I want to bring the message this
morning out of 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17-18. Title
of the message, All things are of God. The believer finds much
comfort in the Word of God. The scripture before us gives
us much comfort. There is much comfort in few
words if those few words are of God. I know that many read
the Bible They have read this chapter and this verse, all things
are of God, and seem to find no comfort in time of trials. And I'll give you two reasons.
First of all, it may be that they are babes in Christ, weak
in the faith, weak in the word of God. Or they don't know the
God of the Bible. Many use his name while speaking
of another God that doesn't even exist. God has revealed himself
in the scriptures. And when we speak of Him, we
must use scriptural language, not our imagination of Him. Now
it says all things are of God. If we find out who God is, we
will not have any trouble with this truth. In fact, we will
not have any trouble with any of the doctrines of the gospel.
Trouble comes from not knowing Him. When you come to know Him,
You know that it cannot be any other way. If I am to be His,
He must choose me, He must reconcile me, He must redeem me, He must
call me by His grace and regenerate me by His Spirit. All things
are of God. And it gives me great comfort
to know that all things are of God. When I walk outside and
I look up into the heavens and I see the sun, the moon, and
the stars, I have no doubt that God made all of this. When I
look at the trees and the animals and men and women I know without
a doubt God made them all. This man did not come from a
monkey. The only reason evolution got
a foothold is because it's easier to look at a monkey and say look
how far we have come than to look at God as he's revealed
in the scriptures and say, look how far we have fallen. It's
easier for a man to say, oh glorious man that I have become, than
oh wretched man that I am. And that's the only reason evolution
has ever gotten a foothold. Now all things are of God. All
things are of God in providence. When I see each day's events
unfold, I know that it's all of God. Things do not just happen. My lot in life, the path that
I have walked, the trials that I have had and will have, are
all of God. And this gives me much comfort.
The first thing that we must learn is who God is. If we are
to learn that all things are of God and have any comfort.
We must find out who He is. The Bible says in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. He is the God of creation
which tells me He is the God of all power. It says in Psalm
62 11, all power belongs to Him. No weakling could have made all
this. He's the God of all wisdom. One writer said, it took divine
wisdom to make such variety work together in such harmony. Just
look at the wisdom of God in creation and how all things work
together. Isaiah 45, 21 tells us that He
is a just God and a Savior. The Bible tells us that God is
holy. Holy and Reverend is His name. Reverend is not my name, it's
His name. I pastor a church, but I'm not
called reverend. And I don't allow anyone to call
me reverend. I'm the pastor. But holy and reverend is God's
name. We shouldn't use that name reverend
except in reference to God Almighty. Now this God who is holy and
just, and He's a Savior, He delights to show mercy. And when we learn
this, we will be glad that all things are of God. But Paul is
speaking mainly here of that new creation in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says in verse 17, Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. As it was in the beginning, there
was darkness upon the face of the deep. It was without form
and void. Something bad must have happened. And this is the way it is with
us at first. Nothing but darkness. Something
bad has happened and we know what that something is. Our father
Adam rebelled and disobeyed God and plunged us into spiritual
death and darkness. And it is not until God commands
the light of the gospel to shine in our hearts that we can see
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ his son. That's
when we find out who God is. Until then, it's nothing but
darkness. Everything about this new creation
in Christ, of that new man created in Jesus Christ, is all of God. The new birth is all of Him. The time of it is of God. The
place of it is of God. The preacher, the message, is
all of God. The faith, Of it is all of God. Faith is a gift of God. That's
what it says in Ephesians 2. Our election is all of God. That's what it says in Ephesians
1. Our reconciliation unto Him is all of Him. He purposed before
the world began. He made a covenant with His Son.
