God Is Able

[00:00:00] I'm excited this morning. That just, I don't know, just thrills me to think about God touching Rabinda there and healing him and what that could mean for that area of Nepal. Just incredible. It makes me think of the title of the message that I have this morning and a number of things that you've shared and that have been said this morning make me think about this. [00:00:36] God is able. It's kind of a cliche, in a way, but it's truth. It's reality. It's something that we need to see. I didn't put the questions up on the screen this morning, but I want to ask you a few. What's your God capable of? What can your God do? Is your God a God that's able to heal a man that's under the control of Satan? [00:01:19] Is your God able to take a heart of stone and make it into a heart of flesh? Is your God able to deal with the problems that you face from day to day? Another question that goes along with that, what is your God's limitation? Or what are his limitations? [00:01:54] Are there some things your God can't do? Remember the song the children used to sing a lot, There's nothing my God cannot do. My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do. What stops God? from doing. What is there? We say he's able, but so often we don't see him do what we know he's capable of doing. [00:02:35] What stops him from doing those things? And then the last question that I want us to think about is, why am I so slow to commit to God? When I say that, I want us to understand, you know, it's so easy to say God is able. Well, okay, he's able to do what? Is He able to work in my everyday situations? [00:03:09] Is He able to come into my life and experience and do the things that need to be done? Well, then why do I hang on to them? Why do I try to work it out? Why do I try to make it all happen? Why don't I commit it to Him and let Him take care of it? My wife has a little thing on the closet door It says You don't need to worry today [00:03:43] God is taking care of your situation Anything that comes along You give it to Him and let Him take care of it And you can relax Not exactly word for word But that's the sentiment there. So why, if my God is so strong and so mighty and there's nothing He cannot do, then why am I so slow to put it into His hands, to give it to Him and let Him take care of it? [00:04:15] There's eight things that I want us to look at this morning that the Scripture says specifically that God is able to do. The first one starts in Hebrews 7, verse 25, where he says this, Wherefore, it's talking about Christ specifically, but He is God, Wherefore, He is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. [00:04:54] God is able to save to the uttermost. Why is He able to do that? How is He able to do that? Our lesson this morning talked about the things that Israel went through and how God said there's going to come a time when He is going to change the way that things are operated And he's going to deal with man in his heart. There's going to be a change of heart that man is going to experience. [00:05:32] God is able to save to the uttermost. Over in Isaiah chapter 59 verse 1, he says, God's hand isn't shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it can hear, that he can't hear, but your iniquities have separated between you and God. That's what he told the children of Israel. It's not that God isn't able, but you've stopped him. [00:06:06] Now, we may say, well, it's not my iniquities, but unbelief is an iniquity. Not trusting God, not believing God, is a sin. The sin of unbelief. And so, we have to recognize that God is able to save to the uttermost. And that doesn't just, I've heard that spoken already, of being able to save to the gutter most. It includes that. But it also speaks about the fact that He's able to save us completely from now unto eternity. [00:06:54] Let me ask you something, and this is going to go along with the next message that I intend to preach. But I've got a question for you. What sin did Jesus die for? And you keep that in your crock pot and let it cook there for a while. And we'll talk about that here in a few weeks. God is able to save to the uttermost because of the completed work of Christ. [00:07:30] And that's exactly what this verse is talking about. He says this may, he's talking about Jesus being a surety of a better testament. He's talking about him being a better high priest. He's talking about all that he has done. And he says, wherefore, because of those things, he's able to save to the uttermost Christ, them that come unto God by him. The second one we want to look at is over in Daniel chapter 3. This is the three Hebrew boys. And I just want us to notice just a couple of things here. [00:08:06] I think they're important. Daniel chapter 3, verse 17. The king had just given them another opportunity. He said, okay, you didn't bow down, but I like you guys. I don't want to hurt you. I'll give you one more chance. And here's what they say. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. [00:08:48] But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. God is able to deliver. Now, how does that relate to my life? How can I make this scripture? It's beautiful to look back to the three Hebrew boys and see how God worked in their lives, [00:09:19] but how does this work in my life? Is God able to deliver me? 2 Corinthians 10, verse 13 There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer thee to be tempted, above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it. [00:09:51] Is that deliverance? Absolutely. That's deliverance. God is able to deliver you and I and that promise there in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13 is a reality for each one of us. Day by day by day. God is able to deliver. Deliverer. Now, in the physical sense, God is able to deliver. Will He always? No. We looked in Hebrews 11 at all the people that suffered so much. You know, they were cut in two, sawn asunder, it says there. [00:10:30] They lived in dens and caves of the earth. They were just mistreated terribly. And you can read Martyrs Mirror, a continuation of that, the martyrs throughout the church. And we hear stories today that come to us of people that even now are experiencing those kind of things. Does God always deliver? No. Not physically. But I like the Hebrew boys' concept of this. They said, our God is able to deliver us. King, you know that. We want you to know that, that our God is able to deliver, but if He doesn't, you want to know something else, King? We're not bowing down. It doesn't change a thing for us. [00:11:20] We're serving God the best we can, whether He delivers us or whether He doesn't. Why is it that so often our view of God changes with what He does or doesn't do for us? God's good as long as He does good things for me. God's messing up if things don't go the way I want them to go. [00:11:55] Why do we look at it like that? Isn't that unbelief? Isn't that looking at God as being unable? Let's go to the third one, 2 Corinthians chapter 9. Here he's actually talking about giving. And this is an interesting one. because he talks about how God is able to make all grace abound to you. Notice how he says it. [00:12:27] Let's start in verse 6. But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver, And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. Now, why does God make grace abound toward us? [00:13:03] Pay attention here. God is able to make all grace abound. And by the way, that word abound has the idea of super abounding, to be in excess. He's talking about us being snowed under with the grace of God. More than we can handle. More than we are able to even understand and even use. He's poured out His grace, abounding grace upon us. [00:13:35] That you may abound to every good work Now, I want us to think about something specific here He's talking about giving We as Americans have been blessed And I think one of the things we're understanding a bit better right now Now, when things get a little tougher is how much we have been blessed. [00:14:07] You know, all of a sudden we say, oh, I didn't see it before, I thought it was just everyday living. But all of a sudden we're waking up and saying, wow, we have been blessed. Why did God bless us like that? He tells us specifically there that ye may abound to every good work. God has poured on us abundance so that we can pour abundance on others. [00:14:39] Have you ever heard anybody say that they think that they want to bless someone else even though they've been blessed? They've seen that person blessed abundantly, they want to see them blessed more? Not very often. You usually hear people talk more this way that, boy, I don't know, I hate to see them get too much. We don't want to, you know, we've given them a lot already, we don't want to give them more. [00:15:12] I mean, you know, let's just get them by. But he's talking about God pouring out superabundance, excessive grace upon us. So that we are able to give. Okay, Jude chapter, the only chapter in Jude, verse 24. I want us to look at this. God is able to keep you from falling. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling [00:15:47] and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Who's able to do that? Who would be able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before His throne? [00:16:22] Anybody here that can do that? You know anybody anywhere that can do that? He says God is able to do that. Does that give you confidence? Does that give you courage to come to God? It does me. To think of the fact that He is able to keep me from falling. And He is able to present me faultless before His throne. Every one of us, He's able to do that. [00:16:58] How much power is that? How much strength is that? How much ability is that? Does that cause our hearts to overflow with trust and worship and praise to God that He's asked us to commit ourselves to Him? He's able to save us to the uttermost He's able to deliver us And He's able to bring us home safe That's a beautiful thing [00:17:29] In Romans chapter 6, verse 16, verse 25 He says He has the power to establish you In other words, to make you stand Okay, he says he's going to be able to present us faultless before his throne So we're going to be able to stand before him You go back into Psalm chapter 2 and you pick up this thought The sinner will not stand in the judgment [00:18:02] It doesn't mean that he won't be there It means that he won't find himself remaining He won't come on God's side. He'll be removed. He'll be unseated, we'd say, in a sense. He'd lose his position. He'd lose the opportunity. And so he's talking about God is able. [00:18:33] And I like there's a phrase in here that just really impresses me. How's he able to do that? Is