God Is All Powerful

[0:00] Well, we are continuing our series on God's attributes, and this morning we come to his omnipotence, that God is all-powerful. And I'm really glad to be here and glad to be opening God's Word and considering these things, these incredible things. What are we doing here? Is this just a little club that we've got going on, or is God real? And so as we explore this, I really hope that we have this awesome sense, a sense of awe today. What a wonderful thing it would be for us just to have a little sense of awe about this real, very real, very present God. I really put to you that if it were not so, we would not be breathing this very instant. We wouldn't exist. However, let's explore this together. And I'm going to explore

[1:01] God's omnipotence, really just in three considerations. One, God's power in respect to his creation. Secondly, God's power in respect to his creatures. And thirdly, God's power in Christ. So those three considerations that we'll be looking at today, and we'll be dotting about all over the Scriptures.

[1:25] So if you have a Bible, have it open. And if you want to know some of the verses later on, if you can't keep up, we can chat about that. We're only going to spend a short bit of time. If there are questions left hanging, come and speak to me. There's more to be said on all of these things. Let me pray. God, if you are real, and indeed you are, then would you make yourself known to us? Would you make yourself real to us? Would you help us in our hearts to see around us the things that are evidence of your power? And would you help us to understand what it is you would have us understand about your power? That we might know you and have life in the name of Christ, your Son.

[2:17] Please speak to us now, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as we consider God's attributes, we consider his omnipotence, God is all-powerful.

[2:30] What do you think when you hear that God is all-powerful? What comes to mind? See, this past few weeks, people across this very little planet of ours have been competing to be the best in the world in the Olympic Games, haven't they? Sometimes the difference between the best is a matter of milliseconds. And so, if you've been keeping up with it in the men's 100-meter sprint, is it no allows? USA took the gold medal by just one, just by five one-thousandths of a second.

[3:14] That was the difference. Five one-thousandths of a second. And interestingly, the guy who came in second, Thompson from Jamaica, he's actually the fastest runner in the world this year. His national time was faster than his Olympic time. He was having an off day by a few thousand milliseconds.

[3:36] It's incredible that the gap between the best is sometimes so minuscule that if it were not for photo-finished technology, we would just think they were equal.

[3:46] Even a hundredth of a second is not enough to separate them. It's incredible. The gap between the best and the rest. Now, when we think about God, are we tempted to think that the gap is just a little bit bigger? The gap between him and the next most powerful being is vastly wider, but it's still just a gap. El Shaddai, God Almighty. How do we imagine that in our minds? Because if we think of gaps and degrees, then we're already thinking in the wrong way. You see, God isn't just vastly more powerful. Those categories belong to us, but not to God. He's in a completely different category of being than anything else in creation. You see, we are not the source of our own power.

[4:44] Psalm 62, one of the Psalms we'll be looking at. Psalm 62 says, Once God has spoken, twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God.

[4:58] Power belongs to God. See, when we think about the origin of things, every single thing in the entire universe that has any kind of power derives its power from God. As we explored with the aseity of God, everything in God is from himself. Nothing in God is from outside of God, but everything outside of God, everything else, me, you, everything in all of creation, depends on something else for its power and existence. Power, therefore, originates with God. And so we know this, scientists, whatever their belief, knows that all this energy in the universe comes from somewhere.

[5:43] The Bible says that that somewhere is God. But we aren't just essentially putting God in the gap, God of the gaps, because we haven't yet identified the origin of this power. No, actually, the evidence points points to God. You see, we've said this before. Existence doesn't come from non-existence.

[6:07] Order does not come from chaos. Life does not come from non-life. The personal does not come from the non-personal. Reason does not come from non-reason. And morality does not come from matter.

[6:23] And so, when it comes to power, the source is not some impersonal, unintelligent, amoral, non-living force. Where does all this energy and power come from? It's not a non-living force. It is a living being. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, God's invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. And so, though we cannot see God, he is invisible by nature. The things that we can see that he made has his signature all over them. We know that all energy that is produced comes from somewhere. The things that we can observe scream to us that this original power is not random. It's not impersonal. It's not unordered. It's not amoral. It's not unintelligent.

