Good morning. Thank you, Tom. I asked Tom to lead us in that
hymn because I want to try to bring a message this first hour
from a text in 2 Samuel 22, if you'd like to open your Bibles
there, 2 Samuel chapter 22. And the title of the message
is, Who is God? Who is God? Let's ask the Lord's blessings. Our merciful heavenly Father,
how hopeful we are that you will be pleased this hour to reveal
yourself. Lord, that you would enlighten
the eyes of our understanding, that you would give to us the
gift of faith, that you would open, Lord, the word that reveals
yourself, and that you would open our hearts, enabling us
to believe all that you have all that you've revealed. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. You have your Bibles open to
2 Samuel 22. We've been looking now for several
weeks at this prayer of David and he asked the question in
verse 32 for who is God? Who is God? Save the Lord. And who is a rock? Save our God. God is my strength and power,
and he maketh my way perfect. Now, the Bible never never attempts to prove the existence
of God. It begins with, in the beginning,
God. And we have no interest in trying
to prove whether or not God exists. We hold that truth to, borrow
from our founding father's words, we hold that truth to be self-evident. It is the fool who has said in
his heart that there is no God. And it's ironic that those who
profess themselves to be atheists are also the ones who promote
themselves to being the most intellectual. And The scripture tells us that man
has increased in knowledge but become a fool in his heart toward
God. So, in answering this question,
who is God? We are holding self-evident that
God does exist. The second thing that we're holding
self-evident is that there is but one God. The scripture says,
Hear, O Israel, for the Lord thy God is one God. It is absurd
to think that there could be more than one God. We hear, again, self-professing
intellectuals speak of your God and my God and that God and this
God and it only supports the idea that men think that the
God that they perceive to exist because they perceive it to exist,
therefore, he does. Which only supports the idea
that man has set himself up on the throne of God. I was talking
to a professor of philosophy one time at our local university,
UCF, and he said, yes, and it was an older man, he was old
as I am, and he said, yeah, he said, I'm still struggling with
the question, did God create us or did we create God? And here's a man who has multiple
PhDs teaching our young people philosophy. No, there is but
one God. And the gods that men imagine
to exist are just that, figments of their imagination. The third The third truth that
we hold to be self-evident is that the Bible is the inspired
Word of God. All scripture has been given
by God, has been given to men who wrote as they were moved
by the Holy Spirit, it's not my private interpretation, and
we believe that. I know that, again, there are
those who want to call into question the Word of God. We have been
taught of God to bow to every word in Scripture. Now, these are the things that
the Lord has to teach. We're not here to prove them.
They are those truths that presuppose the question, who is God? Who is God? If the God that I profess to
know is contrary to the one that's revealed in scripture, then I
must conclude that my God is nothing more than a lifeless
idol, a figment of my own imagination. The Lord has given us his word
for one grand purpose, and that is to make himself known, to
reveal himself. The Pharisees spent their whole
lives, as many men do, studying the Bible. And the Lord Jesus
rebuked them when he said to them, you search the scriptures
because you think in them you have eternal life. but you've
missed the whole meaning of the Bible because these are they
which testify of me. What does the Bible say about
who God is? To know him as he's revealed
himself is to have life. The Lord Jesus in John 17, when
he was praying for his church, he said, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. These things have been written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the
living God and that believing you might have life through his
name. David asked the question, who
is God? Save the Lord. There is no other
God. Save the Lord. I need a God who
has the will and the power to save. A God that can save me from myself. A God that can save me from the
wrath of God. A God that can save me from my
sin. I need a God who has the power
and the will to save. And the scriptures reveal Him
as the Lord. Now when we find in our Bibles
this word LORD in all caps as we do in our text, it is the
name that God gave to Moses at Mount Sinai. When Moses was being sent of
God into Egypt to bring his people out, Moses asked, They're gonna
ask me what the name of, what your name is. And the Lord told
Moses, tell them I am, hath sent thee. And that's, that's Jehovah. That's another, the Hebrew, perhaps
