In verse 5, which will be our
text, David says, For I know, I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods. You remember when Satan,
the father of lies, deceived Eve? That's recorded in Genesis
chapter 3. You remember how he did it. He
came to her, we're told in verse 1, and cast doubt in her mind
upon the Word of God. Yea, have God said? Did God say that? And then, once
he had her ear, had her attention, he asked, or rather suggested,
did he really mean that? Thou shalt not surely die, He
knows that once you eat of the forbidden fruit, you'll become
as gods. Likewise, going to the New Testament,
immediately after our Lord's baptism, we're told in Matthew
4, Luke 4, Mark, that he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil for 40 days and nights. And one of
the temptations consisted of him casting doubt upon the Word
of God. Imagine that, Satan. That shows
he's not omnipotent. That shows that he, unlike the
one God, doesn't know all because he's attempting to quote the
Word of God to the Word made flesh. But he quoted only half
of the verse. And our Lord, therefore, told
him, man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceedeth
out of the word of God. Satan always harasses God's people
with the same evil tactic, tempting us to doubt God's word. It's so, isn't it, brothers and
sisters? Often he comes to us, especially in times of trial
and difficulty. When our mind is already perplexed,
when we're already wondering, what's the purpose of this? What's
the good in this? And he comes at those times and
says, have God said? Have God really said? Casting
doubt upon the faithfulness of our God. We would do well to
remember the words of the Apostle Peter. You know where I'm going,
don't you? You know the words. And this
is something Peter learned by painful experience. He wrote
in his epistle, beware, beware children of God, because our
adversary, we have an adversary. Sometimes we seem to forget that. We grow careless. But Peter said,
we have an adversary. Be on your guard, because he's
walking about seeking whom? And he's speaking to God's children,
seeking whom he may devour. David, the man who wrote this
psalm, it's obvious in this psalm that David was on the mountaintop,
so to speak. He was rejoicing in the God of
his salvation. He seems to have a clear, clear,
unobstructed view of his God. And he says, Oh, let's praise
Him. He says, He deserves more praise than one man alone can
give Him. Come ye, all ye come with me
and let's sing praises unto our God. And with that clear vision
he says, God's great. He's great, our Lord is great
and above all gods. But that wasn't always so, was
it? David wasn't always on the mountaintop. He knew what it was like, like
every child of God does, to be in the valley, the valley of
despondency, the valley of death. When he wrote these words, he
was experiencing such a valley. My God, my God, David said. And I know that applies to our
Lord Jesus Christ especially. He uttered those very words,
but David at the time said, this is how I feel. It wasn't correct.
God never forsakes one of his children, but David was being
honest and was telling us how he felt at the time. And he cries
out from the depths, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken
me? We've all been there. If we'd
be as honest as David, we've all said such things. Where are
you, God? Where are you? Why this? Why now? I was listening to a
song by David Coleman before service, before I left the house,
and I thought that'd be a good way to introduce the message. or to make the point that I'm
trying to make. Part of the song was like this. David sang, when I am down, when
I am down and, oh, my soul so weary, when troubles come and
my heart burdened be, then I am still and waiting in the silence
until he come and said a while with me. David said, I've been
in the valley, and I've been on the mountaintop. And he says,
this I know. This I know. This is my experience. This is not secondhand knowledge.
This is not hearsay. David comes forward to you and
I this morning and puts his foot down and says emphatically, I
know that the Lord is great. no matter what comes my way,
no matter what he sends my way, no matter whether my very own
son drives me temporarily from the throne, no matter when I
must bury him and cry out, oh my son Absalom, I would have
died for thee Absalom, oh my son, my son. What a heartbreak. Yet, David could say, I know
that God is great. I know that God is great. David
saying, until he come and said a while with me, you raise me
up. So I can stand on mountains.
You raise me up to walk on troubled seas. I am strong when I am on
your shoulders. You raise me up to more than
I can be. That's our God. And that's the
one David directs our attention to. And I pray, and I have prayed,
and I ask you to join me now in that prayer. that God will
give us a fresh revelation, a fresh awareness of his glorious person. Then we shall sing with David.
We shall join him as he invites us to do in proclaiming, I know,
I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all
gods. Isn't that comforting? In Jeremiah,
Let me read you a portion of a prayer that he prayed in Jeremiah
chapter 32. He's in prison, a dungeon, the
pit. And he directs his heart and
voice to his God. In verse 17, Jeremiah prays,
O Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth
by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing
too hard for thee. We hear everywhere today, if
I'm wrong, If what I'm saying is a falsehood, you correct me,
you tell me I'm wrong, and I'll apologize. And I would that it
wasn't so, but you know that it is. Everywhere we turn, and
I'm not talking about out on the street, I'm talking about
men standing right where I'm standing this morning, and tell
us about a God who can't. A God who's trying, a God who
wants to, a God whose very purpose for His own glory and the salvation
of all His people is not dependent upon Himself, but for its success
is dependent upon the will of a dead sinner. You tell me that's
not what we hear on every hand? Thank God you won't hear it here.
You'll not hear it here. No, with David and with Jeremiah,
I bring before you good news, weary pilgrim. Our God is in
the heavens. and He hath done whatsoever He
hath pleased. He's doing it whether I realize
it or not. He's doing it whether I'm aware
of it or not. He's doing it whether I'm on
the mountaintop with clear vision of His glory or whether I'm in
the valley through the shadow of the darkness of death and
I can see clearly my God is still in control. And this is what
Jeremiah prays. He directs his prayer to his
God, O behold, I was made the heaven and the earth by thy great
power and stretched out arm. And listen to this, and this
is the same God you and I serve as believers for every child
of God. He says, I'm the Lord, I change
not. There is nothing too hard for
thee. Isn't that comforting? That's
our God. That's the true God. That's the
God as He revealed Himself to His own, and as He reveals Himself
in His Word to you and I. He's God. And look how He answered
Jeremiah. In verse 26, He tells Jeremiah,
you're exactly right. You're not mistaken. Then came
the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the Lord,
the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for
me? Is there anything too hard for
me? When Paul considered that, he
said, I can do all things through the Lord that strengtheneth me. In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote,
Looking not at the things that are seen, but at the things which
are not seen. Because the things that we see
are temporal. Everything we see, everything
we touch, every material possession, every relationship will pass
away. But that which is unseen, that's
eternal. That's eternal, that's everlasting. Oh God, help me to keep my eyes
upon that which is unseen. Eternity. My immortal soul, my God and
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is anything more worthy of my
attention than that? Does anything merit my all more
than that? Oh God, enable me to keep my
eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Kings, Elisha, he was the
protege, so to speak, of Elijah, who has gone to glory. And his
mantle falls upon his understudy, Elisha. And Elisha likewise has
a servant of his own as well. And they were in Dothan. one
time, and God would reveal to Elisha the plans of the king
of Syria. He would reveal those plans of
warfare to the king of Israel. The king of Syria would try to
ambush the king of Israel and overcome him. God revealed those
plans to Elisha and he told the king of Israel. The king of Syria
gathers the captains of his armies around him and says, okay, who's
the traitor? Somebody needs to confess. Who's
spilling the beans? Who's telling the king of Israel
all of my plans? It's not happened once or twice,
but many times. Now, who's responsible? And they
said, it's not us. It's that prophet. It's that
Elisha in Dothan. The king of Syria said, is that
where he's at? Okay, we'll put a stop to this.
You take chariots and captains and go down there, destroy them. We'll put an end to this. Look, if you will, or listen
while I read in 2 Kings, the understudy, the servant of Elisha
the prophet comes out, wakes up real early. And we read this
in verse 15 of chapter 6 of 2 Kings. And when the servant of the man
of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, look what he saw. Look what he saw. Behold, and
hosts come past the city, both with horses and chariots. And
his servant said unto him, he wakes up Elijah. Alas, my master,
how shall we do? What are we going to do? And
Elisha answered, fear not. Fear not? Now wait a minute. There's Elisha and then there's
this servant. That's two. And they're looking
out at an army, a multitude of veteran seasoned warriors. with a command from their king
to slay them. And Elisha says to his servant,
Fear not, for they that be with us are
more than they that be with them. Elisha apparently wasn't looking
at the same thing as the servant was, but he saw something besides
that, I should say. That's not all he saw, was it? Fear not? Doesn't that sound
familiar? That was one of the sweet expressions
of comfort that the captain of our salvation often spoke to
his disciples and to you and I, fear not, fear not. Peter walks on the water, begins
to sink. Master, save me, I perish. He reaches out a hand. Comes
walking on the sea on another occasion, he says, fear not,
it is I. Be not afraid. That's who Elisha
saw. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord,
I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Greater is he that be with us
than those that be with them. And this is what Paul said, child
of God. If God be for us, If God be for
us, who can be against us? If God be for us, the God we
read about in this book, The God that is Lord above all gods,
if He be for us, who can successfully be against us? Who can do anything
to a child of God except by God's permission? None can stay His
hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? Satan is not a rival to
God. You'd be surprised how many men,
otherwise intelligent, but they have surely missed the mark on
this, and told me, well, Satan and God are sort of in a conflict. This is what's happening right
now. And they're in a battle as who's going to have control?
