Understanding God's Majesty to Overcome Doubt

The root cause of all our troubles and all our ills now I could demonstrate this to you very easily there are a number of different doctrines as we all know in connection with the Christian faith and men and women stumble at almost every single one of them take for instance the doctrine of man himself the Bible has got a very definite Doctrine about men but the modern world doesn't like the bi biblical Doctrine about men the Bible says that man is created in the image of God and that he's fallen from that because of sin and that all his troubles are due to that now man doesn't like that he doesn't like to think of himself as a special creation of God he doesn't like even to accept that great dignity that's placed upon him and the privilege that is given him he prefers to think of himself as someone that has evolved painfully from some primitive slime there's one instance then uh in the same way people don't like the doctrine of sin they say they can't accept it this biblical doctrine of sin which tells us that it's due to Pride and to man's arrogance to his desire to be equal with God and His Rebellion against God the modern world doesn't like the very terms and he tries to explain it away in terms of psychology it's as though there that old idea of sin it's so hateful it it it refers to it as a weakness a failure to develop and so on there is another Doctrine which the modern world doesn't like and likewise it doesn't like the doctrine of repentance it regards that as insulting to men he doesn't like to be told that it's got to confess its sins that it's got to acknowledge its transgressions it doesn't like a himym which says vile and full of sin I am I am all unrighteousness they say that's not true I'm not like that they resent that they're in trouble over the doctrine of repentance and sin and confession of sin and confession of need and in the same way they don't like the doctrine about the Lord Jesus Christ about his person they say they can't believe that the Eternal son became flesh they say Jesus was only a man he wasn't God men they say they can't accept that they can't follow that and likewise with the doctrine of his death and with the doctrine of his salvation the character of Salvation is a new birth and something miraculous those are the great doctrines and men and women I say stumble at every one of them they say they can't believe them they can't accept them why not I'm suggesting the answer to you the difficulty with respect to every single one of those doctrines is simply this that they have started with a radical misconception and misunderstanding about God himself if only we were right in our ideas about God my friends all these other things would simply be inevitable and our difficulties would vanish if you and I only knew the truth about God it wouldn't take us long to believe the biblical Doctrine about men if we only had some faint conception of God there'd be no need to argue men to believe in sin if we only saw ourselves as we are in the sight of God why we'd fly to repentance and if we only understood I say something of the nature and the being of God and ourselves face to face with him far from stumbling at the Incarnation we say thank God for it it's the only thing that can save us and likewise with the death and with the great salvation all our difficulties all our troubles stem from this Central initial trouble that we are all wrong in our ideas and conceptions with respect to God himself so you see the Bible knowing that always starts when he deals with our difficulties with the doctrine of God Isaiah does it here he stated his great Evangel now then he comes to the difficulties listen to him who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand what's he talking about he's talking about God at once he starts with God because he know that knows that that's the central trouble my dear friends we must always start with God we mustn't start with ourselves we mustn't start with salvation we mustn't start with our needs we mustn't start with anything else if you do you're certain to go astray the first business of the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to talk about God and isn't this where we've all gone astray or as the church herself often times as well as the world outside let us never forget that the Bible starts with God in the beginning it says God before he talks to you about your troubles and your problems and your failures and your needs start with God it says before you begin to start with your problems you must be clear as to who you are and what you are where have you come from what's life what's the world what is men you're bound to go back to the beginning and there's no other way of solving all our problems there is nothing so terrible and so tragic in its results and in its effects as to take God for granted but I suggest to you that that's what we're all tending to do let me ask a simple plain question to those who've listened to many sermons how often have you heard sermons about God you see now we are interested in something that we want and something that we need we start with ourselves we are introspective we're self-centered man is always revolving around himself he is important he's the center of the universe but he isn't my friends it's God and as I've been trying to show you it's because God has been forgotten that men and women don't see themselves in sin they don't see their danger they don't see the need of repentance they don't see the need of the coming of the Son of God into this world they see no real essential necessity for the death and the cross all these are Superfluous to them and it's all due to this they don't know God well very well then here we are reminded I say