In Peter Allison's sermon titled 'What's In a Name?', the focus is on the significance and power of the name of the Lord, particularly as described in Proverbs 18:10-11. The sermon explores various names of God, such as Jehovah, Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Jireh, and Jehovah Shema, each revealing different attributes of God, including His strength, protection, provision, and presence. The name of the Lord is depicted as a strong tower and a banner around which believers gather for safety and victory. God's names, given through His covenant relationship with believers, are expressions of His eternal and unchanging character. In contrast, the sermon warns against placing trust in wealth, which is described as a mirage lacking true security. The sermon emphasizes that true refuge and strength are found in God's name, encouraging believers to run to Him in times of need, recognizing His provision, protection, and ultimate victory over all enemies.

Please turn in your scriptures to Proverbs chapter 18. I like to read the first 11 verses, but we will be looking this morning primarily at verses 10 and 11. A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire, he rages against all wise judgment. A Fool has no delight in understanding but in expressing his own heart. When the wicked comes, contempt comes also, and dishonor with dishonor comes reproach.

The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, the wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook. It is not good to show partiality to the wicked or to overthrow the righteous in judgment. A fool's lips enter into contention and his mouth calls for blows. A fool's mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul. The words of a tale bearer are like tasty trifles and they go down into the inmost body.

He who is slothful in his work is a brother to him who is a great destroyer. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe. The rich man's wealth is his strong city and like a high wall in his own esteem. Thus far, the reading of God's Word. May the Lord be praised at the reading and hearing of His Word.

Heavenly Father, seal to our hearts Your Word. Grant us obedience to it and understanding of it. And grant this light to us this morning. And sanctify, Father, these lips to proclaim what is true and good. And may all that is chaff blow away.

In Jesus name, Amen. What's in a name? What's in a name? What is in your name? You probably know what's in your name, and it probably means something to you.

When we were first courting, my wife made, embroidered, cross-stitched my name and framed it and gave it to me. That still hangs in my office as a memento of the one who gave it. But our names are very significant. The name of God reveals His character, who He is, His attributes, His works, His ordinances, what he does, and what he is. These are all revealed in the names of God, in the name that God gives to us of Himself.

It's His revelation to us of Himself. Some of the names of God come to us from people who have endured in many different trials, afflictions, tests. And These names of God come to us as expressions of their gratitude for what? Yehovah has done for them how they have experienced the faithfulness of God God's names are His encouragement and His strengthening of us. The name of the Lord is a strong tower.

The righteous run to it and are safe. Do you think you can memorize that? I'll say it again. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe.

Let's try saying that. Ready? The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. I want you to think about that as we work through this verse in the next one.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run to it and are safe or secure. You can think about it tomorrow too. The very name of Jehovah is amazing. The word Jehovah simply means, in Hebrew it is the verb to be, to exist. It is the verb to be, that simple little verb, be, the being, existence.

When God revealed Himself to Moses, and Moses asked, well who are you? God said, I am who I am. I am who I am. That's a rough translation of God's name, Jehovah, or sometimes Jehovah. The wise are soft, like in Spanish, Jehovah.

That's a word, to be. It's I am that I am. Our I will be what I will be, or that I am that I am. God is the one who exists. And He is the one who gives existence to anything else that exists.

And were God for one moment to cease giving us existence, we would cease to exist. God gave all things existence, all things that are, He made. He brought into existence out of nothing. In the New Testament that's expressed as who is, who was, and who is to come. Somebody who exists apart from time.

Who is, who was, and who always is. There is, God is not a creature of time, He is the creator of time. Jehovah is particularly connected with God as he is in covenant relationship to us. And that is something he also told Moses. He said, I was known to the patriarchs by God, God Almighty, El Shaddai, but I wasn't known by my covenant name, Jehovah.

That is my personal name. That is the name I am giving to you, which you may call me, Jehovah. Isn't it sad that the very name that God has given to us, His people, for us to call upon Him? If you don't know somebody's name, what do you do? You kind of wave at them, you kind of say, hey, hi, and it's kind of awkward, isn't it?

You don't know somebody's name. You don't know how to get their attention. You don't know how to call out to them. But if you know their name, it's easy. God has given to us His name so that we can call upon Him.

We don't have to say, are you there? You God, whoever you are, He has given us a name. He's revealed to us His name, Yehovah, so that we can call upon Him by name. How sad that the people that He gave it to refused to pronounce it. Yah is the shortened form of Yehovah.

In fact, there are a couple places, two places in the Bible where The two are Yah and Yehovah are put together. Those are some of the only places where the translators have actually translated Yehovah or Yehovah as Yehovah because they had to differentiate it from Yah. Most of the time that you see the words capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D in your Bible, whenever you see that in your Bible, that is probably, I think universally, that is Jehovah's name, Jehovah, that is being represented there. And it is right for us to use that name. It is a name that God has given to us.

But Yah is a shortened form of that name. It signifies He is. That shortened form is first used in the song of Moses when Moses is praising the Lord for their deliverance from the Egyptians. He says, the Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation. He is my God and I will prepare him my habitation, my Father's God and I will exalt him.

Yehovah, the Lord, is a man of war. Yehovah is his name, the name of God. Moses attributes to delivering the children of Israel as he is the man of war. He is their salvation. Isaiah 26 says, trust in the Lord, trust in Jehovah forever, for in Yah, Jehovah is everlasting strength.

In Yah, Jehovah is everlasting strength. If you have a King James, they will translate that for in the Lord Jehovah. But it's in, for in Yah, Jehovah is everlasting strength. In Jehovah we have the fountainhead of all of the spiritual, all of the blessings to the people of His covenant for us. Psalm 102 uses this name of the Lord 8 times in the short psalm, speaking of Jehovah.

Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of trouble, incline your ear to me. Here is the righteous running to the tower. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. But you, " the psalmist goes on, "'you, O Yehovah, shall endure forever.

All the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah for all the kings of the earth your glory for Jehovah shall build up Zion. He shall appear in his glory For he looked down from the height of his sanctuary, from heaven Jehovah viewed the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death, to declare the name of Jehovah in Zion among God's people and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples are gathered together in the kingdoms to serve Jehovah the Lord Jehovah looks down upon earth to hear to see the groaning of the prisoner, to release those who are appointed to die. What a wonderful king we have. What did the gladiators say? Those about to die salute you.

But what does our God say? Yehovah looks down upon earth to save those who are appointed to die. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. The names of the Lord are just amazing.

We can't even begin to look at all the names of the Lord this morning. Just the word Jehovah is used, I'm sure a number popped in your head maybe, 7, 000 times in the Old Testament. Jehovah, you don't remember reading it that many times. That's because it's translated L-O-R-D, capital L-O-R-D. That's Jehovah, that's His name.

And it is a strong tower. Jehovah-Nissi is one of the names of the Lord. That is, that we find shortly after the Jehovah is introduced in Exodus 15 and Exodus 17, two chapters later. The Israelites are fighting the Amalekites. Probably all remember this story.

Israel has just been delivered and Amalek comes and fights with Israel. Moses tells Joshua to take some of the soldiers and go out and fight with them. He says, tomorrow I'm going to stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua obediently gets the soldiers together and they go out to fight Amalek. You know, remember what happened.

Moses is holding up the rod on the mountain and his arms get tired. The thing falls down. As it falls down, Amalek starts winning and Israel starts losing. He raises his tired arms up again, but they get tired and they come down, and as soon as they come down, Amalek starts winning, and Israel starts losing. And so Aaron and Her run to his aid, and they take two rocks and set him on either side sit him down on it and they Help Moses hold up his hands And his hands were steady because he was held up until they were going down in the sun.

And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And then the Lord said to Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, and you tell it in the hearing of Joshua. And so Moses built an altar. He didn't build a victory arch to Joshua and put Joshua's name on it. He built an altar to Jehovah and put Jehovah's name on it.

Jehovah-Nesi, the Lord is my banner. Jehovah is my banner. For he said, Because the Lord has sworn, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. The Lord is my banner. Nisi is like a standard.

A standard is that around which God gathers His people. When I was in the Navy in college, in training, and there was a sort of anything mass organization going on and we needed to reform our units. There was a standard, an ensign that was raised and every company knew where to go. You looked at the standard and you went there. Moses lifted up that bronze serpent in the wilderness so that all could look upon it and all who did were saved.

The Lord, our banner, is the standard around which God gathers His people It's the standard around which he even gathers the Gentiles the nations Isaiah speaks about the gospel going out to all the nations. And he says, In that day there shall be a root of Jesse who shall stand as a banner to the people. That's the same word, our banner, Jehovah-Nehisi. For the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious, and it shall come to pass in that day. The Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathos and Cush, and Elam and Shinar and Hamath and the islands of the sea, he will set up a banner for the nations, who will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Jehovah is the banner, our banner, it is that around which God gathers his people from the corners of the earth to be to him a peculiar and a special people. That banner, Jehovah, identifies the source of power and victory. When Moses lowered his hands, they lost. When Moses raised his hands, they won. In the battle with Amalek, God could have defeated them just like he defeated the Egyptians a little bit earlier.

He didn't need Joshua to gather some soldiers and go fight. He destroyed the Egyptian army, one of the greatest armies on the face of the earth, without them lifting one finger. Stand and see, and you will see the salvation of the Lord Moses said and they did they saw the soldiers wash their lifeless bodies washing up on the shore but But in this case the Lord uses their arms, but he doesn't need their arms. They didn't win because they were bigger and stronger, they did more push-ups, they could run farther, They had stronger swords and longer spears. That's not why they won.

The source of their strength and their victory was Jehovah, their banner, that around whom they had gathered. We're still battling. We're called, in fact, the church militant, as opposed to those who are in their eternal rest who are the church triumphant. We are called the church militant because we are in a battle. We are battling the world, Satan and our own sinful flesh.

Christ is our strength in that battle. He is our banner. It is to him that we have to look he's the source of The power that we need to be victorious in our battle Jehovah there is no strength or victory any other way. Yehovah is our protection. A banner is a sign of protection.

And it's called an ensign, a flag. We would call it a flag today. What happens when you see the American flag? What happens when you see the badge of the police? You know that you are dealing with the power of the law.

In the days of sailing vessels, ships would not fly any flag to try and go under the radar. Or they might try and fly a different flag because that flag symbolized who they represented, whose banner of protection they were under. If it was a British flag, that was a British ship, and if somebody messed with it, They were messing with the might of the British Navy or whatever country it was. In our battles as the church militant, you know, we we fight under Jehovah's banner He has put his name upon he is our banner and we are his people There is protection in that There is protection from Satan in that, in that we are the Lord's. And the righteous run to this tower and are secure.

Psalm 60 says, you have given a banner to them that fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth, that your beloved may be delivered, save with your right hand and hear me. God has given to us a banner that we may be delivered, that we may be protected. He has put His banner over us, He has put His name upon us, He has marked us as His. Those who fight us, fight Him. And nobody can fight the Lord and win.

If we are under the Lord's banner, there is safety there. We have won the victory because we are in Christ. Jehovah has won. If we are outside of that banner, there is no security. There is no protection.

There is no enemy. There is no habit. There is no sin that you may or may not be battling with, that cannot be overcome by the power of the Lamb. There is no enemy that can thwart the victory of the cross of Jesus Christ. There is no enemy that can defeat the power of the Lamb.

None. Absolutely none. There is no battle that you are facing. There is no enemy that you are facing. There is no power that you are facing.

There is no earthly power, there is no spiritual heavenly power that can defeat the power of the Lamb. You are fighting under Jehovah-Nesi. God is at war. A banner, an ensign, when you raise the flag and sound the trumpet, you are declaring war. When you raise the standard, it is that to which the army gathers.

When you sound the trumpet, it is to march forward to battle. God is a God of war. Moses called God a man of war. God is at war. He has raised his banner.

He has sounded the trumpet. In Amalek's destruction before the raised banner that Moses raised, that rod of God that he raised upon the mountain, held up by Aaron and her. That banner defeated the Amalekites. And that's typical of all of God's enemies, of all the enemies of Christ and of his kingdom whoever Whoever whatever nation whatever people whatever person whatever Principality or power whatever devil or demon? That makes war against the Messiah will be defeated just like Amalek and that is signified by Jehovah is our banner he is the standard and victory is in him he has won the victory over the world up on the cross and he was mopping up he's mopping up every enemy in every corner of the earth.

And he will reign until he has put all enemies under his feet. Death being the last enemy. Death is an enemy. Death is where we lay down for the last time this body of sin and yes it is an enemy. But It is an enemy that has lost its power, its stain.

