Our All-Powerful God (part 2)

Genesis, the first book in your Bible, in chapter 18. We'll read the first 15 verses as we continue learning about our God,! Seeing His attributes, learning today more of His power.

! Please stand together with me for this reading from God's Word, Genesis chapter 18. The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.

Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, If I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, do not pass your servant by.

Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat so you can be refreshed, and then go on your way, now that you have come to your servant.

Very well, they answered. Do as you say. So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. Quick, he said, get three saiyas of fine flour, and knead it, and bake some bread.

Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice tender calf, and gave it to a servant who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them.

While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. Where is your wife Sarah? They asked him. There, in the tent, he said. Then the Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, will have a son.

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.

So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, after I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure? And the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, will I really have a child now that I am old?

Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son. Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, I did not laugh.

But he said, yes, you did laugh. The power of the Lord is great, the Scriptures tell us.

We're studying God's power again this morning. And we saw last week that power has to do with what you are able to do. It's a very active, practical thing.

So we're asking, what can you do? Now we have different ways of measuring power, measuring the output of work.

One unit of measurement that we use is horsepower. When men invented mechanical engines, they measured the power of those engines in terms of the amount of work produced by one horse.

And so if this engine could do the work of five horses, it was said to have had a five-horse engine. That's the unit of measurement we still use today, don't we?

The average car has an engine of around 200 horsepower. So if you're tempted to complain about the price of $3 a gallon gas, think what it would cost to feed 200 horses.

And be thankful. Horsepower. It's a unit of measurement that really is useless to us, though, when we come to speak about God and His power.

It's no help to us here. We're asking, what can God do? And the short answer is, He can do everything. God can do all things.

Nothing is too hard for Him. And then we began to tease out the long answer. Because the Bible is more specific than that. It tells us the things that God is able to do.

And we saw three last week. We'll see three more this morning. Last week we saw God is able to create all things out of nothing. Again, horsepower doesn't help us here.

He created the horse. He created all things out of nothing. We saw, secondly, God is able to save sinners, even the worst of sinners. Amazing power to make a dead sinner alive unto God.

And then we saw, thirdly, that God is able to keep you from falling. You who are believers and who still have a tendency within, a proneness to wonder, He is able to keep you from falling.

You're held in the grip of omnipotence. He's kept by the power of God until the day of salvation. So we're asking further. What is God able to do?

First of all, this morning, the Scriptures answer, He is able to do all He has promised. There's an old man.

His name's Abraham. He's 99 years old and Sarah, his wife, is 90 and she's barren. And God comes to Abraham to tell him that he would become the father of many nations.

And concerning his own wife, Sarah, God says to Abraham, I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations.

Kings of peoples will come from her. Now, when God is about to tell a man such stupendous things as that, things that are beyond belief almost, how does He introduce Himself?

Well, we find in that passage in Genesis 17, when God comes to tell Abraham that, this is how He begins. He introduces Himself to Abraham, I am God Almighty.

I am God Almighty. As you hear what I am about to promise you, you must remember who I am. I am God Almighty, the Omnipotent One, the One who has all might.

And if you would receive my promise aright, you must remember that I have all power. And so I am able to do all that I am about to promise you.

Now, turn to Romans chapter 4, and notice the inspired commentary on Abram's response to this promise of God, this stupendous promise.

In Romans chapter 4, verses 19 through 21, we have the Holy Spirit's commentary on Abraham's response.

Verse 19 says, Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead.

Now, let's pause there for a moment and notice he faced the facts head on. Don't you appreciate that about the Christian faith? That it does not require you to ignore reality.

That in order to be happy in the Lord, you have to ignore all of this that's going on. No, the Christian faith enables you to face the facts.

All the facts. It can handle them. And so, Abraham faced these facts. He considered all that was stacked against the promise of God.

And yet, verse 20 says, Facing the facts, yet, he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.

On the one hand was the promise of God. A son is going to be born to you through your wife, Sarah. And on the other hand, were these stubborn facts.

You're old. You're 99 years old. Your wife is an old woman, and her womb is dead. So you've got the promise on the one hand, and these stubborn facts on the other.

And they don't go together at all. In fact, the facts seem to mock the promise. A son born to you and Sarah? Ha, ha, ha. The fact of your oldness and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

So how does a man look at all of this, the promise and the facts, and still not waver in unbelief? How does a man actually become strengthened in his faith in the midst of such impossibilities, as verse 20 says he was?

Well, verse 21 is the answer. Being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

I am the Lord Almighty. And Abraham considered he has power to do what he's promised. He can handle this.

My age, Sarah's age, the deadness of her womb. He was fully persuaded that God had power to do all he had promised. What is old age?

What is a dead womb to the Almighty? Well, it's absolutely nothing. Nothing is too hard for our God. He gives life to the dead and calls those things which are not as though they were.

So Abraham faced the facts and he faced the most important fact of all, the unseen fact of God's omnipotence. And it tells us, brothers and sisters, that we've not considered all the facts in our problems until we have reckoned on God's power.

Until we've seen and factored in the almighty power of God. And so, as all those facts of your problems that make the promises seem so unreal, as you look at them, you must also stare at the fact that God is almighty and He can bring about all that He has promised by His mighty power.

And that gives glory to God. You notice that? His faith was strengthened and He gave glory to God by His faith. So God's power is the guarantee behind all of His promises.

You buy something and you're happy to see that it comes with a guarantee. Every promise of God, turn it over and you see it's got a guarantee and the guarantee is His omnipotence.

He is able to do all that He has promised. Now you and I may not have the power to bring into fulfillment all that we have promised because we're weak but God has all power.

So He never outreaches. His promises never outreach His ability to fulfill them. Never. Because He's almighty and can do all things.

are you fully persuaded that God has power to do everything that He has promised? That He's promised you because God has made you some stupendous promises.

Things that are hard to believe. Things that you might wonder how can that be? Some of you are wondering whether believing on Jesus Christ embracing this Savior can actually change your address for eternity from hell to heaven and you say I don't understand how something that I do so simple as that can have such eternal consequences.

Do you believe that God has power to do what He has promised? Believers, God's made a wonderful promise to you in Philippians 4, 6 and 7 that if you will pray about everything with thanksgiving that the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

And right now your heart may be feeling anything but peace. It's all upset in a turmoil as stirred up as the Sea of Galilee was when that stormy wind blew down from the mountains.

Peace might seem as impossible to you, the furthest thing from you in your storm. Do you believe that God is able to do as He has promised? You see, it really is a matter of whether or not God is able to do what He says.

Do you believe that He who said peace be still and the wind and waves obeyed and the Sea of Galilee became a sea of glass? Do you believe that that same voice can speak and your nerves will respond and you will be at peace in a way that transcends all understanding?

Do you believe that power of Christ reaches to your life that He's able to do all that He's promised? About Romans 8, 28, that in all things He's working together for your good, you who love Him and are the called according to His purpose.

Do you really believe that God is able to pull that off? You see, there's nothing good in this situation. Alright? Fair enough. That's the facts. Look them in the face. You don't have to deny reality.

But here's the question. Is God able to take that good-for-nothing situation and bring you good by it? That's what He's promising. Is He able to do that?

Does He have the power to do all He has said? Is He omnipotent or isn't He? There's Sarah and she's behind the tent and she's laughing to herself.

Why? Because she thinks it's absurd that she will have a son at this age to this man at his age. It's a laugh of unbelief.

And the Lord who sees what we're thinking in our hearts says to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, will I really have a child now that I am old?

Is anything too hard for the Lord? That's a revealing statement coming from God to an unbelieving situation.

situation to a woman in unbelief. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Do you realize that when you question God's promise being fulfilled that you're doubting His omnipotence?

You're saying there are really some things that are too hard for the Lord and this would be one of them. Is anything too hard for the Lord? There's Moses in the desert and he's got about two million complaining Israelites.

They're wailing at the entrance to their tent and they're every day God brings food down from heaven for them but they're complaining. We've lost our appetites.

We never see anything but this manna. We were better off in Egypt where we had meat to eat. They want meat and Moses goes to the Lord. Where can I get meat for all these people?

