I've entitled the message for
tonight, God Almighty. When God appeared to Abraham
in Genesis chapter 17, he said, I am the almighty God. the omnipotent God, the all powerful
God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Now this is the second time we
read of almighty God in the scripture, and it's the first time a man
uses this term. When Isaac is speaking to Jacob,
he says, God Almighty bless thee. Now he has sent Jacob to his
mother's relatives to find a spouse. He says, you can't take one from
here. And he goes on this journey, but not before Isaac says to
this man God Almighty bless thee God Almighty God Omnipotent He has the power to do whatever
he wills to do That's who He is. Any thought or concept of
a God, any less than this, is a false God, a non-existent God. God is God Almighty. Now, all of His promises to bless
would be meaningless if He didn't have the power to make sure they
came past, wouldn't He? He must be almighty or his promises
to bless are meaningless. If he's not almighty, he cannot
bring his decrees and purposes to pass. He lacks the strength to do it
if he's not almighty. If he is not almighty, Purposes
of saving mercy and remember if God gives you mercies because
he purposed to give it to you and You must be saved if he gives
you his mercy, but if he's not almighty His mercy is turned
into feeble pity That can't do anything for anybody Without His omnipotence His threatenings
or a mere scarecrow, he can't bring them to pass if he's not
almighty and omnipotent. God's omnipotence is like himself,
infinite, eternal, and incomprehensible. I'm talking about that which
is beyond our ability to grasp, but we believe it. But God's
omnipotence, God's power. It cannot be checked. It cannot
be frustrated by men. It cannot be restrained. Whatever
God wills, he has the power to make sure it does in fact come
to pass. Now, if I said, I promise you, I'm going to make
you a billionaire. Anybody believe me? Not if you
had any sense. You see, with regard to that
promise, there's a problem. I lack the power to bring that
to pass. I lack the wisdom to bring that to pass. I lack the
resources to bring that pass. I'm gonna make you a billionaire.
That's empty talk. because I lack the power, the
wisdom, and the resources to do it. If I say, I'll bless you,
well, for one thing, I don't have the power to bless you.
And for another thing, I might be dead way before I'm able to
give you the blessing I promise I'll bless you with. Only God,
omnipotent, has power to bless. God Almighty bless you. And God's omnipotence is not
a blind omnipotence. He has omniscience to govern
his power. He's all wise. He's all knowing. God's not like me and you, bound
up in space and time. You know, you read that passage
in Ecclesiastes chapter three about time, it's mentioned so
many times, but you know, for lack of a better word to say
it, there was a time when there was no time. Nothing but eternity. And there will be a time when
there's no time. Nothing but eternity. And I say
this fearfully, but hell is not gonna have any time. And heaven
is not going to have any time. God's not bound by time the way
we are. I'll do this tomorrow or this
happened yesterday. He's not limited by being only
in one, I can't be two places at once. He's everywhere all
the time. all powerful, he has the wisdom
to govern his omnipotence, and he doesn't have the limitations
of space and time to make sure his will always comes to pass. Now, his omnipotence is his total
and absolute control of himself. I'll stop there for just a second. How much control do you have
of yourself? If you're honest. Now, I realize
we're not out robbing banks. I hope we're not. That being said, can you control
yourself? Can you say, well, I'm not gonna
see him. I'm not gonna see him. I'm going to have nothing but
pure thoughts. I'm not going to have any vain thoughts. I'm
not going to have any prideful thoughts. I'm not going to have
any wicked thoughts. I've got control. You can't do
that for even a second. God has absolute control of himself. and everything else. That is God's omnipotence. And do you know that this knowledge
of God being omnipotent is, I don't know what word to use. Everybody knows this is so. I don't know if you'd use the
word intuitive or instinctive, but the light of creation TELLS
EVERYBODY THAT GOD IS ALL POWERFUL. NOW, LET ME SHOW YOU THAT IN
SCRIPTURE. TURN TO ROMANS, CHAPTER 1. WE DON'T BELIEVE GOD'S ALL POWERFUL
BECAUSE IT'S LOGICAL. THAT'S NOT WHY WE BELIEVE IT.
WE BELIEVE IT BECAUSE IT'S WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS WITH REGARD TO
WHO HE IS. A God that's not all powerful
doesn't even make sense. It's not rational. Look at Romans chapter one, verse 18, for the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven. against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth. And that's actually who hold
down the truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them for God had showed it unto them for
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen. There's no place where this is
not saying no continent where this is not saying everyone that
has any reasoning ability at all sees this clearly for the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seeing being understood by the things that are made the
creation. And here's what everybody clearly
sees and understands, even His eternal power, His omnipotence,
His eternal omnipotence and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. All I got to do is look at creation.
