K-525 Tv Show Part 9 the Name of Jesus — Art Katz

Don't touch that dial, don't shut it off, and don't be turned away by our amateurish voices. We welcome you to Ben Israel, I'm Art Katz, and I'm Paul Gordon. And we have been receiving a number of letters on one of the previous telecasts.

We commented on one of the letters, and we want to continue that trend today. And Art, we have a letter that I think our friends out there in the viewing land would like to hear. It seems to me it's from a young man, I believe he's a Jewish man, and he's asking some questions which I believe are very pertinent to our program.

Why don't you read the entire letter, Paul? Okay. Dear Mr. Katz, my friends and myself were watching your program, which we found very enlightening. We found that there is one point on which we must inquire.

It is, why during the program, and at the end of the prayer, you use the name Jesus. We want to assure you that we are not trying to be smart. We really do wish to know. Isn't that what the world needs?

People caring enough to want to learn what others feel? That's a profound point right there. It was our understanding that the Jewish faith did not believe in Jesus as a Savior. Care to comment on that?

Jesus as Messiah and the Question of Which Judaism to Follow

Well, I think he's right. Normative Judaism, or conventional Judaism, does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. And I suppose you might say that the real issue before a young person like this, and every person with an integrity like that, which is indeed very rare, that really evidently their quest after the truth is to determine which Judaism to which he shall subscribe and give his life.

The normative Judaism, which denies the claims of Jesus, and that Judaism which embraces it. Right. So that's an enormous question. Well, let's take up the question of the name of Jesus, and let's just kind of peruse in the Scriptures the name of Jesus, the name that God would have us call upon, God's requirement upon us to use the name of Jesus, and what does it mean to come in the name of the Lord?

I think that maybe the first thing that ought to be expressed and acknowledged is how painful a name, the name of Jesus, has been made for Jewish people. And I think our viewers can appreciate that, that there's a Satan who's been roaring through the centuries, who knows that there's no other name given under heaven or on earth whereby men may be saved, and has poisoned that name and made it a bitter name for Jewish people, and has allowed Jews to be victimized in that name and forcibly converted, which is really a contradiction in terms, and in many other ways, so to suffer by people wearing crosses on their chests and Spanish Inquisition's pogroms and other such activity, that the name has become really painful and oftentimes a distasteful name even to speak, let alone one in which to believe and in which to commit one's trust.

Calling on the Name of the Lord in Psalm 20

And yet there's something about a name, and I'm so happy for that letter. I was just reviewing in the Scriptures, Paul, many places where the name of God is referred to and the efficacy of calling upon the name, and in the 20th Psalm there is such a reference.

We read, The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice.

Grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God will we set up our banners. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed.

He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright.

Save Lord, let the King hear us when we call. The name of the God of Jacob defend us. In the name of our God we will set up our banners. We will remember the name of the Lord our God. Why these references to a certain efficacy about calling on the name and remembering the name?

Psalm 22 and the Prophecy of the Crucifixion

And right across the page in the 22nd Psalm, which is an enormous psalm, which we would commend to the reviewing of every person really questing after truth, a psalm written a thousand years before the crucifixion of Jesus, and yet one that in very exacting detail describes the crucifixion that one would suffer, who was a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised of the people.

All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake their head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou art he that took me out of the womb, that didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

I was cast upon thee from the womb, and thou art my God from my mother's belly. And it goes on to describe that how he's poured out like water, and his bones are out of joint, his heart like wax melted, his strength is dried up.

And it says that they have pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me, and then so fantastic a detail as this. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

And remember that in the time of the agony of Jesus, that the Roman soldiers who parted his clothing could not part his seamless garment and had to cast dice to obtain it. They cast lots upon my vesture.

Be not far from me, O Lord, O my strength. Haste thee to help me and deliver my soul from the sword. Save me from the lion's mouth. And then we come to this enormous verse in the 22nd verse of the 22nd Psalm.