Who's going to rule the earth? And we really won't know till
it's all finished. My soul. Where did they get that
nonsense? That's a fairy tale. That's a
dream. No. Satan is no rival to our
God. The unbeliever willingly doesn't
see God in anything or anywhere. He can't and he won't. He's blind.
But the believer, the child of God, when he gives us grace and
faith, we see God everywhere and in everything, do we not?
Do we not? You perhaps have noticed the
message and my text are the same as was used to print the article
in today's bulletin. But I think on a subject like
this, the greatness of God, an article, and a message, and our
loftiest consideration of our great God will at best, will
at best, only skim the surface, will they not? When my youngest
son, or oldest son rather, was very young, Larry, Larry Dale,
he would go with me when I would preach somewhere. One time we
were coming back from somewhere and he said, Dad, where did God
come from? Ever have your child or grandchild
ask you that? Where did God come from? And
I said, Larry Dale, he's the eternal God. He didn't come from
any place. He had no beginning. As Moses
said, before the heavens were brought forth, before you created
the heavens and the earth, from everlasting to everlasting. What
he was saying, thou art everlastingly God. You've always been, and
you've always been God. And my young son was kind of
quiet. And then he spoke up and said, Dad, Daddy, I don't understand
that. And then it was Daddy's turn
to be quiet. Because Daddy didn't understand it either. What a
God! What a God! But I rejoice, I
rejoice in the greatness of such a God. What sort of God would
it be if I understood all about Him? He would be like these God
that David describes. These idols that are no more
than the men who make them. But our God, oh, He's above all. He rules over all. He created
all. What a great God and Savior that
we serve. Thou thoughtest, our Lord said,
and this would be his condemnation of this generation,
this religious generation. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such a one as thyself. Most people's concept of God
today is just too small. Their God is too small. But not the God of Scripture.
To whomever God is pleased to reveal himself, whether it's
a prophet in the Old Testament or an apostle in the New Testament,
they always have the same testimony. Great is our God. Great is our
God. Remember when he revealed himself
to the old patriarch Job? Job. And once Job had a glimpse
of that God with whom we have to do, he said, I've heard of
you. I've heard of you by the hearing
of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee. I'm made aware of thee. and I abhor myself. I've tried
to talk about things that I had no right to. I've darkened counsel
by words, things too high for me that I didn't understand.
I'm going to sit down in the dust and shut my mouth. That's the effect of an awareness
of the God of glory has upon men, no matter when they lived,
no matter who they were. Isaiah, That evangelical prophet? That man who in Isaiah 53 gave
us such a description of the suffering Messiah and the victorious
Messiah hundreds of years before he was even born? That man said,
in the year that King Uzziah died, my king died, the earthly
king died. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord. Him that liveth forever. He that
has no beginning and has no end. I saw the Lord. And where was
He, Isaiah? Where was He? An earthly king
had died. Was He fretful? Was the God of
glory in a hurry to rearrange His plans and purposes? No, no,
no. I saw the Lord. Where was He,
Isaiah? He's high and He's lifted up. He's where He's always been. Ruling everything, everywhere,
all the time. That's our God. That's the God
that David sang about. In his train, Isaiah said, fill
the temple. whether it be patriarch like
Job or prophet like Isaiah, or a beloved apostle, a beloved
apostle, that one who leaned on Jesus' breast, that one who
was one of only three of that inner circle, when he saw the
Lord of glory. John said when he was on the
Isle of Patmos, I heard a voice and I turned to see who it was.
And behold, I saw the Lord of Golgotha, a Redeemer and Savior. And He said, I fell at His feet
like one dead, just like Isaiah did, just like Job did. And the
Lord spoke and said, Behold, I am the first and the last. The beginning and the end. The alpha and omega. I'm he that
liveth, was dead. But behold, I'm alive forevermore. And I have the keys of hell and
death. I rule everything. Everything. Is that your God? If it is, oh,
you'll be comforted, won't you? Being reminded of it. How can
men living hundreds of years apart, behold something and give
the same testimony, the same witness. Because they were looking
at that one who says, I am the Lord, I change not. You go to the very first book
of the Bible, the book of beginnings, Genesis. The very first verse,
the first words of scripture, This is brought before us. God
is. And God rules. In the beginning,
God. God. He doesn't offer an explanation. It just says, in the beginning,
God. God's being is the foundation.
