of Acts chapter 7. But I have
to say this, when we read in the book of Acts about God making
a promise, he promised Abraham. When we read in the book of Acts
those words that God promised, It is incumbent upon us to know
who this God is, because the God of the Bible, the God that
we need to know, is not an invalid God. He is not trying to do anything. He performs that which he said
he will do. And no one can hold him back.
He's going to do it. He's going to do it his way.
And you know, we witness that every day. How much power do
you have over the weather? Such a simple thing. And yet
we have no power whatsoever on controlling whether it's hot
or cold. It is in God's sovereign power
to do what he wants to do with the weather. All right, over
here in the book of the Psalm, Psalm 33, we want to make an
introduction. We do this, you've done this,
you've read in the Bible about the greatness of Almighty God,
but we want to just have a short review before we go to the book
of Acts chapter seven. And look at that word promise
or promised. It is important that we know
the promiser. Before we get too attached to
the promise. Alright, Psalm 33 verse 8. Let all the earth fear the Lord.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake and it was done.
Can you imagine that? He spake and it was done. Don't
you wish you had that power with your children? I did and I'm
sure my parents did and I'm sure my grandparents did with my parents.
Here we have this God, the God of the Bible. He spake and it
was. Now the word done has been added
there. It just covers everything. He commanded and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to naught. He maketh the devices of the
people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever. The thoughts of his heart to
all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God
is the Lord and whose people whom he hath chosen for his own
inheritance. Now that nation is the church.
It's the only nation on the face of the earth that have ever had
God as their God. All right, join me if you would
in the book of Isaiah. In the book of Isaiah chapter
14, Isaiah chapter 14, as we consider the promiser. Can he
keep his promise? Did he keep his promise? Is he
keeping his promise? That's the question that we want
to bring up as we get to the book of Acts chapter seven. In
the book of Isaiah chapter 14, verse 24, Isaiah chapter 14,
verse 24, he says, the Lord of hosts has sworn saying. Now that's an interesting name,
Lord of hosts, Lord of all armies, the armies of heaven, the inhabitants
of the earth, none can stay his hand or say, what doest thou?
The book of Daniel chapter four, we have one of the best definitions
of the Lord of hosts when Nebuchadnezzar came out from under that trance
he was in for his own foolish pride and he was able to see
God. And he looked on this and he
shared those words, the Holy Spirit purpose to have them placed
in our Bible so that we can refresh and remember the greatness of
Almighty God. He doeth his will in the armies
of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his head. That's the Lord of hosts. All
right, it says, the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely as
I have thought, so shall it come to pass. What a thrilling verse
of scripture, that as God even thought, is going to come to
pass. And as I have purpose, so shall
it stand, that I will break the Assyrians in my land and upon
my mountains tread him underfoot. Then shall his yoke depart from
off them and his burden depart from off their shoulders. So
we have the Lord talking about every enemy of the church. I
will deal with them. I have all power and all authority
and I will deal with them. Surely as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass. In the book of Ephesians chapter
one, in the book of Ephesians chapter one, would you join me
there as we think about the promisor before we get over to the book
of Acts chapter seven and read that word about the promise.
