Matthew 22, I want to look at
verse 29 for our text this morning. Matthew 22 verse 29 says, Jesus answered and said unto
them, ye do err. All of your error comes from
not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God." The power
of God. In looking at our Lord's attributes,
so far we've looked at our God's singularity. We've looked at
the fact that He does not need anything. We've looked at His
perfect will. Everything that He purposes to
do is perfect. It's right. And yet we still
go through this life going, why, why, why? The answer is always
perfection and right. That's why. Why did that happen?
Absolute perfection. That's why. We've looked at our
Lord's knowledge. We've looked at his foreknowledge,
who he chose to elect, the way that he chose to elect. We've looked at his supreme sovereignty. He's above all. There's none
beside him. We've looked at the fact that
he does not change. He does not change. We've looked
at his holiness. And this morning, we're going
to take a small glance. I want to emphasize a small glance,
and you'll see why in just a minute. An extremely, extremely small
glance at His power. We're going to look at His power.
Now, the apostles said, they asked Him, Lord, increase our
faith. That's what they said to him.
Increase our faith. We want the same thing, don't
we? Wouldn't you love to go through the rest of this life trusting
God every day till he returns just completely happy and content
and rested in him. Everything he's doing. My prayer is that this Bible
study will do just that. I pray that the Lord would strengthen
my faith through this. Faith is believing in ability. The reason every single one of
you just sat down in these pews is because you had no doubt in
your mind it would hold you up. So you didn't even think about
it, you just sat down. Faith is believing in ability. That blind man, he came to the
Lord and he wanted to receive his sight. This is what the Lord
asked him. Do you believe that I'm able
to do this? You believe I'm able? You believe
I have this power? Turn with me over to Romans chapter
four. Romans chapter 4, we talk about
the faith of Abraham. Romans 4 verse 20 says, he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised,
he was able also to perform. That's what faith is. Whatever
he has promised, he is able also to perform. Abraham's faith was
in the power of God, the power of God. The apostle Paul said,
I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he's able. Absolutely persuaded, I'm persuaded
in the power of God. One man said this, this is so
good and it's so true. He said, how vain, how empty,
how vain would be the eternal counsels. We talk about God's
eternal counsels from eternity, the things he decreed. How vain
would be the eternal counsels if power did not step in to execute
them. How empty would they be if power
did not step in to execute them. He said without power His mercy
would be but feeble pity. That's something we can all enter
into. How many times has somebody been going through something
and you stand there broken hearted thinking, I wish there was something
I could do. I do, I just feel so helpless.
I just wish I had some power, but I don't. So he said, without
power, his mercy would be but feeble pity. His promises an
empty sound, his threatenings a mere scarecrow. And so what
makes God, God is his power. That's what makes him God. It's
his power. What gives his will and his word,
sovereign authority is his power. That's what makes him supreme. That's what makes him the chooser. That's what makes him the savior.
It's his power. Our Lord said, you do err not
knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. We are constantly
in a state of need. As soon as you get out of your
problem, you will be in the next one. We are constantly in a state
of need. And this heart, this is just
honesty, all right? This heart right here wants to
believe that he is able. God has done something in the
heart of a believer, a child of God. And it wants to believe
that you can just take that burden to the Lord and leave it there
and rest and trust. But this mind and this flesh
says, I'm very thankful he's there. And it would be great
if he could help me out a little bit, lean things my way. But
I'm in the middle of a reality right now, and I don't have time
to wait, and I can't take a chance on it. So I'm going to seek every
earthly means possible first. Is that not the truth? That is
unbelief in the power of God. That's what it is. Unbelief. This flesh is so wicked. It's
so wicked and it says the whole idea of God is wonderful. And
I do want to believe that when I have time to believe that.
But right now I'm in the middle of something real. Isn't that
what this flesh says? That's unbelief and we at that
moment in time, daily, I mean daily, we do err not knowing
the power of God. I promise you, we don't know
the power of God. We're about to see that. We don't
know the power of God. If God would increase our faith,
We would go directly to the one who holds all power. All power. Now, let's enter into
the reality of it. There was a leper one time who
wanted to be healed. In just a minute, we're going
to talk about another one. But there was a leper one time
who wanted to be healed. You can't do anything for a leper. You can't do anything for a leper.
