Tell of His excellent greatness.
Forever in joyful psalm. That's what we're going to do.
Turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 135. Psalm 135. Let's read
verse 5 together. Psalm 135 verse five, it says,
for, I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all
gods. David said, I know that. I know that the Lord is great. and that our Lord is above all
gods. Now let me give you the point
of our message today. This is the focal point, this
is the object, all right? Of every great thing that can
be seen, and every great thing that can be
known, and every great thing that can be
done, Christ is greater. Christ is greater. That's the
title of this message. And that's the whole point of
it. That's the whole point of it. Christ is greater. The Lord is great. And He's above all gods. He's above everything. He is
above everything. Now, that's all I want to say.
That's literally all I want to say. That's all I want us to
see. That's all I want us to enjoy. Christ is greater. What we're going to do, and I
say this carefully, I say this carefully, but we're gonna brag
on him. That's what we're gonna do. I
thought about little kids. You know how little kids do.
Yeah, well, he's greater. Yeah, well, my God's greater.
That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna brag on him. Christ
is greater. He's greater. No matter what
it is, we're gonna declare Christ is greater, and he is. He truly
is. The apostle Paul asked the question
in Romans chapter three, he asked this question. He said, where
is boasting? And he answered that question
right there. And he answered that question
in first Corinthians chapter one. And he answered that question
in Galatians chapter six. And he answered that question
all over the place, in all kinds of ways, every way known to man.
Where is boasting then? He said, it's in the Lord. It's in the Lord. He said, if
any man glory, let him glory in the Lord. He said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now by God's grace, that's what
we're going to do this morning. And that is all we're going to
do this morning. I don't have a complicated outline
today. Uh, sometimes, you know, I have
points and sub points and all right, number one, number two,
I don't have that today. I don't have any of that today.
I only have one point. Christ is greater. That's it, that's all I have
to say. Christ is greater. David constantly said in the
Psalms, he said, great is he, and greatly to be praised. And
that's so. He is worthy to be praised for
his greatness. As I was writing this out, I
was thinking, you know, this is a good thing to do, just to
praise him. just to praise Him. That's it. Only to praise Him for His greatness. Look with me right here at verse
one. It says, praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord. Praise Him, O ye servants of
the Lord. Praise Him and praise His name. Praise him for who he is and
praise him for what he has done. That's what worship is. That's what preaching is. That's
what the gospel is. That's what we're doing. We are
praising him for who he is and for what he's done. Praise him. Praise him. Tell of his excellent
greatness. That's what we just sang. Praise
Him for who He is. Who is He? Who is He? Well, let's skim a
few verses together here. Go with me to Psalm 113. Psalm 113 verse four says, the
Lord is high above all nations and His glory above the heavens. Now, there's another verse we're
gonna read in a minute and it's gonna emphasize that statement. But you know, we think of our
God is in the heavens And he is, but that says he's above
the heavens. He's above the Lord is high above
all nations and his glory above the heavens. Verse five says,
who is like unto the Lord, our God who dwelleth on high. Who is like him? He's the one
who dwells on high. He is high above and his glory
is high above. Who is like him? Here's the answer. No one. No one. In Isaiah 40, he said,
to whom will you liken me? To whom will you liken me? Look at Psalm 93 with me. Psalm 93 verse 1 says, the Lord
reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength,
wherewith he hath girded himself. The world also is established
that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of
old. Thou art from everlasting. The
floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their
voice. The floods lift up their waves.
The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters.
Yea, then the mighty waves of the sea that testimonies are
very sure holiness become a thine house. Oh Lord forever. It doesn't
matter what we're talking about on land or sea. The Lord on high
is mightier. He's the greatest look at Psalm
92 verse one. It is a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. I've mentioned before that it's
a good thing when we pray to Him to give thanks and to praise
Him rather than constantly asking for things. I say that all the
time. I don't believe I'm capable of doing that. I don't know if
I've ever prayed to him and not ask him for something. Even consciously,
I still have to ask him for things, but it's a good thing to just
praise him and to just thank him and to just acknowledge him
for who he is, what he's done, and then be silent. Oh, it's
such a good thing. It's a good thing to glorify
Him. You know, He is lifted up, but
it's a good thing to lift Him up and acknowledge where He is.
