God is NOT Incredible!
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“And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 17And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken? 18And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: 19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
16 And the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.
17 And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the Lord spoken?
18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:
19 God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Text: “And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 17And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the LORD spoken? 18And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: 19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
God is NOT Incredible
I. Introduction
Human frailty has no way of really describing he greatness of God…
We try!
We sing songs about how good God is.
We preach sermons.
We, often in frustration at our own inadequacies, simply take pictures and post them to social media because there are no words to that can truly incapsulate the magnificence of God!
Eloquence fails a man when he attempts to describe the Lord Jesus Christ.
A. Eloquence fails a man when he attempts to describe the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. I have often said that preaching is an unfair assignment.
2. While I know of nothing in life that I love doing more, what I am tasked to do is completely unattainable.
3. The effort to craft the frailty of human speech in such a fashion as to convey the nature and character of a transcendent God is far and away beyond me.
4. Men immeasurably more eloquent than I have placed pen to paper or tongue to speech and have failed to convey properly just how wonderful He is.
We paint him as:
5. But we try!
Wonderful
6. With thesaurus held firmly in hand, we attempt to find the proper adjectives to portray Who He is, and the proper adverbs to describe what He does.
Councilor
Holy
Excellent
Mighty
Great
Merciful
B. I find that with most descriptions I hear of Him I’m completely comfortable.
1. If you say that He is wonderful, I’ll stand and testify that He is indeed full of wonder!
2. If you proclaim His greatness, I’ll be one to say the Psalmist was right. “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised!”
Omnipotent
3. If you describe Him as holy, I’ll agree with you and with the angels of God who cry “Holy, holy, holy” in an unending chorus!
Righteous
4. Call Him excellent, and I’ll say, “Amen!”
Powerful
5. Call Him compassionate, and I’ll gratefully agree.
6. Call Him omnipotent, and I’ll rejoice in that truth.
Victorious
7. Line up all the words you will that apply to Him.
Dominant
8. He is righteous, pure, hallowed, holy, clean, virtuous, and sacred.
Omniscent
Omnipresent
Grand
Amazing
9. He is powerful, mighty, strong, dominant, compelling, great, and victorious.
10. I’m talking about Jesus!
Astounding
11. He is compassionate, tender, kind, benevolent, sympathetic, caring, and gentle.
12. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.
So many adjectives that we use to tell of our Savior Jesus...
13. He is awesome, grand, breathtaking, overwhelming, tremendous, remarkable, amazing, and astounding!
But one thing he is NOT is incredible!
14. But He is not incredible!
Let me give you some help here today…
Incredible doesn’t really mean what we want it to mean when we use it.
INCREDIBLE: Let’s look at this word…
We learned in 4th grade english about root words, prefixes and suffixes.
In our word: incredible you have
Root word - credit = worthy of honor, confidence, esteem, reflect well upon. Also, means to cover a debt, pay what is borrowed or owed.
Suffix - ible = variant of the word able, it is the ability to be. (credit + able)
Put the root word and the suffix together and you have one who is able to receive honor, confidence, esteem, and be reflected well upon. One is is able to cover a debt or pay back that what is borrowed or owed.
All on the same page so far… But here is where the definitions take a sharp left turn!
There is not just a root word and suffix, but in the word incredible there is also a prefix!
When the prefix is “in” that changed everything!
The meanings of the prefix “in” means no, not, or without or un.
Inconsiderate = someone who is not considerate.
Inconvenient = not convenient.
Inexplicable = that which is without explanation.
Please consider with me the word in question – incredible!
To use that of the Lord Jesus Christ is to suggest that He is “not credible.”
Please remember that to be credible means to be believable or reliable.
My message to you today is that there is nothing incredible about Jesus!
My message to you today is that there is nothing incredible about Jesus!
Everything He says you can believe.
Everything He promises you can put your trust in.
Everything He states is a foundation on which you can build your life.
You can trust Him.
You can believe Him.
You can rely on Him.
You can depend on Him.
Jesus is not incredible; He is imminently credible!
**************
The text today provides a glimpse into the story of Balaam and Balak.
Balak wanted the prophet Balaam to curse Israel, and was willing to pay for it.
When he attempted to do so, God brought blessing out of His mouth.
Balak takes him to a different vantage point, and asks him to try again.
A sacrifice is offered, and Balaam walks away to hear from God.
When He returns, he makes the declaration found in verse 19.
19 God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
He said, “Balak, learn this one thing about this God I serve. When He open his mouth to speak, you can bank on it.
