Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/church4u/sermons/86377/our-sufficiency/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] 2 Corinthians 3, verse 5. [0:17] The context is it. Trust towards God through Christ. Verse 5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. [0:30] Our sufficiency is not of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. You know, there's a lot of talk about being self-sufficient, isn't there? We want to be God-sufficient people. [0:42] God-sufficient people. Our sufficiency is not of ours. Our confidence, our ability is not of us, but it is of God. It's like the psalmist said in Psalm 115, verse 1. [0:53] Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name. Give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. It's not unto us, but it's unto him. We want to give all the glory today. [1:05] It's unto his wonderful grace that we come, that we can come. And when we think about communion time, when we think of the atonement, when we think about the cross, when we come to the cross, we see his person. [1:19] We see the person of Christ. And that's who we want to magnify and lift up this morning. We want to magnify the Lord Jesus. If you turn to 1 Corinthians 1, we see what we must rely upon. [1:32] Our sufficiency is of God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. And when we come to the cross, we see that Christ is all and in all. [1:45] He is the sufficient one for us. We read in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27 onward, it talks about God has not chosen the wise, the rich, and so on. [1:56] But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. He hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. [2:07] Verse 28, And the base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, the only things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. [2:20] But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. [2:35] It's his person that we think of at the time of communion. As we think about the cross, we think of his person. We think of who he is. We think of his wonderful grace to us, and of how it works in our lives too. [2:49] In every Christian work that we do, it must be Christ who is the centre, and is the motivator of everything that we do. And he is more than enough. He is our sufficiency. [3:01] It's in his person. And it's in his power. When we come to the cross, we see it's the power of God that is at work. In the cross, we see it's the power of his saving work. [3:12] When we see of missionaries, souls are lost. We see of their own community. We want to reach them. But it's not through our own self. It's not through our own intelligence. [3:24] It's his power that must ultimately be that which harnesses us, and drives us, as we depend upon his power. And it's upon the power of the cross, it's upon the power of the blood, that we rely, as we come in faith to him. [3:38] It's his power that works in us. As we read in Ephesians 3, verse 20, it says, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding above, exceeding abundantly above, all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. [3:57] Isn't it wonderful to think that the very power, the creative power of God, that made the universe, that power comes and resides in your soul. It resides in that temple, which is your body, that vessel. [4:10] And he is able to do exceeding abundantly above. It's his power, brothers and sisters. It's his power. We can't claim any credit for it. [4:20] It's his power that saves. Wherefore he is able to save them to the utmost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. [4:32] He is able to save. He is able to keep. 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. [4:44] It's not by half measures, is it? He's able to keep you from falling. And not just that, but he's able to present you faultless. Think of that. Not only does he keep us, but he is able to present us without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. [5:00] And in his glory, with exceeding joy, God doesn't go by half measures. He's able to keep you from falling. He's able to save them to the uttermost, the uttermost that come unto God by him. [5:14] He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. His power is able to keep you, to sustain you through storms, through fire, as the Hebrew children found. [5:29] And they declared to the king, our God is able to deliver us. But if not, they still said, even if it's not his will to deliver us at this time, even if he chooses best to let calamity destroy us, he is able to deliver us. [5:47] It was faith that held their hand. It was Christ, the fourth man, who was there. His sufficiency was there to hold them. Their confidence was in Christ, to keep them to answer prayer. [6:00] And even of prayer, it's not that we can testify, it's my praying that does anything. It's his power that is harnessed by prayer. It's his power that works. [6:13] Not that we have confidence in our praying, but we have confidence in the one that we pray to. We have confidence in his sufficiency. Because our sufficiency is not of ourselves, it is of God. [6:24] And when we come to the cross, we think of the person of Christ, we think of the power of our God, we think of his provision. It says in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 8, And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, in that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. [6:45] God is able to make all grace abound towards you. He's able to provide. And what's the ultimate provision? Salvation. Salvation is the ultimate provision. [6:56] It's something we can't provide for ourselves, but our God is able. Our sufficiency is of God. And it was a finished work that day, on that hill of Calvary. [7:07] We're not reenacting it. We're not making this some spooky, supernatural, magical thing. This is remembering that day. [7:17] And this is God's people together, reflecting and rejoicing in that hope, that gospel hope, that God is sufficient. God is sufficient. And if you're feeling lacking, if you're feeling inadequate, that's a good place to be. [7:31] It's a good place to be, to know our lack, to know our need, to know our unworthiness, to know that it's God's ability that we must stand in and to abound in every good work. [7:44] Our sufficiency is of God. I'd like to ask the ushers to come, and that's Greg, Phil, Jim and Paul. Let's just prayerfully, well, prayerfully distribute the cup and the bread and hold together and everyone's invited that has trusted Christ. [8:05] If he's your sufficiency this morning, then please be a part of this time. It's his power, it's his ability that we're trusting him. [8:26] Jesus Christ is made to me all I need. That's what we've been singing this morning. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. [8:46] He is more than enough this morning. Whatever your need, whatever your situation, he is more than enough. His person, his power, his provision. [8:59] Thank God God has chosen the foolish things of the world. [9:17] Chosen us in all of our inadequacy, inadequacy, he's chosen us. Blood of the Lamb, of God. [9:35] Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. We can cry out to the Lamb this morning. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. [9:47] Worthy is the Lamb. He is sufficient. He is our all in all. Amen. The last brother prepped to pray as we think about the body that was bruised for us, what it means to us. [10:18] Thank you, Father, for sending your Son, Jesus. left glory to become lower than anybody else. [10:31] Humbled himself and became that sacrifice for our sins. We do thank you for this time that we can break this bread as a word. [10:44] Your remembrance of his body broken for us. We thank you in his mighty name. Amen. Bang. Let's see it again. This brother Phil said praise me. [11:06] Think about the blood of Christ. Precious blood. Lord Father, I just thank you that you have done everything through your Son for our salvation. [11:18] He has poured out his blood to cleanse us from our sins, to give us righteousness only through his grace, your grace, and our faith. [11:28] Lord, this is such a marvelous thing that our minds cannot comprehend the suffering and the the spiritual, the infinite spiritual suffering that the Lord Jesus experienced for us. [11:41] Help us to be so grateful and to love you more. Help us to love you more in response to this. Jesus, man. Amen. That is a trend.ยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยย