Gracious Heavenly Father, we
come before Thy throne, O Throne of holiness and righteousness.
Thou art a King, Sovereign, Almighty, Great God, and we just praise
Thee and thank Thee for how You have revealed Yourself to Your
people. We come before Thee, we pray that You'd be glorified
today and magnified through the preaching of Thy Word. Oh, that
Thy saints would be built up and encouraged in the way, O
Lord. We also pray that if there's
any of your lost sheep that will hear this message, Lord, that
you would touch their hearts and the Holy Spirit would illuminate
their scriptures for them and regenerate them and that they
might worship thee and praise thee. We love you and praise
you and thank you for your goodness, mercy and grace to us in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Today, we're going to start
a new series on the attributes of God. And today's message is
called the solitariness of God. the solitariness of God. We'll
start a new Sunday School series, again, where we'll be looking
at the attributes of God. And when we speak of God's attributes,
we're talking about those characteristics that help us to understand who
He truly is. Not who we think He is, but who
the Scriptures declare Him to be. Who the Scriptures declare
Him to be. How He is revealed in Scripture. And this will in no way be a
comprehensive study because you could spend a lifetime on these
subjects and never exhaust who our great God is. But we'll look
at several of God's attributes in the next few weeks. Have you
ever pondered or meditated upon the subject of the solitariness
of God? The solitariness of God. Turn
if you would to Genesis chapter one. Genesis chapter 1. The Bible in its first words says this, in
the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. Now turn over to Exodus chapter
3. Exodus chapter 3. So in the beginning, God. I want us to think about God
being God by Himself before He created anything. Anything. Anything. Exodus chapter 3, our
great God proclaims to Moses who He is. Look at Exodus chapter
3, verses 13 and 14. And Moses said unto God, Behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel, And shall say unto
them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you. And they
shall say unto me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. Now think of the vastness of
this wonderful name, I am. It brings forth the self-existence
of our great God. And we know that Lord, when we
see Lord in the Old Testament, it is the self-existent one,
Jehovah. Jehovah. He is the being of beings and
it denotes His immutability and the fact that He is eternal.
I am that I am. Also think of the power in this
name. What He has said shall come to
pass. What He has said shall come to
pass because of who He is, the Great I Am. The Great I Am. And so we can have faith that
He'll fulfill all His promises because He is the Great I Am.
This name is the same name that our Lord called Himself. Turn,
if you would, to John, chapter 8. The same name that our Lord
called Himself. He's the Word of God, the Eternal
One, who became flesh, beloved, and dwelt among us, all to redeem
us from our sins. All to redeem us from our sins.
Look at John 8, verses 58. Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. What a proclamation. That verse
always gives me chills, beloved. Our Lord just revealed who He
is. And you know, they picked up
stones, they wanted to kill Him. But look what He says, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Again, what name shall
Moses tell them? I am that I am. Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you. There
He is. There He is in John in the flesh.
God incarnated in the flesh, beloved. That's what He's proclaiming.
He's proclaiming right there before them that He is the great
I Am. Have you ever pondered that before
God created anything? The angels, the universe, time,
space, that God dwelt alone? And He was perfectly content
being alone? The Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit, perfectly contained. In the beginning, God. In the
beginning, God. Before there was any heaven,
before the angels, before anything, God, the self-existent One, existed
in great wisdom, in great power. And yet, even then, He was full
of mercy, beloved. Even then, He was full of mercy,
full of grace, because what? Scripture declares He's the same
God yesterday, today, and forever. He's unchanging, isn't He? He's
unchanging, beloved. He's not the God of the Old Testament,
and then all the God who's... I remember when I was in religion.
I've told you guys this. They said the Old Testament was
for the Jews, the New Testament is for believers. No. No, He's
the same God yesterday, today, and forever. The same God, full
of mercy, full of grace towards His people. Turn, if you would, again to
Exodus chapter 15. We'll look at verses 6 to 12. And as we do, I want us to think
upon the greatness of our God. Oh, how great our God is. And
think upon His solitariness. Think upon how He is the Almighty
One, the Self-existent One. And this will make us sing as
Moses and the children of Israel did when the Red Sea closed over
the Egyptians. Look at this in Exodus 15, verses
6 to 12. Thy right hand, O Lord, has become
glorious and empowered. Always has been. But now it's
manifest. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. Remember, they were pursuing
Israel, and they were swallowed up by the Red Sea. Oh, what great
powers on display! And in the greatness of Thine
excellency, Thou hast overthrown them that rose up against Thee.