Don’t wonder if He’s going to change His mind.
Don’t worry that He didn’t mean it.
Don’t even consider that it might not be true.”
He won’t lie.
He won’t repent.
I came here today to remind you that God is NOT incredible!
I came here today to remind you that God is NOT incredible!
Do you think He’s said something He won’t do?
Do you believe He has spoken something that He won’t make good on?
You can trust Him!
He is not incredible!
*******************
We see examples of this credibility all around us!
After the flood, when Noah offered a burnt offering, God said this.
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
3. Every year when cold weather comes, the plummeting mercury screams, “You can trust Him.”
Every year when cold weather comes, the plummeting mercury screams, “You can trust Him.”
3. Every year when cold weather comes, the plummeting mercury screams, “You can trust Him.”
Every summer when the blistering heat arrives, it is bearing seering witness to this fact. He is NOT incredible.
Every morning when the sun comes up, its first rays stream the message, “He’s still speaking truth!”
Every night when it sets, its final word is, “I’ll be back tomorrow, because He said I would be!”
Every change of season. Every rotation of the Earth. Every revolution of every star and every planet only witness to us.
GOD IS NOT INCREDIBLE!
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
If He can hold the universe in orbit, He can care for you!
9. If He can hold the universe in orbit, He can care for you!
God is NOT incredible!
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
mat6.25-26,28-30
mat6.
Every bird and every flower testify to us.
God is NOT incredible!
11. “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” ( & 28 – 30)
He can be trusted. He is not incredible!
Even when He doesn’t make sense . . .
**************
Consider the example of Elisha’s cure for thirst . . . hard manual labor!
In II Kings chapter 3, the Kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom have gone to battle against Moab.
They have traveled 7 days into the wilderness, and there is no water.
They consult with Elisha, God’s man.
“Make this valley full of ditches!”
Huh? What kind of harebrained idea is that?
We’re already thirsty, and now you want us to spend all night digging ditches?
Sweating out the last fluids we have?
That’s what God said????
He is not incredible!
In the morning there was water for them all, and not only that but the enemy caught the reflection of the sunrise and thought it was blood and walked down to spoil.
You may not understand why God says what He says.
It may not make any sense to you.
You may think you can poke 1,000 holes in His plans.
But every word that comes out of His mouth is sure.
He is working in ways you don’t know about.
Go ahead and trust Him.
He is not incredible!
1. You can generally learn of the character of someone by those who knew him or her best.
2. If you don’t know Jesus Christ today, or if at the very least the devil is attacking your faith and making you question His credibility, I’d like to bring up some character witnesses today.
3. Solomon qualifies. He is the wisest man who ever lived.
4. Here is his testimony: “Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.” ()
5. Next on the stand is Simon Peter.
6. We had been out fishing all night, you can find it in Luke chapter 5.
7. We had caught nothing. We were just cleaning up our nets when Jesus showed up.
8. He used our boats for a speaking platform, and then when he was finished he told us row back out to deep water and to lower our nets.
9. I’ll never forget it. It was too late in the day. It was the wrong time to fish. They weren’t there.
10. But I’ll never forget what I said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”
11. I could hardly believe my eyes. When we started pulling in the net, there were so many fish the net began to break. I wish I had thrown out every net I had.
12. Next to testify in the witness stand, members of Florissant Valley Apostolic Church.
13. Brother and Sister Scott, can you trust Him?
14. Sister Linda Gunn, can you trust Him?
15. Sister Martha Robinson, can you trust Him?
Conclusion
There is a guarantee with this book!
5 Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
1. “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.” ()
That word “pure” means tested or refined.
It’s been put through the fire and has been tested to be right!
It’s like a product guarantee on a package.
The contents have been tested and found to be pure!
B. Let me tell you what He says here today.
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1. There are any number of verses I could reference.
2. I could tell you about His salvation. I could tell you about his provision. I could tell you about his healing.
3. I felt to just encompass it all with this verse.
5. Somebody here today needs to know that all the cares of your life can be thrown onto Him because He cares about you.
Somebody here today needs to know that all the cares of your life can be thrown onto Him because He cares about you.
5. Somebody here today needs to know that all the cares of your life can be thrown onto Him because He cares about you.
Your sickness
Your hurt
Your pain
Your disappointment
Your sin
Your regrets
He is amazing, but He is not incredible.
8. He is amazing, but He is not incredible.
He is wonderful, but He is not incredible.
He is spectacular, but He is not incredible.
He is a good God!
God Is Not Incredible