Tell of His Excellent Greatness

Q: What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

The Bible emphasizes God's holiness, stating He is separate and perfect, dwelling in light that no man can approach. Scripture highlights the absolute holiness of God, as seen in verses like Isaiah 57:15 which declares, 'For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy.' God's holiness signifies His apartness and perfection, differentiating Him from sinful humanity. He is perfect, righteous, and immune to corruption. The psalmist urges us to praise God in His holiness, recognizing that we, by nature, fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23). Thus, our communion with this holy God can only be achieved through Christ, our High Priest, who embodies the sanctuary where sinful hearts can approach Him.

Q: How do we know salvation is of the Lord?

Salvation is solely an act of God, as it is He who saves and calls His people for His glory, as asserted in Isaiah 43:7. The assertion that salvation is wholly of the Lord is strongly supported by Scripture. Isaiah 43:7 emphasizes that God created His people for His glory and has initiated their redemption. The doctrine of total depravity shows that in our sinful state, we are utterly incapable of contributing anything to our salvation. This theological perspective aligns with the idea expressed in Ephesians 2:8-9, which states that we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works. The entire process of salvation, from calling to glorification, is the work of God's sovereign grace. Moreover, every individual He saves will ultimately give glory to Him alone, affirming that it is 'Salvation is of the Lord' indeed.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to praise God?

Praising God is crucial because it acknowledges His excellent greatness and draws us into communion with Him. Praise is a central aspect of the Christian faith because it reflects our recognition of God's majesty and worthiness. Psalm 150 emphasizes the call to praise God for His mighty acts and excellent greatness. Praising God not only glorifies Him but also reminds us of our dependence on His grace and power. It helps us to focus on His character rather than our circumstances, fostering a sense of awe and reverence. In 1 Peter 2:9, believers are called to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Thus, through our praise, we fulfill our created purpose and experience the joy of God's presence in our lives.

All right, brethren, let's go to Psalm 150. July 21st, 2011 is when we started this series in the Psalms. This will be our last one in this series. Three months shy of 15 years we've been going through the Psalms. Hopefully won't be the last message out of the song, but it'd be the last in this series You probably recognized the reason I asked Adam to sing praise him as that's where this this psalm is where that him came from and this is the psalm that Verse 2 says praise him for his mighty acts praise him according to his excellent greatness The theme of the last five of these psalms has been praise the Lord praise the Lord and really that's the theme of the all of the psalms give him all the glory and that's the theme of the whole Bible that's why God Creates his people anew that's why he saves his people is to glorify his name. He said in Isaiah 43 7, everyone that is called by my name, I have created him for my glory. I have formed him, yea, I have made him. That's what, that's why God saves his people. I did a, I did a search this week.

I wanted to see how how honest Gemini is, and so I did a search, and I asked, is there any religion in the history of the world where a man's idol God does everything necessary to save him, and the sinner does absolutely nothing? The sinner is too helpless to contribute. Has a man ever come up with a religion An idol god that does all the saving and man does none.

And he gave all these big words of all these different branches of theology and study and what have you. But anyway, the short answer was no. And it said that stains the pride of man. Yeah, that's right. That's why no man ever come up with a idol that does all the saving. Every man has to contribute and that's so with most people in the Christian They call themselves Christian believe man has to contribute but God saves his people and Everybody he saves gives him all the glory. We say we didn't do anything. He did it all Salvation is of the Lord. It really is of the Lord. That means everything every every beginning to end Salvation is of the Lord. Now, I titled this Tale of His Excellent Greatness.

And I'm gonna give you four words to help you remember our divisions. The first word is holiness. The second word is power. The third word is acts, A-C-T-S, acts. And the fourth word is greatness. Holiness, power, acts, greatness. Remember those four words, and we see it right here clearly. First, holiness.

It says, praise God, praise ye the Lord. Let me get in the right psalm. Praise ye the Lord, praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His sanctuary. Sanctuary means holiness. It means apartness, sacredness, separateness. Praise God in His holiness. Praise God in His apartness, in His sacredness. God is holy. Praise God in His holy, in His holiness. He's holy. And He is the sanctuary. God is the sanctuary.

He's separate from sinners. We're the, somebody said, we're the un of everything he is. He's holy, we're unholy by nature. He's righteous, we're unrighteous. He's godly, we're ungodly. Everything he is, we're the un of it. And praise God in his holiness. He's the great I am. He's the holy one. His dwelling in glory above, where he is, where God dwells, is the sanctuary. It's not all, I'm going to show you something else, but that is the sanctuary, where he is.

