Now, if you will, open your Bibles
to the book of II Corinthians, the fifth chapter. I believe we received a token
of the presence of the Lord in the service this morning. I was
much in prayer here while you were singing that God would give
me some liberty to preach this message. Then I called on Brother
Huddle to pray, and his prayer consisted of my opening comments. All things are of God. Verse
18, look at it. All things are of God. He kept
saying, I believe the Spirit of God was leading him to pray
in this manner. All things are of God. Underscore that. All things are
of God. All things in creation are of
God. Scripture says, In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all
things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made. All things are of God. The heavens
declare the glory of God. The firmament showeth His handiwork. All things in creation are of
God. God created man. He said, let
us make man in our own image. And the psalmist said in Psalm
100, it is God that hath made us, not we ourselves. We are
of God. All things are of God. And all
things in providence are of God. The scripture says, in Him we
live and move and have our being. He is before all things, and
by him all things consist. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. And the heathen said, Where is
your God? And David said, Our God is in
the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased,
whatsoever the Lord pleased. That did he in heaven, in earth,
in the seas, and in all deep places. All things are of God. All things in creation are of
God. All things in providence are
of God. We know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, who are called according
to His purpose, for all things are of God. And the end of all
things is of God. Turn to Acts 17. I want you to
read this scripture with me. The seventeenth chapter of Acts,
verse 31. The end of all things is of God. Acts 17, verse 31. Listen to it. Because he hath
appointed a day in the which he will judge the world. He hath
appointed that day, that last day. He hath appointed a day
in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained. God hath appointed a day. Job
wrote in chapter 14, man's days are determined. The number of
his months are with thee. Thou hast set his bounds, and
he cannot pass. No man knoweth the day or the
hour when the Son of Man shall come. No, not even the angels,
but the Father. All things are of God. All things
in creation, all things in providence, and the end of all things is
of God. and then salvation from sin,
eternal death, condemnation, separation from God. That salvation
is of the Lord. All things pertaining to salvation
are of the Lord. Now that's what the text is all
about. Let's go back to the text now, 2 Corinthians 5. All things
are of God pertaining to salvation. He hath reconciled us to himself. Look at verse 18. And all things
are of God. Now, we know this. The Scripture
is bifocal. When we read the Word of God,
it has a primary interpretation. It has a primary purpose. But
it also has other purposes and other meanings and other applications. And we say all things are of
God in creation, in providence, in everything. But the primary
application here is salvation. We're talking about redemption.
We're talking about the forgiveness of sin. We're talking about pardon.
We know that because look at the next line. And all things
are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and he hath given to us the ministry or the message of reconciliation. It was not man who fashioned the covenant of
grace. It was God. Back before the foundation of
this world, God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
entered into a covenant to redeem man. It was not man that sought
God, it was God that sought man. Adam ran from God. Adam hid from
God. It was the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit who entered into a covenant an everlasting covenant,
the scripture calls it, a covenant of grace, a covenant of mercy
to save a people for his name. It was not man who sent the prophets. There was a man sent from God
whose name was Isaiah. There was a man sent from God
whose name was Jeremiah. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. Christ said, You will not come
to me, I come to you. There's none that seeketh God,
no, not one. There's none that understandeth.
God seeks the sinner. It is not man who made the atonement. In the fullness of time, God
sent His Son into the world, made of a woman. For God so loved
the world, He gave His only begotten Son. It pleased the Father to
bruise Him. The Lord hath laid on Him, the
Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It was not man who
made the atonement, it was God who made the atonement. It was
not man who called to us. I have called, he said, and you
have refused. It was God who called to us.
It was not man who called to God, it was God who called man.
