Good utterance for His glory.
Thank you, brother. Brother Milton read that passage
in Isaiah 56. I don't have something on? I've got a red light. Brother Milton read that passage
in Isaiah 56. Neither shall the eunuch say,
Behold, I am a dry tree. That's what a eunuch is, you
know. But we worship a God and preach to you a God who takes
eunuchs who have nothing to offer and
make some fruitful vines in His house. Oh, I pray He will do that for
you. when he was about to leave this
world, gave his doctrine to the children of Israel, and he commanded
those who heard him, Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. If there's anything that I could
state as a single fault of religion in our day, And sadly, too much
a fault in the thoughts of true believers in our day, it is that
we ascribe no greatness to our God. With our lips, we do. In our creeds, we do. In our
confessions of faith, we do. But in our hearts, we think too
little of God. Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of Exodus, chapter 15. Exodus, the 15th chapter. The Lord God has just saved his
people Israel. who had been in bondage in Egypt
for 400 years. He brought his chosen out of
the land of darkness, corruption, and idolatry by a high hand and
his outstretched arm. He saved his people by his absolutely
free, sovereign purpose. and his covenant promise he had
given to his servant Abraham concerning his people 400 years
earlier. He saved those people by blood,
by the sacrifice of a paschal lamb and the blood sprinkled
upon the doorpost and the lentil in every household in Israel
so that every Israelite in the land was delivered by blood. And then he brought them across
the Red Sea by power. Portraying for us both things
involved in our salvation in time and that is Redemption by
the precious blood of Christ and Redemption by the power of
his grace Deliverance by blood and deliverance by power and
both are essential both are necessary Those who are redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ, their sins being paid for by the penal
sacrifice of God's darling Son, shall be redeemed by the power
of His free grace, the irresistible, omnipotent power of His Spirit
in the new birth, giving them life from the dead, as only God
can do. Exodus chapter 14, verse 30,
we read, The Lord saved Israel that day
out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians
dead upon the seashore. Oh, what a sight. Everybody they feared, every
foe they had, every enemy, every power opposed to them, dead on
the seashore. and Israel saw that great work
which the Lord did upon the Egyptians and the people feared the Lord
and believed the Lord and his servant Moses now in chapter
15 here is this nation standing
on the Canaan side of the Red Sea and Moses leaves the congregation
of the Lord the whole nation at one time He leaves them in
a hymn. And this is the first hymn recorded
on paper in all of history. That's significant. That's significant. There may have been other hymns
before this. This is the first one recorded on paper anywhere
in history. The very first. And oh, what
an instructive hymn it is. Try to picture this huge choir. Millions of them. Millions of
them. Wow. Millions of them. Standing on
the seashore. And Moses lines out the hymn. Now, you folks may not be familiar
with that. I don't know anything about music,
but in the South, they used to have folks come along and lead
singing, and a lot of places didn't have Pianos didn't have
organs and didn't have hymn books. And so the song leader would
line out the song He had seen just the first sentence of the
first part of the verse and then the congregation would join in
He'd seen the next line of congregation and follow along and that's how
they're saying continually Well, Moses is lining out the song
and the people joined in try to picture it and try to hear
it Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the
Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath
triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song. and He has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will prepare Him in habitation, my Father's
God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The
Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and His host
hath He cast into the sea. His chosen captains also are
drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them.
They sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord,
is become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine
excellency, what a word, in the greatness of thine excellency,
thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee. Well, where
did they rise up against God? When they rose up against God's
people, they rose up against Him. When they defied God's servants,
they defied Him and rose up against Him. In the greatness of thine
excellency, thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee.
Thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of thy nostrils
the waters were gathered together, the flood stood upright as an
heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The
enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil,
my lust shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword, my
hand shall destroy them. without its blow with thy wind. The sea covered them. They sank
as lead into mighty waters. Now here's the crescendo. Here's the high note to the song. Here's the apex of the song. Who is likened to thee, O Jehovah? among the gods. Who is like unto
thee, glorious in holiness, glorious in that that separates you from
all others, Glorious in that which sets you apart from all
your creatures and sets you apart from all that men have named
as gods. Glorious in your sanctified being. Glorious in holiness. Fearful
in praises. Doing wonders. What wonders? Thou stretchest
out Thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou, in Thy
mercy, hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed. Thou
hast guided them in Thy strength into Thy holy habitation. The
people shall hear and be afraid. Sorrow shall take hold on the
inhabitants of Palestinia." Moses is here sitting before
us, that which is God's distinctness as God. A.W. Pink rightly called it the solitariness
of God. And I choose that for the title
of my message tonight. The solitariness of God. Mr. Spurgeon wrote concerning
this song of Moses, it is God's intent that from the day of Moses
downward even to the hour when flames of fire shall lick up
the works of men and the heavens themselves shall be dissolved
with fervent heat that this shall be the song of chosen people
everywhere. The song of God's solitariness
in all his being. I cannot tell you how often I've
repeated portions of this song in my own worship of God as He
graciously delivers me from hellish assaults. Oh, how good, hear
me, hear me now, how good it is to fall back upon God. fall back upon God. God. What a word. God. There's no one and nothing
like Him. God. Distinct in every aspect
of His being, showing His distinct solitariness as God in the saving
of His people. Oh, what a God we have. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? He brought Israel out of Egypt
after performing those wonders in the land of Ham by which he
showed himself superior to all the imaginary gods of the Egyptians. Do you know that every one of
those 10 plagues that the Lord wrought in Egypt, he wrought
in a way to show himself superior to, triumphant over, and sovereign
in disposing of one of their gods? They worshipped the Red
Sea. Those fools worshipped lice. Oh, now nobody would do that.
Yeah, your granddaddy did. That's who they were, the Gentiles.
The Gentiles. They worshipped frogs. And God
made their gods to stink in their faces. Showing himself alone
to be God. Who is likened to thee, O Lord,
among the gods. Who is likened to thee, glorious
in holiness, fearful in praises, Doing wonders. There's another
passage similar to this. Turn to Micah chapter 7. Micah chapter 7. It's alright
to use the cheat sheet in the front. Or turn to Matthew and just flip
back a couple of books. Micah chapter 7. Verse 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth
iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.
He retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. Where did you ever read about
a God like that? I didn't pay much attention to
anything when I was going to school. Sadly, I'm not bragging
about it, I'm just telling you facts. But when they start talking
about Greek mythology and all their notions about gods, I'd
perk up and pay attention. Because even in those days, I
thought, what fool would have such a god? If they're going
to make gods, at least make a good one. But they made gods that
they trembled before. Gods that demanded sacrifice
on their part. Gods that could never be appeased.
Gods that delighted in anger and punishment and dread. Who is a God like unto thee? Whoever heard tale of a God like
this, he delights in mercy. He delights in mercy. This God
is glorious in holiness and fearful in praises. He delighteth in
mercy. It is the solitary excellence
of God. that inspires reverence for Him,
faith in Him, and obedience to Him. Our God is incomprehensibly
great in His wisdom, wondrous in His power, abundant in His
mercy, delighting in it. But most people know nothing
about God's being, His nature, his attributes have no idea who
God is because they have no idea what God is. You see, what God
is is who he is. What God is is who he is. We speak of God's attributes
And the scripture gives us many names of God. Those names of
God are but expressions of his attributes. Expressions of his
character. And those attributes of God,
all are characters of God's nature. Characters of his being, without
which he would not be God. All of them things essential
to his being. And these are things that set
him apart as God alone. Now obviously, I've got a big
subject. But I like big subjects. I can
just jump in anywhere I want to. Here we go. First, it must
be stated and stated clearly and emphatically that there is
one God. Only one. Here, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. There is but one God, the Father
of whom are all things, and we in Him. And one Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things, and we by Him. There is one God and
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. God is alone in his being. Allah is not God. And if some Muslim comes in here
with a towel wrapped around his head and pulls out a hand grenade,
he still ain't God. Buddha is not God. All the gods
of men, of man's imagination Every thought that makes God
somehow something less than absolutely solitary in his being is representing
a God of man's making. A God of man's imagination. People
talk about a weak God. A changing God. A Jehovah who
can't. A Jehovah with limitations. A Lord who is incapable. A Jesus who fails. And I'm telling
you, all such descriptions of God are denials of His being
and utter blasphemy. God alone is solitary in His
being. There are many angels, many men,
and many of all creatures, but God is one. He only hath immortality
dwelling in light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man
hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Because there is one God and
only one, he demands the allegiance of all his creatures, He demands
the devotion of all his creatures. He demands the affections of
all rational beings. He demands the faith of all men. And all who know, trust, and
worship him are one. One church. One body. One bride. One with Christ. One in him. God is eternal. Angels are not eternal. Devils
are not eternal. Men are not eternal. And I know
this is going to shock the britches off, folks. I know it's going
to, but I just got to say it. Matter is not eternal. Oh, I can't get off on that. But God is eternal. Listen to
these words with which the book opens. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, there was nothing
And no one but God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God in His ineffable
glory. God alone. There was a beginning before
the beginning. A time before time began. When God dwelt alone in His glorious
being without anything else. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and God was the Word. And in that
beginning there was no heaven in which he set his throne and
manifested forth his glory. There was no earth to be his
footstool which engaged his care. There were no angels to sing
his praise. No universe to be upheld by the
Word of his power. No men created in his image and
after his likeness. There were no hours, days, months,
years, or ages. From everlasting in old eternity,
God dwelt alone in his glory. He's the great I Am, the eternal
God, who says, I live forever. The psalmist says of Him, Thy
throne is established of old. Thou art from everlasting. He's
the first and the last. High and lofty One, who inhabiteth
eternity. This great God, who alone is
eternal. Now you must concede, Either
he's eternal or he's not. And you must concede that either
he alone is eternal or he's not God alone. This God who alone
is eternal is and must be the creator of all things. And if
he creates all things, he possesses all things. You would, wouldn't you? Wouldn't
you? Well, that's mine. That's mine. What long do they pass I've got
to do with my stuff? I'll burn it first. That's mine. You're not going
to tell me what I can do with mine. Well, oops, I reckon they
can. You know how come? Donna, that
farm down there ain't yours. You just paid the taxes on it. That's right. I've got a deed
says it's mine. You wait and see if Uncle Sam
comes along and tells you what you've got to do with it. You'll find out
how much it's yours. Well, you're talking nothing's
mine. Your breath ain't yours. Your family's not yours. Your
time's not yours. You're not yours. He who created
all, possesses all, and rules all, and disposes of all, absolutely
as He will. And you can cuss about it all
you want to, that's the way it is. He's the ruler of all things. Everywhere, all the time. God is spirit. Our Lord Jesus declares, God
is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. When scripture speaks and says
God is spirit, we want to say God is a spirit. That's not what
it says. God is spirit, incomprehensible, infinite, spirit, pure spirit. Now, when the Lord speaks to
us about himself, he often talks about his hand, and his arm,
and his ear, and his heart, and his mouth, and his eye, and his
feet, but he doesn't have any of those things. They don't have
any of those things. Those are just what the theologians
call anthropomorphic terms. I just had to say that so you'd
know I knew the word. Those are human terms. God condescending
to use terms that we can get a handle on. His arm speaks of
his power, his eye of his knowledge, his heart of his affections.
But God is spirit. Nowhere in this book, nowhere
in this book do you ever have any kind of a physical representation
of God. Nowhere. Nowhere. Way come close,
light. Try to draw a picture of that. A pillar of cloud and a fire.
I've seen folks try to draw pictures of that. It ain't that. No physical representations of
Him. Because He would have no physical
representations of Him. Because God is Spirit, in Exodus
20, He expressly forbids every form of idolatry. He tells us,
thou shalt have no other gods before me. Well, what do you
mean? Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven images. Well, we don't have any stumps
we've carved out and overlaid with silver and gold, okay, or
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or in the
earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt
not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord
thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love
me, and keep my commandments." Well, Brother Don, what all does
that forbid? It forbids the acceptance of any other thing as God. Well, we ought to be, we're in
the United States of America, this political year, every politician,
all of them, they start talking religion, talking about God.
We're a tolerant society. Society is and ought to be, but
believers can't be. Did you hear me? In the house
of God, there's no toleration for any misrepresentation of
God Almighty. You ought to respect other people's
religion. That's kind of like saying you ought to respect the
harlot who chooses to make her living on her back. That's her
choice, isn't it? I mean, you can't set judgment
over that. I can. You might not can, but
I can. I've got an opinion about it, and my opinion comes from
this book. And my opinion about God doesn't come from how I feel. My opinion about God doesn't
come from what I think. My opinion and my thoughts are
determined by what's revealed in this book. God Almighty says
you can't have any other God. You can't worship God. You can't
worship me, He says. Through any image, any carving,
any religious icon or religious relic or representation of me.
