When the Lord Jesus revealed
himself to Abraham, back in the book of Genesis chapter 17, when
he revealed himself to Abraham, he revealed himself saying, I
am the almighty God. God called Abram out of Ur of
the Chaldees to follow him to a land that he would tell him
of. Abraham left her with his nephew Lot, his family, and soon
Lot and Abraham's herdsmen began to fight over cattle, had strife over cattle. And so they parted company. Abraham, being the magnanimous
man he was, said, Lot, you choose what you will and I'll take what's
left. And he followed the Lord. And then in chapter 14 of the
book of Genesis, Lot was taken captive by kings of the plain
who had come and taken captive the king of Sodom and the land
of Sodom. And Abraham girded his men with
swords and went and conquered the captors and delivered Lot
and restored him back into Sodom along with all that he possessed. And when he did, one Melchizedek
met him. Melchizedek, king of Salem. Melchizedek, the priest of the
Most High God. This Melchizedek, we're told
plainly in Hebrews 7, was at least a type of our Lord Jesus.
Some suggest, and I have no reason to dispute the suggestion, that
Melchizedek is indeed the Lord Jesus Christ who came and made
himself known to Abraham. But he certainly is a type of
Christ, the king of Salem, the king of peace, the priest of
the most high God. He came and blessed Abraham in
the name of the God of heaven, possessor of heaven and earth,
and who had delivered his enemies to Abraham's hands. And he brought
with him blood and bread or wine and bread. representing, of course,
the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, God's sacrifice
for us. Then in chapter 15, Abraham has
a revelation from God. God showed himself to Abraham
and Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness. God declared Abraham just. just on the basis of a sacrifice
obviously revealed in that bread and wine which Melchizedek brought
to him. And Abraham was commanded of
the Lord to make a sacrifice to God. He took a heifer and
a she-goat and a ram and a turtle dove and a pigeon all those animal
sacrifices that were later set forth in the law as pictures
of our Redeemer. And Abraham divided the sacrifices,
and he dreamed a dream. And as he did, he heard the Lord
God speak to him again. And God made himself known to
Abraham in the sacrifice. There were buzzards who came
to take away the sacrifice, and Abraham drove them away from
the sacrifice. Then in chapter 16, God came
to him and promised him a son. This old man with an old woman
for a wife, he promised a son. A son who would be the blessing
of God to all the earth. A son who would be that one of
whom God spoke back in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, the seed
of woman who would crush the serpent's head and redeem his
people. A son by whom God would bless
Abraham and bless all the nations of the earth and call out a people
for himself. He promised Abraham that he would
have a son through whom would come Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. And then in chapter 17, God confirms
his covenant to Abraham. How could a fallen sinful man
like you and me, a man who all his life long had been a pagan
idolater, an old man, an old man, how can he expect, really
expect, God to do all that he said he would do for him. How
could this man Abraham believe God and anticipate that God was
as good as his word and would fulfill everything that he had
said? Abraham believed God. Abraham believed him. Sarah laughed
when God said, I'll give you a son. Abraham believed him.
Abraham laughed too. There's two different laughters.
Abraham laughed in joy. God's going to give me a son.
Sarah laughed and said, it can't be. Abraham believed God. He believed God. How could he? On what basis could he reasonably
expect Upon what basis could he reasonably expect that God
would give him a son through whom would come the Messiah,
the seed of woman, through whom he would be redeemed, by whom
all God's elect in all the four corners of the earth would be
called and blessed and made a blessing, by whom at last we would ourselves
inherit everlasting life? How could he reasonably expect
that? Look in Genesis 17, what? And when Abraham or Abram was
90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto
him, I am the almighty God. That's how. I am almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. The Lord God said to Abram, I
am the almighty God. This is the first time this name
of God is used in the scriptures. The first time it's recorded
in the book of God. These words The Almighty God
might be translated El Shaddai. In fact, in our older Bibles,
if you had one of the older Bibles, 100 years old or so, you would
find that in the margin, the word is still translated El Shaddai. Without question, our translation
is correct, the Almighty God. Certainly, El Shaddai means the
Almighty God. It identifies our God as one
whose power is infinite and uncontrollable, omnipotent, almighty. But this word, this name of our
God, El Shaddai, is much, much, much more meaningful than just
almighty. Infinite in might, omnipotent. It means much more than that.
