Limiting God.
Psalm 78
I want to talk to you today about "Doing the impossible."
This is not a sermon to inspire you to do great things, to reach higher, or accomplish more, or like the old tennis shoe that used to advertise "...run faster or jump higher."
In fact, when I talk about doing the impossible I am not even speaking of a positive experience. I’m not talking about using God’s power to accomplish great things or reaching some level of Christian living that many would call impossible.
I AM talking about doing something that can not be done by natural disaster, government sanctions,, science, time, space, disease, education, armies, or riches.
And that thing is to LIMIT GOD, to shorten His arm, to place constraints upon God almighty.
Paul wrote of it in Romans 8 that "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not the future , nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Paul was saying that when God chooses to love, or strengthen, or bless, or guide or anything else He may choose to do.... there is nothing in all of creation that can forbid Him or constrain him LIMIT HIM.
No one can place a fence around God and tell Him that he must stay in it.... or draw a line in the sand and tell Him that he may not cross it.
He is God, the Almighty, all powerful, the creator of all.
To think that I might constrain God is worse than thinking that I might walk into the flow of molten lava charging down the side of a mountain and hold up my hand and restrain its flow.
It is like thinking that I could put up an electric fence in my yard to keep a tornado out.
Paul said that nothing in all of creation can limit God. And yet, and Paul would agree, that is exactly what we do with great regularity we set limits on God’s love, and blessings, and power.
HOW ?.... you may be wondering.
Well, there are many ways in which we accomplish this. Today I want us to look at the 78th Psalm and see the way that Israel did it... and see how we are guilty of the same ways of limiting Almighty God.
Join me, please, in turning to Psalm78.
1. They Limited God by SHRINKING.
verse 9 says, "The men of Ephraim, though armed-with bows, turned back in the day of battle."
They had everything they needed... leaders, equipment, they had been trained for months, they had the right weapons.... and yet, when the battle began to heat up... they RAN AWAY!
These were God’s troops. They did not even need to be good soldiers. God was on their side and He would fight for them. God had won battles where the soldiers never lifted a hand. At other times he had let them slaughter from behind.
They had no need to fear, they were more than prepared... and yet they shrank when the opportunity came.
They did not have to be strong or experienced... just show up, just be willing to enter the battle... God would do the rest.
Then God could use them or work in spite of them .. but still God would have the opportunity to use them and to Bless them, to strengthen their faith, to show his might, to encourage them.
This was the only thing that could limit God’s ability to do that… refusal to give God a chance.
They stymied, frustrated, thwarted, and circumvented God and His desire to bless them, to give them the victory.
God could still win the victory.... he didn’t need them in the first place.... but now, He could not give the victory to them or bless them for their willingness.
God wanted to throw open the doors of heaven and shower them with blessings and they nailed the door shut.
And so do we.
Who among us has not stood in the place of opportunity to let God use us… a friend who was lost and we had an opportunity to speak up about our faith, about how God loved them, of how Jesus died on the cross for them.
There you stood with the ammunition and training you needed... remember God is the one who will fight.... and when the battle or the opportunity comes.... YOU SHRINK!!!!
You clam up, the cat gets your tongue, your mind goes blank, your heart pounds out of your chest.
Remember.... God is on your side, he will work through you.... He will give you the words. Maybe you are not able.... but HE IS... all he wants is a body to work through, a mouth to use.... He could win the person without you.... but then He could not give you the blessing, you could not grow
We have limited Him but who is the loser??? WE ARE!!!!!!
2. They Limited Him by DISOBEDIENCE.
V. 10 says, " They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law."
There is nothing that so suddenly and completely slams shut the windows of heaven and ties God’s hands and isolates you from God’s presence as does DISOBEDIENCE!
There is a sense in which sin is sin. There is also a sense in which there is sin and there is sin.
In the case of the child of God the "sin against knowledge" is far more serious than the sin of ignorance.
In Israel’s case it was REFUSAL.... knowing disobedience. That is something God can not and will not bless.
Imagine that someone accidentally hits you in the nose and it bleeds
Then imagine that someone intentionally hits you in the nose and it bleeds.
In both cases you have been hit and it bleeds.... but will you not react to the two situations differently?