Paul said, God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace, He was pleased to reveal His Son to
me. It was not man, but God who called. It was not man, but God who sought. It was not man, but God who loved. Herein is love, not that we loved
him, he loved us and gave himself for us. And it's not man, but
God who keeps us. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. And now, Jude said, unto him
who is able to keep you from falling. It is not man, but God
who presents us faultless before his throne of grace with exceeding
glory. And it's not man, but God who
raises the dead into his perfect image. Turn to Philippians chapter
3. Philippians the third chapter,
verse 20 and 21. Listen to this scripture. For
our conversation, that is our citizenship, is in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." It's
all of God. All things are of God. Beginning
with creation and providence, all things are of God. But in
this matter of the salvation of the soul, of the redemption
of the soul, of the forgiveness of sin, of our relationship and
our vital union with God, it's all of the Lord. David said the
salvation of the righteous is of the Lord and of Him only. We go back to the covenant of
mercy, and that's all of God. We go back to the crucifixion
of Christ, and that's all of God. We go back to the day when
we were awakened and quickened and convicted of our sin, and
that is of God. The goodness of God leads you
to repentance. We go back to that faith that
clings to Christ and looks to Christ, that faith that embraces
Christ, that faith that lays hold upon Christ, that faith
that, if you would, accepts Christ, and that's of God. For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves? It's
the gift of God. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance, and it's the goodness of God that gives
us faith. Preacher, are you saying that
faith is the gift of God? Exactly. Unto you it is given
not only to believe on him, but to suffer for him. And your perseverance,
that's of God. and your resurrection, that's
of God. And your being conformed to the
image of His Son in perfect, in perfection, that's of God. All things are of God. You can
underscore that and improve on that again and again and again
beyond what I have said this morning. All things are of God. All things. Not some things,
not the big things. All things are of God. He is
the first cause of all things. I was talking to someone this
past week about this, all things of God, because it was on my
mind. Over in Isaiah, I believe it's
chapter 45 or 46, the Lord says, I form the light, I create darkness. I, the Lord, do all these things.
I create good, I create evil. You say, how can God create evil? How can God form the darkness? God is light. That's how God
forms the darkness, by withholding the light. But God's the first
cause of all things, although God's not the author of sin.
All things are of God. God Almighty creates darkness
and God Almighty creates evil by the absence of His presence. That's right. Pharaoh hardened
his heart. No question about that. Pharaoh
hardened his heart. He refused to let Israel go. Moses said, God declares, let
my people go. Pharaoh said, I won't let them
go. He hardened his heart. But what saith the Scriptures?
God hardened his heart. Isn't that what it says? Would
you want to explain that? What do you say? I say this,
God hardened his heart. God is the first cause of all
things. God hardened his heart by withholding those means that
would have broken his heart. That's right. All things are
of God. You take that scripture and underline
it and remember it. All things in creation are of
God. All things in providence are
of God. God said, I maketh men high and
I make men low. I maketh rich and I make them
poor. Health is of God and bad health is of God. Life is of
God and death is of God. He has the keys of hell and death. I'm not preaching little peanut
God that comes when you snap your finger. I'm preaching the
God of the Bible now. The God of the universe. There's
nothing outside of God. All things are in God. God is
not in all things. All things are in God, and of
God, and from God, and through God, and because of God. That's what I'm saying. All things
are of God. Not all good things. That's not
what it says. It doesn't say all happy things
are of God. It says all things are of God. I may shock you when I say this,
but it's so. You've got to make a choice.
Are you going to serve the gods over on the other side of the
Jordan, or are you going to serve the God of the Bible? Choose
you this day whom you'll serve. That's what the prophet said.
But there's not a person here this morning God couldn't save.
Not a person here. There's not a person in this
city that God can't save. There's not a person in this
nation that God couldn't break right now and bring to his feet
in submission, in repentance, in faith. Not a person. Using the same means that he
used to convert you. using the same means he used
to break your heart, using the same gospel and the same light
and the same Holy Spirit and the same message of grace that
he used to bring you to repentance and faith. He could bring any
sinner to repentance and faith. Any sinner. That's what the leper
said when he fell at the feet of Christ. Lord, if you will,
you can make me whole. There isn't a sick person God
can't heal. Not a one. Our Lord Jesus Christ
prayed this, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. He's
the Lord of heaven and earth. Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent, and thou hast revealed them unto
babes. You say, why doesn't God do these things? Even so, Father,
it seem good in thy sight. God acts according to his wisdom.
