God"s Overwhelming Power

Let me ask you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 139.

Psalm 139. In our previous studies in the psalm, we've celebrated two basic truths about God, which are very clearly presented in this wonderful psalm. We've thought of God's wonderful knowledge, and we've thought of his inescapable presence. He's a God who is omniscient, he knows everything, and he's also a God who is omnipresent. We understood that God is so big that he is everywhere at every moment of time. You can never get away from God. And today, then, we reflect on God's overwhelming power, that God is all-powerful.

He is El Shadda. He is the almighty God. God is so powerful, he is able to do all things. He is omnipotent. God is infinite. And when we think of his power, he is infinite in his power.

God can do anything he chooses to do, which is not inconsistent with his nature and his attributes. So in our study of Psalm 139, we come this evening to verse 13, and we're looking at verses 13 through 18. Now, this is a psalm, it's poetry. David is a warrior, that's true, but he's also a poet, he's a musician, and writing under the inspiration of the Spirit, he writes in this brilliant and very memorable way. Our children already reminded us of the truths of this psalm, so let's give heed to the Word of God this evening as we consider the overwhelming power of God.

Psalm 139, then, verse 13. For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I'm still with you. Beautiful poetry, wonderfully phrased and powerfully moving as we think this evening and focus on God's overwhelming power. First of all, I don't want to think of this in three ways. First of all, we think of God's overwhelming power is displayed in creation. God's power is created, is seen in creation. God is so powerful that he creates everything out of nothing.

We say that as ex nihilo. Nothing cannot produce something, but God is so powerful that he, in an instant, instantaneously creates everything out of nothing. That's power. The Apostle Paul understood this and writes in Romans 1 verse 20, for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world. That is, as you look at the world today, tonight as we're driving here, as the sun was beginning to set, we see something of the power of God. You look at the stars. You look at the ocean. You look at a little baby.

You look at a flower. All around you is a demonstration of the power of God. God's power is clearly seen in creation. And when God created the universe, he didn't need any assistance.

He didn't need any tools. An artist needs paints and brushes. A musician needs a piano. A sculptor needs clay.

A singer needs a voice. But God is so overwhelmingly powerful that the whole universe is created instantaneously. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And so the Bible begins in that powerful way, that moving way, by reminding us that there is a God and this God is so powerful that he created the heavens and the earth. And then Genesis 1, verse 3, and God said, let there be light and there was light.

That's power, isn't it? The Psalmist says, he speaks and it's done. Psalm 33, verse 9, he speaks and it's done.

He commands and it stands fast. When we read the Gospels, we think of the wonderful scene, the storm on the Sea of Galilee, when the disciples, some of them hardened fishermen, are afraid to think they're going to drown. Our Lord is asleep and they wake him and say, do you not care that we're perishing? And the majestic Christ, God the Son, stands supreme and he does what only God can do. He speaks to the elements. He speaks to the wind and the sea and says, peace be still. And with that spoken word, the sea immediately is calm.

The winds immediately stop. That's power. That's the power of God controlling the whole world.

Psalm 50, verse 1, the mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. What majestic power is God's? Creates a whole universe. That's power.

And also his design is so beautiful that we're told that no individual snowflakes are the same. Immense power in creation. But David in Psalm 139 is not so much concerned about God's power in creation. Generally, he focuses on God's power displayed in his individual creation of us. Do you believe that?

Do you believe that you were personally created by God? Look at verse 13. David uses two metaphors.

He uses the metaphor of the potter and he uses the metaphor of the weaver or the knitter. Verse 13, for you formed my inward parts. God is like the potter getting clay and molding it and shaping it according to his purposes.

You formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. God is the master potter shaping us and molding us. God is the master weaver knitting us together in our mother's womb.