of the thing that must come first the source and the Fountain of every other difficulty we must start by coming face to face with God and listen to what the prophet has to tell us about him in this one paragraph he reminds Rems Us of three of the things that are of course outstanding in the being and the character of God I almost hesitate to speak on such matters and yet it is my business to do so what is the Bible the Bible is first and foremost a revelation of God it is that mankind may know God that God has given his word the World by wisdom knew not God they failed to trace him in the flowers and in the animals and in nature and in creation they should have done but they failed and because of that God has given his word and the first object of the Bible is to give us a knowledge of God that we may see ourselves as we are and see our needs and see what God has done for us so we start what is the first thing we are told about him the first thing the prophet emphasizes is the greatness and the might and the power of God listen to him in verses 12 15 and 17 who ha measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and Meed out Heavens with the span and comprehended the dust of the Earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance are you interested in poetry there it is at its sublimest but it isn't only poetry it's this description it's true then listen to him in the 15th verse behold he says the Nations and you notice the sarcasm don't you we all believe in the greatness of the Nations don't we our newspapers are shouting it at us every day the nations of the world there's the power in controlling the atomic bomb at the present time if you want Power look at the Nations but listen behold the Nations and there is a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance behold he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing and then in verse 17 All Nations before him are as nothing and are counted to him less than nothing and Vanity now what does all this mean well here we come face to face with something that the Bible always puts in the Forefront of its teaching The Eternity and the power and the greatness of God before you begin to talk about God the Savior you must start with God the Creator never leave out your Old Testament my friends start with it you'll never understand the new inocence without the old here it is in the beginning God again created the heavens and the Earth God is the Creator and the sustainer of everything that is we all of us are in his hands we live and move and have our being in God so that you see as you come to face these problems and as you get in your knees in prayer or as you think of your difficulties in life and as you don't understand the history of today and as you're on the point of saying things about God and asking your questions and saying why does God allow this and why doesn't God do that wait for a moment and realize that you're going to express an opinion about that Eternal Almighty Everlasting being who said let there be light and there was light and who formed and fashioned everything that is who Meed out the heavens with the span who took the very Waters in the hollow of his hand as it were and could weigh mountains in scales and the hills with his balances don't you begin to agree with what I'm saying isn't this our trouble how lightly and gbly and Loosely we all talk about God and express our opinions about God and we say God shouldn't do this and why doesn't God answer my prayer why doesn't my dear friends I am indeed convinced that if we but had some dim and faint conception of the greatness and the Majesty of God like job of old we'd put our hands upon our mouth and we'd stop speaking the trouble with us is that we don't realize that it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God we talk because we don't realize that the very nations of the world world are as grasshoppers before God that all these great nations with their might and their tanks and their armies and their atomic and their hydrogen bombs and all their great schemes what are they well they're nothing but this to God you know you've emptied the dust that is on your balance in order to get it clean to get an accurate measurement but there's just a little speck left that's it or you've poured the water out of the bucket you think You' poured it all out there's a little drop left that's the Nations a drop in the bucket the greatness and the might and the Majesty of God look at nature look at creation consider as he tells you the mountains and the hills and the valleys and the Sea look at the so-called laws of nature where have they come from God has placed them all there they're all the marks of his fingers is there his handiwork look at the simplest flower look at an animal look at it All The Heavens declare the glory of God and the forment the same everything is a forthtelling of the greatness and this majesty and might of God don't you see my friends that if we started with this all our thinking would at once be revolutionized it's because we've got into the habit of thinking of God as some sort of term to argue about some conception some idea with which we play in our philos philosophies and in our discussions on these matters it's because we haven't taken off the shoes from off our feet and have realized that that God who made the world could blow upon us and cause us to vanish in a second that we speak as we do and stumble as we do at his glorious salvation we must I say come back and realize the truth as it's outlined in this book about the greatness and the might of God but let me come to the second thing that the prophet mentions here which is the Transcendent glory of God listen to it in verse 16 and Lebanon he says is not sufficient