I thank you for that. I appreciate
the special music. I'm always grateful to the Lord
for those who present to us music that they have practiced. It's always a blessing to us.
I always appreciate the songs that y'all pick out. So good
and such a blessing. Thank you. Open your Bibles tonight
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The book of 2 Corinthians chapter
5. And I'll be making mention of
a few things in verse 17, but I want to go directly to verse
18. And just read to you, at least
for now, just the first few words of verse 18 of 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. And the words are these, and
all things are of God. and all things are of God. Here's the title of my message.
Here's a summary of our doctrine. That's what this is, a summary
of our beliefs or a summary of our doctrine. I do believe that
these words set forth the very innermost being, the very heart
and soul. of the things that we hold dear. This is our doctrine. This is
our theology. All things are of God. You remember when over in the
book of Acts, it's recorded in chapter 20, Paul met with the
Ephesian elders. He knew it'd be the last time
he would meet with them and admonish them, teach them some things
that they needed to learn or some things they needed to hear
from his lips. And he said to this, he said
this to them, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God. In other words, I have not failed
to set before you openly and unashamedly God's purpose and
God's will in salvation. Our message in, just kind of
summarize it, is this. All things in salvation are of
God. Are of God. Salvation is conditioned
upon the bloody death of the Lord Jesus. And if I may borrow the words
of an inspired writer, I would say, now of the things which
we have spoken, this is the sum. All things are of God. And I'll tell you when when you
get into error is when most things are of God, but a few things
are of man, now you're in dangerous territory. Really, it's very simple, isn't
it? All things are of God, that's
our doctrine. That's the summary of salvation. That's what the book of God is
about. All things are of God. Now, see if you can, as they
say today, wrap your mind around this. Grasp this total if you're
able. All things are of God. All things. It is written in the book of
God by divine inspiration. Paul wrote these things. All things are of God. That means
everything. That leaves out nothing. It doesn't say most things are
of God, but a few things are of the devil. It doesn't say
almost all things are of God, but there are a few things left
up to you and me. No, this is an all-encompassing
statement. All things are of God. And I would say if we're thirsty,
if we have a spiritual thirst this evening, here's a stream from which we can drink, and
this will never be exhausted. All things are of God. If we're
hungry, surely here is bread enough and to spare. If we're poor, we're poor in
spirit. Here are riches and treasures
that are utterly inexhaustible. For we have here all things are
of God. I have a Bible program that enables me to type in a
word or a group of words or various words or phrases or whatever,
any combination of words, and it'll bring up every single time
the words are used in the Bible. And so I just typed in all things,
220 times. Used in the Bible, and most of
the time they're used in connection with God. And whenever we read
these words in Holy Scripture, whenever we think about them
in relation to God, We ought to remember that when God says
all things, that's exactly what He means. All things. He doesn't mean some things or
most things. He doesn't mean pleasant things
or happy things. No, He just simply says all things. What's the reason for bringing
a message on this, a summary of our doctrine? All things are
of God. What's the reason? Why would
I bring this message? And I'll give you three reasons
that I bring this message. Number one, to glorify God, who
authored and arranged and brings all things to pass. He's the
author of all things. He's the one who arranges all
things. And He's the one who brings all
things to pass. This encompasses everything.
It leaves out nothing. Our minds can't begin to understand
all things are of God. But, you know, here's a wonderful
thing. We don't have to understand these
things. We just have to believe. And I'll tell you, I don't know
about you, but I have enough trouble just believing without
understanding. I can't grasp all the mind of
God and all the ways of God and how all things are of God. I
can't grasp that. It says it in the book and I
sure believe it. And I'll tell you, as I studied
this, it was very helpful to me as a believer who struggles
in this world. I bring this message to glorify
God who authored and arranged and brings all things to pass.
No wonder Micah said of our Lord, who is a God, likened to thee. Remember over in 1st Samuel,
the second chapter, Hannah prayed and she said, none is as holy
as the Lord, for there is none beside thee. Neither is there
any rock like our God. In Isaiah 40, the Lord asks to
whom then will you liken God or what likeness will you compare
unto him? You remember when the heathen
said to David over in the psalm, the heathen said, David, where's
your God? And David said, our God's in
the heavens. He's done whatsoever he is pleased. I bring this message to you today
so that the name of God will be glorified, that the name of
God will be honored. There are many today who in reality
they would deny that all things are of God. And that's just fact. Now, if you refuse to believe
what the scriptures say, that all things are of God, then you're
actually saying that God is a liar. Because the book says that all
things are of God. You see, this is the only God
we can worship. This is the only God who's deserving
of worship. This is the only God who ought
to be worshipped. Read at your leisure the last
words of Moses. They're found in the end of the
32nd, the 33rd chapter of Deuteronomy, the 33rd chapter. Those are the
last words that Moses ever wrote, that he ever spoke. And he said
in Deuteronomy 33, 26, there's none like unto the God of Jerusalem,
who rideth upon the heaven in thy help and in his excellency
in the sky. Now remember, Jerusalem is God's
name for his chosen people, his favored people, his blessed people,
Israel. No wonder Moses then goes on
to say, and this is the very last thing that he said at the
end of the 33rd chapter of Deuteronomy, happy art thou, O Israel, who
is likened to thee, O people, saved by the Lord. O happy art
thou, O Israel, who is likened to thee, O people, saved by the
Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thine
excellences. Oh, how happy, oh, how blessed
are those people to whom the God of the Bible has been revealed
as our rock, as our shield, and as the one who is the author
and the worker of all things. I want us to honor God. That's
what I want to do. in this message. And then secondly,
I bring this message to you to put us all in awe of God. Where is the awe of God today? In religion. Where is the fear
of the Lord? Scripture says it's the beginning
of wisdom. It's the beginning of knowledge.
But where is that fear? Where is that awe? Where is that
reverence for God today? In the very first, no, the second
message I brought over in the islands, I was speaking to a
good number of people and there were several people who I was
pretty much sure that they'd never heard the gospel before.
And I'd heard a little bit of the conversation before as we
milled about and kind of got acquainted with some people,
and I heard people taking the name of the Lord in vain. Heard
people blaspheming the name of God. And I told them, I said, be careful
how you use the name of God. His name is a holy, and His name
is Reverend. You speak of God with respect.
There's no respect in society of our God today. There's no
respect for His Word. There isn't. And I lay the blame
really behind the pulpits of America. I'm talking about our
country now. I lay the blame behind the pulpits
of America because we've got men who stand behind the pulpits
and they don't preach God as He is to sinners as they are. That's the problem. You say,
well, we're in a real mess of immorality and all other kind
of stuff. That's because there's no respect
of God. And preachers are not talking
about who God is. They're not talking about the
greatness of God and the glory of God. Consequently, people
aren't fearing the Lord. People have no respect for God's
Word, don't have any respect for the Bible. They don't have
any respect for God, don't have any respect for His name. They
don't have any respect or reverence for Jesus of Nazareth. They just
believe He was a good man, but they don't think twice about
taking His name in vain. And if they happen to hit their
finger with a hammer, they'll say, Jesus Christ! They'll just
say His name like that. They don't think anything of
it. There's no awe, there's no respect. But listen, listen,
the Scripture says all things are of God. If all things are
of God, let me worship Him. Let me be in awe of Him. Let
me fear Him. Let me reverence Him in my soul. Let me bow down before Him and
honor Him and give Him the exaltation that is His due. If all things
are of God, God then let me in my heart of hearts honor Him. The Scripture says not a sparrow
falls to the ground without this God. I know He rules in all the
big things, but He rules in all the little things too. Everything that moves and has
its being is governed by our God. He's the God of all things. He's
the author of all things. All things are of God. Well, if He's so great that all
things are of Him, I'll tell you a question that arises in
my soul. How can I be accepted by this
God who's the author of all things? How's He gonna have anything
to do with me? He made the stars. He made the
galaxies. He made all things that exist. They're all made by Him and for
Him. And with all of this vastness
of his creation, here I am, one little wiggling maggot on the
face of this earth, just a nobody. How can this God have anything
to do with me? How's he gonna receive me, accept
me, welcome me into his holy temple? That's what I think about. I think about the greatness of
God. I think about our nothingness. We're just nobodies. I know we
walk around and there's some people in this world, they just
think the sun rises and sets on them. And they just think
they're big eyes. We're a bunch of nobodies in
this world. We don't know anything. We don't
have anything. We can't give anything to God
because all things belong to God. We're nothing and He's everybody
or He's everything and we need everything from Him. We're a
needy people before Him. Do you need a Savior to save
you from your sins? He's the only one who can save
you. Do you need an advocate? Christ Jesus is the only advocate. And then I bring this message
to encourage the people of God in this world who are a tried
and so often a troubled people. Oh, heartaches and griefs and
all of these things. But we've got to be reminded
of this. All things are of God. I want to comfort you in the
midst of your heartaches, in the midst of your troubles. So
let's consider this subject just briefly, and I'll say to begin
with all things in creation are of God. God made the world, and
it says in Acts 17, and all things therein. God made the world And
all things therein, that's what the Apostle said in Acts 17 when
he was preaching on Mars Hill. In John chapter 1, verses 1 through
3, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him. And without Him, there wasn't
anything made. that was made. What did He make? All things. All things. And I'll tell you, all things
in creation are of God and everything in creation is for God too. Revelation
4.11, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and
power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure
they are and were created. If you read some of the science books or
read National Geographic or something like that, they talk about the
sun and the stars and the galaxies that there are, the billions
of galaxies out there. And they'll say this, no eye
has ever seen them and never will. Never will, too far away. Do they exist? Oh yeah, they
exist. But they're not for us. They're
not for us. You know who they're for? They're
for God. They're for God. They're for
His pleasure. I used this illustration years
ago up in Almont, and maybe some of them watching tonight because
they're not having service tonight. It's the last Sunday of the month.