That's what the holiest of holies typified. You know, none could go in there but the high priest, and he had to go in once a year and not without blood. That's a picture of God in his sanctuary. holiness Scripture says he only hath immortality dwelling in the light Light stands for holiness in him is light and no darkness at all He dwells in a light that no man can approach unto Whom no man has seen nor can see to whom be honor and power everlasting amen He told Moses, thou cannot see my face. He said, for there shall no man see me and live. That's how holy God is. If we saw him, we couldn't live. He's that holy. So here's God dwelling in a light which no man, no sinner can approach unto. Holy, holy, holy. When Isaiah was made to see him in his holiness, that's when he said, woe is me, I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. He saw God in His holiness.

Now, it's sad. This is very sad. And this is a testament, this is a witness to the total corruption of our heart, our natural heart. This bears witness that we're totally depraved. Because a multitude of sinners imagine that they can come to God and stand before Him and be accepted because of something they did, because of works they did. Now that's the height of depravity to think that. He is holy and all our righteousnesses are His filthy rags.

Praise God in His wholeness. Do not attempt to come to God in your works. Do not attempt to praise God because of anything in you, or even approach Him. Don't, don't try it. Now here's the second thing it means. Praise God in His sanctuary. If no man can see Him, and no man can approach to Him, then how's a sinner gonna have communion with Him? How can we be accepted? How can we approach Him? only in the Lord Jesus. He is the sanctuary. He is the sanctuary. He's separate from us. Scripture says, such a high... Let's go see it. Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7. I've got a couple of scriptures I want to show you right here in Hebrew. Hebrews 7 verse 26.

Such and high priest became us. The word became means this is what was necessary because we're such sinners. One who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. That's our Lord Jesus. Look at Hebrews 8 verse 1. Now of the things we have spoken, this is the psalm.

We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. Christ himself is the sanctuary. He is the tabernacle. His body, the Son of God come down, took a body and his human body was not of man. It was of the Holy Spirit. He pitched that tabernacle. And He is that tabernacle. The holy fullness, all that God is, is manifest in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's who He is.

He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. He's the great I am. He said, No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. He said, Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. That means He is as holy as God. It's because He is God. That man, the Lord Jesus, is God in human flesh. And He is the sanctuary. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself. Let Him be your fear. Let Him be your dread. He shall be for a sanctuary. He shall be.

Is there anybody who wants to be saved? Do you want to be saved? Do you want to praise God? Do you want to see God be glorified? Then praise Him and glorify Him by coming before the Lord Jesus, bowed down, begging Him for mercy. Cast all your care into His hand and then give him all the glory for making you do so. That's how you praise the Lord. He's the only way we can come into God's presence.

But there's more, there's more. God's holy place, the holiest of holies, is the sanctuary. Christ Jesus, who came down, he's the sanctuary. And the sanctuary Well, let's go see Isaiah 57, 1. I want you to see this. Isaiah 57, 1. And this is amazing. This is amazing. This is the amazing grace of God right here. As holy as God is, listen to this. Isaiah 57, 15.

For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place, in the sanctuary, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Our Lord comes down and he draws his lost sheep under the sound of the gospel and creates a new holy heart, and Christ takes up His dwelling, and this is the sanctuary, the new holy heart He's made. So you got holy God, wherever He is, it's a sanctuary. You got the Lord Jesus, who is God in human flesh, and now He's in His child, and made a new holy sanctuary, separate from His flesh, separate from this world, Not of man, it's tabernacle the Lord pitched.

And then collectively, when he gets us, brings all his people together, wherever his people are assembled, his people are his sanctuary. The tabernacle in which he dwells, the sanctuary he made that he pitched in whom he dwells. He's the sanctification of His people. He's the righteousness of His people. And He made all His elect righteous and holy. And we have communion, oneness. We're one with the Father. We're one in Christ. We rest in Him. The Father rests in Him. So that it's just, it's one holy place. We're holy. And in that state of holiness, We praise God, we give Him all the praise and all the glory for everything that He's done for us.

The scripture said this, Psalm 29 9 says, in His temple, you're the temple of God in whom He dwelled, the tabernacle He built, the holy place He made. And scripture says, in His temple does everyone speak of His glory. Everybody in his temple, everybody gives him all the praise and glory. Everybody.

Now, praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the holy heart he's made. Praise him only in Christ Jesus, the Holy One, together as his church. And we enter into the holiest of holies. You know Hebrews 10, we can come, welcome, welcome. because of Christ our high priest, because of Christ's blood. Our bodies have been washed with pure water. We've been given a new holy heart.

We can come and have communion with God in Christ. But that's the only way, brethren. That's the only way. There's no coming to God. He's holy, holy, holy. And we're sinful, sinful, sinful. There's no way of coming into communion with God except through the Lord Jesus. Cast your care on Him. Believe on Him. Now, here's the next thing. Power. Power.

