Exploring the Excellencies of the Living God - Psalm 139 (Sermon 1)

This morning we begin a series of studies on the Doctrine of God.

 

• We will devote our time to the study of God's Character and how the Attributes of God ought to affect our own Christian Living.

• I hope we will be uplifted & challenged by the Glorious Nature of our Great God.

The title of an article I read recently makes a fitting title for this series of studies:

 

• We'll be exploring the Glorious Attributes of our Sovereign Lord.

• I trust that we'll see a Vision of our God in all his Glorious Splendour.

If you take this theme seriously, it will transform your life!

 

• This theme has the potential to transform every Local Church in this Land - and beyond

• Exploring the Attributes of God will give us an enlarged Vision of our Mighty God!

• It will increase our hope for the rapid expansion of the Church of God!

• It will cause the Church to become a Mighty Force throughout the Nation!

I won't bore you with arguments concerning proofs for the existence of God.

The writer to the Hebrews (11:6) says:

"Anyone who comes to God must believe that he Exists and that

he rewards those that earnestly seek him."

• We would not be here for worship unless we believed in the Existence of the Living God.

The most fundamental fact of Scripture is absolutely clear: GOD IS - GOD EXISTS.

• God said: "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14).

• God said: "I am, and there is none besides me" (Isaiah 47:8).

The Bible begins with a fundamental statement of fact:

"In the beginning God."

Throughout Scripture the existence of God is upheld as a fundamental reality.

God does not need to prove his own existence!

The Living God gives out a challenge:

"Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the

starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his Great Power and

Mighty Strength, not one of them is missing … The Lord is the Everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and

his understanding no one can fathom" (Is 40:26-28).

To men & women who doubt God's existence, the Word of the Living God is clear:

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 14:1).

Herman Bavinck, in his book The Doctrine of God, said:

"The Bible never makes any attempt to prove the existence of God, but assumes it."

The most vital QUESTION to ask is NOT - does God exist?

Rather, it is this - How well DO YOU KNOW the Living God?

 

• I am not asking how much do you know ABOUT God,

but how well you know God himself. Do you know God personally?

• Do you have a Head Knowledge, which has little relevance to everyday life?

• OR, do you have a Heart Knowledge, which has transformed your Way of Life?

Do know God in a personal way, OR is God someone who is distant & unreal to you?

• Is God someone you know casually? Someone you only talk to from time to time?

• Or, is God someone you know intimately?

Is God someone you seek to know in a deeper way every day?

This morning I want to ask a FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION:

WHY should we Explore the Excellencies of the Living God?

How relevant is a study on the Doctrine of God to the Church, Today?

Firstly: A Church's Spiritual Temperature may be gauged by her Conception of God:

 

• I put it to you that the Church of Christ is in a state of decline today, because the

majority of Christians have an inadequate concept of God's Nature.

Martin Luther, challenged Erasmus, saying:

"Your thoughts of God are too human."

J B Philips challenged the Church in the 1950's saying:

"You have an inadequate image of God - Your God is too small."

The same could be said of the Church of Christ today!

Jim Packer, in his book Knowing God, says:

"Ignorance of God - ignorance both of his ways and of the practice of communion

with God - lies at the root of much of the Church's weakness today."

There is no doubt whatsoever that Local Churches up & down the land have been

Spiritually Weakened by their Inadequate Conception of the Doctrine of God.

 

• Many Christians today have lost a sense of the true Glory & Majesty of God.

We are in danger of worshipping a God of our own imagination.

• We come to worship without a Sense of Expectancy that God will reveal his Power.

• We come without a Sense of Awe & Wonder about the God we have come to worship.

• We hurry in, sit down, and haven't even begun to think about the Lord of Glory.

The Church needs to recapture a Vision of the Greatness of God!

We need to come to worship, singing Psalm 96:4-10:

"Great is the Lord & most worthy of Praise; he is to be feared above all gods …

Splendour & Majesty are before him, Strength & Glory are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord Glory & Strength. Ascribe to the Lord the Glory due his Name …

A W Tozer wrote, about 30 years ago, concerning the desperate need for the Church to revise its distorted conception of God:

"It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God is so decadent as to be utterly

beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed

believers something amounting to a moral calamity … The heaviest obligation lying

upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is

once more worthy of him."

It is often in times of trouble that God's People rekindle their Conception of God:

Remember how the Prophet Daniel predicted a time of great trouble:

 

• Daniel anticipated the reign of the Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.)

• He ordered Jewish sacrifices to cease and offered pig's flesh in the temple of God.

• He prohibited the observance of the Sabbath & ordered them to offer unclean sacrifices.

• He ordered all copies of the Scriptures to be destroyed.

