The Omnipotence of God
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Intro: Say these lyrics with me if you know them.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty
There's nothing my God cannot do.
The mountains are His,
The valleys are His,
The stars are His handiwork too.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty
There's nothing my God cannot do.
This is most likely A familiar song to you that you talk to your children or you saying as a child regarding the power of God. It is a simple soul that packs a powerful message about the strength and the omnipotence of our great God. What we will see today is a demonstration from scripture of gods great power at work throughout history and in seeing this we will worship him.
We are going to look at the final verses of psalm 139 and we will use David's words as an outline for our study of God's power. In total, we will look at six components of God's power at work in this world.
1. Defining God’s Unlimited Power
1. Defining God’s Unlimited Power
To begin: we have to define God’s power as that which God works in his creation and beyond according to his knowledge and will which is unlimited actively and potentially.
23 And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
17 ‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,
We will see this definition covered in detail as we work through out study today. Let’s begin with God’s power as being unlimited actively and potentially.
To begin, let’s consider that God’s power is unlimited in all his acts. God is not limited in his power to act in this world because nothing can keep back the hand of God from accomplishing his purposes. Let’s connect our previous sermons for a moment. First we looked at God’s knowledge. What God knows in his widsom leads to his will carried out in the earth. His will or eternal purposes are only carried out fully by God’s power. This is what Daniel 4:35
35 “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’
He DOES (Power) according to his will (knowledge-> purposes) in the host of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. No one can stay or limit the accomplishments of the will of God.
We know this glorious truth most fully in the aspect of God’s salvation for sinners as Jesus promised:
28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
God’s eternal purposes to elect and redeem his church is something that no event, no human decision, nor some force of evil can keep from occuring initially and completely. God will accomplish all his purposes because His glory must be celebrated by the powerful plans that He will fulfill. Therefore, the preservation of the saints is an act of God’s omnipotent power.
Not only does God effectually save sinners, but his power is unlimited to the potential of saving all people through all history. In other words, the aspect that God only saves some and not all, is not bound to the free decision of man. We we teach, God saves all whom he has elected to save. But his power is not limited to the potential of saving all, if that was his plan. He has the power to save all people in Christ, but in his good pleasure, he only chose to apply the work of Christ’s redemption to merely those whom he has chosen.
If this seems unfair, you might consider simply that no human deserves saving and therefore should be left in their sin to receive the full wrath of God for our rebellion. But God choosing to save some by his power does not limit the potential of his power, as if the aquifer of God’s power just dried up.
To illustrate this, we could say that God could have dropped a massive boat out of heaven, big enough for all the inhabitants before the flood waters came, but he did not. Nor did he instruct or provide the resources for Noah to build such a boat. He potentially had the power, but effectually only displayed that power to the amount where Noah, his family, and the assorted animals were saved.
2. Detailing the Components of God’s Unlimited Power
2. Detailing the Components of God’s Unlimited Power
Now we come to psalm 139 as we look at the remaining verses of David’s psalm which honors God’s omniscient, omnipresence, and omnipotence. As I said before, we are going to look at 6 components of God’s effectual power that David mentions.
First, David’s thinks on God’s creative power.
A. Creating
A. Creating
I am not going to go to in depth here because Pastor Stuart is going to preach on this next week. But David does mention that God’s power is on display in the creation of his life
13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Two important words that used here: create and weave. Both detail that God’s design and craftsmanship are solely by his power and plan. Like a weaver, who weaves a colorful tapestry with different colored threads, so God much more skillfully weaves the intricate design of our bodies and souls exactly as he planned. This detail and purpose gives us innate value even as children in the womb where we are created.
These words from David are the foundation of the sanctity of human life that all churches should fight for with all energies. In the first 10 months of 2023, the Guttmacher Institute reports there were 878,000 abortions in the US. That is a little less than 3000 innocent children, made in God’s image, that were given no choice to live or die. That is 3,000 souls that God created to display his power and glory that were removed from this world because of selfishness. Church, when we consider the power of God in creating human life, we must fight for the rights of these children because we know they have value and worth in God’s creative plan.