You can't use anything to symbolize me or represent me. All true
worship and service rendered to God must be spiritual, heart
worship. It's not sufficient to come before
God on a bended knee With a prostrate body or with words of praise,
we must worship God with our souls, our hearts, our minds,
our wills. Third, turn to 1st John chapter
5. Now if you got one of those Bibles
that's been messed with, you won't have this in there. And if you've got any Bible other
than the one I'm reading from, you've got what has been messed
with. God is a triunity. We worship
one God in the trinity or triunity of his sacred persons. We do
not worship three gods, God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit, but one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
One God in three distinct persons. I'll explain that preaching.
Man, I can't begin to explain that. Because I don't understand
it. I don't understand it. I just know it is. 1 John chapter
5 verse 7. If there were no other argument,
and there are many, against the modern translations that men
have made of scripture, here is one that ought to forbid all
of them. Every modern translation you
can get hold of since the King James Every modern translation
all of them beginning with the revised version in the 1800s
leave out first John 5 verse 7 or They will insert it and
put a footnote and say it ought not be there We just put it in
because everybody wants it in there. That's a good reason to
have a Bible and The first John 5-7 was never
omitted until Erasmus accidentally left it out of one of his translations
and he immediately, when it was called to his attention, corrected
it. But this is the only verse in all the scriptures that states
plainly the teaching of scripture universally about the Holy Trinity. There are three that bear record
in heaven. The Father, The Word and the
Holy Ghost and these three are one. When we speak about the scriptures
talking about Christ and Milton did, as I do, and Brother Donna,
your pastor does, others declaring that this book is all about Him. All about Him. It is indeed all
about Him. But don't ever imagine that the
Lord Jesus Christ fails to reveal the triune God. Christ is the
revelation of God in all his glorious being. And all three
persons in the Godhead are constantly involved in the whole affair
of our salvation. The theologians like to divide
things up. We like to compartmentalize things. It's called systematic theology.
This part here, this part there, that part there. You don't confuse
justification with sanctification and redemption. No, you don't
confuse them, but you try to separate them, you sure got a
confusion. That's exactly right. Now, God the Father does this
and God the Son does that and God the Holy Spirit does that.
I can show you in this book Well, God the Father is involved in
what God the Son does, and God the Spirit is involved in what
God the Father does, and all three are involved in what each
does all the time. All the time. Our salvation is
that which is purposed by God the Father. It was purposed by
the Son and the Spirit too. Our salvation was purchased by
the sacrifice of God's darling son, Jesus Christ our Lord and
our Redeemer. God who loved the church and
gave himself for it. Who shed his blood for his church
and redeemed it. But don't ever imagine that the
sacrifice of the son did not involve a sacrifice in the heart
of the father. God sacrificed his darling son. Don't ever imagine that God,
the Holy Spirit, whose office, work, and capacity it is to take
the things of Christ and show them to men, idly set by, indifferent,
as the Son of God suffered all the horror of God's wrath as
our substitute when He was made sin for us. Oh no. From the very
beginning, God revealed Himself as the Triune God. The Father
created all things through the Son, the Word. Without Him was
not anything made that was made. And God the Spirit moved upon
the face of the waters. And God said, let us make man
in our image and after our likeness. And God, Father, Son, and Spirit
made a man in the image and likeness after the very character of that
God-man who was to come in time as our mediator. And God promised
to send him his son, the seed, the seed of woman to redeem fallen
man and he did. And thus God shows himself to
be the triune God. Fifth, God alone is independent and
self-sufficient. God doesn't need Steve Doyle
or Don Fortner for anything. For nothing. Passed by these
signs, you have them out here, I'm sure. We can't spell church
without you. Isn't that sweet? God's been spelling
church for 6,000 years without you. Come to think of it, I think
of a lot of things we can't spell without you. We can't spell stupid
without you. We can't spell redundant without
you. We can't spell useless without
you. But God doesn't need you. God doesn't need you. God doesn't need me. A God who's in need ain't worth
spit. And if your God needs something,
your God's not worth spit. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. Well, you're mocking our gods.
Is that what Elijah did with the gods of Baal? That's exactly
what I'm doing. That's exactly what I'm doing.
