I'm real excited about the message
that I feel God has given me to preach to you this morning.
I'm going to be speaking from the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter
5, verse 8. I wish you'd turn in your Bible
to this verse of Scripture and prepare to look carefully at
every word with me. Will you do that? The title of
this message is Three Glorious Themes, all in one verse. three
glorious things. And as I said, the Scriptures
found in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18. Listen to it. And all things
are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now, our text
begins with a mighty theme. As I said, there are three glorious
themes, and our text begins with a glorious theme, all things
are of God. Have you learned this? I rejoice
that it's so. I suppose that's the reason I'm
excited about the message, is because God has been pleased
by His grace and through the power of His Spirit to bring
me to appreciate and to love the truth as it is in Christ
Jesus, and I'm glad God is God. I rejoice in God himself. All
things are of God. All things in the creation of
this world are of God. The scripture says in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. The heavens declare the
glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. It says
in John 1 all things were made by him. And without Him was not
anything made that was made. Let this, let every one of us
go on record as declaring with the Holy Scriptures, all things
are of God. That is, all things in the creation
of this world are of God. He made it. He made it for His
glory. He made it for His eternal praise.
God created all things. And you know, the writers of
Scripture saw God in everything. David talked about the stars
and the moon and the sun and the heavens declaring God's wisdom
and God's glory and God's might. And then he said, I will lift
up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. And then
he said, the Lord is my shepherd. He leads me beside still waters. He leads me in green pastures. And our Lord Jesus Christ talked
about the lily of the field. And it tore not, neither does
it spin, and yet Solomon in all his glory was never arrayed like
one of these. And then our Lord talked about
the sparrow. And think how small a sparrow
is when you think of the vast universe. And they tell us that
this universe is billions and billions and billions of miles
and stars and planets and all of these things, and how small
the earth is compared to the vast infinite almost space of
the universe, and think how small a sparrow is. And yet not one
of them, Christ said, falls to the ground without your Heavenly
Father. God made all things. All things are of God. Even the
hairs of your head are numbered. The hairs of your head. God knows
men's thoughts. All things are of God. And then
all things in the creation of man are of God. Now this is what
the scripture is saying. This is a grand and glorious
theme. All things are of God. All things. Without him was not
anything made that was made. And all things in the creation
of man are of God. He said, let us make man in our
own image. Let us make man. And God created man. Male and
female created he them. And David said, It is the Lord
who has made us and not we ourselves. I know there's some folks out
there listening right now who say, well, I don't believe in
the Genesis account of creation. Don't call it the Genesis account
of creation. Call it God's account of creation. That's what it is. It's God's
account. And I know we try to soften our
rebellion and our unbelief by calling it the Genesis account,
but that's in God's Word. And our Lord Jesus Christ talked
about God making the world, and the Apostle Paul talked about
God making the world. So it's not the Genesis account
at all, it's the Bible account of creation, and God's account
of creation. And I tell you this, and I don't
mean to offend you, but if truth offends, it'll just have to offend.
No man can believe in evolution and believe the Bible. You just
can't do it. Because the Bible says three
reasons. First of all, the Bible says
God created man. It says that plain and simple.
It says it not in one place, it says it in many places. God
who spoke the light out of darkness, who created the world. All things
were made by him and for him, and by him all things are held
together. This is all the way through the
Bible. So you can't believe in evolution and believe the word
of God. You just cannot do it. The Bible says God created man
in his image. And God's not a monkey, and he's
not a tadpole, and he's not a frog, and he's not a one-cell animal.
He's not an amoeba. God is the eternal living God,
all-wise, infinite, righteous, and holy. And he made man in
his image. He said, let us make man in our
own image. And the third reason is the Bible
says God created man high, and he fell. Evolution says he was
low, and he's climbing gradually up. That's the opposite. That's
not saying the same thing at all. And the Bible says, poetically,
that man needs a savior to lift him. And the evolutionist says,
well, leave him alone. He's making good progress. He'll
come out all right in the end. He's evolving into something
better all the time. There's nothing better in this
day. There's nothing new under the
sun. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Men are just as evil
today as ever. Where are your Davids and your
Moses and your Abrahams and your Ruths and your Matthews and your
Apostle Pauls? Where are they today? Where are
your statesmen? Where are your leaders? Man is the same sinful
creature that he always has been. He fell. That's what happened.
