Ps 145:3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no-one can fathom.
Ps 150:2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
We are going to think this evening about the surpassing greatness of God. About the greatness no-one can fathom. About the fact that our God is truly All Mighty, All powerful, omnipotent. That our God is completely able to do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING HE chooses.
Job was struggling in his sufferings. One of Job’s friends, his “comforters”, Elihu, reminds him of God’s greatness.
36:22 “God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? 23 Who has prescribed his ways for him, or said to him, `You have done wrong’?
24 ¶ Remember to extol his work, which men have praised in song. 25 All mankind has seen it; men gaze on it from afar. 26 How great is God- beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.
And then as Elihu continues, a storm is approaching, and Elihu points to the storm.
37:14 ¶ “Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s wonders.
15 Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?
16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is
perfect in knowledge?
17 You who swelter in your clothes when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
18 can you join him in spreading out the skies, hard as a mirror of cast bronze?
God explodes our of the storm and speaks to Job out of the power of the storm. Job realises that God is much bigger, much greater, much more powerful than he can possibly imagine.
38: 4 ¶ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you
understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a
measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone- 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
CREATOR
38:16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. 19 “What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
“Do we want to contemplate God’s power? We see it in the immensity of the creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible whole is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the earth.” Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
And Creation is far far bigger than the earth!!
38:31 “Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up [God’s] dominion over the earth?
Our concepts of measurement embrace mountains and men, atoms and stars, gravity, energy, numbers, speed, but never God. We cannot speak of measure or amount or size or weight and at the same time be speaking of God, for these tell of degrees and there are no degrees in God. All that he is he is without growth or addition or development.
A. W. Tozer (1897–1963)
To say that God is infinite is to say that he is measureless. Measurement is the way created things have of accounting for themselves. It describes limitations, imperfections, and cannot apply to God. Weight describes the gravitational pull of the earth upon material bodies; distance describes intervals between bodies in space; length means extension in space; and there are other familiar measurements such as those for liquid, energy, sound, light, and numbers for pluralities. We also try to measure abstract qualities, and speak of great or little faith, high or low intelligence, large or meager talents. Is it not plain that all this does not and cannot apply to God? … He is above all this, outside of it, beyond it. A. W. Tozer (1897–1963)
Before anything in the universe existed, there was God Almighty!
Gen 1:3 ¶ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
John 1:1* ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
African Proverb : “No rain, no mushrooms. No God, no world.”
SUSTAINER
38:39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? 41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
Sustaining not only the earth but the whole universe.
Isaiah 40:25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. 26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Heb 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Colossians 1:15 Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Sometimes we forget that God is the creator and sustainer of heaven and earth. We limit God. Philosophers say things like, “God can do anything that is logically possible.” What they mean is that God can do anything which is consistent with the rules which underpin the whole universe. But remember, God created the universe. He can change the rules any time he likes! God could change the rules of the universe so that what used to be logically impossible becomes possible! God is THAT great and Almighty.
“God can change the future, but he can’t change the past.” That’s not true. God can change the future but he CHOOSES NOT to change the past!
After Noah and his family and all the animals came out of the ark, we read this promise in Genesis 8: 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
The laws of nature, the rules of space and time, only exist because God created them! They only continue because God keeps them going. God is powerful enough to bend or break or change those rules whenever and wherever He chooses. God is THAT great and Almighty!
SAVIOUR
The Old Testament – Exodus, Crossing the Red Sea, Miracles in wilderness, victory over Canaanites and claiming of the promised land.
Psalm 77:11 ¶ I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your
miracles of long ago. 12 I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. 13 Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God?
14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. 15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
The New Testament
Miracles of Jesus
Lu 7:22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
Calming of storm, feeding of 5000 with just 5 loaves and 2 fishes.
Greatest miracle of all – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Jim Packer wrote: “Your thoughts of God are too human.” This is where most of us go astray. Our thoughts of God are not great enough; we fail to reckon with the reality of his limitless wisdom and power. Put this mistake right: learn to acknowledge the full majesty of your incomparable God and Savior.
God is beyond our ken—infinite, immense, and his real greatness is known to himself alone. Our mind is too limited to understand him.
Novatian (D. 258) God is greater than mind itself. His greatness cannot be conceived. Nay, could we conceive of his greatness he would be less than the human mind which could form the conception. He is greater than all language, and no statement can express him.
GOD’S GREATNESS IN OUR LIVES
1 Chronicles 29:10 ¶ David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the
kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
12 Wealth and honour come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.
Eph 1:18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
His incomparably great power for us who believe.
Phil 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
2 Cor 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Halleluiah. For the Lord the omnipotent God reigns! Nothing is impossible for God! He is indeed ALL MIGHTY