They keep wailing and saying to me give us meat to eat and God promises I'm going to give them meat tomorrow and it's going to be enough meat for the next day, a week, for the whole month.

They're going to eat meat until it comes out of their nostrils. They'll be so sick of it. And Moses responds to God's promise here I am among 600,000 men on foot and you say I will give them meat to eat for a whole month.

Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them? I dare say we've been in Moses' feet before and the promise of God seems to mock our reality and how is this going to be?

How can that be, Lord? Lord? And listen to the Lord's response to Moses. Is the Lord's arm too short?

Let's cut through it all, Moses. You don't think I'm able to do what I say. And we need to cut right through all of our excuses. And we need to see our unbelief for the wicked thing it is.

It is doubting the omnipotence of God. God, I know you said you would do it, but I don't think you have it in you. Don't think you can pull it off.

It's dangerous to stand before a promise of God without reckoning on God being omnipotent. God is the almighty God.

He doesn't want us to come to a promise without remembering His power. God is So in 1 Kings 8, there's Solomon and he's standing before a brand new temple in Jerusalem.

And God had made a promise earlier to His father David. He said to David, your son Solomon is going to build the temple for me. And now here is Solomon at the dedication service. This is what he says.

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. Oh Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you.

You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. With your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it as it is today. Brother and sister, what the mouth of God has promised, his hand is more than capable of fulfilling.

Acknowledge that power. trust in that power. Believe to see every word that he's promised fulfilled. That brings great glory to our God.

What can God do? He's able to do all that he's promised. But secondly, he's able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or even imagine. Able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.

Now when asking for help, you need to take into account the abilities of the one from whom you're seeking help. In other words, you wouldn't ask your two-year-old son to help you by carrying in the softener salt bags.

You would say, that's help that I can't receive from him or her. But when you come to God to ask for help, you never have to consider the limits of his ability in what you have to ask.

Ephesians 3 and verse 20, what can God do? Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us.

Brethren, the power of God that raised Christ from the dead is at work within us. So we can never ask for something that is too hard for God.

We can just write that off. We'll never be able to ask or even imagine something that is too difficult for our God. Limitless power.

Some of you have asked God to save your children and you're sitting beside a child of God this morning. Amazing what God did.

in answer to your prayer. He's able to do immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine. So you see, if you really believe that God is omnipotent, that will affect the way you pray.

You'll bring to God your hardest cases, the very hardest situations. You'll not, oh, we'll just pray for these easy things. I'm afraid to bring these things where I would be disappointed.

No, you'll bring to this God your hardest cases, the hardest hearts, the most difficult people, because nothing is impossible with God.

Here's one who can help me in each and every situation. His power opens up endless possibilities. It encourages me to come and to ask again and to ask for more.

And before a promise like this, brethren, I am embarrassed at the little things I ask for. Now, bless God, he cares for our little things and we are to bring him our little things.

But what's the biggest thing you've asked of this God recently? This God who can do all things and in prayer I stand before him and he says, what would you have me to do for you, John?

And I'm asking him to carry 40 pound softener salt bags. He has the power to give new life to dead sinners, to break open new nations with the gospel, to transform my life more into the power of Christ, to build his church, able to do immeasurably more.

Go ahead, Saul, ask him for the impossible. Thou art coming to a king, large petitions with thee bring, for his grace and power are such that none can ever ask too much.

John Newton encourages us, I can never overreach his power to answer my prayers. And so James would encourage us by saying the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective.

Why is prayer so powerful? It's because it lays hold of a powerful God. Prayer moves the hand of the omnipotent one. And that should indeed send us running to prayer.

The power of God should cause us to be more expectant when we have prayer. If you honor him as a king in your asking, he will honor you as a king in his giving.

there in Matthew 8 are two blind men and they're calling out for Jesus to have mercy on them and to heal them. It's interesting what Jesus asked two blind men wanting to be healed.

Do you believe that I am able to do this? It was a question of his power. Do you believe I'm able to do this?

That's what Jesus is asking us among other things when we come and pray. Do you believe I am able to do this? Yes, Lord, they replied.

