with the piano, so say hi to
her. I'm sure everybody's already
said hi to her. I guess you'll be here through Sunday, Joy?
Okay. Let's open tonight's service with hymn number 23. Let's all
stand together. Hymn number 23, Come We That
Love the Lord. Come we that love the Lord, and
let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord,
and thus surround the throne. Let those refuse to sing who
never knew our God, but children of the heavenly King may speak
their joys abroad. The hill of Zion yields a thousand
sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the
golden streets. Then let our songs abound, and
every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's
ground to favor worlds on high. Please be seated. Good evening. We're going to
be reading from Daniel chapter four, Daniel chapter four. You'd
like to turn with me there in your Bibles. There's a verse
or two in this passage that we often quote, but I want to read
a little bit more of the, of the passage beginning in verse
30. The king spake and said, is not
this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom
by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?
Now there's a free will gospel right there. There's a works
gospel. Man believes that what he's done,
he did by his will and by his works. While the word was in
the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O
king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is
departed from thee. There's no hope of being a part
of the kingdom of God if you think that your entrance in is
because of something you did. and they shall drive thee from
men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field,
and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times
shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth
in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he wills." You're
going to have perfect insanity until I brought you to the place
to where you know that salvation's of the Lord. The same hour was
this thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and
he did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew
of heaven, until his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers,
and his nails like bird's claws. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me." There it is. He's going to be put in his right
mind now. He's going to be given the mind of Christ. His understanding
returned unto him. And I blessed the Most High,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to
generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? At the same time, my reason returned
unto me. And for the glory of my kingdom,
my honor and brightness returned unto me and my counselors and
my Lord sought unto me and I was established in my kingdom and
excellent majesty was added unto me." What a picture of the new
birth put into the family of God, made prince, kings and priests
before our God as John tells us in Revelation and all the
excellency of Christ. is added unto us. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, all whose works
are truth, and His ways judgment, and those that walk in pride
He is able to abase. Unless Brian has gotten out of
the hospital in the last few hours, if anybody knows any different,
he's still there. So let's let's pray together. Mhm. Our merciful and gracious God,
we're thankful that we can come into thy presence. No, Lord,
that there's a throne of grace. No, that we have an advocate.
No, that we have not only access father, but acceptance before
the through the shed blood, righteousness, the satisfied justice that the
Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished on our behalf. Father, we pray that you would
send your Holy Spirit and power that you would cause us once
again to see our dependence upon you. Make us Lord to be as little
children for such as the kingdom of God. Cause us Lord to confess
with with Nebuchadnezzar that you reign sovereign over the
armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth. Lord,
to to bow before the trusting you and your work, which is truth
for all our salvation. We pray for Brian. Thank you
for his testimony. Thank you for the work of grace
that you're doing in his heart. We pray, Lord, for your mercy
upon him. Lord, we know that you are able
to heal, and if it be thy will, we pray that you would. We pray,
Lord, that you would cause each of us to remember and to to understand
the brevity of our lives here and to find our hope and our
trust in thy dear son. Pray for Pam and Charlie and
asked Lord that you would add grace and peace to their hearts. We prayed in Christ's name. Amen. Number 311, 311. Just the first
three verses, 311. We would see Jesus for the shadows
lengthen across the little landscape of our life. We would see Jesus, our weak
faith to strengthen, For the last weariness, the final strive. We would see Jesus, the great
rock foundation, where on our feet were set by sovereign grace. Not life nor death, with all
their agitation, Can thence remove us if we see His face? We would see Jesus, other lights
are paling, which for long years we have rejoiced to see. The blessings of our pilgrimage
are failing, Please be seated. Would you open your Bibles with
me to 2 Corinthians? chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter
5, I want to try to speak for just