and they ate lunch today at the church, and so maybe some of
them are watching, and we welcome them if they are, but I mentioned
this years ago up there to them. Back of the church, there's a
ditch, and it's, you know, rainwater flows through there. It's actually
a stream that flows through there, And I'd go back and walk along
that ditch quite often. And you know what was back there
growing on the sides of the bank where nobody would see, except
me, maybe the farmer on the other side, wildflowers. And they're
so beautiful. They're so pretty. I don't know
how they got there. I guess birds. ate seed from
somewhere and they flew over and dropped the seed and God
saw to it that wildflowers would grow and they're so beautiful.
You know whose eyes they're for? You know whose pleasure they're
for? The Lord's. See that's what it says, the
Lord's made all things for himself. Now we're very self-centered,
you know, in Adam's race. That's the way we are. We think
everything's for us, everything's about us. But really, everything's
for God. Everything's for God. He made
all things for Himself. All things are created by God
and all things are for God. They're for God. And then I know
this, all things in providence are for God. And they're of God. Romans chapter 11 says, all things
are of God. Look at Ephesians chapter 1.
Look at this scripture, Ephesians chapter 1 and verses 10 and 11. Ephesians 1, 10 and 11. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will." What does he work after the counsel
of his own will? All things. All things. Everything that ever comes to
pass. Mysteriously and miraculously, the Lord is directing every single
thing that He has ordained to the end that He purposed. Everything fulfills His will.
Let me show you a verse over here in Proverbs. Would you turn
to Proverbs 16 with me? Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16, verse 4. Proverbs 16, verse 4. Here's
what Solomon says. The Lord has made all things
for Himself. And He's governing all things
for Himself. For Himself. You see, in old
eternity, God who ordained all things, He also directs all things
to the end that He, before the foundation of the world, purposed
where they'd go. Everything's going somewhere.
Everything's going toward some fulfillment. Everything's aiming
toward some purpose, and that is God's purpose. And He's directing
all things toward that purpose. All things are of God. All things
are of God. In Job 1, this is where Job found
his comfort. He said, the Lord gave and the
Lord had taken away. He recognized that all things
that happened to him was of the Lord. They came in one by one
and said, you lost all your cattle, you lost all your asses, you
lost all of this, you lost all of that, and then finally one
came in and said, you've lost all your children. You've lost
everything. And Job said, the Lord gave.
The Lord gave all things, and now the Lord has taken all things
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. All things in providence are
of the Lord. In the book of Genesis, won't
take the time to turn there. But you remember the story, Joseph,
of course, he winds up upon the throne in Egypt, he's second
in command to Pharaoh. And Jacob and his family, they
get hungry during the famine that Joseph had correctly predicted
and prophesied due to his dream. And so Jacob sent his boys into
Egypt in order to negotiate buying some grain. But he didn't send
Benjamin, the youngest. And Joseph, he recognized them,
but they didn't recognize him. And you know the story, and I
won't take much time on that. But he said, well, if you're
really the sons of a man back in Canaan, one of you is going
to have to stay with me. And he chose Simeon. He said,
the rest of you go back. And if you're really on the up
and up, You bring the youngest brother back to me. And then I'll know that you're
not up to some kind of nonsense here. You're not up to some kind
of tomfoolery. And so the other boys go back
to Jacob. They tell Jacob, well, this man
in Egypt, he's got simian. And he said that he's not going
to sell us any more corn until we show that we're just family
people, we're just farmers and shepherds and we're no threat
to him. And we'll show that to him by
bringing Benjamin with us back to Egypt. And Jacob just throws
up his hands. He says, oh no. All these things
are against me. All these things are against
me. He said, Joseph is not, and now they got Simeon, and he wants
to take Benjamin. All these things are against
me. Have you ever felt like all these
things are against you? And we'd probably be too embarrassed
to say, yeah, yeah, I've felt that. But whether we shake our head
yes or not, there are times when we feel like the circumstances
that we're in are against us. It's working the opposite way
of which we would think would be beneficial to us. Lord, how
can this be helped? We wouldn't say it out loud.
