I AM YOUR GOD: God’s All Sufficient Essence

TOPIC: God; Nature, Sufficiency
TITLE: I AM YOUR GOD – God’s All Sufficient Essence
TEXT: PSALM 50:7

“Hear, O My people, and I will speak … I am God, your God.”

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What three attitudes (expectations) interfere with God’s amazing grace?
CONCISE OUTLINE

I. THE EXPECTATION OF COMPLETE SANCTIFICATION
II. THE EXPECTATION OF IMMEDIATE SATISFACTION
III. THE EXPECTATION OF ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY

CONTEXT: The author is Asaph, a Levite; the patriarch of a bloodline of poets and singers ... also Psalms 73-83.

Psalm 50 is where we get “God owns … … the cattle on a thousand hills.” [10b]

Asaph was a leader in King David’s choir.

Here is judgment coming, judgment explained, judgment promised; here legalistic hypocrites are revealed ... they dot the “I” and cross the “t” of religion, yet they fail to see who God really is.

TRUTH CLAIM: This is God’s reminder: He doesn’t need them; they need Him; they can’t feed or clothe Him!

Here Asaph brings us to the same point David will in Psalm 51 ... what God desires!

Worship is not a common or pedestrian act.

[PAINTED STICKS] A preacher told how … he had watched a caterpillar climb a painted stick that decorated his garden. After reaching the top, the caterpillar reared itself, feeling this way and that for a juicy twig to feed on, or some way to move on. Finding nothing, it slowly returned to the ground, crawled along till it reached another stick, and did the same thing all over again.

The preacher said: “There are many painted sticks in the world – pleasure, wealth, and fame. All these call to man, ‘Climb me to satisfy your desires, taste the fruit of success, and find fulfillment.’ But they are only painted sticks.”

Solomon tried to find the purpose of life by studying all the “painted sticks.” He gave his heart to wisdom, but learned that it was “vanity and vexation of spirit” [Ecclesiastes 1:15].

He then turned to pleasure for life’s meaning. He built great houses, and gardens, and pools; he had servants and maidens; in fact, he had all that a man could want. However, Solomon's comment on pleasure as a true source of happiness, was, “All was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun” [Ecclesiastes 2:11].

After trying all that the world could offer, Solomon's final decision was, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person” [Ecclesiastes 12:13].

He is “your God” the psalmist writes; with a hint of dismay.

“I am” is the present tense which means He is at this time “your God.” Here again is an appropriate place for “is.” Here is all you require, believer!

INQUIRY: What three attitudes (expectations) interfere with God’s amazing grace?

I. THE EXPECTATION OF COMPLETE SANCTIFICATION

A. Since the day of the Fall, man has felt a need to be fulfilled or satisfied; God asks, “Am I not enough?”
B. How much, then, would be enough?
C. Should we not say, with David, “Our cups overflow; we’ve more than our hearts can stand"?
D. "I am … your God", He says. Are you not in possession of all things?
E. Can you continue to say, “But I want …” or “But I need” and yet forget He is Jehovah Jireh?
F. Who is able to weigh our lusts?
G. Yet the immeasurable, incomparable inheritance that awaits the children of God makes them all irrelevant
H. Are you not complete in Christ? What remains lacking?

“And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2 CORINTHIANS 12:9

Or want!!!!

II. THE EXPECTATION OF IMMEDIATE SATISFACTION

A. But it is not just satisfaction we want; we desires exhilarating entertainment and euphoric enjoyment.
B. Think what you desire! God is the Maker of Heaven and earth.
C. There is no entertainment nor enjoyment open to man that provides such rapturous satisfaction as this, “I am God, your God!”
D. This is a body of bliss, an endless ocean of delight.

[SPURGEON] Spurgeon said of this ocean, “Come, bathe thy spirit in it; swim an age, and thou shall find no shore; dive throughout eternity, and thou shall find no bottom.” [Morning & Evening; January 9 “Morning”]

E. “I am … your God.” If this doesn’t ignite a sparkle in your eye, lighten your step, and make your heart increase its pace, nothing you find in this world will
F. And you are most certainly a wolf in sheep’s clothing
G. Don’t you know believers are set-apart (sanctified) to God?

III. THE EXPECTATION OF ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY

A. But man craves more than present delights.
B. He also desires things concerning his exercise of hope … forgiveness, redemption, eternal life.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1

“In hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

Romans 8:24-25

C. So what more is there to hope for than this, "I am is … your God"?
D. This is the masterpiece of all the truth; its appropriation makes heaven on earth, and leads to heaven above

APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: So you want to rob the bank and keep the money when you are caught? Your satisfaction in life is all that matters to you … and you want it now! Simple satisfaction is not enough; you had that long ago.

And you will believe in God for sure … if He will just make an appointment with you at a convenient time … that’ll do it.

Asaph pleads on behalf of God, that disobedient men repent of their ritualistic religion and return to true worship … surrendering to God with a broken and contrite spirit.

[KING] Noblemen were gathered together in London waiting for the King of Great Britain. They all knew him personally, yet they all honored him as their king. When he entered, they stood solemnly to their feet. "Take your seats, gentlemen," he said, "I count you as my personal friends." And then joking he added, "I am not the Lord, you know!" Immediately one of the noblemen, a Christian, said, "No, sir, if you were our Lord, we would not have stood to our feet; we would have fallen to our knees."

God doesn't focus on the outer man; instead His eyes constantly search the inner man ... there is where our religion is … for “He is God, our God!”

So let’s not fool ourselves into believing as the Jews did that God is unaware of and uninvolved in our lives ...

• Let’s dwell in His Light
• Let’s be spellbound by His love
• Let’s get out the fatted calf
• Let’s give God the best of our worship
• Let’s live up to our privilege
• Let’s rejoice with unspeakable joy …

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!


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