This is without the revelation of the Holy Spirit. This is without
spiritual life. I can look at creation. And it
is obvious that whoever made this planet and this universe
must be all powerful. AND IT'S ALSO OBVIOUS THAT HE
MUST BE ETERNAL. NOBODY MADE HIM. HE NEVER HAD
A BEGINNING. HE NEVER HAD A STARTING POINT.
HE MADE THE UNIVERSE, AND HE DID SO AS AN ACT OF HIS WILL. AND THE SCRIPTURE SAYS EVERYONE
CAN CLEARLY SEE THAT. SOMEBODY SAYS, I'M AN ATHEIST. YOU HAVEN'T ALWAYS BEEN AN ATHEIST.
NOW, YOU MAY BE NOW, But you didn't begin that way. It could
be that through not liking what you did know about God, you said,
I don't believe there is a God. There's all kinds of things that
can make someone an atheist. But you didn't begin that way.
Everyone sees this clearly, everybody in this room, everybody outside
of this room, sees clearly that God is, He's all powerful, and
He's eternal. He never had a beginning. He's
the one who made all of this. Um, the only thing that would
make men deny that is willful blindness. God almighty bless
thee. Turn with me for a moment to
revelation 19. Now, the way we know the character
of God is what he's revealed in his word. This is not logic. This is not a denomination on
distinctives. This is what God has revealed
with regard to his character in his word. Revelation 19. After these things, I heard a
great voice of much people in heaven saying, hallelujah, salvation
and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God for true
and righteous are his judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again, they
said, hallelujah. And her smoke rose up forever
and ever. And that's talking about the
harlot of Babylon in Revelation chapter 17, verse five. It's
talking about human religion. Let's go on reading. And the
four and 20 elders and the four beasts fell down and worshiped
God that sat on the throne saying, amen, so be it, hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. What does God's omnipotence mean?
It means he reigns. He is in absolute control of
everybody and everything. Now his omnipotence is seen in
three places, and this covers everything. First of all, his
omnipotence is seen in creation. Were you consulted in creation? Did he ask any angels for any
help? No, they weren't created. Simply as an act of his will,
he brought the universe into existence. What power. He's the only one to create.
When we talk about creative people, I understand the language. There
are people who seem to be more creative than others as far as
things they can do, but they have things to work with. The
only one who truly creates is God. God created the universe
as an act of His will. All that is, He brought into
being. The creation of matter came from
Him, willing it into existence. Like me, light was. Oh, the power of God as He exerted
in creation. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth, And what do we see from that? He
is all powerful. The supremacy of his will. He
didn't need anything to work with. His own will created the
universe. God's almighty power, his omnipotence
is seen in providence. Now what is providence? Providence
is everything that happens in time. Everything. You know that passage of scripture
from Ecclesiastes chapter three? That's about God's providence.
There's a time for everything. Everything that happens in time
is God's providence, God created time, and there's a day when
there will be no more time, but until then, everything he controls. He's the first cause behind everything.
And I can't take that too far. I love saying this, I say it
a lot, but I love saying it. The thoughts that are going through
your mind right now, it may be your mind is wandering, God's
in control of that. It may be your move to worship,
God's in control of that. It may be you don't believe,
God's in control of that too. You see, he controls the very
thoughts of men, the free and uncoerced actions of men. And
let me say that, that's very important. You do what you wanna
do. If I sin, it's not because God said sin and therefore I
obeyed him. Doesn't work that way. We do
what we wanna do. God is completely sovereign over
all things because he's God. That's who He is. You know, when
we make a statement, and I'm sure I've done it before, something
good happens. We say, that was really providential.
Do you know that's a denial of providence altogether when we
say something like that? It's a complete denial of it. Everything
is providential because God controls everything. I wanna show you
a scripture that I don't, I use a lot of scriptures. Turn with
me for a moment to Psalm 105. Psalm 105, verse 24. This is talking about
what God did with Israel. He increased his people greatly
and made them stronger than their enemies. And he turned their
heart to hate his people, to deal subtly with his servants. When the Egyptians began to hate
Israel and to deal subtly and deceitfully with them, who turned
their hearts to do it? God did. He's in complete control. And somebody says, are you charging
God with evil? I hate it when people say that. God's God, what
He does is right, it's glorious. I'm not able to, well, He didn't
do right there. No, whatever He does is right
because He did it. He's God, altogether glorious,
and He controls everything. I don't care if it's something
insignificant. Didn't the Lord say there's not a sparrow that
falls to the ground without your heavenly father? Now, he didn't
say without your heavenly father knowing it. That wouldn't really
tell the story. There's not a sparrow that falls
to the ground without your heavenly father. The very hairs of your
head are numbered by God. He knows you all together and
He is in complete control of everything by His providence.
