I invite your attention to the epistle of Paul to the
Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. My text tonight is in verse 20, in which Paul expresses a desire to know the
love of Christ in verse 19, which passes knowledge. Think about
that. And to know what is the width
and length and depth and height, in verse number 18, of all the
things that God has for His people. Paul is speaking in great superlatives about how great our God is. And
he concludes in verse 20 by saying, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly, above
all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
to Him and to Him alone, be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. I am so grateful for the opportunity
to be here with you tonight and for this weekend. First time I was with you was
in 1984. I believe that computes to 29
years ago. We were young once, were we not?
29 years ago. It is such a pleasure to see
that your pastor is still here and
still preaching the same gospel he was 29 years ago. And he still
has a good number of the folk here 29 years later still loving
the same gospel. And it is a pleasure to be here
tonight for me to preach the same gospel and to acknowledge
that old friends are best friends. Tonight, we look at this text
in Ephesians 3, verse 20. And if God be pleased, I would
speak to you on the subject of God's ability and abilities. We will deal with our God's ability
in the singular and also in His abilities in the plural. We hear many people declaring
the inability of their God when they say, God is doing all he
can to save and to bless you, but he is unable to do so unless
you let him. And you have to wonder who in
the world wants a God like that who can do something if I let
him and who does what I let him. I think I am safe in saying to
you that the person who speaks of a God like that is one who
wants to be God of a God. And so he has a God that does
what he lets it, him, her, whatever do. Quite frankly, I would tell you
that I would be thoroughly embarrassed to stand before you tonight and
to say to you that God is trying to do something and He's just
wishing you would let Him do it. I'd be embarrassed. It would embarrass me. I would be afraid to say so because
of the power of my God and the manner in which He deals with
those. who treat him so irreverently
as to say that he cannot do something unless puny, depraved and impotent
man lets him do it. It would embarrass me to let
you know, to let you think that I worship such a God and it would
thoroughly embarrass me to present him to you as a possible Savior
for your soul, a God who will save you if you let it. It would embarrass me. I say to you that a God whose
ability depends on man's permission and man's ability is no Savior
and is itself in need of a Savior. they're welcome to their God.
If they want it, they're welcome to it. I don't want it. I will not have it. I will not
present it to you. But if you will, hear me for a few moments, and
I will speak to you of my God, the God whom I serve. And I would
say that He is Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly,
above all that we ask or think. I do not think you can express
it much better than that. And that's
the God that I preach to you. That's the God I worship, the
God I adore, the God I revere, and the God whom I preach to
you this night. He is Him who is able, period. But I'm going to speak to you
tonight about His ability and His abilities. First of all,
with regard to His ability Suffice it to say that his ability is
infinite. You cannot measure it. You cannot
comprehend it. You cannot calculate it. You
cannot fathom it. His ability is infinite. We'll look at it both positively
and negatively. Positively, God is able to do
all things. Now, I want you to look very
carefully at my text, Ephesians 3.20. And let's look at this
text in the way that Paul appears to have been developing it. Because there is a progression,
a remarkable, a glorious progression in Paul's words. Paul says that
God is able to do what we ask and much more. God is able to
do what we ask or think and much more. God is able to do all that
we ask or think. and much more. God is able to
do above all that we ask or think and much more. God is able to
do abundantly above all that we ask or think and much more. God is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or even think. And surely,
folks, that is enough. That's the ability of the God
I worship and the God that I preach to you this night. He is infinitely
more able than you will ever need. Him who is able. Negatively, let us say that nothing
is beyond God's ability. In the prophecy of Jeremiah,
the Lord converses with his people and he asks them, is anything
too hard for me? Now, if the God of modern religion,
well, it cannot ask that because it has a mouth. It cannot speak.
But if someone should speak for it, And that God would say, is
there anything that is beyond my ability? They would say, well,
yeah, you can't do this unless I let you. You cannot do it without
my permission. You cannot do it without my helping
you. If the God of this world should
ask that question, is there anything too hard for me? But in the 32nd
chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah, Jehovah stoops to ask the question
to his people. And he says, is there anything
too hard for me? Is there anything? If God should
ask you tonight, is there anything too hard for me? How would you
answer? Here's how the Lord's people
answered in Jeremiah 32 and in verse 17. Ah, Lord Jehovah, behold,
you have made the heavens and the earth By your great power
and outstretched arm, there is nothing too hard for you. Now
folks, just look at the creation around you. Now look at it. You
see it every day. How did it come to be? Somebody
put it here. And I know who did it. In fact,
everybody knows in their hearts. The wicked suppress the knowledge
of God. You cannot suppress what is not
already there. They suppress God's knowledge,
but they know who did all this, created the heavens and the planets. Do you realize that scientists
just regularly tell us, we have discovered something in the solar
systems we did not know was there. We've discovered in outer space
things we did not know was there. Jehovah knew it was there. You're
just catching up with Him. You're still way behind. You're
still way behind. We develop, by God-given ability, spacecraft
that can go to what man calls the limits, and then we find
that it still goes further and there's still more out there. Who did all that? This one I'm
preaching to you tonight. Scientists tell us there are
depths of the oceans. They still have not mapped, do
not know really what's down there. God does because he made it. Do you realize that this earth
has been here for thousands of years? And for thousands of years,
morning has followed evening, and evening has followed morning
in its course. And not one single time did the
sun come up at the wrong time, not once. Not once did the sun
forget to set, not once. For all these thousands of years,
however long they are, Spring has been followed by summer,
summer by fall, and fall by winter, and the course never reversed.
