probably already know
this too.
But as you're reading the Old Testament, when
you come to the word LORD, notice and
see if it's capitalized all the way through.
If it is, and most versions will do
this, then this is the word that they
have used to replace the letters.
It's not an actual translation.
That's a little bit of a problem we
have here.
But it's a word that we've used to
replace these four letters, Y-H-W-H.
So when you see that word LORD in
your mind, you can just peel that up
and know that underneath it are the letters
Y-H-W-H.
And it's not actually a translation.
It's just a replacement word there.
Or he will say, sometimes we'll say HaShem
or The Name.
Now, to a Jewish person, if you say
The Wall, there's only one wall.
And that's the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
Or if you say The Name, there's only
one name.
And it's this one.
But he said, we've lost the pronunciation.
Now, that's a sad thing.
Because that sort of puts at a distance.
It's like if I were to see Bruce
and I said, hey, Baruch Teh.
He'd say, wait a minute, Erwin, you know
who I am.
Well, that's it.
If I know who you are, why am
I mispronouncing your name?
And so that's the way they felt about
it.
But it puts God at a distance.
What if I'm coming home, luggage in hand,
and I'm headed toward the steps, and the
children see me, and they go rushing into
Mama and say, Mama, the great unpronounceable being
is here.
All right, they don't do that.
They go, Daddy!
And when Jesus said he broke every rule
in the book, what did he say to
The Name?
Well, we have a problem with this.
Because, you see, we can't pronounce that.
We don't fully know the pronunciation of it.
He goes on, and he says, this is
the name I've chosen to be known by
from generation to generation from now on.
Got a problem, don't we?
Can't pronounce it.
And then in Ephesians chapter 3, Paul lets
us know that he's the father after whom
his whole family on earth is named.
So that's our last name, and we can't
even pronounce it.
I'm Gale Irwin.
Well, what we've done, uncomfortable with that, is
we've added an A and an E, and
we call him Yahweh.
Now, that may be accurate.
I'm pretty certain about the very first syllable
of this.
Do you ever say the word?
Of course you do.
Hallelujah.
Hallels to Yah, or praises to Yah.
And this is a contraction of the name
that they used, or if you'll just take
note of Psalm 68, 4, I'll read it
to you.
It says, sing unto God, sing praises to
his name, extol him that writeth upon the
heavens by his name, Yah, and rejoice before
him.
So we have plenty of evidence of that
one.
The problem is this other syllable.
Now, I personally am comfortable with it, to
be honest with you, and I find no
qualms in my own heart about using this
as a rather accurate word, and it's been
pretty well accepted as such for quite a
long time.
Well, there's another word we use that's actually
probably even more common than that, but much
less accurate.
I understand that there were some old students
many centuries ago, not too many, this is
a fairly modern name, who were uncomfortable with
these letters they couldn't pronounce, so they took
the vowels from the word Adonai, which is
another word for Lord, which means Master, and
mixed them in with this and came up
with the least accurate of all the words
we use for him, Jehovah.
I feel so sorry for the Jehovah's Witnesses
when I realize this.
Of all the names they could have picked,
they picked the least accurate one.
Now, you may be thinking, no wonder my
prayers don't get answered.
I've been using the wrong name.
Well, you can relax.
God's pretty sharp, actually.
He knows who you're talking to when you
address Him.
In fact, when I go to Zimbabwe, if
you're a Shona tribesman, you will say Mwadi.
If you're a Mdebele tribesman, you'll say Musiki.
And God knows who you're speaking to when
you use His name.
But I want you to see that we
do have a little bit of a problem
here.
Well, let's leave it alone for a moment
and continue our march through this revelation that
God is giving Moses.
In chapter 6, He says, You're the first
one I've revealed my name to.
Your forefathers knew me as El Shaddai, or
the Almighty, but you're the one that I've
explained this name to.
Then the next real revelation moment we have,
Moses is up on a mountain getting something
written down from God.
Oh, by the way, Moses was pastor of
a fairly good-sized church.
You know that, don't you?
It was definitely the biggest church in the
desert.
We know that.
About two and a half million people.
Not bad for a congregation.
And when he went up on that mountain
in Exodus 32, he left his church with
his brother Aaron.
And Aaron had walked with him.
Aaron should understand.
But God said to Moses, Moses, you'd better
get back down the mountain.
Things are not well.
So Moses scurries back down the mountain with
those tablets in hand, and he turns the
corner, and sure enough, there they are in
various stages of debauchery, dancing around a golden
calf.
We still do that today.
If gold's involved, hey, here we come.
And it was all Moses could handle.
And in anger, he threw those tablets down
and broke them.
And went up to Aaron and says, Aaron,
what's going on?
Aaron says, I don't know.
I just threw in the gold, and out
came this calf.
What can I say?
And then he says to Moses the saddest
words a pastor can hear.
You've got to understand, Moses, these people are
prone to sin.
Now, how would you like to pastor two
and a half million people prone to sin,
who are accidentally righteous?
You'd rather pastor two and a half million
people prone to righteousness, who accidentally sin.
Well, then God said to Moses, Tell you
what, Moses, let me kill them.
I'll start all over with you.
Now, if I'd have been Moses, I would
have seriously considered that.
Oh, yeah, I tell you, boy, they wear
me out, God.
I mean, they're prone to sin, you know?
But I think Moses rose to maybe his
highest moment when he said, No, if you
wipe them out, wipe me out, too.
I think God must have thought, way to
go, Moses.
Now you're thinking right.
Well, this brings us to Exodus 33.
Exodus 33 begins.
God's letting Moses know that he's going to
send his angel on ahead of them.
He'll drive your enemies out.
He'll provide for you.
It'll be a land of milk and honey.
But Moses, I'm not going.
Because if I go, I know what you'll
do.
You'll do something dastardly and I'll get angry
and have to destroy you.
Now, if I were Moses, well, I would
have considered this offer, too.
Oh, you'll take care of us.
You'll send your angel ahead, drive our enemies
out.
Sounds good to me.
And many people I know are satisfied with
that from God.
Just take care of me.
Make me wealthy.
Provide for me.
Drive my enemies out.
But we'll discover later on in this chapter
that Moses was not satisfied with that.
In essence, he said, no, your provision is
great, but we want your presence.
You don't go.
We don't go.
We want you.
I like that.
That let me know that Moses really loved
God.
You see, we want your presence.
For instance, what if I were to call
my wife and say, honey, I'll be home
tomorrow.
And she says, that won't be necessary.
Just send money.
Well, fortunately, she doesn't do that.
And Moses didn't treat God that way.
We want your presence.
Well, then we find Moses building a tent
of meeting outside the camp, beyond the gates
of the camp, where anyone who wished could
go and inquire of the Lord.
I like that.
I think I understand why he built it
outside the gates, outside the camp.
Have any of you ever gone tent camping
and camped in a really crowded, noisy campground?
Can you imagine this campground?
Two and a half million people.
You probably don't go to downtown Los Angeles
for your quiet time, do you?
So he built it outside the camp where
anyone could go and inquire of the Lord.
Something would happen.
This fascinates me.
When Moses would leave headquarters and turn his
face toward that tent of meeting and begin
to walk toward it, the word would get
out.
Everyone would rush to the front of their
tent and stand at attention and watch while
Moses walked to that tent.
Boy, that's our leader.
And he's going to talk with God.
Wow.
And Moses would enter the tent and the
cloud would come down and Moses and God
would speak to one another, literally mouth to
mouth.
Our version says face to face, but it's
literally mouth to mouth as a friend speaks
to a friend.
And now for the entire time that Moses
and God were speaking to one another, the
people who had stood at attention now worshipped
God for the entire time Moses was in
that tent.
That's another goose bumper, folks.
Meanwhile, back in the tent, Moses and God
are, well, kind of arguing, actually.
I'm not going.
You don't go.
We don't go.
I'm not going.
You don't go.
We don't go.
And then God says to Moses, and I'll
paraphrase this.
Moses, I like you.
You found favor and grace in my eyes.
How would you like to hear God say
that to you?
I like you.
He has.
And if you haven't heard it, please hear
it tonight.
I like you.
I know your name.
Oh, that's encouraging, too.
I am not to God number 950364827.
I know your name, Gail.
Strange name for a guy, but I know
it.
And then he says, I'll do what you
ask.
How would you like to hear God say
that?
What do you want?
I'll do it.
Oh, now, if I'd have been Moses, I
know what I would have said.
How about a house in Hawaii?
God, I need some rest, man.
These people are prone to sin.
That's not what he said.
In essence, he says, I want to see
you.
Show me your glory.
Awesome.
I want to write this word up here
because we're going to make an amazing discovery
about it in just a moment.
Show me your glory.
Now, when you love someone, letters are nice.
Phone calls are great.
But when you love someone, you want to
see them.
And Moses is saying that, God, I want
to see you.
Show me your glory.
If you'll do what I ask, if I
found favor in your eyes, if you know
my name, show me your glory.
I've often wondered just what is the glory
of God.
Have you ever wondered that?
When it came down, when they dedicated the
tabernacle and the temple, the glory of God
was so strong that the priest couldn't even
minister.
And it caused him to come up with
a word to describe this dwelling presence.
It's not really a biblical word, but it's
a good word.
Shekinah.
In an attempt to explain this glory, what
is it anyway?
Is it a cloud that comes up out
of the ground and wraps around you and
you don't dare look or your face will
melt like in Raiders of the Lost Ark
or something?
What is it?
God says, well, tell you, Moses, I'm paraphrasing
here, folks.
You can you can look at all.
You've asked a tough one.
But I tell you what, I'll have all
my goodness pass in front of you.
I will mercy whom I will mercy.
Oh, where have we heard those words before?
Psalm 23, David says, Surely goodness and mercy
will chase me.
I mean, follow me.
All the days of my life.
You ever wondered what's chasing you?
Now, you know, slow down, let it catch
you.
And he says, I will proclaim my name
or preach my name or define my name
or explain my name.
Now, what we have happening here is God
is attaching his name and his glory together.
He says, you want to see my glory,
then I will define my name.
Now, if you look up glory in your
Bible dictionary, you'll discover it's the essence of
his being.
It has to do with weight.
It's just what he is.
And back in that day, when you named
someone, you would name them in keeping with
who they are so that if you knew
the definition of the person's name, you knew
the person.
See, we don't do that today.
We just sort of flip through baby books
until we find names that sound good.
And that's what we name them like.
My parents named me Gail, which means a
big win.
So obviously, parents.
So at any rate, God is here saying,
I will define my name for you so
you will know the very essence of my
being.
You will know what I am.
And that's the same thing as my glory.
So here he attaches name and glory together.
Then he says, you know, there's a there's
a place near me and a rock or
you could say a rock near me.
Those are good words.
You could spend some time on that, couldn't
you?
And there's a cleft in that rock or
a split place in that rock.
And what I'll do, Moses, is I will
hide you in that split place and I'll
cover you there with my hand.
And as I pass by and define or
explain or reveal my name or preach my
name as I pass by, when I get
by, I'll move my hand.
I'll let you get just a glimpse of
my back.
But you can't see my face, because if
you see my face, you'll die and I
don't want you to die.
So, Moses, tomorrow, I want you to I
want you to take two tablets and see
me in the morning.
Medical profession's been around a long time, hasn't
it?
And I don't want anyone else on the
mountain but me and you.
I don't even want any cattle on the
mountain.
Now we come to Exodus 34.
I think if I were Moses, I would
not have slept that night knowing that tomorrow
I'm going to see God.
I think he probably got up early.
I think this pathway was a familiar one
to him.
I think he had been at that rock
before.
Somehow I feel he had been in that
split place before.
And as he finds his way up there
and I can see him putting those tablets
against the stone out there and making his
way back into that split place and just
waiting, I'm going to see God.
And sure enough, here he comes.
That hand is across the opening and he's
looking at the very fingerprints of God and
God passes by and in this moment reveals
himself.