Not only does the creation of human life reflect God’s glroious power, but all the rest of creation does as well. This work of God’s power hand displays the divine attributes of God to all the world so that may see that God is creator and ruler of their lives.
15 It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom, And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.
26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.
All that the Lord has created is a testimony to his greatness, his might and his glory.
B. Ordaining
B. Ordaining
Secondly, in relation to God’s powerful creation is his ordination of our lives.
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
David also highlights the sovereign power of God that rules our lives in such a way that the number of our days are predetermined in the mind and plan of God. like an architect that draws out the building to be constructed and the contractor who maps out the timing of that construction, God before even our creation within the womb has so mapped out our bodily birth, life and death. Now, in considering this truth, we then know that God’s mapping out of our existence is for the purpose of coming to know him as Lord through Jesus Christ and therefore, living that life to honor and enjoy him on earth and in eternity. To do anything but acknowlede our creator as the one to whom our life is made for, is to be in rebellion of his plan.
C. Sustaining
C. Sustaining
Not only does God in his majestic power create life, but he sustains life daily to complete the timeline that God has assigned to us. We never live a day longer than we should nor one less than has been ordained. Therefore, he sustains our lives by his power every day, minute hour and second to have what we need to survive, enjoy what He has given us and to praise him.
David writes,
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
David seems to add commentary here about the thoughts of God leading him to praise, possibly at the close of the day. His thoughts of God led him to sleep under the blanket of God’s sovereignty only to awake to God’s sustaining mercy. This sustaining act of God is that out body does not shut down to death each night, but with organic mechanisms, our hearts beat, our lungs inflate and our body and minds relax and find rest. All of this is only by the power of God who chooses that this day is another day on the calendar of our ordained life, until the days are completed for His glory.
Hebrews 1:3 (NASB95)
3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
In the sustaining grace of God, not only is our physical life and trhe created order kept in balance, but our salvation is also kept in heaven for us, an inheritance that does not fade away. Therefore, we are sustained physically and spiritually by Christ who is keeping us by his mighty word, that same word that spoke creation into existence.
Friends, I know our economy has been challenging in these last 4 years but we must trust that God will sustain us in somewhat hard times on our pocketbooks. He calls us to flee from anxious hearts because he sustains the physical well beings of the lilies of the feild and the birds of the air. How much more will he care you for us, who are made in His image. He gives his common grace to his enemies and yet he blesses those who love and submit to him, as his children. We must be confident in power of God to sustain us in all ways! He is shown us his power in doing this!
D. Judging
D. Judging
As David processes the power of God, he turns to his life as one submitted to the Lord. He thus acknowledges that God in his judgment is displaying his great power to the world.
19 O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. 20 For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
David here puts his trust in God to bring execution of judgment to those who oppose God. He knows that God in his supreme and unlimited power, will bring swift judgment to those who oppose the works and kingdom of our God.
8 He smote the firstborn of Egypt, Both of man and beast. 9 He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, Upon Pharaoh and all his servants. 10 He smote many nations And slew mighty kings, 11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, And Og, king of Bashan, And all the kingdoms of Canaan; 12 And He gave their land as a heritage, A heritage to Israel His people.
23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. 24 Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble. 25 “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
God’s glory in his saving power and God’s glory is in his judgment. We as the church celebrate our Lord as an all consuming fire who will in his own timing display his full vengeance on the wicked. To ignore such a doctrine because it seem inhumane is to ignore an equally necessary attribute of God for us to fully and completely know him.
This is a comfort to the man and woman of God, especially in times of persecution and suffering from the enemies of God. It is in these moments, not that God’s people retaliate against the wicked or take up vigilante justice. Instead, we trust that God will bring judgment to HIS enemies in His timing.
This also is where we see the fallibility of human nature as inadequate judges who can bring proper justice like God. We must trust in his judicial power because we are unable to right judge as He does. We would be partial. We would be unfair.