Now, who did all that? This God I preach to you. These
trees, these rocks, these cliffs, these oceans, these rivers, God
did it, and got it right the first time, and did it only once,
and got it right. You made all this by your great
power and outstretched arm, and oh, Lord Jehovah, there is nothing
too hard for you. So positively, He does exceedingly,
abundantly, above all that we ask or think, and negatively,
there's nothing too hard. because His power, His ability
is infinite. Both of these aspects, the positive
and the negative, are emphasized by Job when he declares to God,
I know that You can do everything and that no purpose of Yours
can be withheld from You, Job 42 verse 2. Job says, I know
that you can do everything and nothing can be held from you.
That's both the positive and the negative. That's the God
I preached to you this night. He's able. He's able. You have no need that is beyond
His ability. You have no plight that is beyond
His ability. He is able and nothing is too
hard for Him. If God purposes something to
be done, it will be done. Nothing will stop him. He is
able to fulfill his purpose and no one, no thing, nor all ones
and all things together can stop him. Nothing. He's able. He's able. That's his ability. His ability is infinite. Now consider his abilities. As
his ability is infinite, his abilities are numberless. They are too many for us to enumerate,
even if we were capable of doing so. And we are not. That which is numberless cannot
be numbered. I might start now, and I would
never finish. His abilities are numberless. But I'll tell you what I can
do this night. I can enumerate a few of them
and then deal with some of those that are especially pertinent
to our salvation. Here are three Hebrew children. And the greatest monarch in his
day, named Nebuchadnezzar, has told them they must worship in
a certain way. And they politely said, no, thank
you. We will not. Death penalty is
going to follow for that. But they're brought in for an
audience before the king so that they may be given a chance to
recant and do that which the king requires. And so the king
says, when you hear the sound, worship the way you're supposed
to, the way I tell you to. And they said, king, we will
not. I will severely punish you. And
these three Hebrew children said to the mightiest monarch in his
day in Daniel 3, verse 17, our God whom we serve is able to deliver
us from your burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your
hand, O King." Why such impudence? Heat that
furnace seven times hotter than ever before. So they did. They
did. Heat that furnace seven times
hotter than ever before. took these three Hebrew children
up to cast them into the furnace and even the men who were to
push them into it were stricken by the heat. The three Hebrew
children are cast in and the king is able to look into his
furnace heated seven times hotter than ever before. Where are those
three impudent Hebrew children who talked about the ability
of their God? Let's see what he's able to do
now. How many did we cast in there?
Three, O King, three. I see four. And the fourth is like a strange son to me. Yes, it is a strange son. You
know who it is? Our God is able. And their God
is walking around in the furnace with them, because he's able. They said, our God is able. And
he will deliver us from your hand, O King. If he desires to
do so, he'll do it. Bring him out. He brought him
out. Not even the smell of smoke was
on their clothing. Who did that? God did that. They said he can do it. Our God
is able to deliver us from your burning, fiery furnace. And he
would deliver us from your hand, oh king. And God did. That king, a little later. In the next chapter, Daniel chapter
4, Nebuchadnezzar, mightiest monarch of his day, goes for a walk around the walls
of Babylon. Beholds it all and he says, ha,
ha, Babylon, look what I have made. Look at this. I did this. See what I'm able
to do? And the Lord said, now watch
what I'm able to do. And Nebuchadnezzar was stricken. He was on the highest wall of
Babylon one moment and then the next he was on all fours eating
grass in the field for seven years until at the end of the
time the Lord was able to bring him out of his fit And Nebuchadnezzar
made one of the greatest confessions of God's ability you'll find.
