I'd like to repeat my text again,
2 Corinthians 5, 18. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. I look upon this text as being
a summary of all the things that I have tried to preach to you
these past twenty-two years. I have preached constantly and
continually, as Paul said, God is my witness, since I became
your pastor that salvation is of the Lord. that man is nothing,
man has nothing, and man can make no contribution in any way
to the redemption of his soul. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and
Omega He is the beginning and the end. He is the first and
the last. He is the author and finisher
of our faith. I have preached the cross. I
have preached the Christ of the cross. The cross is ours, rightfully
so, but Christ, our substitute, bore it in our stead. The shame
is ours, rightfully so. But Christ, the substitute, has
borne the shame. The guilt is ours, but Christ
paid the penalty. He took our cross, He took our
shame, He took our guilt upon Himself, and by His precious
blood. And we make no apologies for
the blood of Christ. Call it old-fashioned, if you
will. Call it first-century theology, if you will. Call it outdated,
if you will. But mercy is never outdated.
Grace is never out of style. There's a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away. Dear dying Lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. Christ is our sacrifice, Christ
is our sin offering, Christ is our atonement, and it's by His
stripes that we're healed. We have no new message. Our message
is the same message that Paul preached, it's the same message
the Reformers preached, it's the same message Spurgeon preached,
it's the message that will be preached by faithful ministers
of God on the day that our Lord comes back to this earth. And
I have preached. This church is built on preaching. We make no apologies for the
fact that this church is not built on Sunday school, It's
not built on organizations, it's not built on entertainment, it's
built on the preaching of the Word of God. For by the foolishness
of preaching, God hath chosen to save all that believe. Not social reform, not personality,
not even education, but the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The preaching of the cross is
to them who are perishing, foolishness. To them who are being saved,
it is the power of God unto salvation. Now the things which we have
spoken, of all the things which we have spoken through these
years, this is the psalm, verse 18, and all things are of God. Brother Bill Clark came down
to Madisonville and stayed with me Monday and Tuesday. He went to Memphis, Tennessee
to preach on Wednesday night, so it was not until Thursday
morning that I had an opportunity to begin work on my messages
for today. Thursday morning I was sitting
in the motel room in Madisonville, at last left by myself so that
I could study. And there was a knock at the
door. I was reading verse 18 of 2 Corinthians 5, and all things
are of God. There was a knock at the door,
and I went to the door, and there stood the lady who cleans the
motel rooms. I would judge her to be about
65 years of age. And she said, may I clean your
room? I said, well, I'm busy studying. It really doesn't need
to be cleaned. You can come in and make up the
bed if you want to and leave me some clean towels, but I'm
busy and I want to study and I've got a supper engagement
and I've got to do my work, so I'm going to sit here at the
desk and work while you clean. She said, that'll be fine with
me. So she was busy cleaning and I turned around and asked
her, I said, are you a native of this part of the country?
She said, no. I said, How long have you been here? She said,
Since my husband's death a year ago. I said, I'm very sorry to
hear about his death. How did he die? She said, He
killed himself. Oh, I said, I'm dreadfully sorry,
except my sympathy. She said, Well, she said it was
a tragic, tragic thing. It was an experience I'll never
forget. I said, You won't tell me about
it? Well, she said, Yes. She said, My husband for about
thirty years ran a little shoe repair shop down in Murfreesboro,
Tennessee. And she said he was a hardworking
man, a healthy man, an independent individual. And she said he had
a heart attack. And she said we thought that
he got well. He led us to believe that he
got well because he wanted immediately to go back to work as soon as
he could. And he returned to the job, he returned to his work,
but he wasn't well, he knew it, we didn't. And she said one day
he was coming home from work, driving his automobile, and he
had an accident. And he came on home and left
his car down at the garage, and he was very depressed. Something
had happened to his side, and he had had an accident. It was
his fault, and he was very depressed. So the next morning, she said,
he got up and went in the living room and sat down in his rocker.
He was sitting there rocking, and she said his brother came
by and told him he was going down to look at his car to see
how heavy the damage was, and he'd come back and report to
him. So his brother went down, came back, and told him the car
wasn't damaged too badly, and they talked a while, and then
his brother left. And she said he was sitting there in the rocking
chair, and I walked up to him, and I said, Would you like to
have a cup of coffee? He said, I suppose so. And she said, I
turned, and started out of the room, and for some reason I turned
around to say something to him. And she said when I turned around
and looked at him, he was sitting in the rocker with a pistol pointing
to his temple. And just as I started to speak
his name, he blew his brains out. And she said it was such
a traumatic experience. It was something that, well,
it was just something I'll never get over. And I looked down at
this text. All things are of God. And I
sat there and continued to study, and then the phone rang, and
it was Nancy Elliott calling me from the study here at the
church and told me that my son Paul had been in an accident
in Florida. And he had fallen 40, 60 feet, four stories, and was in
the hospital. I called him to see what the
problem was And miraculously, by God's grace, he escaped with
only a simple fracture of the spine and lost two teeth and
was cut on the head and several scratches and all on his body.