Thou sendest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
People shake their fists at God right now. God's wrath will consume
them as stubble, beloved. It will consume them as stubble.
And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together,
and the floods upright as in heap, and the depths were congulated
in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue,
I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, that's man, I'll do
this, I'll do that. My lust shall be satisfied upon
him, I'll draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst
blow with thy wind, and the sea covered them. Man said, I'm going
to do all this. And God just swallowed them up.
Had the sea just swallowed them up. I will draw my sword, my hand
shall destroy them. Thou didst blow thy wind, the
sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who
is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Oh, there's no one like unto
Him, who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises,
due in wonders, and all the wonders that He's done. Just think of
the wonders of salvation that we have in Christ. Oh, what a
wonder that is. What a wonder that is. Thou stretchest
out Thy right hand, the earth swallows them. That's the God
of the Bible. That's the God of the Bible,
beloved. Before there was ever time or space, before there was
even the universe upheld by the Word of His power, there was
nothing but God from everlasting, beloved. Before anything was created.
A. W. Prink brings this forth in
a wonderful quote. He says this in the beginning.
There was nothing, no one but God. And that, not for a day
or a year, or an age, but from everlasting. During the past
eternity, God was alone, self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied,
in need of nothing. In need of nothing. Had a universe,
had angels, had human beings been necessary to him in any
way, they also had been called into existence from all eternity.
That created them, when he did, added nothing to God. So when
God spoke this world into existence, when He created the angels, when
He created us, it added nothing to Him. It added nothing to Him. The
creation of them, when He did, added nothing to God, essentially.
He changes not. Therefore, His essential glory
can be neither argumented nor diminished. Our great God, beloved. That
was the end quote. Our great God was under no obligation
to create anything. You know why he did it? He did
it according to his own will and purpose. That's why he did
it. According to his own will and
purpose, it was an act. It was an act. Creation of the
angels, of us, of the world was an act of his absolute sovereignty. It was an act of His absolute
sovereignty. And He does all things, beloved,
after the counsel of His own will, because it pleased Him
to do so. Because it pleased Him to do
so. By creating this world, the universe, stars, angels, all
things visible and invisible, our great God, what did He do?
He manifested His glory. He manifested His glory. And
we who are believers sit in awe of His glory, don't we? When
we think upon these things, when we meditate upon them. And meditating
is just thinking. And when we think upon the greatness
of our God through the week, what do we do? We glorify Him,
don't we? We magnify His name. We say, Oh Lord, You have mercy
on me. This is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So He was
under no obligation to create anything, He just did it according
to His own will and purpose. To manifest His glory, beloved.
To manifest His greatness. To manifest His almighty power.
That's our God. That's our God, beloved. Is it any wonder that the scriptures
proclaim, stand up and bless the Lord your God forever? And
blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessings
and praises. Is it any wonder the scripture
tells us to do that? Oh, bless his name. Praise his
name. Our God is a great God. He's
the God, the one true God. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
chapter 1. Paul, in writing to the Ephesians about our salvation
in Christ, brings forth this wonderful truth that God does
all things according to the good pleasure of His will. Now, I
know we've read this portion many times, but I want to read
it in light of this, in light of how God does whatever He's
pleased to do. The whole reason He created the
world and us is because it pleased Him to do so. The whole reason
we're saved is because it pleased God to do so. It pleased Him
to save us. Look at this in Ephesians chapter
1. Paul's writing to the Ephesians
about our salvation in Christ, and he brings forth this wonderful
truth, again, that God does all things according to the good
pleasure of His will. We'll read verses 3 to 12 with
our topic in mind, what we're considering. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with,
what? All spiritual blessings, where?
In heavenly places in Christ. in Christ, that's the key right
there, in Christ. Accordingly, He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, here
we go, according to the good pleasure of what? His will. His will. Same will that spoke
the universes into existence, created the angels, created us
because it pleased him to do so. Same will. Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. to the praise
of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us what? Accepted
in the beloved, we're accepted by God in Christ, in Christ alone. Again, in whom we have redemption,
how? Through his blood. He gave his life for us, beloved.