The word means a nourisher, has the idea of one who is almighty,
but a nourisher. In fact, let me tell you what
kind of inspired me to come over here and start studying and preparing
this message this morning. Before I came to the office,
Shelby came just a little while after I did. We read together
Mr. Hawker's morning and evening
portions for today. And the morning portion was taken
from Genesis 17.1. And this is how Hawker speaks
of this word El Shaddai. He says the word describes God
with this name El Shaddai, which is derived from a word which
is translated breast. Hawker says El Shaddai represents
God of many breast of consolation. Consolation for his faithful
ones to suck at and draw from in endless supply. He is God, our nourisher, full
of consolation so that we may draw continually from him an
endless supply of nourishment, of consolation, and of peace. The word El Shaddai also means
God who pours out. He is God, the almighty nourisher,
who pours out, who constantly pours out of himself upon us. He not only nourishes supplying
everything we need to sustain and keep us, He pours out upon
all His own all the blessings of His grace. God our Savior
is a fountain overflowing with super abundant grace upon His
people. He is the almighty, the nourisher,
overflowing constantly in grace for us, like a mighty river flowing
out to us in mercy, love, and grace. El Shaddai means God all
sufficient. Now, that's my subject this evening.
El Shaddai, God all sufficient. I want to show you something
of the blessed, infinite sufficiency of our God. God all sufficient. Oh, Lord God, show yourself to
us tonight. Our great God, so great and glorious,
that he has all sufficiency in himself, for himself, so that
he needs nothing to make him happy, needs nothing to make
him complete. He draws nothing from his creation
that is needed by him. He is not in any way improved
or advantaged by anything that he has made. God is all-sufficient,
self-sufficient. He's sufficient for his people. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as
they were making their pilgrimage through this world, found they
needed nothing but God all the days of their pilgrimage. And
so it is with you and I as we make our pilgrimage through this
world. That man truly lives by faith, who lives in the confidence
that he needs nothing but God. That man truly lives by faith,
who lives in the confidence that he needs nothing but God. God all sufficient. El Shaddai. Now let me show you
three things and I'll try to be brief. Number one, all sufficiency
is self-sufficiency. God's all sufficiency is his
independence. So the first thing that we need
to remember is that God needs nothing from anyone. God needs
nothing from anyone. God can't be put in our debt. Men vainly imagine that somehow
God needs something from us and that we can oblige God by our
prayers or oblige God by our service or oblige God by our
gifts to do something. Nothing is further from the truth.
