This is Andy's first. Rob, is
this your first or second? Well, OK, there's there's two
first time fathers. It's neat. I'm going to preach tonight out
of Hebrews chapter 13. Where the writer to the Hebrews
said, pray for us. And then he goes on to say he
wants them to do that, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Now, that's an interesting thought. Everything is decreed by God. And yet he says, if you pray
for me, I'll be restored sooner than I would have been if you
didn't pray for me. I want us to look at what the
Bible has to say about prayer in that sense tonight. Turn back
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I've entitled this morning's message,
The Origin of All Things. The Origin of All Things. Paul says in verse 18, And all
things are of God. Now there's the origin of all
things. All things are of God. The origin means the source,
the cause, the beginning, what something is derived from. All
things are of God. That is an all-encompassing phrase,
isn't it? All things. What is under the umbrella of
all things? All things. All things. You can't take that
too far. Don't try narrowing it. All things
are of God. There is the origin of all things. Now, in the context, he's speaking
of the all things he spoke of in verse 17. Therefore, if any
man be in Christ, He's a new creature. Old things are passed
away. Behold, all things are become new. And all of those
things are of God, period. All things are of God in the
physical creation, obviously. He created the universe and he
had no help. All things were of him. Nobody
helped him out. He didn't have anyone to consult with. He spaked
this world into existence by himself with no help from any
creature because there were no creatures to help him. All things
are of God in the physical creation. You know, you can't believe the
Bible and believe in evolution. Now, somebody says, I believe
in the evolution and I also believe in God. Well, Charles Darwin
believed in God. and believed in evolution. I
didn't say you can't believe in God and believe in evolution,
but you can't believe the Bible and believe evolution. It can't
be done. All things are of God in the
physical creation. And all things are of God in
providence. That's what's going on right
now. Why are you here this morning?
There's only one reason. You're here because God calls
you to be here. Did God know yesterday you'd be here today?
Of course he did. Is there any way you wouldn't
have been here if God knew you would be? No. All things are
of God in providence. He controls everything that happens
in time. Aren't you happy about that?
Romans 8, 28 says all things work together. Good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Would
you turn with me to Proverbs chapter 16? All things are of God is such
a delightful thing to think about. Proverbs chapter 16. Verse 1. The preparations. That word means the inclinations
or the disposings. What you're inclined to. What
you're disposed to. The preparations of the heart
in man, and the answer of the tongue, the way you answer something,
is from the Lord. Your inclinations and the way
you answer something, it's from the Lord. He's in control of
it. Look in verse 4 of the same chapter. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Verse 9. A man's heart devises his way. We make plans. What all of you
make plans for today? I mean, plan on doing things
for Father's Day, I suppose, or whatever. Whatever. You make
these plans. You make plans about tomorrow.
A man's heart devises his way. And you're the one making the
plans. You're doing what you want to do. You know, people do what
they want to do. People do what they want to do. You do what you want to do. What
else does it say? But the Lord directs his steps. That's how all things are of
God in providence. Look in verse 33. The lot is
cast into the lap. Now, when we think of that, we
think of luck. The lot is cast in the lap. You
throw out the sticks, who has the shortest stick, the lot,
the log, whatever. There it goes. The lot is cast
into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Turn to Isaiah 46. This is God speaking. And he says in verse nine, remember
the former things of old For I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure, calling
up ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel
from a far country, whatever's going on in other countries.
You know who's controlling it? The Lord is. The Lord is. Whatever's going on anywhere,
He's in control of it. I love this. I have spoken it. I will bring it to pass. I have
purposed it. I will also do it. All things are of God. in Providence
and nothing escapes this. There's nothing flying under
the radar from the path of the particle of dust to the destruction
or the raising up of an empire. Whatever takes place in Providence,
God purposed it. And he is in control of it. I don't care if we're talking
about a drop of rain. I don't care if we're talking about an
earthquake. Doesn't matter what it is. He controls it all. The wise man said, the king's
heart, the fellow who's in charge, the king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turns
it. Withersoever, he will. Now, most especially when we
talk about all things being of God, we talked about all things
being of him, creation, he didn't have any help. All things are
of God in providence. He controls every event, everything
that takes place. He's the first cause behind.
