Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. 2 Corinthians 4. And let's just read verse 15. All things are for your sakes. That's our subject. All things
are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through
the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God. And the Apostle Paul gives us
here a very comforting statement for every true believer. This
is for God's elect. And he says here, all things
are for your sakes, Now I began working on this last week and
I was thinking it was the message I would preach this Thursday.
And then this morning I received a text from Brother Kevin Thacker
with pictures of a big tree that fell through his house last night. And so I knew then this is what
I was going to preach for sure. And we know from 1 Corinthians
3 that we can apply this in a very wide way. I'm going to look at
the context of it a little later in the message. But we know from
1 Corinthians 3 and verse 21 that this applies in a very wide
way. Paul said there, Let no man glory
in men, for all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things
to come, all are yours. And you are Christ's, and Christ
is God's. So the same man is writing our
texts that we just read by the same Spirit of God, so we see
this can be applied in a wide way, not just only to the context. We will look at that, but this
is a wide meaning. So first of all tonight I want
to look at the fact that all things are for your sakes. And
then I want to look at the means, the abundant grace, the abundant
grace of God. And then the purpose, that through
the thanksgiving of many it might redound to the glory of God. That God be thanked and glorified.
Now, everything is for the believer's sake. Everything. And it's all
through the abundant grace of God. And the purpose in all of
it is to bring us to thank God and to glorify God. Now, first
of all, the fact. All things are for your sakes.
Now, in eternity, God ordered all things in His everlasting
covenant of grace for His elect people. For those He gave to
Christ, He ordered all things. David said, He's made with me
an everlasting covenant ordered in all things. Now we're talking
about salvation. All things in salvation are yours. All things in salvation are worked
out by God for His elect. All things. or hours by God's
grace. He said He made an everlasting
covenant with me, ordered in all things and sure. And this
is all my salvation. This is it. This is all my salvation. This is all my desire. So from
eternity, God the Father trusted the whole work. All things that
He ordered. Those all things that He ordered,
He trusted it into the hand of His Son. as the mediator between
God and His elect to work out all these things. In Matthew
11, 27, the Lord Jesus said, All things are delivered unto
Me of My Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son.
And He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. So He said there
clearly that all these things, all the things God ordered in
that everlasting covenant of grace, all those things were
delivered into Christ's hand. That's what's included there.
All the works, all the promises in that everlasting covenant
to His people was given to Christ, put in Christ's hand to fulfill
the works, to make sure all the promises. And then we know this,
all the elect of God were put in Christ's hand. He trusted
Him with all His elect. He gave them all to Christ to
save them, to keep them, and to bring them to glory and present
them complete and whole. And so all things in accomplishing
our redemption was in Christ's hand. All things in accomplishing
our redemption was in His hand. When He went to the cross, He
said, we're going to Jerusalem right now so that all things
shall be fulfilled. which were written in the Law
of Moses, in the Prophets, in the Psalms, all things. And He fulfilled all things.
He said, it is finished. One of the last things it says
is that all things be fulfilled, that all the Scriptures might
be fulfilled. He said, I thirst. And then He said it's finished.
He finished all things required, all things written of Him, all
things required to redeem His people. And He did it. He did
it. He accomplished it. And now all
things in revealing the mysteries of His grace are in Christ's
hands. He's risen and God's given him
the authority and the power so that revealing this mystery is
all in Christ's hand. He does it through the Holy Spirit,
but you remember He said when the Holy Spirit comes, He won't
speak of Himself. He'll bring you into remembrance
of all things that I've spoken. And so all this revealing of
this grace, of all these things, revealing all these things to
us in our hearts, that's put into Christ's hand. And all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ. And He reveals
it to whomsoever He will. And all the blessings of grace
are all in Christ's hand. Every blessing, you know, in
Ephesians 1, God said He blessed His people with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places according as He chose us in Christ.
All those blessings are in Christ's hand to give to His people. So
all things are in His hand. Not only that, all men outside
of Christ, all the non-elect are in Christ's hand. All wicked
sinners are in His hand. All good angels and all fallen
angels, all good spirits and all wicked spirits is all in
His hand. And He uses them and rules them
and accomplishes His purpose for the sake of His people. It's
all in His hands. And all things shall be fulfilled
by our prophet, priest, and king because right now the Scripture
says this. Go to Colossians 1. I want you
to read this. Colossians 1. This is the all things passage
right here. Colossians 1 and look at verse
16. It's talking about Christ He
said there about Christ being the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of every creature. And he's telling here why He's
the firstborn. Of everything created, He's the firstborn.
For by Him were all things created. See, God put that in Christ's
hand to even make the first creation. And He did it because the second
creation, the making of the second creation is in Christ's hand.
All things were created by Him that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. I said good angels, fallen angels,
wicked spirits, good spirits, they're all in His hands. The
Scripture says, The Lord hath made all things for Himself,
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. All things is in
Christ's hand. It says in verse 17, And He is
before all things, and by Him all things consist. That means
they all continue because He is upholding all things. And
He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have
the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. and having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself. By Him I say whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven." And he's talking there
about all His people. All those that are already with
the Father and those that are still in this earth. All His
people were reconciled to God by the Lord Jesus. See, all things
are in His hand. That's why 2 Corinthians 5.17 Paul says, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature, a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new. And all things are of God. God the Father chose His people
and ordered this salvation and then He trusted into the hands
of His Son. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us
to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation." Now, Christ will have no problem fulfilling
all His people with this gospel because everything is in His
hand. And the Scripture says this,
God hath put all things under His feet. Right now, He's risen. God has put all things under
His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church. And that church is His body,
the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. So, when He calls
us, this is what He does. It says, according as His divine
power hath given us some things that we got to do. That's not
what it said. It says, according as His divine
power hath given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness
through the knowledge of Him that's called us to glory and
virtue. Now this is why I tried to cover from the very election
of God to the glorification of His saints. I'll show you, it's
all in Christ's hand. Everything is in His hand. Scripture
says, He shall present us to Himself without spot and blemish. Christ will do that. And all
things are of Him. It's all been in His hands. This
is why when He calls His people, this is why we declare Christ
is all and in all. Because all things are of Him.
All things are of Him. Now, for those that haven't believed
on Him, don't imagine that you have to come to a certain degree
of knowledge. That's self-righteousness. Thinking,
I have to attain a certain level of knowledge. You have to know
Christ. You have to know Christ. What
do I know about Him? That all things are of Him. and
that He is all things. All things are of Him, all things
are by Him, and He's all things I need. So He tells us, don't
imagine now that there's something else for you to do to acquire
something to make you fit to come to Him. He says this, Behold,
all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. All things
are ready. Peter tells us about a salvation
prepared. A salvation ready. All things
are ready. Nothing is keeping the sinner
from Christ but the sinner. Nothing. He's ready to receive
His people that come to Him begging mercy. But don't ever think you
have to prepare yourself to come to Him. You'll never come to
Him. Ever. All things are ready. Now, just
as truly as all our salvation is in Christ's hands, so too
all things in providence are in His hands. Everything that
comes to pass is coming to pass according to our great Mediator
as He's ruling everything in heaven and in earth. Everything
that's coming to pass, all providence is in His hands. And the things
He's bringing to pass is just as needful for you and me as
the things He's done in salvation. Now think about that. The things
that happen to us in this life, they're not happening by accident,
they're happening on purpose. Go to Romans 8. And they're all
just as needful for us as the things that He's worked in salvation.
