The Greatness of God
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Connection:
If I were to ask you: what is one of the biggest problems in the modern church, what would you say? Maybe the music—maybe the programs—maybe the seeker-sensitivity—maybe the ted-talk preaching—maybe the lack of prayer meetings… etc. This is all true. But I would say it can be summarized as this: we have lost that deep and abiding and controlling Fear of the LORD.
We focus so much on the goodness of God to the neglect of the greatness of God—and in so doing we lose the fear of God—the chief duty of mankind, and the heartbeat of biblical worship. Think about majority of most evangelical worship services today, when you enter the sanctuary of the LORD of hosts, the worship leader might have a beanie on, maybe skinny jeans, and is sipping a coffee—while the aroma and music of the room is only upbeat, happy, and energetic. There is no solemnity.
Where has the fear of the Lord gone? We must always remember to guard our steps when we come to the house of God—and to worship the LORD in reverence—for our God is a consuming fire, and his greatness is unsearchable! To fear Him is to glorify His Holy Name. You can measure the biblical quality of a worship service with the double-edged coin of fear and joy—true worship in the beauty of holiness! This is indeed a pleasing aroma before the presence of our Holy God!
Need:
We need to have high and lofty views of God’s greatness, lest we fashion an idol of our own imagination. We need to know God deeper and more sweetly in Christ Jesus. So this morning, may we come to know Him, to fearfully adore him, and to love Him, more and more, even this Lord’s Day! And may we offer up pleasing worship in His sight … with the right spirit and approach:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
So come, let us kneel at His footstool, rejoicing and trembling, before our great and awesome God! May we leave this sanctuary today, stunned before the Great Glory of the LORD our God—as we fear Him and praise Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength! Our title for this morning is:
Theme:
The Greatness of God
And Lord-willing, next Sunday, we will spend some time looking at the Goodness of God. But for this morning, you can turn with me to:
Turn to, and Read Text: Psalm 145:3 ESV
This Psalm was written by King David, probably around the height of his kingdom, as the church of God was walking in the richest blessings of God’s grace, and gathered to worship him as the ark of the covenant had returned to the tent of the LORD, as we see in 1 Chr. 16. These were revival times.
On our text, Calvin writes:
In speaking of the greatness of God as unsearchable, he indicates that we only praise God aright when we are filled and overwhelmed with an ecstatic admiration of the immensity of his power. - John Calvin
May such a heart-posture be true of us this AM:
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY
This morning I’m going to be structuring my sermon in a little more of Puritanical manner. I’m going to proceed with explanation, illustration, and then application for each of the seven points! And if you’re taking notes, I’ll make sure you know where we are.
(1) God’s Greatness is Spiritual
(1) God’s Greatness is Spiritual
Explanation - What does it mean that God is a Spirit? It means that He is simple: without body, parts, or passions!
God is simple, not in the sense that He is easy to understand, but in the sense that He’s not like LEGO, just the sum total of a bunch of parts. He is Pure-Oneness-and-Being itself. HE IS WHO HE IS. And that he is without passions, is here from the latin, Passio, which basically meanings suffering. Just like we use it in the reference to Good Friday and the Passion Week of Christ. God as pure Spirit, is not composed of pieces or parts, and thus He cannot suffer bodily or emotionally.
And it’s important to note that this particular attribute of God’s spirituality is not referring to the person of the Holy Spirit. In this sermon I’m dealing with the attributes of God that are shared by all the persons of the Trinity. Here, the attribute of spirituality, is God’s non-physical existence. He is a most pure spirit, he doesn’t have a physical body of flesh, he isn’t able to divided up into parts, and he doesn’t have fluctuating emotions like an unstable teenager!
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Illustration - God doesn’t have a body, and isn’t constrained by space & time! He doesn’t move.
If you think of a physical body, it can only be in one place at a time. It has limitations. A body has to travel through space-and-time to get from Kingston to 5stones. But God isn’t like that. God is a pure Spirit, who isn’t limited by space-or-time! God simply IS! He fills all things.
Application - Refutation. Exhortation. Comfort. And Examination:
Refutes carnal views of God. We must not think of God in physical or carnal ways. We must not conjure up images of the LORD, because he isn’t able to be contained by an image.
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
Exhorts us to worship in Spirit. If God is a Spirit, then he must be worshiped by our spirits or souls. He desires truth in the inward man, not simply our bodily motions.
