We know what we know about God because He revealed Himself to us. We find His revelation in His Word, the Bible. God reveals Himself to be the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and all life within the universe.
“Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.” Deuteronomy 4:39
God also reveals Himself as our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble. Even if the earth is removed, and mountains are carried into the middle of the sea, and waters roar and are troubled, and mountains shake with the swelling, we will not fear. Why? Because we know God is in complete control.
“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”
[These notes are from a message preached 40 years ago. The notes are in outline form.]
- God is Solitary
- God is Supreme
- God is Sovereign
His Solitarity
Before the beginning there was God. God existed alone from eternity. God was perfectly pleased to dwell within Himself … Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He was under no constraint, no obligation, no necessity to create. That He did create was simply for His pleasure and manifest glory.
Romans 11:34-35 – “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?”
Isaiah 40:15-18, 22-23 – “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? … It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.”
“Such a One is to be revered, worshipped, adored. He is solitary in His majesty, unique in His excellency, peerless in His perfections. He sustains all, but is Himself independent of all. He gives to all and is enriched by none.” A.W. Pink, The Solitariness of God
His Supremacy
Romans 1:20 – “ For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”
“The ‘god’ of this twentieth century no more resembles the Supreme Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The ‘god’ who is now talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday School, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible conferences, is the figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside of the pale of Christendom form ‘gods’ out of wood and stone, while the millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a ‘god’ out of their own carnal mind. In reality, they are but atheists, for there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God, and no God at all. a ‘god’ whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity, and so far from being a fit object of worship, merits naught but contempt.” A.W. Pink, The Attributes of God
1 Chronicles 29:11-12 – “Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.”
2 Chronicles 20:6 – “And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?”
Job 23:13 – “But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.”
Job 42:2 – “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.”
Psalm 115:3 – “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”
Proverbs 21:1 – “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”
Ephesians 1:11 – “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”
His Sovereignty
Daniel 4:35 – “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”
Isaiah 46:10-11 – “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”
Deuteronomy 4:39 – “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.”
Psalm 29:10 – “The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever.”
Psalm 47:2 – “For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.”
Psalm 83:18 – “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth.”
Psalm 93:1-5 – “The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.”
Psalm 135:6 – “Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.”
Matthew 6:13 – “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”
1 Timothy 1:17 – “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Revelations 19:11-16 – “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.”
“We affirm that He is under no rule or law outside of His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that He is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any.” A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God
[Thank you for reading these teaching notes from 40 years ago. My prayer is they will be a blessing to you and your ministry.]
