Monday, November 13, 2023

Almighty


This morning we come again to our study of the Apostle’s Creed, as we seek to understand the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Let’s start recite the Creed together.

Last week we began to consider the first clause of the creed, “I believe in God the Father.” We saw that God is a personal, spiritual being who is intimately involved in his creation. Yet, that is not all that God is. The Creed goes on to state that he is “almighty.” This word has significance as a name and in its meaning. First, the word “Almighty” serves, in the OT, as an important name of God. In the Hebrew, his name is “El Shaddai.” In Exodus 6:3, God tells Moses that this name is the first name he gave to the patriarchs. In Genesis 17:1, when making his covenant with Abraham, he announces, “I am God Almighty.” This name says something important about God’s character. Not only is God personal and loving and gracious towards his creation, but he is also in complete control of all things that he has created. This control is what we call “sovereignty.” God is completely sovereign over this universe. In saying that, we mean that he has both the authority and the power to rule. Because he is the one true God and the creator of this world, he has the authority as king over all things. Understand, God is not asking for your allegiance. He is not begging for you to love him. God demands it. Because he is the sovereign of this universe, we owe him faith, allegiance, and obedience. God is sovereign in his power, too. It is not just that he has the authority but lacks any real ability to enforce his rule, like the king of England. No, he rules by his own might. To see these beautiful truths mingled together in one passage, consider Romans 11:33-36.

This wonderful statement of praise to God Almighty comes at the end of a long treatment of God’s sovereignty in Paul’s letter to the Romans. After considering the ways that God is weaving all of history together to save people and glorify his name, Paul can’t help but praise the sovereignty of God. There are four elements of God’s sovereignty that all Christians should affirm, and we find those four elements in this passage.

First, God is “omniscient”, which means that he is all knowing and all wise. In verse 33, Paul marvels, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” In confessing belief in God’s omniscience, there is something that we reject, and something we affirm. We reject the idea that God’s knowledge is contingent on human will or actions. There is a group of heretics known as the Open Theists, who teach that, in order for man to be totally free, it must mean that God cannot know all things, because God cannot know what man has not already decided. They would argue that God has a great deal of knowledge and wisdom – even enough to predict what men will do – but he doesn’t actually know what we will do before we decide. But Prov. 16:1 says, “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” Psalm 139:4 says, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”

We affirm that God has never learned anything, and we can’t teach him anything. Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” As a result, God does not need us to complete his knowledge of this world, but rather, we need him to have understanding.

Second, in saying that God is sovereign, we are confessing that God is “omnipotent”, which is to say that God is all-powerful. In verse 36, Paul uses a neat phrase that points to this and the next truth. He states, “from him and through him and to him are all things.” All things come from God, are sustained by God, and have their end in God. The power of God created this world and everything in it in six days. The power of God judged that same world with a flood. The power of God confused the languages of arrogant men. The power of God caused an old man and a barren woman to conceive a child of promise. The power of God parted the Red Sea, led his people by fire and cloud, defeated the armies of Canaan, and kept his people in peace. The power of God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and that same power calls people to faith even today.

Third, by confessing the sovereignty of God, we are confessing his “omnipresence.” This is to say that God is all-present. Again, verse 36 says that God is working “through all things.” Psalm 139:7-12 marvels that there is nowhere man can go to escape the presence of God – even Hell is not free of the presence of God. In affirming God’s omnipresence, we have to be clear. As I taught last Sunday, we reject pantheism, which is the belief that all of creation is made up of God, or that God is in everything. God is Holy, which means he is separate or distinct from his creation. We do not believe that everything is divine because everything is just a material reality of God. Rather, what we confess is that God is not limited by his creation. God is not defined by space and time. There is nowhere on this earth in which we can say, there is the place that contains God. There is no temple, no church, no idol that contains God. But, the converse is also true – God is present everywhere. God is with us everywhere we go, in a temple, in this church, when we go into pagan lands, when we lay down to sleep or when we rise up.

Finally, in confessing God’s sovereignty we are confessing that God is the End of all things. As Paul states it in verse 36, “To him be glory forever.” All things are made for God and find their purpose in him. He is the ruler of all the world, and he has made us for his glory. Because of that, you will never find fulfillment and purpose apart from God. You can chase after substances, relationships or knowledge. You can worship crystals, pagan deities, or some impersonal force. None of those things will satisfy. Only the God who made you for his glory will be enough. Also, because God has made us for his glory, to fail to give him that glory is the root of all sin. To live for yourself, to seek your own glory, to live in pride, is to rebel against the Almighty God of this world.

So friend, if you would live with purpose and meaning, then you must turn to the one true God. If you are to escape the judgment of this all-powerful king, you must repent and trust in him. This all-powerful king is also the gracious Father who gave his son as the sacrifice for your rebellion. Today, won’t you turn to him? Brothers and sisters, our calling is to live for the glory of God. We do that in the power of his Spirit. And, we do so knowing that he is with us wherever we go, and he gives us the wisdom to speak the truth in this world.

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