Is God Able To Deal With Your Case?

Introduction

One day a letter came to me from a prisoner on death row. His background was as black as coal mine. He wasn't a retail criminal. He was a wholesale criminal. He had spent more time in prison than he had spent out of prison. Name the sins, any sins, and he had committed them: adultery, child molestation, drug addiction, burglary, robbery and murder. He asked almost hopelessly, after shamefully listing his sins, "Is God able to deal with my case?" "Yes," I answered, "He is able!"

For 2,000 years the Lord Jesus has demonstrated His almighty ability. He has never lost a case, never failed a client, and never disappointed a petitioner.

In every instance He has given confidence in calamity, kindness for cruelty, grace for grief, gladness for gloom, patience for provocation, peacefulness for perplexity, plenty for poverty, solace for sorrow, salvation for sin and triumph for trials.

Nothing is too hard for Him. No prayer is too hard for Him to answer. No passion is too strong for Him to subdue. No temptation is to powerful for Him to triumph over. No tangle is too knotty for Him to undo. No misery is too deep for Him to relieve. No disease to awful for Him to heal. And no need is too great for Him to supply. With God all things are possible; He is able to deal with your case!

I. God Is Able To Deal With Your Sin

This has been His mission, for 1 John 4:14 says, "The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." An angel said in Matthew 1:21, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins." And Jesus Himself said in Mark 2:17, "I came to call sinners to repentance."

From every continent and every country, men and women, boys and girls have found Him able to deal with their sin. From the ruler's throne to the runaway's hovel, from the queen's boudoir to the harlot's den, from Wall Street to the ghetto, everyone from everywhere has found Him able to save them from their sins.

Dr. Louis Albert Banks wrote, "John Bunyan was a drunken Bedford tinker until his wife led him to Christ. David Livingstone was a weaver; but one morning he was the only boy in the old Scotch church, and the discouraged preacher gave all his attention to him, and winning him to God opened Africa to Christianity. Henry M. Stanley was a reporter and went to Africa with a reputation for untruthfulness and infidelity, but Livingstone won him to Christ, and that quickened him into a great man whose name will be immortal. George Whitfield was born in a liquor saloon and was himself a bartender until he ran across a little book entitled, 'Law's Serious Call to the Unconverted.' Finding Christ, he no longer wanted to be a bartender. He wrote to Charles Wesley and God led him on to his great ministry. And this is going on everywhere.

One night a famous evangelist, whose name was Brownlow North, came to preach in a very large church. Just before he entered the pulpit a not was handed to him from an old friend of his unsaved days. The man challenged North to enter the pulpit. He wrote, "I know your past history. I followed you to Paris years ago and I know your career of sin and vice. I have a record of your life in Liverpool, and I know how you carried on in Manchester. I dare you to stand in a Christian pulpit and preach!"

Brownlow North went to the pulpit and read the letter to the audience. He left nothing out. He read a long list of sins, and said to the congregation, "My friends, it's all true, and a good deal more is true than even my old companion has written. But I want to tell you that there came a day when I heard the Savior's voice, saying, 'Brownlow North, go in peace. Thy sins are forgiven thee.' And if there was mercy for me, there's mercy for all of you."

Men and women started to cry all over the congregation, convicted of their sins by the Spirit of God, and hundreds came to Christ that night. Yes, God was able to deal with their sins and He's able to deal with yours. Thank God there is forgiveness for every sinner and victory over every sin! It's written in Hebrews 7:25, "He is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him."

II. God Is Able To Deal With Your Seductions

A young fellow was walking down a country road and he came onto a big watermelon patch, and he stopped to look at them. Suddenly the owner appeared and asked, "Are you trying to steal my watermelons?" "No, sir," answered the young man, "I'm trying not to. But my not to isn't too strong." That's true of many of us.

The Savior was tempted, and every saint and sinner will be tempted. Temptation isn't a sin. It's a solicitation to sin, a suggestion to sin. Submitting to seduction, the solicitation, the suggestion is the sin. You can sin without being tempted, and you can be tempted and not sin!

Temptation is the proving ground where the Savior strengthens His saints. He doesn't present the temptation, but He permits it. Why? That you may become a holier and happier Christian.

The devil wants to bring out the worst in you. The Lord wants to bring out the best. Through temptation, the devil wants to drag you closer to hell. Yet by allowing the temptation, the Lord wants to draw you closer to heaven. The devil is out to blast you. The Lord is out to bless you.

"But," you may ask, "why in the world did the Lord God created the devil?" He didn't. God is the Creator of all, even Lucifer, the highest of angels. God didn't create the devil; Lucifer made himself the devil. By his own free will he turned himself into the devil.

The Bible offers no evidence that the devil was ever good or gentle, compassionate or kind, pitiful or patient. From the very moment he fell, he worked with his demons to destroy the Savior, the saved and the sinner.

The devil can go anywhere. He has access to heaven and to the hearts of men and women. While he can go anywhere, he can't be everywhere at the same time. If he's tempting me, he can't be tempting you. But he's assisted by his evil spirits.

It's good to remember that the devil is poor. The Bible tells us that "the cattle upon a thousand hills belong to God." But in no single place does the Bible tell us of the riches of the devil. When he tempted the Lord Jesus, he came only with stones, not any steaming and savory food. You see, he has nothing to give. He promises you a thrill, but he makes you ill. He promises you robes, but he clothes you with rags. He's like a man on death row. He has been condemned and he's awaiting his day of eternal execution.

Another thing to remember is that the devil is powerless. Calvary is his Waterloo. It's our responsibility to constantly claim victory on the ground of the cross. By faith, appropriate all that the Lord Jesus secured for you when He destroyed the works of the devil. Always remember that the devil can't go any further than the Lord allows him in tempting you. When the Lord says, "No further!" he must stop attacking you.

The devil will tempt you, but only with the Lord's permission, and then only for your good. He can entice you to sin, but he can't enforce you to sin. He can suggest, but he can't subdue you. There's a comedian who made the remark, "The devil made me do it." He can't make you do anything against your will. Without the Lord, the unsaved person is helpless and hopeless. But it's different with the Christian; fortified by the Scriptures and filled with the Spirit, we're sufficiently strong enough to defeat him.

It's written in James 4:7, "Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." You can't successfully resist him until first you submit yourself to God. So submit to God and resist the devil, and he'll flee from you.

"But," you may say, "I didn't submit to God, and I didn't resist the devil, and I sinned. Is God able to deal with my case? Or has God left me>" God is able to deal with your case, and He hasn't left you, a believer in the Lord Jesus.

In the Bible we're told about two men who "went out from the presence of the Lord." One was Cain, and the other was Jonah. When Cain "went out from the presence of the Lord," the Lord left him alone. But when Jonah "went out from the presence of the Lord," the Lord did not leave him alone. Why? Cain was Not a child of God. Jonah was a child of God. Because he was a child of God, he was subject to discipline, "for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth"-Hebrews 12:6. That's why Jonah experienced a storm, being swallowed by a great fish, confessing and forsaking his sin, God forgave him. Then he got happy and shouted! That was too much for the fish. He threw him on dry ground-just where God wanted him. As God was able to restore Jonah, so He's able to restore you!

III. God Is Able To Deal With Your Service

There was a young man who wondered if the Lord Jesus could and would use him. This bothered him greatly. One day, to help him make the decision, he hung on his wall the words, "Let Go and Let God Have His Way." It challenged him day and night, but he felt he should do more, but wasn't able. One day a storm arouse and the wind blew fiercely into an open window. When he arrived at home, he looked to the wall for his motto and found that a portion of it had been blown away. All that was left were two words: "Let Go..." That settled his problem. He let go and gave himself happily and wholeheartedly to the Lord. Won't you?

This yielding starts with a decisive act. It's a once and for all surrender. But it continues with a day-by- day attitude. Think of Elijah's sacrifice on Carmel. He first "cut the bullock in pieces." This is what you must do.

Your lips are to be His that He might speak through you. Your feet are to be His that He might walk through you and "go about doing good." Your knees are to be His, that He might bend them in prayer and pray through you. Your hands are to be His that He might help the helpless, lift the loads of others, and solve their problems. Your shoulders are to be His, that He might bear one another's burden through you, and that you might have a heart like His.

Not only your body should be given to Him, but also your belongings. The disciples gave Him their boat and he preached a masterful sermon from it. A man gave Him his donkey, and it carried Him to Jerusalem. No, the donkey, and it carried Him to Jerusalem. No, the donkey didn't get any glory, but it did a most glorious thing. And a lad gave the Lord his lunch. The lad could have eaten all of it, but then no miracle would have been performed and thousands would have gone hungry. But he gave his lunch, all his lunch to the Lord. And with it He fed about 5,000 men, besides women and children. And the lad got all that he wanted. He didn't lose by it. And you won't lose by giving your boat, your donkey or your lunch to the Lord.

You may think what you have is ordinary, but He'll make it extraordinary. You may think what you have is insignificant, but your personality and possessions will be enlarged when you let go and let God have His way with you.

One night a great crowd of music lovers paid a big price to hear Paganini play his violin. The Londoners packed the huge auditorium, and the violinist appeared on the stage and started to tune a string, and it broke. He went to the second peg, tightened it to tune the string and it snapped. He hurried to the third string and the string popped. The audience booed, but undisturbed, the celebrated violinist put the violin to his chin, picked up the bow and said softly, "Paganini and one string!" From that one string he brought forth such heavenly music that the people wept as they stood to their feet and cheered him.

Just one string, but in the hands of the master what beautiful music came from it. Whoever you are, whatever your character and condition, put yourself into the hands of the Master, the Lord Jesus, and He'll bring forth music that will make heaven and earth rejoice!

IV. God Is Able To Deal With Your Suffering

We have in the Lord Jesus the one and only one who is able to give you triumph for your trials, peace for your perplexities, solace for your sickness, gladness for your gloom, calm for your calamities, blessings for your bereavement, and salvation for your sins.

A French nobleman became deeply troubled. His melancholy deepened until he was threatened with insanity. Urged by a famous man, he called on a celebrated physician in London, Dr. Forbes Winslow. He hurried to his office, and the compassionate doctor listened attentively to his case. After carefully questioning him, he discovered his problem. He was tormented with one thought: Eternity! He wondered, "Where shall I spend eternity?" This haunted the Frenchman day and night. Dr.

Winslow admitted he couldn't help him, that he had come to the wrong physician for his cure. "Is there no hope?" asked the nobleman in deep despair. "Yes," said the doctor. "Listen to me, and I will tell you how I was helped and healed. When I was younger, I had your complaint. I tried everything and everyone, but the right one. At last I carried my case to the great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He gave me health and peace. Go thou and do likewise."

The nobleman was astonished. But he stayed while the doctor read to him from the word of the Lord the Bible verses that had helped him. The Frenchman dropped to his knees, called upon the great Physician, and He made him wonderfully whole. If only you will come to Him now, He will make you whole. He is able to deal with your suffering.

He is heaven's food for earth's hunger, heaven's water for earth's thirst, heaven's strength for earth's weariness, heaven's wisdom for earth's problems, heaven's supply for earth's scarcities, and heaven's comfort for earth's troubles.

The Lord Jesus said in John 14:1, "Let no your heart be troubled." He could speak from experience. He knew what poverty was. He was born in another's manger, cruised the lake in another's boat, road to town on another's donkey, spent the night in another's home, and was laid to rest in another's tomb. He knew what sorrow was. He stood by the grave of a loved one and wept. He knew what hard work was. He spent the first 30 years of His life in a carpenter's shop. He had to ask a woman for a drink and when he had no money to pay His taxes He sent Peter fishing and he found he money in the mouth of a fish. He experienced desertion. His family and friends forsook Him and so did His heavenly Father. He knew what suffering was. He was slandered, beaten, and crucified. "He was tempted in all points like as we are,"-Hebrews 4:15. And He says to you in your suffering, "I know what you're going through. I am sorry. I will help you. I won't forsake you. Just 'let not your heart be troubled.'"

He knew what temptation was. He was tempted of the devil as no other human being was. But, blessed be His name, He broke the power of sin and He promises, "Sin shall not have dominion over you"-Romans 6:14. Every moment His ears are open to you. His eyes are upon you. His arms are outstretched to you. His angels are around you. And for your weariest day, He'll be your stay. For your darkest night, He'll be your light. For your weakest hour, He'll be your power. For each moment's call, He'll be your all.

Hear Him as He continues with His precious promises in John 14:1-2, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Did you get that last verse? "I go to prepare a place for You." The Lord Jesus died for all mankind, and Jesus died for you-just as though you were the only person in all the world. The moment you believe in Him and receive Him as your personal Savior, He will write your name in His Book of Life, and make your reservation for your home in heaven...where there is no sin, no seductions, and no suffering.

Conclusion

Some time ago a German sculptor exhibited one of his masterpieces. It was entitled "The Last Refuge." As you gaze intently upon it you see a woman sinking down before a cross, upon which is the Lord Jesus. The face of the woman reveals sorrow and suffering, weariness and wickedness. She had been looking everywhere for pardon and peace, refuge and rest, but all in vain. At last, wasted and worn-out, she comes to the Lord Jesus who is a refuge of all discouraged and distressed souls. Believing on him with all her heart, she falls at His feet in repentance and receives Him as her Savior. Even as she falls at his feet, there seems to come upon her a sweet sense of release and rest, of security and satisfaction, as the light of heaven shines beautifully upon her.

My friend, I beg you with all my heart to come to the Lord Jesus now, right now. He is able to deal with your case. Sink down before Him, accepting Him as your Savior, and you'll experience His deliverance and His protection.