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.