People have the idea that somehow There is a great vacuum in God's
being. And in order for God to be content
and happy, he must have man to love. Well, what foolishness. What foolishness? God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit dwell together in eternal self-sufficiency. Each delighting in the other
from everlasting to everlasting. The Father delighting in the
Son and Spirit, the Spirit delighting in the Son and the Father, and
so on. So God needs nothing from us. The self-existent God is
the self-subsistent God and the self-sufficient God. Turn to
Romans chapter 11. Romans the 11th chapter. Look at verse 35. Paul was extolling
God and his greatness. Who hath first given to him and
it shall be recompensed to him again. Who's given to God and
God's going to recompense you for it. for of him and through
him and to him are all things." John Gill made this observation. Let me read it to you. It's a
little lengthy, but it's worth remembering. He said, God and
his divine persons, father, son, and spirit, have enough within
themselves to give the utmost infinite complacency, delight,
and satisfaction among themselves and to one another. From eternity,
the father delights in the son. From eternity, the son delights
in the father. From eternity, the triune God
delights in the triune God. Now, with regard to any creature,
that would be the height of arrogance and pride. But with regard to
God, it is altogether right. You see, God's perfect. He's
perfect. There's no vacuum in God which
needs to be filled by us. He doesn't have anything that
needs to be supplied by us. If you read the scriptures, you'll
find that all of the services we perform by God in faith, all
that God requires of us in worship and service to Him is for our
benefit and nothing for His benefit. Everything is to profit us, nothing
to profit Him. The Sabbath. How many times are
we told the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
And that's true with regard to all the sacrifices and services
of the Old Testament. Turn to Psalm 50. Let's look
at a couple of passages. People get the idea that God
somehow is impressed with buildings and impressed with physical things
and moved by physical things and we act like base idolaters
and treat church buildings as if they were actually sanctuaries
and actually temples in which God dwells and God shows himself
and we somehow treat this brick and mortar as though it was something
more than brick and mortar or wood. And it's idolatrous, it
ought not be. God dwells not in temples made
with hands. Look in Psalm 50 verse 7 Here
O my people and I will speak all Israel and I will testify
against thee I am God even thy God I Will not reprove thee for
thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings To have been continually before
me. I Will take no bullock out of thy house nor he goat out
of thy folds. I For every beast of the forest
is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all
the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field
are mine. If I were hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. You imagine somehow that these
sacrifices I require of you are for my benefit? If I were hungry,
I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the fullness
thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving and
pay thy vows unto the Most High and call upon me in the day of
trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. The ordinances of worship that
God's given us in this gospel age are for the same purpose.
God gains nothing. We gain everything. We observe
the Lord's table and hold sweet communion with God, our savior,
and with one another. We come together to worship God
and hear the word and sing his praise. God's not benefited as
we glorify him. We're benefited worshiping and
honoring him, singing praise to him. We confess him in the
waters of believers baptism. And the Lord God graciously causes
his blessings upon that to the benefit of our souls. So that
by that very act, we acknowledge publicly that we belong to him
and identify ourselves with his people. Our praise, our worship,
our service benefits God nothing. Even our sacrifices, our acts
of obedience never benefit God at all. Look in Psalm 16, Psalm
the 16th, the Psalm 16. This is a psalm written by David.
No question about it, written by David. But it's a psalm all
about Christ. The Lord Jesus is that one who
speaks here and says thou will not suffer thine holy one to
see corruption. Now hold your hands there in
Psalm 610. I'll show you something, but
just listen to this. Job 22. Can a man be profitable unto
God? Can a man be profitable to God? I call on you to give yourself
to my Redeemer. I call on you to surrender your
life to Him. I call on myself to do the same.
But you're not going to profit God anything. You're not going
to profit God anything. God doesn't need you. Can a man
be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable unto
himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty
that thou art righteous? Does that somehow give God satisfaction? Or is it gained to him that thou
makest thy ways perfect? If thou be righteous, what givest
thou him? Or what receiveth he of thine
hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man
as thou art, and thy righteousness may profit the Son of man. But
not God, not God. Now look at Psalm 16, verse 2. O my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my Lord. Now watch this. My goodness extendeth not unto
thee. My goodness extendeth not unto
thee. Well, that's David talking, okay?
David says, my goodness extendeth not unto thee. But this is Christ
talking. This is Christ our Redeemer.
My goodness extendeth not unto thee. It's not for God's benefit
that God assumed our nature and walked on this earth in righteousness
and brought in everlasting righteousness. But for our benefit, my goodness
extendeth not unto thee. Even the righteousness and obedience
then, even the sacrifice of God's darling son, our substitute,
added nothing to God's perfection, nothing to his glorious being,
but was altogether for our benefit. His incarnation is for us. His
righteousness is for us. His death is for us. His burial
is for us. His resurrection is for us. His
coming again is for us. Even his glory as our mediator
is for us, that he may give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given him. And the sinful deeds of God's
creatures in no way diminish the happiness, perfection, and
glory of God. I want you to see this. Turn
to Job 35. Job 35. We talk of man robbing God. God does. But that doesn't really
happen. That doesn't really happen. Man's
act is as criminal as if he actually succeeded. But he doesn't really
rob God. You're not going to injure God.