He said, those who walk in pride, he is able to put down. And he
brought me up. Our Lord is talking to some folks one
day. And they're bragging on their
ancestry. And our Lord said to them in
Matthew 3, verse 9, God is able to raise up children to Abraham
from stones. From stones, God's able to do
it. Paul says in Philippians 3, verse
21, God is able even to subdue all
things to Himself. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians
9 verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound towards you. Notice, He is not simply able
to send grace to you. He can make it abound to you. He can give you grace that is
greater than your sin. He can give you grace that is
greater than your problems. He can give you grace that is
greater than your troubles. He can give you grace to bring
you through life. He can give you grace to take
you through the valley, the shadow of death. He can give you grace
to bring you all the way to glory. And he's able to let his grace
abound. May he do so. In 2 Chronicles
20, verse 6, we read that no one is able to withstand God. No one. No one. Ask Pharaoh. He withstood God. God drowned
him in the Red Sea. Ask Goliath who can withstand
God. God sent a shepherd lad up against
the greatest of the Philistines and brought him down with a stone.
Who's able to withstand God? Did the gods of Jericho spare
Jericho when the Lord told his people to walk around? Not at
all. Not at all. The walls came down.
Who's able to withstand him? The enemies in Canaan said, we're
not leaving. The Lord said, OK, I'll just
send some hornets, and you'll be on your way. And he did, and
they went. Who can withstand him? Satan tempted him. Our God bested
him. Who can withstand him? No one
is able to withstand our Lord, to withstand against Him. Our Lord says in Matthew 10,
verse 28, do not fear those who can destroy
your body but not touch your soul. But I'll tell you who you
should fear. God is able to destroy both soul
and body in hell. He's able. He's not only able
to bless his saints in heaven, he's able to bring great hurt
upon those as far from heaven as they can be. Folks, this should be great warnings
to those who disregard him and great comforts to we who trust
him. But I'm going to deal tonight
for a few moments in some of God's abilities. Now, do remember
this. As His ability is infinite, His
abilities are numberless. But I'm going to deal with, I
think, about four or five of them here that are of great comfort
to His children. First of all, I want you to know
this. God is able to save anyone. He's able to save anyone. Three of the Gospels bring this
out, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Matthew 19.26, our Lord is dealing with a rich man who
walks away from Him. The subject before them is, how
can a rich man be saved? Who then can be saved? The disciples
asked our Lord. Their question resulted from
his declaration that it is easier for a rich man to enter God's
kingdom than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a sewing
needle. Now, I know something about the
eye of a sewing needle. And I've done some sewing. I
was in the military. I've sewed every one of my straps
on, sewed every one of my insignia on. And I can hem pants. And I can use a needle and thread.
I'm not real good. I don't like to do it, but I
can. And when I was young, it was such great sport to find
the smallest eye of a needle I could find and put a thread
through it. Of course, I could see back then.
You remember those days, folks. Here, mama, let me show you how
to do it. Here it goes. I'm a little older now, and my
eyesight went away and went to see a doctor. I said, I don't
see very well anymore. He says, yeah, you have presbyopia. Well, I've had enough Greek to
know what that means. That means old man's eyes. And
that sewing needle eye, sometimes I'm not really sure it's there.
Thankfully, we have these little metal pins we can push through
and then pull the thread through. It is just nigh on impossible
for me to get a thread through the eye of a needle now. And
our Lord's talking about a camel going through it. Now, I know the Armenians and
the free wheelers, they've already decided that they know that the
eye of a needle is something different than what it is. It's
not really the eye of a needle. It's something different. And
I know what they're saying. And I know they'll say that a
camel can get through some needle's eyes if it'll get down on its
knees. All right? To them, that shows salvation.
No, listen, folks. When our Lord said, it is harder
for a rich man, He's talking about a rich man. To go through
the eye of a needle, He's talking about the eye of a needle. And
when He says, A camel going through the eye of a needle. Our Lord
was talking about what He was talking about. Exactly. Exactly what He's talking about.
It is easier for a rich man to enter God's kingdom than for
a camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle. And they
said, well, Lord, it's impossible then. How can anyone be saved? Good question. I mean, if a rich
man's not getting in, then how can anyone else be saved? And
our Lord said, with God, all things are possible. The things that are impossible
with men are possible with God. For with God, all things are
possible. So I want you to know this, my
friend. that no one here or anywhere else is beyond the power and
the ability of God to save no one. There is not a throne of self-righteousness
so high that our Lord cannot knock it down and bring it to
him. There is not a gutter so deep
that he's not able to pull you out. There is no Maori clay so sticky
that he cannot pull you out of it, none. There is no hell hole so hot
that he's unable to pull you out, none. There is no sinner too big for
Him to save, too strong for Him to save, too sinful for Him to
save, too self-righteous for Him to save. He's already saved
the chief of sinners. He can save you. No one is beyond His ability. Now trust Him. If you never have,
trust Him now. If you have already, trust him
again. And keep trusting him. Because
you know you've had some doubts along the way, have you not? I hope, I suppose I'm not the
only one. But I'm going to tell you something,
he's able. You get into some fixes you think you're not going
to get out of it, he's able. He's able. No one is beyond his
ability to say. Remember that by the way the
next time you hear some idolaters say that his God cannot save
you unless you let him now number two God is able to keep all that
believers entrust to him and What do we entrust to him? I'll
tell you this God will not save you unless you forsake everything
that you are and entrust everything to him He has to have it all. It is required that we entrust
everything that we are and all that we have to Him. And Paul assures us in 2 Timothy
1 verse 12 that God is able to keep what I have committed to
Him until that day. Now, if God is able to keep everything
that I commit to him until that day, then I'm convinced he can
do it for the rest of eternity. You may commit what you have
to the stock market and folks have lost it. You may commit
what you have to a bank safe deposit box Some of those have
been robbed. You can put it under your mattress.
