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-8-
The God Who Is
Some Applications
First, the psalmist declares, "The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved" (Psalm 99:1). People are to tremble before the Lord. The earth itself bows reverently before Him. The Lord "looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke" (Psalm 104:32). Adam Clarke wrote, "He who does not fear God does not know God." Men must "learn to fear (the Lord) all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and ...teach their children" (Deuteronomy 4:10b). "Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased" (Psalm 115:3). God is great.
Second, men worship a god they do not know. In the book of Acts, chapter 17, the apostle Paul "stood in the midst of Mars' Hill, and said, `Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom there-fore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
"`God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation'" (Acts 17:22-26).
God has made heaven and earth. He does not need men to build Him a temple for His house. He is not worshipped with men's hands. He requires no religious incantations to summon Him, nor rituals to hold His attention. Men do not know the God of the Bible. The psalmist exhorts, "Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Psalm 2:11); yet people today praise a god who is not to be feared. Neither guilt nor shame is an integral part of modern worship. Men do not know the God of the Bible. This is the reason they do not know how to worship Him.
Solomon wrote, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7). "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10). "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate" (Proverbs 8:13). "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6). The stinging indictment brought against mankind is this: "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:18).
Third, the day and the night belong to the Lord. They are His because He made them, yet men seize them to do with them as they will. What right does man have to sin in the day? It does not belong to him. The psalmist adds, "The night also is thine." Man has no right to sin in the night. Both day and night belong to their Creator, and are under His dominion. When does man have the right to sin? And, where can man go where he has the right to sin since Scripture tells us, "The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof"? (Psalm 24:1).
Fourth, man is not indispensable. In Matthew chapter 20, verse 15, the Lord asks, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" Does He not have that right since all that is in the heavens and in the earth is his? The Lord has the right. He can do as He will with the work of His own hands. God is the Lord because He made the world and all things in it. He is Lord of heaven and earth. Man, therefore, is not indispensable. God does not need you or me. He managed very well without us for thousands of years.
Man does not have a right to complain about the things God does. If we leave our home, and become involved in an automobile accident that leaves us a paraplegic, we have no right to be bitter against God. Neither do the blind nor the deaf have a right to argue with him. Fifth, since God is Lord of creation, and Lord of every man and nation, it is obvious that he is also Lord of his enemies, and that he is able to reach wicked men where he pleases, when he pleases, and how he pleases. The Lord is the "Hound of Heaven," and he neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4).
Sixth, there is only one God. In Isaiah chapter 44, the prophet writes, "Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; `I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God...Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any'" (verses. 6,8). Here is a classic use of hyperbole for the Lord makes an obvious exaggeration for the purpose of effect. If he knows of no other god, it is certain there is no other.
"Wherefore should the heathen say, `Where is now their God?' But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them" (Psalm 115:2-8). The heathen around the world have invented their own religions since the time of the deluge in the days of Noah. At that time in the history of the world, when the whole earth was covered by water, and only Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives survived, all men knew the truth of God, but not all of them chose to worship Him. The apostle Paul relates that "when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
"Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them" (Romans 1:21-32).
The religions of the heathen are false, yet they are profanations of true worship. The study of world religions and how their founders have altered certain Biblical accounts is an interesting study; and this brings us to our seventh point.
Seventh, since the gods of the heathen are no gods, so the worship of them is not the worship of the Lord. It is instead the worship of devils. In I Corinthians chapter 10, verse 20, the apostle Paul declares, "...the things the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils." People who worship false gods are not worshipping the Lord by another name. Note here, that it is fatal to the souls of men to argue that all religions are equal. It does matter what people believe. "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake" (Psalm 115:1).
"The Lord God omnipotent reigneth" (Revelation 19:6b).