you've heard the word Yahweh. And, And it was the first time
before that, the Lord was known as El Shaddai. He was known as
the God who is all powerful. But now the Lord is going to
reveal his covenant name. Not just that he's a God of all
power, ability to save, But now he's revealing himself as the
God who is willing to save. And his willingness to save is
based on the covenant that he has made with himself. That's what this name Jehovah,
I am, means. When the Lord Jesus came into
the world, he took on the name of God. and we have him revealing
himself as I Am. And the Jews knew exactly what
he was referring to because they took up stones to stone him and
the Lord asked them for what For what reason do you stone
me? For the good works that I have performed? And they said, oh
no, but because you being a man have made yourself out to be
God. You've taken the name of God to yourself. And so the charge
against our Lord was blasphemy. And had he not been who he said
he was, then certainly that would be, it would be blasphemy. But clearly, clearly the Lord
made this clear. He made it plain that he was
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory will I not give to another,
neither my praise to graven images. Notice what David says about
our Lord in this text. For who is God save the Lord? The Lord, it's his name. And
the scripture tells us they that call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. And the scripture tells us that
he saves for his namesake. In other words, to uphold the glory of his name. The God who
who made covenant promises before time ever was to save a people. That's who he is. And the Lord tells us that those
who call upon his name shall be saved. Now, names in the Bible
are very significant. And how oftentimes we we see
that a name represents the character of the person. And when God saves individuals,
oftentimes he changes their names especially if they are significant
figures in the church like Abraham. Abram, Abram's name meaning an
exalted father and God changed Abram's name to Abraham because
now he was gonna be the father of many nations. Jacob, born a deceiver, his name
translated means a supplanter and represents our old nature,
the nature in which we're born with. But after wrestling with
the Lord, The Lord touched the hollow of his hip and gave him
a limp that would remind him of his weakness and his dependence
upon the Lord the rest of his life. And the Lord changed his
name from Jacob to Israel. Now, you're no longer a prince. Now, I'm no longer a supplanter. Now you're a prince. when the
Lord saved Saul of Tarsus. Saul's name translated means
one to be desired. And we see that in Saul's testimony. He, in testifying of his life
before his conversion, he talks about how he excelled among his
peers and how he had been taught by Gamaliel and how in religion
he was He was one to be looked up to and one to be desired.
And the Lord changed Saul's name, a proud man, to Paul, translated
little, little. And so it is with our Lord's
name. His name represents and speaks
of who he is. Quoted from Exodus 3 a moment
ago. Let's turn there to Exodus chapter
6. Exodus chapter 6. The Lord had told Moses in Exodus
chapter 3, tell them I am. I am that I am. I'm the self-existent
one. There is no other name that could fully comprehend
who he is. And then in Exodus chapter six,
we'll begin reading in verse one. Then the Lord said unto
Moses, now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with
a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall
he drive them out of his land. And God spake to Moses and said
unto him, I am the Lord. I appeared unto Abraham and unto
Isaac and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, El Shaddai. That's how that was the revelation.
The revelation of God in scripture is progressive. It's progressive
and we're seeing the next progression of the revelation that God makes
of himself. We read that in Hebrews chapter
one. where the Lord said that at sundry
times and in divers manners God spake unto our fathers by the
prophets now in these last days has spoken unto us by his son
who is the express image of his person. And so the progression
of God's revelation of himself all the way up to the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the full revelation of God. But now the Lord is revealing
himself by his name, not just that he's the God that possesses
all power, the ability to save, but now look what he says. I
revealed myself to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob by the name God
Almighty, El Shaddai, but now my name Jehovah, but by my name
Jehovah was not I known to them. They didn't know me by this name
now that I'm given to you. And I have also established my
covenant with them. This is the name Jehovah. This
is the I am. To give them the land of Canaan,
the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.