He preaches his name, the Lord, the Lord,
or YHWH, YHWH, or I am who I
am or Yahweh, Yahweh or Jehovah, Jehovah.
And he defines his name here and he
says the merciful and gracious God.
Now, I need to tell you that this
word mercy, we're going to see it several
times in here and this one I want
to redefine because it's specific definition is compassionate.
So let's write this up here.
The compassionate and gracious God.
Compassion.
Oh, this is a very tender word.
It is pity move to do something about
it.
It's the same kind of tenderness of a
parent who is teaching its child how to
walk and protecting as it goes along.
And if it stumbles and falls, it picks
it up, dusts it off, hugs it and
places it back down and protects it as
it walks along.
That kind of tenderness, compassion.
Jesus was moved with compassion and gracious or
this incredible favor toward us.
Oh, grace.
You know, I once preached, God help me,
that you have to balance grace and the
law.
But you can't do it, you know.
I need to tell you, God's warped.
He's warped.
The law is fulfilled.
But what has happened to grace and mercy?
It gets renewed, doesn't it?
How often?
Every morning.
Incredible.
When you woke up this morning, God looked
at you and said, oh.
Spent it all in one place, didn't you?
Well, I tell you what I'll do.
He says, here is a fresh batch just
for today.
His mercies never come to an end.
Folks, how long is never?
Never.
Gracious God, I'm so glad you're warped.
Long suffering or let me write it down
as slow to anger.
You ever get the feeling that God's up
in heaven looking at you and saying, all
right, you do that just one more time,
boy.
Bam.
But no.
He is slow to anger.
He has a long fuse.
God is not touchy.
If we say our father who art in
heaven, he doesn't go.
What?
No, he is so low to anger.
Abounding in goodness and truth.
Now, I want to redefine goodness here, because
in just a verse or so here, we're
going to discover that it's also translated as
mercy.
So I want to take goodness here and
translate it as mercy, abounding in mercy.
This is that has said mercy, abounding in
truth.
Now, this is the truth that asks to
say when you say of someone that's a
true person, not propositional truth as a true
statement, but a person who is true.
So let's say abounding in trustworthiness would be
appropriate or abounding in faithfulness, abounding in mercy
and faithfulness.
Man, we wish people would just be merciful
or loving enough or faithful enough.
But God abounds in it.
He's got more of it than he knows
what to do with.
He's stacking it in the streets, looking for
a way to get it distributed.
Paul even uses that word in Ephesians, abounding
as he speaks of the mercy of God.
You know what another word for it is?
Lavish.
He lavishes.
I'm a grandfather.
I have a new understanding of the word
lavish.
You know, us grandfathers can't trust ourselves when
Christmas rolls around.
We go into grocery stores and come out
with toys.
And you think, great, I've got a room
full of them at the house waiting on
the kids.
But oh, I saw these and I thought
about them.
They'll like it sometime or other.
Lavish.
You know, I once thought that God had
big armfuls of blessings, but he wasn't sure
he wanted me to have them.
So he says, well, okay, Gail, beg.
No, you're not using the right words.
You've got to use the right word.
But no, his arms are open to us.
He abounds in mercy and faithfulness.
He lavishes on us.
Maintaining or extending mercy to thousands.
My rabbi friend says that's literally mercy to
the thousands generation.
And one or two translations translate it that
way.
Now, if a generation is 40 years and
that's really just an educated guess, we don't
know for sure.
Then a thousand generations would have to be
40,000 years.
Thousands generation would have to be at least
80,000 years.
Do you realize that your relationship with God
has begun at least 80,000 years of
blessing?
So if you ever feel worthless, look at
what you started.
How's God going to do that?
I don't know, but I like it.
I like it.
Then he says, forgiving, iniquity.
Let's translate it to wickedness.
Now, you may say, well, I don't think
I would put myself in the wicked category,
Erwin.
That's okay.
He's got you covered.
Forgiving, transgression or rebellion.
Well, you may say, I don't think I
would put myself in the rebellious category, Erwin.