1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 408: Judging the Judgment
Imagine tuning into a TV courtroom trial. You can see only what the camera shows you. You don’t hear all the testimony. You don’t get to question the witnesses. You don’t get to see all the evidence. You don’t hear the instructions to the jury. You’re not privy to the conversations between the lawyers and the judge.
When the jury comes in with its verdict and the sentence is passed by the judge, how adequately can you assess whether justice has been done?
How then can we sit in judgment on God’s justice? We don’t have all the information necessary to judge whether God has been just.
But instead we trust his power to judge rightly and fairly in this world.
E. Sanctifying
E. Sanctifying
21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies.
Instead of attaching v 21-22 to the idea of God’s justice, I want us to see the heart of man who loves God and is being changed by him. This fifth component of God’s power is his sanctifying power. He changes and transforms in spite of ourselves. He makes us holy by the blood of Jesus Christ and He is daily making us live holy lives by his sanctifying work of the Spirit in us.
I like how David acknowledges this change in him. He hates what God hates. It is a holy and righteous hatred. We can understand David to be indignant in a righteous way by those who defy and rebel against God. This is the Spirit at work in us to hate our sin inwardly, and hate the sin in this world outwardly.
Our Lord Jesus also showed such indignation when he overturned the temple tables in Matthew 21:12-13
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”
Jesus saw and understood the extortion of the moneychangers and the religious leaders that were making a personal profit off the worship of those coming to the temple. They would charge exuberant taxes and fees for exchanging money for worship there. This disgusted the Lord and enraged him at the abuse of the true purpose of the temple. It was for worship. As the sinless Son of God, we understand that righteous anger is not sinful anger.
Therefore, the see the power of God at work in us whereby he transforms us day by day into the image of Christ whereby we are disgusted with our rebellion against God and the rebellion against Him in this world.
Let this be a marker of your growth in Christ. Do you hate sin? Does your sin and the rebellion against God disgust you? Does this disgust stand above your allegiances and entertainments?
In other words, are you disgusted with sin as long as it doesn't interfere with certain loves of this world. For example, if you invest in companies, are you overlooking the immoral dealings of those companies because they make you money in your investments?
Are you indulging in certain forms of media for the cause of entertainment even when that media promotes unrighteous practices?
God wants us to be disgusted fully with that which dishonors him as He conforms us to godliness day by day.
F. Saving
F. Saving
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
David’s final plea in v 23-24 is a plea of submission to the saving work of the Lord in his life. In these verses we see David’s desire for the Lord to examine his heart in his omniscience. His request for examination by the Lord is a full submission to that saving power and work of the Lord in Him. This exudes humility by David as he asks the Lord to lead his in the everlasting way.
8 O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; Make Your way straight before me.
The way or the path is the Christian walk as we understand it from NT langauage.
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
This way of salvation is provided for us when the Father sent the Son into the world to seek and save the lost. He displays his saving power over sin and death in his death and resurrection and therefore our path forward in his salvation comes by the work of Christ alone. He pathed the path by his blood and he guides us sheep along the path by his spirit and the word of God. We are called then to acknowledge his saving power and give him glory in our obedience to the gospel by faith and repentance.
10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. 11 For the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
In the end, David here summaries the saving power of God in Jesus Christ. “for the sake of your name” because in all these components of the unlimited power of our Lord, his name and his glory is to be revered. His glory is to be seen in his creating, ordaining, sustaining, judging sanctifying, and saving work in His church and in this world.
In contrast to this great revelation of God’s attributes, mankind is left to see that we are week, ignorant and confined to space and time. Without the power at God working us, we are hopeless and weak. In spite of the humanistic ideolgy that says that humanity’s strength is found within himself, the truth is that “ with people this is impossible but with GOd all things are possible.” He is the source of power and strength that all humanity must come to see we need and which is our only hope for joy, for comfort and for salvation. He has provided for us what we need in Christ if we just trust in Him
16 The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. 17 A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. 18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, 19 To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.
Let us praise Him!