I please the Lord to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
first book of the Chronicles, chapter 16, and we'll read verse
25. The first book of the Chronicles,
chapter 16, and reading verse 25. For great is the Lord, and
greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above
all gods. This was a psalm of David, a
psalm of thanksgiving. In actual fact, most of it occurs
in two or three psalms, actually in the book of Psalms, more or
less word for word, but none of it is consecutive. But here
we have on this wonderful occasion when the Ark was brought back
and placed in Gibeon and as you may know or remember that the
Ark had been brought up from the house of Obed-Edom and it
had been there because David had previously decided to bring
it up from where it was and he organised a new cart and people
to guide it and they placed the ark on the cart and one of the
oxen who was driving it or pulling it stumbled and Uzzah put forth
his hand to steady the ark and the Lord struck him dead because
he was doing and they were doing that which was not right. You
might say, well, what was not right? Well, the Lord had ordained
that the ark should only be carried by the Levites. It should not
be put on a cart, but it should be carried by the Levites. So
when David realized his error, and eventually he then arranged
the Levites to bring the ark back. And so this 16th chapter
tells us what occurred when they brought the ark back and set
it in the midst of the tent and David had pitched for it and
all the people had assembled together and on that occasion
David then gave to Asaph and his brethren this psalm to deliver
and it is a very wonderful statement really of God's goodness and
God's favour and he starts by saying give thanks and to the
Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people,
sing under him, sing psalms under him, talk ye of all his wondrous
works. That is good instruction then,
and it's good instruction for us today. Because for the most
part, people are very negligent of speaking in these terms. They're very negligent. We all
perhaps fail to give thanks unto the Lord, calling upon his name
and make known his deeds among the people. It's important really
to remember this was necessary in those days and as we've read
farther on in this chapter, a couple of verses before the 25th, in
verse 23 we read, sing unto the Lord all the earth show forth from day to day his
salvation, declare his glory among the heathen, his marvellous
works among all nations. I think that probably for the
most part we're very timid in our lives and perhaps we don't
follow the example that we had before us here in these Old Testament
days. And David was speaking to the
people and encouraging them to follow this pattern, to declare
what God had done. It's a good thing to declare
what God has done. You know, we all have opportunity,
don't we, when we're walking about and meeting people, meeting
our neighbours, meeting people at work and perhaps meeting along
with strangers. to have the opportunity to speak
of the things which God has done. And I suppose we might say we
have wonderful opportunities in the present time because our
nation's in a very dire situation, not knowing really what to do
or how to perform, and it gives us the opportunity to remind
people of what God has done in the past. We don't have to go
that very far to be able to remember, perhaps we don't remember, but
to read about the wonderful deliverances we had naturally in two world
wars, when God graciously came and delivered us from the enemy,
and we weren't any better, we weren't any more deserving than
those who were beaten, but it was the mercy of God. So we have
reason to be thankful then, and then we can go back further on
in our history and to be so thankful that God has given us the Bible
to read. And again today, there are still
many many people who do not have the Bible in their own language
and many people who are not able to actually read it openly because
they will be disobeying the laws of their country. So this is
a great blessing for us and it is a wonderful favour and we
should not be negligent and in telling people about these things. We might be mocked, we might
be ridiculed, but then we should expect that. We shouldn't be
surprised. And people may think we're fools.
Well, we've always been considered as fools, but we can bless God
that in his sight we are following that which is right and good.
So here was a gracious exhortation in David's time to speak of these
things so as he said give thanks unto the lord call upon his name
make known his deeds among the people sing under him sing psalms
under him talk he of all his wondrous works so you might say
perhaps that was amongst the their own people the jewish people
the israelites well so bad my friends it's good if we today
do just that there is there is surely a great lack of speaking
of all his wondrous works. It's very strange, isn't it?
When we think what God has done, wonderful things God has done
for us, wonderful privileges we have and enjoy, and yet you
see so easily we speak about everything else rather than the
wondrous works of God. And as he says, glory ye in his
holy name, Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Opportunity to rejoice in what
God has done. Remember his marvelous works
that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth. Well, this is the God that David
was speaking about, and it's the same God that you and I have
today. God has not changed. And those
things which were written then, when were spoken then, are as
true today as they were then. And so we come down then to these
words again saying that, sing unto the Lord all the earth,
show forth from day to day his salvation, declare his glory
among the heathen. That may feel and seem difficult,
but this is the word of God which encourages us in that And, you
know, there's people make excuses and say, well, of course, we're
told not to cast our pearls before swine. Well, I believe that's
a very different situation. I believe that really means that
we don't want to speak those things which God has perhaps
done very personally, very specially for our souls. But we are to
declare the work of God and we are to speak about his wonders. And there's no excuse for not
doing that. And as we find ourselves living,
really, in a dark day, and it's a dark day for a large extent
because God's people have forgotten the Word of God and they are
afraid and timid because of what may ensue. But we're thankful
today there are, in parts of the world, where there is much
opposition and much persecution, yet the people, the Christian
people, are bold. prepared to stand out, prepared
to risk their lives for their religion. We don't have that
position today, do we? We don't have any position where
we're going to be executed for confessing that we're a Christian
and confessing that we believe in the Bible, whereas of course
many nations that is so. So we should be very thankful
for the privileges and the blessings that we have and we should desire
therefore to acknowledge them. and to speak well of our God
in this evil day in which we live. Well then, David comes
down to say this, for great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above
all nations. And this word, greatly to be praised, really
means vehemently really means intensely it's not just some
whispering thing it's that which we should desire to do with a
full heart to praise our god because he is worthy of our praises
he is worthy of exaltation and my friends it's a blessing if
you and i are therefore favored to speak out and to speak these
truths for great is the Lord. Well I hope we all believe the
Lord is great. I hope we all have a right appreciation
of what his greatness is. Do you know if you want any encouragement
as to his greatness and what he's done you can turn to the
Paul's epistle to the Romans and the 8th chapter, and the
8th chapter gives us really a very long and useful list of the greatness
of God. And he tells us in the 8th chapter
and the 12th verse, he says, Therefore brethren, we are debtors
not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if we live after
the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the
Spirit, they are the sons of God." And the Apostle goes on
to encourage us in these things and do those things which are
right and God honoring and also we can go back to the Old Testament
and again in the 40th chapter of Isaiah a well-known chapter
to many of us we can read this about God the greatness of the
Lord and we're told in the 40th chapter and 12th verse who has
measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven
with a span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the balances in scales, and the hills in a balance. This gives us a little overview
really of God, who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being
his counsellor, hath taught him, with whom took he counsel, and
who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment,
and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding.
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted
as a small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the isles
as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient
to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. And so you can read through this
fourth chapter of Isaiah from verse 12, really down to, almost
down to the end. and to realise the Prophet speaks
so wonderfully about the greatness of God. To whom then will you
liken me? Or shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created
these things? That bringeth out their host
by number, he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of
his might. For that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. Well, I'm sure one of the failings
today is that we don't realise the greatness of God. The greatness
of God. We tend to treat God as ourselves. Someone like unto us. We don't
have that reverence. We don't have that godly fear.
And yet, this God is great. He is the Lord. There's no other
God like him. There's many of so-called gods
today, but they're not like the true God, and they're not like,
I hope, our God, that God who we worship, that God who we bow
down to. And as we may have some understanding
of the greatness of God, of course, we need to go back to creation
and realized that the Lord God spoke the world into being. And spoke the world into being
in those six days. A truth that many people today
of course, scorn and laugh at and ignore and mock. Nonetheless, the word of God
is true. Nonetheless, that fact is true.
And this is the great God before whom you and I stand. The God
who created all things, spoke all things into being. It's beyond
our natural mind. It's beyond our natural comprehension. And that's why this God is so
great. And also realize that this God is not somebody who's
just occurred. He is the eternal God. The eternal Father, the eternal
Son, and the eternal Spirit. You may say, well, of course,
Jesus Christ wasn't eternal, but he was eternal in his Godhead. From all eternity past, he was
born into this world in his human form, but he was the eternal
God. And again, that's something which
our little minds cannot grasp, to realize there was an eternity
when God always was, Always was. You say, well, how am I to believe
that? How am I to prove that? My friends,
we live by faith. We believe the great truths of
God. We believe the great truths contained
in the Bible. And to realize, therefore, that
almighty God ever has been and also ever will be. And He's a
God who does not change at all. He never grows old. He is the
same yesterday and today and forever. Well, for great is the
Lord. It's an amazing mercy and favour
if you and I have some faith to truly believe that this God
is the Almighty God. And we only have to read the
Bible from Genesis to Revelation to read on so many occasions
of the greatness and the might of this God who performed amazing
miracles and amazing things in the Old Testament when the enemies
of Israel were often defeated in a wonderful way. And it was
the power and the might of God. And yet, you see, although this
God is so great, he was so condescending to hear the prayers of his people. Again and again, we know he heard
the prayers of David, who we've read the account here of what
he said. Many times were God's people's
prayers heard. and the Lord appeared for them
in a wonderful way. Now this is the great God that
we have. And as we read the New Testament,
when Jesus came into this world to be able to read of some of
those miracles which are recorded for our encouragement, those
things which man could not do, just impossible, but God did. in wonderful and amazing ways. Now, those things we might say
are well and good, and so they are, and they should encourage
us. But of course, the greatness of our God is really in the salvation
of sinners. And when we think of that, to
think that we are sinners, We're sinners when we were born. We
were born in sin and shapen in iniquity. And our sinful condition
goes back, of course, to the Garden of Eden when Adam and
Eve listened to the evil one, Satan, disobeyed God, sin occurred. And that sin passed upon all
mankind. And that's why we today are born
in sin. And every person, therefore,
who is saved, who is delivered from that sinful condition is
so by none less than the great God, the great God, and the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we know, of course, that
the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world with that
divine objective, to save his people from their sins. The greatness of God, for great
is the Lord. Without the Lord Jesus Christ,
without the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, let us
not forget that the three people in the Trinity, The three Godheads
were equal, co-equal. It's a wonderful thought. It's
again difficult for us to comprehend, but nonetheless it is so. And
the second person in the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, willingly
came into this sinful world in order to deliver his people from
their sins. Great is the Lord. Do we view the Lord today as
the great God? Do we look at ourselves? And what are we? Lost. We're ruined. We're hell deserving. We have no hope in ourselves.
Where is our hope? Our hope can only be in that
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Great is the Lord. It was a great work. It was a wonderful work. May we be thankful to God that
it was so and that it was accomplished and there was no other good enough
to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate
or the door to heaven and let us in. No other good enough. No other man born on this earth. Why? Because everyone apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ was born in sin, was a sinner, could not
redeem himself, could not redeem ourselves. We needed someone
to come and to pay the price take away our sins, to redeem
our soul, to pay the ransom that was on our head. How was this
to be done? My friends, it was agreed in
eternity past by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Great is the mystery of godliness. It's a great mystery to us, but
nonetheless it was agreed and completed when the Saviour lived
on this earth and died on that cross, that sin atoning death. Great is the Lord. No one else could possibly have
satisfied the demands of the holy law of God. No one else. So do we say tonight,
yes, great is the Lord. Great is God the Father, because
we read, for God so loved the world, that he sent his only
begotten Son into the world, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have eternal life. The love of our God. It's beyond our comprehension,
and it shows forth the greatness of this God, of this Lord, who
didn't look upon us and say, well, there's someone who has
nothing. No, he looks upon us and loved
us in eternity past and loved us all through our life. If we
are indeed one of those who the Saviour speaks of, when he addressed
his disciples in the upper room and he said, you have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. and ordained you that ye should
go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. It was the love of God. It's wonderful to think that
Almighty God loved us unworthy sinners who didn't deserve anything. You and I can't say, well, I
think I deserve some notice. We don't deserve any notice.
Because we've disobeyed God. We turn against God. We don't
deserve any notice. What a mercy then if the Lord
has looked upon us in the moment we were born into this world
and has watched over us. And bless God if there has been
that time in our life when he has called us out of the darkness
of nature into the glorious light of the everlasting gospel. How
great is this Lord. Oh, do we value this Lord today
in our hearts. Do we praise him for that which
he has done? Because for great is the Lord
and greatly to be praised. You know, it's one of those things,
again, which we so fail, really, in our praise to God. Our praise
to God. And yet, you know, if you read
the Psalms, there is so much praise in the Psalms. So much
thankfulness to God for what He's done. Praise to our God. Greatly to be praised. Do we recognise that? Do we believe
it? Do we desire to praise Him for what He's done? Surely we
should do, should we not? When you think that there we
were, sinners with no hope, in darkness, deadness, no ability
to redeem our souls. but the Lord looked upon us and
loved us. My friends, and that wasn't just
a passing love, that was with an everlasting love. The love which will never disappear. How glorious is that truth. As we may have the evidence of
God's love in our hearts, And the effect of God's love toward
us will be that we in return will love him. It's not the reverse.
It's only that way. God's love to us is first. Not
that we loved God, but that he loved us. And if the Lord has
indeed shown us his love, shown us his love toward us in calling
us, calling us out of darkness into the glorious light of the
gospel, and shown to us that the Lord Jesus himself was willing
to suffer and to die upon that cross to redeem our souls. Is that not a reason, a great
reason to praise God? the faint God. Is it not? Often we're so backward, aren't
we really, in these things today? But it's a great mercy if the
Holy Spirit comes upon us and really touches our heart and
shows us what the Lord has done. We haven't been left on one side. He hasn't passed us by as we
deserved. No, he looked upon us in love
to our souls and said, as he saw us in our blood, live. Oh, bless God for that life which
he gives. Great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised. And so we have reason, don't
we, to praise God. We have reason today to praise
God. You see, we're here tonight.
We're blessed with the privilege of being able to come together
to worship. We're blessed with freedom. We're
blessed with liberty. We don't have to be afraid of
coming here tonight, of being arrested. Right these blessings
are to us. There are many in the world who
do not enjoy these privileges, and we do. And yet, do we praise
God for them? Do we thank God for them every
day? As we come to God in prayer,
do we come with thanksgiving and praise to Him for what He's
done for us, for His mercy, for His compassion? We haven't been
cast out, we haven't been cast off, we're still here on praying
ground and we're still here able to thank and to praise Him for
his great salvation, well he is greatly to be praised. And as I said, to praise him
then vehemently and fervently, and not just in a, as it were,
some chore we have to pass through, may really come from our very
hearts because of what God has done. for us. Never underestimate the greatness
of salvation, because salvation delivers us from eternity in
hell. Without that salvation, there's
no hope, and we shall die lost. We shall die without Christ. We shall spend eternity with
the devil and all his angels. It's not something trivial. It's
very, very serious. And it's very, very important
that each one of us has the wonderful knowledge that we have this great
God who has loved us and this great God who is worthy to be
praised, greatly to be praised. May we all recognise what God
has done. And if we haven't got any evidence
of what God has done for us, then may we pray earnestly that
we may have, that God may show us that we are one of his children,
and that he has taken away all our sins, that he has shed his
most precious blood on that cross of Calvary to pay the price that
was due to us. You see, the greatness of God
shines forth so gloriously at Calvary in that finished work
to redeem unworthy sinners. And surely, as you and I, by
God's grace, come to the cross and look to the Lord Jesus and
view what he has done for us, all that he endured, so that
we might be blessed with the forgiveness of sins, to realise
that through that, We shall one day be with him in paradise. Now I don't believe that praise
to God begins in heaven. You see the word of God tells
us in Isaiah, we are his witnesses. When we think what God has done
for us, surely we should be willing and desiring to testify of his
love toward us, of his mercy that we received, of his love
which has come into our hearts. Oh, what great blessings these
things are. My friends, they're far beyond
anything that you and I can achieve in this life. We might own the
whole world and end up in hell. Whereas we might owe nothing
in this world and end up in glory. There's a vast difference. What a wonder it is if you and
I have therefore the favour of the mercy of God toward us. And surely if that is so, if
God has revealed himself unto us As our God and as our Saviour,
surely that is reason to praise Him greatly to be praised. These words are not written without
any need, without any emphasis, they are written for our direction,
and for our guidance as we now walk upon the earth. Let us never,
therefore, turn away from them. Let us never think they don't
apply to us, that somehow we can be excused from these things.
When the Lord touches our hearts, we won't want to be excused.
We will want to praise him. We'll want to honour him. We'll
want to acknowledge His great love and His great favour toward
us. It won't be a hardship. That
which perhaps we thought would be, it'll be our pleasure, it'll
be our privilege to come and to acknowledge the greatness
of our God. Oh, great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised. It's so important, we can't really
get a grasp of the greatness such a statement and yet so important
it is and then he goes on to say he also is to be feared above all gods and that means
he is to be revered above all gods he is preeminent above all
gods let us not be found therefore following any gods we might say
well I don't follow any gods you and I may have some idols
I don't know there may be some little idols that you've got
which you are kind of secretly worshipping you might not think
they're gods but sometimes we need to just check it out and
see whether we have got some little gods in our lives which
we are worshipping well this God is greater than all those
things far far greater He also is to be feared. You see, it's
a mercy today if we revere this God. Today, this great God is
not revered very much. People treat Him as though He's
just somebody else, just one of us. But this God is high and
lifted up. Isaiah had a view, didn't he?
I saw the Lord high and lifted up. And when the Holy Spirit
shows to us something of the greatness of our God, we'll bow
down. We'll bow down before Him. We're
desired to acknowledge Him as our Lord and our Master, as our
great and glorious Saviour. It won't be something which will
be a hardship to us. It may be before the Holy Spirit
directs us, but when that Spirit comes into our hearts, We will
be willing servants to bow down. Willing servants to serve our
God. Willing servants to follow the
word and commands of our God and may not be left to ourselves
when we realise what the Lord has done to redeem our souls. May we often be found at the
cross of Christ. May we often be meditating upon
the cost of our salvation because that will produce in our little
mind something of the greatness of our God, and the wonderful
favour of our God to such unworthy sinners, and to rejoice then
in this great work of salvation. You see, the David goes on to
say, or at least the record goes on to say, for all the gods of
the people are idols. but the Lord made the heavens. Just in case we don't appreciate
the difference. The Lord made the heavens. Glory
and honor are in his presence. Strength and gladness are in
his place. And he says, give unto the Lord
ye kindred of the people. Give unto the Lord glory and
strength. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto his name. bring an offering. Well we don't
bring an offering of course today of animals but we do bring an
offering and you may say well what is that? It's the offering
of our lips to testify of his marvellous works in our soul. The offering of our lips. Oh
friends what a blessing it is to bring such an offering and
come before him and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. When you and I stand, as it were,
before God and see his greatness, we'll have some little view of
his holiness. When we have some little view
of his greatness and holiness, we will then be very small in
our own estimation. Very small. And the effect of
that, I believe, is this. We should be made willing in
the day of His power. To hear His voice, to do His
will, willingly, not grudgingly, willingly. Because it's a wonderful
privilege to realise the greatness of this God. And to think, therefore,
that He is our Master. He is our Lord, our Saviour. He is that One who has died on
our behalf and He's paid the debt for our salvation that you
and I could never pay. Do we not say tonight, what a
Saviour! What a Saviour! How great and
how glorious He is to redeem my soul and therefore to stand
with David and be able to come and say, for great is the Lord
and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared, reverenced
above all gods. Amen.