In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Gideon and Jacob from the Bible. He emphasizes the importance of fearing the Lord and recognizing His holiness before experiencing His peace and love. The preacher highlights Gideon's initial doubt and fear when encountering an angel of the Lord, but how God graciously forgives him and assures him of his safety. The sermon also explores Jacob's fear and scheming when faced with the news of Esau's arrival, but ultimately, he turns to God in prayer for deliverance.

...you, open it up to the seventh chapter of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes chapter 1, verse 1. A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth. What's in a name? When we meet a person, the first thing on our mind is, who is this? What's your name? Almost everyone has at times been interested in the meaning of names. You probably have hooked up your own name and the meaning, its meaning and origin. It did have an origin. It came from something, somewhere, and bore some sort of significance. John, Joe, Pete, Mary, Frank, that started somewhere. There was some reason that that, and they all mean something. To the modern western mind, a name is generally just something to designate Bill from Joe, simply a handle. But in Bible times, in Oriental thought, names meant far more than that. In fact, all the names in the Bible have been divinely inspired. I do believe in the verbal inspiration of the scripture. Every word is inspired, including the names. Many persons appear in scripture, and every word is inspired. Many persons appear in scripture without names. For instance, a certain rich man. A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. But other times, people are specifically named, and their names are given for a specific reason. And when the Holy Spirit sees to it that men's and women's names are given in scripture, they are given for a purpose. We do not know the meanings of the names of scripture, but that does not mean that they do not have meaning. My name is Conrad. When I was a kid, people sometimes called me Cornbread. I have an niece who looked it up and said, Wise Counselor is what it means. Kind of missed it there. We have lost some of the meanings of names. Others we can only guess at, but many of them we do know, and they have powerful significance. The Bible does not have any meaningless words in it. They all mean something. Often the discovery of meanings will greatly enrich our study of the word and of truth and our comprehension of what the Holy Spirit has to say to us. The Hebrew word, translated name, is Shem, S-H-E-M. This was the name of Noah's eldest son. Ham and Japheth were his brothers. From these men came the three major racial divisions of humanity. Now, this is not going to be politically correct, but it is true. The Hamatic people eventually became the Negroid race. The Japhethic people descended into the Caucasian and Germanic peoples. And Shem's descendants became the Oriental and Mongoloid race. Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid. Intermarryings and intermingling between these three principal roots, however, have rendered it difficult now to make positive distinctions. There is not any more thoroughbreds. We all just have. The line of Shem was not only the progenitor of the Oriental race, but of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all the sons of Israel, and eventually the Lord Jesus. It is the line of the Hebrew race and the line of our Savior according to the flesh. The word Shem means renown, fame, or reputation. That for which someone is known. A person was named for what he associated with. In other words, the Hebrew name meant that that which you are. There are also biblical accounts of babies being named for the circumstances in which they were born. For instance, when the Ark of the Covenant was taken away by the Philistines, Eli, the high priest's daughter-in-law, gave birth to a son in which she named Ichabod, which means the glory of the Lord is departed. From that time until now, Ichabod has been a synonym for which is ruined, forsaken, or reprobated. What is God's name? The interesting thing about names is that we do not know God's name. This was not an oversight of the Lord. There are many names for God given in the Bible, but all of them are partial names. That is, they just give insight to a small facet of what He is. If God only had one name, then God would have to be limited to whatever that name meant. Since a person's name is his renown and what he is and what he is noted for, it is impossible to limit God to one name because He is infinite. One may limit God to his own imagination and his unwillingness to believe Him, but when he does that, he has only limited his access and apprehension of God. God Himself is not decreased by our unbelief. He is ever, all He is at any time and in any circumstances. We may deny Him, but He cannot deny Himself. Therefore, in Exodus 3, verse 13, when God called Moses and sent him to the Hebrew slaves in Egypt to tell them the God of their fathers had sent him to be their deliverer, He said, Who am I going to say who sent me? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. Thus you shall say, I am sent to me. Some of you can remember the old Popeye. Pictures would say Popeye said, I am what I am. I am has sent to you. This is as far as we can understand the origin and original meaning of the word called Jehovah or Yahweh. This is an accommodation that we have given to the Constance Yahweh from the Hebrew alphabet. The vowels have been left out because the name was thought to be too sacred to utter. In fact, it was unlawful for a Hebrew to use that name. English vowels were added in order to make it pronounceable. There simply is no way to pronounce that. So we say Jehovah or Yahweh. But the meaning of it is, I am that I am. These words spoken in the first person present tense do indeed render the name unspeakable except from the mouth of God. Only He can say, I am that I am. But we shall see that it is a wonderfully appropriate and accurate name for the almighty infinite God. The writer of Hebrews tells us that they that come to God must believe that He is. This is the second person in present tense for it says the same thing. We are speaking His name. When He speaks of His name, He says, I am. And when we speak of His name, we say He is. He is what? He cannot limit Him by His description. He just is. Where did He come from? How long has He been here? How long will He be here? God? A little boy asked my grandma. He took her out and she had him out and showed her the barn and showed him the trees and showed him the plows and all of these and said so-and-so made this and so-and-so made that and so-and-so made that. And he looked up at her and said, and who made God? Nobody made God. God is. It is something we cannot comprehend. He is the eternal I am. The name of God not only tells us that He is, but He is whatever the need is. The fame and the reputation of God is inherent in His name. Whatever your need, whatever your need is, He is and He is sufficient for it. Nothing is hopeless as long as God lives. They that come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The world will fill with believers in the God that was, the God that worked miracles in the past, the God that rolled back the waters of the Red Sea, the God that made iron float, the God that raised the dead, and the God that healed the lepers. They also believe in the God that will be. Jesus is coming again some of these days, and He's going to reign on earth, and we're going to have peace and joy and victory. And everything Jesus did in the past, He's going to do in the future. But Bible faith is believing in the God that is right now. That is, all that He was in the past and all that He shall ever be in the future, He is right now. More particularly, He is in respect to my particular need right now, whatever the need is. It's good to be able to say that. When you get an affliction, you're hurting bad, and you don't know what God is. He isn't missing anything. In the 22nd chapter of Genesis, verse 14, we're told that Abraham, being tested by the Lord, was commanded to take Isaac and offer him for a burnt offering on Mount Moriah. Upon their arrival at that place, Isaac looked at Abraham and said, Father, I see the fire, I see the wood, and here is the altar, but where is the sacrifice? Abraham answered in saying, Jehovah-Jireh, translated, God will provide. God will provide a lamb for Himself. And under the old covenant, a man making a sacrifice was required to bring a lamb or turtle dove or whatever else to be offered. But Abraham's Jehovah-Jireh anticipates the new covenant and Christ, God's lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Where is the sacrifice for sin? It is in the calling upon the name of the Lord, Jehovah-Jireh, God will provide for Himself a lamb. Seventeen hundred years later, John stood on the bank of Jordan and said, There he is. It took that long. God will provide. He did not give up. Seventeen hundred years later, he answered the prayer. He is the lamb that God provided, the ram caught in the thicket. God's lamb was not offered in Ishmael's stead, but Isaac's. The lamb of God offered particularly for God's elect people, as according to the name of God, Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. In the seventeenth chapter of Exodus, God had already delivered the Hebrew children out of Egypt, brought them across the Red Sea, and they were on their way to the promised land. Then, the Bible says, came Amalek. Amalek is an old covenant type of the flesh, the carnal body in which the renewed man is bound to live. You have to live in your body, but no longer required to serve. You do not have to serve it. It has no interest in spiritual realities, just wants another biscuit. And it always attacks the spiritual man in his pilgrimage. Joshua was sent out to dispatch the enemy of God's people. Joshua is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Jesus or Jesus. Another name for Jesus is Immanuel, which means God with me. The battle is not ours, but the Lord's. Moses has the rod of God in his hand, and when he held up the rod of God, Joshua prevailed over Amalek. When he lowered the rod of God, Amalek prevailed over Joshua. It is God who goes with us to fight our battles and saves us from our enemies, including Amalek the flesh. If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, and that's your own body you're putting to death, not somebody else's. Leave me alone. You shall live. You've got to put your flesh to death, or you're going to die. Your flesh will kill you. But Moses' arms would get tired, so they found him a rock, another type of Christ, upon which he could rest. With Aaron and her, the brethren, on either side to hold up his arms, the rod of God was lifted up in a banner until the sun went down, and the battle for the day was over. Amalek, grandson of Esau, the fleshy man, will never be completely annihilated. You're not going to get rid of this body. The people of God will have war with him as long as the earth stands, and you're going to have war with your flesh. From now on, as long as the rod of God is elevated, we'll be triumphant. Moses built an altar, and there he called it Jehovah-nisa, that is, the Lord is my banner. At certain times you may feel that you've gotten the victory, and you will have, you will have, but we'll let it be for a few days, for that day and hour. And the victory is not you or yours, but Christ. You will need the same victory again tomorrow. Amalek, the flesh, those carnal emotions, angers, envies, jealousies, impatience, intolerance, grudges, resentment, lust, bellyaches, and everything that constitutes our frail human nature will come tearing down upon you, and you will certainly lose the standard, Jehovah-nisa, the