If you would turn in your Bibles
tonight to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 17. I'm just going to read One verse here in the beginning. And that is the first one. And when Abram was ninety years
old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I
am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be thou perfect." As we have been seeing, as we
have been looking on these Wednesday evenings at these elementary
and essential things about God, the names of God Himself reveal a great deal about him. He calls himself here in this
first verse, the Almighty God. I'll read you another reference
of the same thing in Exodus 6 and verse 3 of this same occasion. And I appeared unto Abraham,
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty." I've heard that name for God
used about as far back as I can remember. And it would seem that the name
by which God identifies Himself in these two verses, it would
seem like that name would have gone concerning what we looked
at about Him last week, and that is His omnipotence. I always thought of God Almighty
in terms of God All-Powerful, which He is. As a matter of fact,
the prefix for this name for God here is El, which means the
Mighty One. But not only does it mean that,
but He identifies Himself here as the Almighty God, and this
name is translated in the Hebrew by most of the Hebrew scholars
as all-sufficient. He says to this 99-year-old man
that he has been telling that he would, after all this time,
have a son born to his same elderly wife. But as he does, he identifies
himself as Almighty God, the all-sufficient God. I suppose in one sense to say
to this old man, what I'm saying to you and what I'm promising
to you and what I'm requiring of you will never come about
through your sufficiency. But have no fear, because I am
the Almighty God. I am God all-sufficient. As a matter of fact, the name
here is El Shaddai. And what that actually means,
or what is associated with that second word there, is something
literally like this, many-breasted. It is connected to the thought
that we read in Isaiah 66, 10. I will read this to you. The thought is much alike. Rejoice
ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all
ye that mourn for her. that ye may suck and be satisfied
with the breasts of her consolations, that ye may milk out and be delighted
with the abundance of her glory, her sufficiency, her milk of
consolation which comes from El Shaddai, or the Almighty God
All-Sufficient. It means something like this,
that God is self-sufficient. In other words, by this very
name of God that He gives us, identifying Himself, We know
that any notion of him having a need is foolish. He is God all-sufficient. He is God self-sufficient. And as a matter of fact, without
a doubt, these things can only apply to him. You're not self-sufficient. I'm not self-sufficient. None
of us are all sufficient. Every one of us, as well as all
who have ever lived, have always depended on Him. He's the all-sufficient One. Somebody said, Jehovah is. sufficient in and of himself,
and for himself, and stands in no need of any, or of anything
from another, and not only that, but has a sufficiency for others
both in providence and in grace. I have always thought, not always,
but since the Lord opened my understanding, I have thought
what a foolish thing it is, on the one hand, to hear men tell
people how great God is and how much God has, on the one hand,
only to turn around in a few minutes later and tell them how
much God needs. He needs their time. He needs
their money. He needs their talents. He needs
all these things. Not the all-sufficient God. He's the Almighty God, and He
has need of nothing. And the glory of this is, If
we don't see anything else out of this tonight but this, I hope
we can see this. The glory of God as this God,
all sufficient, is that He can be trusted. He can be relied
upon. And if there's one thing that
I don't want, I hate to rely on somebody who needs as much
or more than I do. But this God can be trusted. He can be depended on for everything
that we need, whether it's for soul or body, whether it is in
time or in eternity, Everything about him is sufficient and in
such a contradictory way to what man is. Man is insufficient, and therefore he cannot be depended
on. See she, he says, from the arm
of flesh, he cannot be depended on. and friends, although oftentimes
they would help and they would assist and they would supply,
they cannot. There is not one person, even
the one that loves you the most, the one that has your welfare
at heart the most, there is not one person that in every situation,
in all times, and especially in matters of our soul, that's
what we need. We don't have it. They don't
have it. And here's this God, the only
one who is God, and He says, I am El Shaddai. I am the Almighty
God. God all-sufficient. Turn over to Psalm 50 just a
minute. I wasn't even going to read this,
but it just came to my mind. If you'll turn over to Psalm
50, I want you to listen to this gospel. Psalm 50. And look down in Well, I won't read too much.
Just look down at verse 12 at what he says. If I were hungry,
if I were hungry now, I wouldn't tell you. All these preachers running around
telling people how much God needs them and how much he needs them.
He said, if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. As a matter of fact,
For the world is mine, and the fullness thereof." The world
is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving. and pay thy vows unto the Most
High, and call upon Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver
thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." He said, everything is mine.