You're not going to take anything away from God. God will not be
hurt by man's deeds or his lack of them. Job 35 verse 6. If thou sinnest, what doest thou
against him? Or if thy transgressions be multiplied,
what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what givest
thou him? Or what receiveth he of thy hands? God is so infinitely great, so
thoroughly, completely self-sufficient that no creature can add anything
to him or take anything from him. No creature can add anything
to his works or take anything from his works. God's name is
El Shaddai, God all-sufficient. That's the first thing. Here's
the second thing. He is all-sufficiency for us. This all-sufficient God, our
Savior, having all-sufficiency in Himself, is all-sufficient
for His people. He's able to do what he pleases,
able to fulfill all his promises, able to accomplish all his decrees,
and able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? He's able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or even have the foggiest thought
concerning, exceeding abundantly above such, nothing's too hard
for God. Oh, Spirit of God, teach me this. He who fed millions with bread
from heaven every day for 40 years can feed me. He who calls
water to gush out of the flimsy rock in the desert and made rivers
in the desert can constantly supply me with water and with
the water of life. He who calls his people to walk
for 40 years in the same pair of shoes. For 40 years. Now, I have some
shoes that are 40 years old, but I don't wear them much. And
the ones I've worn much have been resold and reheeled a couple
of times, and they look like they've been worn. God calls
his people to wear the same pair of shoes for 40 years, marching
every day, and they never grew tight on their feet. Wore the
same clothes, and the clothes Never got moldy or ragged. He
can surely provide you with what you need. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? Then there's no need to ever
compromise His honor. No need to in any way diminish
His gospel. No need to compromise His name,
His word. No need to behave in any way
that reflects dishonor upon him. He is God all-sufficient. He who caused iron to swim. PJ can keep your soul afloat.
I'm talking about God. I'm talking about God. Is it
reasonable? Can you really, reasonably, can
you really, with good reason, trust Christ with everything? Can you? His name is El Shaddai,
God All-Sufficient. We see something of His infinite
sufficiency in the physical world around us. In his good providence,
he gives life and breath to all things. He breathed into Adam
the breath of life, and he gives the breath of life to all the
sons of Adam. He is called the God of our life
because we get life from him. He supports it. He maintains
it. He sustains it. He preserves it, and he brings
it to its end. He's the God all-sufficient,
who does as He pleases in all creation. God provides for all
men all the necessities of life, even for all beasts. The wild
animals are fed by His hand, nourished by Him, and so are
all the sons of men. He sustains everyone in life
exactly as he has appointed before the world was. And he keeps them
in health exactly as long as he will. God, all sufficient. And our God, out of his great
infinite sufficiency, in the exercise of his wisdom, power,
and grace, totally rules and governs the universe. The kingdom
is the Lord's. Which kingdom? The whole kingdom
of creation is His. He ruleth over all. So great is God's infinite incomprehensible
sufficiency that though He made all things, sustains all things,
provides for all things, rules all things, his sufficiency is
never even diminished. He's God all-sufficient, but
above all else, we know him so because God all-sufficient has
made us to experience and makes us continually to experience
his all-sufficient grace. El Shaddai is the God of all
grace. He's able to cause all grace
to abound to you. All grace. How you gonna deal with this
trouble? How you gonna handle this heartache? How are you going
to face this heavy trial? God, I'm helpless. I'm weak. I can't. I just can't go on. No, I can't. And you can't. But my God shall supply all your
needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Our Lord Jesus is our all sufficient
mediator. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. It pleased the Father that in
all things he should have preeminence. The Father loveth the Son and
hath put all things in his hands. He's an all sufficient mediator.