Isn't that wonderful? Taking painstaking care, as it were, with our fabric, with our skin, with our muscles, with our blood vessels, our nerves, all of that in the intricacies of the human body, knitting and molding it together skillfully. That expression we have in verse 15, he says, we were intricately woven in the depths of the earth. That expression, intricately woven, is used by Moses in Exodus of the man and the woman who were skillfully weaving together the beautiful fabrics of the tabernacle.

They were knitting together the wonderful, beautiful uniform, as it were, of the high priest. His garments, his special garments, garments we read for glory and for beauty. That's the metaphor that David is using.

The potter molding, the knitter knitting us together. And as we read verses 15 and 16, it's clear that David is referring to being in the mother's womb. He says, verse 15, my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Isn't that interesting? He refers, your eyes saw my unformed substance, clearly a reference to the embryo in the mother's womb. Now through technology, we have a window into the mother's womb with the ultrasound. David didn't have that, but he knew God and he knew that God was at work. And even before he was born, God was at work. This unformed substance, this embryo in the mother's womb being shaped and made by God, intricately woven in the depths of the earth, he says, verse 15, in secret. Mysterious, isn't it?

It's still mysterious, isn't it? The creation of a child in the mother's womb. But David is reminding us what develops in the mother's womb is not of human design. It's not of human plan.

No, this all powerful God with his overwhelming power is creating us in secret from the very moment of our conception. That's why we believe at Calvary very strongly in the sanctity of life. We believe that the unborn is to be protected, that those with special needs, with the elderly, those coming towards the end of their life, that these are human beings made in the image of God.

And we particularly care for the unborn child. That's a new biography of Nero, if any of you are interested in the Roman emperors as I am. And it's written by Anthony Everett. And I recently read it. And he writes on the Christian book by the terrible Emperor Nero.

And he's talking about AD, about AD 37. He says, it was a dangerous time in the life of an infant. Now, this is ancient Rome. It was not during his birth, but in the days following it, the child would be reared only if the father acknowledged it. But should it be deformed or unwanted for some reason, he would take the child exposed in a public place. If it was not found and taken away by a childless couple or the organizers of a prostitution racket, it would die and be eaten by wild dogs or animals.

I've heard that before in ancient Rome. A child is born. They don't want the child for some reason.

What do they do? They take it to an exposed place and just leave the child to die or to be eaten by animals. They say that was barbaric. I'm not sure if we're any better today.

Yes, we have more sophisticated ways to get rid of unwanted children, but the result is the same as the Romans did 2,000 years ago. We believe very strongly in the sanctity of life. Why is that? Look at verse 14 as the children were singing. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. I praise you. David is bursting into a song of praise even as we're doing today.

Why? I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm made in such a way that it produces fear. I'm a wonderful creation of God. We are creations of wonder. Think of our diversity.

We look differently. I checked some information on the heart, this unbelievable rugged organ that we have, and I was surprised to learn that the average heart only weighs about 10 ounces. It's not very heavy, is it? But it handles 2,000 gallons of blood a day. I don't like to think about that, but it does. I like to think of this one. It beats approximately 100,000 times a day.

Just think of it. Some of us have lived a long time, and for every day of our life, there's that heartbeat. Created by God, sustained by God. God giving us life one heartbeat at a time. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

We can truly say that is awesome. It is a burst of praise. God's overwhelming power is displayed in creation. But I also want to say, secondly, that God's overwhelming power is displayed in our salvation. We are saved by the power of God. Isn't that Romans 1, verse 16? I'm not ashamed of the gospel of God.

Why, Paul? For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. That is, the power of God is displayed in the gospel. Although God's power is seen in creation, his greatest power is seen in salvation, because it is in the gospel that we see the power of God in taking the guiltiest of sinners and, as we learned this morning, making of saints. That's power, isn't it?

