“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.” —2 Corinthians 9:8
Grace For Today
The Apostle Paul here is emphasizing the fact that grace is sufficient for every need in the common life. I don’t like the idea of relegating everything to the other side of the river. There is the practical side. There isn’t a need that you may have, a difficulty or trouble that may come to you, but what God in His grace can enable you to meet it and triumph over it. “God is able to make all grace.” Notice how he accumulates words to emphasize this great truth. “God is able to make all grace abound (overflow) toward you that ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound in every good work.” Say, if words mean anything, that surely means that all my need has been provided for in the provision God has made for His own.
There was a great and good man, General Gordon, who was martyred in the Sudan. He was noted for his Christian life—a man of prayer. Before he went on his last expedition he presented to the members of the British Cabinet a copy of a little booklet that he always carried. On the one side of the page were all the human needs that you might think of, and opposite every one was a statement from God’s Word that covered that need. I have not seen that little book, but I have come to believe that it is true that every need that I may have has been covered by a promise of the Almighty God. “God is able.” Do you believe it? If you don’t you are not going to go very far with Him. God is the source of the supply, which is all tied up to faith, and when we come to any crisis, any new test, any new need in our life, we are met with this question, “Believest thou that I am able to do this?” If I refuse to believe in His ability, I tie the hands of the Almighty.
It is said of Jesus that on one occasion, going to His own little village where He had been brought up, “He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” It seems to me that one reason why there is such a dearth and barrenness in the church of Jesus Christ is because men are doubting the ability of the Almighty God to meet the need in this crisis hour. The dominant thought from Genesis to Revelation is “God is able.” You will find that statement or its equivalent hundreds of times in the Bible. I was noticing in the New Testament some fourteen or fifteen times those very words are used. “He is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham”; “He is able to destroy both body and soul in hell”; “He is able to graft in Israel again”; “He is able to subdue all things”; “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day”; “He is able to keep me from stumbling”; “He is able to perform all He hath promised”; “He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all I can ask or think.” Blessed be God forevermore. It is a great thing just to meditate upon what God is able to do!
“But,” says somebody, “What about His will in this matter?” Well, I am going to admit frankly we are faced with this proposition: He does not say, “I will make all grace abound”; He says He is able. I have come to see that the entire responsibility for this grace functioning in my life is upon me. There are certain conditions that I must recognize that I must meet.
Speaking to a company of men recently, I pointed out that there are so many promises God has given to His people that are never realized by His people, all because they thwart His purpose, all because they go crossways with His plan. “God is able,” but when it comes to His will in the matter, that affects me; that does not affect His ability; it does not affect His faithfulness. “All His promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus.” We sometimes quote that verse by adding “to them that believe.” It says “to the glory of God the father”; whether you believe or not God remains faithful. The fact that you believe it or do not believe it does not alter it at all.
Sometimes when I pray about my difficulties and my troubles the question comes, “Is God willing?” Then I think of that statement: “If God spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all—if—how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?” If God would give the greater would He withhold the lesser? Sometimes I say if there were hard times and the children were crying for bread, I would rather have my little child doubt my ability to give than to doubt my willingness. I would rather have him say, “I am hungry, but I know my father would give me bread if He could,” than to have him say, “My father has the bread, but He won’t give it to me.”
A Full Surrender
What are some of the conditions? One is that I must make a full surrender of my life, Romans 12:1–2. I must present my body. That is not something I am going to give Him at the end of life. Notice what will happen. I shall then “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Some folks say, “Is it the Lord’s will?” This is the way to prove it: Place yourself on His altar and say, “Take this life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee.”
Then you are nine-tenths on the way to solving the problems of His will at once. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,” says the Lord, “and prove me herewith.” With what? With your consecration. Prove me in this absolute surrender of yourself, and see if I will not. That is a challenge. “Prove me,” saith the Lord.
Then there must be resignation to the will of God. When did Paul prove that God’s grace was sufficient for Him? Listen. Three times he said, “I prayed about a thorn in the flesh.” What was the thorn? I don’t know. I am glad I don’t. If we did know we would say, “Oh, well, mine isn’t what his was.” Paul called it “an infirmity,” a “weakness.” It was something that he felt was a handicap physically. I believe it was a repulsive infirmity.
I know a dear, good woman who has a deformed body. She was a very sweet Christian, but she came under the influence of some divine healing teachers who taught that it was a sin to be sick, that healing is in the atonement just the same as the forgiveness of sins, and that it should be presented and accepted on exactly the same ground as the forgiveness of sins. When this sister came to me to pray for her, I prefaced the prayer with, “If it be thy will, Oh, Lord, heal our sister’s body.”
She said to me, “Please, preacher, do not say ‘If it be thy will.’ It is God’s will to heal me just as it is God’s will to save me.”
But although she has sought for healing on this basis and in this spirit for years, she is still suffering from that infirmity.
Now I don’t want to hurt the feelings of any of God’s dear children, but there are many who have taken this ground regarding deliverance from sickness. I do not believe this teaching is scriptural. To say that a Christian who is sick is not in the will of God is a very serious thing indeed. It surely reflects upon some of the most godly saints that have ever lived in all the ages. I believe that this teaching not only results in a great deal of failure, but also in a great deal of fraud. It has made a great many hypocrites. People who are claiming miraculous deliverances have resorted to physicians and means and then have given testimony to miraculous healings when it was nothing more than any other deliverance coming in the ordinary way. Frequently people say they are well when they are ill. This is not faith; it is fanaticism.
I want you to know that I believe most thoroughly in God’s power to deliver us from infirmity and disease if it be His will. I have been healed myself in direct answer to prayer and have seen others delivered, but I have never been able to see that divine healing is in the atonement just as the forgiveness of sins.
When did Paul experience the all-sufficiency of grace? Why, it was when he came to a place where he could say, “Lord, I will accept this ‘infirmity,’ this ‘weakness’ as Thy will. I will glory in it, because it means more grace in my life. ‘When I am weak then I am strong.’” He found that God’s grace was sufficient for him just when he could say “Thy will, not mine, be done in this matter, Oh, Lord.”
Grace In Action
Again it means not only consecration and resignation to His will, but a readiness to serve. I want you to see this. He makes “all grace abound toward you that ye may abound in every good work.” Grace abounds towards you that you may abound in service towards others. The Christian life is like a running river. “Out of his inmost soul shall flow rivers of living water,” said Jesus.
Mr. Moody used to tell the story of a little stream and a stagnant pool. The stream went trickling down the mountainside, dancing through the meadow, and was accosted by the wise old pool who asked the little stream where it was going. “I am off to sea with this cup of cold water which God has given me,” said the stream.
“Oh,” replied the pool, “it is very foolish to let your resources get away like that. The long hot summer days are coming and you will need every drop of water that you have for yourself. Indeed, you will dry up before the summer ends.”
“Well,” replied the little stream, “if I must die so soon, I will hurry on with the blessing that God has given me.”
So the hot summer days came and the old pool husbanded all its resources—every drop for itself. But it became foul and loathsome. It bred malaria and death. The inhabitants from that community were forced to move away or die. The cattle from the hills come down to quench their thirst, but turned from the foul water of the pool with disgust. Even the frogs forsook it and fled. At last God in mercy smote it with a hotter breath and it dried up. What about the little stream? On its way it went, singing a merry song. The flowers sprang up all along its bank and sent their fragrance across its bosom. The great trees lined its shores, spreading their branches as if to protect it from the scorching sun. The cattle came to its brink and drank and drank again, then rested on its shore.
As it went, it grew deeper and widened all the way, until at last it reached the sea and sent up its incense to the sun where the clouds waited to receive it. God hitched the winds as steeds to those clouds and carried them back to the mountain that gave birth to the little stream, filling the fountain to overflowing. Although it was always giving, God saw to it that it never dried up.
That story is a parable. There are many Christians like the wise old pool. Many of them long since have dried up. They have nothing to give away, nor have they anything left for themselves. There are others, however, like the little stream that give and give and give, yet God gives to them again, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.
By Rev. P.W. Philpott, D.D. | 1923