Out loud, we wouldn't say it for nothing. But in our minds,
really our attitude is, I don't know how this can be helping
me. I don't know how this is to my benefit, but really nothing
is against you. And the reason nothing is against
you is because God is for you and God is the author of all
things. All things are of God. Now, if
all things are of God and God is your Father, He has adopted
you into His family before the world began. He has given His
only begotten Son to be your Savior and your substitute and
your sin offering and your sacrifice. You tell me how in the world
Can anything be against you? That's the reason we read in
Romans 8, if God be for us, and He is, who can be against us? You see, all things are of God. And if all things are of God,
then He is going to use all things to fulfill His purpose regarding
us. We so often quote those words
in Romans 8 and 28. And we know. We know because
it's in the Word of God. And we know that all things work
together for good. We know it. Do we believe it? That's another subject, see.
We know it. We know that all things work
together for good. We know it in our minds. We know
it because that's what the Word of God says. But have we really,
has that fact, has that truth really embraced our hearts and
given us great comfort in the time of trouble? And we know
that all things work together for good. For good, not for ill. That's Jacob's thinking. This
is all, all things are against me. No, Jacob, they're not against
you. You just wait. You hadn't seen
the next chapter yet. You hadn't read that. We've read
that. We know what's going to happen.
We want to say, just hold on, Jacob. You'll see that one of
these days, you're even going to see Joseph. And you're going
to be so happy, you can't hardly stand it. You'll see Joseph. But he didn't have that chapter
to read like we do. So he had to go through it. He
had to experience it. And that's what we have to do.
We got to experience it. But we have the illustrations
in the Word of God, in the Scriptures, to show us that all things are
working together for good to them that love God. Do you love
God? Do you love God in Christ Jesus? If you love Him, we know you
love Him because He first loved you. Are you one of those called according
to His purpose? then you can rest assured that
all things are working together for your good. And we just want
to say to Jacob, you know, we just want to flag him down and
say, wait, brother, it's all working for good for you. But
he had to go through with it. He had to learn it by experience. What's that old saying? Experience
is the best teacher. No, there's one better. There's
one better. That's the Lord Himself. And
He teaches us. He teaches us. Look over in Hebrews
chapter 1. Let me give you this. Hebrews chapter 1 and also in
chapter 2. I'm saying all things are of
God. That's what the Scripture says. All things of God. All
things in creation. All things in divine providence.
Hebrews, look at chapter 1 first, then I'll go to chapter 2. Chapter
1, verse 1, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of how many things? All things. by whom also he made
the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, the express, the
exact image of the person of God, and upholding all things
by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our
sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
That's our Lord Jesus Christ. He's heir of all things, and
he's the one who's directing all things to the end that God
has ordained. Now look over in chapter two.
Look in chapter 2 and verse 8, well verse 7 says,
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest
him with glory and honor and did set him over the works of
thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. Whose feet are they under? Christ
Jesus. How many things are under his
feet? All things. Now if all things are under His
feet, we don't have anything to be concerned about. Because
He's the friend that sticks closer than a brother. He's our Savior.
This is our elder brother right here. And has put all things
in subjection under His feet, for in that He put all in subjection
under Him, He left nothing that's not put under Him. But now we
see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who was
made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man, for it became him for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory
to make the captain of their salvation perfect. through sufferings. He's using all things to fulfill his purpose regarding
us. And there's no way for us to
count all the things that happens every day in each of our lives. But if you can think about it
sometimes, tomorrow, You think of the things that
have happened. Just remember this, all the things that have
happened to you tomorrow, today, tomorrow, every day, all of your
tomorrows, the Lord Jesus, who's the heir of all things, all things
are in subjection to him, and he's working them all together
for your good, every single thing in your life. That's good to know. Well, that's
comforting, isn't it? And you know, here's what we
say, I wish I could remember that. I wish I could remember
that when these things happened to me. Well, maybe the Spirit
of God will teach us. Wouldn't that be good if He would? And then lastly, but by no means
is this the least thing, all things in salvation Go back to
2 Corinthians 5 real quick, my time is about gone. But in 2
Corinthians 5, actually verses 17 and 18 go together. Therefore
if any man, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Now most of the time when preachers
preach on this, they preach this as regeneration. I certainly
believe in regeneration. I certainly believe in the new
birth. But that's not what this is talking about. The subject
here is not regeneration. The subject is, and you ought
to write this in your Bible because this word is used or a form of
it is used several times, the subject is reconciliation. That's the subject, not regeneration. Don't go out of here saying,
well, that preacher doesn't believe in regeneration. Oh, yes, I do. I believe in the quickening power
of the Spirit of God. I believe that He gives us life. He gives life to the dead. I
believe what the Savior said, you must be born again. But that's
not what this is talking about. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. This is talking about reconciliation.