In Ephesians chapter one, verse 19, the word of the Lord shares
this with us. And what, Ephesians chapter one,
verse 19, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power? What
is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe? Isn't that thrilling? That the
power of God is toward those that He saves by His grace. It
took that power of God that spoke the worlds into existence to
raise us from the spiritual dead. Nothing, nobody, no chant, no
prayer, nothing could do what God did when he raises his people
from the spiritual dead. It goes on to say, according
to the working of his mighty power, let's talk about his power
and let's be redundant. You know, when it comes to God,
we don't mind the office of redundancy. We like to hear it over and over
and over about the power of God. Goes on to say, which he wrought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him in
his own right hand in heavenly places. far above all principality
and power and might and dominion. Everything else that might say
that they have power, he is above all of that and his power is
made known. Every name that is named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come. If
you create a God, he's greater than that. If you think about
a God, he's greater than that God. And that's what he says
about every God that human creatures have ever created in the world. I am greater than all. You know,
it's a blessing. When the Apostle Paul was on
Mars Hill, or on the Acropolis, and he looked around and saw
all those altars to different deities. And you know, the Lord
led him to a very special one. I don't know how many were there
at the time, but it would take some time if you were just wandering
around to find it. But the Lord directly led him
to an altar to the unknown God. And he said, let me talk to you
about him. He was unknown to them, but he was known to God
and he was known to the apostle Paul. Verse 22, and hath put
all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all
things to the church, which is his body, the fullest of him
that filleth all in all. Who is this God of the Bible? The God of all power, the God
of infinite power, the God of infinite wisdom cannot be measured. And then another time, if you'd
look here in the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter Philippians
chapter two and verse nine. In Philippians chapter two and
verse nine, we read this. The book of Philippians chapter
two, verse nine. Wherefore God also has highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. Did you put your
name there? That's what's required of us.
We will bow. Every knee shall bow. It doesn't
matter whether it's the king of Egypt or whether it is John
that brought us and given to us the book of John and 1st John
and 2nd John and 3rd John and the book of Revelation. Every
knee should bow. of things in heaven, things in
the earth, and things under the earth, that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. So here we have a God of infinite
wisdom, infinite power. He's thought it, it came to pass.
He said it and it was already done. And then if you would look
with me to one other passage over in the Old Testament, the
book of 2 Chronicles chapter 20. I was blessed the last Sunday
I was here, as after the service was over, someone brought this
verse to me and said, you know, I saw this verse while you were
speaking. That's good. You know, it's much better than
saying, I find fault with what you had to say. It's a compliment. here complimentary to all that
we've been speaking in the book of Second Chronicles chapter
20. Second Chronicles chapter 20 and there in verse six and
seven, this is the promisor. This is the one that made the
promise to Abraham. This is the one that can carry
out the promises. that he promised. It says here,
and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all
the kingdoms of the heathen? Now that's wherever you want
to think is heathen. God rules over all that are the
heathen. And in thine heart there's not
power and might so that none is able to withstand thee. What
did Nebuchadnezzar say? You're not gonna hold back the
hand of God. It's gonna move. The will of man will not prevent
the hand of God. I've been visiting with a young
fella, and he has told me a hundred times, if he's told me once,
that we have the power to resist God, and that's not the God of
the Bible. The God of the Bible has the
power to overcome our resistance, and we thank him for it. Once
we're saved by his sovereign grace, we are thankful that he
would come in that kind of power and overcome us and say, this
is the way of righteousness. And we say, thank you, Lord.
I would have never come if you didn't show me yourself and show
me the way. Well, it goes on to tell us here
in the book of Second Chronicles, it says, and in thy hand is there
not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee? Art
not thou our God? Now that's where we need to be. Is this God our God? Who did strive out the inhabitants
of this land before thy people Israel? You know, as I look at
that from a spiritual context, I'm thankful that it was God
that drove out all of my sin. He took it upon himself. He's
the one that won the victory there at the cross. It wasn't
my consent that did it, it was him doing it to save my soul. And then he goes on to tell us
here, and gave it to the seed of Abraham, Thy friend forever. All right. With that said, let's
go over to the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts, Chapter 7.
In the Book of Acts, Chapter 7, we've been looking at this
friend of God. The friend of God, Abraham. The
Book of Acts was written to a man by the name of Theophilus. He's
mentioned in one other place, the book of Luke, and the word
Theophilus, the name Theophilus means friend of God. You go over,
and I cannot think where it is, but I think it's in Galatians,
that God is called the friend of God, and it is the same word
that is Theophilus' name, friend of God. You know what? everyone
that God has ever saved is Theophilus, friend of God. He has done what
is necessary to break down that partition of sin between us and
God and make us his friend. And he is a very benevolent friend. He is a gracious friend. He pays
all the debt. All right, here in the book of
Acts chapter seven, and there in verse five, we read this.