We talked a while and he said he would be out of the hospital
this weekend, but he was getting along fine and thankful to be
alive. I looked down at the text again and I read, All things
are of God. And all things are of God. That's the very foundation of
our faith. That's the very comfort of our
souls. That's the very rock upon which
we are built. All things are of God, good and
bad, big and little, important and unimportant. All things are
of God. I believe that. And that's the
sum and substance, point number one, of what I've tried to preach
to you through these years. All things are of God. We're
not left to blind fate, we're not left to chance, we're not
left to the toss of the dice or the cut of the cards. Our
lives are in the hands of a sovereign God who doeth all things well. And all things work together
for good to them who love God, who are called according to his
divine purpose. But now, what is the apostle
saying here, all things are of God? The answer is found in verse
17. Something particular is meant
here, something special. All things are of God. If you
don't hear anything else I say tonight, will you remember that?
May God the Holy Spirit write it in your heart. Don't carry
a rabbit's foot in your pocket, carry that statement right there,
all things are of God. Don't nail a horseshoe over your
door, nail that scripture over the door of your heart right
there, all things are of God. Don't go around looking for four-leaf
clovers. Just put that verse of Scripture
in your heart. All things are of God. All things
are of God. Don't read your horoscope. Read
God's Word. It says all things are of God. He reigns and He rules in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth, and
He giveth it to whomsoever He will. all things are of God. But especially, and in particular,
verse 17, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. What Paul is saying in verse
18, all things are of God, in particular, he is saying that
all things in the new creation are of God. If any man be in
Christ, he's a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new, and all things are of God." You see
what he's saying there? Look at it again. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, if any man be saved, if any man be born
again, if any man be redeemed, he's a new creation. All things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. All things are a new creation,
and all things are of God. All things in this new creation.
All things in this work of redemption. That's not necessary to remind
you that all things in the old creation are of God, is it? But
all things in the new creation are of God. For example, in the
old creation, God said, Let there be light. Wasn't that the first
word? Wasn't that the first act in the old creation? And God
said, Let there be light. Turn back to 2 Corinthians 4.
What's the first work in the new creation? In 2 Corinthians
4, verse 6, it says, For God, who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness in the old creation. in the creation of the material
world, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. Let there be
light, God says, and light came to a dark world. Let there be
spiritual light, God says, and the light of the glory of God
in the face of Christ Jesus comes to a darkened understanding.
Turn to Genesis 2, 7. In Genesis 2, verse 7, I turned
over here and read this. Listen to it. And the Lord God
formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
man's nostrils the breath of life, the breath of life, and
man became a living soul. It says in John chapter 20, I
would like for you to look at this if you don't mind turning
in the scriptures, and I don't want to keep you busy turning
in the Bible so that you don't hear what I'm saying, but do
turn at John 20 verse 22 and look at this carefully. Now when
God formed Adam out of the dirt, out of the dust, God, Adam was
without life. And God the Holy Spirit came
over him and breathed into his nostrils breath. And Adam stood
up and lived. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
chapter 20 of John, verse 22, and when he said this, Christ
breathed on them and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit. The very breath of spiritual
life comes from God, just like the breath of physical life came
to Adam from God. The Holy Ghost is like the wind,
it bloweth where it listeth. You hear the sound thereof, but
you cannot tell from which it cometh, but it comes. And he
breathes into man the breath of life, the breath of spiritual
life. All things are of God. The giving
of life, the giving of life. The broken heart over sin is
of God. What does the Scripture say?
The goodness of God leadeth you to repentance. The desire for
mercy in Christ is of God. What does the Scripture say?
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. The new
faith in Christ is of God, for by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is
given unto us to believe on Him. That's what the Scripture says.
And the disciples knowing that prayed, Lord, increase our faith. The divine love for God and love
for others is of God, for the Scripture says the love of God
is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost. All things
pertaining to spiritual life are of God. In Genesis 2, verse
8, back over there again, listen to this. When God created man,
God gave him light, God gave him life, and then God gave him
pleasant surroundings. or benefits of his mercy. And
the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the
man whom he had formed." All spiritual benefits are of God,
for Christ said, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go
and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you
unto myself. And then in Genesis 2, verse
18, and God said it's not good that man should be alone. I'll
make him a help me." So God gave man a family, and God gives the
spiritual man a family, for Paul said, I thank God, beloved brethren,
for you all. We're not left alone. All things
are of God. Light, life, grace, mercy, redemption,
repentance, faith, love, joy, and the fellowship of believers.
It's all of God. Now, how are all things of God? Well, first of all, all things
are of God in this new creation, in the planning thereof. God,
from all eternity, planned the new creation just like He planned
the old creation. You don't suppose that God created
this world without having a plan, do you? Certainly not. The great architect of eternity
planned every part of the old creation. And in the same way,
every stone in the temple of grace is designed by the omnipotent
architect, and nothing is left to chance. It's of God in the
planning. It's of God in the purchase. One price bought all
his people. That price was the precious blood
of His divine Son. Jesus Christ paid it all, all
the debt I owe. Sin left a crimson stain, but
He washed it white as snow. He walked the winepress alone.
Not one cent was paid by any but Christ. Not one person aided
Him in the purchase of His people. You are not your own, you are
bought with a price, and that price is the blood of God, the
blood of God's own Son. This new creation is of God not
only in the planning and in the purchasing, it's of God in the
application. One old Puritan writer said this,
The cross of Christ is not put up there for every man to look
at and then left to change as to whether any will really look.
There stands the cross There stands the cross free to all
who will look. But God the Father has determined
that it shall not be neglected. God the Father has determined
that Christ shall not die in vain. God the Father has determined
that some will willingly look and will receive eternal life. And then it's of God in the maintaining
of them. If you leave the Christian to
himself, he'll perish. The Christian lives, that's true,
but it's because Christ lives, and he's one with Christ. Out
of Christ he does not live any more than the branch severed
from the vine. And then this new creation is
of God in the completing of it. When you and I arrive at the
gate of eternal glory, The last steps we take will be of God,
just as much as the first step is of God. When we stand in the
presence of God Almighty robed in white, we shall not sing of
our works or our free will. Those who sang of their works
and free will heard Christ say, Depart from me, I never knew
you. But we shall sing unto him who loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own precious blood. To him be the glory."
All things are of God. What? All of the new creation. How? In its planning, in its
purchase, in its application, in its maintenance, and in its
completion. Why is this true? Why are all
things of God in the new creation? Three reasons. Number one and
foremost, it can't be of man. Man is dead. Lazarus lived, but not by Lazarus'
power. Lazarus comes forth, but not
by Lazarus' power. He comes forth by the power of
Christ. Do you think that Lazarus had
anything at all to do with his resurrection? If so, what part
did he play? He had nothing to do with it.
He played no role in it at all. It was the mercy of God that
raised him. It was the voice of Christ that
raised him. It was the power of God that
raised him. It was Christ who said, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus came forth at the
command of his master. Man's dead. You have be quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sin. The new creation cannot
be of man because man is dead. A baby is conceived, formed in
the womb and born. What part did he play in it?
He played no part at all in the conception. He played no part
at all in the formation. He played no part at all in the
birth except to cry. And even so, when a babe is born
in the family of God, the Holy Ghost overshadows the heart,
and the power of God comes upon the dead heart, and life is conceived,
and life is begotten, and life is brought forth. It's of God. All things are of God. Salvation
is of the Lord. Why? Because man is dead. It can't be of man. Our helpless,
guilty nature lies, unconscious of her load. The heart, unchanged,
can never rise. except by the power of God. The second reason why all things
are of God is because the Bible says every good gift and every
perfect gift cometh from above. The word every means every good
gift. Every good gift, every perfect
gift is from above. The word every means every good
gift. Is eternal life a gift? That's
what the Bible says, eternal life's a gift of God. Is eternal
life a good gift? Is eternal life a perfect gift? Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above. That's where salvation came from.
That's where eternal life came from. It's of God, because every
good gift is of God. The third reason why it is of
God, all things are of God, is because all glory is God's. Now, if all the glory for salvation,
eternal life, goes to God, then all the work must be done by
God. If man shares in the work, he shares in the credit. If man
shares in the work, he shares in the glory. Turn to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 27. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And base things of the world
and things which are despised hath God chosen yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us, wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. All things are of
God. Why? Because man cannot contribute
to the salvation of his soul, and because every good gift is
from above, and because all the glory belongs to the Lord. Now
look back, if you will, at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18, our text. All things are of God. Now here's
the second point, and this is a summary of all that I've tried
to preach and shall continue to preach. "...who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ." Now I could spend my time on
this second point emphasizing any number of things, but look
at it carefully. It says, "...who hath reconciled
us." In His grace and mercy, God hath reconciled us. It is
God that hath done it. It is all of grace, all of God,
who hath reconciled. The word reconcile means to make
peace. It means to grant forgiveness.
It means to pardon. It means to justify. It means
to put away sin. God hath reconciled us. God hath made peace with the
enemy. God had taken the initial step,
the second step, and the third step, and the final step. God
hath reconciled us, enemies, strangers, foreigners, guilty,
unworthy. The Apostle said, without hope,
without Christ, without help, and without God, us, God hath
reconciled us to himself. not just to an organization or
to a church, but to himself. We're sons of God. We're not
just pardoned subjects, but we're sons, heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. He hath reconciled us to himself,
to his family. And like David sat with Phibosheth
at the table of the king, God Almighty hath not brought us
back just into the household, but into the family. The prodigal
son said, I'm willing to be a servant, Father. No, you're not going
to be a servant. You're a son, and you're going
to partake of all the benefits of sonship. And God has reconciled
us to himself. And here's the important part.
It's by Jesus Christ. totally and completely. Christ
hath kept the law. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Christ hath satisfied the justice
of God. Christ hath paid the full penalty. Christ Jesus hath satisfied all
that God required and commanded and demanded of all who believed.
He is the perfect sin offering. It is by his Son that he reconciled
us to himself. Not by anything that we do, or
anything we contribute, or anything that we might do in the future.
It's by Jesus Christ that God has reconciled us. And here's
the last point, and I close. And God has given to us clay vessels unworthy vessels,
unprofitable servants. But God hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation." Now, this is the message of reconciliation. The message is Christ. Paul said,
we preach not ourselves. We preach Christ. Here it is
in verse 19. Here is the message that God
was in Christ, that that man, Jesus of Nazareth, is the incarnate
God. God was in Christ. Reconciling
the world unto himself. That's our message. This is the
message John said that we've heard of him, and declare unto
you, that the free gift of God's grace is his Son, and the free
gift of God's mercy is in his Son. Now this ministry of reconciliation,
what's he talking about there? God hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation. It's just exactly what is taking
place in your presence right now. Look at verse 20. We are
ambassadors, messengers, representatives for Christ. It is as though God
did beseech you by us. God is speaking to you through
us. God is speaking to you by us. It is as though God did beseech
you and invite you and urge you by us. We pray you in the stead
of Christ, be you reconciled to God. Will you hear? Will you
believe? Will you be reconciled? Will
you confess Christ? I don't know what your thoughts
are about Dwight L. Moody. It doesn't matter. Mr.
Moody's not the issue. Mr. Moody's dead. But Dwight
L. Moody preached all over this
country and all over Europe many, many, many years ago. I've read
many of his sermons and some of them are quite good and others
leave a lot to be desired. But Dwight L. Moody gave an invitation
one time that I thought was as clear an invitation as anyone
has ever given at the close of a message. He preached his message
and he said to the people, Now everybody here is going to do
one of two things. After hearing my message tonight,
everybody here is going to do one of two things. You're either
going to say, I will trust Christ, I will believe the record that
God hath given concerning his Son. I believe Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. I believe Jesus Christ is the
only Savior of sinners. I believe that he died on the
cross for my sins, and he was buried and rose again, and he's
at the right hand of God as our Mediator. I believe that. And
I trust Him as my Lord and Savior. I trust Him with my soul. I commit
my heart to Christ. I commit my soul to Christ. I
commit my life to Christ. I receive His scepter. I bow
to His Lordship. He is my King. And I boldly confess
Him before all men as the only hope of my soul. Sink or swim,
I look to Him. They said, you're going to do
that tonight, or else you're going to say, I will not believe
the record. I will not bow to Christ. I will not surrender to Christ. I will not receive his scepter. I will not bow to his Lordship. I will not own him to be my Redeemer. I will not confess him before
men. I will not do it. Everybody, he said, is going
to do one or the other, because the gospel of Jesus Christ has
been preached. And that decision has already
been made in every man's heart, in every woman's heart. I will
bow. I will confess. I will receive
him." Or that heart is saying, I will not. There's no one who
can persuade me, there's no one who can beseech me, there's no
one who can make me. No, you're right. God will leave
you to yourself. May God the Holy Spirit, though,
work in your heart and bring you to receive him and to trust
him. Our Father in Heaven we commit
the message once again unto thy spirit. May it please thee by
the power of the Holy Spirit to make the gospel of Jesus Christ
our Lord effectual to the salvation of someone here tonight. Give,
our Lord, repentance toward thee and faith in thy dear Son, and
a willingness for the sinner to say, I want to know I'm lost
and Christ is the only Savior. And I want to publicly confess
Him and follow the Lord in baptism. And Lord, I walk in the light
you've given me. Christ is the only Savior. Now
I pray that as I act upon that which you've taught me, that
you'll teach me more. As I act upon that which you've
commanded me to do, that you'll give me more light. But I boldly
confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord.