This sermon focuses on the significance of the name Jehovah as a strong tower where the righteous can find safety and refuge. It delves into various compound names of Jehovah found in the Bible, such as Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Shalom, and Jehovah Tsidkenu, highlighting God's provision, protection, peace, and righteousness. The message emphasizes the importance of seeking refuge in Jesus, whose name means Jehovah is salvation, and finding strength and help in times of trouble by running into the strong tower of Jehovah.

Let's turn now in our Bibles to the letter of Paul to the Philippians, chapter 2. And our scripture reading will begin with verse 5 and we will read through verse 14. Philippians 5, 2 rather, 5 through 14. And shall we stand as we read the word of God. I'll read the 5th and the unnumbered verses. And we ask you to join together as you read the even-numbered verses. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Wherefore, God has also highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for Jesus Christ, your only begotten Son, whom you sent to die for the sins of the world, and that through him we have salvation and the hope of eternal life. We pray, Father, that you will now just really minister to us through the word. Open our hearts to those things, Lord, that you'd have us to know and to understand. And we give thanks to you, Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. Well, this week we've been reading the book of Proverbs as we're going through the Bible. And we were in Proverbs chapters 15 through 22 this week. Next week we'll finish the book of Proverbs, but 15 through 22 this week. So we encourage you to join with us tonight as we'll be looking at these chapters in Proverbs 15 through 22. However, this morning, we'd like you to turn with us to Proverbs chapter 18 and looking at our text, which is verse 10 of Proverbs 18, where here Solomon declares, The name Jehovah, literally, is a strong tower. That is the name of our God. God is not his name. It is sort of a title. Lord is not his name. That also is a title. But the name is Jehovah or Yahweh, and we're not sure of the pronunciation. Because in the Hebrew scriptures, they did not give any vowels, but just wrote the consonants Y-H-V-H. Try and pronounce that. You can't. It's unpronounceable because we don't have the vowels. And so the name Jehovah, and we guess that that could be the pronunciation, but we're not sure. There are others that suggest Yahweh. But this morning, we will use Jehovah in order to just know where we are. The name Jehovah is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. With the Jewish scribes, the name was so held in reverence that when they were copying the scriptures, and they would come to these consonants Y-H-V-H, they would not write the vowels in it because they didn't want anybody in their minds trying to pronounce the name. They felt that the name of God was so holy that it really shouldn't cross the lips of man. And thus, not even in your mind should you try to think of the name. And so when the Hebrews would read the text, and they would come to these vowels Y-H, or the consonants Y-H-V-H, they would just bow their head and they would just say the name. But it was held in great reverence to them, so much so that as the scribes were copying the scriptures, when they came to these consonants, they would take and they would get a fresh pen, fresh ink. They'd go in and take a bath, change their clothes, and then they would write the consonants Y-H-V-H in the scripts. Can you imagine when they had some of these scriptures where you had the name Jehovah several times within the chapter or whatever? And they were very clean scribes. But that's the kind of reverence they had for the name of God, the name Jehovah. A strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and are saved. The name Jehovah literally means the becoming one. And it is a name that describes God because he is the becoming one. He becomes to you whatever your need might be at the moment. And because we have different crises in life and different situations where we are needing the help of God, God is adapting to you whatever you might be. That's what he will become to you, the becoming one, the one that becomes to you anything and everything that you might possibly need. Abraham was walking with his son Isaac up Mount Moriah and in Abraham's mind he was preparing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice unto God as he was commanded by the Lord. They had journeyed for three days from Beersheba with the servants and when they came to the view of Mount Moriah, Abraham said to the servants, You stay here, I and the lad will go and worship and we'll come again. Abraham didn't know how that was going to be because Isaac was not yet married, had no children, and God had promised through Isaac shall your seed be called. So he believed that God would if necessary raise Isaac up again because he had not had any children and he knew from God that through Isaac the seed would be called. And thus going up the hill and as they were going up together, Isaac said, Dad, haven't you forgotten something? We've got the wood, we've got the fire, but where is the sacrifice? And Abraham answered his son and said, Jehovah Jireh or the Lord will provide or the Lord sees. And with the Lord vision and provision are not far apart. The fact that he sees, he will provide. And so one of the compound names of Jehovah that we have in the Bible and through the Bible, there are many compound names of Jehovah. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. Later on as the children of Israel had come out of Egypt and had passed through the Red Sea, there waiting for them were the Amalekites, a very civilized group of people. And they were there with their armies. Their soldiers were marching, all of them in their troops together, their banners overhead. And they had come to destroy the children of Israel who were going to pass through their land to the promised land. And as they met them in battle and they began to fight, the children of Israel, you remember, were just slaves and they didn't have any weapons. They only had sticks and so forth to defend themselves. And so began this fierce battle between the well-armed Amalekites and the Israelites. And as Moses was up on the hill where he got a good view of the battle with Aaron and all, as they were watching the battle, as Moses would hold up his hands, you remember this story, the Israelites would prevail. And when his hands would get weak and drop, then the enemy would prevail. So Aaron and Hur got on either side of him holding up his hands and Israel prevailed over the Amalekites. But here were these ragtag Israelites with sticks and stones fighting against these well-armed Amalekites under their banners and marching their troops, marching in discipline and order. And probably someone said to Moses, look at that, Moses. Look at the way they're marching. Look at their banners. It looked awesome. And they probably said, where are our banners? And Moses replied, Jehovah Nissi. The Lord is our banner. We're marching under his banner. In Judges chapter 6, we have that story of when the Midianites had invaded the land and had just really brought the people in oppression. They were as many as grasshoppers to cover the land. And whenever the children of Israel would harvest their crops, the Midianites would then move in and take their crops. And because of that, as Gideon was actually threshing the wheat, he was in a wine press. Usually they would thresh it up on the mountain where you get a good breeze. And they would walk over it, stomp it, and it would break the husk away from the kernel. And they would then throw the wheat into the air, and the wind would drive away the chaff, and the kernel would fall back to the ground. And as he was there in the wine press, no wind, but yet for fear that the Midianites would see him if he were out on the mountainside, he was hiding as he was threshing the wheat. And the angel of the Lord came to Gideon and said, Go in this your might and deliver the children of Israel from the hand of the Midianites. And Gideon said, Check your orders, man. You've got the wrong person. You came to the wrong address. I am of the tribe of Ephraim. We are the tribe of Benjamin. We're the least tribe in Israel. My father's house is the least family, and I'm the least in my father's house. You've gone to the bottom of the barrel, man. Surely you don't mean me. And as he was being convinced of the Lord that it was him that the Lord was wanting to use to deliver the Midianites into the hands of the Israelites, he said, Well, just to make sure of this, let me bring you an offering. And he said, You may bring it to me, but I won't partake of it. And so Gideon went in and he prepared a little goat and some shish kebab, and he brought it to the angel with some pita bread, laid it on the rock, and the angel took his rod and touched the sacrifice there, and it went up into flames, and the angel stepped into the flame and ascended into heaven, and Gideon freaked out. He just had a hard time with that one. And he said, I'm going to die. I've seen God. And yet the Lord reaffirmed to him that he was the one that God would use to deliver the Midianites into the hands of Israel. And so as he saw this whole experience there, Gideon built the altar of the Lord, and he called the name of the place Jehovah Shalom, looking beyond the war to the peace on the other side that God had promised that he would give to Gideon, Jehovah Shalom, a compound name of Jehovah. He has become our peace. And so many people who are in turmoil, life maybe is just, it seems just so confusing, so many things just up in the air, you don't know where to turn. Jehovah can become your peace if you'll just turn to him. Jeremiah, he was living at the time when the Babylonians had conquered Israel, and many of them had already been taken captive to Babylon. Jeremiah was still there in the land. And God gave to Jeremiah a beautiful promise. He said, behold, the days come that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. A king shall reign and prosper. Shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judas shall be saved. Israel will dwell safely. And this is his name, whereby he shall be called Jehovah Tisidkenu, or the Lord is our righteousness, as the Lord gave to Jeremiah the promise of the coming Messiah, his name to be Jehovah, our righteousness. And so, in the New Testament, it speaks of Jesus, and he is our righteousness who has broken down the walls of partition that once existed between the Gentile and God. Jehovah, our righteousness, Jehovah Tisidkenu. The prophet Ezekiel was in Babylon, in captivity, and the future of the nation of Israel was revealed to him by the Lord. And the Lord said in Israel in the last days that they would, though out of the land for many years, though the nation was as good as dead, like scattered dry bones, the Lord would bring them together, bring them back into the land, and put muscle upon them, and they would once again inhabit the land that God had promised to their fathers. And that in the last days, they would develop the land agriculturally, and that they would become a nation once again. When they were defeated and driven out of the land, they were two nations, but they would be one nation in the land, and in that day, in the latter days, the Lord said he would bring against them Russia and Iran and other Arab nations, and they would seek to destroy this new nation of Israel. And that God at that time would rise up, his fury would rise in his face, and he would turn them back and destroy the invading army that had come against Israel. It looks like that's about where we are in this story at this point. We see that Israel has become a nation again. We see that Russia and Iran and other Arab states are threatening the existence of Israel. We hear of the War of Annihilation. They've attempted it a couple of times already and not successful, but it's coming, the big one, with Russia becoming involved completely with it and God's victory over them at that time as he wipes out the invading army, and at that time, once again, dealing with the nation of Israel as he will pour out his spirit upon them. Now, as you go through Ezekiel and you read then of the future of the nation, that they will rebuild their temple and they will begin to worship again there in the temple, and we read that the name of the Lord in those days there in Ezekiel 48, the name of the city in that day will be Jehovah Shema, which is the Lord is there. In our text, the name Jehovah is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it, and are saved. Now, the interesting thing is that the name Jesus is actually one of these compound names of Jehovah. Jesus is Greek. The Greek name for the Hebrew name Jehoshua, which is contracted into Joshua, a contraction for God or Jehovah, and Shua in the Hebrew is salvation. So, Joshua, Jehovah is salvation. That's the name of Jesus. You remember when Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married and how that Mary was pregnant, found to be pregnant, and Joseph knew that it wasn't him, that they had not yet been intimate, and he didn't know what to do about this. He was pondering over, what shall I do if I expose her and the fact that she's pregnant and I'm not responsible. The public will put her to death because that was under the law, the prescribed punishment for infidelity, and so as he was concerned with what to do, how to handle the situation, the angel of the Lord came to him and there in Matthew 1 and said, Joseph, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit and she's going to bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jehoshua or Joshua, which means Jehovah is salvation. And so the name of Jesus, it means Jehovah is salvation. He has come to save us from our sins and as Jesus said, that God had sent him to seek and to save those who are lost. He is Jehovah Shua and his name really implies his mission to save those who are lost. Some 700 years before Jesus was born, the Lord spoke to the prophet Isaiah and told him that there would come, the Lord himself would give a sign, behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son, call his name Emmanuel, which by interpretation is God with us. So Matthew tells us in 122, now all of this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, behold, a virgin will be with child, shall bring forth a son, they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Jehovah is salvation, Jesus. The name Jehovah, it is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are safe. In the ancient days, the cities would all be walled and along the walls, there would be these high towers or strong towers that would be built and whenever the city was under siege, the people would go to these strong towers to defend the cities because you would be up quite high, you would look down upon the enemy trying to assault the walls and from that height, you had the advantage of shooting your arrows down upon the enemy and they had a disadvantage because to shoot up to the high tower was difficult. The arrows would usually expend their energy before they would reach the tower itself and so it was a place of strong defense from the attacks of the enemy, those strong towers or high towers. The name of Jehovah is a high tower, a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and are safe. It's interesting how the scripture says when the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against the enemy. You remember when Peter began to sink, when he was there with the disciples in the storm and the boat was being tossed in the storm and Jesus came walking to them on the water and Simon was, and the disciples were fearful and Jesus said, don't be afraid, it's me and Simon said, Lord, if it's you, bid me come to you and the Lord said, come on, Simon and Simon got out of the boat and started walking on the water toward Jesus until he saw the waves and they were pretty high and fear gripped his heart and he began to sink and he said, Lord, save me. Well, the Lord reached out and pulled him up because the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and are safe. Time of danger, good name to call on. Jesus, help me. The time of fear, call on him. Jesus, be with me, help me. The name Jehovah, Jesus, our Savior. And how many times I've fled into that name and found comfort, found strength, found hope. Years ago when I was in high school, Bristol Avenue didn't come all the way through. It was just a dead end out here in the middle of bean fields and thus it ended at, you know, at the Santa Ana Army Base that was, Air Force Base that was there, the training there in Costa Mesa and thus it was just, well, we used to come and drag races out there on Bristol Street because there was nothing there but bean fields and you could see if the police were, you know, around from a long way because it was just flat bean fields out here at that time. And I remember one Sunday when I was out, I had my dad's car and it would have been raining and the mud had come across the Bristol Avenue there and I was racing a bit and I hit the mud and the car was out of control. I began to slide and I just said, oh Jesus, Jesus, you know. And the car, I was able to get control and I was alright and I said, oh thank you Jesus, you know. But I could imagine trying to tell my dad what I'd done, you know, flipped his car out there on Bristol Avenue in the mud. But it's just so wonderful to, when, to have that name and to be able to use that name and to find the strength and the power and the comfort and the help that comes to us through the name of Jesus. The righteous run into it and they are safe. As we move along in Proverbs in our