And he gave him, talking about Abraham, none inheritance in
it. He called him, the God of glory
appeared unto him out of Ur of the Chaldees and called him out
and said, get out. And we read, he got out, he left. And then it says, he gave him
none inheritance in all that land, no, not so much as to set
his foot on. One translation put it this way,
not even a square foot. Not that much. But he goes on
to tell us here, He promised that he would give it to a possession
for a possession and to his seed after him when he was yet had
no child. Now he's talking to Abraham about
having seed and at this time he's 90 years old and he doesn't
have any seed. He doesn't have any children.
And we're gonna, we could follow that through just a little bit
over there. But notice here in verse five, yet he promised that
he would give it to him for a possession. He promised. Now, the reason
I wanted to start in looking at God is we need to know who
is the promiser. I was talking to Brother Gary
and I said, Brother Gary, if you were going down the street
here in Jacksonville and somebody came up to you that you did not
know, and he said, I'd like to borrow $100 and I promise to
give it back to you. What would you do? And he says,
you know, I probably wouldn't loan him $100 if I didn't know
him. You know, that's what most people
have about God. They don't know the first thing
about God and they're asked to make promises that they don't
even know the promiser. That's one thing about salvation.
He is going to, in the preaching of the gospel, acquaint us with
Christ. He is going to acquaint us with
God. He is going to share with us
the God of the Bible. In the preaching of the gospel,
that he is a savior that saves, a redeemer that redeems. He actually
can do what he said he would do. He's not one of these guys
that's on the sideline begging for permission to do something.
I heard a preacher just the other day say, can you imagine Lazarus
giving consent to be raised from the dead? That's what people
are expecting in religion is to get people to give consent
before God would raise him from the dead. That's not the God
of the Bible. The God of the Bible takes things
in charge. And that's what he said when
he promised Abraham, Now, this one, this one promised, you know,
what does a promise mean? As a noun, a declaration or assurance
that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing
will happen. When we make a promise, have
you ever made a promise? Have you kept all your promises?
We used to say, and I can't remember it all, but the latter part was,
and hope to die. You know what? If that was true,
we'd have nobody to preach to and there wouldn't be an individual
on the face of the earth. Because every one of us have
made promises and have not been able to or didn't keep them on
purpose. But this one, God promised Abraham
And it was so powerful because of the relationship that Abraham
had with the God of glory. That's so important that Abraham,
God of glory appeared unto him. The God of glory came down to
him. The God of glory called him out. And in that, he taught him who
he was, the God of glory. And when he promised, he was
able to say he will keep his promise. You know, God has, in
Christ Jesus, promised the church, I promise everlasting life. That's a promise. Now, if the
promiser is the God of the Bible, that will happen. But if the
promisor is some preacher or some teacher or somebody that
doesn't know the first thing about the gospel, that is an
invalid promise. It could mean nothing. No wonder
people think about, well, I just lost my salvation. Well, it wasn't
worth much then, was it? The God of the Bible, the promisor
of the Bible has everlasting life and it cannot be taken away. He said, I'll put you in my father's
hand, you'll be in my hand and none can take you out of our
hands. And then somebody comes along and says, but I can get
out on my own. Well, you don't know the promisor then. The promisor
has promised that all of his sheep, all the lost sheep of
the house of Israel, all the saved people that he's ever going
to save are on such firm footing because the God of heaven has
promised to them everlasting life. Assume someone that will
definitely do give or arrange something, undertake or declare
that something will happen. I love reading about God, the
promiser, because his promises will be carried out to the very
last farthing. In order to have confidence in
a promise, we must have confidence in the promiser. I wouldn't give
a dime to someone who came up and says, and then they would
say, well, I hope to promise I can give it back to you. Would you give to them? Would
you loan to them? Probably not. I was at a show
one time and I had some stuff on my table. And a guy came along and he wanted
a very expensive item I had on my table. But I didn't know him
from Adam. And he said, I'll write you a
check. Boy, that was the first thing
that I got a little nervous about. And I said, do you know that
guy over there? And he said, yes, I do. I said,
let's go visit with that guy over there. We went over to that
guy and I says, do you know this guy? He says, oh yeah. His word is solid. And I says,
can I take a check from him? Oh yeah, as big as you want.