And then he touched their eyes and said, according to your faith, will it be done to you? And their sight was restored. They honored him by asking him for the impossible. He honored them by giving them the impossible.

They believed in his power. And so he exercised it on their behalf. You're coming to a king. Treat him as a king in your asking. Matthew 8, earlier in the chapter, there's a man with leprosy and he came and knelt before Jesus and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

And such faith in God's Christ's ability to cleanse him from his leprosy, please the Lord. He reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing. He said, be clean.

The man believed in his ability. Now, please he is when we make much of his power and his ability in our asking. When we come to God in prayer and we say, oh, Lord, I'm asking you to do what no one else in all the world can do.

We honor him for his omnipotence. And all your prayers look much to the power of our God. Stretch yourself out in prayer upon the ability of his power to answer.

Our prayer lives are true indicators of just how powerful we believe God to be. So what is God able to do? Well, he is able to do all he's promised.

He's able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. And thirdly, this morning, he's able to strengthen you for all that you need. You see, this great power that resides in God, that which he is by nature, is not something that just defines him, but it's something that he gives to his people.

We saw that just briefly last week in Psalm 29. The Lord gives strength to his people. He gives strength.

He will be a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. So God gives strength. He's able to strengthen you. Now, here's the answer for your weakness.

I don't know what area of your life you are sensing your need for strength in, but here's the answer. God gives strength to his people. 2 Corinthians 9.

8. God is able. There's that concept again. God's telling us what he's able to do. His power. God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

All abounding grace and power in all things in your life. God's power exercised on your behalf, given over to you to strengthen you.

Sometimes when we think of strength, we only think of physical. And even in a promise or in this description of God, we can sometimes only think of God's power in physical terms.

I'm weak. I physically get tired. I need strength. I need energy in my muscles to get up and go and do. And that's a part of the power that I need from God.

But it's just a small bit of the power. There are all kinds of applications to power that we need in our lives. We need power and strength for many different things.

Colossians 1.11 says, this is what Paul prayed for the Colossian believers, that they might be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you might have great endurance and patience.

Strength is not just about physical strength. It's not just about how much you can bench press, about how much work you can put out in an hour. It's about how much you can take.

How much pressure can you take before you break? That's strength. How much irritation can you take before you lose it? How much temptation can you take before you give in to it?

We're talking about strength. How much difficulty can you endure before you quit and just walk out on your responsibilities? Where are you feeling your weakness?

Our strength fails, but Christ avails. He gives us strength. We're strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that I might be enabled to have great endurance patience and patience and to keep going another day, another step.

Now that's what David, the man after God's own heart, found in 1 Samuel chapter 30. David's at an all-time low. He's returned. He can't fight in the war. The Philistine generals are afraid he'll turn in the midst of it and help Israel's cause, so he's got to come home.

He's living in Philistine territory. And he's been given this little town of Ziklag, and that's where he and his men and their families are hanging out. And as they've come home on a three-day journey, they see Ziklag burned to the ground.

Their wives and sons and daughters are all taken captive. They're gone. Everything's gone. And we read, so David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.

And David was not only greatly distressed because of the loss of his own wives and children, but on top of that, the men were talking of stoning him. After all, when everyone is sunk in bitterness, they've got to find someone to blame it on.

And so David, the leader, is the one who is to blame. And they say, let's stone him. We read, each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters, but David found strength in the Lord, his God.

And I want to know, do you know at your lowest times how to find strength in the Lord, your God? Do you know when you don't have enough strength to cry anymore about some problem?

How to find strength in the Lord, your God? It doesn't tell us in that passage. It's just a historical narrative. It's just telling us David found strength in the Lord, his God.

Where can we learn how David did this? Well, we go to the Psalms and we see in other places what it meant for David to find strength in the Lord, his God. And I think Psalm 105.4 is a peek into that experience and a hundred like it in David's life.

Psalm 105.4, look to the Lord and his strength. Seek his face always. That's David speaking to us. The man who found strength in the Lord is God.

Look to the Lord and his strength. Seek his face always. And what's David telling us? He's saying it all starts with a look, with a look of your mind's eye.