a little while on a subject that is infinite, infinite. For all eternity we're going
to be thinking about the glorious truth of this subject that is
before us tonight. It's found in verse 18. And we
are not in any way taking anything out of context to just remove
the first phrase of that verse and use that as our text. All things are of God. All things are of God. We worship
a God who, as Nebuchadnezzar just confessed, is sovereign. He rules and reigns over the
armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and he hath done
whatsoever he wills. All things are of God. All things in creation are of
Him. In the beginning, God. Oh, if the Lord could give us
faith to believe... How many words is that? In the
beginning, God. If the Lord would give us faith
to believe the first four words of the Bible, everything else
would make sense. In the beginning, God. Our God is absolutely in control
of everything. In creation, John put it like
this, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. In the beginning, I mean, I'm
sorry, the same was in the beginning with God, and all things were
made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was
made. Everything in creation is of
God. Oh, if the Lord would give us
eyes to see. I love what I read one man say many years ago. He
said, all of creation is a commentary on scripture. If we could just
see how the Lord has knit together the miracle of creation, it would
illuminate for us the truth of the gospel. And I'm just certain
that that's true. The firmaments declare His glory. Everywhere we look, we see the
hand of God. In years past, the insurance
companies used to call a natural disaster an act of God. I don't
think they do that anymore. Doesn't mean that it's not. It
is an act of God. It's all of God. Whether he sends
a beautiful day like we enjoyed today or he sends a hurricane
to destroy man and property, it's of God. He, all, look, all
things are of God. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament show His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. Everywhere we look,
if we believe, that our God reigns, then everywhere we look in creation,
we will see his hand at work. All things are of God. In the
providence of your life and my life and the circumstances of
this world, all things are of God. They are. We know that. You know that all
things work together for good for them that love God and the
call according to His purpose. Now that's our hope as believers
that our sovereign God is working out these providential things. You ever heard someone say, well
you know it was providential that that happened. Everything's
providential. Everything. There's nothing outside
of God's providence. Everything that happens. Now
for the child of God it's good. The unbeliever can find no comfort
in knowing that God in his providence has ordered and purposed everything
for his glory and for the good of his children, but doesn't
make his providence any less true. All things are of God. Blessings and trials. The truth is that our trials
are blessings. We could say the good things
and the bad things, but truth is there's no such thing as bad
things for the child of God. And so all things, whether they
are easy or whether they're hard, they're of God. All things are
of God. You know, The world defines peace
as the absence of conflict. The believer defines peace as
the presence and the power of Christ in their hearts. We don't look to our circumstances
to try to have peace. We look to Christ, and regardless
of whether He's put us on a stormy sea or in a calm, easy place,
our peace doesn't come from our circumstances. It comes from
Him. The peace of God. which passes
human understanding. It passes human understanding
because they don't understand that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is our Prince of Peace. That it's His peace that He gives
us and that our peace is found in Him because we have peace
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And if I've got peace
with God and God before me, who can be against me? Who can be
against me? Here's our text. Look at it again.
All things are of God. Do you believe that? All things. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
45. Isaiah 45. I want the Lord to drive this
truth home to my heart and to your heart right now. that all
things are of God, everything. Isaiah chapter 45, read with
me, beginning in verse 5, I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee, though thou hast not known me. Even before you
knew me, I formed you in the womb. I ordained and ordered
all the steps of your life to bring you where you are now,
that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west
and that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is
none else. I form the light and I create
darkness. I make peace and I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Do you believe that? If we enjoy a time of political
peace, it's of the Lord. If there's turmoil and war and
conflict and attacks, it's of the Lord. Has evil come to this
city and the Lord has not caused it? All things, all things are
of God. Look at verse eight. Drop down
ye heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it. Oh, drop down, Lord. Send your spirit. in power to
remind me again and again and again that all things are of
God. Everything. There's not a molecule
out of place. Everything's right on schedule.
