Revelation chapter 15. Revelation
chapter 15. And I want to say a few words
about verse 3 again. Verse 3 has given us a great
deal of blessing with regard to God. And that's the theme
of this book, the revelation of Jesus Christ. And I find it
wonderfully counseling. It's a wonderful counseling event
to find out more about God in the scripture and more that he's
done for us. And we realize how far we fall
short of his demands, his law, his purpose, and yet he fulfills
it all on our behalf in the person Christ Jesus. Revelation 15,
and I saw another sign in heaven, a great and marvelous seven angels
having the seven last plagues. For in them is filled up the
wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of
glass mingled with fire. And them that had gotten the
victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and
over the number of his name stand on the sea of glass having the
harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and
marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are
thy ways, thou King of saints. Tonight I'd like to spend just
a little bit of time on that triple name, Lord God Almighty. Lord God Almighty. Great and
marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. This book was not
written for anybody but the church. And I find it interesting that
in this book, a number of times he reminds us of himself in this
triple name, Lord God Almighty. He's not trying to instruct lost
people. He's instructing the believer. And we need this reminder. that he is the Lord God Almighty.
Now there are days just Lord is enough. And there are days
that just God is enough. And there are days Almighty is
enough. But then there are days we need
Lord God. And there are days that we need
God Almighty. And then there are days we need
the Lord God Almighty. Now that's just the way I feel
about it. That he impresses himself those times. It's interesting
that in the book of Job, this word Almighty God is used in
the Old Testament quite a number of times, but more times in the
book of Job than all of the other books combined. And when you're
reading about Job, and his life, and his friends, and their instruction,
and the instruction of God. It is no mistake that he appears
unto this man who is going through tremendous trial, that Almighty
God appears to him. This just has not fallen out
by chance. This is on purpose. And the Lord God Almighty is
involved in this. And some 31 times in the book,
out of 48 times in the book of Job, is this name mentioned,
and it's mentioned because of a man in serious trials. And he needed to know that it's
the Lord God Almighty. Now, we shouldn't have to define
Almighty. And for our purposes tonight,
we're not. We're not gonna say it, it just means almighty. It
is self-explanatory. If we have difficulty with that,
we're not having difficulty with the definition, we're having
difficulty with God. That's what it boils down to.
And if we have difficulty with the Lord God Almighty, we're
not having difficulty with the definition of the words, we're
having difficulty with God. Would you turn with me back into
the book of Genesis? Now God's six days of creation
explain a lot about this word, Almighty. His six days of creation. But in Genesis chapter 17, Genesis
chapter 17, he appears as El Shaddai, Almighty. to Abraham, and it is at this
time when he comes in this name that he changes Abram's name
to Abraham. Genesis chapter 17, verses 1
through 8, we find this Almighty. Now this word is used 48 times
in the Old Testament, and as I mentioned, 31 of those is found
in the book of Job alone. A couple in the Book of Ruth,
we're going to read those. But most of the time when we
run onto this, Job and Ruth, we find out that the person who
is using this word about God has been in distress. And they're
recognizing the fact that their distress has been prescribed
by Almighty God. God Almighty. He is in control
of this. This did not happen as a result
of the devil. This happened as a result of
God Almighty. And that's, I just feel the way
that it's used so often. But here, in the book of Genesis
chapter 17, we have this, and this account, this description,
these terms, these words, these names of God are found throughout
the old and the new writings. The old prophets wrote about
the Lord God Almighty. The New Testament writers were
used to use the same terms, just a different language. Most of
the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and most of the New
Testament is written in Greek. But they're writing about the
same person, they're writing about God. If he is almighty
in the Old Testament, he's almighty in the New Testament. Since he
is almighty in the New Testament, we're going to find him almighty
in the Old Testament. There's not two gods, there is
one God, and he carries his personality and person throughout. Genesis
chapter 17, verse one, and Abram was 90 years old and nine, and
the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty
God. Now, the first six days of creation,
he demonstrates that. calling out Abram out of Ur of
the Chaldees. He demonstrates that. He causes
Abram to leave what he had in Ur and led him. He is the Lord
God Almighty. He's got his purpose, his life
drawn out in his book. The, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect
or upright. That's the only way God is going
to deal with us is if we're upright, and the only way we can be that
is in Christ. We have to be in Christ to be
able to be upright. I will make my covenant between
me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell
on his face, and God talked with him. As for me, behold, my covenant
is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thou thy
name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made of
thee. It takes the Lord God Almighty to do that. It takes the Lord
God Almighty to call us out of sin. It takes the Lord God Almighty
to raise us from the dead. We're dealing with the only being
that is able to do that, the Lord God Almighty. He's the only
one that can give life. He is the creator of life in
the beginning, in the six days of creation, and he's the giver
of life when it comes to our regeneration, and it takes the
Almighty God to do that. No wonder the writer of Revelation
was given the words by the Holy Spirit, Great and marvelous are
thy works, O Lord God Almighty. It took that work, that effort,
that purpose, that God to do what he is doing. In the book
of Genesis chapter 35, would you turn there with me, and we
find another stanza in this great song of Zion, the Lord God Almighty,
that he is all powerful, that there is, he lacks nothing. The
word almighty just means that, he has all might. In fact, when
we get over to the Greek section of the Bible, we find out that
the word omnipotent and the word almighty are translated from
the same word. omnipotent. The Lord God omnipotent
reigneth. The Lord God Almighty reigneth.