It all starts by fastening your mind, your eye upon the Lord and his strength. It starts by saying I'm not going to look again at my problem without seeing God in it.

I'm not going to come and rehearse the problem and the stubborn facts again without seeing the almighty God in relation to this problem. Look to the Lord and his strength.

And so what do we find throughout the Psalms? We find titles like the Lord God almighty. There's a reason he's referring to the Lord God almighty because he's finding his strength in the Lord.

He is God. And he's praising God for his deeds in the past. And he's speaking of God as being his help, the maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them.

It's not just filler. It's not just that David wants a longer Psalm. It's that he's finding his strength in the Lord, his God. He's he's looking to the Lord and his strength.

He's reminding himself of who God is. And so he refers to him as as the one who opened away through the sea. What a description of his God. There's the great problem and he opened away through the sea.

That's my God. And he's pouring out his heart and he's fastening his eyes. He's looking to the Lord and his strength. And then he says, seek his face always.

It's with his strength in view that he he seeks this God in prayer. He asked him to come and to strengthen him. Psalm 22 19.

Oh, my strength, come quickly. To help me. Summon your power, oh God, show us your strength, oh God, as you've done before.

He's seeking the Lord and his strength. Isaiah 33, oh Lord, be gracious to us, be our strength every morning.

That's a good way to start the day. Be our strength every morning. King Asa seeks the Lord and his strength when the Cushites marched out against him with a vast army and here's how he finds strength in the Lord to fight another day.

Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, oh Lord, our God, for we rely on you and in your name we have come against this vast army. No one like you to help the powerless against the mighty.

Come and help. Seeking the Lord and his strength. And then you trust that he will give you that strength and you go. You go into your day.

You go off to fight the battle. You put one foot in front of the other. You continue in your duty. You continue to do what God's called you to do. And all the while trusting and leaning, expecting that his strength will meet you at each step of the way and hold you up and empower and enable you to glorify God where he has you.

David found his strength in the Lord. You know, you've never become stronger, have you, just by complaining about your weakness?

I never have. But I have become stronger by looking to the Lord and his strength and seeking his face. Look to the Lord.

Seek his face. See him as the almighty one. And just as David found his strength in the Lord, so you will. There's the apostle Paul.

He had had better days too. He's on trial before the pagan rulers in 2 Timothy 4. He says, at my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. Have you ever felt deserted?

May it not be held against them, but the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear.

the thing that made all the difference in that trial from nothing happening to the gospel being made clear to Gentiles was that the Lord stood at his side and strengthened him.

He was strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. That's what he tells the Ephesians. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Are you finding that the Christian life cannot be lived on your power?

I trust you find that out every day. We're called to do things that we don't have power to do. To love our enemies. To be kind to those who mistreat us.

to go the second mile. These things are beyond us. We're called to die to self.

Oh, but there's strength in the Lord for all of this and more. Are you finding that the devil is more shrewd and powerful than you and that sin is too strong for you to resist? Exactly.

That's why Paul says be strong in the Lord and in his! mighty power take up the full armor of God and fight in his strength. And so when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, threatened to destroy Jerusalem, King Hezekiah gathers the military officers and the people and he encourages them with these words, be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with God to help us and to fight our battles.

And the next line of scripture and the people gain confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said. There is more power with us than with them.

The Christian can always say that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. And it ought to make us a confident people when we're facing impossibilities it shouldn't be I can't I can't I can't but rather with the apostle Paul I can I can I can I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength and so I don't measure things by my power but by his power I'm able to go into this week that has these foreboding opportunities or appointments and these difficulties and I'm not sure how these things are going to go I can go with confidence because my God is the almighty and he's with me and he's for me now our power wears!

out doesn't it? that's why we sleep that's why we eat we're strong and we get tired hungry so what do we do we come home and we eat and we lay down and we sleep and what happens as we're sleeping you know what's happening kids while you sleep this is why it's so important that you go to bed at time on time you get enough sleep because it's while you're sleep that your strength is being restored it's being renewed your batteries are being recharged Christian you feel it you feel it don't you perhaps you go out of here on Sunday boy your batteries are charged but you get into Thursday evening and you're worn out from the week and you're low maybe it's not just Thursday maybe it's Monday I don't know but you know what it is to be tired and weary do you know there's a promise for those who are tired and weary