Lord my banner, unless you don't take the standard. The Lord my banner goes up. Unless the banner, the Lord my banner goes up. You do not have the strength within yourself to hold up the standard, but He has provided for that too. He has called out a church, a body of believers, and enabled them with various gifts to uphold and edify and build up one another when we have weak ones among us. We shouldn't despise them or hold them in contempt. It is their responsibility to hold up and help them. We are triumphant until the day is finished, and there will be warfare until the sun goes down, that is, until God calls you out of here. God is our banner, and there is victory in Jesus. His name is our banner. After Israel arrived and settled in the land of Canaan, their perversities and sins brought upon them the judgment of God, and He gave them over to the Midianite oppression for seven years. The Midianites were an exceedingly fierce and cruel people who would destroy Israel's crops, and they near starved them. Then they cried to the Lord for help, and He sent a prophet who reaffirmed that He was their God and that they had nothing to fear from their enemy's gods. And there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak which was in Oprah and pertained to Joash the Ebizrite, and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. He had to hide somewhere to thresh out the wheat. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said to him, The Lord is with you, thou mighty man of valor. Now he looked anything except a man of valor, cringing, crying, hiding, trying to sneak a little grain round, about to starve to death. Here is a man creeping and crawling around a winepress, trying to hide while he threshes out a bit of bread. Terrified lest the enemy see him, take away his grain and leave him to starve. And the Lord called him a mighty man of valor. Gideon certainly did not look like such a man, and he did not feel like one. O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is this befalling us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us from Egypt? And the Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? Gideon understandably had considerable trouble believing that this was an angel of the Lord, and that the Lord was really telling him that he, the least one of the poorest families in all Israel, was going to be the Savior and Deliverer of Israel from the powerful Midianites. That is kind of heavy. But by no means a man of faith, he asked for a sign that he might believe the angel. And he prepared food and drink and set it on a rock before the angel who then touched it with his staff. To Gideon's amazement and terror, fire rises up out of the rock and burns up the flesh and bread. Now Gideon is more terrified than ever. He has seen an angel of the Lord and has doubted his reality. He thinks he is going to die. But the Lord graciously forgives him for his unbelief and assures him that he will not die. Then Gideon built an altar to the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom. The Lord is my peace. It is not possible for one to know the peace of God until he has sensed the fear of the Lord his enemy. The love of God will not be known by those who have not had their sensibilities terrified by His wrath and His imminent judgment. We must first see Jehovah as the Almighty and Holy One who has been offended by our unbelief and sin. Who lest He who has been offended by our unbelief and sin, but then to sense His mercies to know His forgiveness and kindness for Jesus' sake and to know Him as our strong refuge and defender, that is salvation. Jehovah my peace. Another of God's names. It is of enormous significance that God's name is identified with the people and the place. Deuteronomy 12 and 11 and 18 concerning the building of the temple, God says He will put His name there. In Ezekiel 18, 48, 35, the rebuilt temple of the Lord in the holy city is described in the name of the city. From that day shall be Jehovah Shalom. The Lord is there. No better name of a local church could be hoped for than that. I don't believe I ever saw a church with that name on it, Jehovah Shalom. No better name than that. No higher recommendation could be made for the gathering of the people of God than a report, a renown, a name that God is there in the midst of His people. Isn't it wonderful to find that you can pass by this little place and we look for it. Finally we are coming down the road and making the turns and after a while I see that temple of Carthage and I know our trip is about over and we are soon going to be with the saints. The murder of Abel, a type of Christ, God gave Seth who is a type of the resurrected Christ. From whom came Enos who is a type of the poured out Holy Spirit. Then we are told men began to call upon the name of the Lord. It is not without great significance that when a woman marries a man she takes his name. Now it is not merely a matter of convenience so that both may have a family name, something to pass on to the children. She becomes identified with him and she is either his glory or his disgrace. She is not an Owens girl anymore, she is a Merle girl. Not only that but her strength and her refuge in all that she is. Not only does she avail herself of all the strength and resources of the husband, but her husband takes upon himself all her reproaches and weaknesses. Therefore he is understandably jealous for the appearance and behavior and attitude of his wife. He loves her and desires the best for her. All that she is reflects him. Her name is his name and his name is in her. That is what is in view in the third commandment. The third commandment also forbids us to take the name of the Lord in vain. I do not necessarily mean cuss. This has nothing to do with profanity and cursing. It means we are not to identify ourselves with him and live as though he did not exist. Now, if Miss Brown should marry a Mr. Jones and call herself Mrs. Jones yet live somewhere else than where he lives, have nothing to do with him, living just as she always lives, she would have taken his name in vain. To take the name of the Lord is to absolutely abandon your former life so as to lose your identity in him. We are told in Joel 2.32 and Acts 2.21 and Romans 10.13. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What is it to call upon the name of the Lord? It is nothing less than to put our hope and our expectation on nothing less than the renown of our great God and Savior for whatever our need is. Do you need food? Jehovah is my groceries. Do you need a place to live? Jehovah is my house. Am I sick? Jehovah is my health and healing. Am I bound or in prison? Jehovah is my deliverer. Am I lost, a condemned sinner, headed for hell? The name to call upon is Jesus, which means Jehovah salvation. That is the name which heaven describes to the virgin-born Son of God who would save his people from their sins. Do you have doubts whether God will save you? Six months before the Savior was born, his forerunner was born, also named by a messenger from heaven. What is the name given this man who has prepared the way of God's salvation? His father was told. His name shall be John. John means Jehovah is gracious. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That does not mean that there was no grace before Christ and no law after He came. God is unchanging. All He is, He has always been, and ever will be. It means rather that God's name, His reputation before Christ was for His holy law, His absolute righteousness, and His utter intolerance for sin. But with the coming of His Son, He would now be known for the overflowing fullness of His grace and truth in the person of His Son. God is gracious. Whoever calls upon Him shall be saved, and none will be refused. Irrespective of how great a sinner I am, I am not beyond the grace of God. The Christian is God is the Savior of sinners, known for His boundless mercies in Christ. So much for God's name. What is your name? Do you have a good name or a bad one? What are you known for? When people think of you, hear your name, what do they think about? Do they think about integrity, uprightness, godliness, graciousness, generosity, love, joy, peace? Or do they think of meanness, intolerance, hatefulness, hypocrisy, strife, profanity, evil, distrust, pride, greed, lies, sham, and fraud? One or the other. Quite a package there, isn't it? You fit right in fully in one or the other of those packages. The man for whom the most significant people on this earth was named, Israel, has much to save as we consider our own names. In affirming the truth of unconditional election, Paul reminds us when Rebecca had conceived by one, by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil for the purposes of God, according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. He was said to her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Romans 9, 10, 13. If election were based on God's foreseen information, foregottage, he would have loved Esau and hated Jacob. Esau was an honest, hardworking outdoorsman, a skillful hunter, and a good manager of his assets. Jacob, on the other hand, was a stay-at-home mama's boy, crooked as a corkscrew, and always had his eye on taking what somebody else had. And that is the one that God chose. Give me some hope, doesn't it? Failing to prevent Esau from proceeding him in his birth, he schemed and took advantage of his brother when he came in, tired and hungry from a long hunt, and cheated him out of his birthright for a bowl of red beans. He then, with his mother's help, deceived his father and stole his brother's blessing also. After this, he had to run for his life. For Esau, understandably, was bent on killing him. Out in a desert, asleep with a stone for a pillow, the Lord appeared to him and confirmed to him and his descendants the Abrahamic covenant in the land of Canaan. And there he made a covenant with the Lord and called upon the name of the place Bethel, the house of God. Continuing on in his mother's brother, he hired himself out to Laban to feed his cattle. Over the years, he took both daughters and cheated him out of most of his cows, sheep, goats, donkeys, and camels. That's the kind of fellow our ancestors were. And what he was and the way he did, all that is in us yet. But Jacob had made a vow to God at Bethel, if God will be with me and keep me in this way and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. And this stone that I have set for a pillar shall be God's house, and all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. After twenty years, Jacob noticed his father-in-law countenanced toward him a change of favor to disfavor, and his brothers-in-law, Laban's sons, were grumbling about Jacob stealing their father's wealth. Then the Lord spoke to Jacob and told him to return to the land of his father's, promising to be with him. So Jacob took two wives, his children, and all his possessions, and herds, and acquired while serving Laban, and went his way to return. Sent messengers to Esau, his brother in the country, saying, I have sojourned with Laban, and now I have oxen, and nasses, and flocks, and manservants, and women's servants, and I have sent all to tell my Lord that I might find grace in thy sight. When the messengers returned, however, they reported that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men. Jacob was terrified by this news, so he did the same thing he had always done when he got in a tight place or he wanted something he did not have. He began to connive and scheme and try to say what he could. He first divided his possessions and people into two bands, reasoning that if Esau destroyed one, he would at least have one left. Then he prayed, crying out to God to deliver him from the hand of Esau, but he had no faith either in God's promise to be with him or that he had heard his prayer, for early in the morning he started sending presents for which he hoped to bribe Esau into firing him. After sending all his possessions, desperately hoping to cool Esau's anger, he lodged in the night by the brook Jebuch, but he had no rest, so he rose up during the night and sent his wives and children over by the brook, and then he was left alone. Here is the man of God, chosen to succeed Abraham and receive Abrahamic promise, but he is still faithless, trusting in his own arm, the arm of flesh. The scheming and manipulation had gotten him everything he wanted all his life. So the Lord himself wrestles with this faithless Jacob all night. Near the breaking of day, when it became apparent that Jacob was not going to yield, the Lord reached down and touched his thigh and put it out of joint, rendering him lame and said, Let me go. Now there has been a drastic change in the wrestling. Instead of the Lord wrestling with Jacob, he began to be wrestling with the Lord. This is what happened. Jacob is still in unbelief. He is not trusting the Lord himself, but he is now broke, bankrupt, and alone. But if Esau is intent upon killing him, he can still do what he did before. He can run. But now the Lord disables him so he can't run. His last fleshy hope is gone. Well, glory to God. We don't trust God until we've got to. What are you known for? What sort of persons are you? What is the real you? If you want me to bless you, confess what you are. The response is Jacob, demeaning Jacob, supplater, cheat, thief. What are you? Crook, sorry, good for nothing, worthless. That's our names. That's it. There are four persons in every one of us. The first is a person you think you are. The second is a person other people think you are. And the third is a person you think other people think you are. You didn't know about that one, did you? But in the fourth, the real person is the person God knows you are. That's the real you. And you will get nowhere with God until you agree with God about yourself. Here's confession and sins. And sinfulness and the fruit of repentance, the unfailing twin of true trusting faith. The Lord immediately gives his repentant, trusting child a new name. The name shall no more be called Jacob, Israel. Prince with God. For as a prince thou hast power with God and man has prevailed. What does Paul say of the new man in Christ? I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. It is not I, but Christ liveth in me. For years I carried my card and my billfold with those unscribed under my name. Who are you? That's it. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. This is true conversion. It's nothing less than the dying and ending of the life of the old man and the resurrection of a new one. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And that you put on a new man which after God has created in righteousness and true holiness. Henceforth, God would walk. And henceforth, Israel would walk with a limp and a staff. But he walked with God. Jacob the supplanter was gone, and the prince with God lived in his stead. But this does not mean his going henceforth will be smooth. There are lumps and hard knocks ahead. Not only are there lingering consequences of the old life, but the matter of growing in grace, which is often called sanctification, separation, holiness, has already accomplished at the brook. Israel, created like God in righteousness and true holiness, is as holy as he will ever be. But now he must learn to walk in that infused grace. His sons, too, will learn the deceitful ways of their father. They lied and broke covenants which they had deceitfully made. But some people of the land came upon them when they were unable to defend themselves and killed Jacob, realizing himself to be a small minority among a people who now have good cause to hate and destroy them. But now he must flee afresh to his only hope, the God who met him and made covenant with him when he was in distress, fleeing from Esau. So he arises to go back to Bethel. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan. There is Bethel, and he and all the people were with him. And he built an altar there to the Lord and called the place El Bethel, the God of the house of God. Not only is it not just the house of God, it is nothing but the God of the house of God. Got a wonderful building here, nice furnishings, comfort and everything. But if God wasn't in it, it would be as empty, as worthless as a barn falling apart. He built there an altar called the place El Bethel, the house of God. And there, because God spared him and he fled from the face of his brother, it is one thing to experience the mercy and grace of God and to know the love of God and to find the place of God in the house of God. But dear friend, it is quite another thing to find the God of the house of God. But it is incomparably to knowing and experiencing the God of the Word. This is experimental sanctification. It is real. It is sure enough you can live it. Live and really be holy. Not trying to be holy. You can't do anything but be holy. God with us. Christ our Emmanuel. God with us. And God told him in there, thy name shall no more be called Jacob. And he had already told him he would no longer be called Jacob, but now Israel. And now he confirms that he will no longer be known as Jacob, but Israel, a prince with God. His name has been changed. As yours. Let's pray. Father in heaven, it is a priceless privilege to be gathered here. Not that we of ourselves determined to come here and meet. None of us would give a hoot about being here. No telling where we'd be if you hadn't given us the desire to be here and make this provision for us. We could never through a thousand eternities thank you, bless you for what you've done for us. Hear our prayer and our petition and supplication and our thanksgiving this morning. This afternoon and glorify yourself and your people. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.