That's okay.
He's got you covered.
Forgiving, sin.
Well, yeah, you got me there.
Pretty good, huh?
You like this list?
It's too good, isn't it?
It's just too good.
Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger.
Abounding in mercy.
Abounding in faithfulness.
Mercy to thousands.
Forgiving, wickedness, rebellion and sin.
Oh, God can't be that good, can he?
But he is.
He is.
And folks, this is just the back.
I understand why Moses could not have seen
the phase.
It would have blown every fuse in his
body.
If God is this good and this is
just the back.
Now you may be saying, there's more, Erwin.
There's more.
Yes, you're right.
Yet not letting the guilty go free.
Visiting the sins of the father on the
children to the third and the fourth generations.
Oh, punishment.
Oh, my poor children.
I don't have a chance.
But I have good news for you.
Deuteronomy chapters 5 and 7.
Fine tune this for us and let us
know that punishment is only for those who
hate him.
Oh, so if I were to go down
these roads and say, do you hate him?
Oh, no.
Do you hate him?
Oh, no.
Do you hate him?
Oh, no.
Do you hate him?
Oh, no.
Then this doesn't even apply to you.
Only this top part applies to you.
The bottom part punishment is only for those
who hate him.
This is too good.
Now we have the definition of both his
name and his glory.
Now he has defined his name and revealed
his glory to Moses in this definition of
himself.
This is too much almost.
Too much.
Now, you know, children of Israel knew this
was what God was like.
But you know what they did?
They focused on the law.
The law.
Well, the thing about the law is that
that's what I keep.
That's what I do.
And when you see someone who is very
legalistic minded, they're also very centered.
But folks, the law was given to us
to prove to us that we couldn't keep
it.
It was given to us to show us
what we were really made out of.
It was given to us to show us
that we needed to be driven to his
name, you see.
But there's something about us, all of us
that says, I'll do it.
I'll turn over a new leaf.
I will change.
But folks, I took one look at you
tonight when I got up here and I
knew you were a bunch of lawbreakers.
I could just tell.
You don't think so?
I'll just say two words.
Fifty-five.
Oh, yeah.
We're still waiting on the speed limit to
catch up with us here, aren't we?
We're lawbreakers.
In fact, a number of years ago, back
when television was truly black and white, now
it's gotten kind of fuzzy.
There was a program called Truth or Consequences.
Any of you remember that one?
It was a pretty good program, actually.
And I remember they offered one hundred thousand
dollars.
That was a lot of money back then.
Today, you carry it in your pocket, don't
you?
A hundred thousand dollars to someone from the
audience who would simply not break the law
for 30 minutes.
Oh, everyone, yeah, yeah, me, me.
They finally picked a guy out and he
came up and they said, now, now we
won't ask you to break the law.
We'll ask you to help us in a
couple of skits, but we won't ask you
to break the law.
And it won't be breaking the law just
being up here on the stage.
Oh, you could see that man.
He was spending it already.
Oh, he was beside himself.
A hundred thousand dollars.
And at one point they said, help us
with this next skit.
And he said, OK.
So they threw him a pack of cigarettes.
They said, would you open this for us?
He said, OK.
So he opened one corner, like smokers often
do, so they could tap out one at
a time.
Tossed it back to him.
He said, sir, you just lost a hundred
thousand dollars.
What?
They threw the pack back to him.
They said, read the seal across the top.
Now, I think they've changed this now.
But back then, that seal said, this seal
must be broken when this package is open
under penalty of law.
And he went, oh, no, a hundred thousand
dollar pack.
That's about what they cost, by the way.
We can't keep the law, can we?
It's just tough, isn't it?
I was taking a traffic school once.
I won't tell you why.
And I was sort of.
Yeah, two words.
I was almost sorry I took it because
the teacher marched through all the traffic laws.
And I discovered I was breaking about half
a dozen of them a day routinely.
Didn't even know it.
But the law was given to drive us
to his name.
That's why we can say.
And now it'll begin to make some sense
to you.
The name of the Lord is a strong
tower.
Remember that?
