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You cannot read the Bible without realizing that God has chosen to reveal Himself through significant names. In the very first verse of the Old Testament, God revealed Himself as the Creator by the name "Elohim" which is a very generic word in the Hebrew for "God." When the one, true God spoke to Abraham, He further revealed Himself as "El Shaddai" which means "the Almighty God" and "Adonai" which means "God the Master." These names were important to God because when Abraham built an altar and called on the name of his God in worship, these names let God and everyone else know that he was not calling upon some pagan god that was commonly worshipped back in his idolatrous land. The name called out identified to whom the sacrifice was being given, and so there was great importance placed upon knowing the proper name of God Almighty.

Think about it in modern terms. Just because someone prays and says "Oh, God" doesn't necessarily mean that they are praying to the true God of the Bible. They might be a Muslim and by "God" mean "Allah" who is a far cry from the God of mercy of our scriptures! They might be a pantheist and be praying to nature or the Mother Earth as their "god." They might be a Satanist and by "god" and "master" mean the exact opposite of the One upon whom we trust! Just to pray to "god" was not good enough in Abraham's day, nor is it good enough today in our lives, because there are many supposed gods that people elevate and put faith within. It's important to identify "which God" you are talking about and calling upon.

The Bible declares that there is a great importance in not just knowing that God exists, but in "knowing God's name." The 91st Psalm has been named by many as the "divine protection chapter" of the Bible. It talks about how that God will protect and help and fight for those who fear Him and love Him. It states that God will be a "refuge and fortress" to those who trust Him and that He will protect us from traps that are set up for us and the terrors that come in the night. Verse 11 of this great psalm reveals to us that God will send His angels to guard us and protect us from harm. But many people don't realize the condition of these great promises from God. We find the reason and the condition of God's protection in the last few verses:

The two conditions why God Almighty will protect His people is 1. Because he has loved me, and 2. "because he hath known my name." God doesn't protect everyone. He doesn't send His angels to guard against traps and the fears of night for everybody. But those who meet the requirements of "loving Him" and "knowing His name!" And then almost as if to really emphasize this point, God goes on:

"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him." Who? The one who hath known my name. "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him." Who, God, will you do this for? The one who knows His name. "With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation." Who will you do this for, oh God of Israel? The one who knows His name. It's important to love this God, but it's also just as important to "know His name!"

This is a theme repeated throughout the scriptures. Listen to some other verses:

It is the people who "know thy name" that "put their trust in Him." There is a great importance to knowing the name of God! And on the flip side, you do not want to be in the number of those who do not know the name of God:

In another place, God said "I am a jealous God and I will not share my glory with another!" God is very adamant about this and so we ought to realize the importance of it! It's not just enough to know of God, but we must -- it's imperative -- we must "know His name." It's obvious that you can believe in God, but you don't really know God unless you know His name.

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That's good and great, but what does it mean to "know the name?" In our text in Exodus, we read where God gave Moses the great revelation of the name "Jehovah." God had already revealed to Moses that He was the great "I Am" which was in effect stating "I am everything that I need to be and more." "Jehovah" just means "He is" and so when we call on the "great I am" we say "Jehovah." It was a grand name because God was revealing Himself to Moses in a greater way than He had ever known before and it was the name "Jehovah" that represented this greater revelation of God! And so you should realize that all of those scriptures that we just read about the importance of knowing the name of God were written in the time of Moses' law. Knowing the name of God was very, very important, but that specific name that they needed to know, was "Jehovah." And those promises that we read about were those who correctly knew the current name of God for their time.