I know somebody's thinking, you're saying he's the cause of evil? Well, there wouldn't be if he
didn't allow it to be. And he's in control of it. And
he lets it happen for his glory and for his purpose. He's God. He's God. Yes. He's in control
of everything. He said, I form the light, I
create darkness, I make peace, I create evil, I, the Lord, do
all these things. That's what God said about Himself.
Yes, He's in control of everything. You know, somebody says, well,
that's making men puppets. Well, if you don't believe that,
you're making God a puppet to man. I don't want for men to
be puppets, would you? Besides, men aren't puppets.
You do what you want to do. But God is in absolute control. But
most especially in salvation, in this new creation, we read
of all things are of God. Now, we would count someone a fool who said God had help in
creation, wouldn't we? I mean, it just doesn't even
make sense. To say that some creature helped God create? No,
there wasn't any creatures when He created. All there was was
God and He spaked the world into existence. And we would count
a man a fool who would deny that in any way. But how much more
sacrilegious and unbelieving would it be for a man to deny
that all things are of God in the new creation? Salvation,
a new creation. All things of God in this new
creation, that encompasses the desires, the privileges, and
the actions of this new creation. Now I think of the desires of
the new creation. You know, there was a time when
I really didn't desire God. There was a time when I really
wasn't interested. There was a time. But all of
a sudden, I am. Where did that desire come from?
The desire to know God. Where did that come from? The
desire to have your sins forgiven. There was a time when that wasn't
such an issue with you. It is now. You want your sins
forgiven. Where does that desire come from?
What about that desire to be found in Christ? There's somebody
in here right now that desires, when God comes looking for you,
you simply want to be found in Christ. You don't want to stand
in your own works. You want to stand in Christ. Where did that
desire come from? Where did that first glimmer
of faith come from? Where did that first spark of
love you had for God come from? It didn't come from you, did
it? All things are of God. If you leave a man alone, none
of these things will take place. All God's got to do is leave
me alone, that's it, and I'll go to hell. That's all He's got
to do. This idea that God lets men choose
their eternal destiny, that He loves all and wants to save all,
but He'll not save anybody unless they have their own free will,
allow Him to save them and accept Him as their personal Savior,
that idea, No truth to it. None at all. You see, all things
are of God. And this idea of man's free will,
that he has some kind of control in this thing, is absolutely
contrary to who God is. It's atheism is what it is. All
things are of God. If God leads us to our depraved
will, the cross tells what will happen. All God's got to do is
leave me or you alone. Just leave us alone, and we'd
be one of those people nailing Christ to the cross. That's all
God's got to do. Now, the will to be saved comes
from Him. Now, whosoever will. Don't you love that scripture?
I love the word whosoever. I'm one of them. Whosoever. That's a broad word. It doesn't
leave anybody out except those who exclude themselves. Whosoever
will. Are you, is your will to be saved
by Him? Is that what you want? Do you
want to be saved by His grace? Do you want to be found in Christ?
Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Where
did that will come from? It's God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do His good pleasure. Thy people shall be
willing. in the day of thy power." The
desire for mercy, the desire for forgiveness, the desire to
be found in Christ, that's all of God. All of the privileges of this
new creation, of being saved, it's all of God. Well, what do
I mean by that? I guess I say this almost every
time I'm a priest, but whenever, anytime you talk about God's
salvation, you've got to begin with God's choice of His people.
Election. Election. Divine election. God's
choice of His people. Now God, all things regard an
election in this sense. God didn't look at you and see,
well, He'll believe or He'll help me out. He'll be really
valuable in my kingdom. He'll be a good witness. He'll,
He's got a lot, He'll give a lot. I foresee that he'll choose me,
therefore I'll choose him. That's foolishness. God didn't
look for a reason in you to choose you. He did so simply because
he would. The forgiveness of sins is of
God. He doesn't forgive you even because you asked him to. He
doesn't forgive you because you're sorry you did it or because you
promise you'll never do it again. He does it in response to Christ,
not in response to you. He does it for Christ's sake.
Aren't you thankful he doesn't have to find a reason for you
to forgive you? What if he did? If he had to find a reason in
me or you, we wouldn't be forgiven. But thank God he finds the reason
in himself. All things are of God in redemption.