What a miserable group we are. But God takes us in our sin, in our waywardness, in our rebellion, in our selfishness, and he makes us saints. That he forgives all of our sins, clothes us with the righteousness of Christ, so that, as Jude says, that we may be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

Think of that power. Think of that power, that we who are sinful, that God saves us, clothes us with his righteousness, so that in the wonderful day of our glorification, we can stand in the presence of a holy God with exceeding power and joy. We sometimes think, don't we, that it's impossible for some people to be saved? Remember the disciples, when they talked about the rich, said, oh, it's impossible for the rich man to be saved. Jesus says, no, remember that with God, all things are possible. With man, it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God. The richest of people, as well as the poorest.

The worst criminal, as well as the most outstanding citizen. All may be saved. All may have their sins forgiven by the overwhelming power of God displayed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I ask you, have you experienced that power? Do you want to think about the power of God in your life, in salvation, that God makes us new creations in Christ?

This morning, we saw three people being baptized. Evidence to us of the power of God, and taking ordinary people like us, saving us, and now making us new creations, that's what Paul is saying, new creations in Christ. We're saved by the power of God, but we saw the other Sunday morning, as we looked at 1 Peter, we are kept by the power of God. Listen again to 1 Peter 1, verse 3.

I hope this sounds familiar to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He's caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, listen to this, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Not only are we saved by the power of God, we are kept by the power of God. The inheritance that we have is kept for us, that we are guarded by the power of God, that we have this inheritance in heaven with our name on it, reserved in heaven for us. God not only saves us, He begins a salvation, He completes it. He who began a good work in you, says Paul, will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Doesn't that give you great security to go through life?

That not only have I been saved by the power of God, I'm being kept by the power of God. So I was preaching this morning. It suddenly dawned on me that there are many people probably out there thinking, well, if we're required to live a holy life, I could never live like that. I simply could not keep it up.

I'm not that kind of person to live that kind of life. But here is the gospel. Not only are we saved by the power of God, but we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who gives us the supernatural power to live a life pleasing to God. And God's power is the most powerful security system in the world. Not one, not one of the good shepherd's sheep will ever be lost.

Yes, life to ourselves, we could never keep up the Christian life, we would fall away, we would give up, we'd be discouraged, we realize our own sinfulness, but we are guarded by the overwhelming power of God. I spoke this week to one of her oldest members. She's 99.

She's getting frail, at the moment confined to bed. But yet, for all of these years, and all of her life since coming to Christ, she's been kept by the power of God. And that soon, in the providence of God, when God calls her home, there is no question that the power of God that saves her is the power of God that keeps her. Furthermore, we will be raised by the power of God. Turn with me in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 6, verse 14. I was talking this morning about holiness, and that is Paul's emphasis here in 1 Corinthians 6, and he's telling us, verse 13, that the body, that's our physical body, which for the Christian is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And then verse 14, he says this, and God raised the Lord, Jesus Christ, resurrection, and will also raise us up by His power.

And because of that, therefore, don't use your body for immorality is his argument. But I want to focus on verse 14, that God raised the Lord. Jesus Christ was bodily raised from the dead by the power of God, and that same power will raise us up. That is, God has not only raised His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, He will also raise us up from the dead through His power. So when the Christian dies, the soul spirit goes immediately into the presence of the Lord, but we take great care of the body. That body is given to us by God. That body is going to be raised from the dead. So with great care, with great tenderness, we lay to rest the physical body of our loved one. And that body is presently awaiting the resurrection, and that resurrection will take place with great power.

Imagine that. Think of the power of God. The day comes when He returns for His church, and Paul says, the dead in Christ will be raised first. Yes, the resurrection is important.

It's indelibly linked to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because He lives, we shall also live. Also, think of the power of God in raising millions and millions who have died in Christ Jesus. That's overwhelming power. God is so powerful He's going to create a new heaven and a new earth. So first, God's power is seen in creation. Secondly, God's power is seen in salvation. And then back to Psalm 139, God's overwhelming power is displayed in providence. Look again at verses 16 through 18.

