As we come to consider God's Word today, I don't want to begin as I normally do, with a particular reading from the Scriptures, because we are going to speak from a number of passages today, and so I want to pray. I want to make some introductory remarks, and then we will go to various portions of God's word throughout our message today. So let's go first of all to the Lord and to God in a word of prayer, and then we'll meet around the word. Let's go to the throne of grace in prayer, please. Our loving Father, we come now to the word that was given to us. Bless, O God. Grant, dear Father, thy spirit. Grant, O God, help as we minister in the word. May thy power be upon us. May we know the unfilling of thy spirit. And may thy good hand be upon us. And grant, dear Father, help now in the preaching of thy word. For I offer prayer in and through the Savior's precious name. Amen. Heavenward and Godward is where the eyes of God's people ought to be in these days. If we look at our sin, it will discourage us. If we look at ourself, it will distress us. If we look at Satan, he will dishearten us. If we look at others, they will disappoint us. If we look at our trials, they will most certainly depress us. However, never will our spirit or heart despair when we fix our eyes upon the Lord. Looking on to the Lord is the attitude of the soul. It is an act of the will. It is an exercise of faith. By it, we turn away from all that is off the creature and we look solely to the living God for comfort and for help and for solace. A.W. Pink said that looking to God is that which characterizes those who are members of the household of faith. In their need, they look to God for their supplies. In their streets, they look to God for deliverance. In their trouble, they look to God for comfort. And in their weakness, they look to God for strength. Now examples abound in the word of God where a lifting up of one's eyes onto the Lord brought blessing and comfort to the one who involved themselves in such an activity. Psalm 121, we find the psalmist lifting his eyes to God in his time of need. There we read, I will lift mine eyes onto the hills, for whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. Surrounded by a formidable confederacy of enemy foes, King Jehoshaphat took himself to God in prayer and uttered these words in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 in the verse 12. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Jonah took to lifting his eyes onto the Lord when he found himself in solitary confinement in the belly of the great fish there in the Mediterranean Sea. From the depths of the sea, Jonah made this confession, I am cast out of thy sight, yet will I look again toward thy holy temple. You see, folks, by looking to the Lord, We come to understand and we come to appreciate that with God all things are possible. It's that truth that I want us to dwell upon today as I preach on the subject matter of God's ability. God's ability. Really what we're thinking about today is what God is able to do. Now in general terms, God can do everything and God can do anything that he purposes to do as long as it is consistent with the perfection of his divine nature. You see, God cannot do anything and cannot act contrary to his nature or to his perfections. He cannot sin because if he did, it would be contrary to his nature or his perfection. He cannot lie because God is truth. He cannot die because God is immortal. He cannot change because he is immutable. He cannot feel. Thank God for that. However, there are many things that God is able to do. because they are consistent with His nature, with His attributes, and with His will. And these things that God is able to do are brought to our attention in an often repeated phrase that we find in God's Word. And here is the phrase, He is able. He is able. And I want to highlight just four. of he is able statements today in this particular message. The first thing that God is able to do is that he is able to save to the uttermost. He is able to save to the uttermost. Turn to Hebrews chapter seven and verse 25. Hebrews chapter seven and the verse number 25. Because in that portion of God's Word, we read this wonderful statement concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We are speaking here about the Savior, or the inspired pain man is speaking about the Savior. Verse 24, but this man, speaking of Christ, Verse 22 identifies who this man is. But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, he is able also to save to the uttermost all that come on to God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for them. These words point us to the Son of God's ability to save all that come unto God by Him for salvation. When it comes to the saving of sinners, thank God the Lord Jesus Christ is never found to be wanting in His ability to save. There is no lack There is no lack of ability on the part of God to save men and women, teenagers, boys and girls from their sin. No, rather, the Son of God is willing, He is ready, and He is able to save the least and the greatest of sinners. What a glorious truth to present to any sinner watching into this service today, that there is no sinner No sinner in this world that God cannot save. You may ask me, how do I know? that he's able to save. Well, I have it here in the Word. The Bible tells me, Hebrews 7 verse 25, wherefore he is able also to save to the uttermost. The Bible tells me that he's able to save. Yes, thank God, we've got God's Word for it. He is able to save to the uttermost. But I also know it because he has proven it down through the ages that he is able to save. He's able to save. Just take the Word of God into your hand and go through the historical record from Genesis to the Revelation and see how the Lord Jesus Christ saved some of the greatest sinners imaginable. Sinners like Manasseh, who offered his own children in the fires of Moloch, I think of the dying thief, a man charged with insurrection and rebellion against the Roman authorities. I think of Mary Magdalene, out of whom the Savior cast seven devils. I think of Saul of Tarsus. I think of the Philippian jailer who beat God's servants to name but a few. Then I look into church history. And I read the accounts of great sinners whom Christ saved, men like John Newton, the slave trader, Martin Luther, the Roman Catholic monk. I think of John Bunyan, the writer of The Pilgrim's Progress, that tinker from Bedford of whom it was said that there were few among equals when it came to cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God. These and thousands more have known the ability of God to save them from the most heinous, the most grotesque, the most monstrous sins. But can I say that the greatest reason why I am convinced that God is able to save sinners is because He saved me. He saved me. As an 18-year-old man, God visited my life. He regenerated my heart. He illuminated my understanding. He drew me savingly unto Himself by the Spirit of God, and He changed my nature, and He changed my heart, and He changed the course of my life, and glory to God, He changed my eternal destiny. How do I know that He is able to save? Because He has saved a sinner like me. Sinner. Jesus Christ is able to save the greatest of sinners. He surely then has enough ability to save a sinner like you. He saved murderers, slave traders, harlots, he saved sodomites, he saved adulterers, he saved fornicators from their sin, and therefore he has the ability to save you from your sin. And so if there would be one watching today, someone who is sin burdened, someone who is guilt ridden, someone whose heart is troubled about spiritual things in these days. Let me introduce you to the one who is mighty deceived. Let me introduce you to the one who is ready to save. Let me introduce you to the one who is willing to save. Let me introduce you to the one who is able to save, and his name is Jesus. Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. so you need to come to him. This is how to be saved, to come to him. to come repenting of your sin, to come confessing your sin, to come with holy resolve to forsake and abandon and divorce yourself from sin and to live a righteous life, a godly life, a life of praise, a life of surrender, a life of dedication, a life or where your life is in His hands, and your soul is in His hands, and your future is in His hands, thank God He's able to save those who come. So will you come? Will you come to Christ? Listen to these words from the Savior. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. and I will give you rest. And take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lonely, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Will ye come? Will ye prove that he's able to save? The hymn writer Joseph Hart penned the words, come ye sinners poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus read, he stands to save you, full of pity, love and power. He is able, he is able, he is willing, doubt no more. He is able, he is able, he is willing, doubt no more. The question is, will you come? with your common repentance and faith to the one who is able to save to the uttermost. One preacher said Christ is able to save to the uttermost of the sinner's sin, to the uttermost of the sinner's guilt, to the uttermost of the sinner's despair, to the uttermost of the sinner's fears, to the uttermost of the sinner's needs. He is able to save to the uttermost. O sinner, Sinner, with your sin and with your guilt and with your despair and with your fears and with your need today, my Savior is able to save you to the uttermost. He's able. Doubt it not. Doubt it not, sinner. He is able to save. God's ability. regard to salvation. The second thing that God is able to do is that he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. This is something that is brought to our attention from the words of Ephesians chapter 3 and the verse 20. So we're turning now to Ephesians chapter 3 and the verse 20. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20, we read these words, now on to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. What confidence these words gives to any child of God when they come to the throne of grace and prayer. that as long as that individual is praying according to the will of God and for the glory of God, that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that that individual can ask or think. Now I want you to just to take a little time and take a few moments to think of all of the very needs that exist in your life today when you think about them. want you to catalogue them in your mind, want you to list them, consider them, all of the various needs. I would venture to say that for some of you there are personal needs. You've got your own personal needs today. We should never be so self-conceited and so self-deceived in our Christian lives where we reach the point in our lives that, like the church in Laodicea reached, where we say that we have need of nothing. I trust you're not there, but I trust that after an honest appraisal of your life, that you would very quickly say that you have need of everything. You have need of everything. We have need for the daily cleansing of our sins in the precious blood of Christ, because we sin in thought and word and deed. We need constant grace to keep us staying from sinning. We need divine strength to walk in God's ways, to believe God's promises. to tread in the straight and the narrow path that the Savior walked, that we are to walk. We have need for wisdom to understand the mind and the will of God and to make right decisions accordingly. Oh, there are a multiplicity of personal needs. And then we think about our family needs. We think about the temporal needs of our families today. for food to be on the table, for finances to pay the bills, for clothing and footwear for each member of the family. And then there are the spiritual needs, those greater needs within our family circle. There are some within our families and they need to be converted. They're not saved. They're unregenerate. They are children of wrath. They are candidates for judgment and for hell. They're going at breakneck speed towards God's great eternity. What greater need could there be in our families than those who are unconverted? And then there are others. They've wandered from God. Their wanderings are well known to us all. They have forsaken God. They have gone into the world and they have taken to themselves the fashions and the pleasures of this world and they need to be restored and surely that is a great need in some family circles. There's others and they need a greater consecration to God. I'm praying that whenever the congregation here in Portland Owen returns, that we will return a different people. I trust that whenever we return for public worship and when the ministries kick up again and start up again, that there'll not be the need for the preacher to crave and to desire that there will be people to help us in the ministries. that we're unable to find bus workers for our children's meeting, helpers in our Bible club, Sunday school teachers, people to give out invitations for various meetings. I trust that it'll not just be the faithful few again. I trust, child of God, that you're using these days and these weeks to, as it were, rededicate your life to God and to the local assembly and to the ministry of Port Lalone Free Presbyterian Church and that we'll not, as it were, be just calling upon the faithful few. That you'll not come back just simply to warm the pew again. We do not need pew warmers. We need people to be active, busy, industrious for God, zealous, on fire for God. I trust, child of God, when all of your work, some are working from home, some are still employed, but there are many of you, and you have extra time on your hands. and you have opportunity to get along with God and to seek Him in prayer. I'm telling you folks, your preacher is going to need to cast the burden over to you when you come back again. There are things that I'm going to have to place upon you and you're going to have to be involved in the work of God to a greater extent than you've ever been. These are days of rededication to God, rededication to His work and to His service, and that as we go forward in coming days, that there will be advancement and progress such as we've never known before, because you as a child of God have got along with God and God has revived your heart. Don't be coming back without knowing personal revival. You've got time to get along with God. Time to get into the Bible. Young people, get off your computer. Get off social media until you need it to join with us for the services, Lord's Day, Lord's Day night, on Wednesday night. Get out of novels and newspapers and phone apps and off the television and get along with God. and get on fire for God, and get to know Him personally, and get to know Him intimately, and come back to this congregation on fire for God. I tell you, somebody's going to have to take the place of our friend Joey Kirk in the place of prayer. And I'm asking you, young person, is it going to be you? Is it going to be you? Are you just going to come back from this time when God has set us aside? Are you just going to come back the same way that you've always been? Because folks, if you come back the same way, you've missed it! You've missed the purpose of why God has caused the public meeting place to close. You've missed it! God has taken you and I aside so that our souls might be restored. There is a need for us to adorn the doctrines of God our Savior. We think of church needs. We're thinking about needs here. Thinking about needs. The church need, oh, for the church to be united. Oh, for the church to be peaceful. Oh, for the church to be sanctified! Oh, for the church to become fruitful and prosperous! Oh, for the church to become militant once again on this earth, fighting the Lord's battles! And then there are needs locally and nationally and internationally. Oh, for the need of a great awakening. Oh, for the need of a powerful revival of pure religion to reverse the tidal wave of sin that has flooded into our nation. Oh, for the need for wicked laws to be reversed and for righteousness to be established in our land. Oh, for the need for preachers and missionaries to go forth into the world to speak forth the words of life that the knowledge of the Lord may cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Oh, for me, oh, the needs are vast and great personally, in our families, in the church, locally, nationally, internationally. How great and how varied they are, and yet, There is no limitation or restraint on God's ability to meet the needs of his children because as Ephesians 3 verse 20 tells us that he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. God can do more than we need, more than we ask for, more than we desire, yes, more than we even think. God's ability goes beyond our thoughts and our feeble conceptions. He's able to do above it, way above it. Great comfort can be derived From God's superabundant ability to do exceeding abundantly above all, we could ask or think comfort for the saint of God. God's people can take heart today that no matter how great the trial may be, no matter how peculiar the need may be, no matter how protracted the valley may be, that they need not faint nor be discouraged because they're God. Your God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all you could ask or think. There's comfort for the sinner. I want to say to all sinners, great sinners, notorious sinners, as well as respectable sinners who may be listening to this message. Take comfort from these words here in Ephesians 3 verse 20 concerning God's ability, because however great your sin may be, however desperate your case may appear to you or to others within your family circle, there is no cause for you to fear or to doubt as to God's ability to pardon you of your sin, God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all you could ask or think. And there's comfort for the backslider. There may be one listening today who looks over the life of failure and mourns over the wasted years caused by your wanderings from God. However, comfort yourself with the words that God, who can restore the soul, is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. As we think of God's ability, there is a third thing that God is able to do. He is able to make all grace abound toward you. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 8. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 8. There we read, 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 these words sit within the context of the believer giving to God. With regard to offerings, we read in the previous verse, that the Lord loveth a cheerful giver. But it seems that the Apostle Paul, having written that concerning the giving into the work of God, he seems to get a little sidetracked for a brief moment and his thoughts are taken off to what God gives to us. Yes, he's speaking here about what we give to God and how we're to give to God. We're to give cheerfully, hilariously, as the verse reminds us or as the word suggests to us. The Lord loves a hilarious giver, a cheerful giver, but then he thinks about what God gives to us. And what does God give to us? Well, God gives to us his grace. His grace. You see, what Paul was really saying to these saints here in Corinth is, yes, your resources will be taxed. Yes, your finances will be diminished by your generous giving to God, but they will then be replenished by grace, by divine grace. Did you notice the alls in the verse that we read there in 2 Corinthians? In the chapter 9, in the verse number 8, there are three all's. All grace, all sufficiency, all things. There is an inexhaustible reservoir of grace for everything that we will meet in this life. And can I say that there are individuals watching into this service, and you need this grace. This week has been a very difficult week for you and your family circle. and you're needing this grace, but thank God there is an inexhaustible reservoir of grace for everything that you have met this week and everything that you will meet in the weeks that lie ahead. There is promised grace, there is abounding grace, there is sufficient grace for all of life's circumstances and situations. for all of life's changes and for all of life's trials and troubles. There is grace in sunshine as well as in storm, grace in health as well as in sickness, Grace in life as well as in death. Grace for the old believer as well as for the young believer. Grace for the tried believer. Grace for the weak believer. Grace for the tempted believer. Grace! There is the ability of God to make all grace, all grace abound toward you. James Smith said, God can make his grace abound toward you. He can give you a sufficiency of grace to support you under every trial, to strengthen you under every burden, to qualify you for every duty, and to fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, there are three alls in this verse, but there are also two abounds in the verse. Did you notice them as well? All grace abound toward you, that ye may abound to every good work. You see this gives us the reason why God gives us this grace. God doesn't give us this grace that we become lazy. and we become like spiritual egg-lons, fat and unmovable, and we just, as it were, receive everything from God, and really there is no output, it's all input, it's all taken from God. What can God give me? Paul doesn't say that. No, Paul says that grace abounds towards us for this particular reason, so that ye may abound unto every good work. God dispenses his grace to us so that we are enabled to abound to every good work. God's grace, when employed by us, helps us to abound in good works. God abounding to us so that we may abound. God abounding to us so then that we may abound beyond our families, in our communities, in our places of work, in our social circles. God gives grace so that grace may abound to those beyond the four walls of any church building. Let me ask you today, are you abounding in every good work in these days? I remind you that the good work of dying to sin and living on to righteousness is only possible by God's grace. I remind you that the good work of overcoming temptation and living a victorious Christian life is only possible by God's grace. I remind you that pleasing God and obeying His commandments are only possible by God's grace. I remind you that serving God acceptably with reverence and with godly fear is only possible by God's grace. And so, brethren, sisters, for this grace, Let us go to the God of grace, via the throne of grace, to seek him for grace, so that we may abound in every good work. Oh, for grace. For God's grace. There's a final truth, very quickly. Time is well away today. Something else about God's ability? Yes, God is able to save. He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think. He's able to make all grace abound towards us. Brethren and sisters, He is able to keep. He's able to keep. Two verses of Scripture bring that truth to our attention. The first is found in 2 Timothy 1, verse 12. 