It is a defeated enemy because God is our banner, our strength. Jehovah is also Jehovah Shema, God who is there. Ezekiel describes the new temple in great detail. It takes many chapters to describe and it can be somewhat tedious reading it. If you read it you have to get out a map and start drawing it out or looking at it and referring to it and and it's It's intriguing all the detail that is recorded that the last several chapters of Ezekiel Describes the glory of this temperate temple is grandeur.

It's like 500 cubits by 500 cubits. It's described in detail with cooking playstations and rooms for storing and rooms for the priest quarters and the arches and the windows and the gates. And then there is the river that flows out from the east that brings fruit. And then God describes the whole land of Canaan divided up among all the tribes. In the center of that land is this temple, this holy place.

The very last word in all the book, the last word that closes out this description is this words, the Lord who is there. The Lord Jehovah is there. Jehovah Shema, He is there. When we move out following the Lord's leading, following His will, obeying his commandments, walking in his ways, we can know too that the Lord is there. Wherever the Lord sends us, no matter how remote or no matter how unremote, No matter how isolated, no matter how concentrated, the Lord is there.

The Lord is there. Jehovah Shema. God is almighty. El Shaddai. God is almighty, El Shaddai.

When Abraham was feeling very weak, God had said that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And here he was, 99 years old, his wife 89 years old, and he was going to have a child. He didn't know how that could possibly happen. His wife was years, decades past child bearing age. He was doubting what God could do.

He was doubting how this could happen. God had promised him a son. Sarah had laughed out right when she heard that promise. That was ridiculous to her. How could a 90 year old woman have a baby?

God came to Abraham and said, I am God Almighty. I'm the mighty God. There is nothing impossible with me, nothing. Jesus said to his disciples, with me all things are possible. Nothing is impossible for the mighty God.

El Shaddai, what a, what's that a comfort? The name of God is a strong tower and the righteous run to it and are safe. God is a mighty God. All the nations of the earth, it doesn't matter to him. The army, the Egyptian army, or whatever, the Chinese army now, maybe, the Mexican army, it doesn't matter.

The hosts of heaven, the angels and principalities and powers that would like nothing better than to see Christ's children stumble and fall. Their might is nothing compared to God Almighty. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless. The chapter before we have another name that is given in a time of need and to comfort those who needed that comfort. Hagar, she is told to leave The protection and security of Abraham's house.

She had had a son, Ishmael, that was one of the attempts of Sarah and Abraham to have a child, not doubting that God could do it the way He had said He would. They thought they needed to help Him out a little bit. And now this son, at about 19 years of age, is now mocking Isaac, who is probably about 5 years of age. He is at a celebration for his weaning. And actually that is a little bit later.

At this point, Sarah is just treating her very harshly. She flees away from his house. The angel of the Lord came to her and said, where are you going? Why are you here? Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her.

And then he gave her a promise, you are with child, you will bear a son, you will call his name Ishmael because the Lord has heard your affliction. He will be a wild man, His hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brothers." She was facing a lot of persecution from Sarah because she had this child And she ran away. She didn't think anybody saw her, or anybody noticed her, or knew what she was experiencing. But God saw. And her response, She then says, she called on the name of God who spoke to her.

And she called him, you are the God who sees. You are the God who sees. You saw what I was going through. I wasn't there all alone with nobody to help in this house where I'm being oppressed by my mistress, being abused and mistreated. You really are the God who sees and notices what I'm going through.

She said, I have also seen Him who sees me. God in His mercy did reveal Himself to her. And she realized that He is the God who sees. That's great hope for us, for anybody, but especially those who are alone, who are like Hagar, with nobody to protect them, nobody really to look out for their interests, somebody who is maybe being mistreated, Somebody who is being abused, maybe a single mother, who is laboring to feed her family in a seemingly endless cycle of working, barely making enough, cooking the meals that need to be cooked, helping with the homework, and then going to bed, a cycle that seems to repeat endlessly, meals, work, homework, to bed, do it over again the next day. Is anybody looking?

Does anybody see? Does anybody know? That's where Hagar was. And she saw that Jehovah is the God who sees. You are the God who sees, she said.

I have seen Him who sees me. So the one battling temptation, thinking no one will know or no one will see, God is the one who sees. He is the one who notices. He is a tower of refuge. The righteous run to it and are secure.