He is known by that term, by that name, by the church. They
recognize that it was this God that brought us out of the desert. It is this God that gave us life. It is this God that turned on
the lights. It is this God that caused light
to shine out of darkness. It is this God that translated
us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear
Son. Only this God could do it, the Lord God Almighty, the Lord
God Omnipotent. And it is this God that reigns. Any other God falls short, but
this God reigns, the Lord God Omnipotent. In Genesis chapter
35, A couple generations later, the Lord Almighty, God Almighty,
El Shaddai, meets another patriarch, Genesis 35 verse 9. The scriptures
share this. Genesis 35 and verse 9, and God
appeared to Jacob again when he had come out of Paddan Aram
and blessed him. And God said unto him, thy name
is Jacob. Thy name shall not be called
anymore Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his
name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God
Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. The
book of Revelation shares with us that all the church will be
given a new name. And we find this statement made
in the Old Testament. Your name's not Abram anymore,
I'm giving you a new name. I'm Lord God Almighty. Your name
is not Jacob anymore, I'm giving you a new name. Israel, your
name is not Adam anymore, I'm giving you a new name. The Lord
our righteousness. It takes this God to do that. He's dealing with depravity of
the worst kind. Rebellion against God by Adam
and all his descendants. He is dealing with the worst
kind of depravity. It's worse than dealing with
a mad dog. It's dealing with a heart and
mind and soul. Yesterday in Nancy's class, some
kid brought up the number 666. And I said, you know what that
means? Oh yeah, yeah, that's the devil. I says, that is not,
it says it's the number of man. And it means depraved in every
capacity, body, mind, and soul. Oh. It's so unheard of in the religious
world. But we need the Lord God Almighty
to get us over that. We need 777. We need God Almighty. We need
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We need completion. And we're not in completion when
we're in ourself. We are without help and without
hope and without God. So it takes this Lord God Almighty. God Almighty appeared unto Jacob. And it says there going on, In
verse 12, in the land which I given Abraham and Isaac, to thee will
I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And
God went up from him in the place where he talked with him, and
Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him,
even a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering thereon,
and he poured oil thereon, and Jacob called the name of the
place which God spake with him, Bethel. Bethel now, that's what God does
for us Lord God Almighty is the only
one No, little God can do it the Lord God Almighty Turn with
me if you would to Genesis 48 Genesis 48 in verse 3 Genesis
48 in verse 3 We see here again that the Lord
God Almighty, no lack of power, nothing is held back. He's not prevented by anything. He's not prevented by man. Oh,
your will is preventing his work from being done. Oh, my foot.
Our will is not, thank God, Our depraved will doesn't stop God. He's a denying cat going through
ground. He's going to break it up. He
is all powerful. Here in Genesis chapter 48 and
verse 3, it says, and Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared
unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. God Almighty
appeared unto me. This El Shaddai, Almighty God,
appeared unto me. And it's this Almighty God that
ever is needed to move us off of where we are, where we are
stuck in a pit, move us away from where we are by nature.
to move us out of where we are. It took David, by illustration,
he demonstrated what is necessary for anybody to be brought to
God. He sent out his servants to bring
in Mephibosheth. Now those servants had more power
than Mephibosheth did in resistance. That's God Almighty. He has nothing. There's no wonder that we find
in the book of Daniel, none shall stay your hand. I went down to New Pine Creek
one time. My youngest brother, Robert,
was arm wrestling. He was a professional arm wrestler,
Northern California. And he went into middleweight
and heavyweight. Came in first in middleweight
and second in heavyweight the same night. And those guys are
just struggling, just struggling. And finally, he overcome the
opponent and put his wrist down. God doesn't have any resistance
against. He just, he's the Lord God Almighty. And he does that, it's his character
to be almighty. It isn't something that he grew
into, it's his character. He is the Lord God Almighty.