It's a good thing to glorify and lift up thy name, O Most
High, the Most High, whose name is lifted up. Now I want you
to turn with me somewhere. We're going to turn a little
bit. But let's stop by our text along the way. We're going somewhere,
but go to our text along the way. Go back to Psalm 135. O Most High, whose name is lifted
up. All right, his name is lifted
up. Psalm 135, look at verse five. It says, for I know that
the Lord is great. You see that capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D? That's Jehovah. And that our
Lord, and do you see that capital L, lowercase o, lowercase r,
lowercase d? That our Lord is above all gods. What is His name? What is His
name? We're told to praise the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord. What it, who are we talking about? What is the name of the most
high? We'll turn with me to Philippians
chapter two. Philippians chapter two, verse
five. It says, let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That's who the capital
L, lowercase O, lowercase R, lowercase D is. Jehovah, yes. Christ Jesus. Now see if the
Lord will let you enter into these verses. Verse six, who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Do you know how holy that statement
is? For somebody to think I am equal
with God. And he's just in doing so, right
in doing so, because he is God. In the beginning with God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but verse seven says, he made himself of
no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant. He became the servant of God,
his father. He came to in the service of
his father to serve his people. He came to carry something for
them. He came to bear something for them. And it was their sin. He took
upon Him the form of a servant, as a humbled servant for sin. And He was made in the likeness
of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. Acts chapter 8 says He humiliated
Himself. He bore that sin before the judgment
throne of God, And he became obedient unto death, bearing
that punishment, bearing that penalty, even the death of the
cross. And because he did that, verse nine says, wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is
above every name. And do we realize how privileged
we are to know that name? And say that name, you talk about
a name that rolls off the tongues of men and women. That name is
above every name. Verse 10 says that at the name
of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven. And I want
to do that perfectly sinlessly. I want to bow to him. And every knee should bow in
earth and every knee is going to bow under the earth. And every
tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord capital
L lowercase. O R D to the glory of God, the
father. What is the name of the most
high here? It is Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord Jesus
Christ, sweetest name I know. Hope of earth, joy of heaven,
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other name as high
and lifted up. There is no other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. Blessed be the name of the Lord most high. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. He is the greatest. He is the highest. Now let's
repeat something that our brother just said. Turn with me over
to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12 verse 38 says, Then certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from
thee. But he answered and said unto
them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet
Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now, we just
heard, I knew he was gonna bring that for the Bible study. And
we just heard him expound on that glorious event of God sending
Jonah to Nineveh. Amazing. That truly is amazing. You think about how amazing it
was that this man, Jonah was actually in a whale's belly. Think about that for three days
and three nights, and he lived through it. He was carried down to the bottom
of the ocean and he lived through it. That fish spit him out and after
the fish spit him out, he went and started preaching the gospel. And it does not say if every
single person in Nineveh was saved or not. It does not literally
say the words, every single person in Nineveh. But the scripture says, the city
of Nineveh repented at the preaching of that one man. Can you imagine what we just
heard about that man going into the center? I can't imagine.
I cannot imagine. You know, who is sufficient for
these things? Well, I'm not, Joan is not, nobody
is. Can you imagine a man going into
the heart of a city and crying what he was told to cry? And
the city is crushed. And the city falls down, the
city bows down. Can you imagine? Well, look at
verse 41. The men of Nineveh shall rise
in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because
they repented at the preaching of Jonah. He said, and behold, greater than Jonah's here. Christ is greater. You think Jonah as a picture,
as a type, you think he was great? Just look to the one he was picturing. Just look at what those three
days and those three nights pictured. The Son of Man being in the heart
of the earth. Just look at what his resurrection
out of that fish's belly pictured. Just look at what the good news
from that one man by the good news of one man, just one man. Look at what that picture, Christ,
the man, the good news that has come through Christ, the man,
he said a greater than Jonah's here. Verse 42 right here says
in the queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with
this generation and shall condemn it. For she came from the uttermost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold
a greater than Solomon's here. Boy, Solomon was quite a man. All of his wisdom, all of his
riches. He was a great picture of Christ. That's what he was. But even
so, the picture does not come close to the reality of the one
Solomon represents. Jesus Christ, the Lord. He said,
behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The King of kings is
here. At the beginning of this chapter
here in Matthew chapter 12, some Pharisees were rebuking the Lord. because they said that he was
disgracing their laws and he was disgracing their holy days
and their holy places. Look at verse six, Matthew 12,
verse six, it says, but I say unto you that in this
place is one greater than the temple. He said, you're worshiping your
temple. You worship in your temple and
you worship your temple, which is what people do. You think
it's a holy place you think is full of holiness. He said, the
one standing right in front of you is greater than your temple.