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Comforts us in God’s presence. If God is a Spirit, then His presence can be with us, and accessible to us, at all times! He abides in us as the temple of the LORD!
For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Examines our hearts pure devotion. If God is a pure-Spirit, then he must be worshiped purely-in our spirits. He deserves all of our heart, not merely some of it.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
(1) God’s Greatness is Spiritual
(2) God’s Greatness is Infinite
(2) God’s Greatness is Infinite
Explanation - What does it mean that God is infinite?
God has no bounds, no limits, and no constraints! He is a bottomless well, a never-ending fountain of life, and an unending source of beauty, glory, and majesty.
“Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
Illustration - Though the nation of Canada is a wide and broad and large land, it is not infinite.
The country of Canada has borders. It has limits. It has a west and east coast, it has a southern border, and a northern cut off with the Arctic Ocean. God is not like that. God has no limits, no borders, no cut offs. He is pure infinity! The unbounded and boundless One!
Application - Refutation. Exhortation. Comfort. And Examination:
Refutes small views of God. If your view of God can fit him in a box, and contain him, then it’s not God! Nothing finite in creation can contain the infinite One!
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
Exhorts us to endlessly praise Him. If God is infinite, then there are an infinity of reasons to praise His holy name! So we should always be worshipping.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name!
Comforts us in His limitless love. If God is infinite, and God is love, then His love for us is also infinite! We cannot begin to understand how much he loves his children, who are united to Jesus Christ!
[Paul prays that we would know] what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge!
Examines the throne of our hearts. If God is infinite, then He also is to have the ultimate place of supremacy and satisfaction in our lives. We were made for Him alone!
[Jesus is who he is] that in everything he might be preeminent.
(3) God’s greatness is infinite.
(3) God’s Greatness is Eternal
(3) God’s Greatness is Eternal
Explanation - What does it mean that God is eternal?
God is outside of time. He never was, and never will be—He simply IS. God doesn’t exist in time so that he has to wait for 2027 to come around in order to exist in that moment. God exists in all moments, because he transcends all moments, and manifests in glory in all of human history.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
The One who is high and lifted up,
[] inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy.
Illustration - CS Lewis has this beautiful illustration from Mere Christianity, with a timeline, and God’s transcendence of the timeline.
[Paraphrasing]. Lewis says that if you draw a straight line on a page, the line being time, with A on one side and B on the other: God isn’t on the line, but fully surrounds the line. He sees it all, and is present through it all, and surrounds it all, but is not restrained or constrained by it at all.
Application - Refutation. Exhortation. Comfort. And Examination:
Refutes temporal views of God. If God is bound by time, then you’ve made him out to be a creature, and not the Creator. Remember, we are like God, but God is not like us!
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
Exhorts us to praise Him for all eternity! If God is the eternal One, then for all eternity believers shall participate in praising His glorious name!
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him … the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Comforts us in his eternal covenant. Take heart, dear Christian, because the eternal God has sworn eternal promises of salvation to you, in Christ, that can never be broken! Hallelujah!
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
Examines the reason for our hope of heaven. Eternal life is eternal and glorious in it’s quality and quantity, not just becuase we get to live forever, but because we get to know the eternal God, in Jesus Christ our eternal Messiah.
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
(3) God’s Greatness is Eternal!
(4) God’s Greatness is Immutable
(4) God’s Greatness is Immutable
Explanation - What does it mean that God is immutable?
He is unchanging, in his being, promises, and affections. He doesn’t go from okay, to good, to great, to best. He doesn’t get any better. He doesn’t get any worse. He doesn’t shift in the slightest. He is forevermore perfectly glorious and splendid in his beauty and majesty and honor!
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Illustration - Pharoah in Egypt, after being commanded to let God’s people go: yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, okay fine!
God is not like that—His Word is always yes in Christ! He is the eternal I AM, who cannot change! And thus, we can know that He is entirely trustworthy and rock solid.
Application - Refutation. Exhortation. Comfort. And Examination:
Refutes shifting views of God. Some believe that God goes from happy to angry, from here to there, from A to B—that he genuinely changes himself for our good. That’s blasphemy! If God changes, it’s either for the better (which would mean that he isn’t perfect yet), or for the worse (which would mean that he’s no longer perfect anymore)! Praise God that He is eternally perfect—even on our worst of days, and in our deepest trials!