He's not evolving. He's not getting better. He's
just the same as he was. He's not getting any worse. He's
just the same as he was. He's a sinner. He's alienated
from God. He's without God, without hope, without Christ in this
world. There's none that doeth good, no not one. God back in
the days of the flood looked down upon the children of men
and he said every imagination of their heart is evil continually.
And that's so in 1980s as well as it was 6,000 years ago. Man's
the same. God created man high and he fell.
He didn't make us like we are. We retain some evidence of his
creation. We retain some of his image.
But all in all and basically man is a fallen spiritually dead
creature. All things are of God. Isn't
that a glorious theme? You could stay on that all morning.
All things are of God. All things in providence are
of God. Listen to the Scripture. In Him
we live and move and have our being. That's providence. In
God we live. We move. I raise this hand. I do it by the will of God. I
do it as God enables me. I couldn't raise my finger without
God, and you couldn't either. God is life. In Him I live and
I move and I have my being. And by Him all things are held
together. The sun came up this morning
according to the will of God, and it set this evening according
to the will of God. And everything is on precise
schedule according to the will of God, who said He worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will. That's what Scripture
says. God ruleth in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants
of this earth, and he giveth it to whomsoever he will. 1 Samuel
2, 7 says, The Lord maketh poor, and the Lord maketh rich. The
Lord bringeth low, and the Lord lifteth up. And he's given this
promise to every believer, and we know that all things work
together. All things. All things are of
God. So we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, who are the called
according to his purpose. All things are of God. We need
a camp there, don't we? All things are of God. All things
in life and death are of God, too. 1 Samuel 2, 6 says, The
Lord killeth, and the Lord maketh alive. The Lord bringeth down
to the grave, and the Lord lifteth up. That's God's Word. In Job
chapter 14, it says, Seeing man's days are determined, Who determined
man's days? All things are of God. The number
of his months are with thee. With whom? With God. All things are of God. Thou hast
appointed his bounds. He cannot pass. All things are
of God. All things in life, all things
in death. That's the reason we can rest
and have peace. That's the reason we can walk
through the deepest sea and over the rockiest road, and under
the greatest cloud, and through the most fearsome tempest, knowing
that our God controls all these things. I will not fear. God
is my refuge. I will not fear what man can
do to me. Our Lord said, fear not them
which kill the body. And after that, they have no
more that they can do. Fear Him who hath power to cast
you body and soul into hell. And He has that power because
all things are of God. All things in salvation are of
God. Here's my favorite theme. All things in salvation are of
God. David wrote, The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. David wrote, To him belongeth
salvation. Jonah cried, Salvation is of
the Lord, deliverance. Paul wrote in Romans 8, 29, For
whom he foreknew, that is, foreordained. He also predestinated to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
He called, and whom He called, He justified, and whom He justified,
He glorified. What shall we say to these things?
What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? All things are of God. What shall we say to these
things? The same thing we say to all things. They are of God. Salvation is of the Lord. Deliverance
is of the Lord. Man doesn't save himself, God
saves him. From Alpha to Omega, from beginning
to end, from eternity past to eternity future. Salvation is
of the Lord. It's a gift of God. He bestows
it upon whom he will. Salvation is of the Lord in its
planning. It's not man, but God who fashioned the covenant of
grace. The covenant of grace was not born out of a religious
synod. or an ecclesiastical meeting,
it was born out of a council in eternity composed of Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, before the foundations of the world
were ever laid, before the morning stars sang together, God, from
the beginning, hath chosen you to salvation. If words can mean
anything, my friend, it's very clear when God chose his people. He chose them before the world
began. He chose them in Christ. He chose them to salvation, salvations
of the Lord in its planning. and salvations of the Lord in
its execution. The Scripture says, God so loved
the world that He gave His Son. Man didn't have anything to do
with Christ's coming. God sent Him. As my Father sent
me, Christ said, so send I you. The Scripture tells us plainly,
I have given you the blood upon the altar, God said. I gave it
to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your soul. It's
the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. Again it said,
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. I know wicked men with wicked
hearts crucified the Son of God, nailed him to that rugged tree,
but they did what God determined before to be done. Isn't that
what the Bible says? They did what God determined
before to be done. They carried out the determinate
will of God Almighty. Scripture says Herod, Pontius
Pilate, the Jews, the Gentiles, somebody said the whole shooting
match was gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed
to do whatsoever His hand, His will, His purpose determined
before to be done. Salvations of the Lord. All things
are of God, especially salvation. That's His crowning glory. That's
His greatest glory. Salvations of the Lord, not only
in its execution, but in its application. Who made thee to
call on God? Who made thee to differ? Paul
said, God who separated me from my mother's womb. He didn't live
like a man separated to God for the first 40 years, did he? He
lived like a man separated to the devil and to self and to
hate. But God had separated him from
his mother's womb, and God was pleased to call him by his grace. We love him because he first
loved us. We seek him because he sought
us, we call on him because he called. Salvation is of the Lord
in its calling, in its application, and I'll tell you this, it's
of the Lord in its sustaining power. We're kept by the power
of God, not apart from faith, we're kept by the power of God
through faith. Now unto him, Jude said in that
great doxology, now unto him who is able to keep you from
falling, and to present you faultless before his exceeding great glory
and his gracious, wonderful presence. Now unto him be glory both now
and forever. Amen. John 10, verse 28. Our
Lord said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me, and I give them eternal life, and they'll never perish. They'll
never perish. I'll keep them. He said, They'll
never leave me, and I'll never leave them. They will persevere,
and they will be preserved. They'll be kept by His power. And then salvation's of the Lord
in its ultimate perfection. Let me ask you a question. Who's
going to raise your body when you're dead and buried and gone
back to the dust or eaten by the worms or the fish? When your
body's cremated and scattered to the winds, who's going to
bring that body back together and raise it from the dead? You
going to have anything to do with it? Your will going to have
anything to do with it? Your pastor going to have anything
to do with it? Your church going to have anything to do with it?
Somebody says, the church is going to stand for me. Well,
the church will have to get you out of the grave first. It says,
unto him who has the power, who is able to raise our vile bodies. Christ going to have to bring
them forward. Who's going to make you into the image of Christ?
Who's going to conform you to the image of Christ? My friend,
all things are of God. All things in eternity past,
all things in this, whatever you call it, present, and all
things in eternity future, all things are of God. I'm not fatalistic
at all. I believe God uses means. I call
on men to repent. I call on men to believe the
gospel. I call on men to seek the Lord. I call on men to cast
themselves at the feet of Christ. I call upon men to ask God for
mercy, for healing, for whatever God gives. But I do know this,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, God gets
the glory. If I love him, it's not because
I'm any different from anybody else, but he showed mercy to
my soul, and he was gracious. He said, I'll be merciful to
whom I will, I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious. So
then it's not of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth,
it is of God that showeth mercy. Salvations of the Lord, all things
are of God. Now, that's the God of the Bible,
and that's the true and living God, and that's the God of whom
David spoke when he said, As the thirsty deer panteth for
the water brook, so panteth my soul for thee, the true and living
God. My friends, it's not enough just
to know a God. We've got to know the living
God. Christ said, This is eternal life, that they might know thee,
the true and living God. It's not enough just to have
religion. We're going to have to know Christ. God is one God. All right, what's this next glorious
theme? We've got to move along. All things are of God. All things
are of God. By Him were all things created
that are in heaven and earth. All things were created by Him
and for Him. He is before all things, and
by Him all things are held together. That's Colossians 1, 16, 17. Here's the second glorious theme.
All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself. who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ. To be reconciled is to be forgiven. To be reconciled is to be pardoned,
justified from all sin. Think of it. Happy is the man
to whom God will not charge sin. Think of your past. Think of
your present. Think of your sins. Think of
your evil thoughts, imagination, attitude, spirit, words, all
of these sins against God. Well, to be reconciled is to
be pardoned from all these sins. To be forgiven, to be just, to
be reconciled is to have all enmity removed. God is not angry
anymore. God's judgment and wrath is removed
in a holy fashion, in a just fashion, consistent with his
character. The enmity is removed. Enmity. is removed. We're reconciled. And to be reconciled is to be
a child of the living God. To be reconciled is to have peace,
peace with God. My friends, in sin, men don't
have peace with God. God's angry with the wicked.
He that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth
on him. Outside of Christ, just like
outside of that ark, there's judgment and condemnation and
destruction. But to be reconciled is to have
peace with God and the peace of God in our hearts. To have God's peace upon us and
God's peace in us. And God hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ. All of this, now there are three
persons mentioned here. God, us, and Christ. And in these four verses, in
2 Corinthians 5, 18, 19, 20, and 21, those three persons are
mentioned every time in those four verses. Listen to them.
In this one, God hath reconciled us. God hath reconciled us. God, the holy God, has reconciled
us, the sinful creature, to himself by Jesus Christ. That's how he
did it. Not by the law, not by religion, not by ordinances and
ceremonies. morality by Christ. Look at verse
19. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. God did it in Christ and he reconciled
us. Look at verse 20. In Christ's
stead, I pray you, be you reconciled to God. in Christ's stead, for
Christ's sake, because of Christ's substitutionary work. I beseech
you, us, to be reconciled to God. Verse 21, God hath made
Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin. Christ didn't have any
sin or know any sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. You see how God hath reconciled,
forgiven, pardoned, put away our sin, made us whole, given
us peace. us, who don't deserve anything
but His judgment, to Himself by Jesus Christ. It's always
by Jesus Christ. Everything we have by Christ.
All fullness dwelleth in Christ. God's vested everything in Christ.
If you have anything God has, it'll be because of your relationship
with Christ, being married to Christ. My friends, we have good
news for sinful men and sinful women. The good news is that
God will be merciful, that God will forgive, that God will reconcile,
and he'll do it in a way, and this is important, and I wish
you'd make a study of this for your own good and for the good
of those to whom you preach or teach. God will reconcile us
to himself in a way consistent with his character, consistent
with his justice, and consistent with his righteousness and holiness.
You don't have any gospel if it doesn't honor God's law. You
don't have any gospel if it doesn't justify God in his holiness and
in his judgment against sin. You don't have any gospel if
it doesn't satisfy his justice. It's got to be consistent. God's
got to be just and justifier. He can't just be justifier. He
can't just forgive sin without a sacrifice. The soul that sins
shall die. Somebody's got to die. God said,
I will not clear the guilty. God was in Christ. There's one
God in Christ. There's one Mediator. God was
in Christ. There's one God and one Mediator
between God and men, and that's the man Christ Jesus. Now I'm
going to make a statement here, and I want you to listen to it
carefully. Listen to me. I can understand men who've never
seen a Bible and never heard the Bible read and never heard
the gospel preached. I can understand men who've never
heard the scriptures and never seen the Bible and never heard
the gospel. I can understand them looking
to themselves or looking to other means for acceptance with God
and for righteousness. I can understand that. But to
save my life, I cannot understand a man who has read the Bible,
who has heard it preached, who thinks there's any other way
to God except Christ. Now, I can't understand that.
I'm racking my brain trying to figure that out, because this
Bible plainly says, no man cometh to the Father but by me. This
Bible clearly says, Christ said, I am the door, by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved. That's as clear as words can
state something. The blood of Christ cleanseth
us from all sin. It never says anything about
water putting away sin. or church membership putting
away sin, or law putting... And it says plainly, no man is
justified by the works of the flesh or the works of the law
in the sight of God. That's clear. Not by works of
righteousness which we've done, but according to his mercy, hath
he saved us? I can understand some heathen
out in the wilds of the jungle who've never seen a Bible or
heard a message, believing he can be justified or saved by
sitting on a rock all day and staring out into space bathing
his body in some water, or sacrificing his children to some kind of
fire, or walking so many miles on nails, or broken glass, or
burning candles, or crossing himself, or doing all these countin'
beads. I understand a heathen believe
in that, but I can't understand a man who has a Bible in his
hand. A Bible which says there's one
God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Christ
the Lord. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, Christ the
Lord. Also, there's only one gospel.
If an angel from heaven preaches any other gospel, let him be
judged and accursed. And it says, this is the record.
God hath given us eternal life, and this life's in his Son. He
that hath the Son of God hath life. How do men get anything
else out of that? It's beyond me. We've got 10,000 different denominations
and 10,000 different ways of salvation. Why? Because men are doing it their
way. We've got a song now, I'm going to do it my way. And my
ways are not God's ways. And there's a way that seemeth
right unto men and the end is death and destruction. So my
friend, let me warn you, you do it your way. And you'll miss
God. And the third glorious theme
is this. He hath given to us this ministry
of reconciliation. Now, angels aren't going to preach
the gospel. And nature's not going to preach the gospel. You
know who's going to preach the gospel? Men. He hath given to
us this ministry of reconciliation. Go ye into all the world, Christ
said, and preach the gospel. That's what I've been trying
to preach this morning, the gospel of God. the gospel of his grace,
the gospel of his glory, the gospel concerning his son, the
gospel of substitution, the gospel of the death on the cross, the
gospel of Christ, and he that believeth and is baptized, confessing
Christ, shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.