When they came to the temple and offered sacrifices, they had to do so "unto Jehovah." Despite God first calling Himself Elohim, a sacrifice in the "name of Elohim" was no longer valid, because God had revealed more of Himself than just the creator. To give a sacrifice as Abraham had done so calling out upon "Adonai" was no longer good enough, because God had revealed Himself in a way that was much greater than Abraham had known! Abraham had known God as the "true God who says come out of idolatry" but Moses was about to find out that He was Jehovah, the God who destroys His people's enemies." Moses was about to find out that God was more than just a God who calls you out of a sinful world, but was a God who "calls you out and then takes you into a Promised Place." Abraham never fully received the promises of God, but died "in faith" expecting them. But Moses was going to lead people to the Promised Land. It was a new season and a new time and a new order! And so as God was revealing Himself in a greater way, He revealed a new name that matched that revelation! Calling on older names of God wouldn't work any more because you had to "know His name" and His new name of the era was "Jehovah!"

Can I preach to you a bit? In our text in the book of Acts, we find that Peter and John had been arrested for healing the lame man outside of the temple. If you go back to the first part of the chapter, you will find that they didn't heal this man through their own power or ability, but rather they said "silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" And so as they are on trial, the Jewish religious leaders want to know "how did you do this?" And Peter stands up and says "I'm glad that you asked!" "It wasn't us that healed this man, but we want you religious leaders to know that it was through the name of Jesus Christ whom ye crucified, that this man stands here whole!" "This name of Jesus is the stone that you cast aside, but that has now become the chief cornerstone of God's kingdom!" And then Peter goes even further and says about the name of Jesus:

We quote this quite often, but I want you to realize the full impact of what Peter was preaching: he was telling the religious leaders at the "temple of Jehovah" that the only name that would save them now, was the name of Jesus! Their sacrifices to Jehovah wouldn't work anymore. Their prayers to Jehovah weren't valid anymore. Why? Because God had revealed Himself in a much, much greater way than He had to Moses. The world had seen a fresh and a new and more complete revelation of who God is. Paul put it this way:

John said that "in the beginning was the Word" or the "thought, intent, and plan of God" and the "Word was God" (John 1:1). And then John wrote this:

God had become flesh and dwelt among His creation to fulfill His plan of dying on the cross for our sins and then being resurrected to bring a new season and a new time and a new order of His kingdom! But again, with this revelation, God had revealed a name that represented this greater revelation of who He is! And that name -- that all-important-to-know name of God -- has been revealed to us as "Jesus!" Peter looked the religious leaders of his day square in the eye and stated "your calling on Jehovah will do no good, and neither will these sacrifices to Jehovah, because "there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved, other than the name of Jesus!" Peter said, in effect, "I want to tell you religious people something, your religion and your tradition will do you absolutely no good unless you know the name of God and His new revelation has revealed to us a greater name than any other name given: Jesus!" Peter said that the name of Jesus is the only name that saves us!

Just "calling on God" is not enough to invoke the promises of God today! Crying out to "Jehovah" will lead to a dead religion, just go visit a Jewish synagogue or a Jehovah's Witness meeting and you'll find that out. Are the promises of the Old Testament for us? Yes! But they are dependent upon you knowing the name of God and crying out to that name! And the name of God that has been revealed to us in this great time of Grace is "Jesus!" He'll hear you call! He'll answer your prayer. He'll protect you and keep you! But you'd better know His name! You'd better call on Jesus!

There are people today who if you asked them "what is the name of God?" they would say "God" or "Jehovah." That is because there is a great plot afoot by our adversary to keep people from knowing the name! Some people would answer by stating "there are many names of God." That's true, but there is only one that will now save us! What is the name of God that we today are to know Him by? There is only one which embodies the greater revelation of Grace! And that name is Jesus! And "Jesus" is higher than any other previous name of God.

Paul said it like this:

Did you catch that? The name of Jesus is "a name which is above every name." The greatest name of God is Jesus! It is the only name that embodies this great revelation of the cross and God's salvation. The name "Jesus" literally means "Jehovah has become salvation!" Somebody needs to get a revelation that the name of "Jesus" that was given to Mary by angelic message is not just the name of "part of the Godhead" or "some of God" but it is the name of "all the Godhead!" It is the name of God that has been revealed to us that we must know! There is no other name that saves and no other name of God that is higher. I'm talking about the name of Jesus!

