Let's go back to the book of
Deuteronomy, and if you would, go to the 32nd chapter. I want to look at just a few words
at the end of the third verse in the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy. And then I'll go back and lay
the foundation for the message, but this is our subject for today. In Deuteronomy 32, the last statement
of verse 3, where we read, Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. That's what I want to do is ascribe
greatness to our God. He is great. We used to have a little prayer
that we said, you know, we memorized that God is good, God is great. I didn't understand what I was
saying when I you know, recited those words. And I'm not for
reciting any kind of prayers. But I do know this. God is great. Any way you think about Him,
He's great. And what I'm asking of God is
today He would fill us with an awareness of His greatness. And if you and me, if we could
be acquainted with God's greatness, with His awesomeness, that's
when we'll worship. It's said that an old preacher
said to his friend, he said, your thoughts of God are too
low. They're too little. Your God's
too little. I listen to what's said about
God today. He's too little. I need a great God, don't you?
I need a great Savior. I need great grace. I need a
great salvation. That's the only thing that's
going to help me. The only God who can help me,
He's got to be great. His will's got to be greater
than my will. His power has got to be greater
than my power. And His authority has got to
be greater than the authority of Satan. I want today to say
some things about the greatness of God. And I'll just go ahead
and apologize for my feebleness in setting forth such an awesome
subject. I feel so inadequate to talk
about a great God. Who am I? I'm just a worm of
the dust. I'm just a fallen sinner in Adam. I'm just one who lives and breathes
and eats sin just like you do. I've taken on this morning, I'm
taking on an awesome subject. And I feel so incapable of doing this subject
justice. So I'm going to be reading some
verses to you because there's only one that knows and understands
the greatness of God, and that's God himself. Aren't you thankful that God
has not left us without a witness? He's given us his word. How are
we going to learn about God? You say, well, I think I'll go
for a walk out in the woods and learn about God. Well, creation
sets forth his glories, and the firmament, it sets forth his
handiwork. And you can go fishing. You can
go fishing, brother. And learn about the nature and
the things that God has made. Some of you guys, you go hunting
and you see these animals. You can just go out here. You
can go out and observe the things that God has made and you say,
oh, this is the great hand of God here. Here's what you can't learn out
there. You can't learn about God's way
of grace out there. And I've had people say to me,
I'll just go worship God in nature. Well, I can worship God as I
observe nature. I can worship God as I observe
nature. I can worship Him as the maker
of all things, as the creator of all things, as the sustainer
of all things, as the preserver of all things. I can worship
Him as the giver of life. I can worship Him as the giver
of beautiful things, things that are beautiful to my eyes. I can
worship Him as I listen to the birds sing. And I can thank Him
for the abilities that He gave them, the gifts that He gave
them, and He blesses me through their music. But from nature,
I cannot learn how God saves sinners. You can't learn that. You can take a walk through the
woods, but you won't learn anything about how God can be just and
justify the ungodly. You can gaze up at the stars
at night, take your telescope and look at all the constellations
that you can see. Look at as many stars as you
can see and you can be filled with awe at the creative glories
of God, but you won't learn anything about His saving glories. You
can only learn about God in His fullness. God in His greatness
and God in His grace through this book. Through the Word that
He's given us. God has not remained silent. Do you know this? A silent God
is an unknowable God. That's right. If God doesn't
speak through His Word by His Son, if He doesn't speak If God
doesn't utter a word, there's no way we'll understand who He
is. There's no way that we will ever
grasp how He shows mercy and grace without compromising His
justice. We only learn about salvation
and forgiveness of sins and righteousness with God and of the Lord Jesus
and His blood redemption through this book. If you want to learn
about God, don't read the writings of men, read the writing of God. Does that make sense? If you want to learn about God,
read what God has said about Himself. And He has spoken. God has spoken through His Son. God has spoken and He still speaks
through His Word. Now nobody is receiving any audible
communications from God today. I don't care what these religious
hucksters say on television, who have the audacity to say
things like, what did you say God? I heard one preacher one
time, he was preaching, he said, just a minute God. And then he
finished what he said, now God, what did you have to say? What
in the world? God speaks through His Word by
His Holy Spirit who enlightens our poor minds and our hearts
as to what this book is all about. And in this book we hear of,
we read of the greatness of our God. The greatness of God in
creation. He spake. Everything came into
existence. He said, let there be light.
Lights came on. The greatness of God in creation. And He made everything after
its kind. That's what the scripture says,
after its kind. In six days the Lord made the
heavens and the earth and all that in them is. That's the greatness
of God in creation. You learn that from this book.
