INTRO.- His name is great. Not many people think of themselves of being great or their name as being great, but then there is 76 year old Silvio Berlusconi who was the 50th Prime Minister of Italy from 2008-2011. He actually served as Prime Minister three times. And he’s a very wealthy man. How wealthy? About 6 Billion dollars wealthy. He is quoted as saying:
At the launch of the 2006 campaign He said of himself:
- "I am the Jesus Christ of politics. I am a patient victim, I put up with everyone, I sacrifice myself for everyone."
- "The best political leader in Europe and in the world."
- "There is no-one on the world stage who can compete with me."
Berlusconi sounds like a great man. He speaks of himself as being great man, but is he really? No human is great who is great in his own eyes. He’d better remember Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
But there is someone who is great. 1 In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.
God’s name is great in Israel. It was back then, when this was written and I think that God’s name is great in Israel today. And God’s name should be great or considered great in all the world and especially, here in America since He has blessed America with great abundance, peace and freedom.
God’s name is great because He is God, the one, true and living God, unlike man-made gods. When I speak of man-made gods and I am not particularly talking about idols made of stone or wood, etc. I’m talking about anything and everything that we make a god to ourselves. What? Money, material possessions, sports, hobbies, you name it and they have become gods to us.
ILL.- The world’s greatest worshipers of gods are said to be the Hindus. They have 330 million gods and goddesses, or 8 to every Hindu family. And India’s 450 million Hindus have roughly 75 million cows to worship. BUT THEY ARE NOT ALONE. We Americans are idol worshipers as well.
ILL.- Pastor/author James Emery White: WHAT IS YOUR GOD? "Whatever you love most, serve most, seek out most, give to the most, worship the most, and care about the most is your god. Your “god” can be your career, your bank account, the way you look, a particular position or degree, influence, power, or physical pleasure. It can even be something that is considered intrinsically good, yet you allow it to dominate your life more than God. Your “god” is whatever you allow to control you, to be the ultimate guide to decision making, the place of your supreme loyalty, and the source of your self-worth."
“Could it be that desire for a good thing has become a bad thing because that desire has become a ruling thing?” ― Paul Tripp (preacher, author)
1 In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.
There is only one true and living God who is great and He alone is to be feared. Our text tells us why we should fear Him.
PROP.- The Psalmist tells us why we must fear God.
1- We fear because God can be angered
2- We fear because God will judge everyone
I. WE FEAR BECAUSE GOD CAN BE ANGERED
7 You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry? Who doesn’t get angry at times?
ILL.- A lady once came to preacher Billy Sunday and tried to rationalize her angry outbursts. "There's nothing wrong with losing my temper," she said. "I blow up, and then it's all over." "So does a shotgun," Sunday replied, "and look at the damage it leaves behind!"
Ephesians 4:26-27 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”
Every human person gets angry. But we need to be quick to get over it even if it’s justified. In your anger do not sin. We do often sin when we get angry. We may say things that later we may regret or we may do things that we would not normally do. Anger controls like alcohol controls the drunk.
ILL.- One person said: When I was working in the credit department of a jewelry store, an irate customer said: “You have made me so think, I can’t mad straight.”
Often in anger people will use words they never normally use. Some people can speak well and mannerly, but if you make them mad enough they can cuss like a sailor. Anger controls. Anger gives the devil a foothold in our lives.
ILL.- Sam Rayburn from TX who became Speaker of the House in 1940, was considered a “whacker.” The way he used his gavel when presiding revealed his state of mind. A heavy thump meant anger; repeated hollow tappings indicated weary impatience.
Most of Rayburn’s gavels came to him as gifts, and they were all well-constructed. “I broke the gavel once,” Rayburn admitted. “A man kept talking after his time ran out. Wouldn’t sit down. Kinda wish I’d hit him over the head.” Anger causes some people to hit others over the head or worse. And this is why we must be careful not to sin when we’re angry.
James 1:19-21 “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”
Most of the time our anger is not pleasing to God because it is selfish anger. It’s not righteous anger. Therefore, James said, “Get rid of it.” We should get rid of selfish anger like we would throw out the trash, because it is trashy.