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I'm preaching to you about "knowing the name." It's not enough to just know "a name," but you'd better call upon the name that God has revealed to us in His greatest revelation. You've got to "know THE name!" Knowing that specific name is very important!

But there is also another side to "knowing the name" of God. In our text that we read where God revealed Himself as Jehovah to Moses, God made a very interesting comment. In Exodus 6:2, He said "I am Jehovah." But then in verse three, He says this:

God said "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew me as Adonai, but by the name Jehovah, was I not known to them." That's an interesting statement because of several points. First, God cannot lie. Second, we find scriptures in Genesis where Abraham DID call out the name of Jehovah. And listen to what God Himself said to Abraham:

The capital "LORD" means that in the Hebrew it is the name Jehovah! God looked at Abraham and said "I am Jehovah that brought you out of Ur." And listen to this:

Abraham called the mountain "Jehovah-jireh!" And so we have an interesting paradox in scripture. The God who cannot lie says to Moses, years later, that "to Abraham I was known as God Almighty, Adonai, but by my name Jehovah, I was not known unto them." And yet we have scripture that Abraham used the name "Jehovah" and even God spoke the very name "Jehovah" to Abraham when talking to him. What gives?

What God was trying to show us is that it's possible to "know the name" without really "knowing the name." There is a difference between having observational knowledge of something and having a God-given revelation. Be sure that you catch this, now. I said you can "know the name without really knowing the name." In other words, yes, Abraham heard God say "Jehovah" and obviously knew that it was a "name of God." But despite having the name of Jehovah in his head and speech, Abraham did not really know God "as Jehovah!" The letters of the name was revealed long before the revelation of the name. And despite Abraham using the name "Jehovah," he did not "know the name" in that he did not understand God in the way that Moses did and have the revelation that those under the Law about God's ability and power and being. Abraham used the name of Jehovah but did not have the revelation of the type of sacrifices and worship that would please Jehovah. Abraham never had Psalms 91 read to him. Abraham never saw manna fall from the heavens. Abraham never had God come down and fight his battles for him. He knew of the name Jehovah, but he really didn't "know the name" because he did not have the greater revelation of God as Jehovah! Therefore God can say "by my name Jehovah, they did not know me" and be correct. Because although they "knew the name" they didn't know the name. When Abraham called on "Jehovah" he didn't really have the revelation of God that Moses had received!

It's the same today with that most powerful name of the great revelation of Jehovah becoming salvation, Jesus Christ. Our churches are full of people who "know the name" but don't "know the name." Oh, they can spell "J-E-S-U-S" and even use it in conversation or even prayer. But they lack the revelation of fully who it is that the name represents! The traditions of men have obscured a revelation that Jesus is the mighty God in flesh! The false teachings of men have made people think that Jesus is ONLY the name of the Son of God and somehow not God Himself. There are many who "pray in the name of Jesus" thinking that Jesus is the name of only one-third of who God is. They know the name, but they don't know the name! They have mental knowledge of "Jesus" but have yet to get a divine revelation of who He really is! They can even read the scriptures that we just read about Jesus being the "highest name" and the "only name" and yet somehow demote Jesus to a "junior God." God is who His name says that He is.

How many people talk about Jesus, know Jesus, and call out to Jesus and don't even know that "Jesus" means "Jehovah has become salvation?" How many people claim to be a "friend of Jesus" and yet don't even realize that He is the Mighty God in Flesh? That as Isaiah 9:6 says, that when you call on the name of this "son," you are calling on the "mighty God, the everlasting Father, the prince of peace?!" How many people pray "in Jesus' name" and yet do not realize that they are calling on the Jehovah God of the Old Testament who has revealed Himself by being born a human being and living and dying so that we might live forever one day?