That temple represents the one standing right in front of you.
I am the temple. That's what he's saying. I am
the temple. I am the place of worship. I am the sacrifice that all those
sacrifices in the temple represented. I am the ordinance. I am the
holiness. I am the intercession. I am the priest. I am the altar. I am the blood. I'm the judge. I'm the advocate. I'm all of it. Christ is all
of it. He said, you think your temple is great or greater than
your temple is here. That's what the whole book of
Hebrews is about. The whole book of Hebrews is
talking about all the old Testament ordinances and all the laws and
all the, everything that was given to God's people for worshiping
and for appeasing God for their sin. It continually says Christ
is better. That's the whole point of Hebrews,
the book of Hebrews, everything you see, all those glorious things.
Christ is better. Christ is greater. They were
pictures of appeasement. He is appeasement. They pictured salvation. He is
salvation. No matter what it is, no matter
what it pictures, Christ is greater. No matter who it is, no matter
what any man or woman has done, Christ is greater. The Jews said to our Lord one
time, and think about this, they said, are you greater than our
father Jacob? Wait a minute, are you saying
you're greater than Jacob? They said another time, are you
greater than our father Abraham? Oh, the greatness of Christ. Eternity
will be spent trying to Declare it. Enjoy it. The greatness of
Christ. All of eternity, all of heaven
is going to revolve around one man. The greatness and the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go with me back to Psalm 135. Verse one says, praise ye the
Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord.
Praise him, O ye servants of the Lord. Ye that stand in the
house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise
the Lord for the Lord is good. He's good. His grace has gone out to his
people. He's good. He has given. This
great and high and Holy God has given. What has he given? He's
given himself. He gave himself to his people. He gave himself for his people. He gave his body to bear the
sin of his people. He gave his blood to pay the
debt of the sin of his people. He gave his life. He gave his
place. Where is his place? It's on the
throne. And he said, I want you to sit
right here with me. He gave all that he had to redeem
his particular people back to himself. Verse 3 says, sing praises
unto his name. Savior, the savior of sinners,
the shepherd of sinners. Sing praises unto his name for
it is pleasant. For the Lord hath chosen Jacob
unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure. He said, sing
praises, you sinful servants, because that's who this great
and high and holy God has chosen to save. He chose Jacob. He chose the sinner. He chose
the worst of the worst to take off of the dunghill and to sit among princes, to
set them with Him on high." I'm done, all right? I'm closing.
Hold your place right here and go to Psalm 113 again. Two scriptures and I'm done.
Psalm 113, verse 1 says, "'Praise ye the
Lord, Praise O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of
the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore. From the rising of the sun and
to the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations,
in his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our
God who dwelleth on high? who humbleth himself to behold
the things that are in heaven. When I read that, oh man, that
just made me see him high and lifted up. He humbles himself
to behold the things that are in heaven. He goes on to say, and in earth, And how amazing, verse seven
says, he raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the
needy out of the dunghill that he may set him with princes,
even with the princes of his people. He maketh the barren
woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children.
Praise ye the Lord. Sing praise to his high and holy
name. for the glorious and gracious
and merciful things that He's done. So, so merciful. Just listen,
our text, verse 5, says, I know that the Lord is great and that
our Lord is above all gods. And by His grace, we know that
too. We know that He's above all gods, especially the one
that my sinfulness has tried to make out of my own flesh.
This little God that I worship, my wretched flesh, His works
are above all. His greatness is above all. His
glory is above all. And we'll close this message
with this verse for a benediction. Okay. This will be the final
word of the message. Turn with me to first Timothy
chapter one. First Timothy chapter one, verse 17, it says, now unto the
King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and
glory forever and ever. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.