Somebody can find it. It doesn't matter where you commit
it. It can be lost unless you commit
it to Him and He's able to keep it. Number three, God is able to
secure His people, John 10, 29. Jesus assures believers in Him
that, listen to this, no one is able to snatch them out of
my Father's hand. No one can snatch them out. There they are. You can't get
out, folks. The devil can't get you out.
The world cannot get you out. The worst sin you can ever commit
will never get you out. Ask David the king. He's still
there. He's still there. Ask Noah, drunk
on his bed and exposed. He's still there. Why? God is able. Well, what if I send away my
grace? You're trusting the wrong grace.
He's able. No one can snatch them out of
my father's hand, Jesus said. Well, preacher, that sounds like
eternal security. You are so perceptive. That's
exactly what it is. No one can snatch them out of
my hand. Jesus said so. No one is able. Believers are
therefore assured that nothing shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I had a religious experience
in 1972 and was living in Germany at the time and became very religious. Joined the Jesus people in a
Pentecostal church. And I remember one of our Preachers. Quote in this text one time,
and he says, neither death nor life, you know, all these things
that are mentioned. And he says, you know, there's
something that's missing from that list of all the things that
cannot separate us. He said, self is missing. Self
can get yourself lost again, if self will. And even in my
free will Arminian days, I knew that this text read, Nothing
else, including self, shall be able to separate you from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Nothing. You
see, believers, nothing can snatch you and nothing can take you
away and nothing can separate you. Your God is able. Number four, God is able to preserve
His people. Jude, verse 24. God is able to
keep you from stumbling. He's able. The devil's going to put pitfalls,
snares, traps all in your way. He's going to try to make you
stumble all along the way. He's done so all day long if
you're the Lord's child. He tried to do so to your Savior. He'll do it to you as well. But
God is able to keep you from stumbling. We have everlasting
arms. to trust in, do we not? When
we're tripped, their everlasting arms are underneath us. Worshippers
of false god will stumble through life and finally into everlasting
perdition. But God is able to preserve his
people and he will. Our God is able. One last thing. God is able to
present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy. That's also in Jude verse 24. Two things Jude mentions in the
24th verse. God is able to keep you from
stumbling and God is able to present you faultless before
His presence with exceeding joy and great glory. present you
faultless. You who are believers, when the
Lord saved you, He washed away every one of your sins, justified you so that there was
no condemnation. gave you Christ to be your holiness
and put a divine nature in you. So that when you consider that
you're clothed in Christ and He's your righteousness, and His holiness is within you,
that means that when the Lord saved you, you were as righteous
and as holy as God. because God was your righteousness
and your holiness. You're the righteousness of God
in Christ and holy, harmless, and undefiled like Christ. Now, I know some of you folks
have been walking the Christian life for 29 years because I've
known you for that long. And undoubtedly, some of you
have been walking it much longer than that. And you have sinned every day of your lives. And yet, every moment of your
lives, you've been faultless. God has looked upon you and said, I see my son on you and in you. You're faultless. You're faultless. The devil would tempt you to
sin and then go accuse you before God. And God says, you must be wrong. Faultless. Still faultless. But Lord, He sinned all day long. And Jehovah says, And I still
preserved him faultless. And stand before our judge at
the final day, and guess what? Faultless. Who are these? These have washed their garments
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And they kept their
garments white, and they are worthy to walk with me in white.
Why? He preserved us. Kept us from
stumbling and preserved us so that we might stand before his
glory with exceeding joy. Now, that is what my God is able
to do. And I have reason to believe
that he's the same God of many of you. That's what he's able
to do. All right, now you're old. Some
of us are. And life gets more difficult
every day. Just bear this in mind. You're God's able. Some of you are perhaps young
in the Christian life and you want to know, how am I going
to make it through? Same way us old people did. Our
God is able. He is able to do exceedingly,
abundantly, above all that we ask or even think, and that's
the God I preach to you. Now trust Him. Commit it all to Him. He'll save
you, keep you from stumbling, and present you faultless before
Him.