And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom
the Egyptians kept in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. So what is the Lord doing by
telling us his name? David asked the question, who
is a God save the Lord? He's telling us You've always
known that I have the power to save, now you know why I'm saving. Now you know the will that I
have to save. It is for my namesake. It is
that I might be faithful to the covenant that's revealed in my
name. Verse six, wherefore say unto
the children of Israel, I am Jehovah and I will bring you
out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will rid
you out of their bondage and I will redeem you with a stretched
out arm with great judgment and I will take you to me for a people. And I will be to you a God, and
you shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth
you out from under the bondage of the Egyptians. I will bring
you into the land concerning the which I did swear unto you
to give to Abraham and to Isaac and Jacob, and I will give it
you for an heritage. Why? Because I am the Lord. That's who I am. Our God, eternal, self-existent,
all-powerful, omnipotent, sovereign, is now revealing to us why he
saves. He saves in order to be faithful
to the covenant that he established in eternity past. When God the
Father chose a particular people and gave those elect individuals
to his son, when the son entered into that covenant promise and
agreed to be the surety, what is a surety? It is everything
needed to accomplish the fulfillment of the promise of salvation.
And the Lord Jesus Christ made sure the salvation of his people
by the sacrifice of himself on Calvary's cross. When God the
Holy Spirit entered into that covenant and agreed to in the
fullness of time make those whom the father chose and make those
whom the son successfully redeemed on Calvary's cross, make them
willing and give them faith and bring them to himself. And that's
what he's doing right now. And when the last of God's elect
is brought by the spirit of God to faith in Christ, then this
world's over. There's no more need for this
world to exist. This is who God is. Who is God? Who is God? Save the Lord. Save the Lord. Go back with me to our text,
if you will. 2 Samuel 22. And who is a rock? save our God. The rock is used to represent the nature of our
God. The Lord Jesus said, they that
hear my word are like them who build their house upon a rock. And When the wind blows and the
storms come, that rock will stand. Those who refuse to believe what
the Lord has said, refuse Him as their God, are like men who
build their house upon the sand. And when the storms come, not
only the storms of this life, but the storms of God's wrath
and judgment, when it comes, that house will not stand. and
house will not stand. So the rock is a picture of stability. It's a picture of absurdity. The Lord Jesus said to Peter,
when Peter confessed, thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God, we know and are sure of this. The Lord said to Peter, blessed
art thou Simon Bar-Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed
the Son to you but my Father which is in heaven. And upon
this rock, the rock that you just confessed, not Peter, Peter
was anything but a rock. Of all the disciples, Peter was
the most unstable of all the disciples. And yet the Lord made him leader
of the disciples, that's an encouragement to me. But the confession that
Peter made, that the Lord Jesus was the rock, that was what the
church was going to be built on. Christ, the cornerstone,
the rock which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
They didn't want that rock. And the Lord said, the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. The Lord has elect sheep that
are held like the children of Israel were in Egypt under the
bondage of the law. And they are blinded by the God
of this world. But the Lord said that I'm going
to lead captivity captive. I'm going to take those who are
captive to their sin and unbelief and make them captive to me.
And the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against the
rock. The rock. The very first time
that rock is used as an imagery of Christ is found in Exodus
chapter 17 when Moses brings the children of Israel out of
Egypt and comes back to Sinai. The mountain is called Horeb
And Horeb translated means a desert place. But the Lord said, as
Moses stood before that rock, the rock of Horeb, how oftentimes in order for the
Lord to reveal himself to us, he has to take us into a desert
place. He has to bring us to that place
where we're, We don't have any water, we're dependent upon him
for everything. Lord, if you're gonna feed me,
I'm gonna have to be fed from heaven. You're gonna have to
rain bread down from heaven. You're gonna have to bring water
out of a rock. In the one verse in Exodus chapter
17, Horeb is referred to as a rock and then there's another rock.
And the Lord tells Moses to take his rod and strike that rock. The people, were complaining,
well, they weren't just complaining, they were threatening to kill
Moses because he had brought them out into a desert place
where there was no water. And the Lord had to provide for
them. Now, oftentimes, this is the same way the Lord deals with
his children today, brings them out from under the bondage of
the taskmasters and of the law, but he puts them in a desert
place. And they had to be reminded that it was the law of God, represented
by the rod of Moses, that struck the Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross.
