The Attributes of God - The All-powerful God - Genesis 17:1-18:15 (Sermon 4)

We live in an age when people are witnessing an incredible degree of power

• Every few months firms bring out new Computers which become more & more powerful.
• Engineers have designed a powerful engine that can lift a gigantic Jumbo Jet high into the sky.

• Powerful rockets hurtle many tons of scientific equipment deep into outer space.

• Atomic energy has been harnessed to produce sufficient energy to light up whole cities.

• The same kind of power can also be utilised to produce weapons of mass destruction.

Throughout history, man has witnessed the Awesome Power of the Elements of Nature.

• Recently, we witnessed avalanches which made strongly built log cabins look like matchsticks.

• We have witnessed tornadoes that can throw a car or a lorry like a tin can.

• We have seen hurricanes that can leave a trail of devastating destruction.

• We have seen mighty rivers in full flood, sweeping away everything in their path.

We can understand the Concept of Power far more than Eternity & Invisibility.

• At first sight - Power is something which seems familiar to us all.

• The concept of someone who is All-Powerful defies our imagination.

By way of example, let me give you a test of simple addition:

• Add together the power produced by a jet engine, a space rocket, & an atomic bomb;

• Add to that the power of a great avalange, a destructful hurricane, and a mighty tornado;

• Finally, add on the power of a mighty river in full flood.

• Having done all that - you have not even begun to think of the Almighty Power of God.

C H Spurgeon said about God's Power:

"God's power is like himself, self-existent, self-sustained. The mightiest of men

cannot add so much as a shadow of increased power to the Omnipotent One.

He himself is the great central source and Originator of all power."

Throughout Scripture, the Lord God reveals himself as the Almighty God.

He draws attention to the Extent of his Power by asking a fundamental question:

Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Genesis 18:14 & Jeremiah 32:26).

The NAME which reveals God's Power is the Name El-Shaddai, the All-powerful One.

Andrew Jukes says:

"The word Shaddai is a Hebrew term which literally means "Breasted or Pourer Forth",

that is, of blessings, temporal & spiritual … God's Almightiness is of the breast, that is, of

bountiful, self-sacrificing, love, giving and pouring itself out to others ... This is El-Shaddai,

• The idea is that the breast gives life and nourishment to the new-born child.

• By her breast, the mother has almost infinite power over the child.

The Name El-Shaddai is the Name that tells us that God is Able to do whatever he pleases:

• He is the God who has the Power to Pour Forth Life and the Power to Pour Forth Judgement.
• He is the One whose Greatness is the source of comfort and blessing for his people.

The Name El-Shaddai was first revealed to the Patriarch Abraham:

• Note how God revealed this Name to Abraham in the context of his everyday circumstances.

The Lord asks a vital Question that Demands an Answer - Is anything too hard for the Lord?

• Remember how God had promised to make Abraham the father of a Great Nation.
• The problem was that Abraham's wife, Sarah, was barren.
• Furthermore, she was 90 years old, and well past child-bearing age.
• So Abraham thought that the answer lay in conceiving a child through his wife's maid-servant.
• He thought Hagar's child, Ishmael, was to be that son of promise.

Humanly speaking, there was no possible way for Sarah to bear a son in her old age.

• That is why God revealed himself to Abraham in a particular way:

God is saying: "I am the Almighty God who can accomplish anything I choose to do."

• I am the God who is able to rejuvenate barren wombs & give babies to couples in their nineties!
• I am the All-powerful One who is able to fulfil all his promises.
• I am the Omnipotent God who has the Power to intervene in the life of anyone whom I choose.

Our God is the One who refers to himself as: "The Lord Strong & Mighty" (Psalm 24:8).

• He is the One of whom the Psalmist says: "Great is our Lord and Mighty in Power" (Ps 147:5).

• He is the One who proclaims himself to be El-Shaddai 47 times in the Old Testament.
• He is the One who will not allow this Name to be given to any other.