And look what the next verse says. Here's our warning. Here's
our warning. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Woe unto him that calleth into
question the providence and purpose of God. Let the potsherds strive
with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say unto him that
fashioned it, what maketh thou or thy work? He hath no hands. Accused God
of wrongdoing. Does God not have the right to
make of the same lump of clay some vessels of honor and some
dishonor? Nobody can question God. Oh Lord,
give me the faith to trust you for all things. Now particularly,
particularly in the area of salvation, all things are of God. If the
Lord had not, according to his own will and purpose, chosen
a people in the covenant of grace, if he had not elected a people,
no one would choose him. He said, you did not choose me,
I chose you. There's no gospel outside of
God's sovereign electing grace. All things are of God. He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. How are we going
to be holy? How are we going to be without
blame? How are we going to stand before God in love? Only if He
elects us, if He chooses us, having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children to Himself according, according, according
to the good pleasure of His will. All things are of God. Beginning
with election, all things are of God. Being made a sinner,
All things are of God. In creation, all things are of
God. In providence, all things are of God. In salvation, election,
depravity. Now don't confuse feeling guilty
for your sin as being made a sinner. That's nothing but the work of
a man's conscience. Men know that they're in between
right and wrong, and they know when they do wrong. or being sorry for your sins,
or trying to atone for your sins. That's not being made a sinner. Being made a sinner is what happens
when God shows you what it was that was necessary to put away
your sin. Adam knew that he had sinned,
didn't he? He had a guilty conscience. He
was sorry for what he had done. He was trying to cover it up.
He was trying to atone for his sin. He was trying to hide from
God, wasn't he? When did Adam become a sinner? When did he
become a sinner in his own heart? You say, well, he became a sinner
when he decided to take that fruit. Well, before God, yes. But when did God make him a sinner? You know, I just think probably
it's true that that lamb, I understand that lambs can make very affectionate
pets. And I like thinking about the
fact that that lamb that the Lord took and slew right before
Adam, Adam never seen blood before. I wonder if it was his pet lamb,
the lamb that he had spent time with, you know, right there But
he was horrified, horrified when he saw the shedding of that blood.
And that's when Adam became a sinner. When he saw what it took in order
to cover up his sin before God. And that's when you and I'll
be made a sinner. When God's pleased to reveal the work of
Christ on the cross for us. You're not gonna see yourself
as a sinner by looking at your sin. You see yourself as a sinner
by seeing what it took God to put away your sin. That's when
you see how evil your sin is. Looking to Christ. Looking unto
Him. And I, if I be lifted up, if
I be lifted up, will draw all men to myself. And that's a miracle of grace. It wasn't until Isaiah saw the
Lord that he concluded, woe is me. It wasn't until Job had the
Lord speak to him personally and reveal himself to Job that
Job was able to say, behold, I am vile. It wasn't until Peter,
Peter saw the crucifixion of Christ, he saw his bloody sacrifice,
And he said, Oh Lord, depart from me for I'm a sinful man.
What did Daniel say? When I saw him, my comeliness
was turned into corruption. You see, that's when we, and
that's a miracle of grace because we're dependent upon him to reveal
himself to us. And that's why we've been called
by God to preach Christ. Because in preaching Christ,
men are made to be sinners. All things are of God. You find
a sinner, you found a miracle of grace. You know, I was thinking,
Michael read from Romans Sunday morning, and we've looked
at that passage of Scripture where, in Galatians, where it
says that the law was our schoolmaster. And it says, to bring us, which
is not in the text, to Christ. We were under the law until Christ
came, and now we're under grace. But if the law plays any part
at all in bringing us to Christ, it's not that we need to preach
the law in order for men to see themselves as sinners. It's that
the law, as you said Sunday, Michael, portrays the excellency
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the law does. The law, you know, putting the
Ten Commandments on the walls in our schools is not going to
restrain our children from breaking God's Ten Commandments. It's
the law demonstrates and exalts and portrays the glorious excellency
and perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's all we need
to know about the law. Is that that's who it shows and
there's nothing about that that I can relate to. Nothing about
him that I can compare myself to. He's holy. He's other than I am in every
way. All I need to know about the
law is I've never been able to keep one jot or tittle of it
for one moment. And he kept every bit of it.
