Nothing is Too Difficult for God
Various Scriptures
Introduction
My message will be rather brief this morning (no cheering, please!), because given the fact that we will be eating shortly, then have our meeting, I don’t want to keep us any later than necessary.
This is not news to you, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Nothing is too difficult for God.
Nothing, nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing is too difficult for God.
And this morning I want to focus on 3 things in particular that are not too difficult for God.
My purpose this morning is to give us a fresh glimpse of the adequacy of God as we enter a new church year, with new vision and new vigor.
The first area I want to explore is…
I. Physical (Sarah – Genesis 18:14)
Please turn with me to Genesis 18, starting in verse 9, which can be found on page 11 of the Bibles in the seats.
"Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him.
"There, in the tent," he said.
Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, `Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."
God is bigger than our physical limitations. In the case of our Biblical example, He was able bring about something that was not only unusual, it was downright miraculous.
In order for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham to give him descendants like the stars in the sky, He would have to do something a little out of the ordinary.
In this case, He would have to cause a 90 year old woman to be able to, first of all, become pregnant by a 100 year old man, and then second, carry a baby to full term, without deadly complications.
Oh, and then she lived 37 years after Isaac was born.
Whew! That’s a big order. But not for God.
God is bigger than our physical limitations, and He is able to work in our bodies in such a way as to go beyond what we are normally capable of.
God is able to heal.
Sometimes He chooses to do that supernaturally. Sometimes He chooses to do that through medical technology.
And sometimes He chooses to not heal at all. I don’t know why, except that He is glorified by the choices He makes, whether we understand them or not.
Have you ever come to the point when you have done all you can do in a given situation?
Maybe you were not able to physically finish a task. Maybe you were all out of ideas for a project. Maybe your financial resources were exhausted before you could get the thing you needed or wanted.
It was impossible to continue. For us, yes, but for God, never. Nothing is too difficult for God.
His resources are limitless.
And when we talk about the physical, we need to think of not only our bodies, but also about the whole physical and material world around us. Listen as I read from Acts 12.
But first, let me give you the setting: Peter had been arrested by King Herod, after previously putting to death James, the brother of John, because he saw that it pleased the Jews to persecute the Christians.
Peter was put in prison, guarded by 16 soldiers before the planned trial. We pick it up in verse 5:
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."
God took Peter from the prison, loosening his bonds, and waltzing him out around the guards, opening all the gates for him, and generally defying all physical logic
God sees our physical limitations, whether they are bodily or otherwise, and He acts as He sees fit.
He is not worried about our limitations, precisely because they are our limitations, not His.
Next we see that nothing is too difficult for God on a national level.
II. National (Jeremiah – Jer. 32:17,27)
Please turn with me to Jeremiah 32:17, which is on page 861 of the Bibles in the seats.
"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Then turn to verse 27:
"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
I tend to keep an eye on world events. I enjoy watching what transpires, and also how other people react to those events.
But while I keep tabs on those things, I don’t fret about them. Why? Because I know who is really in control.
I don’t worry too much about world events. I pray about them. I want peace as much as anybody. We are supposed to pray for peace. But we are not to fret.
God is in control of world events. He is not surprised by who is running whatever country. He was not pacing the halls of heaven during our presidential election recounts, wondering who would win and how He would handle it.
He already knew.
During my quiet time the other morning, I came across this passage in Psalm 105, starting in verse 12:
When they were but few in number,
few indeed, and strangers in it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
14 He allowed no one to oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:
15 "Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm."
The phrase that caught my eye there was, “for their sake He rebuked kings.”
Catch this from Isaiah 40:15
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales
Then verse 23-24:
He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
God isn’t bullied by world leaders. He rules the world.
Nothing is too difficult for God on a national level. And lastly, nothing is too difficult for God on a spiritual level.
III. Spiritual (Jesus – Luke 18:26-27)
We could look at a number of things in the spiritual realm, but I want to focus mainly on the issue of salvation.
Please turn with me, finally, to Luke 18:26-27, which is on page 742 of the Bibles in the seats.
Let me set this up real quick. One of the beliefs of the Jews of the time was that riches were a sign of God’s blessing, and His acceptance of that person as righteous.
In this passage, Jesus has just told the rich young ruler that His riches, rather than being a sign of God’s spiritual blessing, were actually standing in the way of his coming to God.
He then says that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Hearing this, and believing that riches were the sign of heaven, so to speak, we pick it up in verse 26:
Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
Two things here:
First, salvation is impossible with men. We can’t get it ourselves, from our own efforts.
Secondly, with God, salvation is possible. He adequately purchased salvation for us with the blood of His Son, Jesus.
He provides salvation and everything that comes with it. Ephesians tells us that as Christians, we have every spiritual blessing in Christ.
He also tells us in Romans that nothing can separate us from His love. In other words, keeping us safe in His love is not too difficult for God.
And that is something to get excited about. Because you see, He doesn’t just love us when we are obedient, He loves us when we don’t even love Him.
Remember, that until you took Christ as your savior, you were an enemy of God. Yet, modeling the words of Christ to love our enemies, God chose to love us.
Romans 5:8 says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God is able to draw us back to Him, sometimes through a gentle wooing, sometimes through tough discipline, but He is able. It is not too difficult for God.
And that gives me hope for loved ones in my family who have chosen to walk away from God.
Physically nothing is too difficult for God.
Nationally nothing is too difficult for God.
And spiritually, nothing is too difficult for God.
Conclusion
We are just beginning a new church year. We have just finished a year that has had its ups and downs, its wins and losses.
But I’m here to tell you that the God I have described from Scripture is the same God we worship and serve today.
At one time, Aberdeen Wesleyan Church was the second largest Wesleyan church in the Dakota District.
And because of various things, we are not there anymore.
And some would look at us, look at the directions we hope to head, and just shake their heads.
“It’s too difficult to do what they want with the group they got.”
And I say, “You’re right, but we move not in our own power, but in the power of God. And nothing is too difficult for God.”
“You want to impact an area of over 25,000 people with your Jesus? Too difficult.”
“You’re right. On our own, it is not possible. But we lean on God. And nothing is too difficult for God.”
Folks, I’ll just flat-out guarantee that as we move forward to bring Christ to the lost in our area, we will face obstacles.
Satan doesn’t like it when the church of Christ mobilizes, and he will do whatever he can to make it difficult for us.
But while it may be difficult for us, it is not difficult for God, and we trust in Him to move in ways we cannot, and He will be glorified.
We are inadequate for the task, but He is more than adequate, and we rest in His ability to make an impact.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And nothing is too difficult for Him.
As I finish, I want to revisit the fact that salvation is not too difficult for God. You might be here thinking that you are too far gone for God.
Maybe you’ve committed a sin you think is to great, or you have not loved God the way you should.
But guess what! There is no place too far from God, no sin His blood does not cover.
It is not too difficult for Him to forgive and cleanse, it is not too difficult for Him to give you a home in heaven.
In fact, He’s already paid the price for your sins. All you need to do is accept it for yourself.
I would urge you to do that today. Walk out of here knowing you are forgiven and have a place in heaven.
Call on Him to give you eternal life. He’s ready to do it. And it is not too difficult for Him.
Shall we pray.
