Let's open our Bibles to 1 Chronicles
chapter 29. 1 Chronicles 29. David is passing the mantle of
leadership to his son Solomon. He has accumulated all the materials
necessary for building the temple. This is his acknowledgement to
the Lord for having made such abundant provisions for the construction
of the temple. We'll begin reading in verse
10. Wherefore, David blessed the Lord before all the congregation. And David said, blessed be thou,
Lord God of Israel, our father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord,
is the greatness and the power I chose this passage because
of that word we're going to be looking at the subject of the
power of God tonight and David is acknowledging the Lord to
be of greatness and the power and the glory and the victory
and the majesty For all that is in the heaven and in the earth
is thine, thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted
as head above all. Both riches and honor come of
thee, and thou reignest over all, and in thine hand is power
and might, and in thine hand it is to make great and to give
strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank
thee. praise thy glorious name who
am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so
willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of
thine own hand have we given thee David saying Lord we're
here making a willing offering and glad to do so but we're really
not giving anything because what we're giving you gave to us if
it all belongs to you For we are strangers before thee, and
sojourners as were our fathers. Our days on the earth are as
a shadow, and there is none abiding." Our days on the earth are as
a shadow. Do you believe that? I was listening to an astrophysicist
being interviewed on the radio the other day. And he made an
interesting observation. He said, you won't meet an astrophysicist
that has any patience with the squabbles that people, that nations
have against one another in this world. He said, the wars over
oil and stuff like that. He said, astrophysicists, they
just roll their eyes over such a thing. And he said, the reason
being is because we know that this globe on which we live is
a speck of dust in the universe. I mean, it's just all it is.
You know, we spend our whole lives looking out into the galaxies,
and we know that this world is just a speck of dust. And I thought,
you know, it's a matter of perspective, isn't it? And then I thought,
same thing's true for us. We look at the temporal from
an eternal perspective. And it's just a speck of time.
It's just a shadow. And believers, they're looking
at this world from an eternal perspective. And we've got an
infinite view on the temporal things of this world. And we
just see them as they are, don't we? Oh Lord our God, verse 16, all
this store that we have prepared to build thee a house for thine
holy name cometh of thine own hand and is all thine own. Lord, we brought it, but it all
came from you. I know also, my God, that thou
triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness. The Lord is pleased
in the faithful obedience of his children. As for me, in the uprightness
of my heart, I have willingly offered all these things, and
now have I seen with joy thy people which are present here
to offer willingly unto thee, O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac,
and of Israel, our fathers, Keep this forever in the imagination
of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare thine
heart, their heart unto thee. And give unto Solomon my son
a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies,
and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the
palace for which I have made provision. David and Solomon picture Christ. David was a man of war that made
the provisions for the building of the tabernacle possible. Solomon
is a picture of the man of peace, who the Lord Jesus Christ is
now, our Prince of Peace, and who in the power of the Holy
Spirit took that which was provided by David and is now building
his church. So we're right there. He did it all, didn't he? He
did it all. Let's pray together. Merciful Heavenly Father, we're
thankful that you've not left us to our own imagination. That you've breathed your word
and given us your spirit and caused us, Lord, to be turned
to see thy shining face and to be saved. We ask, Lord, that
you'd be pleased to do that for us again tonight. We ask that
you'd give us understanding. We ask that you'd increase our
faith, that you would deepen our desire for your glory and
cause us, Lord, to find in the Lord Jesus Christ our complete
rest and full salvation. We ask it in His name. Amen. Titled this message, O to Know
the Power of God. O to Know the Power of God. Scripture speaks a lot about
the power of God. And we'll be looking at several
verses that I trust will be used of the Spirit of God to cause
us to say, oh to know the power of God. Lord show me thy power. Just because works can never
be a means to salvation. We're not saved by our works.
We can't merit God's favor by our works. Does not mean that
believers aren't concerned with and yes, even consumed with a
desire to obey the Lord. Scripture says to obey is better
than sacrifice. The Lord tells us that it is
He who works in us, causing us to have a desire to will and
to do of His good pleasure. And you know that passage over
there in Ephesians chapter 2 where the scripture says, for by grace
are you saved through faith in that not of yourselves. It's
a gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. And then what's verse 10 say?