God saves men according to his wisdom. God Almighty does everything
according to his wisdom. I'm not God. I can't explain
it, but I can preach it. I can't tell you why, but I can
tell you it's so. All things are of God. Satan
derives his power from God. Satan couldn't touch Job without
God's permission. He asked permission, and God
gave it to him. And God limited his power and
limited his efforts, as far as Job was concerned. Is that not
true? All things are of God. What's the second glorious theme?
Now that's the first theme. All things are of God. All things
are of God. Otherwise, why praise Him? Why
look to Him? Why depend on Him? Why thank
Him? All things are of God. Now the
second glorious theme is this, who hath reconciled us to himself. Who hath reconciled us to himself. Now in these next four verses,
in 18, 19, 20, and 21, we have the same three persons mentioned. Look at verse 18. I want you
to notice this. All things of God who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ. Three persons mentioned in that
verse. God, us, Jesus Christ. Look at the next verse, verse
19. God was in Christ reconciling the world. That's God, Christ,
and us, or the world. Verse 20. Now we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you. be ye reconciled
to God. God, Christ, and us. Look at
verse 21. For he, God, hath made him, Christ,
to be seen for us. That's the theme of these four
verses here. God, Christ, and us. Now let's
look at these three persons. Here is God. Let every man know
who God is. Everybody's got a God, but who
knows the living God? Do you? David said, My heart
panteth, my soul panteth for the living God. I don't want
to worship a false God, a dead God, a God who has ears and can't
hear, and a mouth and can't speak, and hands and can't perform,
and feet and can't walk. I want to know the living God. I want to know this God of whom
are all things, don't you? Our Lord Jesus Christ said, this
is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God. This is eternal life, to know
the living God. Now if the Bible says all things
of God, that's the God I want to know. If the Bible says God
will have mercy on whom he'll have mercy, that's the God I
want to know. If the Bible says God will be gracious to whom
he will be gracious, that's the God I want to know. If the Bible
said, God sitteth upon a throne of judgment and righteousness
and holiness, that's the God I want to know. I want to know
the God who is eternal, of whom it is said, in the beginning,
God. In the beginning, God. Nothing
else, just God. In the beginning, God. I want
to know the God who's omnipotent, who has absolute power, unquestioned
power, absolute authority. absolute control, who controls
even the mist, and the vapor, and the dust, and the specks,
and the atoms, and all the insects. I want to know the God who's
omniscient, who declares the end from the beginning, and says,
I'll work all things after the counsel of my own will. O man, who art thou that repliest
against God? Cannot the thing, cannot he that
formed the clay make it in the image he desires? Hath not the
potter power over the clay to make of one lump a vessel of
mercy, and another lump a vessel of wrath? Isn't it his to do
with? Can I not do, God said, with my own what I will? Is it
not mine? Was it not mine to begin with?
That's the God I want to know. I want to know that God who is
omnipresent, who is in every place beholding the evil and
the good, of whom David said, Whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I ascend into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, thou art there. If I take
the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea, even there thy hand shall guide me and hold me. That's
the God I want to know. I don't want to know the Baptist
God or the Methodist God or the Presbyterian God or the Catholic
God or anybody else's God. I want to worship and know and
love and adore and stand in fear and awe of the living God. I
want to know the God who is holy, whom Isaiah saw high lifted up
on the throne, and the angels and cherubims cried, Holy, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God. I want to know the God who is
just, who will in no wise clear the guilty. I want to know the
God who is merciful, who delights to show mercy, with whom there
is plenty of mercy. Oh God, when the psalmist met
God, he said, Oh God, when I consider the heavens and the work of thy
hands, what is man that thou art mindful of him? The God that's being preached
today is not the God of the Bible. The God who is being preached
today is the God who's man's valet and servant. Somebody said
one time to a man, you think God will take you to heaven when
you die? He said, well sure, that's what God's for. But the
psalmist said, oh Lord, when I consider the heaven When I
consider the work of thy hands, when I consider thy attributes,
thy holiness, thy sovereignty, thy power, who holdeth the nations
as a drop in the bucket, and considereth the inhabitants thereof
as grasshoppers, what is man that thou art mindful of him? what is man. And yet it says
here, God of whom are all things, he hath reconciled us, he, he
hath taken notice of our plight, he has taken notice of our condition. He has taken notice of our state. He has taken notice of our corruption. And in mercy and His grace, He
hath reconciled us. He is pleased to do something
for us. Here is good news from God. Look
at the next person. We have God, we have Christ.