Somebody says "Oh, preacher, it's just semantics; does it really matter?" Let me turn around and ask you: "what would have happened if Moses would have refused the revelation of God as Jehovah and continued just doing what God had asked of Abraham? Would he have been saved? No, because to not embrace the saving name of God under Law was to disobey and reject God's commandments! And what if the disciples of Jesus' day would have stuck with the laws of Moses and refused to embrace Grace and the work of Calvary? What does the Bible say about that? It says that they would not have been saved! They could have said the name "Jesus" but unless they full embraced the revelation of who He is and completely obeyed Him in that new revelation, then they would have still been lost. And besides all of that, Jesus Himself made the revelation that He was Jehovah God necessary for salvation:

Jesus said that you would "die in your sins" if you "believe not that I am he." The word "he" has been added by the translators to make the sentence more "readable" in English -- it's not there in the original Greek text. The original reads "if you believe not that I am." "I am" is the name of God under law, Jehovah. Jesus said that unless you believe that He is "Jehovah" you would die in your sins and be lost. You must believe that Jesus is none other than Jehovah God in flesh. That would be the same Jehovah God that declared over three hundred times in Old Testament scripture: I am one and there is nobody beside me nor any other God. I alone created heavens and earth. Yes, Jesus was none other than that Jehovah. Jesus said that you must believe that He is that God or you would be lost. You can know the name "J-E-S-U-S" and be lost. It's only through the revelation of who that One really is that you become saved! Like Abraham, you can "know the name" and "not know the name." But to be saved, we must not only call upon the name of the Lord, but we must know that name and have a revelation of whom that name refers to!

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Peter said about the name of Jesus: "there is salvation in no other." Only the name of Jesus saves us! The Early Apostolic Church of scripture was a church of "the name of Jesus." Did you know that from Acts through Revelation in the New Testament, the phrase "name of Jesus" is found 58 times!? If we are to be a part of the original, God-given church, then we must be a people of "the name of Jesus!" We must "know the name!"

And yet in the Apostolic church, we find examples of people who "knew the name" but really didn't "know the name." The 19th chapter of the book of Acts is a "knowing the name" textbook because in one chapter we find two distinct groups of people who really didn't "know the name."

In the first six verses, we read about Paul's running into some disciples of John the Baptist who were trying to start a church in Ephesus. Did you know that it's possible to be a minister of scripture and yet not really "know the name?" That was the situation of these men.

When Paul ran into them, he immediately asked "have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" And they responded "we have not even heard that there be any Holy Ghost." That was Paul's first clue that these guys did not have a complete revelation of everything that they needed to have. When people don't have the Holy Ghost or even see the need for the Holy Ghost, that's the first clue that their knowledge of the important things are not quite what it should be. I wonder how people would respond to Paul if he could live today? You have all of these people in all these churches going around saying "I believe, I believe" and yet the first question that Paul would ask them would be "have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" To Paul, the infilling of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues was absolutely necessary for everything! If you truly believe God's Word, then you are going to want to receive the gifts that God's Word says that you should have.

Anyway, when Paul realized that they didn't have the Holy Ghost, he immediately checked how they were baptized. It's interesting that the two things that to Paul and Peter were the most important and first things to check, are the things that people make excuses today for not obeying. The men replied "oh yeah, we've been baptized unto John's baptism" meaning John the Baptist. So here's the situation: they've been totally immersed in water, they've repented of their sins, and done all of this under a God-called preacher -- and yet it's not enough. Paul explains to them "John was supposed to point to you the One who came after him, that is on Jesus Christ." Notice very carefully verse 5:

They were rebaptized by Paul, and what was the difference? This time they were baptized "in the name of Jesus." Obviously, water baptism was important enough that you want to make sure that you have done it right, and the right way -- the only way the disciples ever baptized was "in the name of Jesus." They understood the importance of that.

You can tell if you "know the name" without "knowing the name" by asking yourself this question: "how was I baptized; was it in the name of Jesus?" Jesus commanded His disciples to go baptizing "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19). Unless you have a God-given revelation of what that name is, you will never understand why the disciples did what they did. Because after they received that commandment, the disciples ALWAYS baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ!" (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:46; 19:2-6; 22:16). They knew what the "name" was. They knew that the "name" of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" was "Jesus." Matthew recorded that command of Jesus about being baptized "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" and when Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost that you must "be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), Matthew did NOT say "uh, Peter you just messed it up." Matthew had a revelation of what the "name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" is! That name is the highest name of God revealed to us and the only name that saves us: Jesus!

Somebody might say "well I want to do it like Jesus did and not His disciples." The scriptures say that "Jesus baptized nobody" and that the disciples were the only ones that baptized anyone (John 4:2). Somebody might say that "well, I've already been baptized once in the titles and I know who Jesus is so it doesn't matter." What you are saying is "God, I know that you've spent an entire Bible telling us how important the revelation of your name is, but I don't think it's that important." The only time in scripture we find someone re-baptized was when someone had never had the name of Jesus called over them (Acts 19:1-6). God equates His name with who He is. And Paul obviously thought it important enough to rebaptize these fellows in the name of Jesus! Paul didn't just know the name, but he "knew the name!"

When you go down to begin again in verse 11, we find yet one more example of people not really "knowing the name." The scripture says that Paul was casting out demons and healing the sick, all in the name of Jesus and so many people in and around the church began to copy the formula. In verse 13, we find the story of the seven sons of Sceva, the Jewish chief priest, that tried to cast out a devil from a man by saying "we command you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches, come out." Their first clue that something was going wrong was when the devil doesn't obey but starts talking back:

The possessed man then jumped on those seven preacher's kids, whipped all of them, tore their clothes off and they fled down the street of town stark naked and went home and called their real estate agent about the possibility of moving somewhere else!

These men knew the name of Jesus and they knew that others had used it to do great supernatural things, but they didn't "know the One whom the name referred to," therefore, they really "didn't know the name." To really know the name, you must have a relationship, a close relationship, with the name's owner! The name of Jesus is not a magical spell or a Holy Ghost "abracadabra" but unfortunately, we probably have many Pentecostals that use it as such. They think if they word their prayer just a certain way, and give it just the right inflection of the voice, and if all the planets are lined up, then "poof" their prayer would be answered. The sons of Sceva ought to tell you that it ain't going to work! They have seven of them and all preacher's sons and they knew what was possible through the name and said it with authority, but none of it worked because they didn't have a relationship with the one on whom they were calling!

We need to be reminded that the promises of God are true. Paul said:

Jesus said:

And so we get in such a habit of praying "in the name of Jesus" that when we do it fails to register in our minds that "we really are calling on the God of the universe, under His instructions, and He really is getting involved in our situation." If you pray and then look to see if something's happening that's noticeable right away, then you didn't pray really "knowing the name." Because you cannot truly pray in the name of Jesus without something happening. Maybe the miracle process has not reached a point where it's visible on the outside, but it's happening. Maybe the situation didn't go "poof" and fix itself right away, but when you prayed "in the name of Jesus" He is doing what is best for the situation. That is if you don't let your doubt at not seeing immediate obvious results kill what God was already doing!

And then there's that scripture that we take so out of context, because we forget that it's linked to the verse right after it. We quote the first and tend to leave out the second and then people wonder why they don't get their miracles and healings or whatever. The verse is Jesus speaking:

"If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." And then we stop there and get frustrated when things don't just "poof" happen. But the promise of verse 14 is conditional based upon verse 15. If we love Him, then we will keep His commandments. It's not enough to just know the name of Jesus, unless you truly have a relationship with the One to which that name refers! And if you truly have a relationship with that One, then you are going to want to obey His Word. There is tremendous power in the name of Jesus, but it's not just by repeating a mantra or a phrase, but through the revelation and relationship and faith in the One whom that name refers to! We must know the name of God, but we must also "know the name!"