I'm glad you understand it. God was under no constraint.
No obligation and no necessity to create the world. He worketh
all things after the counsel of His will. He gains nothing
from His creatures. Oh, but we give God our praises
and our praises shall contribute something to Him. No, even the
praises of truly redeemed sinners add nothing to the glory of God.
Listen to this. Stand up and bless the Lord your
God forever and ever and blessed be thy glorious name which is
exalted above all blessing and praise. Ascribe greatness to God. That
doesn't mean you can make him great beyond what he is. That
just simply means acknowledge that he is. God predestined His
elect to eternal salvation, to the praise, the glory of His
grace, according to the good pleasure of His will. He chose
to save us, to show forth His glory in us, but not to increase
His glory. Oh no, we had nothing to Him. The psalmist sings, Oh my soul,
thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord, My goodness
extendeth not to thee. I'm going to earn your salvation. You're going to marry God's favor.
You're going to earn a reward from God in heaven. Psst. What nonsense. My goodness can't
touch you. Oh no. but to the saints that
are in the earth to the excellent in whom is all my delight but
not to God again I say God gains nothing from his creatures and
if God gains nothing from man then it is impossible for man
to bring God into obligation to himself turn to Job 35 I want
you to see this You're not going to obligate
God. Ain't gonna happen. Job 35 verse 7. If thou be righteous,
what givest thou him? Or what receiveth he of thine
hand? Verse 8. Thy wickedness may hurt a man
as thou art, and thy righteousness may profit the Son of Man. But
you're not going to touch God. And if you can't obligate God,
you can be sure of this, God loses nothing by the wickedness
of his creatures. Look at verse 6 of Job 35. If
thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? Or if thy transgressions
be multiplied, what doest thou unto God? But we've sinned against
God. Yeah, but you haven't touched
Him. We've defied Him. Yeah, but you haven't touched
Him. We live with our fist in God's face. Yeah, but you never
hit Him. You never bruised His cheek.
Not God. He's beyond the reach of man.
As man can add nothing to God's glory, so man can never diminish
God's glory. Oh, aren't you glad? God made all things to show forth
His glory. And all things shall show forth
his glory in the totality of their existence. Exactly right. Everything. The Lord hath made
all things for himself. Yea, what does the book say?
Even the wicked for the day of evil. What? What? You mean Satan is going to redound
at last to God's praise in every aspect of his being, in every
aspect of his being. He's God's creature, created
for God's glory and ruled for God's glory absolutely. You mean wicked men and all their
deeds? will redound at last to God's
glory. Thou hast made all things for
thyself, for thy pleasure they are and were created. We're talking
about God. We're talking about God. Everything
will praise Him. I was talking to Brother Dottie
Milton today, just briefly, in John 1 11. We read, he came unto his own
and his own received him not. His own things, his own kindred,
his own family, his own people, his own property, his own possession.
The word could be translated any of those things, all of those
things. And the exact same word is used in John 13 verse 1. The exact same word. But it's
used of an entirely different group of people. Having loved
his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And all his own possessions,
all his own things, all his own creation, in heaven, earth, and
hell, he uses all the time for the everlasting good of his own,
whom having loved, he loves to the end. Let me give you one illustration,
two illustrations, and move on. Joseph's brethren hated him,
jealous of him, thought they'd killed him and sold him into
slavery. Joseph went from slavery to prison
to the throne in Egypt. And when his brother's daddy
was dead, when his daddy was dead, his brother was scared
to death and they tried to continually deceive Joseph and Joseph said,
you meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. I'm in the place of God. It's
all right. David fleeing from his son Absalom
who's trying to kill him. And Shemai comes out and cusses
David. I can just picture Shemai. Man,
when folks start acting crazy, they act crazy, sure enough.
He's jumping around, throwing dirt in the air, laughing at
David and cussing David, calling him everything under the sun.
And David's servant said, let me go over and just lift his
head off his shoulders. And David said, let him cuss. The only
way he can cuss me is because God said, cuss David. And the Lord will requite me
good for his cussing this day. Just leave him alone. In God's
hands. And he's doing me good. He's
doing me good. I'm declaring the solitariness
of God. All that we experience of His
grace and goodness, we experience because of His sovereign good
pleasure alone. Our God, we're told twice, Psalm
135, Psalm 115. Our God