He kept every bit of it perfectly. What a glorious Christ. God makes
you to be a sinner, you can say, all things are of God. He made
me to be a sinner. He chose me in Christ. He elected me. Redemption, all
things are of God. All things are of God. By his
own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. having obtained eternal redemption
for us. All things are of God. If you
and I are going to be redeemed, we're going to be redeemed by
what He obtained for us. All things are of God. We can't redeem ourselves. What
are we going to give God to pay for our sins? He's pleased with
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass it by you. Our redemption is bound up in
the blood of Christ, in whom we have redemption through His
blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of His grace. According to the riches of His
grace. All things are of God. If we're going to be elected,
He's going to have to elect us. It's so shameful, isn't it, to
hear what people say about, you know, let Jesus come into your
heart and make this decision and pray this prayer and, you
know, God loves everybody and Christ died for everybody. As
if God's like one of these shameful politicians that we're being
forced to listen to right now, you know, begging for votes and
promoting themselves. Well, God's not like that. He's
not like that. He's not begging for votes. And
he doesn't have to promote himself. All things are of God. He will
bring glory to himself. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. All things are of God. If we're going to be redeemed,
if we're going to be made a sinner, God's going to have to do it.
If we're going to be elected, if we're going to be a part of
His kingdom, He's going to have to choose us. All things are
of God. In creation, in providence, in
salvation. What are you and I going to do
to justify ourselves before God? How are we going to justify ourselves?
Men try it all the time. You know, we go back to the garden,
and Adam, that was the first thing out of his mouth, wasn't
it? Trying to justify himself, you know, Lord, it was the woman
that you gave me. Really God, all that's happened
here is your fault. It's all your fault. And man's
been playing the blame game ever since, hasn't he? That's all
we do, is just blame one another, blame God, accuse everybody else.
When you and I stand before God, if we're going to be justified
in his presence, if we're going to be without sin, he's going
to have to do it. He's going to have to do it.
Titus chapter three, verse five, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by
the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy ghost. We're justified, which He shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Being justified
by His grace, being justified by His grace, we should be heirs
of the hope of eternal life. If you and I are going to be
justified in the presence of God, we can't justify ourselves.
We can't make any excuses for our sins. Well, all we can do
is bear full responsibility for everything we've ever done. He's
going to have to justify us by His grace. All things are of
God. Aren't you glad? You know, here's
the glorious truth. If all things are of God, then
when He does it, it's done right. It's done right. If I try to
choose Him, or make myself to be a sinner, or redeem myself,
or justify myself, all I'm going to do is mess my salvation up. All things are of God. If He sets your heart to prayer, You know, prayer is not vain
repetition. It's not a habit. It's not, you
know, it's not something that, you know, I had somebody tell
me today, well, you know, I pray for you. And I know they don't
know the gospel. They don't know Christ. They're
praying to a false god. They're very diligent and going
through the ritual of praying. If you and I ever really pray,
it will be because God made us to pray. He put it on our hearts
to pray. He drew us into his presence
and gave us the words to speak. All things are of God. Our faith
is of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith and not of yourself. It's a gift of God. Faith is
not our contribution to salvation. Faith is a work of grace that
God has to do when He takes out the heart of stone and puts in
a heart of flesh and gives us eyes to see and causes us to
look to Christ. That's a work of God. All things
are of God. Wasn't that picture of that demoniac
in Mark chapter 5 such a glorious picture of You know, people read
that story and they think about all these debilitating habits
and sins and self-destructive patterns that people have in
their lives. I'm going to make a statement
right now. There's not a single outward behavioral problem that
men can't fix with the power of their own flesh. Not a single
one. If you're disciplined enough,
and you're sick and tired of being sick and tired enough,
and you got some help, you can conquer any behavioral problem. That's not what that picture
of the demoniac's about. There's one thing you cannot
do. You're bound by the chains of
Satan. The Lord said, He said the gates
of hell will not be able to prevail against this gospel. Why? Because
I'm gonna have to go into the pit of hell to get them out.
