Go with me back to Romans four. Romans four. Last Sunday morning,
we had a message on everything being of the Lord. It's all of
the Lord. Everything is in his hands. His
sovereignty in all things. And I want to continue that truth
by following up with this declaration right here. He is able. He is able. Everything is of
the Lord. Everything is in his hands. He can do with it as he pleases
to do with it. And he's able to do with it as
he's pleased to do with it. A true child of God has confidence
in his authority and his ability. That really is a characteristic
of a true child of God. They have confidence in his authority
and his ability. Right here in Romans 4, this
chapter is talking about Abraham and God's promise to Abraham
that he and Sarah would have a son. And verse 20 says, Abraham
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith. giving glory to God, and being
fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also
to perform. Abraham was strong in faith,
being fully persuaded that what God had promised in his authority
He was able also to perform it. Now, where did Abraham get that
faith? Because it sure didn't come from
Abraham, did it? Anybody know the story of Abraham?
Does anybody know how Abraham reacted to God saying that him
and Sarah, they were going to have a son? That faith wasn't in Abraham.
God gave him that faith. God authored that faith. God wrought that faith. God performed that faith and
finished that faith in Abraham in spite of Abraham. God was able to do that for Abraham
and he did it. And because of that, because
of God Almighty, what God did in Abraham, our brother read to us that it
was counted to Abraham for righteousness. What God did was credited to
Abraham for his own righteousness. What God did, and therefore,
because of God's work and God's doing. Verse 20 says, Abraham
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able to perform. If a man
or a woman, if that can be said of any man or woman, God did
that. God gets the glory for that. The title of this message is,
He is able. He is able. Everything that he
has sovereignly promised, he is able also to perform. That's what God fully persuades,
fully convinces his people of. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1 12,
I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Don't you love that story? They
said to King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3, they said, our God
whom we serve is able to deliver us from your burning fiery furnace.
He's able to do that. And they said, now whether he
does, that's his business. But he is able to do that. And he did deliver them from
that burning, fiery furnace. And after he did, God dealt with
Nebuchadnezzar. And then Nebuchadnezzar said
in Daniel chapter four, his dominion, speaking of God Almighty, his
dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom continues 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? And those that walk in pride,
he is able to abase. He is able to abase. Don't we
say thank God to that? Don't we all know firsthand that
that's so? Abraham said, I'm convinced he's
able. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
said, we are convinced he's able. Nebuchadnezzar said, I'm convinced
he's able. Paul said, I am absolutely convinced. He's able. The Lord said to that centurion
one time, he said, I'll come to your house and heal your servant. That centurion said, no, I'm
convinced. Why did he say no? Can you imagine
saying no to the Lord? The Lord said, I'll come to your
house. No, no need. I'm convinced that if
you just speak the Word only, you're able to heal. You don't
even have to leave your place. You know that? He doesn't even
have to leave his place, does he? Just speak the Word only. Hebrews
11 says, These all died in faith. This is all of God's people.
These all died in faith, being fully persuaded of every promise that God has
made in his word. Every promise. That's what God-given
faith causes his elect people to believe. He is able. He's able. I want to show you seven scriptures,
and these are seven promises on God's ability concerning us. All right? One is for our warning,
and then the rest are for our comfort. And we'll just go right
through them. Number one, turn with me to Matthew
10. Matthew 10 verse 27. Our Lord said, what I tell you
in darkness that speak ye in light and what you hear in the
ear that preach ye upon the housetops and fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. We serve, every man and woman
on this earth serves, whether we know it or not, We all have
a God, a God who reigns over us. And we serve a holy and just
God. The God that is, is a holy and
just God. And every soul that walks this
earth in sin, all right, this is our warning. Every soul that walks this earth
in sin, Which is every soul on earth. Every soul on earth. Every soul
that walks this earth in sin outside of the blood covering
forgiveness that is in Christ. That soul is going to be judged.
What happened on the cross of Calvary? Jesus Christ was judged. for his people. Outside of Christ,
that soul is going to be judged. That soul is going to be condemned. What happened on the cross of
Calvary? Jesus Christ was condemned in the sin of his people, in
the stead of his people. Outside of Christ, a soul is
going to be judged. A soul is going to be condemned.