the mediator of an all-sufficient covenant, and El Shaddai, the
almighty God, our Lord Jesus, bestows upon us all-sufficient
grace. Turn it over to Exodus chapter,
let's see, is it chapter six or chapter seven? I may preach on this Sunday. Now chapter 6, listen to what
God says about his covenant. Listen to this. This is God's
covenant. He said to Moses, he said, now
shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. With a strong hand
he shall let them go and he'll drive them out. And he says in
verse 3, I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name
of God Almighty. God all-sufficient, but by my
name Jehovah, Redeemer, Jehovah who saves, I was not known to
them. And I have also established my
covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land
of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have
also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the
Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant.
Wherefore, say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and
I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,
and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you
with a stretched out arm and with great judgments, and I will
take you to me for a people. And I will be to you a God and
ye shall know that I am the Lord. God all sufficient. God you can safely trust. The Lord Jesus says to you, my
grace is sufficient for you. To you who are His, His grace
is sufficient to justify and sanctify and glorify, sufficient
to sustain you, to uphold you, to keep you, to preserve you.
His grace is sufficient. The name of our God is El Shaddai,
God All-Sufficient. Abraham, a little later, gives him another name when he
saw God's provision and the sacrifice. He said, we'll call the name
of this place Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide. Provide what? Well, Joe Blakely, just exactly
what is it you need? That's exactly what he'll provide. Temporally and eternally Carnally
and spiritually What is it you need? That's what he'll provide
All in Christ Jesus the Lord All right, here's my third point
All sufficiency is perfection God's all sufficiency Tells us
that he is perfect He who lacks nothing, needs nothing, to whom
nothing can be given, and from whom nothing can be taken, is
perfect. This is our God. Perfect in all
His nature. God the Lord is perfect, our
Savior says in Matthew 5. He's perfect. Perfect. He's perfect in all His work. In creation, in redemption, in
providence, in grace, God's perfect. God's perfect. Even in judgment,
perfect. Perfect. And the Lord God is
able to make you perfect. Let me show you one more text,
and I'll wrap this up. Now I'll show you three more.
Look in 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. Back in our texts, the Lord said
to Abram, I am the almighty God. El Shaddai, God all sufficient. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Walk before me and be thou perfect. Now commonly the translator or
the commentators translate that word perfect, complete, entire,
full, whole, and it does mean that. It does mean that. It certainly
does. It means perfect, without blemish,
spotless, full, complete, entire, whole. Because if there's any
spot, there's no wholeness. If there's any lack, there's
no completion. If there's any sin, there's no
perfection. But God says, walk before me
and be thou perfect. What a terror. Oh, we've got
to, we've got to make ourselves perfect. Yeah, you do. Or you got to be made perfect. You see, what God requires, God
does. What God requires, God performs. What God demands, God gives. Look here in 1 Peter 5, verse
10. But the God of all grace, who
hath called you unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, After
that, you suffered a while. Make you perfect. Establish you. Settle you. In Christ, yes, we
are perfect positionally, judicially, if you want to use language like
that. Perfect representatively in him. And soon, every believing
sinner Every soul redeemed by the grace of God shall be made
perfect. Experimentally. Made perfect
by blood atonement. Made perfect by regeneration. Made perfect at last in resurrection
glory. Turn to the book of Jude. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it, for this purpose, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing. But this should be holy and without
blemish. Rex, the book of God tells us
with regard to heaven, Nothing shall enter in that's unholy
or unclean. Nothing. How are you going to
enter in? God, all sufficient. El Shaddai. This is what he says. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling. Jude 24. And to present you. You. thoughtless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy. Present you thoughtless before
the presence of his glory, thoughtless, thoughtless, holy,
without blame, without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish.
To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty and dominion
and power both now and ever. Amen. El Shaddai, God all-sufficient. Give us grace ever to be nourished
and comforted and strengthened all the days of our lives by
God all sufficient. Amen.