19(Psalm 072,18-20) The Coming Kingdom
I. WHAT GOD DOES
A. The Awesomeness of What He Does
§ Psalm 86:10 For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.
§ Psalm 145:10 All Your works shall praise You, O LORD, And Your saints shall bless You.
§ What are some of the wondrous works of God?
§ I think of the wondrous works of God in creation. I love the black preacher S.M. Lockridge's description of creation. "God stepped from behind the curtain nowhere, onto the platform of nothing, and spoke a world into existence. The reason God came from nowhere was because there wasn't anywhere for Him to come from. And coming from nowhere, He stood on nothing, and the reason He stood on nothing was there was nowhere for Him to stand. And standing on nothing, He reached out where there was nowhere to reach and caught something where there nothing to catch, and hung something on nothing, and told it to stay there. Then standing on nothing He took the hammer of His own will and He struck the anvil of His omnipotence and sparks flew everywhere. He caught these sparks from the tips of His fingers and flung them into space and bedecked the heavens with stars. And nobody said a word. The reason nobody said anything was because there wasn't anybody there to say anything. So God Himself said, 'That's good!'"
§ Romano Guardini said, "The world is the immeasurable totality of energies and forms, a tissue of relations extending into ever-increasing enormity and withdrawing into ever-decreasing minuteness. All this was thought, willed, and realized by God. Nothing was supplied for him, neither models nor matter. And all these forms and arrangements, so full of truth, which science strives unceasingly to penetrate, only to see again and again that they continue into the vast unknown; this profusion of value and meaning which ever and ever again impinges upon the human mind yet can never be fathomed-God has made them."
§ You look at the marvel of creation, and you have to say, God does wondrous things.
§ I think of God's works in redemption. It was wondrous that God gave His Son. It was wondrous when God robed Himself in human flesh and became one of us. It was wondrous that God through Christ paid my sin debt and purchased my redemption on Calvary's cross. You have to say that what God did on Calvary was wondrous.
§ I think of God's works in salvation. When I think of all God's wondrous works, as far as I am concerned, God was at His best when on a Sunday evening in 1976 He paid a visit to a small church in Grant County Arkansas, convicted my heart of the need to be saved, and then in love and grace saved me, washed me as white as snow, and made me His child. Oh, I say to you, He did something wondrous that day for me.
B. The Assurance of What He Does
§ The Psalmist declared that God "only doeth wondrous things." I place the emphasis on the word "only." The Psalmist is saying that everything God does is wondrous. He is saying that there is nothing He does that is not wondrous. God only does great and wondrous things.
· My Father's way may twist and turn, My heart may throb and ache,
· But in my soul I'm glad to know, He maketh no mistake.
§ If God only does wondrous things, then He can't make a mistake. If God only does wondrous things then even the bad things that happen in our lives are for our good.
§ Joseph found that God only does wondrous things.
§ I have been asked , "Preacher, why did God let this happen?" I can't give you a reason why this and that happens in your life. However, I can say, "God only does wondrous things."
II. WHAT GOD DESERVES
§ The Psalmist begins by saying, "Blessed." In this word we find an expression of adoration.
A. An Attitude of Adoration
§ The word describes a heart that is filled with adoration.
§ There are some who treat God much like a spare tire. They only get Him out when they need Him.
§ How we feel about God is reflected in our attitudes and actions.
§ A. W. Tozer said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."
§ It is obvious in Psalm 72 that the Psalmist has only high thoughts of God. He cries out, "Blessed."
B. An Act of Adoration
§ The word means "to kneel, to bless, to salute."
§ Psalm 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
§ 1 Kings 8:54 And so it was, when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the LORD, that he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.
§ 1 Kings 18:42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees,
§ In the Bible kneeling is portrayed as a posture in prayer.
§ Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
§ You see Paul praying with the Ephesian elders:
§ Acts 20:36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
§ Kneeling is also an act of acknowledging a superior.
§ 2 Kings 1:13 Again, he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah…
§ The epileptic comes to Jesus:
§ Matthew 17:14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him…
§ The captain knelt before Elijah recognizing that he was a man of God. The epileptic knelt before Jesus recognizing that he was the God of man. It was an act by which one acknowledged a superior.
§ This is the posture that everyone of you will assume one way or the other:
§ Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
§ Every believer will one day kneel before Him. Every atheist, agnostic, and infidel will one day kneel before Him. Hitler, Mussolini, Saddam Hussein, and even Bin Laden will one day kneel before Him. Every demon in hell will one day kneel before Him. Even the devil himself will kneel before Him. There will be personal and universal an acknowledgement that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.
§ Kneeling is an act of reverence, obedience, and respect.
§ I like for people to come to the altar and kneel on their knees. Now, we have got some who never come to the altar. There are some of you I have never seen on your knees in the altar.
§ There is something about kneeling in an altar. Don't ever be ashamed or hesitate to come to the altar and get on your knees before God. Don't let your heart get so cold that you don't feel that you have to need of kneeling at the altar. We kneel to show our reverence and respect for God. We kneel in acknowledgement of God's holiness and glorious person.
§ It is a visible expression of your adoration. I say that because I know there are some who believe that we should never show emotion in Church. However, when you look at the subject of praise and worship in the Bible it is always vocal and visible. You say, "Preacher, I worship in my heart." And I say, if you worship in your heart there will be vocal and visible expressions of that worship.
§ Let me say that God deserves our praise. He is worthy of our praise. Every Christian ought to be falling on their knees and giving God praise. He has earned the right to be praised.