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
Exhorts us to take confidence in Him. Because of this stability and security of who God is, let us place our entire confidence in Him alone, who will never let us down! He is worthy of our deepest trust and loyalty.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
Comforts us in His unfailing promises. And again, because God doesn’t change, then he who never takes his word back, can be rested in for assurance of faith and hope. You can find rest, because your salvation depends upon the promise of the eternal God, to you who are eternally bound to Jesus!
in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
Examines our view of prayer. Another interesting application is prayer. Do we view prayer as that which changes the mind, will, and heart of God? This can’t be so. Rather, prayer is God changing our mind, will, and heart, for God. It’s God opening our hands to receive his good and perfect gifts, at his throne of grace. It’s God’s coming to commune with us, his children—for our good and aid.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
(4) God’s Greatness is Immutable.
(5) God’s Greatness is Independent
(5) God’s Greatness is Independent
Explanation - What does it mean that God is independent?
He doesn’t need you or I, or anyone for that matter! He is fully satisfied in Himself. He has life in and of himself. He has no needs. He has no lacks. He is dependent on no one and no thing! Only the Triune God is a God who is happily independent.
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Illustration - This is opposed to Allah, the lonely and needy god of Islam, who needs to create in order to relate, love, and find personal communion.
In Isalm, Allah is a one-person-deity, who has no one to fellowship with, no one to love, and no one to share his glory with. Versus the Trinity who is all satisfied in holy union and communion for all eternity! God has always existed as the Triune One: Father, Son, and Spirit. And forever and ever, they have been delighting in One another, in perfect oneness, love, and holy communion.
Application - Refutation. Exhortation. Comfort. And Examination:
Refutes VBS views of the Lord. How often have we taught children that God created the world because he was lonely and needed people to fellowship with! How terrible is this! It smells more Islam than Christianity! Let us always remember that the sufficiency of our God is in himself. He doesn’t need us, but oh do we need Him!
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
Exhorts us to glory in communion with God! The God who has forever been satisfied in the communion of the Trinity, in eternal glory, love, and fellowship—is the God who draws us into fellowship with Himself in Jesus Christ. Amazing grace! That this God should be our God in Jesus.
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Comforts us in the desire of God for us! Again, God does not need us—but he wants us. He wants to bless us. He wants to lavish us with grace. He desires us to know him in Christ. And He calls us to love Him in the Spirit. Oh trust in Him, and give him your all! Give Him your everything.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Examines our view of ourselves. God is independent, but we are entirely dependent. This should humble us. We are being upheld by the Lord, and we need him for all life and provision, physical and spiritual. Does he not deserve praise for meeting all our endless needs in Christ?
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
(5) God’s greatness is independent.
(6) God’s Greatness is Omni x3
(6) God’s Greatness is Omni x3
Explanation - God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent … what does it mean that God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent? Omniscience refers to God’s perfect knowledge and wisdom; omnipotence refers to God’s exhaustive sovereignty in all things; and omnipresence refers to God’s all-pervasive presence in all of creation.
God knows all things actual, and all things possible—b/c of His decree and wisdom. Nothing is hidden from the Lord. Nothing surprises the Lord. Nothing exists apart from the Lord. He has decreed whatsoever comes to pass, for the glory of His name in all the earth! He controls every event of world history (the general and the particular, the good and the bad). And He is present in all the world, in each and every moment—no one can flee from his presence!
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
Illustration - God doesn’t know things by looking down the corridor of time to independent creatures—God knows all things by knowing Himself, his plan, his purpose, his decree. Creatures and their actions are dependent on God’s decree and God’s presence, they are not independent in some mystical land of freedom and hypothetical possibilities. That is to put the cart before the horse. We exist in virtue of his decree—not the other way around.
Application - Refutation. Exhortation. Comfort. And Examination:
Refutes dependent views of God’s knowledge. If God’s knowledge is dependent upon him foreseeing your free acts of faith and love, then God’s knowledge and being is dependent upon the creation, which is absurd. God decrees all things—he doesn’t merely foresee all things.
Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
Exhorts us to glory in God’s sovereign power. If God is truly sovereign in all things, and didn’t base his decisions upon our free actions—then no one can boast, and God get’s all the glory for creation, and redemption. His sovereign will is the ultimate cause of all things. To God be the glory!
Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding? [No one].
Comforts us in God’s wise plan. If God controls all things, and we don’t, then we can entrust ourselves to His wise care and plan. Whatever comes our way in the days ahead, whether suffering, sickness, sorrow, happiness, blessing, or peace … His purposes toward us are for good, and for His glory! This is a pillow to rest our heads upon. God is for us, hallelujah!
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Examines our view of prayer. Remember, when we pray, we are not coming to inform God, but to be transformed by God. He knows. He cares. He’s got us in His hands. And He invites us to remember His presence, and come before His throne of grace for mercy and help in time of our great need.
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
(6) God’s greatness is Omni x3
(7) God’s Greatness is Incorruptible
(7) God’s Greatness is Incorruptible
Explanation - What does it mean that God is incorruptible? Undefiled? Unfading? Unblemished?
That he is holy and set apart in all his perfections. That He is completely transcendent and all-glorious. That he is ‘other’, ‘different’, and ‘above’ all things. There is no one, and no thing, that is truly like the LORD our God! His moral brilliance, and absolute majesty—outshines a thousand suns and a million of the holy angels and saints.
“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
Illustration - Holy, holy, holy—is the only attribute put to the superlative and highest degree. God is completely other. We see this especially in Isaiah, when he comes before the throne room of God and see’s Jesus Christ the Son and King seated on his royal-seat, and his glory filling the temple of heaven! And the Son’s holiness overwhelms Isaiah, and makes him undone, causing him to cry out for mercy in God’s sight. God’s holiness undoes us sinners, so He can remake us, and renew us by His grace, and for His glory! Have you had this experience? It’s true religion.
Application - Refutation. Exhortation. Comfort. And Examination:
Refutes views of an unfazed deity. God is not unbothered by human sin, pride, and rebellion. He doesn’t let things slide. He is a holy, just, righteous, and equitable Judge. He will bring flaming vengeance and wrathful fury upon his adversaries who despise His Holy Name, and trample underfoot His Holy Son, as they spit upon His Holy Spirit. God is too pure to look favourable upon sin, transgression, and iniquity. He will by no means clear the guilty—or pardon the impenitent. A holy hell of wrath awaits unholy sinners.
For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Exhorts us to delight in God’s moral beauty. But God’s holiness isn’t just a warning sign to sinners who live in their sin—it’s also a warming sight for saints who are washed by the blood. The holiness of God becomes beautiful too us, and we stand amazed at this glorious King who has saved us, and has drawn us into His holy presence to gaze upon His beauty forever more! His holiness, is our true happiness, and inflames our devotion!
Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the Lord our God is holy!
Comforts us in Christ who welcomes us into the presence of the Holy One. Because of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, who washes us white as snow by his precious blood, we get to ascend into the Holy Hill of God every Lord’s Day, by the purifying work of the Holy Spirit. Trust in Jesus, and repent of your sins, and you shall be drawn into this holy communion with God:
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the [holy] city by the gates.
Examines our lives to be holy as he is holy. The holiness of God requires that we live in holiness in all of life. We are his creatures, but if we are trusting in Jesus, then we are also his children—and so we have a double obligation, out of eternal gratitude, to live in holiness!
but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
(7) God’s Greatness is Incorruptible
(C) God’s Unsearchable Greatness is Greatly to be Praised
(C) God’s Unsearchable Greatness is Greatly to be Praised
The Westminster Confession and 1689 both beautifully summarize and proclaim this Great God:
I. There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal most just and terrible in his judgments; hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
II. God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them: he is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and manifest; his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature; so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain. He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, he is pleased to require of them.
III. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.
Do you know this one, true and living God, through His Son, Jesus Christ? Have you been born again by the Spirit? Are you trusting in the Gospel and Kingdom of God’s grace for salvation? Are you repenting and walking in new obedience? Is your chief desire now to glorify God enjoy Him forever? Is this Dreadful and Delightful Triune Lord your God and eternal Portion forevermore?
Then let your soul sing, a thousand times over, and resound with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
And this greatness of God is revealed in the unsearchable riches of grace that are in our Saviour. And so we both rejoice, and tremble before Him! In closing, hear the great Doxology of Romans ch. 11:
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Amen? Let’s pray, and then praise the greatness of our God in a hymn and also in a Psalm!