Isaiah says the Lord don't you know the Lord is the everlasting God and he does not grow tired or weary now that in itself is a wonder because he's always giving strength but he doesn't diminish any in his own strength he's giving all the time and yet he's still the omnipotent one not one whit less powerful than he always was but the Lord does not grow tired and weary but he gives strength to the weary and he increases the power of the faint yes we know that reality of growing tired and weary maybe some of you are weary!

with waiting maybe you're weary of waiting for your prayers to be answered and the weariness isn't so much physical weariness it's you don't have the strength to go on praying and asking God and trusting in God's power maybe you're weary of battling with that sin and temptation maybe you're weary of your trial it just stretches on and on tired maybe of mistreatment at work or in the home worn out by mounting responsibilities ever increasing workload maybe you're worn out with service to Christ with little fruit witness and little fruit!

may may defining our strength in the Lord our God.

Well, very briefly, these last two points. For God wants to make His mighty power known. He wants to make His mighty power known. He does not have this attribute of omnipotence just to be kept secret.

He wants it to be seen. He puts it on display in creation, salvation, providence. He wants men to see and hear of His power, and so to bring Him glory, because His glory is wrapped up in the display of His power.

Did you know that's why He raised up Pharaoh? You know, leaders come and go to nations. Why is Pharaoh sitting on the throne? This Pharaoh that served when Moses was sent to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Well, God tells us why He raised him up. Why is that man there on that throne? I raised you up, He tells Pharaoh, for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

God wants His power known. He raises up leaders to show His power. And the ten plagues displayed His power through Pharaoh.

Did you know that's why He saved you? Did you know that's the ultimate reason why He saves sinners? He wants to show His power. Psalm 106.8, He saved them for His namesake, to make His power known.

Salvation has come to you. He's made His power known in your life, saving you from sin. Saving you from yourself. Isaiah 33.13, You who are far away, hear what I have done.

You who are near, acknowledge My power. Declare His power to the next generation. Praise Him for His acts of power.

These are the statements of Scripture. Because God wants His power to be made known. It demonstrates His glory. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, made the mistake of belittling the power of Israel's God.

He brought his army to the doors of Jerusalem and told the people of Israel not to listen to their king Hezekiah when he says that the Lord will deliver you. Has any god of any nation ever delivered His land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hennah, and Eva? Have they rescued Samaria from My hand? Who of all the gods of these countries has been able, there's that word, has been able to save His land from Me?

How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from My hand? How can Jehovah deliver you from Me? Well, He crossed the line, you see.

God does not take kindly to pagan kings belittling His power as if He was not able to save His people. And the angel of the Lord went out in the night and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp and they turn and run for home.

God is jealous of His glory that's demonstrated in His power. He saved us for His namesake, to make His power known.

Have you thought about that? I'm saved to demonstrate the power of God. Well then, be praising Him for His salvation. Be telling others what He's done, how He saved you from your sins.

Be demonstrating by your life that indeed Christ is a great Savior who saves us from the power of sin. Because the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power.

And so we have more than a form of godliness, but the power of godliness by which we bring glory to God. Now God has some interesting strategies for making His power known.

Sometimes He waits until His people are at the end of their rope to make it clear to all that it's His power that saved them and not their own. That's why the Israelites had to be pinned up against the Red Sea by the Egyptians before the Lord opened the sea to save them.

They must be at their wit's end before He opens the way. That's why Gideon is brought down to 300 men, outnumbered 1 to 450.

It must be stacked against them that much. Why? In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they must enter into the fire before God brings His arm of deliverance and saves them.

Daniel must fall into the den of lions before God delivers him by shutting the mouths of the lions. You see the pattern?

God letting things get worse before He comes in with His mighty hand to save. Why? Because He wants all the glory for Himself. And so I ask you, are things not going well with you?