And Ruth chapter one, verse 20 and 21, we find twice out of
these 48 times in the Old Testament, Ruth's mother-in-law is gonna
use this term, Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law. Get over here before Sam Ruth
chapter 1 verse 20 That's interesting that Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi
recognized It was the Lord God Almighty that did what he did
and that's where she is and why she's there Ruth chapter 1 verse
20 the scripture says and she said call me no more Naomi Call
me Mara For the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
The Almighty. And then in verse 21, I went
out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why then
call me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and
the Almighty hath afflicted me. Now you're looking at someone
who doesn't understand all I know about that, but I know what Naomi
was saying. The Almighty. This isn't the
devil. This isn't Adam. This is God. He's done this. I am where I am because of God.
I am where I am because of the Almighty God. And in the book
of Job, just want to read two or three of those instances.
31 times out of 48, the book of Job records this word. Job
23 in verse 16, would you turn there with me? As we think about
great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty. The Almighty
has moved through the Old Testament, the old writings, the Hebrew
writings. He's moved through the Greek writings, the New Testament
as we know it. He has revealed himself to his
people, to his church, time and time and time again as the Almighty. He has other names that he's
called in the Old Testament. But this name the church depends
on. This is our security. This is
our hope. This is the reason for the change.
This is the reason that we are no longer attached to Adam and
will suffer the punishment. Do that. The punishment fell
out on the Son of God, who is the Lord God Almighty. Lord God
Almighty poured out His wrath on the Lord God Almighty. And
he did it for our benefit. In Job 23, in verse 16. Other places in this book this
word is found, but here I just wanted to read one and look at
a couple others. For my God maketh my heart soft,
and the Almighty troubleth me. My God maketh my heart soft,
and the Almighty troubleth me. It's the Lord God Almighty that
works in us. It is He that makes our hearts
soft. It is He that is involved in
us. He's not troubling us to eternity. He's troubling us to get us out
of ourself. He's troubling us against ourself.
And then in Job chapter 33, verse 4, we read these things about
this Lord God Almighty, the Almighty, El Shaddai, this one who has
all power and all authority given unto him in heaven and in earth,
this one that has the power to sit on his throne, sit down quietly
on his throne without resistance, and the angels praise him as
he does it. This is the Lord God Almighty.
It was the Lord God Almighty that came out of that tomb. It
is the Lord God Almighty that suffered on the cross. It is
the Lord God Almighty that would put himself in the position of
his church, of his people. It's the Lord God Almighty that
could suffer that kind of intense trial on the cross and come out
victorious. This is not something new. This
has been for eternity. Job chapter 33, and there in
verse 4, it says, the Spirit of God hath made me, and the
breath of the Almighty hath given me life. It takes that God. That's the
only God that can do the job. It's the only God that can raise
us from the dead. It's the only God that can breathe
life into us. This is, well, again, we don't
have any trouble with the definition of the word dead. If we have
trouble with the definition of the word dead, we have trouble
with the definition of God. But that God Almighty raises
the dead. He did it with Lazarus. He did
it with a young man. He did it with a young girl.
And he does it with everyone that he has ever brought into
the church. He has raised them from the dead,
the Lord God Almighty. And in Job, one of the place,
Job 37. Job 37 in verse 23. Job 37 and verse 23, we read,
touching the almighty, we cannot find him out. He is excellent
in power and in judgment and plenty of justice. He will not
afflict. Men do therefore fear him. He respecteth not any that are
wise of heart. Touching the almighty, we cannot
find him out. He's just too almighty. He is just almighty. We cannot
figure him out. The God that could create as
he did in six days and then go up against sin in its worst condition,
the first generation after Adam, and then have that man able have
it written about him, by faith Abel offered a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain. By faith. God gave him the faith
to offer a more excellent sacrifice and it's written about him that
he was plucked as a bran from the fire. by the Lord God Almighty. Great and marvelous are thy works,
O Lord God Almighty. Your action of the new birth
is great. It is a demonstration of your
very name. You must be, you have to be,
you can't be anything else but almighty when it comes to this
project and any others. This project. the project of
saving the church, you must be almighty to do it. They are molten
out into the ground, they so passed from life, and yet you
pull them together. Ezekiel 37, great army, bones,
and almighty God put them together. gave them life. That's a demonstration
of the Lord God Almighty. Now turn with me over to the
Greek writings, the New Testament. Same God, writing about him,
2 Corinthians chapter 16. 2 Corinthians chapter 16, excuse
me, chapter six, 2 Corinthians chapter six. 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verse
17 and 18 wherefore come out from among them and be you separate
saith the Lord and Touch not the unclean thing and I'll receive
you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and
daughters saith the Lord Almighty The Lord Almighty He is sharing
with us it takes this almighty power to make us sons and daughters,
children of God. Nothing else will do. Religion