God's existence, His being, is the foundation of everything.
creation, life, salvation. Otherwise, nothing matters. Otherwise,
nothing matters if God is not. But the Bible begins with God,
and we're told that this God is sovereign, the sovereign creator
of all things. In the beginning, God created. God created. And I know there
are some, quite a few, folks who think they're smarter than
God that tells us that it didn't happen that way, that evolution
is how it happened. Oh, that's such an intelligent,
intelligent theory, is it not? No. In the beginning, God. God created the heavens and the
earth. That's not a suggestion or a
speculation. It's a blessed fact. It's true
whether man believes it or not. Science falsely so called is
always coming forward with something they think disproves the existence
of God. That shouldn't surprise us. Rebels
would like to know that God doesn't exist. Rebels, those who are
shaking their fist in the face of God, they would sleep better
at night if they could convince themselves that God doesn't exist. So it shouldn't surprise us that
almost on a weekly basis some nut comes forward and says, I've
discovered that God really doesn't exist, or Jesus was just a man.
It's only been a few weeks ago. I was watching the national news
and they had... a segment on there about somebody,
some religious person, that claimed they had found proof that Jesus
Christ was married, proving that he wasn't who he claimed to be,
he was just the man. And the commentator, the broadcaster,
with just a smirk on their face, seemed to just enjoy the very
idea that such a thing would be possible. I hope that doesn't
have any influence on any of us, blind leaders of the blind. An old preacher once said, if
you wish to be disappointed, look at others. Is that not so? If you want to
be disappointed, look at others. If you want to be disheartened,
look at yourself. But if you want to be encouraged,
Look to Jesus Christ. And when you do, you'll bow down
before Him, like Thomas, and you'll proclaim, My Lord and
my God. And you can rest easy. You can
rest easy, Mike. You can lay your head on that
pillow of solid comfort knowing that the Lord of glory, I'm in
His hand and nothing can pluck me out. No wonder David says,
Hallelujah. Praise God with me. Verse 5 would
serve as a foundation of comfort. It's also the place of praise.
and worship. We won't have time to cover three
of those. Consider just one. It's the place of real comfort,
is it not? Look at the verse again. For
I know that the Lord is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Isn't that comforting? That's
a glorious fact. The Lord is great. Before God
created the heaven and the earth, He dwelt alone in sovereign solitariness. And then he was great. When he dwelt alone in sovereign
majesty, above all, he was great. Before he ever created the heavens
and the earth, he was the great God. David says, our Lord is
above all gods. He's not like those idol worshippers
that David describes beginning at verse 15. You know, the heathen with their gods, divided the
universe up between various gods. Did you know that? Because they
thought this is just too vast, too great for one god to be able
to handle. So they designated certain gods
to rule over certain places. They had Jupiter to rule heaven
and earth. That was enough to keep him occupied.
And Neptune, he ruled over the sea. And various gods ruled over
various things. But our great God and Savior,
Jehovah, Lord, He rules everywhere all the time. He's God over all
and blessed forever. In verse 9 of Psalm 135, when
David says, the Lord in Egypt sent tokens and wonders into
the midst of the old Egypt upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants. Those plagues were directed against
their false gods deliberately by the sovereign Lord of glory.
They were directed against their false gods to show the utter
impotence of their so-called gods. Those two kings that he
mentions in verses 10 and 11, they were two of the greatest
kings, the mightiest kings, but they fell before the king of
glory. Everything concerning our God
who is above all, everything is small in comparison to Him,
is it not? this vast universe. And it is. It's vast. Scientists still discovering
just a minute part of its vastness. Overwhelmed with it. And they
missed the point altogether. The point is not how great the
creation is and stop there. Oh yes, the creation is great.
But don't stop there. It's simply an evidence of the
greatness of our God. This creation that He simply
willed into existence. It's a reflection of His greatness. When we walk out into the world,
when you walk out and look at a starry sky, or you hear the
thunder roll and the lightning flash, what do you think, child
of God? Hmm? Does not your heart in wonder
and adoration bow down before Him who created it all and sing
how great thou art? Our God is above all gods. Apply the same thing to God's
salvation. Oh, it's a great salvation, is
it not? What a great salvation. But it
reflects the greatness of our Savior, that One who's responsible
for it. In Ephesians 2 it speaks of His
marvelous grace. Grace that, though we were dead
in sins, quickens us, gives us life. What does that reflect? Who gets the glory for that?