[7:27] And it's not non-living. Everything that we can observe about this energy and power and creation screams to us these facts. The original power is not impersonal, unordered, random, amoral, unintelligent, unintelligent, or non-living. It says in Psalm 19 that creation declares the glory of God.

[7:49] It declares the glory of a personal, purposeful, powerful, living God. A God who made the stars by the breath of his mouth. This is a powerful God. A real God. Now consider this, right? Consider the power.

[8:08] Whatever the original power is, it has to be something incredible when we look at the things we can see. So take, for instance, our local star, the sun. Now the UK, us as a nation, we use, in terms of energy, around two and a quarter quadrillion watts every year. Right? That's 12 zeros, quadrillion watts. Two and a quarter quadrillion watts to power the UK every year. But the sun, the sun produces 385 septillion watts in one second. One second. If we were to harness, you can see why solar power is a thing. If we were to harness the complete power of the sun in just one second. One second worth of the sun's power, harnessed completely, it would power the UK for 171 billion years. I mean, the sun is so powerful, yet it's not even the biggest star. Who made the sun and all the stars? Is he not more powerful than that? Our local star is nothing to God. He broke no sweat in making such cosmic giants. You see, there's no corner of all of creation that he does not have power over. There's no galaxy as massive as they are, or human cell as tiny that he is not sovereign over. So when we think about God and his omnipotence, we should not think of God like we do a superhero, or like the Greek gods. He's not just a greater or more powerful superversion of us. There is literally no one like God. No one. There is no contender to Yahweh. There is nothing remotely close to being equal in power. Nothing in all of existence can ever compare to God. We see this in stories that there's this vying between good and evil, but that's not actually how it is. You see, there's no match between good and evil. There's no match between God and everything else. Nothing contends against him.

[10:21] God is on a different scale, in a different category. Nothing can contend with him. You see, Job's 26 verse 14 says of all these incredible, powerful things in our universe, Job says, behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. And how small a whisper do we hear of God?

[10:47] The thunder of his power. Who can understand? The most magnificent and terrifyingly awesome degree of power in the universe is barely a whisper of who God is. Have you ever stood out in a mega storm or been on the sea at the mercy of the waves? These things that are super powerful. A few weeks ago there was thunder and lightning. Thunder like I've never heard it before in my life.

[11:19] It's just a whisper of God. Stephen Charnock, I've mentioned him many times before, the Puritan. He says, though there be a mighty expression of divine power in his works, yet an incomprehensible power pertains to his nature. You see, we look at his works and we get the sense of an incredible power, but it's nothing. It's nothing compared to what pertains to his nature. God does not merely have more power as though there is a larger gap between us and the stars and him. God is very different from us. He is all powerful. He is complete in power. Power belongs to him and originates in his infinite nature. You see, the degree or extent of his power is unfathomable, unmeasurable, infinite, and total.

[12:18] And so the first takeaway for this first point is to hear what Luther wrote to Erasmus when he said to Erasmus, you know what your problem is? Your thoughts of God are too human.

[12:35] Isn't that true of all of us? We think too human of God. Psalm 50, God himself says, you thought that I was one like yourself. How wrong. We mustn't think too human of God, but we must realize that he is completely other to us. His powerful nature we cannot fathom, and therefore nothing. Nothing is too hard for God. Second point is God's power in relation to his creatures. We are not as powerful as we think we are. Even the world's most powerful people, can you name them? So Tom Stoteman, the world's strongest man, or name some of the, think of some of the most powerful political people in the world. Do they still need to sleep? Yes. Do they still need to eat? Yes. Could they contend against the heat of the desert? No. The waves of the ocean? No. We are not as powerful as we think. Time and nature will find it no harder to destroy us than a blade of grass.

[13:42] Isaiah and Peter say, all flesh is like grass. It flourishes, then it withers, and it fades. How true is that? We'll be forgotten in a hundred years. Sin has not had any difficulty in sending humanity to the grave. And so when it comes to other people, should we really fear people like we do?

[14:05] Should we fear what mere mortals can do? Or should we follow people like we do, as though they can control anything about our destiny? Do we have power to control our destiny? We can barely control what happens in a day. We're not sovereign over our circumstances. And so the omnipotence of God, it's not just about how much power he has, but it's that God is able to do anything and everything he pleases. That's what the omnipotence of God means. It means that he can do anything that he pleases.