That's one of the reasons why worrying is so silly. It's just
silly. And we know that all things work
together for good to them beloved God, to them who are the called
according to His purpose. The wise man said the lot is
cast into the lap. We think of that as luck. But
the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. And I love that
scripture with regard to what Peter used when he said, him,
talking about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. There's one reason why he was
delivered. He wasn't a victim. He was delivered because of the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and with
wicked hands, that doesn't get you off the hook. With you, you
have taken and with wicked hands have crucified him. Of a truth,
and this was the prayer of the early church. In Acts chapter
four, I mean the church hadn't been in existence but for a few
weeks, and listen to their prayer. This is what they understood.
Of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together to do whatsoever thy hand and
thy counsel determined before to be done. Now when that man
Lifted up the hammer to drive the nail into our Lord It's because
the Lord gave him the strength to do it and he purposed him
to do it The power the omnipotence of
God one other scripture turned to Isaiah chapter 46 and Verse 9, remember the former
things of old for I am God and there is none else. I am God
and there's none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning. and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, a man that executes my counsel from a far country,
yea, I have purposed or I have spoken it, I will bring it to
pass. I have purposed it, I will do
it. That's who God is. A God that's
not this is not worthy of worship. This is the God of the Bible. His omnipotence is seen in creation. His omnipotence is seen in providence
where he controls everything. And isn't it comforting to know
that everything that's happened to you, he's been in control
of? I find such comfort in that. And I'm not looking at that for
an excuse for the bad things I've done or the mistakes I've
made or the errors I've made or the willful sins I've committed. They're my fault, but I'm so
thankful that all things Does that mean everything? All things
work together for good. God's so good. All things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. And God's omnipotence is seen
most clearly in salvation. You know, I think it's interesting
that there are people who will, quote, accept, it only makes
sense for God to be sovereign and all-powerful in creation.
We'll let Him be. Sovereign in creation, we'll
let him, oh, you will. Let God, let Jesus have his way,
he has his way. Don't say things like that. He's
in absolute control of everything. He controls everything in providence,
but most especially, he controls everything in salvation. You
know what that means? That means if you're saved, it's
because he saved you. It wasn't an accident. It wasn't
by chance. He purposed your salvation. And the reason you're saved is
because He did what no creature could do. He found a way to take
you, every one of His people, dead in sins, sinful in and of
themselves, filled with wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
no righteousness at all, and make me to where I've never sinned. And I'm just like Christ, accepted
in the beloved. Now that, his omnipotence, oh,
the omnipotence of the cross, the omnipotence of the cross,
he made my sin to where it no longer is. It's not just hidden
somewhere, it's gone. And when I'm in heaven, the reason
I'll be in heaven is because I never sinned. You say, but
you have. That's what justification is,
though. Justification is God putting
away my sin, giving me the very righteousness of his son so that
I have the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. Did Jesus Christ
ever sin? No! Me either, because I'm in
him. I'm in him. what power God displays. Oh, you think of the power. The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ fully manifested God's full character. All of his attributes are manifest
in the cross. How glorious is the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. God Almighty bless thee. Well, that means something, doesn't
it? His power to bless. God Almighty. Bless thee. That's why Paul said, if God
be for us, who can be against us? Now back to our text in Genesis
28, I'll be real brief. That was the introduction, but
the body's gonna be a whole lot shorter than the introduction,
so nobody worry. Genesis 28. Now, if you'll remember from
chapter 27, Rebecca told Jacob, you better leave Dodge. Your
brother's going to kill you, and I want you to go to where
my people are, and hide there, and I'll send back for you in
a few days after your brother's anger has dissipated." You'll
remember, he ripped off his brother miserably, and he swindled him
of his blessing, and he wants to kill him. Rebecca says, you
need to get out of town. And so how does she handle it
with Isaac? Well, she says in verse 46 of chapter 27, Rebekah
said to Isaac, I'm weary of my life because of the daughters
of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such
as these, which are the daughters of the land, what good shall
my life do to me? And he caved in to her way of
dealing with that. And Isaac called Jacob and blessed
him. and charged him, he gave him
a commandment. He said unto him, thou shalt not take a wife of
the daughters of Canaan. Arise and go to Pedanaram, to
the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take thee a wife
from thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother.
Now is he saying those daughters of your mother's people are better
by nature than the daughters of the land of Canaan? No, no. Under every circumstance, you
can never say one people are better than another people. We
all come out of Adam's race. We all are born of Adam. There are not races. The only
race is the human race. And we all have the nature of
our father born with it. There's not one race that's better
than another. There's not one people that's
better than another. That's just wrong. And he's not saying. to do this
because the women are better there, but he doesn't want them
to take anybody out of the land of Canaan. Now remember Canaan,
he said that's where they were at this time. Canaan is that
land that was named after Ham's son, Canaan. And the land was
cursed. And you'll remember when God
said to drive out all seven of those nations. Turn with me to
Deuteronomy chapter nine. God said to drive out those nations. Here's his reasoning. Verse 3,
understand. Deuteronomy 9.3, understands
therefore this day that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over
before thee as a consuming fire. He shall destroy them, and he
shall bring them down before thy face. This is the people
that he's saying, I don't want you to get a bride out of this
group of people. So shalt thou drive them out
and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee,
speak not thou mine heart after the Lord thy God hath cast them
out from before thee, saying, for my righteousness the Lord
hath brought me in to possess this land. No, that's not why. But for the wickedness of these
nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee, not for
thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart dost
thou go to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these
nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
and that he may perform the word which the Lord swear unto thy
fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the
Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it
for thy righteousness, not because you deserve it, for thou art
a stiff-necked people." Now, he lets them know, I'm not driving
them out because you deserve this. You're just as bad as they
are. But he gave them his special
grace. Don't you want that? His special
favor, his special grace. He said you're no different than
them in and of yourself. Now, what do we learn from this where
he says don't take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Don't use anything in this world,
the product of Canaan and the things of God. Don't use the world's methods
to try to promote the gospel. Use God's way. Preach the gospel. Pray for people, love people.
Seek to be a witness to people, but don't use fleshly methods
in order to appeal to men's flesh. Don't use the way of the world
in the preaching of the gospel. We don't need the way of the
world. Just don't need it. I don't want
you getting a wife out of Canaan. He says, go to Laban, thy mother's
brother, and we're gonna consider that in weeks to come, and God
Almighty, God Almighty bless thee. Now, Ephesians 1.3, and this is a
scripture that ought to be very precious to all of us. Blessed. be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. All of God's blessings are spiritual
blessings. I'm thankful to be able to pay
my bills. I'm thankful to have health. I know what it is to have it
taken away. And I enjoy health. I enjoy not having a lot of trials
in my life. I would rather not have trials. You too, I'd rather not have
trials. Evidently I need them, and you need them, but I'd rather
not have them. But understand this, your physical situation,
it might be great, it might be you are rich, influential, healthy,
everybody likes you, everything's going downhill and easy, and
you're under God's curse. Understand that. God's blessing
is His spiritual blessing. He goes on to say what that is
in Ephesians 1, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. Is election a spiritual blessing?
That we should be holy and without blame before Him, is that a spiritual
blessing? In love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children, is that a spiritual blessing?
All of God's blessings are these spiritual blessings. Now, like
I said, we're to pray, you know, give us this day our daily bread.
I'm not saying to be indifferent about those things. And in whatever
I'm doing, I wanna give it my best. I wanna be excellent in
whatever I'm doing. I wanna do my best. I wanna glorify
God in whatever I do. But God's blessings are spiritual
blessings that are given in Christ Jesus. So he says to Jacob, God
Almighty bless thee and make thee fruitful. Well, he had the
12 patriarchs. And multiply thee that thou mayest
be a multitude of people, the nation of Israel. They went into
Egypt with 70 people and came out with probably 2 million,
stronger than Egypt. Jacob went into Egypt, if you'll
remember. and give thee the blessing of Abraham. Now, oh, the blessing
of Abraham. I'm gonna bless them that bless
thee. I'm gonna curse them that curse thee. In thee shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed. Now, the blessing of Abraham,
understand this. The blessing of Abraham, Abraham was an idolater
by nature, but the Christ came through Abraham. You want a blessing you have?
Being in Christ. That's the blessing of Abraham.
If you're in Christ, if Christ is all you have, you're in Christ. If you have anything else, you're
not in Him. Everybody that's in Him, He's all they have. And they have all, don't they?
