God Is Able
By P. G. Mathew, M.A., M.Div., Th.M.
Copyright 1996 by P. G. Mathew
Christianity is the opposite of self-help. Christianity is God
helping us, not our helping ourselves. In this study we want to
discuss some scriptures that will encourage you to trust in God,
who is able to help you this year and all the years to come.
In the book of Job we read how Satan guaranteed that Job would
curse God if all God's blessings were removed from him. God told
Satan that Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and
shunned evil, and when Satan took away Job's blessings, what
happened? Job did not curse; instead, he blessed the Lord. Why?
God enabled him do so.
This is the issue. God enables us to do his will. God's plan has
always been to take some sinners from the multitude of sinners
and cause them freely to serve him, worship him, praise him, love
him, and do his will. Satan might say, "No, it cannot
happen," but it is happening. Throughout history there has
always been a church which has been enabled by God to love and
worship him wholeheartedly. Whether you are part of it or not,
God has such a church, which is the salt of the earth and the
light of the world. God's church is the company of those who are
called out from the world of sinners to be the bride of Christ,
re-created in the image and likeness of God.
Salvation is God's business, and God is able to do this by grace.
God is able to make me do his will on my own volition. This is
the work of God, and if that is not happening to you, then you
must question your salvation. But those whom God saves will live
for God.
God Is Able to Save
Those who come to God must believe God is and is a rewarder of
those who diligently seek him (Heb. 11:6). Those who come to God
must believe in his existence as Infinite Personality, as the
self-existing, self-sufficient, eternal, almighty, omniscient,
supreme, sovereign God who created the universe and maintains it.
In Matthew 9:28 we read about two blind men who had come to Jesus
for help. "When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to
him, and he asked them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do
this?'" This verse speaks about the ability of God. In other
words, Jesus was asking these men if they really believed who he
was and what he was able to do. Was he really able to save them?
That is the question, isn't it? If you are a Christian, you must
intelligently understand who Jesus Christ is. You must know that
he is the eternal God who took upon himself sinless human nature,
who alone is able to save his people from their sins (Rom. 8:3,
Matt. 1:21). In Acts 16:30-31 the Philippian jailer called out,
"What must I do to be saved?" and the answer was given:
"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved."
Those who come to Jesus must believe that he exists and that he
is the Savior. And when Jesus Christ saves you, he then causes
you to become the salt of the earth and the light of the
world--separate from the world, in other words. He calls you to
be part of his glorious church. Jesus does not call you to a
half-hearted Christianity that loves sin and Jesus at the same
time.
Think about this. Do you understand who Christ Jesus, your
Savior, is? Do you believe he is able to save you from your sins?
Do you believe that he is able to keep you from falling and that
he is able to present you before God without fault and with great
joy? You must believe these things.
In Matthew 9:28-29 we read how Jesus asked these blind men,
"'Do you believe that I am able to do this?'" What did
they say? "'Yes, Lord.' Then he touched their eyes and said,
'According to your faith will it be done to you,' and their sight
was restored.'" This is a picture of salvation.
If you are not a Christian, I say to you, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you will be saved. He alone is able to save you.
You cannot save yourself! Salvation is not some form of
self-help, or a little bit of Jesus and little bit of myself
together doing something. No! He does it completely and totally.
He alone is the Savior.
God Is Able to Help Us through His Word
What should be our attitude toward the Scripture? Do we receive
help from God's word? In Acts 20:32, Paul told the elders at
Ephesus: "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his
grace which can build you up and give you an inheritance among
all those who are sanctified." That is the gospel. The
Scriptures are "the word of his grace, which can build you
up."
Do you ever go about frazzled, fractured, confused, miserable,
anxious, angry, or frustrated? To do so shows a poverty of grace.
Such a person declares to all people that he or she did not eat
the word of God's grace, this word that gives grace. Now,what do
we mean by grace? Someone said grace is God's riches at Christ's
expense. Grace is unmerited favor. It is divine ability given to
people who have no ability. It is divine favor shown to people
who merited hell and the wrath of God. And so the word of God's
grace gives you grace moment by moment. When you eat this word,
meaning when you read, study, and meditate on it, it nourishes
you and causes you to be strong in the world. It causes you to
resist sin and Satan and to walk a Christian walk. The word of
his grace is able to build you up!
Do we avail ourselves of this grace? Regrettably, not as we
should. We say we are busy. We do everything else required of us,
yet often we do not appropriate this word of God's grace. But
when we do not appropriate it, we are not strong. We become weak,
angry, frustrated, and anxious. Is this God's fault? Oh, no. Our
problem is that we have neglected the word of God. Deuteronomy
8:3 tells us that "man does not live on bread alone but on
every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." This word
is given to us that we may eat it, believe it, and do it. Jesus
said that if you hear and do his word, you will be like a wise
person who built his house upon a rock--strong and immobile
(Matt. 7:24-27)
Praise God for the Bible! When Paul spoke to these Ephesian
elders, they only had the Old Testament scriptures. In 2 Timothy
1:5 and 3:14-16 we read about Timothy's mother and grandmother,
who taught him the scriptures, meaning the Old Testament, which
Paul says "are able to make you wise for salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus." The Old Testament spoke about Jesus
Christ, and salvation through him, as does the New Testament. In
these books we have God's word that is able. We are unable--weak,
miserable, and wretched--but God commits to us his Scripture
which is able to strengthen and build us up. The Scripture is
food for our souls when it is received and acted upon.
God has given us the Bible, the gospel of his grace. That is why
you should get up early and turn off the radio, the television,
and everything else, and read the word of God. Give it your full
and complete attention! When you do so, you are loving God with
all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. You are serving God
with all your strength. And when you listen to God, you are built
up and edified. This is what it means to eat the word of God, to
be nourished by it. When you feed on the word of God, you are
strengthened so that you can resist the devil every day and he
will flee from you. You are not manufacturing your own word. You
resist the devil by the use of this wonderful word of grace,
God's word.
God Is Able to Do What He Promises
God is able to do what he has promised. Look at Romans 4:20-21:
"Yet [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the
promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory
to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what
he had promised." The Bible is full of God's promises, but
unlike the promises that we make, God's promises are true and he
fulfills every one. Abraham believed God's promise that he would
be the father of many nations. He did not waver through unbelief
but was made strong as he believed in the promise of God, because
he knew the one who promised it was able to perform it. Thus,
Abraham could sacrifice his son when God required it. He knew
that out of the ashes God would be able to provide him with a
resurrected Isaac.
That is the faith required of a true Christian. If you are a
Christian, fully converted and born from above, you will accept
the word of God as sure and certain. There is no "if"
or "but" about the Bible. It is the very word of God.
The eternal God makes promises in his word, and he will keep
them.
Look at 2 Corinthians 1:20: "For no matter how many promises
God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ." You see, the proof
that God keeps his promises is Christ. Every promise God has ever
made is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In Genesis 3:15 he promised
that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.
And in the fullness of time he sent his own Son, born of a woman,
born under the law, to do so. In Christ every promise is
fulfilled. Christ is grace. Christ is our salvation. That is why
when we pray, we must pray in the name of Jesus Christ, because
it is in Christ and through Christ that we receive answers.
So Paul says the Father's "Yes" to all his promises is
Jesus Christ. No one can point a finger at God and say, "You
have failed in your promises." He has not! If we accuse him
of that, God will say, "I sent my Son, and he is the
fulfillment of all my promises."
God Is Able to Help Us When We Are Tempted
As we live in this world, we are surrounded by temptation. Some
people say, "You know, life is hard, and I am constantly
tempted. This is a terrible world. When I go to school, I am
tempted; when I go to work, I am tempted; when I drive, I am
tempted. I am tempted when I go to the mall, and I am tempted
when I come back. I am tempted all the time. What can I do?"
This is a problem, but the Bible tells us something about this
problem. In Hebrews 2:18 we read, "Because he himself
suffered when he was tempted"---that is speaking about Jesus
Christ in his humanity--"he is able to help those who are
being tempted." Here is a scripture that says that this
Christ, this High Priest, this Mediator, this Savior, was tempted
himself. He became a man, and he understands everything. He is
able to help us in our temptation. There is no excuse that we can
use to say that we sinned because we were tempted. This scripture
stops all our arguments. Yes, we will be tempted, but there is
one who is able to help us in our temptation. There is no
necessity for a Christian to sin.
Look at 1 Corinthians 10:13. It tells us very clearly, "No
temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God
is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can
bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so
that you can stand up under it"--in great victory! God will
not accept your rationale that you were tempted, helpless,
mauled, destroyed, and swallowed up, and therefore you sinned.
No, Satan may come like a lion and try to swallow you, but he
cannot swallow a true child of God. A child of God is helped by
the Christ who died for him on the cross. This Christ will assist
him at the point of temptation, that he may stand under it and
not fall, that he may resist the devil successfully, and that he
may praise the Lord his God for helping him in his temptation.
God will make a way out for him by granting him the
sufficiency of grace. God is able.
We need to stop looking for excuses. There is no need to worry
about how terrible the world is. There is no need to worry about
secularism, atheism, or the lack of religion in the marketplace
of ideas. God is with us and Christ is for us. He has given us
his word of his grace to help us. We never have to become angry,
defiant, or arrogant, if we only understand that there is a God
who is able to help us.
God Is Able to Make Us Stand
In Romans 14:4 we see that God is able to do something else.
"Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own
master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is
able to make him stand." God is able to make us stand. What
does that mean? It means he is able to make us endure trouble
joyfully, withstand temptation victoriously, and, finally, stand
before our Master, Jesus Christ on the last day. How can we
stand? God by his grace makes us able to do so. We are not
standing on our own. We read how Job blessed the Lord in spite of
all his losses. How could he do that? God enabled him. The Lord
will make you stand, both now and on the last day.
This invalidates all our excuses. God himself is able to make us
stand! In Ephesians 6:13, Paul said, "Therefore put on the
full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be
able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to
stand." In Romans 16:25 Paul said, "Now to him who is
able to establish you by my gospel . . ." The Greek word for
establish is sterixai , from which you have steroid,
meaning something that makes you strong. God is able to establish
you and make you strong in your spirit. What a wonderful word! A
Christian does not have to be weak, wobbly, or somewhat unstable,
never knowing when a little wind will make him or her fall. No, a
Christian is well-founded, established and strong. Why? God is
able to make him stand.
Some people want Jesus Christ to make them famous, healthy, and
economically successful. If those things do not happen to them,
they become wobbly, complaining, unhappy, and miserable. But real
Christians do not trust in Christ in order to get famous or make
money. Real Christians trust in Jesus Christ that he may save
them and that they may worship and serve him. God will make them
strong.
Jude 24 says, "To him who is able to keep you from falling
and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and
with great joy. . ." God is able to keep us from falling. He
is able to make us stand every day, until we arrive on that last
day. If we are born of God, we will persevere. No one is able to
make us fall, because Christ will keep us standing. He will
present us to God the Father "without any fault and with
great joy." God is able to do this for a Christian, and
there is no excuse for unholy living.
In Hebrews 7:25 we read, "Therefore, [Christ] is able to
save completely those who come to God through him because he
always lives to intercede for them." This great high priest,
who has an indestructible life, has finished his work of
salvation, and is seated on the right hand of God the Father,
ever living and making intercession for us. He is able to save us
completely! This is not some kind of tentative salvation, based
on whether we feel saved today or not. He is able to save us
completely.
God Is Able to Make All Grace Abound
Do we question that God is able? Read 2 Corinthians 9:8. This
verse is written in the context of giving to the cause of Christ.
Now, no one gives anything to the cause of Christ except from the
abundance of God's giving to us in his Son, Jesus Christ. What
does this verse say? "And God is able to make all grace
abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all
that you need, you will abound in every good work." God is
able. Can we ever say to God that he is not able, that Christ is
not able, that grace is not able or that Scripture is not able?
Oh, no. Here Paul says that God is able, and then he uses the
word "all" five times in this verse.
"God is able to make all grace abound to you. .
. ." This means God grants the multi-faceted grace--all of
it!--that we require for our multi-faceted needs. Paul is not
speaking about a mere trickle of grace, but rather, an abundance.
God is able to bring rivers of grace gushing to you. Have we ever
made excuses for our behavior? Sometimes we do. But when we do
so, we are saying that God is unable. What does this verse say?
"God is able to make all grace abound to you. . ."
When and where do we receive this grace? ". . . so that in
all things," meaning in all situations, "at all times .
. ." You are not without grace for even one moment of your
life if you are a Christian. When you become a Christian you are
brought into this abundance of grace in Jesus Christ, and it is
ever flowing to you. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the
branches." (John 15:5) Grace comes from the vine to the
branches continuously. It is there for us, in all situations, at
all times.