[14:40] Whatever he wants, he does. And so Psalm 115 says, why should the nations say, where is their God? Their God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases. God said in Jeremiah 32, behold, I am Yahweh. The God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? No. And so you've maybe heard this. Some people would say that there are things that God cannot do. Can God create a rock which is too heavy for him to lift? But you see, these things are contradictory. Because if God were able to create a rock which was too heavy for him to lift, he wouldn't be all powerful. And so it's contradictory to its nature. It's like saying, making a round triangle. Those things contradict the very nature of those things. There actually are things that God cannot do. But it does not impeach his omnipotence.

[15:47] So let me list a few things that God cannot do. God cannot make a rock that is too heavy for him to lift. God cannot lie. God cannot sin. God cannot die.

[16:04] But these things are no infringement on his almightiness. They are rather a strengthening of it. And so let me quote Stephen Charnock again, who says, the impossibility for God to die is not a fit article to impeach his omnipotence. This would be a strange way of arguing. This is the argument that he's saying people make. And just notice how strange an argument this is, okay? This is the argument, that a thing is not powerful because it is not feeble. How strange is that? That you would accuse God of not being powerful because he is not feeble. If only he were feeble, then I would accept that he's powerful. What a strange kind of argument that is. You see, omnipotence is not just about having all power to do all things, but rather having the absolute ability to bring to pass whatever you please.

[17:01] He does all that he pleases, Psalm 115. So various people have knocked down that argument. Charnock, Augustine, and others say that God is all-powerful in doing what he wills, not in suffering what he wills not.

[17:18] Follow that? He's all-powerful in doing what he will, not in suffering what he will not. Just because he does not will something to be doesn't mean he's not all-powerful.

[17:29] So what about the things that God allows? I don't know if it's a question in your heart. If God is all-powerful, why does he allow such things to happen? Firstly, before answering that question, we must realize that we should also consider the things that God does not allow. I imagine there are a good many things that we avoid in life that we are completely unaware of, yet God has prevented and protected us from many dangers. Have you ever heard someone saying, there's someone upstairs looking out for me? Think about it. There are probably an innumerable amount of things that God does not allow.

[18:14] We just don't consider them. One such thing I want to consider right now that God has not allowed is the fact that we have not yet perished. We are sitting here breathing this morning, we have been granted the goodness of being here, being alive, to hold again those who are precious to us, to tell someone that you love them, to forgive someone, to encourage someone, to feel your way toward God and find life in his Son. Think about the goodness that's been granted to us by the very fact that God has not allowed us to perish today. So, take advantage of that.

[19:01] As to what God does allow, there are indeed things that are painful and things that are evil. Why would a good God, and especially an all-powerful God, allow such things to happen?

[19:12] We must say that if he's all-powerful, he certainly could stop them. But what if these things don't actually prevent God's good purposes from coming to pass? What if God's power is such that he's able to allow his enemy to do their worst, and all the while he frustrates his enemy's efforts in such a way that it doesn't work out as evil intended? But in the end, it brings about the very good purpose that God has intended. See, God doesn't need to crush something immediately in order for him to have victory over it. This unusual power of God is the very reason that we can call the day that Jesus was crucified Good Friday. God turned the greatest act of evil, humanity rejecting, judging, and condemning the Son of God. God turned that into the greatest good for the very people who should have been destroyed.

[20:16] That's his power over evil. Justice means that we should all perish, but thank God that he is also merciful and loving. God being omnipotent means that he does all that he pleases, and thank God that it pleases him to interrupt evil for our good. Because if God were to rid the world of evil immediately today, think of how many of us would perish. He would have to rid the world of every single human being.

[20:50] So thirdly, well, the point being, let us not fear those who can only harm our mortal bodies, but trust in God who can save our souls. And let us not trust mortals who can neither help our bodies or our souls, but trust in the one who has shown evil, that evil, sin, and death are no match for him.

[21:13] And so let us consider thirdly God's power in Christ. And this will be short. 1 John 3 says, the reason that the Son of God appeared, the reason why Jesus came, was to destroy the works of the devil.

[21:29] See how God interrupts this cycle? Where would you be today if God did not interrupt this in your life? Think about, think about the cycle of evil that somewhere along the line God interrupted.

[21:46] Can you think to an interruption in your life where there's a pattern where you and I could be somewhere very different this morning? I know for me it was when I was 20 years old and round about May of 2005. I could have been on a very different place this morning.

[22:04] God interrupted a path that was trying to destroy me for good. Perhaps it's right now. Perhaps God is interrupting something in you right now. God does whatever he pleases and it says, good pleasure to interrupt darkness with light, to interrupt hatred with love, and to interrupt guilt with his grace, and to interrupt death with life.

[22:34] That's what God does. His power is not just a power that would crush everything, but his power is such that he would interrupt darkness with light, hatred with love, guilt with grace, and death with life.

[22:47] Job 26, 12 says, by his power that he's still to see. Talking about Yahweh. And so when you see Jesus doing the very same thing, we should know who he is, and that he is all-powerful. When Jesus said to the sea, peace, be still.

[23:05] Think of all the other things in our life that Jesus says, peace, be still. Interrupting evil for his good purposes. See how the cross, in the cross, he removed the power of sin and death over humanity.

[23:21] And this is what Athanasius says. The proof of this, as that instead of fearing death, the followers of Jesus, by the sign of the cross, and faith in Christ, trample on death, as though it's something dead.

[23:37] It's no longer feared, and it's no longer terrible, that people who believe in Jesus would rather die, than deny faith in Christ. For in Christ, to die is gain.

[23:52] Death has become, as Athanasius says, like a conquered tyrant, who is bound hand and foot, robbed of all his strength, and those who, in Christ, walk past this conquered tyrant, deriding him, saying, Oh, death, where is your victory now?

[24:11] Oh, grave, where is your sting? Sin and death have been made impotent, by the omnipotence of Christ. So Athanasius goes on, saying, that we know that a dead person can do nothing.

[24:26] Is that not a plain fact? A dead person can do nothing. Yet Jesus works mightily every single day, drawing men to himself, persuading them to virtue, quickening their thirst for heavenly things, revealing the Father to them, empowering his people in the face of death, displacing their idols, and manifesting himself.

[24:48] For who else turns savages to sanity, and barbarians to peace? Who turns those who hate each other to love and unity? And who turns the murderer to drop his sword, and the immoral to purity?

[25:02] Who has turned those who used to ridicule the crucified Christ, to now worship and confess him as their God, and hope of eternal life? He did that in my life.

[25:13] Did he do it in yours? I used to curse Christ. Who is it that turns men away from these things to him? So why? Why does God allow things?

[25:24] His power can overthrow all things. Why did God allow his creation in the first place to fall? It's not because he couldn't stop it, but through it, he would show his amazing grace, his unending love, and his glorious power to transform both the world and us into something that we cannot yet imagine.

[25:47] And so finally, let me ask you this question then. If you are trusting in Christ and struggling with these things, does your faith feel weak?

[25:59] I know at times my faith feels weak. Does your faith feel weak? Because Paul says that God uses power differently. He uses the things that are weak to confound the strong, so that no one can boast in their strength.

[26:17] No one is able to save themselves, but the glory belongs to God alone. And although at times your faith may feel weak, consider this amazing thing.

[26:29] Right? Your faith is the very power, the very power of God to embarrass the darkness. Your weak faith, holding on by a thread, embarrasses the darkness, embarrasses these great powers of Satan, sin, and hell.

[26:49] It embarrasses it, embarrasses the powers of darkness and declares the amazing grace of God. And so Peter says that he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that cannot be touched, imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, being kept in heaven for you.

[27:12] And listen to this, he's not only protecting your inheritance for you, he's protecting you for your inheritance. Because Peter goes on to say, and you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

[27:31] So as weak as it may seem, your faith is embarrassing the darkness and crying out the glory of an all-powerful God who is saving us and transforming us.

[27:45] Hallelujah. God's power gives us tremendous assurance in Christ and gives us confidence in our faith in Christ. Hold on. He is all-powerful.

[27:57] Let us sing together. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.