I'm not looking for anything else. That's the blessing of
Abraham. It's been justified. ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT
WAS COUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THAT WAS BEFORE THERE WAS
ANY WRITTEN RECORD, BUT YET WE HAVE JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH EVEN
THEN. ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT
WAS COUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. NOW THAT'S GOD'S BLESSING. GOD'S
BLESSING IS ME BEING IN CHRIST, BEING ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.
THERE'S A SPIRITUAL BLESSING. HE HATH MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE
BELOVED. God is well pleased with me. That's the heritage of every
single believer. They have the blessing of Abraham. God give thee the blessing of
Abraham to thee, and to thy seed with thee, that thou mayest inherit
the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.
And Isaac sent away Jacob, and he went to Pidaram unto Laban. the son of Bethuel, the Syrian,
the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother. And that's
where God appeared to him that first night that he left in the
ladder. And Lord willing, we're gonna
consider that next week, but I think this is interesting.
Verse six, we'll just make a brief comment about this. When Esau
saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padanaram
to take him away from thence, And that he blessed him, he gave
him a charge, saying, thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters
of Canaan. And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and
was gone to Pedanaram. And Esau seeing that the daughters
of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father, then went Esau unto Ishmael. He took the next best thing,
so he thought, a daughter of Ishmael. I can't get back to
Badanaram, but this is still a descendant of Abraham, Ishmael. But you and I both know that
Ishmael represents salvation by works. Galatians chapter four,
that's where you remember when Abraham and Sarah, God had promised
them the child, no child comes. Sarah says, well, God's promise
is not gonna come to pass unless we do our part. We need to do
our part. My dear friends, listen to me
carefully. If any part of your salvation is dependent upon you
doing your part, you're toast, because you won't do your part.
That's salvation by works. Are you saying we don't have
to believe? Of course I'm not saying that. Of course you gotta
believe. You gotta believe that salvation's
utterly in Christ and that it doesn't have anything to do with
your works. Now Ishmael represents, Paul says that, Ishmael and Hagar
represent Mount Sinai, the law. It says that in Galatians chapter
four. So he thought, well, I'm gonna
do the next best thing. I'll join up with Ishmael and
get a daughter out of Ishmael's lineage. Esau, singing, pleased
the daughters of Canaan, pleased not Isaac his father. Then went
Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wife which he had, Mahalath,
the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebuchadnezzar,
to be his wife." Now, I think this is interesting, what her
name means is a musical instrument. The point being, I don't want to ever stretch
something trying to make it say something is not. I'm sure I've
done that before. I don't want to do that. But a musical instrument
is music without words. Music without words. That pretty
much represents The preaching of our day, music
sounds good to the flesh, appeals to the flesh, but there's no
word from God in it. And that was her name. And remember this, don't ever
look for the next best thing. With God, there is no next best
thing. Christ is all. But aren't you thankful? for
God almighty, God omnipotent, God who reigns. And I can't make God bless you. You know, when people say, God
bless you, I want him to bless you. I do. I want all of his
blessings on you. But the only one who can bless
me and you is God almighty. God almighty bless you. Now we're going to observe the
Lord's table together. And the Lord said, this do in
remembrance of me. And what am I remembering? I'm remembering that the only,
I don't wanna say only like it's, that everything God requires
of me, I have because of the broken body and shed blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord's Table is a celebration. Who should take the Lord's Table?
Anybody who believes the gospel. You know, people, there are a
lot of churches where they practice what they call closed communion.
You gotta be a member of that church. Well, it's not the church's
table, it's the Lord's Table. shouldn't be close communion.
And I used to look at that scripture where it says, if any man drinks
and eats unworthily, he's guilty of the body and blood of the
Lord. And all I could think of is I'm unworthy. Well, sure,
you're unworthy. I am too, but that's the point
of the gospel. Christ is my worthiness, and
I'm celebrating him. I'm remembering what he did. who he is and what
he did to make me accepted before God. So as we take the Lord's
table, may the Lord enable us to remember. This is for every
believer. Somebody says, I'm not ready
to take the Lord's table. You're not ready to die then. If you're
a believer, you're commanded to take the Lord's table. This
is not, again, some people use this as church discipline. You're
not living right. You shouldn't be taking the Lord's
table. Who in the world thinks that they can make a judgment
like that? I can decide whether or not you take the Lord's table?
Why, that's preposterous. That's wicked when somebody thinks
in that light. The Lord's table is for every
believer, and may we be enabled to do this in remembrance of
him. Wouldn't it be something if we
could just quit thinking about ourself right now? Just quit
thinking about yourself and think of who he is and what he did. Let's pass out the bread and
wine now.