GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #394
“ALL THINGS ARE FOR YOUR SAKES!” 2 Corinthians 4:15
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
I direct your attention
today to 2 Corinthians 4:15. If you are a believer, if you are a child of God,
if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone as your Lord and Savior, this
statement is true of you, and I want you to know it. If you are not a believer,
if you do not trust the Son of God, it will do you no good to claim God’s
promises to his children. But if you are the Lord’s, the promise is yours. Hear
it and rejoice in it. It is found in 2 Corinthians 4:15 "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might
through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God."
“all
things are for your sakes.” Carry that blessed promise
just as far as your heart’s imagination will allow you. I assure you, your
widest, highest thoughts are indescribably less than God’s infinite promise!
Psalms 57:2 says the same thing. "I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for
me." What a God, what a Savior we have! He “performeth all things for us!” Imagine that! Can you get hold of
that? He “performeth all things for us!” Whatever
has been, is now, or shall be hereafter, is for my sake and for your sake! I
don’t know about you, but that will sail my little boat and keep it afloat in
stormy seas.
Let’s
take a brief glance at Romans 8:28. Here the Holy Spirit teaches us that ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR THE SPIRITUAL
AND ETERNAL GOOD OF GOD’S ELECT. "And
we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose." Listen to every word of
the text. Roll each one over in your heart’s mediation again and again. “We”
- We who are chosen, redeemed, called, and born of God. - “We know” - By the testimony of Holy
Scripture, the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and the experience of grace - “We
know that all things” - All things bad and good, all things adverse and
prosperous, all things past, present, and future, all things in heaven, earth,
and hell, - “All things work together” - Not independently, but together,
like meshed gears in a huge piece of machinery. - “For good” - Temporal good,
spiritual good, and eternal good, - “To Them That Love God” - The promise
is to those who love the Lord God, the only true and living God, as he is
revealed in Christ. - “To Them Who Are The Called” - Those
who love God are those who have been effectually called by the Holy Spirit to
life and faith in Christ. All men by nature hate God. But those who are the
called have been given a new nature, and they love him. - “According To His Purpose.”
We do not have to guess what those words mean. Paul explains the purpose of God
in the next verses. If you want to know what the purpose of God is, you need
only to read Romans 8:28-31.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified:
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us?" No one and nothing, in heaven, earth, or hell, can be against us with
success, if God be for us!
I am trying to show you from
the Word of God that all things are for the sake of God’s elect. In 1
Corinthians 3:21, we are told “ALL
THINGS ARE YOURS!” Again, I say, if
you are a believer, if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, this is God’s word to
you, to you personally, and to all believers collectively - “All things are yours!”
All things spiritual are yours. All grace is yours! All the blessings of
God and his grace are yours. All the privileges of grace are yours. All the
servants of God and all their labors are yours.
All things temporal are yours to use and enjoy for the glory of God and one another’s
good. All things heavenly are yours.
All the angels of God, the throne of God, God our Father, the Son of God, and
the Spirit of God, all are yours, if you are Christ’s! All things eternal are yours as well. All the glory of heaven which
the Father has given to Christ as our Mediator, Christ has given to us,
according to John 17:22. Listen to the
Son of God as he speaks to the Father for us. "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they
may be one, even as we are one." All the glory of the all-glorious Son
of God is the free gift of his grace to every believer!
Take these three gospel
facts with you through the day. They will enable you to laugh at Satan’s rage
and cope with a frowning world. “All
things are for your sakes.” “All things work together for good” to God’s
elect. “All things are yours!” AMEN.