Names | Our Names - John 1:43-51 | June 7

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All right, while the kids are shuffling about, if you have your Bibles with

you, or if you're going to follow around with your phone, I suppose.

But if you have your Bible, so we're going to be kind of in Isaiah 62 for a little bit.

And we'll jump over to Hebrews chapter 10 for a little bit.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Ultimately, we're going to end in John chapter one, but that's kind of the trajectory.

And we'll maybe hit a couple of verses across that spectrum of Old Testament

and New Testament as we go.

First, let me pray for us. Lord, I pray that we would receive your word this

morning, that we would let it master us, that it would speak to our hearts and rule over them.

Pray that we would depend on the truth of what you say more than we depend on

anything we believe, think, or hear from this world.

That we would run to you and that we would live our lives upon the firm foundation,

the rock of Jesus and the rock of your word and what you say about you and what

you say about us as a result.

I pray that you would renew our hearts this morning, speak clearly to us that

we might hear, that we might have ears to hear and eyes to see all the riches

that you have in your word and that we might diligently seek,

We might diligently look and search for you, even as you seek us out, God.

You say and you promise that for those of us who seek you, you will be found by us.

And so I pray for that promise to be fulfilled this morning. In your name, amen.

So there's a question that I want to start us off with. This is a question that

I asked my discipleship group several weeks ago, maybe a month, month and a half ago now.

And it is a question that ultimately I want us to ponder towards the end of looking at God's word.

But I have decided perhaps against better judgment to give it to you now in

hopes that you'll think about it and chances that you would not listen.

So I'm going to give you it, risking the fact that you might miss some stuff,

hoping that you'll think about the question.

Because I want to give you some ample time to ponder this.

And of course, you're welcome to, of course, ponder the question past this morning

as well. But this is the question.

If Jesus were here in this room in corporal form physically,

then he was up front and he introduced each of us one by one.

He had us come and walk and stand next to him. And he spoke words of introduction

about us, each of us individually.

How would Jesus introduce you? This is the question that I want you to ponder

and perhaps continue to meditate on as we disperse after today.

As I've been, we're taking a break sort of on this idea of names of God, sort of.

As I've been reading throughout this particular Bible in the last several months,

but I think it's true about most translations, I've been noticing as I've been

reading that I'll come across words that are normal words, but they are capitalized in our translations.

Because the translator is doing some interpretive work here by signifying that

these are names, right? We know that proper nouns are capitalized and such things

as names and places and different things like that.

So our biblical translator interpreters are helping us out by telling us that these are names.

And I've been reading about this and we'll encounter it about God.

Often, sovereign, almighty, Lord, these things will be capitalized.

In Zephaniah 3.17, it capitalizes the words mighty warrior to signify it's not

just a description. This is a name of God.

In Zechariah 3.3, it's the prophecy of Jesus as the branch, right? The branch of Jesse.

And so it capitalizes the word branch, signifying that this is a name.

So we encounter this a lot with regard to God.

And we'll see it if you, I believe it's most translations. So if your translation,

you're reading it, you'll come across these capitalized words.

Sometimes I'll come across these words that are capitalized that aren't applying to God.

What they're doing is the same thing, signifying names for us, for God's people.

And again, the translators are doing some interpretive work here to help us

understand that these are names for God's people. and as God's people,

these are names for us today.

As Brie already read a little bit of Isaiah chapter 62, I want to back up just a bit more.

Isaiah 62 · chapter mention

I even noticed in this morning that the NIV version has the subheading of Zion's

new name in this chapter.

So right there, there's also some interpretive work going on telling you that

there's some naming happening.

But it says this at the very beginning, For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent. This is God talking.

For Jerusalem's sake, I will not remain quiet till her vindication shines out

like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.

The nations will see your vindication and all kings your glory.

You will be called by a new name. Just think, even though this is directed towards

Israel, think of this being spoken over you.

You will be called by a new name. You see that in the New Testament,

right? That we are a new creation.

So these are the new names that are speaking over you. The mouth of the Lord

will bestow it. He himself is speaking these names.

You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

No longer will you be called deserted or name your land desolate.

So there's names that we already have.

Most of these are given to us by ourselves, by the accuser, Satan, by each other.

These are names that don't belong to us. No longer will you be called deserted

or your land named desolate.

But you will be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah.

And then he's going to tell us what those mean for the Lord will take delight

in you. That's what Hephzibah means.

And your land will be married. That's what Beulah means that God delights in

us and that he, as our husband, we are betrothed to him as a young man, marries a young woman.

So will your builder marry you. Builder here, mine is capitalized.

It's probably in yours. This is the name of God. and the bridegroom rejoices

over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

And if we skip down to verse 12, they will be called the holy people,

the redeemed of the Lord, and you will be called sought after,

the city no longer deserted.

And so in my translation, holy people is capitalized.

Redeemed is capitalized. Sought after or capitalized, those are just normal words.

The other ones we could maybe assume is a name.

The city no longer deserted. All of those letters are capitalized.

God is speaking a new name over his people in this chapter. He calls us a holy people.

If you want to skip over to Hebrews chapter 10, it's talking about the sacrifice

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

that Jesus made once and for all.

If we look at verse 10.

He's kind of gone through the preparation for what he's about to say.

We're getting to the payoff. We're just going to focus here on the payoff,

but it's talking about God's will.

And by that will, it starts off, by God's will that he has established.

We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Christ Jesus once for all.

So we have been made holy. We keep reading.

It goes into the sacrificial system of Israel. Day after day,

every priest stands and performs his religious duties.

Again and again, he offers the same sacrifices, which never can take away sins.

But when this priest, Jesus, had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins,

he sat down at the right hand of God.

And since that time, he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.

For by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

This chapter, this entire book in a way, the book of Hebrews,

it's a little bit theologically heavy.

It's a bit complicated, but a lot of it is about holiness. A lot of it is about

the implications of Christ's sacrifice and what it does for us.

And what these particular verses in this chapter are signifying.

Now that we've seen God speaking over his people, you will be a holy people.

You will be called holy. In a lot of ways, these prophecy in Isaiah is fulfilled

as the exiles are brought back.

In a lot of ways, it's even more fulfilled to the greater extent when Jesus is sacrificed.

The sad truth is that for some, these verses still remain unfulfilled as we

have thousands who are still looking for what they've missed.

So these have been fulfilled, but they've been missed. and now we're seeing

those who have recognized the fulfillment of them.

Tell us what it means that we are a holy people, that you are holy already because

God has said that about you.

He has made you holy through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Then it says in the later verse, verse 14, that he has made perfect those who are being made holy.

So you are holy. You are being made holy.

And then we encounter those verses, which Jesus speaks and others speak,

right? Be holy as your heavenly father is holy. Right?

So we are holy. We are being made holy.

So be holy.

These are the words that God is speaking over us this morning.

He calls us the redeemed of the Lord.

And Bree did a great job explaining a little bit about what redeemed means.

But if we think about, we don't use it anymore as much that I've noticed.

But you know, we have coupons, right?

And you redeem a coupon, which gets us part of the way there to the understanding

of what this word redeemed means.

We exchange something to get something, except in the fact of the biblical understanding,

it is that you are getting what is already yours back. Bless you.

So God redeemed through Jesus's blood on the cross, the people who were already his.

And in Titus chapter two, if you could flip over, if you're going to get there,

there's a few pages to the left. Titus 2, verse 14.

Titus 2:14

Backing up just a little bit, but it's talking about the appearing of the glory

of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself

a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

So we were in the possession of another.

This is what the book Hosea is kind of about, right?

Hosea, the prophet goes And Mary is a woman of ill repute who runs away and

he is instructed in the first few chapters to go and redeem,

go and return, go and buy back his wife.

Jesus has purchased us from that which held us.

The wickedness, the darkness, kingdom of darkness, those things that we have

chosen, the things that our hearts run after.

The Old Testament says again and again, right?

Jesus has redeemed. He has brought us back.

Because He has already owned us and He has made us His, made us His very own.

The thing about redemption is that it instructs us, it teaches that we belong to God.

We are His, which goes hand in hand with this idea of being sought after,

that you are no accident, that you were intended, that you were intentioned, that you are pursued.

And we think back of the name of shepherd and the beautiful parable of the shepherd

leaving the 99 to pursue the one in all of its wanderings.

As he reveals his names through the scriptures, what He does is reveal who we

are, that He is the shepherd.

And so we, yes, are sheep, but more importantly, we are sought after.

We think about the God who never left or abandoned his people,

but sought them out and returned them.

This is what Isaiah's revelation is all about.

The God who could not turn his back on his people, but restored them.

And from wherever they were taken, sought them out and brought them home.

I think about the book of 1 Peter.

This is several more pages past Hebrews to the right, getting close to Revelation.

1 Peter 2, starting in verse 9, it's talking about Lot.

It's talking about being rescued from wickedness and disaster and ungodliness.

It's talking about the righteous who was distressed by all of this lawlessness.

And then it says in verse 9, if this is so, that he could rescue Lot from this

disaster, that he could rescue David in all of his struggles,

that he could rescue Abraham and he could rescue Moses.

He could rescue his people. He could bring them out. If all of this is true,

then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the righteous,

unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

Let me skip down. So if all of this is true, God is able to rescue you.

And then it talks about how Israel is led astray and they wander as a result from that as lost sheep.

Things that promise them freedom, but make them slaves.

And we see the day of the Lord come in chapter three, the fulfillment of God's

promises, that God is not slow in keeping them.

In verse nine here. So with all of the buildup that we see,

this is where Isaiah, the context for Isaiah, all of the things that have happened

previous in the first two chapters that we just talked about,

We get to the fulfillment of the promise, a reflection of Isaiah 62.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise.

Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,

but everyone to come to repentance.

The God as our good shepherd, the God as our husband who loves us,

the God as the promise maker and the promise keeper,

has followed us in all of our wanderings that he has made a way that he has

searched us out in every place that we have been found.

So that he can bring us back. We get to that last name, perhaps the strangest

name of all, the city no longer deserted.

I like how they capitalize the word no in there.

So it's like, oftentimes when I'm capitalizing the smaller words,

especially ones like two and four, I don't tend to capitalize, but it's the whole name.

City no longer deserted, filled and watered and cared for.

So he has sought us out and he has brought us back and he has restored.

There is this narrative that is happening.

We see it with the Israelites as they're in Egypt over and over again, following that exodus.

God speaks this over them, that that he has brought them out of Egypt,

that he is walking with them through the desert to lead them into the promised land.

Over and over again, it says, I brought you out, I led you through, and I've brought you in.

It is this restoration process that's happening.

And to the exiles, he speaks this idea in similar words.

He says, I will gather you from all of the places that you have wandered.

And I will bring you back and you will be my people and I will be your God.

I have brought you out. I've carried you through and I will lead you back in.

That you will be a people, a city that is no longer deserted,

but you will be filled with fullness, watered and well-fed and cared for.

When we lived in Moldova, there were parks all over the place.

And I loved our time there. Ginny was sick, so she might have some mixed feelings

about the time we spent there.

But it's not a great, clean place.

It's not particularly nice in how we would define it with regard to a city.

Chisinau, the capital. It's dirty, it's dusty, it's not well to care for.

And if you talk to people who were in countries from the former Soviet Union,

you get this weird experience where they talk about the good old days of the

times of the Soviet Union with Lenin and Stalin and all these rulers that we know to be horrible.

And they know to be horrible. Millions of people died.

But they look back on the good old days when they could travel freely,

when they had enough, or at least they pretended that they had enough.

And if you, there's one particular park that we visited, and it had pictures

from the 80s, early 80s, before the Soviet Union fell.

But this was even towards the end of it, right?

And the park was immaculate.

Every spot was sprouting with life, flowers everywhere, it was clean,

it was pristine, it was beautiful.

And so it's no wonder they look back on these days as the good old days.

We saw the dirty, the dusty, the muddy.

There wasn't flowers. There were trees. It was mostly just grass.

It wasn't well cared for.

The people took care of it, but they weren't paid well, so they didn't do a perfect job.

They didn't keep it pristine. There was no more pretending things were going well.

When the exiles found themselves across the kingdoms, when Egypt found themselves

in slavery, when we, in many ways, exile is the narrative for our own lives apart from God.

When we exile ourselves, turn away and find ourselves captured by our own desires

and proclivities and our hearts pursuits.

We think back like, or we think, once we've experienced Jesus,

we don't think back this way, but we think in those moments that we are the immaculate gardens.

Little do we know that we are the dry and dusty, muddy, desolate places that

we need to be brought back from and watered.

And then we encounter Jesus and we realize the beauty that happens are those

who are no longer cities that are deserted.

And we look back and realize that was the time that we were really dirty and

dusty and dry and needing water.

But God says, you are in a city, no longer deserted. You are filled, you are cared for.

We see that in Matthew chapter five, we see that in the book of Psalms and Psalm

107, they say, it's a very similar messages. I'm going to read just this verse from Psalm 107.

It says in verse 14, sorry, it says in verse 9.

To back up to verse eight, let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing

love is in his wonderful deeds for mankind.

For he satisfies the thirsty and he fills the hungry with good things.

He fills and he satisfies. In Matthew chapter five, that's the Beatitudes where

God says, blessed are the righteous for they will be filled.

I think that's what it says. It's one of those things.

We are holy. We are redeemed. We are sought after. We are a city no longer deserted.

What are some other names that God calls you? What are some other names that God has given us?

Non-rhetorical question. You can shout them out.

You don't have to be answering the specific question of how God would introduce

you yet. You can be more general than that.

