I please God to bless us together
this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the book
of Job chapter 36 and reading verse 26. The book of Job chapter
36 and reading verse 26. Behold God is great and we know
him not. Neither can the number of his
years be searched out. I'm sure one of our difficulties
and problems which we have in the day and age in which we live,
and indeed perhaps all through the ages, is to have a right
appreciation of the greatness of God. I'm sure we tend to have little
views of God. And we tend to treat God almost
as another human being. And yet, the true God, the God
of the Bible, is that one who is the Almighty God. And it is
a blessing if we have some conscious realization of the greatness
of God. And so, says Elihu, as he's addressing
Job, after his three friends had stopped, and Elihu came and
spoke, and he says now to Job, behold, God is great. And it's good for us tonight,
if by God's grace we do behold that God is great. And I'm sure
if we have a right understanding of that, it will influence our
lives. Because God is great as God the
Father, and God is great as God the Son, and God is great as
God the Holy Spirit. And all three are indeed the
great God. It is a mystery that our natural
minds cannot comprehend. It is just beyond our natural
knowledge. But it's a wonderful favour if
the Lord gives us faith, simple faith, to believe the great truth
of God, that God is great. And I believe the greatness of
God is demonstrated to us by everything we observe in nature
around us. as we believe that the Lord created all things. And if we ponder that consideration,
to think that the Lord spoke the world into being, surely
that should influence us to behold God is great. But of course we
have an evil nature, an unbelieving nature, a nature which perhaps
doubts the truth of God's Word, because to believe such truths
is outside of our nature. We cannot naturally come to a
conclusion that God spoke the world into being. But as God
gives us faith to believe these things, then, as we do believe
them, then surely God does become great in our estimation and understanding,
to believe there is such a God. And my friends, you and I have
to deal with that great God. You and I stand before that great
God. And it's that great God that
has made us. It's that great God who has kept
us that great God who is guiding us, that same almighty God that
spoke the world into being. No wonder Elihu said, behold
God is great. There are many beholds in the
word of God and it is good for us today to take hold of such
a word to really desire to behold that God is great. Because if
we have some understanding of the greatness, we'll never have
a perfect understanding. If we have some understanding,
it will, I'm sure, be a help to us and an encouragement to
us. So that in our little lives,
when we have what we may think to be great things, difficult
things, mountains, we have a great God who is able to deal with
them. Those things which are impossible
for us are just beyond our reach, beyond our comprehension. We
have a God who knows the end from the beginning and a God
who can deal with all those things which appear so difficult before
us because God is great. Isaiah had a view of God's greatness. my friends just think of Isaiah
he had a vision and the beginning of that was he tells us in the
year that King Isaiah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple above
it stood the seraphims each had six wings with twain he covered
his face Between he covered his feet and between he did fly.
And one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the
Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Well, it'll be a blessing if
we have a desire to know something of the holiness of this great
God. No sin, complete purity. He is a holy God. And if we view that rightly,
we shall then understand that God the Father cannot look upon
us as sinful creatures. But He looks at us, upon us,
through the merits of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He sees us then forgiven. He sees us sanctified, he sees
us justified all through the merits of his only beloved son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so God is holy and it's good
to recognise that whenever we walk, whatever we do, to realise
a holy God is looking upon us perhaps more particularly when
we pray to realise this great holy God is looking upon us and
therefore not to come in a careless way. We may come suddenly, there
may be things which cause us to pray suddenly, we may not
appear to have very much preparation but nonetheless its rights to
come in a reverent way to Almighty God, and to not just to rush
unthinkingly into the presence of Almighty God, realising He
is so great and so high and so holy. Isaiah, as he was faced
with a little view of the greatness of God, He goes on, and the post
of the door moved, and the voice of him that cried, and the house
was filled with smoke. And what did he say then? He
said, then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. What a comparison there was between
the holiness of this great God and the sinfulness of Isaiah. And surely for us today, the
same thing is true. We may not, we are very unlikely,
to be blessed with a vision like Isaiah had. But nonetheless,
in essence, to still come and to stand before this holy God
and to realise what we are. And come and say, woe is me. When we pray to God, I wonder
if we come like that and we say, woe is me. as we see something
of our sinful nature, the evil of our heart, and we have to
confess, for I am undone, left to myself. I have no hope. I have no hope. Because I am
a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips, for mine eyes have seen the King and the Lord of hosts.