And I'm gonna have to destroy the work of the devil. And I'm
gonna have to lead captivity captive. Why? Because there's
one thing they can't do. They are enslaved to the God
of this world who has blinded the eyes of them who believe
not. They can not believe. They can't believe. You can't drum up faith. Now, if you're a child of God,
what you're saying right now is, oh Lord, that's true. I need
you to enable me to believe. Cause me to believe. Turn me,
Lord. It's expedient for you that I
go away. If I go not away, the Comforter will not come. But
when He comes, what's He going to do? What's He going to do? He's going to convict the world
of sin. Does that mean that He's going
to make you feel really bad about all the bad things you've done?
No! He's gonna convict the world
of sin because they believe not on me. Lord, there's the sin
that does so easily beset me and there's the cause of all
my problems, unbelief. And I keep chaining myself thinking,
well, I'll just try a little harder. And no man can restrain
me and I just keep breaking the chains. Lord, you're gonna have
to deliver me. You're going to have to give
me faith. You're going to have to do a
work of grace in my heart. All things are of God. Do you
believe that? All things are of God. If you're able to hear the truth,
it's of God. If I'm able to preach the truth,
it's of God. If you're able to love the brethren,
it's of God. If you're able to hate your sin,
it's of God. If there are times when When
sin would break out in shameful behavior and you're restrained
from that, it's of God. It's of God. All things are of God. He's the one who works in us,
causing us to will and to do of His good pleasure. He's the
one that orders our steps. He's the one that corrects us
and disciplines us. He's the one who puts into our
hearts the desire for obedience. It's of God. We're not becoming
stronger. We're growing in grace and in
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, understanding more and
more that everything is of God. Everything's of Him. Completely
dependent upon Him. In that regard, our sanctification
is regressive, not progressive. If you are able to bear the burdens
of your brethren, it's of God. If you show acts of kindness
towards men, particularly unto those who are the household of
faith, it's of God. You wouldn't do that. It's of
God. All things are of God. All things. If you have a willingness and
a faithfulness to give and to acknowledge your possessions
belong to God and to contribute to the work of the ministry,
it's of God. It's of God. He put that in your
heart. All things are of God. What do we conclude? Without Christ, I can do nothing. Nothing. We really are little
children. And we see more and more that
as sin abounds, grace does much more bound, and that's of God. And we understand more and more
that all the flowers of this world fade. They wither and they die. The rose of Sharon and the lily
of the valley is the only one that not only never wilts, but
becomes increased in beauty and fragrance day by day. And that's
of God. That's of God. And for the child of God, just
like with Nebuchadnezzar, he gets all the glory. He gets
all the glory. As we look about at God's handiwork,
Oh, would he remind us it's of God. As we see the circumstances
of this world and of our lives, might we be reminded it's the
Lord. And as we consider the hope of
our salvation from election to redemption, to be made a center,
to justification, to glorification, to our sanctification, and all
the works of grace that we enjoy in this walk of faith, it's of
God. All things are of God. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we're asked
that you would bless your word to our hearts and cause us, Lord,
to be reminded of what you have said. and to rejoice in knowing
that all things are of Thee. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Now thank we all our God with
hearts and hands and voices, who wondrous things hath done,
in whom his world rejoices. who from our mother's arm hath
blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours
today. O may this bounteous God through
all our life be near us, with ever joyful hearts and blessed
peace to cheer us, and keep him in his grace, and guide us when
perplexed, and free us from all ills in this world and the next. All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given The Son and Him who reigns With them
in highest heaven The one eternal God Whom earth and heaven adore,
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.