Someone said: “A person who is angry on the right grounds, against the right persons, in the right manner, at the right moment, and for the right length of time deserves great praise.” THAT’S GOD! God’s anger is right and always justified.
Exodus 22:22-24 “Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword..."
Wow! Are there people today who take advantage of a widow or an orphan? If so, don’t you think this angers God even today? How could it not anger God who is always for the helpless and neglected?! I don’t believe we’d better mistreat any widows or orphans unless we want to get into trouble with God and arouse His anger.
And yet, I’ve heard many stories where people have tried to rip off widows with all kinds of shady business deals. Do you honestly think that these people are going to get away with doing this? God has always had a soft heart for widows and orphans.
James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Genesis 32:9-10 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
After Moses received the 10 commandments on Mt. Sinai the people wondered why it was taking him so long to come down from the mountain. They wondered what happened to him, so what did they do? They made an idol out of gold, a golden calf, and worshiped it. AND IT MADE GOD MAD!
Don’t you think that worshiping idols today still makes God angry?
7 You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry? No one can stand before Him when He is angry. We must fear Him whose anger is fierce or can be.
II. WE FEAR BECAUSE GOD WILL JUDGE EVERYONE
7 You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry? 8 From heaven you pronounced judgment. From heaven God will pronounce judgment.
ILL.- A janitor got tired of his job. He gave it up and joined the police force. Several months later a friend asked him how he liked being a policeman. “Fine,” said the ex-janitor. “The pay is good and so are the hours, but what I like best of all is that the customer is always wrong.”
Since God is God, He is always right. He is always just in His judgments of mankind. And His eventual judgment will be correct.
ILL.- James Denney, Scottish preacher of the 1800s, wrote: “All that we have hidden shall be revealed. The things we have done in the body will come back to us, whether good or bad. Every pious thought, and every thought of sin; every secret prayer, and every secret curse; every unknown deed of charity, and every hidden deed of selfishness; we will see them all again, and though we have not remembered them for years, and perhaps have forgotten them altogether, we shall have to acknowledge that they are our own. Is not that a solemn thing to stand at the end of life?”
Whether this will happen or not, it’s a solemn thought! If it be true then certainly we need to be more careful in what we think and say and do in this life.
James Denney didn’t say we would be condemned for the evil in our lives, he just stated that these things will be revealed or brought back to our attention. What a frightening thought!
ILL.- Justice Gray of the Supreme Court once said to a man who appeared before him in a lower court and escaped penalty by some legal technicality: “I know that you are guilty, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge. There you will be dealt according to justice and not according to law.”
What did he mean? He meant that some day God would judge justly. And He will. Many people get away with things in this world but not in the next world. But God will be fair and just.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Matthew 12:35-37 “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Romans 14:10 “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.”
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
Hebrews 9:27 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”
ILL.- A young composer gave Rossini a score of an opera and asked him to mark it with a cross wherever he found an error. After a few days, Rossini handed the score to the composer who leafed through it and found no crosses.
“Ah!” he cried overjoyed, “then there are no faults?” Rossini sadly shook his head. “My friend, if I put a cross at every mistake that I found, it would not be an opera, it would be a cemetery.”
Just as that opera could have been a cemetery with all of its mistakes, so is our lives. We all want to believe that we have lived a decent, good life, but in reality, if our lives were examined closely, they would be a cemetery, full of mistakes. But thank God, we have Christ who bore our sins in His body on tree and became sin for us!
Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Sin is not the end of the story. Christ is in the end of the story for us.
CONCLUSION----------------
ILL.- Hideyoshi, a Japanese warlord who ruled over Japan in the late 1500s, commissioned a colossal statue of Buddha for a shrine in Kyoto. It took 50,000 men five years to build, but the work had scarcely been completed when the earthquake of 1596 brought the roof of the shrine crashing down and wrecked the statue.
In a rage Hideyoshi shot an arrow at the fallen colossus. He shouted, "I put you here at great expense and you can't even look after your own temple."
An idol is an idol and nothing more.
But there is only true and living God. We know Him and we must love Him and serve Him as best we can. He is the one who watches over us, provides for us, protects us, blesses us, and saves us through faith in His Son. He alone is to be feared, respected, held in awe, praised, worshiped, and glorified.
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