The righteous run to it and are safe.
Now, see, logic, the way the world would
think, and my old carnal nature would think,
wouldn't say that.
It would say something like this.
The name of the Lord is a strong
terror.
Sinners run from it and are safe.
But that's not what it says.
Righteousness means we know where to run.
And so we run to his name and
we discover all compassion, gracious, slow to anger,
abounding in goodness or mercy and in truth,
maintaining or extending love or mercy to thousands,
forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
By the way, I've kind of messed up
your minds right now.
I need to tell you this.
From now on, when you see the word
name and it's talking about God or the
word glory and it's talking about him or
the word Lord, you know what you're going
to think?
You're going to think, oh, yes, compassionate, gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy and faithfulness,
mercy to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
You won't be able to help it.
See, I have this agreement with God that
he'll haunt you with some holy ghost, you
know.
It'll be like my saying to you for
the next 10 seconds, I don't want anyone
to think of monkeys.
When you see the word name or the
word glory and it has to do with
God or you see that word Lord, you're
going to think, oh, yes, compassionate, gracious, slow
to anger.
Yes, abounding in mercy and faithfulness.
Yes, mercy to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and
sin.
You won't be able to help it.
But it will come alive to you.
Now I can understand why God said thou
shalt not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain.
What does that mean?
I used to think it meant don't cuss.
And it does mean that.
But it means if you're going to take
his name and put it on yourself or
put it over your door on your organization,
then it better be compassionate, gracious, slow to
anger, abounding in mercy and faithfulness, mercy to
thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
Or else you have used his name in
vain.
You've misused his name.
If I start an organization and I want
to put God's name on it, boy, my
organization better be compassionate, gracious, slow to anger,
abounding in mercy and faithfulness, mercy to thousands,
forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
Or I have misused or used in vain
his name.
You will have fun going through the Bible
now and looking for these words because it
will explode in your mind.
David knew that this was what God was
like.
Reread Psalm 103 before you go to bed.
It's a short psalm in it.
You will discover David knew his God.
You are a compassionate and gracious God, not
counting men's sins against them.
Nehemiah knew when they had finished the walls
of Jerusalem and were dedicating them and they
prayed this prayer.
It was a prayer of confession.
How would you like to have Pastor Chuck
get up every Sunday and confess your sins
for you?
Would take a while, wouldn't it?
So they get up and they confess the
sins of Israel.
And throughout that prayer, they stop it with
this punctuation.
But you are a gracious and compassionate God,
not counting men's sins against them.
Awesome.
Jonah knew.
I like Jonah.
Jonah is my favorite racist in the Bible.
Jonah hated Nineveh.
Hate him, hate him, hate him, hate him.
And God says, you're my man.
I've got a message just for you.
I want you to go and tell Nineveh
I hate him too.
In fact, 40 days, I'm going to kill
him.
Wipe him out.
You would think Jonah would jump up and
rush off to Nineveh, but no, he ran
away.
Now, folks, if you're going to run away
from God, don't hide in his living room.
You know the rest of the story.
God found him.
He ends up as whale puke.
And he says, I think I'll go to
Nineveh now.
And he gets to Nineveh.
A little gross, I know.
I'm not very politically correct.
You'll just have to forgive me.
He gets to Nineveh and preaches his favorite
sermon.
Nineveh, you're through.
God hates you.
I do too, but that's beside the point.
God really hates you, Nineveh.
40 days and you're through.
Boy, that's called the good news, isn't it?
One small catch.
Nineveh got saved.
The whole town repented.
They even made the cows fast.
But that didn't slow Jonah down.
Oh, no.
Day 40 rolls around.
He finds a safe place where he can
see the fireworks.
This will be good.
But nothing happened.
You know what he did?
He went over and he sat down and
he pouted.
You ever pout?
Well, folks, this wasn't just an ordinary pout.
This was a prophetic pout.
I have an idea that his lips hung
down around his knees.
You know, he sat there so pouty, man.
This gourd grows over his head and gives
him.
I mean, he's pouting in the sun.
He's thankful for that.