How much grace do we receive? Paul continues, "having all
that you need. . ." God's gift of abundant grace for all
things and all situations is all sufficient. When God blesses
you, he blesses with all the grace you could ever need. Why?
". . .having all that you need, you will abound in every
good work."
What is this grace for? We are to abound in good works. Do you
remember why Jesus cursed the fig tree (Matt. 21:18-22)? It did
not have any fruit. It was covered with leaves, which indicated
potential fruit, but its leafy show was all pretension and
hypocrisy. There was no fruit. This tree was using God's
resources for its own benefit. God re-created us to abound in
good works, as we read in Ephesians 2:1-10.
We are saved to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, not ourselves. First
Corinthians 15:58 says, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand
firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the
work of the Lord, because you know your labor in the Lord is not
in vain." What is serving? It is loving God and our
neighbor. We are to serve others at our own expense, producing an
abundance of good works, to demonstrate to the whole world that
we are Christians who love God with all our heart, mind, soul and
strength, and our neighbors as ourselves. We perform this service
by means of his all-sufficient grace.
Do not look for excuses. God gives us all grace that we need in
all situations at all times so that we may abound in good works
and produce fruit, more fruit, and much fruit, for the glory of
God the Father.
God Is Able to Destroy Both Soul and Body in Hell
What else is God able to do? We read in Matthew 9:28 that Christ
is able to save, but in Matthew 10:28 we find a warning that he
is also able to do something else. Jesus Christ is not only an
able Savior, but he is also an able Judge, and so we read,
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill
the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy"--in
the Greek it reads who is able to destroy--
"both soul and body in hell."
This is an important verse. Let us understand that the same
Christ who is able to save certain people by his grace and cause
them to stand, who is able to keep his promises and supply them
with all grace to abound in every good work--this same Christ is
also able to destroy both soul and body in hell. How many people
believe that Jesus Christ is to be feared because he sends the
wicked to hell? This is a warning that we need to take seriously,
and if we are not Christians, we need to call upon the name of
the Lord and be saved.
God Is Able to Answer Prayer
Finally, in Ephesians 3:20-21 we read, "Now to him who is
able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for
ever and ever! Amen."
What else is God able to do? He is able to hear and answer your
prayers. Oh, that is wonderful! God gives you grace every time
you pray. God is able to answer your prayer, and if you are born
of God, he will answer it. He will help you and guide you in the
way you ought to go according to his sovereign determination. You
have the freedom to pray anything you want, but God guides you in
the way you ought to go. Why doesn't he answer certain prayers?
It is grace. What if you ask for something but do not receive it?
You should understand that it is grace. You may pray for a
promotion but get a demotion. Why? God knows that what you really
need is a demotion, because that demotion will bring you closer
to him. Therefore, we can rejoice in this wonderful fact, that
God will hear our prayers and do immeasurably more than all we
ask or imagine. He is able and he will do it!
Self-Help or God's Help?
We need to make up our minds. We can rely on God, who is able, or
rely on self-help. How do you want to live? If you don't want
Christ, I would counsel you to self-help. Those who are into
self-help don't read the Bible, the word of God's grace. They
don't have to call on God in prayer. They can just go to
themselves and their resources for help. But self will eventually
fail them. A person can live by self, but self will not prove
able to do what really matters. Therefore, I want to live by
Christ and the word of his grace. I want to live by the help of
this Mediator, this High Priest, who will help me in times of
temptation.
God is able to save us. Jesus asked the blind men, "Do you
believe that I am able to heal you?" No one receives
anything from this Christ unless there is intelligent
understanding concerning his person and work. You must believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. You must appropriate his
grace through the Scripture. Just like food builds you up
physically, the word of God, when believed and obeyed, will give
you strength and fortify you. You must remember how God keeps his
promises. You must say to God, "Do to me as you have
promised in your word," and he will do so. He has already
done so in the giving of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Not only that, God is able to help us in every temptation. He is
able to make us stand and not fall at all. He is able to make all
grace abound to us in all things at all times, that we may have
all sufficiency to abound in good works. And this God is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or imagine.
But all this is for those who are really born again. If you have
never trusted in Jesus Christ, may God have mercy on you and open
your eyes by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you may see the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This mighty Savior,
Jesus Christ, alone is able to save, and he will do it!