Praise God in the firmament of His power. Praise God in the firmament of His power. Firmament means expanse. Expanse. Praise Him in the expanse of His power. God is power. He is power. The Lord Jesus is power. He created everything by His power. He upholds it all by the word of His power. Everything that's coming to pass is by His power. He's the power. He's the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He's the only wise God, our Savior, to whom belongs glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. That's Him. That's who He is. Now, go with me to Genesis 1 in order to help us feel really small.

In order for us to see something of the expanse of God's power. The firmament of God's power, the expanse of His power. Let's look at the firmament He created. Now look here, Genesis 1, 6. This was the second day that ever was. This is the second day there ever was, and it says here in verse six, and God said, let there be a firmament, a firmament, an expansion in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

And God made the firmament. He made this expanse. And he divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. That's where God created and placed the sun, the moon, the stars. That's what he's talking about. That's the firmament. And the evening and the morning were the second day. Now, what did you get done today? What all did you get done today? Did you get a lot done today? God did that in one day. That's what God did in one day.

You see power? You see power? Go with me to Isaiah chapter 40. When I preach, my goal is I want to exalt God, our Savior, so big. I want you to see Him as large. And I want us to see ourselves as tiny and total need. And that's what we have here. Listen to who He is now. Listen to Him. Isaiah 40 verse 21, Have you not known? Have you not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from looking at the foundations of the earth?

It's he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Just like we just saw, he just spoke it and made the firmament, made the heavens. It says, he bringeth the princes to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted. Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth. And he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither. And the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal? Sayeth the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their hosts by number? He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, by the firmament of his power, by the expanse of his power. For that he is strong in power, not one faileth. Now here's his application to you and me that believe. Here's his application to you that believe.

He said, Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgments passed over from my God? Do you think God's forgotten you? Do you think God doesn't hear you? Do you think He's not paying attention or that He's weary? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There's no searching of his understanding. What he's saying, child of God, is God has not forgotten you. God knows.

He knows. He's ever-present, all-powerful. He knows what His people need. He knows. But I need Him right now. Well, listen to what He said. He giveth power to the faint. To them that have no might, He increases strength. You know, you hear people say, oh, his faith is so strong. His will is so strong. If so, you're not going to get any strength from the God. God gives strength to them that has no strength, no power, no ability.

In other words, He helps them that cannot help themselves. I need Him now. Let's look at verse 31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.

Praise him in the holiest. Praise him in the sanctuary. Praise him in the expanse of his power. Now listen, I want to give you this from what Brother Spurgeon had in the treasury of David. Listen to this. He said, it's a blessed thing that in our God is holiness and power, that they're united. Power without righteousness would be oppression. And righteousness without power would be too weak for usefulness. But put the two together in an infinite degree, and we have God. That's good, and we have God. What an expanse we have in the boundless firmament of divine power. Worship Him in the sanctuary. Worship Him in the firmament of His power. Now here's the next thing. Acts. Acts. It says there in verse 2, praise Him for His mighty acts.

We just saw some of the mighty acts that He did in creation. He created everything. Our Lord created everything. He created all and He upholds all by His power. We just saw that He rules all providence. He said the inhabitants of the world are like grasshoppers. Scripture says that.

You hear me complain about whoever the ruler is? It doesn't matter who he is. The other side is going to complain about him. When you get one that's from the other side, the other side is going to complain about him. Somebody is always complaining about the ruler.

The scripture says he sets up the basest of men over nations. The Lord does that. And it says he makes men wither by his spirit blowing upon them. All flesh is grass. The grass withereth. Why? Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. You know how our flesh is going to be put down. You know how His saints, you know how He's going to make sure that our old man doesn't rule our new man by Him blowing upon our flesh. The Spirit of God making it to wither.

Only the Lord can do that. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven. Among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou? That's that's the Lord. I said God's work in all things And he's doing it especially for his people especially for his church. That's what he's doing That's what he's doing It's his eternal purpose to bring glory to his name as he saves his people and so he's working everything everything that comes to pass for His people. That's what He's doing.

I'm still amazed, brethren, at His mighty acts. I'm amazed that God chose me by His grace. I'm amazed at that. I forget the exact phrase, but you've heard it, and I don't even remember who said it, but if He hadn't chose me, I'd have never chosen Him. I'm thankful He chose me, and I'm thankful He's continued to preserve me. These are the mighty acts we praise Him for, all the acts involved in salvation. I'm so thankful for the mighty act of our Lord Jesus taking our place, brethren. He really took our place. He really came down and took our place.