He going to stand there? Is Jesus going to stand there and say, Here's my son. I bring him to you, Father. No. Notice the last phrase of verse 24. With exceeding joy. God is able to keep you from falling. He's able to present you faultless with exceeding joy. [00:19:08] And you read there in Hebrews about Jesus, the joy that He had when He endured the cross, despising the shame. His joy is for us. He was thinking of us being part of His inheritance and enjoying eternity together with Him. And not only does he receive joy in making it possible, he receives joy in seeing it happen [00:19:43] And he's going to do the end result of it all with exceeding joy His joy is just going to be overflowing I don't know what that does for you, but it does something for me To think about the Lord Jesus Christ on that day Presented me before His Father Before God Almighty With tears of joy streaming down His face He's able [00:20:15] 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12 goes right along with that He knows that He's able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. I know that. It's interesting to me that six of these eight that we look at this morning are written by the Apostle Paul. God is able. Who better to tell us how God is able to do things? [00:20:48] A man that knew from first hand experience That saw so clearly into the eternal and into the glories that God has And he said God is able, God is able, God is able He's able to make grace abound to you He's able to keep you He's able to deliver you He's able to bring you to salvation And now he says he's able to keep that which I've committed Can God keep something that we haven't committed to Him? [00:21:25] He wants to. You know, you go into a hotel and often times they have a safe. Either in your room or in the office and they'll have a note there that says, Do not let any valuables lay in your room. Put them in the safe. Now, if you leave your room and you leave your money laying out and you come back and your money's gone, whose responsibility is it? [00:21:58] The hotel? No. They provided the place where you could commit your money to, the safe. I failed to commit it, and so it's gone. It's my loss. But if I had committed it to the safe, it would have been protected, wouldn't it? And that's exactly the way it is spiritually. God is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him. [00:22:29] And so I asked that question at the beginning. Why are we so slow to commit to God? Why do we think that we can hang on to things and keep them so much better than He can? And that has so many applications. We don't have time to go there this morning, but it can apply to our children. It can apply to our finances. It can apply to our health. It can apply just in so many ways. [00:23:00] As long as I keep them tightly held in my grasp, God isn't able to keep. because I've not committed. Romans chapter 4 verse 21. He's able to perform his promises. I want us to just look at this because I think it's so important. You and I don't see the big picture. [00:23:36] What we see is so small. and so limited. But here's the testimony of Abraham. He staggered not, in verse 20, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able also to perform. [00:24:11] What God has promised, He's able to perform. Is He able? Is God able? What has He promised? Someone said this, and I didn't write down who said it. I picked it up as a quote. To swear is wicked because it takes God's name in vain. Murmuring takes His promises in vain. [00:24:52] What did God tell us? What are some of His promises? I'll supply all your need. Is that a promise? My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Is that a promise? Is it true? If you and I are complaining about what we have or don't have, what is that? [00:25:27] Unbelief. Unbelief. He said it plainly in verse 20. Abraham didn't stagger at the promise of God through unbelief God said Abraham you're going to have a son Abraham said I'm going to have a son I don't know how God's going to do it And he messed up because he looked at the wrong route that God was going to provide him with a son But he knew that God was going to give him a son He never doubted it He wondered [00:26:00] He said, God, are you doing this through Eliezer, my steward? How are you going to do this, God? And his wife said, well, maybe through the handmaid. And he tried that. God said, no, that's not the promise. But Abraham knew that God was going to give him a son. He's able to perform his promises. His promises are yea and amen. They're settled. They're unchanging. They don't depend on whether we agree or disagree, whether we approve or disapprove. [00:26:37] His promises remain the same. And if you and I trust Him and rest in Him, we'll receive His promises. Every time we see a rainbow, it should be a reminder to us that God's promise is true. Period. End of sentence. God's promise is true. All of His promises are true. [00:27:09] You know, just kind of a side note here, one of the promises that God gave to Abraham, way back yonder, that a lot of people are forgetting about today, God said, As long as the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, summer and winter, will not pass. As long as the earth remaineth, man isn't going to change that by his few feeble efforts to control global warming or whatever. [00:27:43] That's God's promise. Here's one I like. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20. And man, this one here is so big. So big. You say your God is so big? This one is a big promise. A big ability of God. Chapter 3, verse 20, Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. [00:28:27] Man, how big is that? How big is that? What's God able to do there? How much can you ask or think? Your children ever ask too much of you? We say, oh, that's enough. No, got to stop there. He says, I want us to just look at this, and I always like the way Paul does this. [00:29:05] Because he takes a phrase and he just stacks it on. He says, God's able to do above all we ask or think. That's enough, isn't it? Isn't that enough? All we ask or think, that's enough. But he said, he's able to do all we ask or think. All of it. And he goes on and he says, above all we ask or think. [00:29:42] Now that tells me that he's able to take all that you ask and think, and all that I ask and think, and all that we all ask and think, and He's able to do above that. But He didn't stop there. He says He's able to do abundantly above all we ask or think. But He didn't stop there. He said He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. Exceeding abundantly. [00:30:15] How big is that? Is God able? How much is he able to do? I just love that verse. Because it gives me courage. It gives me strength. It gives me motivation to come to God and to put my trust in Him. He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. [00:30:46] You might say, well, why doesn't He? I've thought about a lot of things and they haven't happened. Well, you know what? This promise is still true. And maybe we're looking at the wrong things when we're looking at things we'd like Him to do. Maybe we're asking and thinking about the wrong things. Over in James, He tells us that. He said you ask and you have not because you ask amiss. You want it for yourself. [00:31:19] You want to consume it on your own lust. It's your desires, it's not for His glory. He said there's wars and strifes and conflicts among you. How can God give to you the things that you want when all those things are taking place? The last one that I want us to look at this morning is over in Acts chapter 20. This is where Paul met with the elders of Ephesus and he was going over with them all the things that had happened as he had come and ministered the gospel and as the church had grown and so on and he tells them that there's going to be some difficult days ahead. [00:32:09] Down in chapter 20, verse 32, he says this, And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I'm turning you over to God, to His grace, because He's able not to just build up, but He's able to build you up, me up. [00:32:45] He's not just able to give inheritance, but He wants to give you inheritance. He wants to give me inheritance. He's able to do that. And as he met with these elders here, he encouraged them. He said, God showed me there's going to be some grievous wolves going to enter the flock. There's going to be some bad days ahead here in the church. But he said, God's able. [00:33:17] He's going to keep you. He's going to build you up. He's going to continue to see you grow spiritually. And he's going to give you that inheritance among the saints. He's able to do that. I had to think about a song. I don't have all the words to it. Probably some of you know it. It says, I can't make a single flower, but God can. It says, I can't turn the darkness into light. [00:33:50] Can't make mountains snowy white. Can't put corn upon a stalk. Can't make the lane to walk A lot of the song goes on He says but God can God can God is able And I hope that as we think about this this morning That we recognize that not God is able is not just a cliche It's a reality [00:34:21] It's a truth that we can hang on to And as we look at these scriptures, and I just challenge you to go back, if you're getting discouraged, just go back and look at these scriptures and say, God is able. He is able. And I trust Him. It doesn't matter if I live or die, I'm going to trust Him and I'm going to follow Him. It doesn't matter if I go in the fiery furnace. It doesn't matter whatever. I know my God is able to carry me through. He's able. He's able. I know He's able. I know my God is able to carry me through. Could we sing that as we close? Let's stand for prayer. If the Spirit has spoken to you in a specific way about unbelief in your heart, and just not trusting God, and you'd like me to just remember, you'd like to confess that to God this morning, you'd like me to remember you in prayer, in the closing prayer, just slip up your hand. God bless you. [00:35:40] Father, we thank you this morning that you are able. Able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. Able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before your throne with exceeding joy. Oh God, forgive us for our unbelief, for our lack of trust. [00:36:18] Forgive us for our lack of commitment to you, for holding so many things so tightly in our own hands. God, I just pray specifically for those this morning who you've raised their hand and said you've spoken to them. God I pray that you help each one of them to see so clearly how you are able in their lives and to be encouraged and strengthened and just draw close to you dear God [00:36:48] we just thank you and praise you in Jesus name, Amen