And only when God's law was satisfied, only when justice was satisfied,
and righteousness was established, and it could not happen except
for what the Lord did on the cross, does the water of life
flow. Later, Moses gets frustrated
with the children of Israel because they continue. The Lord tells
us, and I think it's in 2 Corinthians 10, that this rock was Christ. It tells us very clearly in the
New Testament that the rock that Moses struck was none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ, symbolic of him, of course. And that rock
followed them through the wilderness for 40 years. And there was one
time when Moses became so frustrated with the stiff-necked unbelief
of the children of Israel that he struck the rock twice. He
said, I'll show you. And he struck the rock twice.
And Moses was forbidden to go into the promised land because
of that. Once the law was satisfied, the
Lord Jesus could only be struck once. Once he was satisfied,
once it was satisfied, once the work was finished, and is that
not the last thing the Lord Jesus said? It is finished. Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. He accomplished the salvation
of his people. And once it was done, no other
sacrifice could be made. No other work could be performed.
God was satisfied. Here's that rock. Here's that
rock. You remember much later when
Jezebel got after the prophet Elijah after Elijah was on Mount
Carmel and called for the fire of God to come down upon that
altar and then Jezebel got after Elijah. And the scripture says
that Elijah ran in fear to Horeb. He went to Mount Horeb. He went
to that place of the law. And he was hiding in a cave in
Mount Horeb. And the Lord appeared unto him.
And God sent a great wind, and the Lord was not in it. And God
sent an earthquake and rent the rocks, and the Lord was not in
it. And God sent a fire, and the Lord was not in it. And then
God spoke. How did he speak? He spoke in
a still, small voice. Nothing's changed. Nothing's
changed in us and nothing's changed in God. How oftentimes we run
back to the law when we get in trouble, when we're afraid. We
think, well, I'm gonna straighten up, I'm gonna do better, I'm
gonna fix this problem, I'm gonna obligate. That's really what
we're thinking. We're gonna force the hand of God. And what did
God say to Elijah? Three times in that passage,
three times God says to Elijah, Elijah, what are you doing here? What are you doing here? And
then we look for some great event to take place that's somehow
going to clarify everything. Some experience like wind and
fire and earthquake, but the Lord was not in it. When did
God speak? effectually to the heart of the
prophet the same time he speaks effectually to us not when we
run back to the law to try to fix the problem not when we're
looking for some great experience or event to explain everything
but when we're able by the grace of God to be still and know that
he is God and he speaks then in the quietness of our hearts
when we're brought before him. Lord, you're gonna have to speak
peace, you're gonna have to speak comfort, you're gonna have to
speak assurance, you're gonna have to speak hope and comfort.
Lord, I don't have it. How is it that he speaks? By
reminding us that the rock has been smitten and God is satisfied. The rod of God's wrath, the law
of God has put to death the sacrifice and God saw the travail of his
soul and God said, I'm satisfied. The peace of God that passes
understanding comes to our hearts when the Lord enables us to rest
not in our law keeping or not in our experiences but in what
the Lord Jesus did when we're able to look in faith to him
and see that who is God save the Lord and who is a rock save
our God. Where else can I go? I've got
no place else to go. We're always looking for somewhere
else to go, aren't we? And we come to this place and
we open God's word and reminded again and again and again that
we have one place to go. And what a blessing it is when
the Lord takes us out into a desert place and shuts us up to Christ. And we find in him our all. Look at verse 33 in our text. God is my strength, who is God? You see, any other God is a false
God, any other God is a lifeless idol, any other God is a figment
of my imagination, any other God who doesn't save because
of his namesake and because of his covenant promises. Any other
God who's dependent upon me to do something in order for him
to be able to save. Well, he saved me because I accepted Jesus
or because I did this or because I did that. Or because I've shown
the sincerity of my heart by submitting to the law of God.
This is who God is. And all of these other gods are
nothing but lifeless idols. There's no God at all. Here's
the question for us. And if the God that I believe
in, the God that I'm trusting is the God revealed in scripture,
then I have hope. then I have assurance, then I
have comfort. Yes, this is the God that I believe. God is my strength, do you see
that in verse 33? God is my strength. When we were
yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. I don't have any strength. A
God that depends upon me to do anything in order for Him to
be able to save me is another God. What is David saying? The Lord is my strength. He's
all my strength. I have no strength outside of
Him. When Paul prayed for the thorn in the flesh to be removed
from him, the Lord said, Paul, My grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength will be made perfect in your weakness. And
Paul said, I'll glory then for therefore in my infirmities.
For when I'm weak, then I'm strong. It's only when I realize that
I have no strength that I'm able to live in his strength. The Lord is my strength. I have
no strength outside of him. I don't have the strength to
believe. I don't have the strength to obey. I'm completely dependent
upon His strength. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31. They
that wait upon the Lord, they that trust in Him, they that
believe on Him, they that rest all the hope of their salvation
in Him shall renew their strength. And that word renew, it doesn't
mean to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and rededicate your
life and become better at whatever you're trying to do. It means
to exchange. That's what the word renew in
that verse means. It means exchange. They that
wait upon the Lord shall exchange their strength for his strength.
Well, they have no strength. They're the ones that will mount
up with wings as eagles. They're the ones that will run
and not be weary and walk and not faint. And David is saying,
this is who God is. This is who he is. He's my strength. I have no strength outside of
his strength. Notice also, God is my strength
and power. Now the word strength in this
verse is also translated fortress, stronghold, high tower, a place
to flee for refuge. And so if the word strength tells
us the place that we go, then the word power tells us the person
to whom we go. This is the one who makes me
safe. This word power is also translated man of valor, man
of valor. It is pointing us to Christ,
the one who has not only the will to save, the one who has
the power to save. We come to our God, not saying,
Lord, I know you want to save me. I'm going to let you do it.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna let you into my heart.
No, that's no God at all. Lord, I know you can save me. You have the power to save me.
If thou will, thou can make me whole. Lord, I'm completely dependent. upon your willingness. And now
what do we see? What do we see? Let's close with
that verse in Micah. Micah chapter seven. Micah is one of those small Old
Testament prophets between Jonah and Nahum. Micah chapter seven. We sang this hymn at the beginning
of the service. Verse 18. Who is a God like unto
thee? There is no God. There's no other
God. He's the one true God. This is
the God who's revealed himself. What's he do? He pardons iniquity. He passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his people. Now how is it that God can pass
by the transgressions of the remnant of his people? The same
way he passed by the children of Israel when they were in Egypt. They called it the Passover.
The death angel passed by the houses of the children of Israel,
why? Because the blood of the Lamb.
Was it because there was some virtue in the lives of those
people? No, it was because God said when
I see the blood I'll pass by you. That's the only reason. He passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his people. He retaineth not his anger forever
because he delights in showing mercy. Lord, here's what you've
said about yourself, that you delight in showing mercy. How
do I know that he would delight in showing mercy toward me? Because
I need mercy. What is mercy? What is mercy? Mercy is withholding from us
that which we deserve. And here's how you can know if
you are in need of mercy. You believe that apart from God's
mercy, that you deserve hell. That's what you deserve. If God
didn't show you mercy, you'd go straight to hell. People don't believe that, mercy beggars do. And for those
who need mercy, he delights in showing mercy. The fact that we would need mercy
is the evidence of his grace. Grace is giving to us that which
we don't deserve. If we're mercy beggars, if we're
in need of mercy, that's the evidence that God has given to
us something we never deserved. And now we're looking to him
to take from us what we do deserve, what we do deserve. Look at verse
19. He will turn again. He will turn
again. Lord, turn me, turn toward me,
Lord, again and again and again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our inequities and that will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. Thou will perform the truth to
Jacob. And that's exactly what he did
when he went to the cross. He performed the work of redemption,
the truth of Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn
unto our fathers from the days of old. The Lord hasn't changed. I am the Lord and I change not.
Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. He hasn't changed.
He's faithful to his promises. Who is God? Who is God? He's the Lord. He's Jehovah. He's the covenant-keeping, all-powerful
one who's not only able to save but willing to save. He's my
rock. He's my strength and my power. He's the place where I go and
He's the person that I need. And I have salvation nowhere
else, nowhere else. David, by the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, is revealing to us and to all of God's people
who God is, who God is. If the God that he's revealing
is the God that I love and that I believe in, There's my hope. That's my God. Then there is
no another. Amen. All right.