You see, Isaiah was honest in the words he spoke. And as the
Spirit of God may come and direct us to look within and to perhaps
remember some of the things which we may have said, unclean words,
unclean thoughts, indeed we find ourselves dwelling in the midst
of a people of unclean lips. And so what a difference there
is between our condition and the holiness of Almighty God. Now I believe if we have some
little view of the greatness of this God, it will direct us
to the need for a mediator. One who can mediate on our behalf,
mediate for us, can present our prayers. And of course, wonderful
it is, we do have a mediator between God and man, and that
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, the Blessed Saviour
is also the Great God. The Father is the Great God.
The Saviour is the Great God and the Holy Spirit is the Great
God. And we should therefore not think that we can treat one
differently to the other. But this Great God is holy and
high and lifted up as the Prophet was able to declare. High and
lifted up. Well, we can thank God if we
have been favoured to have a little view of such a God, high and
lifted up, and yet coming humbly and yet boldly to the throne
of grace, to the mercy seat, that we may find help in time
of need. Behold, God is great. No doubt about it. I wonder if
we really and truly appreciate the greatness of this God. And
as I said, to think really, to give us something of the view,
I think there's no greater favour than to think of the things of
creation, to think of the wonderful power of God in these things. And the evidence, of course,
is all around us. It's not something that we do
not see. It's something we can observe.
how God brings life. Man cannot bring life, but God
brings life. He is a great God. And this is
the great God with whom you and I have to deal. We have to deal
with such a God. We are born as sinners into this
world. We stand guilty and condemned
because of our sin. And does it not then lead us
and direct us to the greatness of God in salvation? The wonder of it, that such a
God should condescend to look upon sinful man. God made man
perfect. God made man upright. And there
he was placed in the Garden of Eden. And they're in that perfect
environment, tempted by Satan and sinned. Disobedience. Disobedience. My friends today, we're really
in the same place, aren't we? We stand before this great God.
We know what this great God has spoken. This great God has said
in his word. And what do we do? We listen, just like Eve, to
Satan. And we find we're tempted. And we find we fall. and we sin against this great
God. And yet if we were able to ponder
it rightly, to think that that great God can take our breath
away in a moment, might it not influence us more in our lives
today? But we have to mourn Just like the Prophet did, in his condition,
woe is me. He wasn't satisfied with it.
He wasn't pleased with his condition. He confessed, woe is me. Well, how's our position? Do we come before this great
God? And as we come before this great
God, do we have to say, woe is me. Woe is me. How bad I am. How I fail. How sinful I am. And yet, I observe
this gracious God has not dealt with me as my sins deserve. Oh, how great is this God? How gracious is this God? Well, the psalmist knew the greatness
of God and my friends, it's a good meditation to think upon the
greatness of the Lord and there are a number of psalms which
encourage us with the greatness of God, Psalm
48, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. That makes sense,
doesn't it? Great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his
holiness. Well, do we believe we have this
great God, great is the Lord? And do we recognise He is greatly
to be praised. He is greatly to be praised because
this holy great God has not dealt with us as our sins deserve. Do we acknowledge that? Do we
recognize that it is of the Lord's mercies that you and I are not
consumed It's because of the great mercy
of God that we are still here. Because we have offended Almighty
God. Do we realise we have offended
God? And we do offend God? And we continue to offend God?
This great God? And therefore is he not worthy
to be praised and greatly to be praised? in the city of our
God, in the mountain of holiness. And we know that this God therefore
is worthy. And the last verse in this 48th
Psalm, we're told, for this God is our God forever. Great is the Lord. Behold, God is great. And if we have a realisation
of the greatness of our God, and then to think this God has
looked upon us in mercy. He hasn't cut us off. We're still
on praying ground. For this God is our God forever
and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. That was the confidence of the
psalmist. He was confident in this great
God, confident in the mercy of this great God, but desiring
that this great God also should be praised, and that this God
was his God. It wasn't somebody that he turned
away from, no, it was somebody that he desired to honour and
to glorify. And so it would be a good thing
in our lives today If we acknowledge the truth of the Psalms, how
wonderful they are. Do they not express very often
the condition of our soul? Again, Psalm 95, the psalmist
says, O come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful
noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence
with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms, well
that's the introduction. And then the psalmist says, for
the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. Sometimes the picture of a king
is helpful to us because we know that naturally a king is an important
person. Well, the Almighty God is not
just a king, he is a king. but he is the king of kings. And as we would act before a
natural king, how much more should we act before the king of kings? And be able to understand and
say from our heart, yes, the Lord is a great God. He is a very merciful God. And he is a great king above
all gods. And he expounds the greatness
of this God, and he says, in his hand are the deep places
of the earth, the strength of the hills is his also, the sea
is his, and he made it. And his hands formed the dry
land. Now then, with such a testimony,
he then says, O come, Let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our Maker. It would be good, you see, if
we have a right understanding and a right appreciation of the
greatness of this God like this. He says, oh come, let us worship
and bow down. How many times have we perhaps
gathered for worship and we've not bowed down? We haven't perhaps realised that
we're sitting before this great God. This great God. This God who is looking right
into your heart and my heart at this very moment. He knows
exactly what we're thinking. And therefore, is it appropriate
in our case to be able to say, oh come, let us worship. and
bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. What do we really think of Almighty
God tonight? It's very easy, isn't it, to
act out a form of religion. But the truth is, God looks in
our heart and God hasn't changed. God's the same Great God, behold
God is great as he was from the very beginning right up till
now and he will be forever. Surely that should influence
us so that we cannot, we must not trifle with such a God as
this. We should be concerned therefore
to be found in a true state of worship. Well the Lord knows tonight whether
we are in a state of worship or not. The true state of worship
is to bow down before God and to be willing to hear his voice
and to be willing to be directed by him, to dispense with all
our own ideas and plans and to come just very simply before
the Lord our maker. For he is our God and we are
his people, the people of his pasture and the sheep of his
hand. Today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts. How often have we hardened our
hearts? We've sat in our seat. we've
hardened our heart. We haven't appreciated, we haven't
really understood how great is the Lord. And we've thought we
can manage our own lives. We thought we can dictate what
is to be done. But here we see the Psalmist
in a right condition, desiring therefore to be found walking
before He is God. And therefore he says, harden
not your hearts. And he gives us the example as
in the provocation and as in the day of the temptation in
the wilderness when your fathers tempted me, proved me and saw
my work. Forty years long was I grieved
with this generation and said it is a people that do err in
their heart and they have not known my ways. Well my friends,
I hope that doesn't apply to us, but you know we need to examine
ourselves very carefully. Because the words that were spoken,
unto whom I swear in my wrath, that they should not enter into
my rest. See those who turned their back
upon this great God, they didn't appreciate how powerful and mighty
he was. They thought he was like one
of them. They trifled with God. My friends, God didn't trifle
with them. And this great God will not trifle with you and
me today. And so the psalmist goes on.
In Psalm 96, and it's just worthy to note these points, he comes
and says, sing unto the Lord a new song. If you and I have been brought
before this great God, perhaps for the first time. Yes, we've
understood in some way that there's a God. We've never perhaps been
brought before that God, as it were face to face. And it's when
you and I are alone before this great God. We can't hide anywhere. We're before God and it's as
though there's no one else. And God is looking right into
our hearts. Seeing unto the Lord, bless his
name, show forth his salvation from day to day. Well, we have
reason to do that. Can we do it? Have we a hope
in this great salvation? declare his glory among the heathen,
his wonders among all people, for the Lord is great and greatly
to be praised." You see we have a repetition of this important
consideration. The Lord is great and greatly
to be praised. He is to be feared above all
gods. We're told the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. That means eternal wisdom. And
so, do we possess the fear of the Lord? And if we do, that
fear of the Lord is to fear our position before a holy God as
we stand before him. We stand exactly as we are. As it were, we're naked. We can't
clothe ourselves. We're absolutely, completely
transparent as well. God sees us through and through. This great God. For all the gods
of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honour and majesty are before
him. Strength and beauty are in his
sanctuary. Give unto the Lord. O ye kindreds
of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto his name. Again, if we have an understanding
of the greatness of this God in some small measure, have we
given unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. That is that
the Lord has shown to us, reveals to us, in measure His greatness. And our condition as we stand
before a holy God, I worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
And you and I won't be able to worship in the beauty of holiness
unless we have a right appreciation in measure of the greatness of
this God and truly desire to bow down and to worship Him. And so says Elihu, behold God
is great. God is great. Just one last reference
in the Psalms, because the Psalmist is very full of these important
considerations. In the 135th Psalm we read, Now what a blessing if you and
I can say from our hearts, for I know that the Lord is great
and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and in earth. and in the seas and in
all deep places. You can read the 135th Psalm
when you get home and it just describes some of the great things
that the Lord has done. Behold, God is great. Well, he's
great in salvation. What a wonderful work that is. Again, that's beyond our natural
understanding to think that the Lord God Almighty sent his only
begotten Son into this sinful world, that whosoever believeth
on him should be blessed with that glorious gift of eternal
life." The love of God. How great it is. How great it
is to love such an unworthy sinner as you and me. As we stand before
a holy God and we say, woe is me. I'm ashamed of the words
I've spoken. I'm ashamed of my thoughts and
actions. Woe is me. And yet, this great
God loved me so much. Amazing that it is so. That he sent his only beloved
son. into this sinful world that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish but have eternal life. The greatness of Almighty God. What a blessing it is then to
have such a great God who doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve. You ponder today the sins that
have been committed And yet to think that God looks
upon us still in love to our souls, because if we are his
chosen people, we have been loved in everlasting love, and that
love will never cease. Does that not surely show to
us this great love of this great God in salvation? And what a
wonderful plan it was. It was a plan that you and I
could not have conceived. But the greatness of that plan
was to show the Lord's infinite mercy in sending his only beloved
son and the amazing willingness of his only beloved son to come
into this world, and to die that sin-atoning death, to live that
perfect life. We have before us the greatness
of God in the sinful life of the Saviour. You just ponder
for a moment the ease it is to sin, in thought and deed, and
word, so easy isn't it? And yet this gracious saviour,
he never sinned. And yet he was tempted in all
points like as we are. The greatness of this God, what
a great God we have. And then this great God tempted
all through those 33 years. Just think of the The struggle. You think of the struggle in
our lives. Think how we often fail, how we often give in to
the temptation of Satan. My friends, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he won the battle. Yes, Satan could not make him
sin. He did all that he could. The
Lord Jesus Christ stood firm and strong. The greatness of
our God we observe in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
think of the death and he died. As he died that death in our
place, he bore the punishment instead. And not just for my sins, not
just for your sins, but the sins of all His people, from the very
beginning of time to the very end of time. It's impossible
for us to imagine the weight of that sin that the Saviour
carried. Sometimes our sin is heavy, isn't
it? Sometimes it's very heavy. And
yet you see the Saviour carried all the sins of His chosen people. And He paid the price necessary
so that they might be paid for, so that they were taken away,
they were atoned for. And of course that price was
His sin atoning death. The greatness of the Saviour,
the greatness of salvation. Wonderful. Great. God is great. Remember, behold,
God is great. And how important it is that
we do behold this great God in all his holiness, in all his
love, in all his mercy, in all his compassion. And then to think
this great God has indeed prepared a place in glory for his people. The glory of heaven I have not
seen. No one has seen the glory of
heaven. And yet you see, the Lord has gone to repair a place,
this great God. What a great glory it is. Because
God is there, Jesus is there, God the Father is there, God
the Holy Spirit is there in all the mystery of the Trinity, which
will be revealed to all his church when they get safely home at
last. And then we shall truly behold
this great God. Behold, God is great. Surely
we shall come then to that place and behold the wonder of it,
the wonder of the majesty. He will then be indeed high and
lifted up. But you know, I believe in measure.
His people worship here on earth. They do bow down. They do acknowledge
the greatness of this great God. He is not, in their view, a little
God who can be discounted, who can be turned away from, who
can be ignored, who can be disobeyed. I believe the true born-again
child of God desires to do the will of Almighty God. And bow down in exactly the same
way as the Saviour did in that Garden of Gethsemane when He
came and He said, Mark the words, nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. That really is submitting to
the greatness of God. Not my will, but thine be done. And the Lord's will must be right,
mustn't it? Must be right. Sometimes we almost
intend or infer that we know better. My friends, God knows
what is best. And the Lord has planned everything.
Again, it's beyond our greatest thought to think that the Lord
in eternity past planned everything that has occurred, is occurring,
and will occur in this whole world, indeed in this vast universe,
all the planets and stars which are flowing round. Everyone is
known to God. Man, poor little puny man, thinks
he's getting great by discovering various galaxies, but my friends,
the Lord knows everyone, every single one, in all its detail. Great is this God. Behold, God
is great. And to think this great God has
looked upon you and me. Those who are to cry out, woe
is me, for I am undone. It's an amazing thought, isn't
it? It's a great truth, isn't it? That we today are blessed,
wonderfully blessed, to have the evidence of this great God
before us. before us in creation and before us in the Word of
God. The Word of God explains to us
in such great detail the greatness of this God. And I believe as
the Lord blesses us with spiritual growth, you know, we pray, don't
we? I hope we do, that we may grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. And if that prayer is answered, what it will be is
that God will be greater and greater in our view. We will
then be found truly bowing down and acknowledging that this God
is our God. He will be our guide even unto
death. He is that one who we bow down
to as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and recognise the wonderful
love, the wonderful mercy and the wonderful grace of this great
God to such unworthy sinners. Amen.