How
Can God Not
Freely Give Us All Things?
Since God is for us, who then can possibly stand against us?
The Psalmist wrote, “In God I will trust; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?” (Psalms 56:11)
The prophet Elisha demonstrated to his companion that God is for us
and can be depended upon to take care of His people. The enemy sent an army with horses,
and chariots circling the city. The servant was filled with panic. “What shall we
do?” Elisha counseled, “Do not
fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha
prayed, “‘O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ And the LORD
opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses
and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17-18). God blinded the enemy and
provided deliverance (v. 19).
The question that haunts many people I meet is not the fact that God
is able, but is God really for us? Does He
really care? Would He do the same thing for us? How can we know that the great sovereign
God of the universe is actually on our side today?
God has already answered that question once and for all. We never have to ever question God’s love for
us again. “He who did not spare His own
son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all
things?” (Romans 8:32) Since God loves
us, He is also for us.
The apostle Paul takes us back to John 3:16. “For God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NASB 1995).
God has demonstrated
His vast love for us even while we were His enemies by sending Christ to die for us
(Romans 5:8). That is love. That is God’s love for the sinner. And since I am a sinner, this qualifies me.
“God delivered Him up for us all.” Christ died as my substitute on the cross. He died for my sins. That is how much God loves you and me. Only in the death of Jesus Christ can we know
beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves us and wants His best for each of us.
Because this is absolutely true without doubt, then “how will He
not also freely give us all things?”
God loved us enough to give His very best. God loves us with an
infinite love. There is nothing in the
universe more precious to God than His own Son.
Romans 8:32 tells us God spared not His own Son in order that He
might save us. It is at the cross of Jesus that we see demonstrated the
love of God. He loved us to the extent that He made Christ the Divine
Substitute and laid on Him all our sins. God did not spare anything. He
poured out on His own Son His wrath against our sin.
God’s love for us is beyond measure. Jesus loved us so much that He was made sin for us
and actually bore the wrath of God against sin as our substitute (2 Cor. 5:21). He died in
our place (Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:6, 8). God delivered Him up to death on the cross that we
might be spared. Jesus bore the wrath of God
that we might never have to bear it. God
delivered Jesus up for us. God loves us so
much that He spared not His own Son (Isa. 55:4; Acts 2:23; John 1:29).
The apostle argued that if God loves us this much, then He will most
certainly not withhold anything we need to fulfill His eternal purpose of redemption.
He used a verb describing the offering of Isaac in Genesis 22:16.
“You have not withheld your son, your only son.”
When asked where was the burnt offering for the sacrifice, Abraham answered,
“Isaac, the Lord will provide . . . In the mount of the LORD it will be
provided” (v.14). And God did provide
the ultimate sacrifice at mount Calvary.
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us
all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
What are “all things”?
“We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (v. 28). He is making
us like Jesus Christ.
God causes “all things” – your desperate
circumstances, your crushing trials, your unbearable persecutions, and your extreme
hardships in life – to make you conform to the character of Jesus Christ. And He will continue to use these things in your
life to accomplish that good.
Out of God’s great love, He will “freely give us all
things.” Jesus Christ was the greatest
Thing God had to give. Since God did that, is
there anything He can possibly withhold? (Phil.
4:19)
The cross proves the generous grace of God. Since God gave the greatest
of possible gifts in the giving of His Son, we can depend upon Him to give us all the
lesser gifts.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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