All you can do is have pity on him. That's all you can do. He
came to the Lord Jesus Christ and he said, and I wish I could
apply this to my reality today. He came to the Lord Jesus Christ
and this is what he said. If you will, you can. And God Almighty said, I will. That's what he said. That's all
he said. If you will, you can. And he said, I will. That man
was cleansed. Now. Is that a fairy tale? You know, is this book fiction?
That really happened. That really happened. There was
a woman who had an issue of blood, internal bleeding for 12 years. And it says that she went to
every physician she could find and she spent all of her living.
We do that today, don't we? Then she heard about the power
of God, just like we're talking about it right now. Somebody
told her about the power of God. And she said within herself,
I believe that. There is so much power in him.
There is so much ability in him. If I could just touch the clothes
that touch him, I'll be whole. And she did. And she was. She was whole. Now, is this a reason for us
to get what we want? No. This is a moment to acknowledge
the power that's in our God, in our access to him. He said,
Lazarus, walk out of that grave. He walked out of that grave.
He said, ocean, be still. Great calm, just a great calm. In the beginning, our God said,
let there be light. There was light. The sun appeared. He said, let there be land. There
was land. Let there be vegetation, everything
on it. Let there be animals. Let there be planets. Let there
be the moon. Let there be the stars. All these galaxies, all
these solar systems. Have you seen pictures of the
solar system? Isn't it glorious? Isn't it amazing? Let there be man. Whatever he
said, let there be, and there was. There was. Now turn with
me over to Job 26. Here's the point of the Bible
study. This is our point I want us to
get a hold of. Job 26 verse 1 says, But Job answered
and said, How hast thou helped him that is without power? You who don't have any power,
how have you helped God? How savest thou the arm that
hath no strength? Your arm has no strength. How
is there any saving power in your own arm? How hast thou counseled
him, you that have no wisdom? How hast thou plentifully declared
the thing as it is? To whom hast thou uttered words,
and whose spirit came from thee? Dead things are formed from under
the waters and the inhabitants thereof. Hell is naked before
him and destruction hath no covering. He stretched out the north over
the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He's talking
about creation. There the earth just hangs on
nothing. Verse eight, he bindeth up the
waters in his thick clouds and the cloud is not rent under them.
All that rain is just sitting there in a vapor, you know, waiting
on him to say release. Verse 9, He holdeth back the
face of His throne and spreadeth His cloud upon it. He hath compassed
the waters with bounds until the day and night come to an
end. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at His reproof.
He divideth the sea with His power and by His understanding
He smiteth through the proud. By His Spirit He hath garnished
the heavens. His hand hath formed the crooked
serpent. Every single thing that we see
that He has done, all of creation. The heavens declare the glory
of God. Everything that we can see that
He has done. Verse 14 says, Lo, these are
parts of His ways. But how little a portion is heard
of Him. But the thunder of His power
who can understand. The power that He has revealed
to us is so little a portion. How wide do they say the Milky
Way is? Like 100,000 light years? It
would take light 100,000 years to get across the Milky Way? And that's just one? The power that he has revealed
to us is so little a portion of what he possesses. We're not
going to turn but over in Habakkuk chapter 3 it's a very similar
chapter to this. He's talking about spreading
the hills and everything that he has done. And what it says
in Habakkuk 3 is that is the hiding of his power. That's him
hiding his power. He has revealed so little of
it. What we can see is him actually
hiding his power. Does that sink in? That's him hiding his power. Everything we have currently
seen is him concealing it. This is what Arthur Pink said.
So inconceivable, so immense, so uncontrollable, there's no
way that you could bring together and control the power of God. So uncontrollable is the power
of deity that the fearful convulsions which he works in nature conceal
more than they reveal of his infinite might." Everything you
have seen so far conceals more than it reveals. We think we
see, boy that reveals God's glory, no that hides it. That conceals. We think we have some understanding
of his ability. We think we kind of know based
on what we've seen what he is capable of doing. The only thing
though that we have ever seen of his ability is him hiding
his ability, him hiding his power. The portion that he conceals
of it. Now this is a feeble illustration
but I'm going to try to make that come to reality. When I was a kid, I had a car
that I loved. I wrote it down and I thought,
I'm not going to tell it because every guy in here will start
thinking about that car. I had a car that I loved. I loved
the lines of it. I loved the sound of the engine.