Try and follow David's argument, his poetry. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

If I would count them, they are more than sand. I awake, and I'm still with you. Do you understand this? That God foreordains the course of our lives. How long we live, and He foreordains all of the events of our lives. This is what we call the providence of God. By providence, we mean that the world and our lives are not ruled by chance or fate, but by God.

Providence is God's gracious outworking of His purposes. So as Christians, we don't believe in luck. We don't believe in superstition. We don't read our horoscopes.

We don't believe in coincidences. We believe in the providence of God. Isn't this what David is saying? From the moment of our conception, God has intimate knowledge and care of us. That God has plans and purposes for our lives. He has this book, verse 16, containing His eternal purposes for His people. Purposes designed and planned long before we did or say anything.

Long before we were born. Doesn't Paul say that after telling us in Ephesians 2 that we're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? He tells us that God has prepared beforehand good works. That we should walk in them. That we are God's workmanship.

God's masterpiece, as it were. And that God has plans and purposes. And He prepared them beforehand. That we should walk in them.

I find that very reassuring. That I'm under the providence and care of God, my Heavenly Father. God has a plan for your life. And David is saying here in verse 17, that God's plans for us are vast. Planned before we were born. Verse 16, the days that were formed for me.

When as yet, there was none of them. And as we live our lives, God providentially sometimes allows problems, difficulties, challenges, problems that come into our lives. So that we will know in a deeper way His supernatural grace and power. When Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 is talking about the thorn in the flesh, remember he keeps praying for that thorn to be removed as we do when we have such things in our lives. But then he receives this word from God.

What is it? Well first, my grace is sufficient for you. That God's grace is always sufficient each day. Tomorrow, whatever you face, God's grace will be sufficient. And then he says, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

That's strange, isn't it? For power to be made perfect in weakness? But we discover and Paul discovers that when I'm weak, then I'm strong. That God's power is displayed, not through human power, not through in our brilliance and achievements. That's the story of the Bible, isn't it? That God takes ordinary people to do extraordinary things. So that God gets all of the glory. So here is David, one little stone and his shoes giant. He hurls that stone and that stone hits the giant right in the forehead and he's killed. God's power is being displayed in weakness.

And you know that, don't you? Many of you have been there in your weakness, in your devastation. When you wondered if you'd get through the day or the anxiety of facing a day ahead of you, and as you come to God and say, I need your grace, I need your power, and that God's grace is always sufficient. And when we are weak, then we find we are strong. So what seems to be the worst thing that ever happens to us is used in the providence of God for His glory. Just take a moment and think back over your life.

Each of us have a story here, don't we? You didn't decide where you would be born. I mean, I would have chosen Scotland, but there you are. But you don't decide. You didn't choose your parents. You didn't choose your nationality. You didn't choose your size. You didn't choose the color of your hair or how many hairs you have.

I certainly didn't. But we look back and we realize that God has been at work in our life over these years, in the ups and the downs, in the mountain tops and in the valleys. And we realize that God in His providence brings people and events into our lives, shaping us and bringing us to this point of time. When my brother from Scotland visited just a couple of weeks ago, he's 10 years younger than I am, and he was with his wife and spent just over a couple of weeks with us, we were thinking back to our childhood.

I have different memories than he has because I'm 10 years older. We're thinking of our parents and our grandparents and events that happened in our lives, seemingly by chance. But as we look back older and wiser, we realize that God was there.

And that a seeming random event, a seeming random conversation, a seeming random meeting with someone has tremendous impact and can change the whole direction of our lives. Isn't it good to know that God is in control? Isn't it good to know that God's power is displayed in providence? And with David, surely we praise God and say with verse 17, how precious to me are your thoughts, O God. How vast is the sum of them. I can say that of my God. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God. How vast is the sum of them.

If I could count them, they're more than sand. That God showers us with His grace. And as we look back over our life, we say with David, how precious to me are your thoughts. Here is the overwhelming power of God saving us, keeping us, and guiding us. Don't fight God. Don't resist God. Don't be bitter against God when difficulties come into your life.

Accept Him from the good hand of God. The Lord gives. The Lord takes. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

That God is working out His purposes in our lives, in the life of Calvary Church collectively, in ways often we have no idea. And we plan, and rightly so, if we're right with God, we pray, Lord willing, here are our plans. This is what we intend to do, Lord. Guide us. Help us.

But we know that we are not in charge of the future. That my goal each day, as your goal is, to live today for God's glory. Whether it's an easy day or whether it's a difficult day, we know this, and you know this, that God's grace will be sufficient. And at your weakest, when you're unable to put one foot in front of the other, when you're overwhelmed perhaps with anxiety, remember this, that when you're weak, He is strong. God's power is overwhelming. He can do all things. Jeremiah says, Jeremiah 32, behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm.

Is anything too difficult for me? I ask you this question. Can anyone here think of anything that's too difficult for the Lord? God can do all things.

Nothing is impossible with God. Don't say this marriage is over. Don't say that nothing can be done. Don't say the situation is absolutely hopeless. Don't say that things can never get better.

Don't. Understand that God is able. Understand that His purposes are often unknown to us.

Do you think that the God who made the heavens and the earth, the God who speaks and it's done, can't change someone's thinking, someone's attitude, someone's habits as you cry out to Him? He can do all things. He is the omnipotent God. His power is overwhelming. He's the God who created the heavens and the earth, the God who speaks and it's done, who commands and it stands fast.

He's the God of overwhelming power. That's why we who follow Jesus Christ are people of hope. We're not the people of despair.

We're not Pollyannas. We face reality. We face difficulty. We face trials. We face death. We understand this, but we know that this God who in His great love for us was superintending us when we're still in our mother's womb.

I love to think about that, don't you? That God was at work and this God watched over us when we're little babies. And that first day at school was when we began to grow, as we go into our teenage years, as we marry and as we do life together, God is in control and that God has His purposes, all of which we do not understand, but I do know this, that I am to trust this God of overwhelming power. That gives us hope.

That makes us smile. This increases our trust in this great God that nothing can stand in the way of the purposes of God. God is in heaven and He does whatever He pleases. So the psalmist says in Psalm 121, my help comes from the Lord. And then he says, who made heaven and earth.

That's it, isn't it? If you made heaven and earth, you don't think you can take your problem, that worry you have right now? I mean, is your trust in this God, the God of overwhelming power, the God who made you in your mother's womb, the God who saved your soul, the God who forgave all of your sins?

Can you not deal with that situation as bothering you right this moment? Of course He has. So Paul says in that wonderful doxology in Ephesians 3, now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. This great God is so powerful, His power is so overwhelming that He can do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.

And so we say thank you God for a great God we have, a God of love, a God of care, a God of overwhelming power. Will you bow and commit that situation to Him this evening, that problem that you have, that nagging worry, that situation? And will you thank Him for His care over your life? Will you give Him thanks that He saved your soul? And think how He's blessed you in so many ways. And think of your future and inheritance reserved in heaven for you who are kept guarded by the power of God.

We don't thank Him for that. And glorify Him and use that as an opportunity to praise Him and to live for Him with joy as we thank Him for His overwhelming power. Eternal God, Almighty God, the all-powerful One, we come to You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and it's all of Your grace that we can even approach You because You're so great, You're so holy. But we thank You that You have come to us because we were never able to come to You and that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, He who was rich became poor that we through His poverty might be made rich. We return You thanks and we say as the children sang and as David said, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We give You thanks for that and help us not to fret, help us to be thankful to look back and see Your providence in our life and to live lives of hope, to live lives where we're consciously drawing on Your grace which we need each day, on Your power in our weakest moment, Your power is displayed with a great God. And so we thank You and we thank You for Your care on us at Calvary Church. Pour Your mercy and grace continually on us, we ask in Christ's name. Amen.