He's the surety. He's the sacrifice. He's the
sin offering. He's the high priest. He's the
mediator of that covenant. And all that we need to stand
in His presence, in God's presence, accepted, we have in His Son
Jesus Christ. This was all taken care of in
that covenant of grace before the world began. God is not doing
things on the spur of the moment. He's not reacting to what we
do. God has settled all things and
made them sure before He created the first thing. God is a God
of order and He has ordered all things. And He has established
them. He has decreed them. And they'll
come to pass. They will come to pass. Now in
time our Lord came, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, to
fulfill the covenant of grace and reconcile His people, which
are a multitude of sinners, unto God. Now He did not reconcile
them to the love of God, but to the justice of God. His love
has never diminished. God's love toward His children
has never diminished. But justice was offended And
that had to be taken care of before mercy and truth could
meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other over
sinners. And this happened in Christ and
Him crucified. That law enmity that was against
us was put away by the death of the Son of God. And it says
in verse 19, to wit, that is to say, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Reconciliation unto God, unto
God's law, unto God's justice, is all of God. This is good news
to guilty sinners who know that they are guilty and they can't
do anything. They cannot please God, they know that. Verse 21
tells us how He reconciled us to Himself. It says in verse
21, and if you learn what this verse is saying, you will learn
the Gospel. You will know the Gospel if you
learn verse 21. For He, that is God the Father,
hath made Him, that is God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to
be sin for us. Not just to take a penalty, but
to be made sin for us. Who knew no sin, Jesus Christ
who knew no sin, the perfect Lamb of God. He was made to be
sin. That we, now remember Paul is
writing to believers, he's writing to God's people, he's writing
to the church. He says that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now God has committed unto us
this word of reconciliation. He's committed this to his preachers. He committed this to the apostles.
He's committed this to his church throughout all ages. This gospel
of Jesus Christ crucified is our message to priests of sinners.
Apart from that we have no message for sinners. But in Christ and
Him crucified, we have good news to tell sinners. And this good
news is not hell, fire, and brimstone. It's look and live. It's look
to the Lamb of God and live. I'm not going to try to scare
anyone in being saved, which is not even possible. That's
not even possible. Salvation is God doing the work
for you and in you. And you're not going to scare
someone by talking about the terrors of hell and fire and
all that. That will not save anyone. Christ
said they will mourn, they will repent when they look on Him
whom they pierced. Not when you scared them to death
with a movie or some scary tales. It's when they see Jesus Christ.
That's when they'll repent. When they look and live. That's
when they'll live, is when they look to Him. Now, how are we
to conduct this ministry of reconciliation? Well, if you want to reconcile
someone, you don't throw rocks at them. It's hard to come to
someone when you're throwing a rock at them. I have no problem
saying to anyone, come to Christ. Because the Word of God gives
me no problem in saying that. The Spirit and the Bride say,
come. Whosoever will, let him come. Be you reconciled to God. That's what the Scripture says.
I know this, if you will to come to Him, He made you willing in
the day of His power. Go read Psalm 110. Then we conduct
this ministry graciously as one who has received grace, with
love and kindness as one who has been reconciled. The very
word itself speaks of friendliness. To preach in a mean manner does
not promote reconciliation, not at all. How would you like to
go to a doctor and that doctor speaks to you roughly and say,
here, take this, you'll feel better, get out of here. You
wouldn't go back to him at all. Here's how we preach it. Grace
pouring from our lips like it poured from his lips. Look, O
sinner, to the land of God. I tell you, I'm looking for sinners.
I'm looking for sinners in need of mercy. I'm looking for sinners
in need of forgiveness, in need of cleansing. There's one who
can save them, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say to any sinner,
I say to all sinners, be you reconciled to God, look to the
Lamb of God. As I said in verse 21, that's
the gospel in a verse. You know Isaiah 53 is the gospel
in a chapter. Verse 21 here is the gospel in
a verse. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin. Jesus Christ suffered under the
wrath of God for the sins of all his people. Who are they?
A multitude of sinners chosen by him before the world was.
And he did this that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. My friends, everything in salvation,
everything is all of God. Look to Him. Look to Him. He delights to show mercy to
sinners. Alright, till next week.