CHRIST'S SUFFICIENCY #4 - THE EXTENT OF THE PROMISE IN GENERAL (ODELL)

Text: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19   

The EXTENT of the promise is such that it reaches to “all” the “need” of “all” the “saints.”  The Apostle Paul knew this was so for at least three reasons.   

First: Paul would have known the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Christ very well, long before his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. By his own testimony to the Philippians, he was “a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee,” Phil. 3:6. When he stood before King Agrippa, testifying in his own defense he argued this point, he was “after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee,” Acts 26:5. Even his primary accuser at the time (Festus) said: “with a loud voice, thou art beside thyself; much learning hath made thee mad,” Acts 26:24. He would have known such precious prophecies like Jer. 32:40-42, in part:   “And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, TO DO THEM GOOD; But I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them TO DO THEM GOOD…For thus saith the LORD…I will bring upon them ALL THE GOOD that I have promised them.” Paul would have had general knowledge of the EXTENT of the promise he made to Phil. 4:19, simply by virtue of his previous religious education as a Pharisee.   

Secondly: More importantly, He had already learned BY EXPERIENCE, that “ALL THE GOOD” promised some 650 years earlier in the “Everlasting Covenant,” is bound up in Christ and would of necessity include “all” of his “need” as well as “all” the need of the Philippians in like manner. He had learned the truth of this promise so well, he could say: “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,” Phil. 4:11. His confidence in his Christ was such, that he could further express: “I can do ALL THINGS through Christ which strengtheneth me,” Phil. 4:13. Finally in verse eighteen, he went on to write: “I have ALL, and abound.”   He not only believed intellectually what he had written in Phil. 4:19, but he had been brought by grace to become ONE with the truth having EXPERIENCED it as his truth. Therefore, he understood the unchangeable God who had promised all Covenanted “GOOD” to all His people of all ages, would in fact perform it! 

Thirdly: He understood the ELECTION OF GRACE to include “all the saints in Christ Jesus.” It was about four years earlier while Paul was on his third missionary journey when he was led to address the Romans whom he identified as being “beloved of God, called to be saints,” Rom. 1:7. He made it very clear that those so “beloved of God, called to be saints” was the sum total of “God’s ELECT,” in Rom. 8:32. And who are they?   These were the same ones for whom God was “working all things together for the GOOD,” being those who were also “called according to His purpose,” Rom. 8:28. These were the same ones characterized by Paul as being “foreknown” (fore loved and fore united) and “predestinated to be conformed to the image of His son,” Rom. 8:29. Following in verse thirty he explained: Those “whom He did predestinate, them He also called…justified…and glorified.” All of these are “spiritual blessings” bestowed upon the saints before creation itself. See Ephesians 1:3. 

His conclusion to this unalterable chain of events was clearly stated in verse thirty-two: “He that spared not His own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall He not with him ALSO freely give us ALL THINGS?”   I am convinced the Apostle Paul knew by experience, that the “US ALL” for whom Christ had been “delivered up” were “GOD’S ELECT,” the same ones identified in Phil. 1:1 as, “ALL THE SAINTS IN CHRIST JESUS.” It mattered not where they were, being objects of UNION, and not location. Hence, he concluded his God, who was also their God, would “supply all (their) need.” Because, his God had “delivered up” His Son for “US ALL” and would “FREELY give us (and them) ALL THIINGS,” Romans 8:32.   THE DOCTRINE STATED: The EXTENT of the promise is: It includes ALL THE NEEDS OF ALL SAINTS IN ALL PLACES AT ALL TIMES. “All things” needed pertaining to their salvation have been “freely given” to every one of “God’s elect” children bringing them into the EXPERIENCE of all Covenanted “Good.” No wonder Peter boldly spoke of that “Divine power” that had “given unto us ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness,” II Peter 2:3.   

This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Pure, Free, and Sovereign. It is the unconditional promise of the Father found in the Covenant of Grace towards His elect. He would be their God and they would be His people, and ALL THAT HE WOULD REQUIRE OF THEM HE WOULD PROVIDE FOR THEM IN AND “BY CHRIST JESUS,” that no flesh should glory in His sight.   Lord willing, next week we will examine THE EXTENT OF THE PROMISE IN PARTICULAR. This has respect to the nature of the saints NEED in their natural condition, prior to their quickening at regeneration.   

Dan O’Dell, a debtor to mercy.