Daniel posed the question as to how these people would ever survive this holocaust:

 

• The answer came to Daniel immediately (Daniel 11:32):

• The people who have a High & Mighty Concept of God shall do Great Exploits for God!

• A courageous group of men called the Maccabees led a historic revolt against Antiochus;

• They knew their God and laid hold of his Sovereign Power & Mighty Strength.

• They re-affirmed their belief in the Living God, Yahweh - the Sovereign Lord of Israel!

Remember how King David turned to God at a time of deep depression (Psalm 139):

"Where can I go from your Spirit? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make

my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the

far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me

fast … How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand" (Psalm 139:7-18).

• Throughout the generations, David has been extolled as a Great King.

• He was a Great King because he had Great Conception of the King of Kings.

• He had such a vast number of thoughts about God that his mind couldn't contain them!

I listened to a message by Howell Jones on this Psalm during the week.

 

• He argued that we need to recapture the sense of Wonder in our praise of God:

"We need to put that word 'O' back into our praise" -

We need to say: 'O Lord, we praise you' - with real conviction & a sense of wonder!

Pastor Jones says:

"This is the language of a soul that Knows God.

It is a necessary ingredient of our experience of him …

There's got to be an 'O', in terms of a sense of Wonder, in our Knowing God"

• Unless we have a sense of Wonder, we haven't really met God!

• This ought to be the language of both our corporate and our individual worship of God.

• We must recapture that sense of Mystery, Awe & Wonder concerning the Almighty God!

The Prophet Isaiah gives a Picture of the Man who has a True Conception of God:

"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, They will soar on wings like

eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint" (Is 40:21).

The whole purpose of God's revelation in Scripture has one fundamental aim:

• This is what we were made for - To KNOW GOD and his Son, Jesus Christ.

C H Spurgeon, at the age of Twenty, began a study on the Attributes of God by saying:

"It has been said by someone that 'the proper study of mankind is man'. I will not

oppose the idea, but I believe that the proper study of God's elect is God; the proper

study of the Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation,

the mightiest philosophy, which can engage the attention of the child of God, is the

name, the nature, the person, the doings, and the existence of the great God which he

calls Father … No subject will tend more to humble the mind than thoughts of God.

But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of

God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around the narrow globe

… Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as

a devout, earnest, continued, investigation of the great subject of the Deity."

Such preaching led to the expansion of the Church of Christ in Southwark.

 

• Five hundred believers attended the Prayer Meeting each week - about 3,000 on Sundays.

• In the famous Crystal Palace, he preached to nearly 24,000 people on a day appointed by

A W Tozer, in his book The Knowledge of the Holy, said:

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing

about us … Man's spiritual history will demonstrate that no religion has ever been

greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshipper entertains high

or low thoughts of … We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our

mental image of God … Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her

idea of God."

We are considering a FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION:

WHY should we Explore the Excellencies of the Living God?

Firstly: A Church's Spiritual Temperature may be gauged by her Conception of God.

Secondly: Studying the Excellencies of God is vital for Practical Christian Living:

 

• You might well argue that the Church Today needs preaching on

Practical Christian Living, rather than dry intellectual theology!

Such an idea stems from a misconception of the true nature of Theology.

 

• A right conception of God is not only the basis for a book about Systematic Theology;

It is also the firm foundation for Practical Christian Living.

• Our conception of God has a direct bearing on how we conduct our Christian Lives!

Jim Packer says about studying the Nature & Character of God:

"It is the most practical project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is

crucially important for the living of our lives … Disregard the study of God, and you

sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfold, as it were, with no

sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can

waste your life and lose your soul."

The Scriptures tell us that there is nothing more Practical in the Christian Life than

the outworking of our Concept of God's Nature:

• Paul says that we have been saved for a particular purpose:

"We are being transformed into His Likeness with ever-increasing glory" (2 Cor 3:18).

A.V. "We are changed into the Same Image from glory to glory." We must:

"Become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13).

Exploring the excellencies of God is a vital part of attaining those excellencies.

We cannot become 'like God' unless we 'know what God is like.'

• The Apostle Peter tells us how we are to make our calling and election sure:

Do you see why a study of the Attributes of God is so practical?

In order to prepare ourselves for Heaven, we must Participate in the Divine Nature.

 

• We are to put on the Attributes of God.

• This is surely one of the most remarkable descriptions of Practical Christian Living.

We are to possess a true knowledge of God by Participating in the Divine Nature.

• The quality of life we should aim at is nothing less than the Glory of the Divine Nature.

• This is the essential life of the Christian - this is the life we must strive after.

A W Tozer argues that:

"Without doubt, the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of God …

A right conception of God is basic not only to Systematic Theology but to

Practical Christian Living as well."

The Child of God who has a true understanding of Theology

always applies that Theology to Practical Christian Living:

Look at the yearning of the Psalmist's heart in Psalm 119:

"O that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees; I will obey your decrees;

Lord, teach me your decrees; Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things

in your law; O how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long; How sweet are your

promises to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth; I am your servant, give me

discernment that I might understand your statutes." (verses 5; 8; 12; 18; 97; 103; 125)

The Psalmist's deep concern and heartfelt desire in gaining a knowledge about God was far from being a theoretical head knowledge. Rather, he had a very practical concern.

 

• His desire was to seek a heart knowledge that would enable him to obey God's statutes.

His supreme desire was to know and enjoy God himself, not merely to know about God!

• His great desire was that he might be "transformed into the image of the Living God."

The Psalmist was interested in attaining a Knowledge of the Doctrine of God,

not as an end in itself, but as a means to attaining godliness.

• Likewise, our own ultimate aim in studying the Godhead must be to

Know God Himself better, not simply to have a head-knowledge about God.

• Our aim must NOT simply be to achieve a Theological Knowledge of God's Attributes. but to have a personal relationship with the God whose Attributes we are studying.

• God must not only be the subject of our study, he must be the end of it.

WHY should we Explore the Excellencies of the Living God?

Firstly: A Church's Spiritual Temperature may be gauged by her Conception of God.

Secondly: Exploring the Excellencies of God is vital for Practical Christian Living:

Thirdly: Exploring the Excellencies of God produces an improvement

When God is worshipped in Scripture, he is worshipped in response to his Attributes.

 

• Indeed, worship may be described as Extolling the Attributes of God.

The Four Living Creatures in Revelation worshipped God in response to his

Holiness, Sovereign Power & Eternity:

"Day and night they never stopped saying: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God

Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come'" (Revelation 4:8).

The twenty-four Elders joined in this worship by praising more of God's Attributes:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive Glory & Honour & Power, for you

Created all things, and by your Will they were created and have their being" (v9-11).

The Four Living Creatures are considered to be Four Angelic Throne Attendants;

- Their work is to Heavenly Host in the unceasing Praise of God.

 

• They continually Praise God as the Thrice Holy God, whose Eternal Nature guarantees his Sovereignty over all things. It also guarantees his Triumph over the Powers of Evil.

The Twenty-four Elders join the Angelic Beings in worshipping God (Rev 4:9-11):

 

• Throughout Revelation the Elders are pictured falling down in Worship & Adoration.

• On each occasion they worship God by Extolling his Glorious Attributes (Ch 5; 11 &19).

• On this occasion they Exalt the Name of God as the One who is worthy of receiving Glory & Honour & Power; because it was his Divine Will to Create all things.

• In ch 5 they are joined by thousands upon thousands of Angels, Praising the Lamb.

Believers have the Hope of joining that throng of Worshippers in Heaven:

 

• We can only prepare for that Worship in Heaven by learning to Worship the Lord according to the Beauty of his Glorious Attributes, whilst we are here on earth.

Throughout Psalms, Worship of God is linked to an acknowledgement of his Attributes:

This is not surprising, since the Psalms were written as Songs of Worship & Adoration.

Psalm 92 was written especially for singing on the Sabbath Day,

the day when God's people meet for Worship.

 

• Note how this Psalm begins:

• The Psalmist is declaring the Blessedness of Worshipping the Lord God.

• He is speaking of the Believer's Delight in worshipping his Lord.

The Psalmist goes on to tell us how to worship the Lord:

"It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High,

to proclaim your Love in the morning and your Faithfulness at night …

O Lord, you are Exalted Forever" (Psalm 92:2 & 8).

• Worship involves making known the Excellencies of the Almighty God.

• Worship is declaring God's Goodness & Greatness, his Love & his Faithfulness.

In our own day, there is a great deal of talk about exploring New Ways to Worship God.

 

• But, the Scriptures teach us Only One Way to explore worship;

• That is by Exploring the Excellencies of our Glorious God.

• We are to worship the Lord God "by the Spirit of God" (Philippians 3:3).

• Our worship must be Spirit-led and Spirit-controlled.

• Our worship must be God-centred, centring on his Glorious Character.

A W Tozer, in his book Whatever happened to worship, says:

"There are two levels in the worship of God: gratitude & excellence.

Most people never get beyond the level of gratitude.

Few worship God for his excellence, for all that he is, for his

Transcendent & Immanent Glory."

Certainly, we ought to worship God because of our gratitude for his Salvation.

• But, above everything else, we must worship God because of who he is,

for his Excellence & his Transcendent Glory.