That soul is going to be damned, cast out, cut off. forsaken, every soul that does not believe
God's truth concerning Christ. and does not bow to God's truth
concerning Christ. Men and women naturally believe
what they want to believe concerning Christ. They naturally bow to
what they want to bow to concerning Christ. But every soul that doesn't
believe and bow to God's truth concerning Christ, God is going to put that soul
in hell. I know that's a hard saying,
but That's a warning that has to be told. That's not being
told anymore. Or it's being wrongly told. I know there are still
some preachers out there who get all mad and just beat their
pulpit all to pieces telling everybody you better stop sinning
or you're going to go to hell. Well, stopping sinning is not
what's going to keep a person out of hell. And the reason is
because trial you want to, you're not going to accomplish it. You're
going to be a sinner till the day you die. We need the remedy from sin.
We need the blood of Christ alone. And if we don't have it, there
is condemnation awaiting for a whole world of men and women,
boys and girls. I know that everybody thinks
that everybody is going to go to heaven. You know, Kingsport is a very
nice town. It really is full of nice people.
I think for the most part that it's law abiding citizens. It's
most people are very religious and therefore most people are
going to think that pretty much all of Kingsport is going to
fall into the heaven category. Lord, are there few that be saved?
Well, Lord, then who can be saved? I know that everybody thinks
that everybody's going to go to heaven. Well, you were born
into the world, therefore you deserve to go to heaven. Never
went to jail, therefore you deserve to go to heaven. We need to fear this true and
living God. I'm telling you. We need to fear
this true and living God. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. It's a fearful thing. How fearful? How do we know it's
fearful? Look at the cross of Calvary. That's how fearful it is. We
need to believe him. We can't unless he mercifully
gives faith to us. We need to bow to him. We can't
unless He mercifully bends our knee for us. We need to glorify Him. We can't
unless His Spirit enters us crying, Abba, Father, for us. But the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. Oh, may God put something in
our hearts that cries, Lord, do this for me. Do this for me. He said outside of Christ, there's
nothing but condemnation awaiting. And here's the thing I want to
really make known. He is able to do it. He's able
to do it. All right, that's our warning.
Let's move on to our comfort. Number two, go to Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7 verse 23, and they truly were many priests. There was a priesthood that made
all these blood sacrifices and just so many priests. They truly
were many priests because they were not suffered to continue
by reason of death. One would live and die and then
they'd make a new priest and then he'd die and they'd make
a new priest. Verse 24, but this man, Jesus Christ, because he
continueth forever, he has an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him. seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them. Does that make you want to come
to God by Jesus Christ? He is able also, he is able to
damn, but thank God, he is able also to save. With men, salvation is impossible. It's impossible. Again, men stand
in pulpit saying, now you want to be saved, don't you? Are you
going to be saved or not? With men, it's impossible. But not with God. By one man, sin entered the world,
and death by sin, and death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. But God made Christ to be sin
for us. who knew no sin. Verse 26 says,
For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. God made him
to be sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. For that reason he is able to
save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. God's people believe
that. God's people believe that. God's
people are persuaded of that. He's able. He's able to save
me. Wretched me. Number three, turn with me to
the book of Jude, just before Revelation. Jude, verse 24. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and
ever. Amen. now unto him that is able
to keep you from falling. Quite often in false religion
it's said and it's believed that you can be saved and then lost
again. You know that's not so? Do you
know that not one time has that ever happened? You know why that's so? It's because if Christ saved
us, he said that he would keep us by the power of God. He said he would keep us with
all the power that God has to keep us. He said that he would keep his
people in his hand. And then he would keep his hand
in his father's hand. And he said, nobody's coming
out of my father's hand. They'd have to get through the
Father and then Christ to get to us. He said, if I saved them, they
shall never be lost. And all of God's people say,
I actually believe that. I'm still just as much a sinner
as I ever was. I disappoint myself more now
than I used to, because I ought to know better now. I'm a worse
sinner now than I used to be, but I believe that. I believe
that he will keep me. He is able, if he wants to, he
can keep me till the day of glory, no matter what I am. He's able to save, he's able
to keep. Keep me from falling. All right,
number four, turn with me to Acts 20. Acts 20 verse 32. And now brethren, I commend you
to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build
you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. He is able not only to keep us
from falling straight into hell, but he is able to build us up
all the way to glory, all the way to an eternal inheritance
in glory. And that inheritance is Christ.