How does the Bible begin? In the beginning, God. Everything starts with God and
I'll tell you this, everything ends with God too. It doesn't
start with us. And it doesn't end with us. And
everything doesn't revolve around us. We're so self-centered that
we think this is all about us. It's not all about us. It's all
about God and His greatness and His glory. He started everything. He's going to finish everything.
He's going to wrap everything up. who continues everything
as it's going today, as it's unraveling, or as it's unfolding. His predestinated purpose is
unfolding exactly on schedule. This is the greatness of God.
God is great in creation. God is great in providence. What is providence? It is God
directing all things to the end that He has already appointed. Way back in old eternity, God
ordained everything that ever would be. For out of Him and through Him
and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Say, are you a predestinarian?
Listen, if you believe the Bible, you've got to be a predestinarian
just like me. Yes, I'm a predestinarian. I
make no apologies for that. You mean you believe that all
things are ordained of God? Absolutely. Absolutely. You don't think anything happens
by luck? No. You don't think that anything
happens by chance? No. You think that all things
happen on purpose? Yes. Do you get it? God, can
I make it any more simpler for you? This is what the Bible says. God's got a purpose. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. God is a God of purpose, not
luck, not chance, not fate. I hear people talk about blind
fate. I don't believe in blind fate. And I don't believe in
blind faith either. I believe God. He started everything,
he finishes everything, he's conducting everything to the
end that he's ordained. He's great in creation, he's
great in providence. All things are fulfilling his
will. Oh, the purpose of God, how mysterious
it is. The ways of God, that's why the
apostle says they're past finding out. He's conducting everything to
the end that he's already appointed. He's set them bound for you.
And for me, we can't pass the days of our life. I'm not talking about the soap
opera either. Every day that we live is a day
that God gives us. And we'll live until He says
it's time to die. He even knows and has ordained
the number of hairs on your head. And He's ordained everything
else as well. So how does sin fit into this? What about evil? You surely don't
believe that evil is controlled by God, do you? Well, let me
ask you this. ever since God created the world,
right up to right now, September 13, 2015, right up to now. What's the worst thing, what's
the worst evil that's ever happened in the world? Now, you can ask
any number of people that question, you'll get multiple answers. But here's the real answer, and
really the only answer to this. What's the worst evil that's
ever happened in this world? What's the worst iniquity man's
ever committed? Killing the Son of God. Would
you agree? Sure, it's killing the Son of
God. God Almighty came into this world that He made. He came unto
His own, to His own world. to His own nation, to His own
people, to His own family. He came into His own. God came
down here one time. One time, since the creation
of the world, God took upon Himself a body. And He did that in a permanent
way. And He came into this world.
Well, what did the world do? Embrace Him with open arms and
say, Welcome, Creator? Welcome, O promised Savior? Welcome,
O promised Messiah? Oh, we're so glad to see you,
blessed Redeemer, who will purchase our pardon with your blood. Is
that what the world did? No! The world said, We don't want
you here. You're not going to reign over
us. The world despised Him. They
rejected Him. And the religious leaders of
the world, they were the ones in charge of His crucifixion,
in charge of killing Him. When He said that He was the
Son of God, the religious world said, we're going to put Him
out of business permanently. This is God in the flesh who
went about doing nothing but good. He healed their sick. He raised the dead. He gave sight
to the blind, hearing to the deaf. Those that were lame, He
caused them to walk. He did multiplied miracles testifying
as to who He was. He fed thousands of people with
just a few morsels of bread and a couple of fish. He did all of this and they said,
we are going to kill you. You break the Sabbath and you
say God is your Father? You are a blasphemer. And when
they had the chance, they pounced on Him and they killed Him. They killed the Lord of glory.
Peter said, you killed the just one. You did. You crucified the Lord of Glory! The Lord of Glory came down here
and what did man do? They killed Him! That's the worst
thing man's ever done. It's the worst evil, the most
atrocious act that's ever been committed in the history of time.
And yet, God ordained it. Oh yeah. Way back yonder in the eternal
covenant of grace, God ordained that the Lamb would
die. He's the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the
world. Before there was ever a sinner,
there's already a Savior. Before a sheep ever went astray,
there's already a Shepherd. The Shepherd's already been appointed. Appointed for the chosen sheep. The worst act that men have ever
done is kill the Son of God. And yet they did just exactly
what God purposed to do. Yeah. He's great in providence. And I speak to you who are the
children of God today. Some of you are going through
some dark days. Painful times. Some of you are shedding some
tears. Don't ever lose sight of this.