Son and daughter, like minds, beloved, to echo for sons of daughters,

children of God, says it over and over again.

Hosea chapter 1, Matthew chapter 5, Romans chapter 9, those are just three,

Hosea 1 · chapter mention Matthew 5 · chapter mention Romans 9 · chapter mention

but there's many, many more.

That we are sons of the living God, that we are children of God,

that we are children of the living God.

Jenny said, beloved, chosen, a royal priesthood, that's right,

friend, some of the other ones we read in Isaiah 62, that we are God's delight.

We are forgiven. What are some other ones?

Ambassadors. Speaks to not just our identity, but our calling,

right? The bride of Christ.

Temple of the Lord.

In Revelation 17, it says that they will wage war against the Lamb,

but the Lamb will triumph over them because He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

And with Him will be His called, chosen, and faithful followers.

Some more names for us, called, chosen, we already had that one,

faithful. And so I asked this question of the guys, if Jesus were here with

us, how would he introduce you?

What would he say about you specifically?

Here's what we normally do when we gather together in groups,

smaller groups, is what a lot of times happen is that we tend to rehearse the

identities that we speak over. ourselves.

We tend to rehearse the identities that Satan as the accuser never wants us to forget about.

And yes, confession and repentance are amazing things and are necessary.

So I'm not saying we stop doing that.

But so often, it's unbalanced with the way that God speaks about you.

And in some ways, it's almost like, and the point of confession,

we should just inundate each other with the truth of what God speaks into that

identity that we've adopted for ourselves.

And instead of just rehearsing over and over again the sins of our youth,

that we continue to remain vulnerable, that we continue to remain accountable,

that we continue to practice confession, but that we begin to replace those

thoughts, those identities with the truth of who God says that we are instead

of getting stuck and fixated.

I think that's what we tend to end up doing, right? And I feel like there's

some, It is a cultural thing that has happened.

Birthed out of something good. But then we begin to, as we always do,

tread that line towards self-righteousness.

If I can confess and if I can be sorry enough, then I can earn the salvation.

So it's just something good gone haywire.

Instead, what we should be doing is rehearsing and inundating ourselves with

the truth of what God thinks. This is what we see in 1 Corinthians.

This is what we see in a lot of Paul's letters, but I just read Ephesians the

other day, and he does it even more drastically there in the first couple chapters,

he starts off by saying, this is who you were.

Then he spends an exorbitant more amount of time saying, but this is who you

are. So don't go back to who you were.

You are holy, that you are beloved.

And so I ask that question, not so that we can just come up with a theologically sound answer.

I think most of us have been believers for a good amount of time and can probably

come up with a general response to the things that God says about us and that's

how he might introduce us.

But I want you to think about how God would introduce you specifically,

because I believe while some of these more general things that apply to all Christians,

that that would be part of our introduction and that there would probably be

things that are a part and shared between each of us,

I do believe that it would be personal based on who you are individually in

relation to God and not just who you are as a Christian that's shared with all of us.

I was thinking about it the other day and God reminded me of this story that

I feel like we never talk about.

We've read it and as soon as I start talking about it, you'll be like,

oh yeah, yeah, yeah. but we don't hear about it often.

Also, I could say, anybody remember who Nathanael is?

Say, yeah, well, he's only in the book of John, but he's an apostle because

in the other books, he's called Bartholomew.

Neither of those names is really great. Nathanael's better, at least, in our modern day.

We don't really see any more Nathanaels. Definitely don't even see any Bartholomew's.

Bart's, that's true. Maybe it's short for Bartholomew. So in the first chapter

of John, when we're meeting some of the apostles, we meet Nathanael too.

And it says the next day, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.

Finding Philip, he said to him, follow me.

So Philip is best friends with Nathanael.

Says, Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.

Philip found Nathanael and told him. So he was like, I have to go tell my friend.

We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law and about whom the prophets

also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

And Nathanael's response, Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?

And Philip says, come and see. And instead Instead of not and just going along

with his prejudice, Nathanael came to Jesus.

And when Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said to him, Here truly is an Israelite

in whom there is no deceit.

Nathanael said, how do you know me? Jesus answered, I saw you while you were

still under the fig tree before Philip called you.

And then Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel. And Jesus said, you believe because I told you,

I saw you under the fig tree.

You will see greater things than that. And then he added, very truly,

I tell you, you will see the heaven open and the angels of God ascending and

descending on the son of man.

And there's a lot going on in this little section that I feel like we tend to skip over.

Jesus sees Nathanael and he introduces him as a true Hebrew,

true Israelite, one in whom there is no deceit. There is no lies.