Christ is our inheritance. He is our portion, saith our
souls. He is able to deliver us from
this place right here. He's able to deliver us. He's able to deliver us from
sin. He's able to deliver us from
death. You know, death, death is killing
us. You know that? That's an interesting
truth to say. Our Lord told Adam, dying you
shall die. We died spiritually. We're born
into this world spiritually dead. That's killing us. Wages of sin
is death. And we're going to be delivered. He is able to deliver us from
sin. He's able to deliver us from
death. Death is just, it just, everything
about this world is drowning in death. We're afraid of every,
you know, we could die by eating. We send our kids out there driving
in a car, you know, you're afraid of death. You go see the doctor,
you're afraid of death. You're afraid of death. He is
able to deliver us from death. He's able to deliver, to die
no more, to never have anything to do with death ever again.
He's able to deliver us from sin, from death, from hell, from
all those things to glory. He's able to deliver us to glory. And in that moment when he delivers
us to glory, and this is gonna be so amazing, But in that moment,
when he delivers us to glory, this is what he's able to do,
okay? Go with me to Philippians 3, this is number five. Philippians 3. Verse 20, For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body. that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself." He is able to
conform us to his image. He's able to set us together
with him. He is able to make us his enemies
to be his footstool. He is able to subdue everything
to himself. He is able to gather all things
to himself. Now these last two, this is kind
of a benediction to all of this, just some final words of comfort
to leave us with. All right, here's number six.
Go to 2 Corinthians 9. Second Corinthians nine, verse
eight. And God is able to make all grace
abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all
things may abound to every good work. He is able to supply our
every need. He's able to feed us, clothe
us, protect us, comfort us, not only with physical things, but
with spiritual things. You know what we need? We need
righteousness. We need holiness. We need sanctification, purity. He's able to supply our every
need. He is able to make His grace
abound toward us. He's able to make his gospel
abound toward us. I want his gospel to abound toward
me. Do you ever want this gospel
to grow old to you? You ever want to get used to
it? I've heard that before. You ever want that to happen?
You know, for the rest of our days, he's able to feed us with
the gospel. He's able to literally clothe
us again with his righteousness, the warmth of his covering. He's able to keep us from that
lukewarm state that none of us want to go to. He's able to do that. He can
make, he giveth more grace. He giveth more grace. He's able
to make his grace abound toward us. He's able to make his grace
abound in us. He's able to make the joy of
salvation and the joy of union with Christ and the joy of union
with his people. He's able to make it precious
to us. Lord, make it precious to me. He's able to not just feed us
with His Word, He's able to make us fat on it. Anybody want to
get fat? I do. He's able to not just provide
His living water to our thirsty souls, He's able to make our
cups just run over, just spill over. And that truth right there, that'll
bring us to number seven, okay? Turn with me to Ephesians three. Ephesians chapter three. Verse 20. Ephesians 3 verse 20 it says,
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in
us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout
all ages. world without end. Amen. That's what God's people believe
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Now unto him that's able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that works in us. Whatever we need from him, whatever
we're hoping from him, and we think, oh, I hope something like
that could work out. Oh, I hope he would do something
like that. Listen, he's able to do exceeding
abundantly above whatever you are able to work out in your
mind. However you have it figured, he can do greater than that. Exceeding abundantly above. And we'll look back on it and
say, man, that was incredible. I would have never done it that
way. We believe that he's able, and
here's why we believe he's able. Because he is able. He's proven
it to us. He's proven it to us. If he can
save a wretched soul like this, he can save anybody. He's proved it, and we're persuaded
of it. Now unto him that's able to do
exceeding, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according
to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the
church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen.