Q8. WHAT IS GOD? (POWER)


A. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, POWER, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. (John 4:24; Ps. 147:5; Ps. 90:2; James 1:17; Rev. 4:8; Ps. 89:14; Exod. 34:6,7; 1 Tim. 1:17)

GOD IS…INFINITE, ETERNAL, AND UNCHANGEABLE…IN POWER

PSALM 147:5 “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power.”

JEREMIAH 32:17 “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

THE SCRIPTURES SPEAK OF GOD’S POWER IN THREE WAYS: 

1) POSITIVELY: Genesis 17:1 “I am God Almighty.”

2) NEGATIVELY: Luke 1:37 “Nothing is impossible with God.”

3) COMPARATIVELY: Matthew 19:26 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

God’s infinite, eternal, and unchangeable power is clearly set forth in at least 5 ways: His I) Creating, II) Preserving, III) Governing, IV) Redeeming, and V) Judging.

I. CREATING POWER

Psalm 33:9 “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”

Romans 1:20 “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

He breathed out planets and stars; he spoke oceans and mountains into existence; He exhaled man, beasts, and birds!

II. PRESERVING POWER

Hebrews 1:3 “[Jesus] upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

III. GOVERNING POWER

1) Elements

Deuteronomy 4:36-38 “And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power.”

Mark 4:37-4137 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’”

2) Men

Proverbs 16:9 “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”

Exodus 9:16 “But for this purpose I have raised you up (Pharoah), to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”

3) Demons

Matthew 8:31 “And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.”

4) Wicked men

Isaiah 37:29 “Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.’”

Daniel 4:35 “all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

IV. REDEEMING POWER

I) The virgin birth of Jesus Christ

Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.’” 

II) Jesus’ resurrection from the dead

Romans 1:4 “[Jesus Christ our Lord] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead”

III) Taking dead sinners and converting them to living saints through the preaching of the gospel

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

IV) Empowering Christians to be witnesses for Jesus

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

V) Guarding Christians through faith

1 Peter 1:5 “who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

VI) In giving His saints resurrected bodies

1 Corinthians 6:14 “And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.”

Philippians 3:20-2120 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

V. JUDGING POWER

I) In judging unrepentant sinners

Romans 9:22 “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.”

Romans 2:4-54 …do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

Ekklesia Muskogee is a reformed baptist church that gathers for worship in Muskogee, Oklahoma. We confess the 1689 second London baptist confession of faith. We affirm the five solas of the Reformation as well as the doctrines of grace (otherwise known as the five points of Calvinism), and each of our pastors would not be ashamed to be called a Calvinist. We are a church led by elders, of which there is a plurality (also called pastors and overseers in the Scriptures). Our mission is to make disciples, love cities, and plant churches.