Romans 8, 28. We know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. For every believer, all things
are for your sakes, and all things are worked together by our great
God and our Savior for your good on purpose. Everything. Just
like our calling was on purpose, everything is working together
for our good is on purpose. Now, when a physician prescribes
medicine, that medicine may have one name, but most of the time
it has a lot of different things in it. It has a lot of different
compounds in it that make that medicine. Now, if you had just
one of those compounds, or you took a lot of just one of those,
it might very well cure you. But, when they work together
in just the right amount, it's the medicine you need to cure
you. Well, God's making all things
work together for good, for His people. All things are working
together and none of those things are working separately. Good things are worked with bad
things. And the things that make you
smile and make you laugh and make you rejoice are worked together
with the things that make you cry and break your heart. They
work together. Temporal things are worked together
with spiritual things. All things are worked together
for your good. Now, you think about this. You
just, you know, the Kellers, you all had a tree fall on you,
on that shed that we all worked on over there. I had one fall
right behind our house. You know, think about how Kevin
and Kimberly thought when they woke, how they felt when they
woke up this morning, there's a tree on their roof and limbs
on their car. Now, if God worked that every
single day of your life, that wouldn't help you, would
it? That wouldn't help us. But He doesn't work things like
that every single day of your life. He works that together
with some other things. But just as that bad thing would
be bad for you, if He didn't work anything but good things
for you, He'd be just as bad for you. Just as bad. But He works those things together.
It's not the thing alone that is for our good. It's all things
worked together for our good. Too much prosperity would ruin
us the same as too much poverty would ruin us. And the same as
too much joy or too much misery, it would ruin us. God knows exactly
how and exactly when to work the things together so it will
be for our good. And it's all according to His
purpose. Everything is done just the way it should be done, by
His purpose. But what about those poor saints
that suffer wave upon wave upon wave of affliction? I do know
some saints that have suffered a long, long time. Some like
Paul, he said, I have a thorn in the flesh and God wouldn't
remove it. God wouldn't remove it. He suffered with it all his
life. And I know of saints that have
suffered a long, long time with things. But I know this, God's
given more grace. When He gives more affliction,
He gives more grace. He doesn't work one thing alone.
If He works a great temporal affliction, He's working that
together with a great spiritual blessing of grace. And I know
brethren who suffered some severe, severe trouble. Loss of children, loss of multiple
children. Loss of loved ones that they
loved dearly. And I've known brethren that
have terminal illnesses. And I've seen this and I know
this is so. You know, we're not doing anything
of ourselves. It's always of God's grace. And wherever He gives that kind
of a burden, that kind of affliction, He gives more grace. I've seen
people suffering. I watched my pastor's wife die
of cancer in six months. Maybe a little longer than that,
but it was fast. And she had more grace and was
more happy than some people I know that were well at the time. Wherever
He gives affliction, He is going to give grace. You can just bank
on that. And the good thing that God is
working in this is not what the worldly man calls good. What He is working in this is
a true, lasting, spiritual, eternal good. Paul said in 2 Corinthians
4, after our text, he said, while we look not at the things which
are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. He's turning us from this world.
We just sing it, Art. That song you sang was better
than the one I had picked out to sing. That's not by accident
either. Day by day, these things are
losing their They're glory to us, and they're becoming decayed,
and all around us we see this decay. And at the same time,
God's working it to where Christ is more lovely. And the things
that you can't see become more endeared to you. I had something
in my life one time, and it was way up here, and my heart for
Christ was down here. And by the time God got through,
it was just the opposite. I loathed that thing that I once
thought I had to have. And I wanted to be with Christ.
I wanted to be with His people. I wanted to serve Him. I didn't
want to have anything to do with that anymore. God will do that. That's what He's working. In
each case, it's so that that suffering saint not only can
see Christ and see everything we have in Christ, but so that
you can comfort other brethren who are suffering in those kinds
of afflictions too. Go back with me to 2 Corinthians
1. Now this is the context. You know, Paul's been talking
about how much he suffered as an apostle for the Corinthians
to bring the gospel to them. That's the context he's been
speaking about. And he said that He said that
He did it for their sakes. All the things He suffered was
for their sakes. So they would have the Gospel
and they would have life through God's grace. Now look at this.