God promised Abraham a son a second time - this time in the presence of his wife, Sarah:

• Sarah listened outside the tent, but stood in complete disbelief , laughing at God, saying:

Then the Lord asked Abraham a fundamental QUESTION:

The Lord God is saying:

- I have revealed myself to you as the Almighty - El-Shaddai.

- Does your wife think that the Creator God cannot give you a child in your old age?

• By asking the question, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?",

God is saying in the strongest possible way that Absolutely nothing is too hard for Almighty God.

• He proclaims to Heaven, Earth & Hell that absolutely nothing can thwart his Divine Purposes.

The Apostle Paul had no doubt that Abraham had learned this vital truth (Rom 4:18-21)

"He was about 100 years old & Sarah's womb was dead. Yet he did not waver through

unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith & gave glory to

God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised."

The writer to the Hebrews (11:17-19) explains the logic that drove Abraham to this conclusion:

"By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice … He reasoned that

God could raise the dead, & figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death"

Do you see Abraham's logic?

• Because God is able to give life through the womb of a barren, old, woman,

God is also able to raise that son of promise from the dead.

• God has the Power to fulfil his promises; Even if it takes a miracle - God is able.

The Lord God also revealed the Name Almighty God to the Patriarch Moses.

Again, God asks the SAME fundamental QUESTION - Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Again, God uses the circumstances of his people to teach them about his Almighty Power.

- This time God uses the people's basic need for food to teach them about his Almighty Power.

God taught this lesson to Moses when he Rescued the Children of Israel from Egypt:

• In the Wilderness, God fed Israel in a miraculous manner, by providing manna from heaven.

• Then the Israelites complained. So God promised to give them a diet of meat for a whole month.

God is saying to Moses:

• Can't you remember how I heard my people crying out for Deliverance from Bondage in Egypt?
• Can't you remember how I sent the 10 Plagues on the Egyptians, until Pharaoh let my people go?
• Can't you remember how I parted the Red Sea to allow these 600,000 people to cross on dry land
• Now, you have the audacity to doubt my Power to Feed my people in the Wilderness!

God says to Moses: Answer this Question - Is the arm of theLord too short?

- Is the Lord's Power limited? Does God have the Power to feed his people in the Wilderness?

The Lord God also revealed the Name Almighty God to the Prophet Jeremiah.

Again, God asks the SAME fundamental QUESTION - Is anything too hard for the Lord? Again, God uses the circumstances of his people to teach them about his Almighty Power.

• This time God uses the Nation's traumatic experience of going into Exile in Babylon.

• God told Jeremiah that Judah would be invaded by the Babylonians and taken into captivity.

• But then God commanded him to go out and buy his cousin's field.

Jeremiah was perplexed and didn't really understand the logic of the Lord.

On the one hand, such a transaction didn't seem to make sense to Jeremiah (32:24-25):

• Jeremiah was saying: "Lord, what you are commanding me to do, just doesn't make sense.

Jeremiah believed that God's Power is displayed nowhere more dramatically than in Creation.

• This is proof that the Lord lived up to his Name - God Almighty, the Great & Powerful God.
• Jeremiah argued to himself - The God who is able to make the whole of creation out of nothing, is most certainly able to restore the Nation of Israel to their own land.

To underline this lesson, God asked Jeremiah the SAME QUESTION he had put to Moses:

"As I brought this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have

promised them. Once more fields will be bought, & deeds will be signed, sealed & witnessed."

• To accomplish his Purpose, the Almighty God is Able to bring his people back from Captivity.
• Jeremiah was to go out and buy his cousin's field as evidence of his faith in the Almighty God!

God asked the SAME fundamental QUESTION to Abraham, Moses & Jeremiah:

The answer to this Fundamental Question is absolutely crucial in our own day:

• We live in a day when men deny the very existence of God.
• We live in a day when men deny the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection.
• Men prefer to believe in Evolution rather than in the Almighty Power of the Creator God.