I am the all-sufficient God. I wouldn't ask you. I wouldn't
even tell you if I did need something. and call upon Me in the day of
trouble, and I will deliver thee, and that will glorify Me." You
see that? But you never call upon God. You never seek after what He
has and what you need until you know that He's this. all sufficient." That is, He
is our help in every time of need, and possesses a never-failing
supply, and is in Himself an inexhaustible fountain of goodness
and grace. You can't ever use up His grace. The Bible says that He giveth
more grace. Everything that we need, this
great sufficiency that He has in Himself and has for Himself,
He has for His people. He never diminishes. And this sufficiency is put to
the test and enjoyed, and they are blessed, these people who
trust Him. Trust Him. He said, I'm God Almighty. We're not talking about somebody
unable. We're not talking about somebody
in want, whether it be strength, whether it be spiritual blessing,
whatever it is. He said, I am Almighty God. And He provides and satisfies
all His people with all of His good things and His grace at
all times and all places in every age. He's the same. And out of this sufficiency,
now think about this, out of this sufficiency, He has, from
before the world began, He has been pouring out and blessing
and giving and working and helping right down to this very moment. And if He was a barrel of water,
You could go look in that barrel of water and it would be right
brimming full, because He is all sufficient. And this truth is always, as
I said, an encouragement and a reason to trust Him. And I
want us to quickly point out tonight three areas in which we can rejoice. because
of who He is. All right? Here's the first one. This is
true of all believers. This is true of God's people. And that is, first of all, He
is all we need in the salvation of our souls. He's it. All the sufficiency. All the
necessity in what it takes to put us in standing, in a favorable
standing as those who are accepted before Him, is in Him. In Him. He is God Almighty. And what God says of Himself
to this man Abraham is what He says to all His people, and especially
of how His sufficiency is explained or confirmed or secured to them
in the Lord Jesus Christ. When I was looking at this this
morning early, something came to my mind that happened years
ago, and that's a lady, I don't know where it was, But she came
up to Brother Scott Richardson somewhere after he had preached,
and she asked him this question. She said, Is Christ really, truly
all we need? Is He? Everywhere around us they say
no. Or they say, we need Him plus. We need who He is plus this. We've got to be this. Or we need
what He did, and we've got to do this. She said, is Christ
really all we need? He gave her a wise answer. He said, if He's all we've got,
He is. If He's all we've got, if we've
got Him plus anything, if we've got Him plus an old experience
or Him plus our imagined good doings, if we've got Him, we
think, and this experience of some kind, not enough. But as the All-Sufficient One,
He's all we've got. He's enough. As our Savior, as
our Mediator, as our Great High Priest, as all these offices
that God has set Christ forth in, and all these distinctive
persons and works, He's our sufficiency. He's everything. Paul wrote to the Colossians,
he says, in Christ, he says, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. He is in all His people. But
before He is in all His people, He Himself is all. Is that right? All, everything. He is the Lord,
our righteousness. He is our peace. He is our salvation,
our redemption, our sanctification. And Paul is led by the Spirit
of God to remind those believers at Ephesus who knew this and
who believed that, he said, God has blessed all his people with
all spiritual blessings in him. Is that not everything? All-sufficiency
from the God who is himself all-sufficient? He was all-sufficient as He stood
as the mediator and surety of that everlasting covenant. We were not there. He was all-sufficiency when He
hung as our substitute on that cross and by Himself finished
the work. He was the all-sufficient God,
the Spirit who came to us when we were dead in trespasses and
sin and gave us life. He's everything. And it will
be Him who keeps us, who blesses us. And He'll be the one that
God always looks to and always finds everything that's necessary
to bless us and keep us and delight in us forever. God in the person and through
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, is God Almighty. He's all-sufficient. Sometimes it plagues my heart. I'm serious. It plagues my heart. that I can find in my heart an
inkling, a tendency, even to this day, to cast an eye to somewhere
else or to inside of myself or some other one. But He's everything. An old simeon of old saw that
child in the temple, the Lord Jesus Christ there as a child. He had been promised by the Spirit
of God that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. And
he looked at that child, Jesus Christ, and he said, Lord, now
let your servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He's all-sufficient. And not only that, but secondly,
He's all we need in this gospel work that He's given us. He hasn't just given me this
gospel work. He hasn't just given this preacher
over here or Brother So-and-so. The Lord's people. are all called
as His witnesses. Now, we're, on the one hand,
because religion has kind of programmed us this way, and on
the other hand, because we're still tainted with some of the
notions of this flesh with regard to this, we're always thinking
that witnessing It's what we're able to say and
convince people of about Jesus Christ. But in all truth, I believe that
for most people, it is more how we react to what God brings providentially
into our life. What people find themselves asking
us about Christ. When you go to court, They ask
you the questions, and you have to give them your answers as
a witness, giving the truth. You see, pride still shows itself
in us, and we get to thinking something like, what will happen
to us if we don't spread this gospel? God, I believe a lot
of preachers sometimes get this complex. I don't know what God would do
without me. I'm the only one out here preaching. I don't know
what God would do if I didn't preach this, if I didn't write
this. I don't know what He would do
without me. Sometimes we are plagued also
with this unbelief of another kind. He said, We can't do this,
and we can't do that, and we can't say that, and we don't
know this, and how can we live and magnify the grace of God
and the glory of God in this world? He said, Preacher, you
don't know how it is out there. Oh, yes, I do. It is out there like it so often
is in here, the world, the flesh. And to bear witness by word and
to bear witness by conduct of life, not so easy, is it? I got to thinking about what Moses was told. You read through Exodus and Jeremiah
and so many of these books, the Lord dealing with his prophets.