He who said, I'm the resurrection and the life. They'll hear the
voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live, and
I'll raise them up. I'll raise them up. Oh, that
great salvation is simply a reflection of our great God and Savior.
And Paul went on to say in Ephesians 2 that God does it for this purpose,
that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. For
we are His workmanship. His workmanship. You men that
are able, or women, that make something, a piece of furniture, or you
plant a pretty flower bed or something, and somebody come
saddling up to you and say, well now, aren't you going to give credit
to the furniture? Aren't you going to give credit
to the flower bed? Look what it did. You say, man,
there's something wrong with them to talk like that. And something's
wrong with people when they try to divide up the glory of this
great salvation between the dead sinner that Christ raised from
the dead and the glorious Redeemer. To Him be the glory. Notice what
David says. For I know that the Lord is great.
This would be true whether David knew it or not. God's greatness
is not determined by man's knowledge of it. But, child of God, our
comfort, our comfort is very much dependent upon our knowing
it. Knowing God's greatness. More
about Jesus would I know. The more I'm aware, the more
God is pleased to reveal to me something of who He is, the more
comfort I'll have. If I can say with David, I know. Isn't that refreshing? Men all
the time want to tell us about their doubts and their frustrations
and their failures. Oh, it's so refreshing to hear
someone come forward and say, I know that the Lord is great. This thing's not up for a vote.
There's no question about it. He's Lord over all. Where's your God now, David?
And David said he's in the heavens. He's where he's always been,
doing whatsoever he hath pleased. The more we're made aware of
the greatness of our God, the more comfort we'll have believing
that that great God can do all that He promised. If we have
any doubts about His ability, about His power, it's hard to
derive any comfort from such a promise as this. All things
work together for good to them who know God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. If I don't think God is able
to perform what He promised, I can't have any comfort from
that. Oh, but knowing that He's my God that does whatsoever He
wills, that He has His way in the whirlwind, and the clouds
are just as dust as His feet, who rules in heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand
or say unto Him, What doest Thou? I think I can lay my weary soul
down on Him, and rest easy that He's able to keep that which
I've committed unto Him against that day. Don't you? David says,
I know by personal experience. Job sets down in ashes. He's lost everything. He was
once the richest man, now he's the poorest. He's lost sons and
daughters. His wife, looks at him in disgust
and says, why don't you just curse God and die? And he sits
there in sackcloth, the emblem of the blackness of his soul,
his heartache and his burden. But he lifts his head. Though he had lost everything,
he knew there was something he could not let. Those lovely daughters
were gone. Those handsome sons were gone.
But Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. He liveth. And I know that I shall see Him
with my own eyes. My Redeemer liveth. Someone referred
to This verse of scripture, when David says, I know that the Lord
is great, they called it delicious dogmatism. I like that, don't
you? I see someone else, long after
Job, sitting in a dungeon cell. He's been deserted. He said,
when I went before Pharaoh, nobody wanted to be identified with
me. They all left me. Don't know that man. Timothy,
if you're able to come, come before winter and bring my cloak,
cause it's cold. Can you see, can you see that
faithful man without a friend? He says, Timothy, he didn't say This is not fair. Why is God letting this happen
to me? Or Timothy, get me a lawyer, see if we can't get out of this
mess. No. He said, Timothy, I'm enduring
all this for the gospel's sake. For that glorious message that
concerns his son, that he's entrusted into our hands. Therefore, Timothy,
I'm not ashamed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Yes. Because our God is above
all gods. He is great. I told you that
we wouldn't have time to consider the other two thoughts. Praise
and worship. Perhaps another time. Let's close
the message. Turn it if you will to Psalm
ninety. We'll close it by reading a few
verses in Psalm ninety-five. I'm sorry. Psalm ninety-five.
As we pointed it out in the reading, Psalm one thirty-five begins
and ends with the same words which mean with David, bowed down before
him. Cry hallelujah. What a savior. Verse one of Psalm ninety-five.
Oh come let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise
to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence
with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with Psalms. For
the Lord is great. For the Lord is a great God and
a great king above all gods. In his hand are the deep places
of the earth. The strength of the hills is
his also. The sea is his, and he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship
and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord
our maker. Lord bless you.