• Both Creation & Providence proclaim that Power belongeth unto God.
• Time & time again the Lord himself proclaims this Eternal Truth - Power belongeth unto God.

The Psalmist is telling us that Power is an essential aspect of God's Nature:

• We cannot possess a true concept of God without taking into account his Awesome Power.
• Indeed, God cannot be truly God without possessing the Attribute of Omnipotence.
• The Psalmist urges us to believe that the Mighty Power of the Living God cannot be exhausted.

A W Pink says:

Stephen Charnock defines the Power of God, saying:

This evening, I want to put to you a Fundamental Argument concerning the Power of God:

Throughout Scripture, God's Almighty Power is revealed, primarily, in creation & re-creation

FIRSTLY: Note how the Power of God is revealed in the Creation of the World:

• Everything we see and hear all around us is a manifestation of God's Almighty Power!

• Listen to what the Apostle Paul says to the Romans:

The message is clear - the Eternal Power of God can be clearly understood through creation.

The Psalmist David argues that Creation is compelling testimony to the Power of God:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hand" (Ps 19:1)

• The whole of creation bears testimony to the Glory of our Glorious God!
• The whole of creation bears testimony to his Power to create everything out of nothing!

The Psalmist also tells us that creation declares God's Power to work out his purposes:

"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let the earth fear

the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he

commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of nations; he thwarts the purposes

of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart

through all generations" (Ps 33:6-11).

God only had to speak - he gave the Word of his Power - and All Creation came into being.

• Not only did God create the heavens and the earth through his Mighty Power -

he continues to control them through that same Power.

• Likewise, God controls the affairs of men and controls the events of history through his

Mighty Power - Down through the Ages he has continued to work out his Purposes.

The Psalmist uses this truth about God's Almighty Power as a comfort for himself, saying:

• Believers dwell in the Fortress of the Almighty God and the powers of hell cannot overcome it.
• In the battle against Satan, the Power of God is the believer's Strength & Shield.

Throughout Scripture, God's Almighty Power is revealed, primarily, in creation & re-creation

FIRSTLY: The Power of God is revealed in the Creation of the World.

SECONDLY: God's Power was demonstrated in the Re-creation of God's people:

• We have already looked at how God revealed his Almighty Power to Abraham.
• God made an Everlasting Covenant with Abraham.
• God demonstrated his Almighty Power by giving Abraham the son of promise in his old age.
• God demonstrated his Power by giving life to the barren womb of Sarah.
• God demonstrated his Power by figuratively raising Isaac from the dead.

• Creation & Re-creation is the theme that runs through the life of this great Man of Faith.

Remember how Abraham's grandson, Jacob, went down into Egypt.

• After the death of Abraham's great-grandson, Joseph, the Israelites were oppressed in Egypt.

• The Lord God raised up Moses to save his people from Egyptian slavery.
• But Pharaoh would not let God's people go!

When Moses asked Pharaoh to let God's people go, Pharaoh uttered an oath of defiance: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go?

I do not know the Lord and I will not let you go" (Ex 5:2).

• Who is your God, Pharaoh cried! You are my slaves! Your God cannot have any power!

Take very careful note of the manner in which God Promises Deliverance to his People:

"God said to Moses, 'I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as

God Almighty (El-Shaddai) … I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the

Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant … I will redeem you with an

outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgement. I will make you my people, and I will

be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God" (Exodus 6: 2-7).

• God promises deliverance by reminding his people of the Name God Almighty, El-Shaddai.
• He would redeem his people "with an Outstretched Arm & with Mighty Acts of judgement"
• He would redeem his people by demonstrating his Almighty Power once again.
• Then these people would know that their God is the Lord God Almighty!

Pharaoh would learn the significance of this Name of God, as well as the Israelites:

"The Lord said to Moses … 'The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when

I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it" (Ex 7:5).