In one case… with forgiveness and in the other… with anger? So it is with God!
Willful disobedience is Defiance, a challenge to God’s authority, to despise God.
If you are guilty of shrinking in the face of opportunity: you only lose the blessing in that area of your life, but God will still bless you in others.
But willful disobedience in any part of your life— TOTALLY limits God’s ability to bless you at all.
He is limited... but who is the loser????
3. They Limited God by FORGETFULNESS.
V. 11, "They forgot His deeds and the miracles that He had shown them."
Ten plagues Pillar of fire- pillar of clouds dry land water from rocks manna quail
/ And THEY FORGOT!
NOT their children forgot THEY forgot!!!
God had a plan so that even the next generations would not forget
vv 5-7
They forgot HOW????
They did not tell, did not sing, did not count blessings BECAUSE they got interested in other things.... STUFF!
What has God done in your life???
What prayers has he answered???
What blessings has He given???
Have your forgotten?
Have you told your kids? others?
Don’t you see how they lose?
And you lose too.
Because those things all go together to build a history, a foundation for your faith in future times.
Not just what Paul or the preacher says.
21 experiences recorded by Paul or related by others do not have the effect of ONE experience of your own.
You need to bank them., treasure them.
If you forget them.... it is like letting Satan rob your bank account.
Those are the things that convince you that God is alive... real., now... can... knows... etc.
If you forget it is like having the foundation crumble out from under your house.
That foundation is where your faith comes from.
Your forgetfulness limits God... but who is the real loser?
4. They Limited God by INSINCERITY.
vv 36-37 Never the less they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with Him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant."
>>>When I think of sincerity or honesty I think of the woman doing a family history and had to do something about the reputation of two members who were hung and electrocuted...
For the uncle electrocuted for murder, she wrote, "occupied the chair of applied electricity at a large state institutions."
Of the one was hung as a horse thief she wrote, "died at a public ceremony when the platform he was standing on gave way."
Doesn’t insincerity turn you off?
We see homeless with their signs and we don’t trust them.
(PIcture of homeless person with sign asking for food)
We figure they will just use money to buy beer or drugs.
We would almost rather give to someone who is honest
(Picture of homeless person with sign saying "Why lie, I need beer)
So would God.
I just had to include this one because it is creative
(Picture of homeless person with creative sign)
God has never been fooled by the insincere words and deeds of man.
God looks right through all of that and sees into the heart and mind... right down to the real motivations and feelings.
Where he finds sincerity He blesses it.
Where He finds insincerity, He does not.
God would rather that you be sincere about your weakness than to fain strength.
He prefers honest doubt to puffed up, insincere faith.
Honest doubt he can bless and cure., insincere faith just gets in the way of forgiveness and true faith.
"You may fool some of the people...." You may even fool all of the people all of the time BUT "DO NOT BE DECEIVED: GOD CANNOT BE MOCKED!" Gal. 6:7
Your insincerity may gain you status and respect in the community, even in the church.
But it will not gain you anything in the Kingdom. In fact, it will cost your dearly.
It will limit God’s ability to help you where you are weak, where you
need help.
It limits him because as long as you are playing the part you will not be honest with God... he can not answer the unanswered or insincere prayer.
He is limited... but who is the real loser?
THEY limited God. THEY were the losers.
Listen to how they lost...vv. 59-64 ((READ))
One thing is sure... GOD TAKES THIS LIMITING OF HIS LOVE AND POWER VERY SERIOUSLY.... HE WILL NOT ALLOW IT TO GO UNPUNISHED.
HOW HAVE YOU LIMITED GOD?
Will you now, today, take the handcuffs off of your God and allow Him to open the windows of heaven?
If you limit Him by SHRINKING... confess and ask God’s help.
If you limit God by DISOBEDIENCE... confess and ask God for strength to obey.
If you limit God by FORGETFULNESS... confess and begin to count your blessings, sing His praise.
If you limit God by INSINCERITY... cone clean...be sincere, ask God for strength to be sincere.
If you have limited God by any sin.... confess and ask God for strength to overcome.
Ihave a powerpoint to share with you. Contact me at reverick57@hotmail.com