I, this one who has been experiencing these excruciating sufferings, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. I will declare thy name in the congregation.

What does that suggest to you, Paul, this declaration of the name of God? Well, it suggests to me, number one, that this particular Psalm 22 is a prophetic psalm speaking of events which would yet occur, and in the 22nd verse, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.

I would read into that that Jesus would declare the name of God the Father. Does that mean he would actually just speak it? No, I don't. I think he would not just speak it, but he would lift it up. He would call all men unto it.

I believe that another rendering for the word declare is reveal. When Jesus declared the name of the Father in the congregation, he revealed the name. You know, you might say, well, Art, what are you making such a big issue about names for?

What's in a name? Well, it may be true that for us, names are hardly indicative of who or what we are, but it was not always so. For example, surnames like Cooper suggested that this was a man's occupation who made barrels, and in so many ways, names reveal the character or the occupation of a man.

Now we just choose names for their sound, or they seem pleasant to us. I've never been exactly happy for my name, Arthur, and I don't know exactly what it means, but you know that when I've had a pet, and I hope that our audience will be patient with us in this, I've never wanted instantly to call a dog Fido or Duke or Rex or something like that.

I'd let the dog reveal his personality, declare what he is and his uniqueness, and that would suggest a name that appropriately expresses it. Jesus revealed the name of the Father. He declared him in the congregation.

Jesus Reveals the Father’s Character

He showed forth the essential personality and character of the living God, and I think that the Scriptures bear that out in the Gospel of Matthew, for example. We read in the 11th chapter and the 27th verse, Jesus speaking, "...all things are delivered unto me of my Father.".

And I would to God that we had time even to give due reverence and recognition to what's being suggested there, all things. "...and no man knoweth the Father but the Son.". These are enormous words, people, weighty words, radical words, very clear and unequivocal words.

No man, and Lord, we cry out, does that mean even the greatest Talmudic scholars? Does that mean even the most learned theologians who are daily investing their energies and refining their understandings?

"...no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him, or declare him.". And you know that in the very next chapter, there's a Scripture referred to, spoken by the prophet Isaiah, saying, "...behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him, and he will show judgment to the Gentiles.

He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory, and in his name shall the Gentiles trust.".

There's a name, people, which God has given, which is above every name. And we so understand the letter of this young Jewish person wanting to understand, Ark, what is it with you? Have you hit upon some kind of a little formula?

Why do you insist upon that name? You pray in that name. And I understand, and I sense also, that for many people it is a formula, and I don't believe that it cuts any ice with God nor with men. God hasn't given us a formula, people.

The Name of Jesus as Authority Rather Than a Formula

He's given us a name which is above every name. Where else do we find reference, Paul, to that? Well, before we look at another reference, here's a major point. Jesus in Psalm 22 again said that I will declare his name amongst my brethren, right?

I will reveal him. And we know that when we come in the name of the Lord, we have to come completely committed to him, that his transforming work is going on in our lives, that if we're not standing in the gap for him and everything that his name implies, his very nature, that we have no power whatsoever to command the elements of this world.

It's only when we're truly in the name of the Lord and everything that it implies. And this is also what Jesus, like you were saying, that Jesus reveals the Father. He reveals the very nature of the Father.

Everything that the name implies. I'm reminded, for example, what you're suggesting is borne out in the Gospel. It says in Mark, that in my name you shall cast out demon spirits. You shall lay hands upon the sick and they shall recover.

You shall speak with new tongues. In my name, in my power, in my authority, in setting forth the same thing which I set forth of the Father, that revelation or that declaration of his own character. When you'll be also in my character, these things shall follow.

Why are so many believers powerless today? Why is there a complete lack of power within the believing community? I think it's because many people think that there's some kind of magic mumbo-jumbo about using the name of Jesus.

People think that they can say, in the name of Jesus, do this, or in the name of Jesus, that. But it isn't that at all. I think of it as a fiduciary responsibility. I think of it as, these are legal terms.