And what's the result of that? Oh, this is wonderful, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will. We looked at that mystery a few
weeks back. Look at this. According to his good pleasure,
which he had what? Purposed in himself. If you're saved, God saved you
on purpose. Isn't that wonderful? Despite
our sinfulness, despite who we are, God saved us. It's wonderful. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one, that's in Christ,
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose, here we go, the
purpose of him who worketh, what? All things after the counsel
of his own will. My, oh my. That we should be
to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. This
is wonderful. Ponder this, that God gains nothing
from us, but yet He's moved to create all because of the pleasure
of His will. He's moved to save His people
because of the pleasure of His will. He made a covenant with
the Son and the Holy Spirit in eternity, and it shall come to
pass. It'll come to pass. Because it pleased Him to do
so. Because it pleased Him to do so. And take note of verse five,
it says, at the end, according to the good pleasure of his will,
verse nine, heaven made known unto us the mystery of his will,
and then verse 11, here's the key, to it all, according to
the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. A lot of people talk about their
free will. There's the will that rules over
everything. See, our wills are bound to our
nature. We've talked about that and looked at that. God does whatever He pleases
to do. Whatever He pleases to do. Now this is foreign in most
religious circles of our day. They never speak of this. They
never speak of God being... They speak of God being at man's
beck and call. But the scriptures proclaim that
our great God, who is the self-existent One, who once existed in solitariness,
and was content, He's the almighty one. But according
to religion, God's at man's beck and call, but according to the
scriptures, we're at his mercy. Somebody's got it wrong, and
the scriptures back us up, don't they? We're at the mercy of God. We're dependent upon the mercy
of God. We're dependent upon the grace of God. What does the
scripture say? Remember, I always say, anyone
talking to you about what we believe or anything about Christ,
you begin the conversation with Scripture, you sustain the conversation
with Scripture, and you end the conversation with Scripture. Always give them Scripture. Always.
Always. And people give you their opinion.
What does the Scripture say? What does the Scripture say?
Well, it says here, in verse 11, that He does all things according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. That's the God of the Bible. That's the God
of the Bible, beloved. Whether people like it or not,
that's the God of the Bible. He's the Almighty One. He's the
self-existent One. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. And none can stay His hand or
say unto Him, what doest thou? None. None. Turn if you would
to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. We'll look at verses 11 or verses
33 to 36 in light of the topic that we're considering today,
the solitariness of God. How he does whatever he pleases. Look at this. Romans chapter
11. Oh, the depths. Verse 33. Oh, the depths. of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments
and His ways past finding out. You can search and search and
never find His way, but if He reveals to you who He is, you'll
learn a little bit. We just learn a little bit, don't
we? We just know a little bit. We see through a glass darkly,
don't we? His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who
hath known the mind of the Lord? Who hath known the mind of the
Lord? He does whatever he pleases. He doesn't seek out counselors
like leaders do in the world. He doesn't seek no one out. Who hath known the mind of the
Lord? Who hath been his counselor? Who said to him, well, Lord,
you should do it this way? Now, some people talk like that, don't
they? God don't need no counselors. He's the Almighty One. Who hath been his counselor?
Who hath first given to him? And it shall be recompensed unto
him again. For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. We give God all the glory, don't
we? All the glory, all the honor, all the praise. Note in verse
34 there, a question is asked, for who hath known the mind of
the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? Now think of this
in light of the solitariness of God. He didn't need no help. None at all. He does, again,
what he pleases. And think of the fact of what
we saw in Scripture there. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. So that's why the question comes
up. Who hath no one in the mind of the Lord, or who hath been
his counselor? And when we put Scripture with Scripture, like
we looked at in Ephesians, he worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. No one. No one has been his counselor. No one. God is not obligated
to anyone. He's not obligated to anyone.
And let us remember that God gains nothing from us. He gains
nothing from us. He is righteous and we are unrighteous. And in order for us to be righteous,
we must be clothed in the perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ.