Verse 3, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who
comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." Now
watch this, "...and whether we be afflicted, It's for your consolation
and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same suffering
which we also suffer, or whether we be comforted. It's for your
consolation and your salvation. You see that? He said that whether
we be afflicted or whether we be comforted, it's both for the
same thing. It's for your consolation and
salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast,
knowing that as you partakers of the sufferings, so shall you
be also of the consolation." You know, if you go sit down
by somebody's bedside that's sick or, you know, got something
terribly wrong with them in the hospital or at the house or whatever,
that would be a good scripture to read to them. And then tell
them your comfort. Because that's why God puts us
through these afflictions, is so we can comfort others in any
trouble they're in. We're the same comfort. And we're
comforted with Christ. Christ. So all these things are
to bring us to Christ's feet, that we might be used to bring
others to Christ's feet through the gospel of Christ. That's
what they're for. Now let's look at the means just
a moment. The means by which God is doing this is abundant
grace. It's all done by His abundant
grace. Now everything that God gives
to His people, He gives in abundance. All the good things He gives
us, He gives in abundance. The Scripture says we have abundant
life. Christ came, He said, I am come
that they might have life and that they might have it more
abundantly. Now I don't know what all that
means, but I do know it means this. Adam had life in the garden. He had a sinless life in the
garden. But you know the life Adam had,
even in that sinless state, is not as good as the life you have
right now in a sinful state? I'll tell you why. Adam could
fall. You can't fall. We can't ever be snatched out
of Christ's hand. That's abundant life. That's
eternal. That's what we have by the eternal
Lord Jesus Christ. We have an abundant supply for
everything we need. Philippians 4.19, Paul said,
My God shall supply all your need according to His riches
in glory by Christ Jesus. That's abundant supply. And then abundant entrance. Peter
said, an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Right
now we have abundant entrance. The Hebrew writer said, we got
a new and living way through Christ. We can enter in through
our high priest, through our lamb, Christ Jesus. We can enter
in to the holiest of holies, into Christ's presence. That's
something nobody could do in the old covenant. And people
now who are trying to come to God under that old covenant still
can't do it. But you and I have a new way
into the holiest of holies, Christ alone, through faith in Him.
And then when this life is over, He's going to give us an abundant
entrance into His presence. And then we have abundant satisfaction. The Lord said through the psalmist,
they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house,
and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
He's not being frugal with his pleasures that he gives to his
people. He gives them in abundance. It's not lean, it's fat, his
blessings that he gives in his house. And all of these blessings
we have in abundance are all by His abundant grace. By His abundant grace. Grace
is God's free favor, sovereignly given by God to whom He'll give
it. And it's given to helpless sinners
that in no way deserve it. Grace. Everything He does for
His people is by grace. From election to glory, we are
saved by abundant grace. Go to Romans 5. This right here
pretty much covers it all. Romans 5. And look at verse 20. It says,
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But
where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound. And he tells us what that means.
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin abundantly reigned over us
to kill us. And that was the end of that
story. But Christ came along and by God's abundant grace,
now grace reigns. And it reigns through righteousness.
God's done it right. He didn't do it at the expense
of His justice. He did it right. He honored His law because He
killed everybody justly that He saves. He executed us when
He slew His Son. So His law is upheld. Justice is satisfied. And when
He did that, Christ our Lord justified us of all our sin.
So this is abundant life reigning through Christ Jesus. And God
is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always,
having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good
work. The Hebrew writer said, God will
work in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight. He will make you
do that which is well pleasing in His sight. And He's going
to do it by giving you and me abundant grace so that we have
all sufficiency in all things that we may abound to whatever
good work it is He's given us to do. You know, if you and I
want to do something for somebody or do something in the cause
of Christ, but we don't have a sufficient supply to do it, according to that verse, God
hasn't called us to do it. Because if He calls you to do
it, He's going to provide all grace so that you have a full
sufficiency to do whatever He's called you to do. And listen to this, all God's
grace is abundant because it's all given to us through Christ.
Everything is abundant grace because it's all given to us
through Christ. That verse in Romans 8.32 that we read where
He said, He spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for
us all. Now listen, how shall He not with Him? How shall He
not with Christ freely, also freely, that's grace, freely
give us all things? And so He does. He gives us all
things freely by His grace through Christ's redemption. and reconciliation,
and regeneration, adoption, spiritual gifts, all things in providence. We have to say what Paul said,
by the grace of God I am what I am. By the grace of God I am
what I am. But didn't you do something?
I didn't do a thing. Didn't you add? I didn't add
a thing. What I am right now, I am by the grace of God. I can't
say I contributed anything to my eternal spiritual well-being. Christ did it all. God did it
in Christ. Now here's the end purpose. That
the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound
to the glory of God. That means that when He's given
you all this grace, and He's done all this work, It's going
to all go back multiplied by many, thanking God and glorifying
God. It's going to start out working
in a few, from Christ to His apostles, from His apostles to
their disciples, from their disciples into other churches. And it's
come to us, it's been redounding wider and wider with more and
more and more people thanking God and giving Him the glory.
And that's how you'll keep doing it. You'll keep causing it to
work. Now this is true, believer, when
it's all said and done. When everything is said and done,
every hill and every valley, every season of rejoicing and
every tear, all spiritual blessings and all temporal blessings, even
those things that didn't look like blessings to us, that just
made us mourn and ache in our very being. When it's all said
and done, it's going to be said of every child of God what was
said of Abraham. Listen to this. Abraham was old
and well stricken in age. Now here's what's going to be
true of every one of God's people. And the Lord had blessed Abraham
in all things. You look at what Abraham suffered.
In all of it, God blessed him. In everything he suffered, God
was blessing him. And that's going to be true of
every one of us. And so, seeing that all things are of God, all
things are of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they're all for our
sakes. And seeing that it's all by the abundant grace of God. Scriptures tell us this, In everything
give thanks. In everything give thanks. You
know, listen, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Does it mean it's God's will
for us to give thanks? Yes. But it means in everything
give thanks because whatever is happening to me right now
is the will of God. It also means that. This is the
will of God. We have a tendency to speak of
God's blessed me and He's done something good for me and we
thank God for this or that when it's a good thing. We very seldom
thank God when it's horrible and we're on our face and we're
crying our eyes out. That's just as much a blessing
as the good thing. In everything, thank God. Because
whatever it is, this right now is the will of God. This is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. It's for us and God's working
it together for our good. And so He calls on us to thank
Him and to glorify Him. This is what the psalmist said.
You be turning to Romans 11 and I'll read you what the psalmist
said. The psalmist said, I will cry
unto God Most High, unto God that performeth all things for
me. I'll cry unto Him. I'll thank
Him. I'll pour out my needs to Him. I'll just look to Him only
because He's the one that performs all things for me. Now look here
in Romans 11.36. This is one of my favorite verses. Romans 11.36. Why do we glorify
God for all things? For of Him, and through Him,
and to Him are all things. To whom be glory forever. Amen. That's why we glorify God
for all things. All of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things. And He gets all the glory. You
know, when you look back and you see how He worked that for
my good, and you realize I wouldn't have changed it for anything,
as bad as it hurt me, I wouldn't have changed it because I see
now He worked it for my good. That's when you fall down and
say, Lord, thank You. Thank You. It's hard to thank
Him when you're in it. But when you see what He's done, you say,
thank You, Lord. I could not have arranged it that way and
would not have arranged it that way. But God did, so I glorify
Him. Father, we thank You for this
Word. We thank You for Your blessings that You give us in the good
things and in the bad things. Help us, Lord, while we're in
a fairly easy time. Help us, Lord, to remember that
when we come into a tough season, help us to remember to thank
You. Use our brethren to help encourage us and console us and
comfort us in Christ and remind us that this too is a blessing
by Your hand. Lord, we pray You'd be with Brother
Kevin and Kimberly and keep them and teach them and Lord, enable
us to help them. We pray for Your saints everywhere
that are suffering. There's so many suffering right
now. I ask, Lord, You console them and comfort them and make
them to know that all things are for their sake. Lord, we
ask that You bring our brethren home and that they are on vacation
and traveling and that You keep them safe. And Lord, we ask for
the grace to bow to whatever it is Your
will is. And we pray this now, Lord, in
the name of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen. Alright, Brother Art.