Those who are up all night, in the middle of the night, can be a very lonely time. It can be a difficult time. Maybe you are the watchman, keeping watch all alone. Maybe you are in pain. Maybe you just can't sleep.

Maybe you're under a burden. All alone at night. God is the one who sees. He knows. He's a tower of refuge.

Sometimes just knowing that somebody knows can be a comfort. But Jehovah is more. He is Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. Abraham was sent to sacrifice his son in Genesis chapter 22. God said to him, take your son and go up in the mountains where I will tell you and offer your son.

This is the very son that God had said would come that he waited many years for, 25 years for, 100 years for. He was 100 when Isaac was born. This is his only son, the son of promise. Now God told him to sacrifice his son. On the way there, Abraham obeyed.

He took the wood and the fire and Isaac and some servants and he headed out to where God would show him. And along the way as they are walking, probably in silence maybe, Isaac asks the question, Maybe Isaac asked the question, Father, I see the wood, I see the fire, where is the lamb for the sacrifice? And Abraham says, the Lord will provide the sacrifice, knowing that God had commanded him to sacrifice his son. And when he got there, he began to do that. And you know how God sent his angel to stop Abraham.

And there in the thicket was a lamb, a ram. And so after Abraham looked at that, lifted up his eyes, when God told him to stop, he looked and he saw that ram and Abraham called the name of the place, the Lord will provide. As it is said this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided." Now maybe in your margin you have the Lord will see. And at first thought that seems very different from the Lord will provide until you remember where the Lord where the word provide comes from pro videre to see before we get the word video You might recognize video games, video vision. It deals with seeing, with sight.

Provide comes from seeing. It's seeing before. To make provision for something to see before is to anticipate something, to see what and make a, and supply a need that you see will be in the future. So provide is and so for the Lord provide and see are really the same thing because the Lord sees all things and And so He sees before and He makes provision for what He sees. Because He is the God Almighty, there is nothing He can't provide.

There is Nothing that he sees that he cannot meet. There is no need that he sees that he cannot meet. Because he is the one who as the sovereign Lord and Creator has determined all things from before the counsel of His will. But there is a little bit more here in this. In verse 14 it says, In the mount of the Lord It shall be seen.

But the new King James has it, it shall be provided. It shall be seen or provided. We see how those are similar, but some translations have it, He shall be seen. He, in the mount of the Lord, He shall be seen, or He shall be provided. Speaking of the sacrifice that God would provide in Jesus Christ.

But even more than that, in the very name of this mountain, back in verse 2, God said, take your son and go to the land of Moriah. The word Moriah means two words, provide and Jehovah. It means the shown of Jehovah or the manifestation of Jehovah. So the name of the very mountain that Abraham was to go is shown by Jehovah or the manifestation of Jehovah. God has provided a sacrifice, a substitute for Isaac.

He has provided His own Son and He has made complete provision for our need that the wrath of God against us might be turned away. And so Augustine says, command what you will, then give what you command. Command what you will and give what you command. Provide for that which you have commanded. What the Lord commands us to do, what he calls us to do, he will equip us to do, because he is Jehovah Jireh.

And so the next time we're facing something that is difficult, that we don't think we are equipped for, like Moses called to lead some people out of the land of Egypt and didn't think he was capable. But what the Lord calls us to do, He will equip us to do. What He commands us to do, He will provide. Paul said it this way, faithful is he that calls you who will also do it. Faithful is he who calls you, he will also do it.

And so when the Lord leads us to new places, strange places, deserts maybe, He will provide. He will provide what we need. He will provide all the strength that we need to carry out what He has commanded us to do. He is Jehovah Jireh. He is also Jehovah-Hosenu, the Lord our Maker.

Come let us kneel, the psalmist says, before the Lord our Maker. It's not referring to God's work of creation. That is making all things out of nothing. That's bringing into existence that which was not. This is referring to making or fashioning something out of what already exists.

It's used for example of a tree yielding fruit. It's used of preparing a meal. You make a meal, right? You didn't create the food out of nothing. You simply prepared something out of what was already in existence.

The things in the tabernacle were made that way. They were fashioned out of, according to God's plan, out of things that already existed. Abraham is looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. We are, Paul said, God's workmanship. He is our maker in that sense.