We gain, beloved. We gain. We'll look at tonight
how by Christ's poverty, We become rich. We're the gainers, beloved. We're the gainers. We need Him. He doesn't need
us. We need Him. We need Him. Now think upon this. If we add
nothing to God and we don't, then how merciful was He in planning
to save us from eternity? It was just an act of sovereign
mercy. that he chose to save us. And the believer can say. I received that mercy, that grace
was given to me. All because it pleased him to
do so. Bring it right home, bring it
right home. Oh, this is a mercy unmeasurable. Boundless grace. We need Him. And how merciful
was He in planning to save us from eternity? Because the Scriptures
proclaim we're all unprofitable. We're servants in our natural
state. We who are the redeemed of the
Lord are unworthy of God's grace and mercy. We know that, don't
we? We've been shown that. And yet He bestows us all according
to the good pleasure of His will, because He's loved us with an
everlasting love. My, it doesn't get any better
than that. It's wonderful. Always remember that God and
His essential being never changes. He never changes. We glorify
God in our praise, but we never add to what is called His intrinsic
glory. We don't add anything to Him.
This is the sum total of His greatness. His divine being. It is all that God is and the
whole of His attributes. And always remember again that
we cannot add to His intrinsic glory. Because He's already all-glorious. He's already all-glorious, beloved. He's forever glorious. Perfect. Eternally the same. Unchanging. Aren't you glad He's unchanging?
Because that means our salvation is secure in Him, in Christ. It's wonderful. He's unchanging
in His glory. Therefore the glory of God is
intrinsic to Himself. It's never diminished. It never
increases. It's unaffected by outward forces
or circumstances. That's why Paul wrote, for who
hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor?
My. A.W. Pink brings this forth in
another quote. He said, God is honored and dishonored
by men, not in his essential being, but in his official character. So when God created all that
we see and don't see, it was again, as I said earlier, to
manifest His glory. It was to manifest His glory.
God has been glorified by creation, by providence, by redemption.
This again is indisputable. But again, this all has to do
with His manifest of glory. It adds nothing to His essential
being, nothing to His intrinsic glory. It simply manifests when
He created, When He redeemed us, it manifests His glory. It
manifests His glory, beloved. The great and glorious God, who
He is, it manifests His almighty power, doing that which is impossible
with man, but yet it's possible with God. Why? Because He has
all power, all ability. He can do whatever He pleases.
We can't. But He can, beloved. He's the
Eternal One, the Almighty One. The self-existent one. This is
our God. This is our Savior, beloved.
Remember what He called Himself? Remember what our Lord called
Himself? I AM. That's our God. And the Lord was perfectly blessed
in Himself before He ever spoke anything into existence. Ponder
this. All creatures are in His hand.
All creatures. Scriptures declare this. Behold,
the nations are as a drop of a bucket. You ever see it drop a little
bit of water in a bucket? That's the metaphor. It's wonderful.
Just like a drop of a bucket and are counted as a small dust
of the balance. The dust that's on the balance
when they're weighing that they don't need to blow it off or
they just leave it there because it won't add any weight. That's
what all the nations of the world are to our great God. Just like
the dust on the balance that you just ignore. In Lebanon, the whole country
is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient
for a burnt offering. All those beasts are not sufficient
for a burnt offering to our great God. All nations are as nothing, and
they are counted to Him less than nothing in vanity. To whom
will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare
unto Him? No one compares to our great
God. No one. And this is the God of
the Bible. That's the God of the Bible.
It's not a God somebody cooked up in their imagination. That's
the God of the Bible. That's who He really is. And
it pleased Him to reveal Himself to His people, to you who are
the blood-washed saints of God. It pleased Him to reveal Christ
to you by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. We're regenerated,
born again. We're given grace and faith.
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But remember, even while we're
here, we just see through a glass darkly. But one day, oh, we'll
see him face to face. And the people of this earth
are like grasshoppers. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah chapter
40. The people of this earth are like grasshoppers, beloved.
They're just like grasshoppers. I was thinking about this as
I was preparing, and I remembered when I was a kid, you used to
try to catch grasshoppers all the time, right? But they're so small.
We're huge compared to them, aren't we? But the people of
this earth, all the people of this earth are just like a little
grasshopper. It's amazing. Isaiah chapter
40 verses 20 to 23. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeketh
unto him a cunning workman to prepare a grave and image that
shall not be moved. Have ye not known? Have ye not
heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have
ye not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is He that sitteth
upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are
as grasshoppers." So again, we're getting a word picture of how
great our God is, and how small we really are. "...that stretches out the heavens
as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." the
heavens as a curtain. My, that's our God, beloved. That's our God. Spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in. That bringeth the princes to
nothing, He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. My, now
think of the God of the Bible as we have looked at Him and
contrast Him with the God who's preached in most pulpits today.