He redeemed us. We didn't have anything to do
with this. We didn't ask him to pay for our sins. All things are
of God in justification. He's the one who justifies us.
He makes us not guilty. It's his work. All things are
of God in regeneration. We didn't say, give me new life.
He birthed me into the kingdom of heaven. All things were of
God in preservation. Listen to me real carefully.
If God preserved me all the way up into the last step where I'd
step in through the pearly gates and entered to heaven, but the
last step I was made to make on my own, I'd fall straight
to hell. All things were of God in preservation, were kept by
the power of God. through faith unto salvation.
Now, thank God all things are of God. And all the actions of
the new creation are of God. I want you to think about this. Here is a man who feels led of
God, impressed of God, to leave everything he holds dear here
and go to some foreign country and preach the gospel. to those
people. He and his family go, believing
God has called him, and he works tirelessly preaching the gospel
to a people who are ungrateful and unbelieving. And during the
course of his preaching, he ends up burying every member of his
family while there. Maybe they got some diseases
from that place that they wouldn't have got if they would have stayed
at home. And every one of them die. And this man never regrets
what he's doing. But he asks God to give him grace
to be more zealous and more faithful in preaching the gospel than
he ever was before. That's of God. Ask the man. He'll tell you this is not of
me. This is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. Anything we do, God gets all
the credit. We cry not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy
truth's sake. Now, how are all things of God?
I mean, it's evident, isn't it, that all things are of God in
creation, in providence, and in salvation. Well, how are all
things of God? Well, first, all things are of God in the sense
that he planned everything. He planned everything. He planned
everything for me or you or whoever around. Everything that takes
place, he planned, he decreed, it's all a part of his purpose. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, He saved
us and he called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which were
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. God, before
time began, planned the new creation exactly as He willed it. He didn't
leave the number of the saved to chance, or what is worse,
to the depraved will of man. He planned and decreed and purposed
all that would take place. He left nothing to chance. He
decreed who would be saved. when they would be saved, and
how they would be saved. All things are of God in the
planning of salvation. All things are of God in... Now,
if all God did was plan, it has to be something else. All things
are of God in the purchase of salvation. That's what Christ
did. God the Father planned who would
be saved, but you think of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1-3
says He by Himself. He by himself, no help from you,
by himself, he purged our sins. Now, how much did man have to
do with the purging of sin? Nothing. He did this by himself.
And when he said it is finished, when he said it is finished,
salvation was accomplished. I wonder how much we believe
that. When he said it is finished, my salvation was finished and
I wasn't even born yet. That's wonderful. All things
are of God in the purchase of salvation. You see, that's Christ.
Jesus was not. Understand, please understand,
Christ wasn't making salvation available for you if you do your
part. No, he was saving. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. Hebrews 9, 12 says, note that
word eternal. Eternal means it never had a beginning. Now, he
had to come in time to obtain it, but it's always been. You
know, if God willed something, it is before it happens. And
Christ came and did it. And how much help did he have
in the purging of our sins? All things were God in the applying
of salvation. We're born of God. And how You
think of birth. When you were born, what word
did you have in it? Did you ask to be born? That's
what I always want to tell my parents when they're mad at me. It's not my fault. You born me.
I didn't ask for this. I don't know why I'm coming up
with that. I guess it's because it's Father's
Day. All things are of God in the
maintaining of this new creation. He keeps us. He keeps us. He
preserves us. Now I want to ask the question,
why are all things of God? Why are all things of God? Well,
here's the first reason. Because there can't be anything
from us. Dead in sins. If anything's left
up to me, I'm going to hell. All things must be of God because
we can't do anything. If anything has to be of us,
We're goners. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. Draw him, irresistibly draw him,
and I'll raise him up at the last day. The carnal mind is
enmity against God. It's not subject to the law.
God neither indeed can be. You see, if all things are not
of the Lord, we're in trouble. Why are all things of God? Because
we're told in the scriptures that every good gift, and every
perfect gift, comes from above. And it cometh down from the Father
of lights, any whom is no bearableness, neither shadow of turning. So
everything good comes from Him. It doesn't come from man in any
respect. It comes from Him. Why are all
things of God? Because he must have all the
glory. We're saved to the praise of the glory of his grace. He
does what he does for his own glory. And I can appeal to every
believer. I can appeal to your experience
if God's ever done anything for you. You know, I don't have to
convince any believer of this. You know that all things are
of God in your experience. You know if he didn't do something
for you, you would not be saved. You're just sure of this. I don't
have to convince you of this. Now, there are some excellent
effects to believing this. To believing that all things
are of God. It has some very excellent effects on us. First, it's so humbling. It's so humbling. When men hear that God saves
whom he wills and hardens whom he wills, and that's what the
scripture teaches, isn't it? Romans chapter 9, he saves whom
he wills and he hardens whom he will. Salvation is all the
salvation is of God. Somebody says, well, I don't
like that. Who ever thought you would? If
you liked it, it wouldn't be true, would it? But when it's believed, how humbling. I had nothing to
do with this. It's the work of God alone. But
not only is this humbling, it's a death blow to all self-sufficiency
and self-righteousness. It's just the death blow to it.
It doesn't give you anything to hold on to that comes from
you. You know, it's only It's only when I am nothing that
Christ is everything to me. It's only when I am nothing that
He is all. And do you have a problem with
that? You being nothing and Him being all? I love it that way. to all self-sufficiency and all
self-righteousness. And how comforting this is in every respect. First of all,
in Providence, how comforting that all things are of God. You're
old boys in Afghanistan. Where would you be if you didn't
know that the Lord was in control of everything? He's in control. He rules and he reigns. And I
think, what's going to happen to Aubrey? Well, I don't know,
but the Lord's in control of it. What's going to happen to
my children? Well, the Lord's in control of
it. And he's in the hands of him who is too wise to err and
too kind to be cruel. Aren't you glad all things were
of God? He's in control of everything. I wouldn't want it to be any
other way. I really wouldn't. But how comforting and salvation
to know all things are of God. Doesn't it comfort you to know
that everything that He requires of you, He provides. You don't
have to come up with a thing. It's all His work. And I love it that way. I realize
an unbeliever may say, well, that'll lead to indifference
and that'll lead to sinfulness and apathy and fatalism. No, it won't. Not that a believer
won't. An unbeliever is going to look
to do that anyway. But a believer doesn't do that. All things are
of God in salvation. Have comforting. The very faith
I have, He gives me. The repentance I have, He gives
me. The love I have for Him, He gives
me. The love I have for you, He gives
me. All things are of God. And how encouraging this is to
the sinner. Now, who am I speaking to right
now? I hope I'm speaking to a sinner. What's a sinner? Do I have to
answer that question? Somebody who's evil. Somebody
who is not good. Someone who sins. Someone who
cannot be good. Someone who cannot not sin. Someone who really, truly, from
the very depths of their heart, they can't look down their nose
in moral superiority for anybody. They can't look down their nose
at anybody. They see they're sinful. They see they have no
claim on God. God doesn't owe them anything.
Now, that's the person I'm speaking to. A sinful person. Here's hope for you. Here's hope for you. Quit trying
to do. Quit trying to feel. Quit trying
to be. And trust Him who did. Can you do that? Can you let
go? of all hopes of self-salvation,
and trust Him who did." All that God requires of you,
He provides in His Son. And you say, but I just can't
believe it. Well, He'll give you faith. You really, you don't
so much come to him believing, you come to him for faith. Lord,
I can't even believe. Give me faith. I can't repent. My heart, my heart's too hard.
Give me the repentance. I can't love. Give me the love.
You see, it's only when you come to him like this that you get
anything. If you think it comes from you, you've got nothing.
But this is the way to come to him knowing that all things are
of him. I love the way the leper came
to him. I just can't get away from that. That leper came to
him. He knew he wasn't clean. He knew
he was a leper. He knew he couldn't make himself
clean. But he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He came to him of whom are all
things. And what did he hear? I will. Be thou clean." All things are
of God. And from that we read in verse
18, "...who hath reconciled us to himself." by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit 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." Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you, in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God. Don't be mad at God. Don't be
afraid of God in the fleshly sense for, here's why, for He
hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. All things are of
God. Let's pray.