Who is Jesus Christ? Well, you have the answer right
here. Look at verse 19. Who is Jesus Christ? Who is Jesus
Christ? To some people, he's just a curse
word. To some people, he's a great
healer. To some people, he's an unusual prophet. To some people,
he is a defeated reformer. Who is Jesus Christ? Who is this
man called Jesus? Well, here, look at verse 19.
Here it is. God was in Christ. God, this God we're talking about,
of whom all think. in creation and providence and
salvation, this God who is eternal, who is omnipotent, omniscient,
omnipresent, holy, just, merciful, this God is in Christ. That's who He is. He is the only
begotten Son, not made begotten. He came from the Father. He is the only begotten of the
Father, begotten of the Father from all eternity. He is the
same with the Father in essence, in nature, in power, co-equal,
co-eternal, co-existent. He is the brightness of the Father's
glory. He is the express image of the
Father's person. Who is He? He's God. God was
in Christ. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us. A virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel, God with us,
God with us. unto us a son is given, unto
us a child is born. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father." That's who
He is. Who is Jesus Christ? Paul said
they'll come preaching another Jesus. But I'm telling you who
Jesus is. God was in Jesus Christ. He's
the God-man. He's God in the flesh. He's God
incarnate. What did he do? Well, here's
the gospel. He undertook to be our representative. Yet even before he became a man,
he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus
Christ is no sudden decision on the part of God. Jesus Christ
is no finger in the dike. Jesus Christ is no sudden remedy
for sin. He was the Savior before the
sin. That's right. I'm telling you the truth. He
was the Savior before sin. He was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. He's our surety of an eternal
covenant. He's the guarantor. His blood
is the blood of the eternal covenant before God ever made one thing. That's what Scripture says. He
made Christ the Savior. He's our representative from
all eternity past to eternity future. He's our representative
in all things. He came into this world one day,
2,000 years ago. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, the man,
Christ Jesus. He was our representative in
the purpose of God, in the covenant of God, in the plan of God, in
the types of God, and now in the flesh. He took on himself
the likeness of sinful flesh. He who knew no sin, who had no
sin, not only did no sin, but knew no sin, was made sin. By his obedience, by his obedience. Somebody asked me last week,
what does imputed mean? Imputed righteousness. It means
to charge it to my account. It means to make it mine when
it wasn't. He never knew sin and he was
made sin and I never knew righteousness and I was made righteous. He
never had any sin, and God made him sin for me, and I never had
any righteousness, and God made me righteous in his place. He
paid my bill. He charged it, everything he
did, he charged to my account as if I had done it. That's what
imputed means. He took my sins in his body to
the tree. The Lord laid on him purposely
the penalty of our sin, the iniquity of us all, and he died under
the wrath of the Father for our sin. And he arose, and he ever
lives to intercede at the right hand of God. He is our great
high priest. Look at the third person here
now. God was in Christ. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world. Who are these people here? He
hath made him to be sin for us. He hath reconciled us. He was
made sin for us. Who is the sinner here? Well,
you don't have to go very far to find Him. You look in your
own heart, and there He is. There He is. Want me to tell
you something about sin? I told you something about God
this morning. All things are of God. Sovereign,
Almighty, Omnipotent. I told you something about Christ.
He is God. He's the surety from eternity
past to eternity future. You've never been considered
by the Father out of Christ. Never. Tell you something about
us. You may not like this, but this
is so too. We sinned in Adam. You've been
a sinner since four years born. Somebody said, we become sinners
when we reach the age of accountability. You were a sinner before you
was ever born. You were born a sinner. That's
right. Now listen to the Bible. I'm
not talking about what it says in your church catechism or creed. I'm talking about what God says.