I loved the chrome on it. I loved everything about that
car. I'm sure you had a car. Everybody
had a car at some point they loved. Have you ever seen your
favorite car up under one of those automobile tarps? One of those protective covers
if you're going to, you know, your car's going to sit a while.
You know what I'm talking about, those brown canvas covers. Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it absolutely gorgeous? You stand there looking at that
brown canvas and it's just fantastic. So fantastic, the wrinkles in
that canvas, the way the material bunches up, you know, rolls up,
the color, that faded brown. Isn't that wonderful? The answer
is no. You haven't seen the car yet.
You haven't seen the car yet. All you've seen so far is the
little part concealing it. Isn't that right? And based on
what you've seen, you know it's a car. You know that the car
is there. You can tell that's a car. Based
on everything we've seen so far, we know that the power is there. But all we've seen so far is
the little part concealing it. That's all we've seen is just
the part that's hiding it. And even that is glorious. The
cover is glorious. Isn't it amazing? There is infinitely
more power in the nature of God than he has ever revealed in
all of his works combined. Infinitely more power. His power
over all creation. We know he has power over all
creation. Power over all government of
everything in every way. Power over all judgment. Right? That's just the hiding of his
power. This is what he told Pilate. He said, Hereafter shall you
see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming
in the clouds of heaven. He has not fully revealed it
yet, but he will. He will. What we already know
of his power is absolutely glorious, but you wait till he takes the
cover off. Just wait till he comes back
and takes the cover off. Doesn't the scripture make a
little bit more sense why he said, I hath not seen nor ear
heard, neither has ever entered into the thought of man. What's
under that cover? I don't know, but I'd sure like
to see it. Well, I'm going to be very quick
here. Three things for our comfort,
okay? We take great comfort in His
power. And if we'll remember this, this will comfort us all
the way to glory. Look with me at Matthew chapter
9. Matthew 9 verse 1 says, And he
entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own country. And, behold, they brought to
him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed, and Jesus seeing
their faith, seeing their belief in his ability, he said unto the sick of the
palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. And
behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, this
man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts, for weather is
easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and walk. But that you may know that the
Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Then saith he to the sick of
the palsy, arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
And he arose and departed to his house. But when the multitude
saw it, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power
unto men." Here's our comfort. He truly has power to forgive
sins. Isn't that wonderful? You ever
feel guilty? Have you ever felt guilt? You
know what that feels like. Isn't it horrible? Isn't it a
horrible, horrible feeling? He has the power to absolutely
wipe out sin. All guilt, all shame. If our Lord heals the body, we're
so grateful. But what we truly need is the
healing of the soul. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God, He has the power to forgive
sins. Here is the second thing to remember,
look with me at Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1 verse 3 says, who being the brightness of his
glory, this is talking about Christ, who being the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding
all things by the word of his power. Our Lord upholds all things
by the word of His power in the same way that He upholds the
sun that He created. The sun, I'm not very smart,
I googled this, it's a big ball of hydrogen gas. I have no idea
how they know that. Can't imagine them getting close
enough to test it. But they say it's a big ball of hydrogen gas. Do you know what happens when
you mix fire and gas? Boom. And then it's over. Why hasn't it exploded? It's
fire and gas. Why hasn't it exploded? Why is
it still there after all these years? Why is it still there?
The reason is because our God is upholding it by the word of
his power. We are being upheld by the same
word of his power. That thing is not going to explode.
It's not going to fizzle out. It's not going to be removed
as long as it's being upheld. We're not going to explode. We're
not going to fizzle out and we're not going to be removed as long
as we are upheld by the word of His power. Now, here's the
last thing. Ephesians 3. Go with me over
to Ephesians 3. I love this. Ephesians 3 verse 20 says, now
unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think. And I understand it a little
bit more now after realizing that everything I've ever seen
and thought is just the cover. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Nothing is too hard for
him. Nothing's too hard for him. No
prayer is too hard for him to answer. No trial is too great
for him to deliver us out of it. No sorrow is too deep for
him to relieve. Nothing is too hard for him.
Whatever our need is, he has all power to supply it. All right, you're dismissed.