And you will fast realize that they are not the same. Not the
same. That's why we preach Christ.
We preach our great God and His absolute sovereignty, just like
Spurgeon did and other faithful men. We just proclaim Christ
in Him. We proclaim the greatness of
God in the nothingness of man. Because we are in desperate need
of Christ. We're in desperate need of Christ. Turn if you would to 1 Timothy
chapter 1. We've looked at a few Old Testament scriptures. Let's
look at a couple New Testament scriptures here. 1 Timothy chapter
1. Paul here proclaims who our great
God is. Look at this. 1 Timothy chapter
1 verse 17. Writing to Timothy. And Paul here breaks forth in
the doxology of praise to our great sovereign God for His mercy
and His abundant grace, proclaiming that He is the eternal King of
nature, providence and grace. Verse 17, now unto the King eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen. Give Him all the glory,
beloved. Give Him all the glory. This
is a doxology of praise right there in that verse. And note
He's the King Eternal. The Great I Am. The Great I Am. The King Eternal. His throne
is forever. His kingdom and government is forever. He's immortal. For
Christ is the living God. The living Redeemer. Though He died as a man, He'll
die no more. He lives forever. He is invisible in His divine
nature and until manifest in the flesh, He's the Word of God.
So in eternity, He was the Word of God. And He's still the Word
of God. He's still the Word of God. Second
person of the Trinity. He dwells in a light that is
inaccessible. He's the only wise God in opposition to all the
false deities which were being proclaimed at this time. He is
wisdom itself. He is the fountain of wisdom.
And it is to Him that we give all the glory, forever. And we
will give Him all the glory, forever in glory. Now turn over
to chapter 6, the same book. And this is the God who we've
been looking at today, this morning. And look what Paul writes to
Timothy here in chapter 6, verses 15 and 16. Which in times past,
He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King
of kings. and the Lord of Lords. He's the
only, the only Potentate. There's a man in Rome who claims
to be a Potentate, but there's only one Potentate. That's a
false Potentate over there in Rome. Right here. Blessed and only Potentate, King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. 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. Amen. Seal it up with an amen. Oh my. Amen. This is the God
of the Bible, beloved. This is the God of the Bible.
It is He who saves us. It is He who redeems us. It is
He who is far above all. Independent of us all, A.W. Pink said this, he gives to all
but is enriched by none. Because everyone's fed out of
his hand. The sun shines because he commands
it to do so. The rain falls because he commands
it to do so. He gives to all but is enriched
by none. That's an amazing quote. So true. So ponder this truth this week.
Meditate upon this precious truth, beloved of God, that He gives
to all and is rich by none, and yet He chose to love a people,
a people of His choosing, a people of His choosing from eternity. And He chose that people, which
we who are the blood-bought saints of God, we're in that number.
He chose to love those people based upon nothing in them. Nothing
in them. But He chose us in Christ Jesus,
His Son. And we are redeemed by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit regenerates
us. And we are His people. We've been loved by God from
all eternity. Why? According to the good pleasure
of His will. Makes you want to shout. It's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. He's
the only one to be worshipped. He's the only one to be revered.
He's the only one who's worthy of all our praise. He's the only
one worthy of all our adoration. He's the perfect one, the holy
one, the righteous one. And He must reveal Himself to
us, or we'll never know Him. Or we'll never know Him. And
it is God, the Holy Spirit, who reveals Christ to us who reveals
to us who God is through the preaching of the
gospel and we say glory to His name. Praise His mighty name.
Praise His mighty name. So let us leave here today considering
the fact that our great God is lacking in nothing in His person. He is complete. And He did not
make us because He needed us. He made us and He created us
and He's redeemed His people because it pleased Him to do
so. It's humbling, but it's also, it'll make your lips just cry
out in praise to our great God. We are made for His pleasure
according to His purpose, for His glory, which He determined
after the counsel of His own will. Not ours. And we say to God, be the glory.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Your wonderful scriptures
and how they teach us of Thee, O Lord, and Your majesty and
Your glory. How majestic You are, the Almighty, self-existent
One. We glorify Thy name and praise
Thee. We pray that You'd be glorified today through the preaching of
Thy Word and be with us in the next service and tonight too,
Lord. May we glorify and magnify Thy name. We love You because
You first loved us. In Jesus' name, amen.