And He went to that cross, and He, you know, if you're one of His, You can look to that cross and realize that's me there. That's what Paul meant when he said, I am crucified with Christ. That's me right there. And that's how God regards it. That's his individual chosen child that is being crucified. That's so of all his people. You look to Christ, and that's you being crucified right there. And by him bearing that curse, he delivered us from it fully It's done. There is now no condemnation. He delivered his people. And you know, I don't want to say that and us just get accustomed to hearing it.

I want that to always be, I want to pause when I hear that. I want that to always move me when I hear that my Savior took my place on the cross. It was an absolute substitution, and I died. That's so of you, brethren. We died there, and then we arose.

I praise him for his mighty act in bringing us under the gospel, and by his power, his mighty power, making us willing to bow, giving us faith to believe, People will say, what proof do you have? Faith is the evidence. When He gives you faith, you know these things are so. It's the substance. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for. You know that the Word of God is true, you know that that Christ is the Savior, you know God is sovereign, you know everything that has been declared is so when He gives you faith.

And He did that by His mighty acts. And He just keeps saving us. Go with me to 1 Peter 2. He keeps on preserving us, and He's not gonna let you go. And here's why we pray. Here's the mighty acts that He works. And this is the result of all His mighty acts. This is what He made His people to be.

Look at 1 Peter 2, 9. 1 Peter 2, 9. You are a chosen generation. A chosen race. God's race. His people. You are a royal priesthood. A priesthood of royal kings. is what Christ made us by his blood. You're an holy nation. God's people are the only nation in this world that's holy. And he called us out of a multitude of nations that are unholy. His nation's the only holy nation.

By his mighty acts, you're a peculiar people. That means a treasured people. of valuable people, valuable to God, treasured by God. And why did he do all this? He did it for just what our Psalm is saying, that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. That's what he did.

Praise him, brethren, in your speech and everything you say. Praise him. and your walk, day to day, everything you do. Praise Him when you gather and worship. Praise Him when you're in the trial and you're suffering. Praise Him when things are good, everything's going well. Praise Him all the time.

That's why He saved us, to give Him glory. by His mighty axe, by His mighty axe. Now last, let's go here. Greatness, greatness. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. That means abundance, it means multitude. Praise Him according to the multitude of His greatness, the abundance of His greatness. When we read Isaiah 40 and we saw The mighty power of God. You know who that's speaking about? Let me just give you this, if you got it marked. Isaiah 40 verse 9 says, Behold your God.

Verse 11 says, He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. We're talking about, when we talk about this holy God, this all-powerful God, this God who worked all these mighty acts to save us, we're talking about Christ Jesus, our shepherd. That's what the songs, the hymn writer wrote. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard his children. In his arms, he carries them all day long. Praise him, praise him. Tell of his excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Praise Him.

He truly is, as the hymn writer said, He's our blessed Redeemer. For our sins, He suffered and bled and died. He truly is our rock, our hope of eternal salvation. That one who was crucified. But right now, brethren, He's risen. He's reigning. He's working everything for us right now.

Read those last verses. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Listen, everybody's gonna praise Him. Everything that has breath's gonna praise Him. That's right, everybody. We don't have any room to glory in ourselves. And one day, every knee's gonna bow and every tongue's gonna confess.

He said that. He's so pleased with his son. Christ exalted him, highly exalted him. And he also highly exalted Christ. That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. And he's king of kings to the praise and glory of God. Everybody's gonna praise him.

We're either going to do it right now in this life by His grace or we're going to do it in that day. I pray the Lord calls you to praise Him right now. Call on Him while He's near. Cast your care on Him while He's near. Listen, He's worthy to receive the glory and the honor and the power. He is. He created all things for His pleasure. Everybody's going to praise Him. everybody. Now, I pray he bring you to do so. I pray he bring you to praise him.

And that you wouldn't be able to praise anybody but him only in Jeremiah nine. Here's what scripture said, Jeremiah nine. You know, I know when you're young, you have this thought that you know, I got a lot of time, you might not have a lot of time. You may not No man knows.

If you go over here to this cemetery, you're going to find graves that long, that long, that long. I pray, I pray, and he's going to bring his people to praise him. That's the hope we have for our young people, our children, our loved ones. He will bring his people to praise him. and he's never going to let us go.

Here's what he says, Jeremiah 9.23, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, saith the Lord. I pray God bring it to be so in your heart and mine for his glory. All right, Brother Adam.

Tell of His Excellent Greatness

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

How do we know salvation is of the Lord?

Why is it important for Christians to praise God?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Tell of His Excellent Greatness

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

How do we know salvation is of the Lord?

Why is it important for Christians to praise God?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

Comments

More from Clay Curtis

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Clay Curtis

Suggested for You

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book