Listen to what God says. In Adam we all died. Isn't that what it says? As in
Adam, all died for all sin. That's what it says. By the disobedience
of one, we were made sinners. Made sinners. David said, I was
shapen in iniquity. I was conceived in sin. Nine months before you ever came
forth into this world, when the seed was planted in the womb
of your mother, it was a sinful seed, and it developed into a
sinful baby, and that baby grew into a sinful man. That's right. That's what the Bible says. The
wicked go astraying from the womb, speaking lies as soon as
they're born. The only way that a newborn baby
can lie is because he's a liar. He's born a liar. When Adam fell,
the whole race fell. You say, I can't buy that. Can't
you now? You going to stand on that? You
cannot buy imputed guilt. You cannot enter into being charged
with the sin of another. You're going to stand on that?
Yes, the preacher? I'll stand right there. I'm quitting you
on that. I'm standing right there. Okay, you'll never be saved.
How come? You say Adam sinned before he
was born and you had no part in it? Christ died before he
was born. Did you have any part in that?
Huh? You want imputed righteousness,
don't you? You want credit for something
Christ did 2,000 years ago, but you don't want to part in what
Adam did, huh? That's dishonest. That's dishonest. By one man's disobedience we
were made sinners. So, the scripture says, by Christ's
obedience we were made righteous. You can't partake in what Christ
did if you refuse what Adam did. That's dishonest. You say, I wasn't born when Adam
sinned. You weren't born when Christ died either. You weren't
born when Christ died. See, Adam was our representative.
Adam was the federal head of every flesh-bearing creature.
The federal head. The representative. We stood
in him. We fell in him. We inherited
from him a nature of evil. That's why babies are covetous
and sinful and so forth. Christ was the head of a race. A race of redeemed people. A race of believers. And Christ
came down here as their representative and did what they couldn't do.
Obeyed the law and died in their place. He suffered on the cross. We're sinners in word, thought,
and deed. All is sin that comes short of
God's glory. We've turned everyone to his
own way. We're guilty and condemned by the law of God, and Christ
came down here and was made sin for us. Now the last great theme,
and I'll quit. Look at verse 18 again. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us. God's put away the enmity. God
put away that which was between us and him. And God has given
to us the message of reconciliation. Of a message from the Lord, hallelujah. And this message to you I give,
it's recorded in his word, hallelujah. It's only that you look and live.
That's the message. I have a message full of love.
Hallelujah. A message, O my friend, for you. Tis a message from above. Hallelujah. The Lord said it, so I know it's
true. Life is offered unto you. Hallelujah. Eternal life thy soul shall have
if you only look to Christ. Hallelujah. Look to Jesus, who
alone can save you. I'll tell you how I came. Hallelujah
to Jesus when he made me whole, t'was just believing on his name. Hallelujah, I trusted, and he
saved my soul. But this message of reconciliation,
now don't ever forget this, this message of reconciliation which
he had given to us to deliver to you, is a message that God
will be reconciled only on the grounds of substitution. not
on the grounds of service, not on the grounds of promise for
future obedience, not on the grounds of ceremony, on the grounds
of substitution. Let's look at it again. All things
are of God, and he hath reconciled us, he hath put away the enmity
by Jesus Christ. Not by baptism, by Jesus Christ. Not by good works, by Jesus Christ. not by decisionism, and ceremonialism,
and legalism, and ritualism, and any other ism. He hath reconciled
us by Christ. Look at verse 19. Namely, this
is the message. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to him. And
he hath committed unto us that message of reconciliation. And
that message is this, He who knew no sin was made sin for
us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Our Father, take this message
and use it for Thy great glory and for the good and benefit
of thy people. Let every one of us bow before
thy sovereignty and before thy holiness, and let us own that
thou art God, and beside thee there is none else. And let us
look unto thee, from whom cometh salvation. Look unto me, and
be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none else, but just
God and a Savior, who hath reconciled us to thyself through the merits
and mercy and substitutionary work of thy dear Son. We rest
in that and thank thee for it. In Christ's name, amen. Brother
Don, you come lead us in a closing hymn. Let's turn to number 46. Number
46. Stand please. Oh, for a thousand
times to sing my great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God
and King, the triumphs of His grace. My gracious pastor and
my God, assist me to proclaim, to spread to all the earth the
promise