Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth." Image (left side): Decorative urn with title for the book of Acts in Codex Alexandrinus.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
2024 Keach Conference Audio & Images (September 28, 2024)
The Vision (9.27.24): Is any thing too hard for the LORD?
Is any thing too hard for the LORD? (Genesis 18:14a).
In Genesis 18 the LORD repeats the promise to Sarah that she
will have a son. Sarah laughed “within herself” as she contemplated the
ridiculousness of their circumstances (v. 12). How could she have a child
having already “waxed old” (v. 12)?
Laughter had also been the response of Abraham at this same
prophecy (cf. 17:15-17). Both are guilty of not believing the promises of God
given directly to them.
The LORD then asks a single question that gets to the heart
of her unbelief: “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” We might call this a one
sentence sermon preached by the LORD himself (and those are the best kind of
sermons). And it is just one question. As when:
The LORD said to Adam in the garden after the fall, “Where
art thou?” (Genesis 3:9).
Or when Christ said to the disciples, “But whom say ye that I
am?” (Matthew 16:15).
Think of the question here: Is anything too hard for the
LORD? This is the same God who made the whole world in the space of six days
and all very good. As Christ said, “The things which are impossible with men
are possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
Nothing indeed is too hard for the LORD. He is all-powerful
and all-mighty.
He WILL fulfill his promise to Abraham and Sarah.
He WILL save and sanctify dead sinners and make them come
alive in Christ.
He WILL work all things to good to those that love him, the
called according to His purpose.
He WILL come again in power and glory and make all things
right and new.
He WILL be the one before whom every knee will bow, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD.
One might doubt, deny, or laugh at these things, but their
fulfillment does not depend on the “faith” of any man, but in the faithfulness
of an all-holy, all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful God to do them.
To Him alone be praise, through Christ and by the Spirit,
forever and ever. Amen.