2 Timothy 1, verse 12, the apostle Paul wrote, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. The second verse is found in that epistle of Jude's, And the verse number 24, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. The verb to keep that Paul uses in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12 means not simply to keep as a possession, but it means to keep secure. In classical Greek literature the word had military connotations to it. It would denote the activity of a watchman whose job it was to protect or to keep those who were asleep from harm during the night. The soldier on watch was accountable to keep that which was entrusted into His care. And what a word picture we have before us of our ever-alert, our ever-watchful, our all-powerful sentinel, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is ever keeping us from danger and loss. He's keeping us. Oh, glory to God! He's keeping me! And He's keeping you! He's keeping you. This very same verb is used by the Lord Jesus Christ in his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17. In John chapter 17 verse 11 and 12, the Savior uttered these words in prayer to his Father. He said these words, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them. There it is. I kept them in thy name. Those that thou hast given me, I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition. that the scripture might be fulfilled. Paul reminds us that all that we commit, all that we deposit, all that we place into God's hands, he is able to keep secure for us until the day of the Lord. And thus, when we commit our souls to him, he's able to keep them When we commit our concerns to God, He's able to keep them. When we commit our lives to God, He is able to keep them. When we commit our eternities to Him, He's able to keep them. Jude, on the other hand, reminds us that God is able to keep us from falling in this world. The falling that Jude speaks of in his epistle is of a complete falling away. It is the very thought of apostatizing, a falling from which there can be no recovery. God keeps us, He preserves us, He guards us from falling completely with all of our weaknesses, with all of the foes that are without us, with all of the foes that are within us, with all of the snares and the pitfalls designed by the wicked one to ensnare and to entrap us. God is able to keep us. He's able to keep us from falling. He's able to keep us He's able to preserve us, and He's able to then present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Child of God, comfort your heart today with the thought that God is keeping you. Remember that God the Father is keeping you. The Lord Jesus said in John 10 verse 28, and I give on to them, or sorry, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 5, the Christian is being kept by the power of God. God, the Father is keeping you. God, the Son is keeping you. John 10, 28, and I give on to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. Yes, the Father's keeping us, the Son is keeping us, the Holy Spirit is keeping us. Isaiah 59, 19, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift a standard against him. That phrase, shall lift a standard against him, can be rendered, shall put him to flight. Put who to flight? Put the devil to flight. Every foe that comes against the child of God, the spirit of God is able to put to flight. And so, You're being kept by the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you want a truth to deal with your fears and worries today, then trace the truth that God is able through the word of God and you'll soon find that those fears and worries will be driven away. Have you suffered loss because of being faithful to the Lord? 2nd Chronicles 25 verse 9, the Lord is able to give you thee much more than this. Do you need deliverance? Daniel 3, 17, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us. Are you in need of grace? 2nd Corinthians 9, 8, God is able to make all grace abound toward you. Are you plagued and troubled and defeated by temptation? Hebrews 2.18, He is able to succor them that are tempted. Are you unsaved? And do you require God's salvation? Hebrews 7, 25, He is able also to save to the uttermost all that come on to God by Him. Do you need the evil one and your evil passions to be conquered in your life? Philippians 3, verse 21, He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. Are you worried that you cannot keep your salvation? 2 Timothy 1 verse 12, He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against a day. Are you afraid? Are you concerned that you'll fall away from grace? Jude verse 21, God is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. God is able. He's able. May we lean hard on that truth in these days, especially when we are faced with the reality that we are unable. Because though we are unable, thank God He is able. May you derive comfort and help from God's precious Word today, for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's unite in a word of prayer together. Loving Father, we come to Thee with hearts lifted toward our God. We thank Thee that our God is able to do many, many great things for us. Lord, we pray, O God, that in these days that we will come to appreciate the ability of our God Grand Dear Father, us to be men and women of faith and not of fear. You recognize that our faith is strengthened when we behold our God. We pray that such will have happened today as a result of this message, that young people and older people will have looked away to the God that they know, the God that they love. and that they would have fixed in their minds those great words, he is able. Lord, come, save our loved ones, because thou art able. Lord, restore backsliders, because thou art able. Lord, stem the tide of sin and wickedness in our nation, because thou art able. We look to thee. Confidence is in the Lord. Our trust is in thee. Bless all of our families. May this day, thy day, may it be employed in holy exercises and not in the things of this world. Help us to remember thy day, to keep it holy, and meet with us again in this place, in the will of God at six o'clock for gospel service and bring many to faith in Christ. Answer prayer. We offer prayer in and through our Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. May the Lord bless you. And again, we encourage you to meet with us at six o'clock for gospel evening service.