GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #391
“All
Things Are Of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18)
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
Some of God’s saints seem to
have trials and temptations, one upon the heels of another. Usually those
believers who have the most difficult and most constant trials seem to bear
them well. They are always an encouragement to me. In the light of the heavy,
heavy trials some believers bear with such grace, I get a little disturbed when
people get all bent out of shape and complain about hangnails and dripping
faucets!
As I thought about, and
tried to pray for and help some troubled friends this week, my heart and mind
have been once more directed to meditate almost constantly upon the gracious,
wise, and adorable providence of our God.
When trials and temptations
assail our souls, nothing is more helpful and comforting than the blessed
knowledge of God’s all-wise, universal providence.
Two
words are used throughout the Word of
God in relation to God’s providence and grace. I want us to look at those two
words together this week. I will have nothing new or profound to say to you in
these short messages. I simply want to give you a word from God that will, I
trust, be blessed of God the Holy Spirit to your heart as it has been to my
own, for the glory of Christ.
The
two words I have in mind are “all things”. These two words are
used together in the Word of God two hundred and twenty times. More often than
not, they are used in some connection with the Lord our God. Whenever we read
these words in Holy Scripture, or think about them in relation to our God, we
ought always to remember that when God
says “all things,” he means “all things.” He does not mean some things, or most things, or even all good
things. He means all things.
This
is a message that will thrill the heart of every believer, comfort your soul,
encourage your faith, and strengthen your spirit, if God the Holy Spirit will
graciously deliver it to your soul. It is a message that I trust may also be
used of him to cause some of you who are yet without life before God to live
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God. May God now cause you to hear wondrous things out
of his Word. I want you to see that the
Word of God asserts emphatically and constantly that “all things” are under the absolute control of the Lord our God.
Our text today is at 2
Corinthians 5:18. Here the apostle Paul tells us - “ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD.” Just
how far are we to take Paul’s statement here? Think about that for a
minute. “All things are of God.” How
far do you take that? Let me tell you. If I understand what this Book teaches,
at all, you can carry those words just as far, just as high, just as deep, just
as wide as your imagination will carry you. And when you have reached the
utmost end of your imagination, as someone once said, you will only have “begun
to commence, to get started!”
Take this blessed, inspired
declaration just as far back as eternity past, and just as far forward as
eternity future. Take it up to the highest heaven. Take down to the lowest
hell. Take it around the world, through the world, and through all the ages of
time. When all that is, has been, and shall be has been considered, write this
title over the picture and this explanation for the story - “ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD.”
In the creation of the universe, “all
things are of God.” It is written in Revelation 4:11, "Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." In the wise and orderly disposition of
providence, “all things are of God.” In
Romans 11:36 the Spirit of God declares, "For
of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Amen." In the salvation of our
souls, “all things are of God.” Here
in 2 Corinthians 5, that is obviously what Paul is specifically talking about.
Look at any one aspect of salvation, or look at the whole package of grace.
However you look at it, “Salvation is of
the Lord!” Election, predestination, and redemption are of the Lord.
Forgiveness, pardon, and justification are of the Lord. Reconciliation,
regeneration, and sanctification are of the Lord. Repentance, faith, and
conversion are of the Lord. Preservation, resurrection, and glorification are
of the Lord.
Take this word from God with
you through the day. May God himself grant you faith in his Son and give you
the blessed rest that comes from the realization of his absolute, total
dominion over all things. Rejoice in this and rest in it. “All things are of God!”
Everything that is, has been, or shall hereafter be is of God. Let every child
of God rejoice. All things are under the dominion of and come to pass according
to the will of our heavenly Father! AMEN.