to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering what what's he talking about well Lebanon you remember was a great Mountain a great Mountain that was particularly famous for its Forest there were certain great Cedars growing in Lebanon the most Mighty marvelous trees that the world knew these great Cedars of Lebanon these mighty forest that rose up as it were to the very heavens this is what he's saying that Lebanon is not sufficient to burn in other words he says if you cut down all the Cedars of Lebanon all those Mighty trees and you chop them up into wood and put them there as piles and lit them ready to offer up a sacrifice of what all the beasts of Lebanon likewise all the animals that lived on Lebanon he says that all this together would not be sufficient as a burnt offering to present to God and that is just his way of saying you see in his own poetic imagery that the glory of God is something so marvelous and so Transcendent that all our highest thoughts and categories are never adequate and sufficient to express it I've been talking about the greatness of God but after all I gather from the scriptures that God's pecar and most essential attribute and characteristic is his glory and the glory of God is something that can't be put into words we are told this about him that he dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto which no man have seen nor can see to whom be honor and power Everlasting now my friends you and I have been singing hymns about God tonight and I've LED you in prayer to God do you realize that that's the person we've been speaking to that's the one in whose presence we are at this moment he dwelleth in the light that no man can see not approach unto the light that is unapproachable because of its Transcendent Glory listen to these biblical terms blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ what is the gospel the gospel is the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God what is the function the purpose of the Gospel it's this to reveal the knowledge and the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ what is Jesus Christ well this is what the author of The epistle to the Hebrews tells us about him that he is the express image of God's person and the effulgence of the glory of God the Apostle John says we beheld his glory the glor is of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth oh I know my dear friends that I'm attempting The Impossible when I try to describe the glory of God it can't be described no man has seen God at any time no man could see God and remain alive why well because of the glory god is a consuming fire his glory his Holiness his Purity his ineffability and I'm holding it before you for this selfsame reason men and women say why do you have to preach about the death of Christ on the cross why do you have to keep on preaching that doctrine of sin why do you have to say that there must be this Blood offering why do you say that Christ had to die they say I don't understand this I want to be blessed of God but I can't accept all that my dear friend your whole trouble is that you know nothing about the glory of God you see the glory of God is as great as this that if you could cut down all the forests of the very World itself and kill all its beasts and offer them all together to God it wouldn't be enough the problem of sin is rarely the problem of the being of God don't think of sin in terms of yourself primarily and of what you do and what you don't do if you want to understand the problem of sin you start with God you see the trouble with all of us is that we start with sins don't we we say drunkenness of course a sin adultery a sin stealing thefts sins we say and yet then the result is do you see that some of us because we are not guilty of those things and never have been we say we really don't know what this sin question means and we don't see why we need to repent we've been brought up in a religious atmosphere and we've always gone to a place of worship we say we can't rarely say that we are sinful what does Charles Wesley mean by saying vile and full of sin I am I don't really feel like that many a person has actually said to me they say we don't really feel it and we'd be dishonest we'd be hypocritical if we said that we were Sinners we don't feel we're Sinners we've never done such things there's only one reason why people speak like that and and that is because they are tragically ignorant of the glory of God do you remember what happened to this prophet Isaiah when he had even a vision of God he said I am a man of unclean lips I'm undone take others who have had visions of God they've all said the same thing they have fallen to the ground oh if we had bet some conception of the glory and the Holiness of God my friends we would realize that that is the explanation of this question and this problem of sin dare I put it in such language God is hemmed in by his own Holiness is that going too far it isn't James has rarely said it God neither tempteth any men neither can he be tempted that's the one thing God cannot do God's holiness makes it impossible and God is Holy and just and righteous in all is Everlasting and eternal glory and I say that God as such must deal with a problem of sin he can't pretend he hasn't seen it he can't wink at it he can't say it isn't there he can't say very well I'll take no notice of it and I'll forgive God because of his glory his Holiness his Justice his righteousness must eternally ever always be consistent with himself he is the father of Lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow cast by turning and what Isaiah is saying in his prophecy is this there is only one offering that is adequate to such a god it isn't Lebanon with all its Cedars it isn't all the beasts the cattles the cattle and the un, Thousand Hills it isn't all the beasts of the world there'd never be enough not the blood of bulls and of goats it isn't enough there is only one and that is the one that he himself has offered it is his own son the express image of his person the brightness of his own Glory his own pure holy glorious son he offered himself and God said it was enough I'm simply pleading with you my friend if you're in trouble about this question of the Lord's Supper which reminds us of the death of Christ and it leads us into its meaning and its significance and its mystery if you say I don't like this Blood idea and this experation I say don't start on the philosophical level don't start with yourself go right away back go to the ultimate go to God and realize how these men who I say have come anywhere near him have all almost died at the presence of his glory and remember how his only begotten son when he was here in this life and in this world addressed him always as Holy Father remember that he said that he had revealed the glory of God to men that he glorified him amongst Men He revealed them in the truth concerning him and that is precisely the whole function and purpose of the Gospel very well then there I say are these two great character istics the might and the majesty and the power of God and then his Transcendent glory and thirdly and lastly I merely mention it tonight as the result of these two things the inscrutability of the ways of God for my thoughts are not as your thoughts neither are your ways my ways sayth the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways is higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts the inscrutability of the ways of God you see it's because again we fail to grasp that that we're in trouble over the gospel and stumble at its doctrines isn't it we said but I don't understand this and I can't really grasp that my dear friend the very fact that you say that shows that your whole attitude is wrong as you come to this gospel you must start with this presupposition that it is something entirely from God it is God's plan it is God's way it is God's doing it is God's method so you must start and be prepared for surprises expect the miraculous expect inexplicable expect the breaking in of the Eternal into time expect things that stagger you and astonish you yes speak with Mary and say how can these things be and back the answer will come with God nothing shall be impossible you see he's God the Creator he's The God Who made the world and who sustains it nothing with him shall be impossible but you say why must there be a death upon a cross the answer is still the same the glory of God God makes his ways inscrutable there is nothing in a sense in the gospel that conforms to human understanding it's entirely different it's as far as the heavens are from the earth that's the the comparison which is used by this very Prophet so as you come and look at these various doctrines of the Christian faith my friend you will begin to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ was but interpreting Isaiah in a sense when he said except he be converted and become as little children he shall in know Wise enter into the kingdom of God that's what he said wasn't it they wanted to understand he said give it up you've got to feel that you're like a little child you're going to look into God's plan God's scheme God's way oh be prepared for the impossible stand like a child if you like with your mouth open and your hands up and say what is this Marvel Miracle it is and the pooled understanding of the whole of humanity is but as nothing the nations are like a drop of the bucket the small dust of the balance vanity and even less than vanity just nothing at all oh that we became as little children oh that we s and recognized this that we said we are confronted by this Almighty glorious God and there is nothing to do but to put our hands upon our mouth and to fall prostrate before him and to worship him and to say speak thy servant is ready to listen had you realized something of the truth of about God my friend did you know that you were a sinner a vile sinner that's the way to know it just try to picture yourself standing in the presence of God and you'll soon begin to say Eternal Light Eternal Light how pure the soul must be that placed within thy searching sight it shrinks not but with calm Delight can live and look on thee oh how can I whose native sphere is dark whose mind is dim before the ineffable appear and on my naked spirit bear that uncreated being and and believe me if you've never felt that and realized its truth you've never seen the need of Jesus Christ as your savior and you're still in your sins he came to save you at that point not to make you feel happy not to say you've taken your decision now and all is well not at all he came he died to bring us to God and that's the God he brings us to and as you realize that you're nothing in his presence you'll be glad to hear what the hymn goes on to say there is a way for men to rise yes to that Sublime AB Sublime AB what is it an offering and a sacrifice a holy spirit's energies an advocate with God if there were not such an advocate I dare not stand in this Pulpit I dare not mention the name I understand the ancient Jews they had such a conception they didn't even mention the name Jehovah they knew something of the glory of it all but we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous these these prepare us for the sight of Holiness above the sons of ignorance and night that's me and you shall dwell can dwell in the eternal light through the eternal love start with God the greatness the glory the inscrutability of His Marvelous wonderful gracious ways [00:11:07]