Are things going from bad to worse? Remember when Moses was sent back to Egypt to bring out the children of Israel? And he's been there some time. And things got worse before they got better.

Now they're forced to make their bricks with gathering their own straw. Same quote of bricks. Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, Lord, He has brought trouble upon this people and You've not rescued Your people at all.

Are things getting worse for you? Keep looking up. Your redemption is drawing near. The darkest hour means dawn is just in sight.

Man's extremity is God's opportunity to come and to show His power. And when He does work, it will be seen it's His hand and not man's. It is time for You to work, O Lord.

It's been seen all that we cannot do. All of our efforts have failed. Now come and show Your mighty power. God would not share His glory with another.

That's why His ministers must carry this treasure of the Gospel in vessels of clay, cracked, easily broken jars.

Why? So that the all-surpassing power might be seen to be of Him and not of us. And that's why we're hard-pressed on every side, Paul says. That's why we're perplexed. Why we're persecuted.

Why we're struck down. That no one will think that it's our strength accomplishing His work, but His alone. And it's when our weakness is evident that His strength is praised.

And that's why Paul must go through life with a thorn stuck in his flesh. And it hurt him. He prays for it to be released. And God simply tells him, no, no.

Three times, no. I'm not taking it away. My grace is sufficient for you. And that changed it for Paul. Okay. Okay, he says.

Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. Do you want Christ's power resting on you? Look to the Lord and His strength in the midst of your weakness.

That's why, for Christ's sake, Paul says, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardship, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God wants His power to be glorified in your life. And that might be costly. That might mean leaving you weak. That might mean leaving you less than what you hoped for yourself.

But God is teaching us, isn't He? That there's something more important than our feeling strong. There is that glory to come to Him. That's what He seeks.

Well, I have one more question then. We've looked at this reality of God's omnipotence. God is able to do all of this. Able to do all He's promised.

All we ask for and more in prayer. Able to strengthen you for all that you need. And my question is this. Is this power for you or against you? Is it for you or against you?

That makes all the difference between whether or not the omnipotence of God is good news or bad news. It's unbelievable good news for those who are in Christ this morning. Because it means that God is for me in all that He is.

All of His power is for me. Blessed is the man who has the God of Jacob for His help. This one who created all things out of nothing. This one who saves sinners. He's for me in His power.

There is no higher blessedness that I could imagine and be able to face every situation in life and know that my best friend is omnipotent. He can come in for me and He can help me.

He's with me. And His power is for me. If God is for you who can be against you? But this truth of God's omnipotence is as bad as it is for some as it is good for others.

Have you thought what God can do with His power? Read the Bible. Read what He used His power to do in destroying His enemies.

He doesn't just make laws and then sit by powerless to enforce them. No, He's the omnipotent one. He will enforce all of His laws. And you've sinned against God and you've not come to His one and only Savior.

Oh, pity you. You have an omnipotent God that's on your trail. You're going to face Him in judgment. And James says He is able to save and to destroy. And my final question is which will it be?

Will He use His power to save you? Will He use His power to destroy you? Jesus says, fear not Him who has the power to kill the body and after that can do no more.

Fear Him who has power to throw body and soul into hell. Come to Jesus. Ask Him to exercise His power in grace upon you and have mercy on your soul to save you for Jesus' sake.

God is our refuge and strength. Come to this God. Take refuge in Him. Let's pause for silent prayer and I'll conclude. Have dealings with this God of power.

Cry out to Him. Look to the Lord in His strength. Let's all pray silently. Almighty God, our minds cannot think of anything too hard for You.

And You've told us in Your Word the many things that You are able to do. Forgive us for our unbelief. And O come and help us. Thank You that You do not condemn us as we come and acknowledge our sins that You are able and willing to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Would You cleanse me from unbelief? Would You forgive me for thinking that some things are too hard for You? Would You teach us as a church to live upon Your power, to stretch ourselves out in prayer upon Your omnipotence?

Teach us to represent You, to make known Your power by our lives and the things that we say about You. And so give us a confidence that belongs to the people of God who have such a wonderful friend who is almighty to save.

We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.