Yeah, that's good. I'm thinking back on my past business life, but it's like one who would act as a power of attorney. That the Lord has given his power to another, kind of like a power of attorney can act in the name of another.

And as long as he's acting completely in the benefit of the first party, then that power is retained. See, that's the problem. So many people today don't realize that when we go forth in the name of Jesus, that we're only acting in his behalf.

That our motives must be pure. That our motives must be clean. We must be committed and dedicated 100 to the Lord. And it isn't to further our cause, to further our standing in the Christian community, or a number of other motives that the Lord would find actually reprehensible.

It's the fact that if we aren't truly in the name of the Lord, he removes that power. Just like the person who has given the power of attorney to another, if that person does not act in faith, then he can remove that power of attorney.

The Name of the Lord Requires Total Commitment

That's where it is. You know, I'm just thinking here that there's something specific about a name which the human heart seeks to avoid. You know, people, let's face it, we shrink from real commitment.

Oh, man. And especially in our generation, we're so lackadaisical, we're so full of ifs and buts and maybes, and we see it, for example, in the character of our marriages. The true commitment of husband to wife is becoming an increasingly rare phenomenon in modern times.

And I think that what is like unto it is the unwillingness of people truly to commit to God. They don't mind speaking in general ways about a God. They don't mind spicing their conversations or having a kind of a casual Sunday or Shabbat religion that makes some reference to him and has a kind of a fine-sounding tone or effect for their lives.

But there's a God who calls us to something more than that. He calls us to a very specific relationship, and he pinpoints it in a specific name that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Jesus’ Promise to Answer Prayer in His Name

It's interesting that the name Jesus really has the name of God in it because it means that Yahweh or Jehovah saves. Yes. And I'm reading here in the Gospel of John in the 14th chapter a very familiar phrase which Jesus spoke again and again and which I believe that we should consider with the attention that it deserves.

Where is this again? In the 12th verse of the 14th chapter. Verily, verily, I say unto you. This is the way Jesus prefaced so many of his radical pronouncements. He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father.

And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Oh, I'm so happy you brought these up. This is exactly what we were just talking about.

So many people ask so many things in the name of Jesus without truly being in his name. What about the people who shrink from employing the name at all or like so many of our Jewish brethren would never think of calling upon his name or many others who just invoke the general word God?

Is God hearing and can he hear and will he hear general prayer of that kind that avoids his specific requirement and brings people in a sense to their knees in humble contrition before a certain name?

And you know, I know you're thinking what I'm thinking. In Philippians, God is very specific about that. In the second chapter. Philippians 2, 10 and 11. Why don't you read that, Paul? Okay. Second chapter, Philippians 10 and 11.

Every Knee Bows to Jesus as Lord

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Hallelujah. Will you say that again? Slow, ponderously. And let those words really sink deeply into the ears of our audience. Right. And as soon as you're finished, I want to read something from the book of Isaiah which is the Hebrew Scriptures equivalent of this New Testament statement by exactly the same God.

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

I think that's especially worth contemplating by our Jewish people for the glory of God the Father. This is not an offense to God the Father. This is glory to God the Father. Yes. When our knees shall bend and our mouths shall confess that Yeshua HaMashiach is Lord.

Isaiah 45 and the Identity of the Savior

And in Isaiah, I wish people that when you watch our humble telecast that you'll keep a piece of paper and a pencil at hand to take down some of the Scriptures which we're citing that you might at your own leisure really have a chance to contemplate them.

I'm reading now from Isaiah the 45th chapter. At the end of the 21st verse I read, There's no God beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth.

For I am God and there is none else. I have sworn by myself the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Now how can God reconcile this word with the word which Paul just read out of the New Testament Scriptures where Jesus said that to me every knee shall bend and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Because if you will receive it and you'll understand it that there's only one God, there is none else beside me, a just God and a Savior. Look unto me and be saved. For the name Jesus means Jehovah saves.