And He is the one who is making us. His creation, His poem, that word is poem, workmanship. Workmanship is fashioning something, taking a piece of wood and making something beautiful out of it, taking words and putting them together to communicate something of beauty, something of glory, something of wonder, something of love. God is our maker. We are His workmanship.

We're His poem. Do you have rough edges? Do you have personality defects? Do you have sins that beset you? God is your maker.

He is making us into His image, renewing us in knowledge and righteousness and holiness He is Jehovah Hussainu He is a skillful maker He makes no mistakes What he has made what he is fashioned. It's not a mistake He has His purpose in it. He's accomplishing it. And His purposes for us are good. What He is making us as our shepherd, He is for our good.

There are many, many other names. We could just go on and on and on talking about the names of God and all that they teach us about God. The name of God is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are secure. El Elion, God Most High, El Elam, the God of Eternity, El Loa, the adorable one.

God is one whom we adore, one whom we love. He's the rock, it's called the rock. He's the foundation, he's unmovable. Nothing can move him. Time cannot change him.

He's Jehovah-Rofi, the great physician, the one who heals. He's the one who sanctifies and so on. But there's a, our text goes on, next verse talks about a mirage. Talks about something that seems to be cure but really isn't. Wealth.

Wealth. The rich man's wealth is his strong city. And And in his own mind, it's strong. But the only problem is it's not. And the Bible says that a person that puts their trust in something that is not strong is rather foolish.

Where the name of the Lord is a strong tower, wealth is a mirage. It vanishes. It takes wings and flies away. And that is a known fact by everybody that has it. That's why they worry about it so much.

They know it can disappear. They got it, and it can disappear. It can be gone. Just Think of all the people jumping out of windows on Wall Street, committing suicide, because all their wealth disappeared. It's gone.

It's gone. Thieves can steal it. If you put it in gold, thieves can steal it. If you put it in iron, it can rust away. If you put it in wool, The moths eat it.

It's amazing how things destroy. You're seeing pictures of cities that were great structures of stone, great monuments that in relatively short periods of time disappear and nobody lifts a finger to destroy them. The earth just comes up and swallows them up. The trees just go through. The grass grows up.

Stuff breaks away. The wind washes it, wears it. The water carries it away and it's just not there. It's just gone. It rots.

But even if wealth doesn't have this problem, even if wealth could somehow stay, if you could even guarantee that it would last your lifetime, that nobody was going to steal it while you were living, the moths weren't going to eat it while you were living, It wasn't going to rust away while you were living. It just had that much durability. It's still a mirage. The name of Jehovah is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe.

Jehovah Jireh provides, the Lord provided a sacrifice that can satisfy the wrath of God. Bible says that money, money can never pay a ransom for our soul. Psalm 49, we have sung this Psalm at times. Psalm 49 says so clearly, Why should I fear in the days of evil when the iniquity at my heels surrounds me? Those who trust in their wealth and boast of the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother.

All of the people trusting in their wealth, Even if it wouldn't disappear, even if it didn't take wings and fly away, all the gold in the world cannot pay the ransom for our soul. It can't. And that's why it's a mirage. It has the appearance of strength. It has the appearance of being able to deliver us.

And it can, in some way, just like the Pharaoh's court could imitate some of the miracles that Moses did, but they couldn't imitate the real ones. They couldn't make the sun go dark. They couldn't control the locusts. They couldn't take the firstborn. Wealth can do many things, but it cannot pay the ransom for our soul.

That takes Jehovah. Jehovah-Jireh. We've been bought with something far more precious. We've been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, Peter says. I didn't realize how many times Peter uses that word precious.

Precious. Precious. He uses it of the blood of Jesus Christ that which pays the ransom for our soul that by which we have been bought it's precious it's it is in it is security and in it alone is security. Let's pray. Almighty Father in Heaven, how magnificent is Your name, how wonderful and marvelous You are to us, more than we can imagine more than we can express.

But we thank You that You have given us a tongue and that You have given us a voice, that you have given to us the means to tell you that we do love you. We do desire you and we do thank you for your purchase of us by your own precious blood. Oh Lord, help us to remember that you are a strong tower. Help us to remember to run to you for refuge, and Not to wealth, and not to all the other things that are but mirages in front of us. Lord, please bless us and set your name upon us.

And make us and keep us as your own peculiar and precious people. In Jesus' name we ask, Amen.