next section, we will get to chapter 30. And in the 30th chapter of the book of Proverbs, it speaks about four things on the earth that are very small but yet they are exceeding wise. And among these four things is the Coney. And it says the Coney is just a feeble folk but it makes its home in the rocks. The wisdom of the Coney makes its home in the rocks. It's a feeble folk. The Coney, I think, is related to the rabbit. It looks much like a rabbit. It hops like a rabbit. And it, like a rabbit, has absolutely no defensive weapons. You don't read about Coneys or rabbits, you know, really challenging other animals. They're just, they have no defensive weapons. And they're a feeble folk. But with the Coney, he's wise because he makes his home in the rocks. Knowing that he doesn't have any kind of self-defensive weapons, he makes his home in the rocks. And there in the area of En Gedi today and in several areas through Israel, you'll find that there are these colonies of these Coneys. And they are there making their home in the rocks or their nest are there in the rocks around En Gedi. And if there's any predator that is chasing after the Coney, they run into their little nest there in the rocks. And that fox or that wolf that is after the bobcat, they can't get to it because it is safe there in the rocks. And thus it shows its wisdom, knowing that it can't defend itself, knowing that it doesn't have the ability to fend off the predators. It finds a place of refuge, a place of safety, a place of defense, because now though the Coney itself can't defend itself, it has the rocks in which it abides. And the predators can't get into the rocks to get to it. And there it is safely in its nest while the fox is barking on top and so forth and trying to get to it, but just can't. Smart little animal, the Coney makes his house in the rock. If you're smart, you're going to realize that you don't really have any defense against the enemy that is out to destroy you. And you'll make your home in the rock, in the rock Christ Jesus. And you know, as you are in Christ, you're as strong as the rock upon which you have sought your refuge. And he can't get to you as long as you'll stay abiding in the rock. We sing, O safe to the rock that is higher than I, my soul in its conflict and sorrows would fly. So sinful, so weary, thine would I be, thou blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding in thee. And so as we sang this morning, the name of Jesus, strong tower, the righteous run into it and is safe. The name of Jesus is so sweet. I love its music to repeat. It makes my joys full and complete. I love the name of Jesus. Jesus, oh how sweet the name. Jesus, every day the same. Jesus, let all saints proclaim its worthy praise forever. So as Solomon said, you know, take a look at these four little things. Though they are small, they're exceedingly wise. And we'll probably talk about that when we get to the 30th chapter of the Proverbs. But today, for you, no matter what your need may be, I encourage you to find that help. The name Jehovah, a strong tower, and the righteous runneth into it, and they are safe. The Lord can take care. He'll become to you whatever your need might be today. And I would encourage you, whatever it is that is troubling you, whatever it is that is defeating you, find the security, find the safety of the name Jehovah. Flee into the rock and find your safety there, and He is a strong tower, and the righteous runneth into it, and they are safe. Lord, we thank You for that safety that we have in Christ Jesus. And that today, Lord, no matter what may be going on in our world, the things that are happening around us that would bring fear and distress and turmoil to our hearts, Lord, we can find that place of refuge, that place of safety, that place of assurance in the name of Jehovah. And Lord, may the righteous this day flee into it and find the help and the strength that You offer to each one who will just come to You. We thank You, Jesus, for Your name, indicating Your ability to save us from the power of sin and from the powers of darkness that are assailing our lives. And we thank You, Lord, for that strong tower, the name Jehovah, where we might flee this day and find help and strength. Blessed Father, we pray, in Jesus' name, Amen. Shall we stand? The pastors are down here at the front, and they're here to pray for you or to minister to you today. If you're going through a heavy trial, going through a place of real need where you just need help, you need strength, you recognize your own weaknesses, and you realize that you just aren't capable of coping with the situation that you are facing today, I would encourage you to flee into the tower, to find that strong tower, and just to find His help. The Bible tells us that, you know, He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Not only able to help you, He's able to do far more, far beyond anything you could ask or think. And so, if you just go out and sink, that's your problem. It's just your stupid kind of you know, just failure to take advantage of all that God has for you. And why should you, you know, face the issues alone? Why should you just face the dilemma and the problem that is greater than you and just try to work it out? Had it been able to be worked out, you would have done it a long time ago because look how long you've been trying. But He is able today, if you'll just flee to the strong tower that God has for us, the name Jehovah, a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe. So, I would encourage you this day. They're here to pray for you and you can find the help and the strength from God today to meet any and every situation that you might be confronted with. May the Lord be with you. May the Lord watch over and keep you in His love. May He bring us back again together to continue our study and our journey through His word. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace. God bless you.