has never produced any life. The scientist says I've created
life in a test tube. There's as much life there as
the preacher says I want all of these to Christ. Just as much
life. There isn't any. And God Almighty
says, I breathe into their nostrils the breath of life, and they
become a living soul. It takes that Lord God Almighty. And then in Revelation, Revelation
1, Revelation 1, 8. Revelation 1.8, I'm Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which
is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. In that one verse, he's called
four different names, Alpha and Omega, Lord and Almighty. He's just constantly reminding
the church of who he is and what is required. Now, there's a cousin
word to this word that we use so often. Turn back just to the
book of Ephesians, if you would. This is the kind of power that
the Lord has. He is using his power to do his
work. It is power salvation. It is power grace. It is power
redemption. It is power salvation. It is
power sanctification. Lord God Almighty power. All of these blessings that we
have in Christ are power because they come from God. It takes
His power to do it. It is His power. We cannot supply
this power. It just can't be plugged into
an electrical outlet. It has to be plugged in from
above. That's what God told Nicodemus. The flesh brings forth flesh,
but the spirit brings forth spiritual power. It must be that power. All right, Ephesians, this cousin
word, Ephesians 119. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his
mighty power? What is the power? That's different
words. Mighty power and power are different words. What is
the power? What is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his
mighty power? I'm double dipping. I am double,
the power is so tremendous. It's God's power, the Lord God
Almighty power. What is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his
mighty power. And then in the book of Colossians,
the same cousin word is used, Colossians 1.11, that we find
with regard to the Lord God Almighty in Colossians 1.11, strengthened
with all might according to his glorious power. Here it's called
glorious power. Strengthened with all might.
Well, it takes his strengthening for all might to be given to
us according to his glorious power. So the work he performs
is according to his power. His mighty working power in us
is according to his mighty working power. It's double clenching. It's double, it's double power. It's his mighty power. The almighty power of the almighty
God raising us to life and it's almighty life. The superlatives,
it's almighty. Then in 1 Timothy chapter 6,
1 Timothy, this is the God we're dealing with in Revelation chapter
15. Great and marvelous are thy works,
O Lord God Almighty. Abraham, thank God for his almightiness. Jacob, Naomi, Job, saints of
old, saints today, saints in the future. We recognize the
fact by your grace that it takes the Almighty God. The work is
so much. There's so much effort in redeeming
one's soul, in reviving one's soul, in regenerating one's soul,
in redeeming one's soul, that man can never even touch it. It is so far out of their realm. We're putting in pennies and
he's putting in billions and that's a very poor analogy. It's
just his infinite power, almighty power. All right, here in the
book of 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 16, 1 Timothy. Chapter 6 and verse 16, who only
hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach
unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and
power everlasting. Honor and power everlasting. We're getting into a place that
no man can get to. who only hath the immortality
dwelling in the light which no man can approach. How do we get
there? By his all mightiness, his almighty power. And then
in the book of Revelation, there are several times that this is
found, but I wanna look at chapter 19 and verse six, because the
translator saw fit to translate the word almighty this way, and
it sounds good. The Lord God, omnipotent Revelation
chapter 19 and there in verse 6 And if there is ever a declaration
about the almightiness of God it's found here in the book of
Revelation Job saw it too Three quarters of the time he is using
or has used or someone else is addressing Almighty God And I
guess if we're ever in that kind of straits, we want to find out
this is almighty God. We're not just being played with,
this is the almighty God prescribing this. Revelation 19 verse six, the
scriptures say, and I heard as it were the voice of a great
multitude and as the voice of many waters and the voice of
many thundering saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent,
almighty reigneth. There's a lot of hosts there,
a voice of a great multitude and the voice of many waters
and the voice of mighty thunderings saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent, almighty reigneth. And that's the Lord God of the
Bible. He appears to his people that way. He appeared to this
earth that way. In the beginning, God created. That word created means someone
was involved that had more power than anybody else because he
took nothing and made something out of it. In the beginning,
God created. And that's what he does when
he creates new life in us. He finds nothing. He's kicking
around in a coal campfire, and there isn't any coals. The fire went out 6,000 years
ago, and it's been rained on, and it's cold, and it's hard,
and it's dark, and he finds nothing there, and there is where he
creates life. He doesn't create life where
there's life. He creates life where there's no life. And that's
the Lord God Almighty. He creates life. Because that's
the job of the Lord God Almighty. It's not a decision. It's a creation. And that's what he said. If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creation, new creature, new creation
in Christ Jesus. How can that be? Lord God Almighty's
doing it. The life giver. All right, we'll
stop there tonight.