And prophets were just like we are today, just like I am. We
got this notion we got to tell God a lot about ourselves. We got to remind Him how weak
we are, or how ignorant we are, or how this we are, or how that
we are. Well, Moses was not unlike that. Moses said unto the Lord, O my
Lord, I am not eloquent. neither heretofore nor since
thou hast spoken unto thy servant." But I am slow of speech and slow
of tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? Who made every mouth of every
person on this earth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf,
or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord?" That mouth
you are telling me is so slow. Didn't I make it? And so everything that is needed
for the Lord's people to bear witness in this world Not only
by word, but in everything, it's His sufficiency. The Lord says to Moses, Now therefore
go, and I will be with thy mouth. I'll be with you. And teach thee what thou shalt
say. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, and look
down at Paul's words here to the Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 4,
And such trust have we through Christ to God work. He's talking about his ministry
to these people. Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves, and that would go for everything. Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, accomplished by
ourselves, done by ourselves. We haven't done anything. You
see that next line? But our sufficiency is of God. Is that right? What do you suppose
that would apply to? There isn't anything that wouldn't
apply to. Our sufficiency is of God. And he later on in this
same book, II Corinthians, he'd say, And God is able to make
all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work. all sufficiency in all things,
in everything necessary to live in this world as God's people,
and bear witness to, not only in word but in manner of life,
to the grace and goodness of God to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the third thing. He's all we need in the difficulties
of this life. Everything. Now, sometimes we
get kind of a notion that somebody like Paul was a kind of a superman. Super-Christian. But somehow he had the victorious
life, maybe. No, he had problems. He got weak. He had fear. It says in one time he got so low
that he told the other men to leave him behind He despaired
even unto death. He was like Elijah. Lord, everybody,
they've killed everybody else. Just let me die also. And he
had pain. He had real sufferings. If you'll turn over in 2 Corinthians
12, For various reasons throughout
the epistles of Paul, it's believed by most that he had like a severe
eye problem of some kind. I don't know what kind. There's
been various speculations. But evidently, it was of a kind
that maybe made him appear just a little bit grotesque or hard
to look at, just sort of distorted some way after a fashion. Maybe
his eyes were crossed or something like that, you know. But evidently
it really bothered him, really bothered him, so much so that it says here in 2 Corinthians
12 and verse 7, that this was obviously given
to him of God, sin of God to him, as a way of keeping him
humble in light of all that God had revealed to him. Verse 7,
And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance
of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. And for this thing," now listen,
for this thing, I besought the Lord thrice, three times, that it might depart from me. But now you look at what God
tells this man. And he said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness, Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's For when I'm weak, then I'm strong. When I'm weak, then I'm strong. Why? Because I'm trusting God's
strength and not mine. Because that's when I'm seeking
His great sufficiency to fill up my great insufficiency. I suppose that the things he
lists here would cover just about everything in the human experience. Sickness of body, family troubles, troubles out
in this world, hardship, whatever it is, the first thing that God
tells this man is, is sufficient for you." Whatever it is. I thought about it when Jacob
met Esau. When they had their reunion,
you know, and Jacob was scared to death, and so he comes prepared
to offer Esau a big present. He got the birthright, but he
comes prepared to offer Esau a big present. And when he offers it to him,
Esau says, I have enough, my brother. And Jacob responds and says,
I have all things. Nobody but the Lord's people
can say, I have all things. They have all things because they have the God-man.
who is none other than God Almighty, the All-Sufficient One. And He's the nourisher and the
strength giver and the satisfier, and He's everything. We have all things because we
have God Almighty. Not ever going to be without.
Can never be found without. And it's when we find out what
we don't have of ourselves that we really see what we do
have in Him. He said to that old man, this
is all going to happen. You don't have it, but I do."
And he did. He did. Our Father, tonight, we thank
you for such goodness to us. And I do wish that we could,
Lord, get just a little clearer glimpse, have a little more faith
to believe. and be enabled to see your great sufficiency. And that we might in all our
lives, in everything, and most especially, Lord, in the matter
of our soul's salvation, remember and find ourselves assured that God our Savior, God our Savior in Christ, is God Almighty, all-sufficient,
and we have no want. In those times, Lord, we'll find
ourselves praying, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not be in need. Help us, Lord, we pray. Bless
these sick and aging and troubled ones, our own afflictions and
problems and cares, Lord, that are common to us all. Help us,
we pray. For we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.