Well, then, What is this doing away with the old things and
the bringing in of new things? You see, so often preachers in
preaching on this will say, well, this bringing in of new things
is a new nature, a new principle. Well, that really doesn't fit
here because he doesn't take anything old away. He doesn't
take the Adamic nature away. I agree there's new life in us.
No doubt about that. There's the new man, but I believe
the old man's still there, don't you? I don't think that old man
has passed away. He is going to pass away one
of these days, but he ain't passed away yet. In fact, he's very
much active and we all know it, all of us who are the people
of God. The subject is relationship. This doing away of the old things
and the bringing in of new things is of the Lord. What are these? Well, He's done away with our
old relationship to Adam. God calls that to pass away.
We're in Christ Jesus by electing grace and by revealing grace. 1 Corinthians 1 tells us that,
for of God are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. I tell you something else, our
removal from among the family of the wicked and the unbelieving
and our being brought to believe Christ Jesus and rest in Him,
that's of God. That's of God. We're members
of a new family. We got new brothers and sisters.
You're my family. I went over there to Hawaii,
enjoyed visiting those people. I got family over there. Spiritual
family. That's my ohana. Ohana. That's what God's family. That's
my spiritual family. I got a spiritual family over
there. You got spiritual family over in Africa where you visited.
We have spiritual family. We've been removed from the family
of the wicked. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not." They don't know us anymore. They don't recognize us anymore.
They don't want to have anything to do with us anymore. We got
a new family. Then there's what else old thing
has been taken away. The covenant of works has been
taken away by Christ. put us under the terms and conditions
of the new covenant. An old covenant is done away
with. The old covenant said, this do
and live. Our Lord Jesus fulfilled that.
That's done. I couldn't do that, but He did.
He did. We wouldn't have died except
that he come and fulfill the law for us and satisfies every
demand. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness, Alan read to us, to everyone that believeth.
Now I'm not under the law. That's the old. I'm under grace. That's the new. I'm not under
the law in any way, shape, or form. I don't fear the law. I'm
not afraid of it, I'm not afraid the law's gonna drag me before
the judgment of God. No, I love the law of God. That's
what the Apostle Paul said. In our deliverance from the curse
of the law that justly condemned us and our being ransomed from
the law and justice, that's of God. I've been stripped of my old
self-righteous rags. I've been robed in the righteousness
of Christ Jesus. My old record of rottenness and
sinfulness and corruption, that's been erased. I have a new record.
Without fault and without blemish. I had taken away from me the
old, the old stony heart of unbelief. I got a heart of flesh, a new
heart. That's a heart of faith. And then let me give you one
other reference and I'll quit. Go to Mark 7. Mark chapter 7.
Mark chapter 7. Look at verse, and I want to
read just a few verses here down to the end. Verse 31, Mark 7,
31. I want you all to get there because I want you to read this.
I want you to see it. And again, Mark 7, 37, and again,
departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came to the
Sea of Galilee through the midst of the coasts of the Capulets.
They bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment
in his speech. And they beseech him to put his
hand upon him. And he took him aside from the
multitude. He put his fingers into his ears,
and he spit and touched the tongue. And looking up into heaven, he
sighed, and he saith unto him, Ephrathah, that is, be opened. And straightway his ears were
opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed. And he spake
plain. And Christ charged them that
they shouldn't tell no man. But the more he charged them,
the more he told them that, so much the more, a great deal,
they published it. And they were beyond measure
astounded or astonished, saying, He hath done all things well. Underline that if you hadn't
underlined it already. He hath done all things well
he maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. There's coming a day when we
shall see him face to face. We will say this in perfection
then, but I hope we can say it now. Everything the Lord's done
to me and for me, He's done all things well. He can't do it any other way.
That's the only way He can do all things, is to do all things
well. That's the summary of our doctrine.
All things are of God. Now let's get our song