To me every knee shall bend and every mouth shall confess that Jesus is Lord. You know, Paul, I think we ought to dote on that a minute. It's not just the mindless speaking of the name or just saying, yes, I acknowledge that that's your name or I acknowledge that the title Lord belongs to you.

But what does it mean that every mouth shall confess that Jesus is Lord? Well, to me it means that it has to be a total coming to God through Jesus the Messiah, a total cleaving to, an absolute reliance on, faith in nothing but the Lord Jesus and his name.

Confessing Jesus as Lord and the Transformation of Life

Well, what does that mean for a man to confess that Jesus is Lord? Well, it means to me that, you mean, as God has revealed unto him? For his own life. I'll just put it more directly, personally. What has it meant to you when you came to a place where you called Jesus Lord and your knee was bent?

Okay, well, number one, it meant that I was entered into the kingdom of eternal life, that my salvation through the name of Jesus was assured. Number two, my whole life was transformed. Who was Lord before that?

Me. That's the point I'm getting at. Yeah. People, if God is not Lord, I don't care by what name we employ or what religious vocabulary we invoke, we are the effectual Lords of our own lives. Oh, that's right.

And I'm speaking to our young Jewish correspondent and those of you who are also watching us today. Who's the Lord of your life right now as you hear us? Who really calls the shots for your life? Who determines your real values, your purposes, your comings, your goings, your strivings, and your ends?

To whom do you give your deepest loyalty and your allegiance? Who is the possessor of your life? For whom do you live and move and have your being? Except that your knee has bent and your mouth has confessed that Jesus is the Lord of your life, whatever you have mindlessly professed, he's not at all.

Salvation Through Confessing Jesus and Believing in the Resurrection

And you know, for that reason, in the book of Romans, we read these enormous words, and I've watched lives transformed by actually obeying these scriptures. The 10th chapter in the 8th verse. What sayeth it?

The word is near you even in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we preach, that if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart men believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scriptures sayeth, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there's no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I want to propose a profound and eternal experiment for our Jewish correspondents and those of you, both Jews and Gentiles, who have never understood the centrality and the profundity of the name of the Lord.

Why don't you see what will happen in your life when you shall for the first time in truth call upon that name, even today, even in the waning minutes of this program, in the book of 1 John. We read in the fifth chapter,.

Knowing the True God Through the Son

And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him, that is true, and we are in him, that is true, even in his Son, Yeshua HaMashiach, that is the true God and the eternal life.

The calling upon this name, the bowing to this name brings us into that relationship with him that we might know the true God and eternal life. Truly the issue that's been represented by the question of this fine young person with integrity is an eternal issue of enormous consequence.

Seeking the Knowledge of God Wholeheartedly

You know that God has always put upon us a requirement for crying out from our heart what is truly of him. Let me just briefly go through one thing. In the book of Proverbs, second chapter, My son, if you will receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thy ear unto wisdom and apply thy heart to understanding.

See, it's more than just hearing something. It's truly hearing something, receiving words, and opening the heart to understanding. Yea, if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding, if we're truly seeking after truth, if thou seekest for her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures, if we really want to know the truths of God and if we search for the truths of God as we would for hidden treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

That's tremendous. You know, people, Paul and I just offer ourselves to you as an evidence of, in a sense, of men who have given up the Lordship of their own lives and allowed him to be Lord, who alone deserves that right.

And in the doing, we've been brought from death to life. Yes. And I want to conclude today with an exclamation made by a Jewish man, Peter, who it says in the book of Acts, in the fourth chapter, the eighth verse, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, You rulers of the people and elders of Israel, be it known unto you and all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him, do these men sit before you whole.

This is the stone, this name, which is said of not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

We just want to enjoin you to call upon that name. Let's pray to that end, shall we, Paul? Yes. Precious God, in the name of the Holy One of Israel, we ask that your spirit will take the things which were spoken this day.

Yes. And may hearts be pierced by them, Lord, that men might be brought to places of real submission to a real calling upon that name, that they might know you, who is life eternal, the true and living God.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.