An Exploration of the Divine Attributes will improve to our Corporate Worship.

Studying the Excellencies of God will also improve our Individual Prayer Life:

 

• Acquiring a knowledge of the Divine Attributes will teach us how to pray.

• Furthermore, it will also give us an assurance that God answers our prayers according to his Divine Will, which always reflects his Attributes.

The Psalmist tells us that Prayer is linked to an acknowledgement of God's Attributes:

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help,

My King & my God, for to you I pray. Morning by morning, O Lord, you hear my

voice; morning by morning, I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The

arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all those who do wrong" (Ps 5:1-5).

David addresses God as 'My King & my God'.

 

• He is reminding God of his covenant relationship with his people.

• He is claiming that God is the Mighty King of Israel who has promised to protect and providentially care for his subjects.

• He is claiming that God is the King over all people.

• He expresses his faith in the God who is the King of kings, who possesses the authority to show his loving-kindness and bless his chosen people.

• This Mighty Faith of David expels his despondency and causes him to

wait in expectation for the King of kings to answer his petitions.

David addresses the Lord as the Righteous & Holy God:

 

• David claims that the God of Righteousness is on his side.

• He reverently reminds the Lord that he is a Righteous God who hates evil.

• Therefore, he is asking God to remember his covenant to deal with his people

righteously & justly.

• He reminds the Lord that he takes no pleasure in any wickedness & wrongdoing.

A further example of how Prayer is linked to God's Attributes is found in Psalm 21:

"O Lord. The king rejoices in your strength … You have granted him the desire of his

heart and have not withheld the request of his lips … He asked you for life, and you

gave it to him - length of days, for ever & ever. Through the victories you gave, his

glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendour & majesty. Surely you have

granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence. For

the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be

shaken" (Ps 21:1-7).

Note how David's Prayer is based on the application of the Divine Attributes:

Verse 4: David addressed his Petitions to the Everlasting God:

 

• He asked the Living God for life, and the Living God gave him abundant life.

 

• The Everlasting God answered prayer by giving the king length of days, for ever & ever.

 

• Through David's seed, the Messiah, all who trust in God's Salvation have everlasting life.

Verse 5: David acknowledged his Lord as the God of Glory:

• The God of Glory answered by making David's glory great.

 

• Remember how the people shouted:

Verse 5: In his Prayer, David acknowledges the Splendour & Majesty of the Living God:

- The Lord answered prayer, by bestowing splendour & majesty upon his servant David.

- David's throne reflects the Splendour & Majesty of God more than any throne in history.

• Remember how the Messiah was seated on David's Throne in Splendour & Majesty:

"He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom,establishing it and upholding it

with justice & righteousness from that time on and forever" (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Verse 6: David addressed his Prayers to the Eternal & Omnipresent God:

 

• God answered prayer by granting David eternal blessings & his Divine Presence.

• The Eternal God who is God Blessed Forever (2 Cor 11:31) bestows eternal blessings.

People who pray to the Omnipresent God, can bring their petitions to him anywhere,

knowing that his presence is with them wherever they may go

Verse 7: David prays to the Most High God who possesses Unfailing Love:

 

• He placed his trust & confidence in the Power of the Most High God.

• The continuation of David's kingdom depended on the Mercy (the Unfailing Love) of

the Most High God, and not on his own human strength.

• God's Unfailing Love ensures that our Faith will stand firm & never be shaken.

The lesson here is obvious.

If we expect God to answer Prayer, we must prayer in accordance with his Divine Attributes.

SUMMARY

We have considered a FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION:

WHY should we Explore the Excellencies of the Living God?

Firstly: A Church's Spiritual Temperature may be gauged by her Conception of God.

As Tozer says:

"We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God …

Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God."

If the Church of Christ is to be a Mighty Force in our Nation once again, then

she needs to recapture her Vision of the Greatness of God!

It is a People who have a Great Vision of God, who do Great Exploits for God!

Secondly: Exploring the Excellencies of God is vital for Practical Christian Living:

Studying the Nature & Character of God, says Jim Packer, "is the most practical

project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is crucially important for the

living of our lives."

Thirdly: Exploring the Excellencies of God produces an improvement

In our own day, there is a great deal of talk about exploring New Ways to Worship God.

 

• But, the Scriptures teach us Only One Way to explore worship;

• That is by Exploring the Excellencies of our Glorious God.

On an individual level - our Prayer Life ought to be Spirit-controlled.

• Our Prayer Life must be full of the Attributes of God.

• If we expect answers to prayer, we must plead with the Living God

according to the Excellencies of his Character.

• He delights to answer prayer which is according to his Divine Will & Character.