And then God sends a worm, kills the
gourd, gets mad.
You know, later on, you know, Nineveh backslid
and was destroyed.
And sometimes I think Jonah, who brought the
revival, was the man who killed it also.
I can see him sitting over there, pouting.
Moms and dads and their children walk by
and a little boy says, Daddy, who's that
man over there?
Well, that's the pastor, son.
Really?
What's the matter with him?
Oh, he's angry.
Really?
Why?
Because we're still alive.
Oh, now I can understand why Jonah in
the very fourth chapter of Jonah says this.
Verse one.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly.
And he was very angry.
And he prayed unto the Lord.
What a prayer.
And said, Lord, wasn't this my saying when
I was yet in my country?
I knew.
That you were a gracious God and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness and
repentantly of sin.
You forgive people of evil.
I knew you would do this.
You see, Jonah came in God's name.
But not in his nature.
And my heart cries out, Oh, God, wherever
you send me, somehow enable me not just
to go in your name.
But to go in your nature, wherever I
go, whatever I do, however you choose for
me to serve you.
Somehow, Lord, help me be compassionate and gracious.
Let me be slow to anger.
Let me abound in mercy and faithfulness.
Let me extend mercy to thousands.
Enable me also to forgive wickedness, rebellion and
sin as I clothe myself with you.
His name.
Now you know what it means.
You know what he's like.
And if tonight you have viewed God the
Father in some other way.
If you have felt distant from him, uneasy,
edgy around him.
If you have found it difficult to love
him because you didn't know he was this
way.
Tonight, adjust your thinking and understand that this
God of mercy has come near you.
You don't have to be afraid.
He's slow to anger.
He is filled with compassion and grace.
He abounds in mercy and faithfulness.
He extends mercy to the thousands generation.
He forgives wickedness.
He forgives rebellion, forgives sin.
And if you've held him away tonight, move
near him and say, Father, I know what
you're like now.
Forgive me for being distant from you.
I know you have walked near to me
and come close, and yet I have been
uncomfortable.
But tonight, I let you wrap your arms
around me because I know now I'm your
child and you are my father.
And I gladly have you for a father.
I gladly be your child.
Tell him that.
Now, in our next session, we're going to
move into the New Testament and see where
Jesus and this mesh together.
When I saw this, I was overcome with
joy.
I cannot wait to share this with you.
Thank you.
I can't tonight.
It's another hour.
However, there's one more thing we can do.
Because now that you see this, something comes
alive in ways that it might not have
before.
You know this by heart.
You even sing it.
Numbers chapter 6, beginning with verse 22.
And this is a good thing for us
to go home on.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak
to Aaron and his son, saying, this is
the way you shall bless the children of
Israel.
Say to them, the Lord bless you and
keep you.
The Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.
You know it, don't you?
But look at the next verse.
So they shall put my name on the
children of Israel and I will bless them.
Oh, this is a powerful blessing, folks.
It enables us literally to put God's name
on people.
He has issued us a stamp pad with
his name.
And all we have to do is go
to people and say, the Lord bless you
and keep you.
The Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Make his face shine upon you.
Lift up his countenance upon you and give
you peace.
Lord bless you and keep you.
And if you forget everything except the Lord
bless you, he understands shorthand.
Don't worry.
What a ministry you have tonight to the
people who you are with, who are around
you, who you are yet going to meet
tonight or tomorrow.
Get your stamp pad out.
It's your ticket to leave here tonight.
We won't let you out until you stamp
someone.
Husbands and wives, maybe you've never done this
for each other before.
Maybe you've never said this to each other.
Maybe all you've ever said was, where's my
socks?
Children and parents, maybe you've never said this
to each other before tonight.
I want you to say it because God
empowers us to stamp his name, compassion, grace,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy and faithfulness,
mercy to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin
on each other.
You ready?
All right, let's stand.
Folks, this is dismissal.
I'm not going to do anything after this.
It's your job now.
Get your stamp pads.
Hunt somebody.
Like, start with the person next to you
and then get carried away, will you?
Ready?
Go!
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