• The Lord will demonstrate his Almighty Power in order to save his people!
• Then both the Egyptians and the Israelites will know that the Lord, he is God.

When Moses sang his Song of Praise, his soul delighted in the Almighty Power of Israel's God:

"Your right hand, O Lord, was Majestic in Power. Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the

enemy. In the Greatness of your Majesty you threw down those who opposed you" (15:6-7).

Pharaoh may say: Who is your God, O Israel? But Moses Praises the Lord, saying (15:11-12):

"Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you - majestic in holiness, awesome

in glory, working wonders? You stretched out your hand and the earth swallowed them up"

• The Israelites confessed that their deliverance proved the Almighty Power of God.
• There is no doubt whatsoever that the Exodus demonstrated the Omnipotence of God.

This Twofold Demonstration of God's Almighty Power in Creation & Re-creation

became the constant Theme of Praise for the Psalmist & the Prophets:

• Down through the generations, this was the major theme in the Worship of God's people.

• The demonstration of God's Mighty Power in the Past became the basis for their Future Hope.

For example, the Psalmist says:

"I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is greater than all gods. The Lord does

whatever pleases him, in the Heavens & on the Earth, in the seas & all the depths … He

struck down the firstborn of Egypt, the firstborn of men & animals. He sent his signs &

wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants" (Ps 135:5-9).

The Prophet Isaiah praised God in the same way:

"This is what God the Lord says - he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who

spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to

those who walk on it: I, the Lord, have created you in righteousness; I will take hold of your

hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant people and a light to the Gentiles,

to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those

who sit in darkness" (Is 42:5-7).

Isaiah called upon the people of Israel to put their hope in God!

• He reminds them that their God is God the Lord, who possesses Almighty Power.

• He reminds them how God demonstrates his Mighty Power through Creation & Re-creation.

• The God who Created them, Re-created them through his Covenant to set them apart for himself.

Isaiah reminds them that their God is the Almighty One whose purposes cannot be thwarted:

• God has made an Eternal Covenant which he will certainly keep.

• Even though God's people are to be taken into captivity, God has the Almighty Power to Redeem them and bring them back to the land of promise.

• He is refers the fact that the Messiah will come to finally set God's people free.

• He refers to the Past to give them the Hope of even Greater Things in the Future.

Isaiah reminds them that God's Covenant would be extended to the Gentile nations:

• The Lord will call out a people for himself from among the Gentile Nations.

• Isaiah says that the Messiah will come in order to be: "A light to the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness"

This is the Glorious Hope for All the Nations

• The Lord God who has the power to create people in the flesh, has the

Almighty Power to Re-create them in the Spirit.

When Isaiah condemns Israel's sin, the Lord God asks them a fundamental QUESTION: "Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent

The Same Question comes down through the ages: Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Throughout Scripture, God's Almighty Power is revealed, primarily, in creation & re-creation

FIRSTLY: The Power of God is revealed in the Creation of the World:

SECONDLY: God's Power was demonstrated in the Re-creation of God's people

THIRDLY: The Message of the New Testament is that the only Way of Salvation is

• In the Old Testament, Salvation was dependent upon the Almighty Power of God.
• The people of Israel were Delivered from bondage through the Power of El-Shaddai.
• The Psalmist and the Prophets praised God for his Powerful Deliverance.

The Birth of Jesus demonstrates that the Way of Salvation in the N. T. is no different.

• Salvation is always accomplished through the Almighty Power of the Living God

Remember what the angel said to Mary before Jesus was born:

"He will be Great and will be called the Son of the Most High" (Luke 1:32)

In other words: He will be Almighty because he is th Son of the Almighty God!

He will sit on an Almighty Throne and will Reign with Almighty Power Forever!

His Kingdom will be an Almighty Kingdom, which will never end (v32-33).

Mary asks the question: How will these things be?

• In other words, Mary is asking: How is God ABLE to bring these things to pass?

Haven't we heard all this before?

• The Almighty God has the Power to give children to couples in their old age!
• He has Power to rejuvenate the barren womb of Elizabeth, just he did with Sarah!
• Yet again, we are reminded of the SAME QUESTION: Is anything too hard for the Lord?

What is Mary's ANSWER to this question: Is anything too hard for the Lord?

"My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour."

• Mary believed that Absolutely NOTHING is impossible with the Almighty God, El-Shaddai.
• She believed that God has the Power to do whatever he says he is going to do.
• How dare stupid men like the former Bishop of Durham say that the Virgin Birth is impossible?
• God gives this Eternal Son, born of a Virgin, the Power to "Save his People from their Sins!"
• God bestowed on him the Name Immanuel - Almighty God dwelling among us (Mtt 1:21 & 23).

Remember when John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus to ask if he was the Messiah.

What was Jesus reply?

"Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk,

those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is

preached to the poor" (Matthew 11:4-5).

• This is another way of saying that the Messiah demonstrates the Almighty Power of his Father!

John the Baptist called Jesus: "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29).

• He is the One who will accomplish Salvation for his people through his Almighty Power.

The Greatest demonstration of the Lord's Power was his Resurrection from the dead:

Remember what Jesus said: "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life -

only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have Authority (I have Power) to lay it down and authority to take it up again.

This command I received from my Father" (John 10:17-18).

• I have received the Power of Resurrection from my Father who is the Almighty God.

The Apostle Paul said to the Romans:

• Yet again the theme of Creation and Re-creation comes through this message:

• Resurrection speaks to us of creation, death and re-creation.
• The resurrection demonstrates the Power of Christ to forgive & save his people.

When Jesus Returns, How shall we see him manifested before us:

"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth

will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds, with Power & Great Glory

Throughout eternity, how shall God's people Praise their Saviour:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive Power & Wisdom & Strength (or Might)

& Honour & Glory & Praise" (Revelation 5:12).

The Gospel which must be preached is described as "The power of God unto salvation"

• Remember the Promise which accompanied the last command which Jesus gave to his disciples: "All Authority (All Power) in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

• All power given unto me - go therefore and preach the Gospel - that Gospel which is the

Power of God unto Salvation!

• The whole Gospel message has this one great theme - the Power of the Almighty God to Save his people from their Sins.

Thomas Watson comments on how God's Power is demonstrated in the conversion of souls:

"The same power draws a sinner to God that drew Christ out of the grave to heaven

(Eph 1:19)Greater power is put forth in conversion than in creation. When God made the

world, he met with no opposition; but when he converts a sinner, he meets with opposition.

Satan opposes him, and the heart opposes him. The world was the 'work of God's fingers'

(Ps 8:3), conversion is the 'work of God's arm' (Luke 1:51).

Finally: Today, God's people must ask themselves the SAME QUESTION that the

The Answer must surely be:

"Our God is able to save to the uttermost all who call upon him!" (Hebrews 7:25).

• The writer is assuring us that God is Able to Save us perfectly for all time & eternity.
• Our God possesses the Power to keep us from falling.
• He possesses the Power to Raise us on the last day.

If we want to understand the true meaning of the Omnipotent Power of the Almighty God, we must know that Power experimentally:

• We must say that "God is Able" knowing that he really is Able, because he is the Almighty God!
• The Greek word, translated in our English New Testament as "To be Able" is actually the verb form of the familiar Greek noun, dunamis - from which we get our English word dynamite.
• Therefore, when we read that "God is able to do something" it means that "he possesses the Power, or the Dynamite to accomplish it."

If we want to see revival in our own day, we must pray that God will reveal his Almighty Power in Saving people from sin.

• We must believe that our Almighty God possesses the Power to work the Miracle of Revival.
• We must believe that the God who Created Heaven & Earth has the Almighty Power to Re-create the spirits of millions of people