It will change depending on what your translation is saying there.

But this whole exchange is just a demonstration that God knows us personally.

The compliments that he gives him of being a true Israelite.

It's just a demonstration that he is really, truly known.

There is this connection with Jacob and Israel, the same guy, right?

Two different names that Jesus is playing onto here.

This idea that Jacob means deceiver.

And then as he wrestled with God and God renamed him Israel,

that that deception that deceit

was taken away in some ways that he

relied on god rather his own strength he stopped trying to control his circumstances

and he followed god in that moment with his whole heart and so there is the

and we see that with the end where where jesus says you will see heaven opened

and the angels ascending and descending on the son of man jacob as israel,

saw that image.

So he's recalling all these things. So there's a lot of deep theological stuff

that I don't really want us to get into too much other than the fact that.

That moment, Jesus spoke something that affected Nathanael so deeply,

even in the simple words that we tend to miss.

It seems like such a simple introduction.

And it could be that there was something that happened under that fig tree that

we just don't know what it was.

It could be a conversation or words that were spoken.

It seems unlikely that it was Philip going to find him? Because Jesus says,

even before Philip came to you, I saw you.

So it seems to be something that happened before that, before that exchange

where Nathaniel just speaks open and honestly about his own prejudice to the

Nazarites, those from Nazareth.

So something was happening there, potentially. We don't really know.

It could be, and this is not a guarantee, But the Bible, as well as rabbinic

literature outside of the Bible,

speaks often about prayer and meditation under trees, but even more specifically under fig trees.

So it could be that Nathanael, as a true Israelite, seeking God was in his sort

of prayer closet kind of way,

going to the same tree to pray and to meditate and to seek God.

That speaks to the relationship that Philip knew where Nathanael would be, perhaps.

And so Jesus in this moment revealed something so personal that even if we would

never know what it is, even if it's not any of those things.

Impacted Nathanael in such a powerful way that as God introduced him personally,

that in his response, he is the first one to confess all the most major identities of who Jesus is.

He says, Rabbi, you are my teacher.

You have knowledge that I do not. He says, you are the son of God.

You are divine. You are not just a man.

He says, you are the king of Israel. You are the Messiah. you are the one we've been waiting for.

So whatever Jesus communicated in that moment that was so deeply personal,

spoke and ministered to Nathaniel in such a way that he made these powerful

confessions in the first moments of meeting Jesus,

before Jesus really revealed himself to the world, and before many of his other

fellow apostles, disciples understood what any of it meant.

So what would Jesus say that would meet you right here, right now,

today, in the way that you would most need it this morning,

that you would most need it this week, that you would most need it in this season

of life, however long it may be, that is so deeply personal,

that even if it doesn't mean anything to anyone else,

causes within you that confession to rise up.

Jesus, you are Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the Messiah.

You are King of kings and Lord of lords.

I shared with the guys several weeks ago, as we meditated on this question,

the first thing that came to mind, which was that God would say,

Jesus would say that he was proud of me.

In some ways, I think about God's declaration over Jesus.

Here is my son whom I dearly love with him. I am well pleased.

And then I was reading, I think this past week in Proverbs in chapter three, it says,

in verse 11, it starts off, my son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and

do not resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father, the son, he delights in.

So the fact that he delights in me as his child and that any difficulty,

any discipline is just proof of that?

If these are ways that God was speaking to me, answering that question,

in some ways saying, communicating what we see in Philippians, I'm not done yet.

I'm still working. Trust me.

So what would he say about you? As you continue to think there is a warning

involved, just as like there was with the Israelites.

The promise comes, the names come.

He restores them as they repent, as they seek Him out.

And the Lord warning that He gave to them is, if you turn, if you stop trusting, if you go back,

these other names that I've, I don't know if you haven't seen what I've been

reading, but these other names that I've highlighted pink that we see in Hosea and other places.

So if you turn back to me, if you repent, you will be my people and I will be your God.

But if you stop trusting, I will call you not my child. I will call you not my people.

This is not just a, you are holy, so do whatever you want, as Paul would address several times, right?

This is, this is who you really are, so be who you really are in all of the names.

It's not, I will look on you with this way, no matter what you choose in life,

because ultimately it's our choice in some ways, right?

Not to say that we earn salvation or anything like that.

But it is a promise of, hey, this is how I want to view you.

And this is how I already view you.

So walk into the truth more and more of who you are.

You are holy. You are becoming holy. I've made you that. I've spoken it over you. So be holy.

I delight in you. So live in a way that delights me.

I love you. You are beloved. So live in love towards me and towards your neighbors.

And we would live out these identities.