God still reigns. He's bringing his purpose to
pass. I've got some dear, dear folks
over in Hawaii we love so much. And a precious family member
died this week, and I've been communicating with them, trying
to encourage them and remind them God's on the throne. God's
on the throne. See, the issues of life and death,
they don't belong to us. And they don't belong to the
devil. They don't belong to the doctors. They belong to God. and those difficult trials and
afflictions that come your way. There may be somebody in here
this morning who's got a really heavy heart. Your heart is so
heavy. I assure you of this, whatever
road God has got you on, it's the best one for you to be on
because He's your Heavenly Father. I believe that. I wish I believed
it more fully. And I think, I'm persuaded you
believe it. But I know you feel like I do.
Oh, God, help me to believe this more fully. See, the reason we
have those anxious nights, we lay awake, we have sleepless
times, and our minds just, we run all these different scenarios
through our minds about these difficult, you don't do that,
do you? You don't ever think about, well,
what if this, what if? You're not a what if person,
are you? Oh, come on. Yeah, you are. I
got a sneaky feeling just like me. And you tend to worry. You tend to murmur a little and
say, Lord, I don't know how much more I can take of this. Let us remember we're in his
arms. We're his little lambs. He's caressing us. He came after
you and bound you, didn't he? Well, sure. You're wandering
astray, wandering afar from the fold, and he pursued you. Did you pursue him? Did he pursue
you? He came after you. And he found you. Do you think
he's going to forget you? Is he just going to set you down
and say, well, you're on your own now? No. Oh, don't you love
it there in Luke chapter 15 where the shepherd seeks a lost sheep.
One out of a hundred lost. He left the ninety and nine.
He left them in the wilderness. The ninety and nine, they are
the self-righteous Pharisees. And he left them and he went
looking for his lost sheep. And he found that lost sheep
and he picked it up and put it up on his shoulders. And off
he goes back home rejoicing. Oh, child of God, in your pain,
in your weariness, in your tears, in your weeping, in your grief,
remember, you're up on the shepherd's shoulders. He's carrying you
all the way home. And if that don't help you, well,
I'll tell you, it sure helps me. Providence. Providence. I can't say enough
about how great our God is in providence. He takes this event and that
event and this other event and He puts them all together and
mixes them up in a bowl and He makes it work out wonderfully
and beautifully for His glory and you're good. That's the good
times and what we call the bad times. That's the times when
you laugh and the times that you cry. And I tell you, only
our great God knows exactly what kind of mixture is best for you
and me. And you know, the mixture is
not alike for you as it is for me. The things that happen to
you, they're different. But it's all working together
for our good and for God's glory. I tell you, God's great in providence. He's just great in providence.
And if we believe that like we ought to, It'd make for us a
soft pillow to lay our heads on. And just go on to sleep at
night, and just not worry, and not bite your fingernails, and
pull your hair out. I see some of you getting kind
of thin. You've been pulling your hair out at it. That's the
way we are. Aren't you glad God has mercy
on us old poor sinners? It's nothing to us, is it? It's
just nothing to us. It's all of Him. He's great in
creation. He's great in providence. Oh
my! Is He ever great in salvation?
He's great in grace. It's a great salvation. That's what we read over in Hebrews
chapter 2. It's a great salvation. How shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation? It's got a great author. It's God Himself. Devised in
great wisdom. Our Sunday School lesson this
morning is about how can God be just and justify the ungodly. But who could come up with the
answer to that riddle? Only God. Only God. while we could never figure it
out. How can God continue to be just and holy and righteous
and pure as He is and yet embrace a vile sinner like you and me,
take us unto Himself and hug us and give us like the father
did the prodigal son, put a kiss of love on his cheek? How can
the Father, the God of glory, how can He embrace us in love
and in mercy and hug us and love on us and take us unto Himself
and adopt us into His family? How can He do that and not be
defiled by our guilt and our sin and our rottenness? How can
that happen? You say, well, it can't happen. There just is no way. There is
one way. And somebody is the way. And
that's Christ Jesus. And God appointed Him to be the
Savior. And our Lord Jesus, He came into
this world as the representative of all that elect seed that God
gave Him before the world began. He came down here as our substitute,
as the satisfier of God's law. And He met the law with all of
its strict standards, all of its precepts. He met the law. He passed every test. Every jot and every tittle of
the law, he obeyed. When there was a feast to be
attended, he attended it. Whatever was called for, He did
it. He is the perfect man. He obeyed
every precept of the law. Well, what about us breaking
the law? He is going to take care of that.
And He did take care of that by His death. Oh, how great is our God in giving
us His Son! No wonder we read over there
in 1 Timothy chapter 3, and without controversy. Great is the mystery
of godliness. This is a great mystery. There
are many great mysteries about our great God, but this is perhaps
the greatest mystery of all. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. What a mystery. God came down
here. Why? Why did He come? Well, so
we could have a Christmas every year. That's not why He came. Why did He come down here? He
came to save His people from their sins. That's why He came.
He came on a mission. He came to accomplish the Father's
eternal will of redemption. God purposed for Him to come
and He came. And while He is God Himself,
as a man, He volunteered. He volunteered for this duty. The Father gave Him a work to
do and He said, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. What will? God's redemptive will. God's
saving will. God's will of grace. Thank God
for His will of grace. Oh, how great He is in salvation. And the Savior went to the cross. He suffered, bled, and died. Not in vain! Not in vain! No, sir, not in vain! He died
to save the objects of God's love. He died to redeem His people. He died to put away our sins.
He died, as Daniel said in Daniel chapter 9, to bring in everlasting
righteousness. And our Lord Jesus, as He hung
on that cross, He said, it is finished. He bowed His head,
and then He gave up the ghost, He died, and when He died, our
sins died. And we're dead to sin. We are
dead to sin. Listen, people of God, you're
dead to sin! Dead to its condemning power! You're dead to it. How do you know? He accomplished
this great work of God's salvation because He arose again. He went
back to glory. And up in glory now He's seated
at the right hand of the Father. He's the exalted Savior. And then when He went home to
glory, He sent His Spirit. Because you see, this gospel's
got to be made real to us old dead sinners. Something's got
to be done for us. Something's been done about our
sin, but I've got to have something done to me. You do too. I've got to have a work done
within me. Because you see, I'm still at enmity with God. By
nature, I'm God's enemy. Yeah, but he loved you and Christ
died for you. But I didn't know anything about
that. I'm just going along life's merry way. No real thought of
the true God, the greatness of God, the God of glory. I didn't
have any thoughts about Him. I had some thoughts about an
imaginary God and an imaginary Jesus and an imaginary Spirit. And I believed a fake gospel,
a phony gospel, another gospel, a false gospel. I believed that,
but I didn't know the God of the Bible. I didn't know a thing
about the gospel. Just going down the broad road
that leaded to destruction with everybody else. And then the
Spirit of God, the old blessed Spirit, He came to me through the preaching
of the gospel. And He separated me from the
crowd, and He got me off to myself, and He dealt with me one-on-one. That's how God deals with us.
One-on-one. Isn't that right? One-on-one.
And then He who was dead in trespasses and sins was raised from the
dead. And as a result of that life-giving
work of the blessed Spirit of God, what is that life-giving
work called? The new birth. Being born again. Not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth
forever. The Spirit of God wakes us up from the sleep of death
and He brings us to see and believe and rejoice in Jesus Christ. He shows us our neediness after
He shows us God's holiness. We learn something about who
God is and in the light of His glory as countenance, in the
light of His greatness, we see how little we are and how needy
we are, how sinful we are. Oh, we don't see it in its fullness.
I don't mean to say that. But we are made to see our neediness. And then God the Holy Spirit
shows us somebody. He takes the scales off of our
eyes and He shows us somebody who came and lived and died and
rose again and ascended back to glory. He shows us the beauties
and the majesty and the sweetness and the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then in our hearts, this
is what happened to me, in my heart I said, I must have this
Savior. This is the one I need. This
is the one I need. And I just fled to Him. I just
ran to Him. I looked to Him. I embraced Him because He had
embraced me. He took me in, and I know I was
holding on to him. I'm still holding on, but it's
not my hold on him that saved me. It's his hold on me. It's
like when you're going to walk a child across the street, and
you take their hand, and they hold your hand. It's not their grip on your hand
that's their safety. It's your grip on their hand.
That's their safety. And we hold Him, we embrace Him,
we cling to Him. Don't you cling to Him? I do,
I cling to Him. But bless His name, that almighty,
great Savior, He embraces me. He's got me. He holds me. We
used to sing the song years ago, He will hold me fast. When my
faith falters, He will hold me fast. When I fail, He will hold
me fast. When I'm full of unbelief, He
will hold me fast. He's got a grip on me. It's a
grip of almighty, great grace. And you know what this great
God's going to do one day? He's going to come, this great
God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to come and
take me home to be with Him. Oh, blessed day. And then I'll
see the great Son of God. I'll see Him face to face. And
forever and ever, I'll ascribe greatness to my God. I'll publish
His greatness. I'll say, Oh, Lord, how great
Thou art. And really, I've only got one
musician to deal with this morning. Could we sing How Great Thou
Art instead of the last one I picked out? We're song leaders over
here. Why don't you all just come right... Let's sing How
Great Thou Art. What is it? 36, 37.