But we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God has ordained that we should walk in them. James makes
that clear, doesn't he? He says, faith without works
is dead. The scriptures are clear. I know
that there are those who would accuse me now of putting men
under the law, but that's not my desire and I don't think that
it will do that for God's people. I'm just affirming the fact that
though we're saved by grace, the Lord puts into our hearts
a desire to obey him. To obey God out of love is not
the same as seeking his merit or his salvation through our
obedience. Secondly, just because our faith
is not the effectual cause of our salvation, God does not reward us with salvation
because we made a decision to believe. We know that. The faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the cause of our salvation, yet there's
no salvation apart from faith. It's impossible to please God
without faith. And the Lord nowhere in the scriptures
tells us just to sit and wait. He tells us to believe. The Philippian
jailer asked the Lord, asked the apostles, asked Paul, what
must I do to be saved? Paul didn't say nothing you can
do, just go home, wait till God zaps you from heaven. No, he
didn't say that at all, did he? He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy household. And when
that Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip, what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thy may.
So this matter of faith, I've talked to people who say, well
now, you're making faith the cause of salvation. No, I'm not.
I'm saying what the scripture says. I'm saying what the scripture
says. Our faith is not the cause of
our salvation. But as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed and there's no salvation apart from
believing there's no salvation apart from faith the spirit and
the bride say come come when are we gonna be saved when the
Lord turns us when he turns us and he's commanded us to look
and to come hasn't he and here's the truth is when when you come
when you come you'll discover in coming that it was the Lord
that made you come it's just the way it works just because salvation from beginning
to end is a work of God's free and sovereign grace no question
about it God elected a people before the foundations of the
world The Lord Jesus Christ is that lamb that was slain before
the foundations of the world. His sacrifice and his blood was
always applied to God's people. What the Lord Jesus Christ did
in his life here in this world was to accomplish a perfect righteousness
and satisfy divine justice. He sends His Spirit to make us
willing in the day of His power and to keep us. Our salvation
is all of God, isn't it? It's all of God. You know there
are those who will conclude from that that there's no need to
preach the gospel. No need to preach the gospel.
God's elect are going to believe. They don't have to hear the gospel
to believe. Don't go there. The Lord uses the means of preaching,
doesn't He? He uses the means of hearing
His Word in order for us to believe. We don't deny the necessity of
gospel preaching for the salvation of God's people. And we don't
deny the necessity of faith for salvation. And we don't deny
the necessity of works. for the believer to to live his
life to the glory of God and in obedience to the Lord we just
don't we don't we don't deny those things we don't we don't
emphasize the sovereignty of God to the exclusion of what
the scriptures clearly teach and some people would say well
that's a contradiction no it's not it's not a contradiction
I don't have to reconcile it we just have to believe it don't
we the scripture teaches what I just said now those things having been
put in their proper order it is true it is true that feelings
come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving as the hymn writer
wrote my warrant is the word of God none else is worth believing
feelings can be deceiving can't they If we depend simply on our
feelings, we will err on the side of emotionalism. And yet we cannot deny the fact
that the power of God is an experience that's felt in the soul. It's an experience, yes, that
must always be subject to the truth. Whatever experiences we
have have to be, they have to be measured and put under the
spotlight of the truth. Otherwise they're just that,
they're just emotionalism. The subjective always has to
be made subject to the objective. And yet the gospel is both objective
and subjective. The gospel is based on the truth
that God has declared in His Word, and it's very subjective
in terms of our experience. When the Lord brings us to believe
it, there's an experience that we have. And that experience
ought not to be denied. It ought not to be put aside,
we ought not to deny our emotions, our feelings, our experiences.
These things are very much a part of the gospel. And this is what
the power of God is about. Otherwise we fall prey to what
Paul said in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 when he said they have a form
of godliness, they go through all the motions, they've even
got the doctrine, but they deny the power thereof. Now we can
understand that as men denying the accomplished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, which is the power of God. Paul said, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. But it's also a reference
to the experience that the believer has when the Lord is pleased
to make himself known to our souls and to our hearts. We're
not called to live a cold, static, unfeeling experience in our faith. This is a relationship. We can't put it down. I'm not
going to try to explain the power of God to you. I'm not going
to try to define it. You can't put it into words.
Any more than you can define love. How are you going to define
love? Well, 1 Corinthians 13 puts some
words to it, but you understand the point. It's experiential,
isn't it? You don't know anything about
love until you've been in love. You don't know anything about
the power of God until you've experienced the power of God. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. What is the power of God? Well,
as I said, there's no way it can be put into words. My hope is that the Lord would
not withhold it from us. There's a verse in Habakkuk chapter
3 that speaks of, we won't turn there right now, I'll just read
it to you, but Habakkuk chapter 3 speaks, the first few verses
in that chapter speak of the coming of the Messiah. And then
it says, His brightness was as the light And bright beams came
from his side and there was a hiding of his power. A hiding of his
power. Lord don't hide your power from
me. Don't hide your face from me.
Don't keep me from experiencing your grace in my heart. Don't let me just give some sort
of assent to doctrinal truths without having the experience
of the Lord Jesus Christ in my heart. That's where the power
of the gospel is. It is a divine work of grace
in the soul. It can't be described by words.
We can't define it or explain it so that we could say, okay,
now I understand. No, it has to be experienced.
It has to be experienced. First Corinthians chapter four,
Paul said, for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. It's not just in word. It's not
just the declaration of propositional truths. It's an experience with
God. I want to know something about
the power of God. I want you to know something
about the power of God. I want this gospel to be more
than just head knowledge for us. If we look at these verses, and
we've already quoted a few, that talk about the power of God,
as I said, my hope for us tonight is that the Lord will put in
our hearts a desire to experience His power. That's it. I'm not
going to try to tell you what his power is. I'm just going
to tell you what the scripture says about the power of God and
hope that the Lord will stir our hearts to desire his power. Lord give me your power. In John chapter 1 the scripture
says that the Lord Jesus Christ came unto his own in verse 11
and his own received him not speaking of the Jews but to as
many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons
of God That's more than just an intellectual understanding
of who Christ is. It's a familial relationship
with God Almighty. I will be their father and they
will be my sons and daughters. It's a relationship with Him,
isn't it? We err if we deny this vital
truth to be able to come into His presence. to be able to say Abba Father
to be able to experience his warm embrace and the lavishing
of his kisses to be able to come into his presence without fear
takes an experience of God's power in the heart to be able
to bow before him otherwise we're just we're just in cringing fear
of God to them who received to them God gave the power to become
the sons of God I wanna I wanna know something about what it
means to be a child of God in power And like our children that
are here tonight, they have no fear of this place. They have
no fear of their parents. They have no fear of us. They just come. They just enjoy each other's
company, enjoy our company, and we enjoy theirs, don't we? But
it won't be that way in your relationship with God or in my
relationship with God unless the Lord gives us power. to become the sons of God to
be able to relate to him as Abba Father Daddy that's really that's
what that means to know something of his pity
toward us as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him to have something of the power of God in my experience
in my relationship with God so that I can experience his pity
towards me and so that I can have confidence in his protection
and in his provision for me you have to have a relationship with
God as your father to enjoy that, don't you? The gospel has to come in power. It has to come in power. Faith
is not just some sort of intellectual assent where we agree to doctrinal
truths. We have to believe from the heart.
Turn to me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Lord, can you say with me right
now, Lord, I want to know something about this power. I want to know
something about it. Increase my faith. Lord, don't
let me just be a hearer of the word. Cause me to know your word
in power. First Corinthians chapter two,
look at Look at verse four. Paul says, and my speech and
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. Enticing
words of man's wisdom. Just articulating truths intellectually
in such a way as the men can comprehend them and say, well,
I got that. My preaching didn't come to you that way. but in
demonstration of the spirit and of power. If the spirit of God
doesn't empower his word to our hearts, it'll be nothing more
than just precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little,
there a little. That's all it'll be. It'll just be knowledge,
it'll just be information. What I'm saying is the power
of God takes the information of the gospel and inspires our
hearts to it. breathes life into it look at
the next verse that your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of men but in the power of God in the power of God and has to
be preached in the power of God nobody knows that better than
someone who's tried to preach the gospel everybody I every
I'm reminded of what Moses said in Exodus chapter 33 when they
were there at at the mountain and the Lord was about to direct
them out into the wilderness and Moses said if thy presence
go not with us carry us not up from hence Lord if you're not
going to go with us if your presence and your power is not going with
us don't let us leave this place Lord, if you're not going to
empower your word, don't let me just speak words that aren't
blessed by your spirit. Don't let our faith be in the
wisdom of words. Let it be in the power of God.
1 Thessalonians 1, verse 5, Paul
said, For our gospel came not unto you in word only, wasn't just a it wasn't just
a clear exclamation an explanation of scripture it didn't come to
you just in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost
and in much assurance you see that's the experiential part
isn't it that's the experiential part you know we've talked about
having in your head not having in your heart well You know,
the head and the heart is the same thing, but you can understand
some things. Intellectually, that's what he
said. Our preaching did not come to you in word only, but in power
and in the Holy Ghost. And what was the evidence of
that? Much assurance. Much assurance. The Lord comforted
my heart. He spoke peace to my heart. He
caused me to believe that this gospel was for me. It became
the experience of my soul when I knew something about the power
of God. Now again, let me back up and
reinforce my point I made a moment ago. Any experience, apart from
the truth, is nothing more than emotionalism. And we're not advocating
that, you know that. You know I'm not advocating that.
But truth without an experience? That's just hard, cold doctrine,
isn't it? That's all it is. Lord, give
us both. Let us try our experience by
the truth, but Lord, speak the truth so effectually to our hearts
that it becomes our experience. show me something about the power
of God the gospel must come with power Ecclesiastes chapter 8
verse 4 says where the word of the king is there is power this
is the word of the king the king of all kings and the Lord of
all lords this is his word Ecclesiastes with Solomon was talking about
you know the king of Israel but it's a where the word of the
king is there's power God empower your word to my heart Luke chapter
4 verse 32 says they were astonished at his doctrine for his word
was with power it was with power it was empowered by the Spirit
of God to the hearts of God's people. Where do we get this power from?
Where do we get it from? It comes from God but you remember
when they brought those unlearned and ignorant disciples before
the Sanhedrin after the ascension of Christ after the day of Pentecost
they were preaching in Jerusalem and turned the world upside down
and they brought these these fishermen and shepherds in, these
men that had not been to the proper schools, what did they
say? They took notice that they had
been with Jesus. These men spoke with power. They
didn't compromise the truth, they didn't compromise the gospel,
they weren't intimidated by the Sanhedrin. You decide when they
were told not to preach, what did Peter say? You decide for
yourself whether we should obey God or man. As for us, As for
us, we have no choice but to do what God's told us to do.
And they took notice that they had been with Jesus. That's where
they got the power from. And that's where you and I are
going to get our power from, aren't we? Being with Him. Spending
time with Him. Coming to this place. Hearing
Him declared and preached. Having time on our own to look
at His Word and to spend time. That's the experiential part
of our faith. That's where it comes, isn't
it? Lord, show us thy power. In Isaiah chapter 40 verse 29,
God says that He gives power to the faint. You say, I usually
don't know much about the power of God. I'm usually so weak and
faint and so sin sick that I don't know much about the power of
God. Well, that's when you get the power of God. He gives His
power to the faint. The faint of heart. Lord, I don't
have any power. That's it, isn't it? It's to
come before the throne of grace, confessing our need for power.
Our need for God to make Himself known to us. To shine the light
of the gospel in our hearts. To cause us to experience His
presence and His power. Psalm 110 says that He makes
His people willing in the day of His power. Yeah, it's the
only time you're going to be willing to believe the gospel.
There was a time when we didn't have the power to believe. We
didn't have the desire to believe. There's folks right now, they
just can't believe. But in the day of His power He
makes them willing. He makes him willing to bow,
he makes him willing to come, and the willingness that he gives
to his children in the day of his power is not just that one
time experience of salvation, but it's a continual coming to
him. The ability to obey God is only
by the power of God. He works in us, causing us to
willing to do his good pleasure. We don't know anything about
ability apart from his power. But with his power, Paul said,
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, strengthens
me with his power. That's the experience of the
gospel. Oh Lord, I want to know more about your power. I can
go to school, I can read books, I can listen to articulate preaching,
I can learn doctrine, but I need to know something of your power. I need for you to beat my sword
into a plowshare. I need for you to take my rebellion
and make me a servant. I need for you to demonstrate
your power in my heart. I'm not interested in just dressing
up. You know, religion is all about outward appearances, isn't
it? That's not what we're talking about. I'm about God doing a
work of grace in the heart. Giving us power from the heart.
cleaning up the inside. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
1. I'm sorry for those who will
hear a message like this and think that you're taken away
from the sovereignty of God. There are people that I'll get
emails from folks that are listening right now that will come to that
conclusion. Look at verse 11 in Colossians
chapter 1. Strengthened with all might according
to his glorious power. How are you going to resist sin?
How are you going to defeat the devil? How are you going to make
no provisions for the flesh? How are you going to honor God?
How are you going to obey Him? only by his power strengthened
with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience
and long-suffering with joyfulness how you gonna know the joy of
the Lord how you gonna be long-suffering and patient and full of joy only
by the power of God this is the this is the ministry of the Holy
Spirit that the Lord spoke of when he said that when the Spirit
of Christ comes He'll cause a river of living water to flow from
your heart. Look at verse 12, giving thanks
unto the father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light. Oh, he made us able by
his power who hath delivered us from the power of darkness
and translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. without the
power of God we are subject to the power of darkness aren't
we he's the only one that can deliver
us from the power of darkness and translate us into the kingdom
of his son and he does it by his power Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10
says finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of
his might I can't define power. I can't
put it into words. I can't give you a definition
for it. I can tell you what scripture says about it. And I hope the
Lord will cause each one of us to say, Oh, I want more of that
power. I want to know. What would Paul say that I might
know him? I have not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me. This one thing I do. forgetting
those things which are behind I press towards the mark for
the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus he goes on to
say all that I might know him and the what the power of his
resurrection the fellowship of his suffering Lord I need for
you to make this gospel and this truth and this knowledge that
you've blessed me with I need you to make it my experience
I need you to enable me to walk in the spirit in this power and
I can't do it if you don't give me your power Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20
says now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think he's the one that's able to do it
Lord, I just like to be delivered from this I just like to get
that and he does exceedingly abundantly above all that we
should ask or think according to the power that worketh in
us In other words he doesn't just
Bless us with the temporal thing that we're looking for but he
he He gives us the experience of his power to rejoice in him strengthened with all might according
to his glorious power and all patience with long-suffering
and joyfulness." That's the only way we're going
to live our lives, in power, is if He strengthens us. I think it was in Luke Scripture
says that with power, with power, the unclean spirits came out. The power of God, where the word
of the king was, that was power. When Christ spoke, he spoke with
power. Never a man spake like this man before. His word went
out with power. We're not saved by works. But good works are what the believer
longs for, desires for, hungers to obey God. We're not saved
by our faith, but we have faith, don't we? And we want more of
it. Lord, increase our faith. We're not saved by an experience. But a gospel that leaves us without
an experience? It's not the gospel I read of.
It's not the Christ I read of. It's not the one I have tasted
of and want to experience more of. He does a work of grace in the
heart. when He makes Himself known and He gives to His people
power. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we ask that You would cause us to know Your power. Or don't leave us to our own devices and our own
strength, our own ability. Fill our hearts with the joy
of the Lord. Give us the power of God. Increase it. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Number five in the Sopactin. Let's stand together. R.A.Z.E