He wants to write it. It's a good check. I said, on
his word, I'm letting you have that item and I'm taking this
check. Why? Because someone knew the
promisor. He promised to pay me with a
check and someone knew him. So I took it. Guess what? It
was a good check. I was glad. You know, we can
take all the checks from God and know they're good. Every
word of God. is good word, every promise that
God gives to us. The God of glory spoke to Abraham
and promised. The God of glory of the Bible
is almighty and appears and reveals and promises. What he will do,
he is the promiser. He promised Abraham that that
land would be given to his seed after him, and he didn't have
to have a child. In the book of Job, would you join me in
the book of Job for just a moment? In the book of Job, chapter 26,
or 36, Job chapter 36. We want to follow through this
for just a little bit in Job chapter 36 verse 2. Now of all those friends of Job that
came to visit him after his calamity, and I have to say, who brought
that calamity? God. He permitted. Satan to do what he did. And if you ever have any issue
about Satan, just remember he's God's Satan. He is not omnipotent, he's not
omnipresent, and he's not omniscient. He's God's Satan. And God uses
him like he does anything else. for his glory. All right. Now there's a friend, three friends
came down there to comfort Job and all of his calamity. And
yet Job says they were miserable comforters. They just kept bringing
up, Job, you must have done something really bad. You must have done something
serious. Now, if you just let us know about it, And you know
what? We find that the disciples one
time had an issue about like that when Jesus brought them
in the presence of a blind man and they got to thinking about
among themselves and says, oh boy, I wonder what this guy did
that he's born blind. And so they brought it up to
the Lord. You know what the Lord said? It wasn't his parents and
it wasn't him that caused this blindness by some sin. The reason
for this is for the glory of God. Now, we just don't understand
how things work, but God does, and he works in all things for
his glory. So here in the book of Job, there
is a man that comes along, his name is Elihu. He sit and listen
to all of these trappings of these three miserable friends,
and there's 35 chapters of it. To me, Job is a difficult book
to read. I told brother Gary, I've never
sat down and went verse by verse through it with the church. And
he says, probably a good idea not to. Just go through and read
it. But anyway, he says, suffer me
a little and I will show thee that I have yet to speak on God's
behalf. You know, it's a wonderful thing
that God gives the church the privilege of speaking on God's
behalf. Those other guys were not speaking
on God's behalf, but this man, Elihu, is gonna speak on God's
behalf. You know what the New Testament
called it? Ambassadors for Christ. And a true ambassador is going
to report on the true God. Not a lie about God, not that
he's trying to do something, or he's willing if you're willing,
but a God that is able to do all that he says he's going to
do. It goes on to tell us here in
verse three, I'll fetch my knowledge from afar. The other guys were
just digging it out of the brain. He says, I'm going to get it
from somewhere else. I'm going to get it from God. I'll get
this knowledge and will ascribe righteousness to my maker. For
truly my word shall not be false, but that is perfect and knowledge
is with thee. Behold, God is mighty. You know
what that is? He's the promiser that can keep
his promise. God is mighty and despises not
any. He is mighty in strength and
wisdom. So somebody came along that had
some knowledge and began to speak to Job. You know, this coming
January will be 40 years since I heard the gospel for the first
time. I heard a lot of nonsense up to that time. That young man
I visit with on Saturday, you know, his mother passed away
a couple years ago and in passing yesterday, he said, well, she's
in a better place and I'll see her someday. And I just said,
you know, my mother was very religious, but I'll never see
her again. She didn't know the gospel. She didn't know the God
of the Bible. She had a God of her imagination.
And there is a separation there that must take place. It's either
God, end of conversation. All right,
in this same chapter 38 of the book of Job, let's look there,
chapter 38 of the book of Job. Job chapter 38, verse one. It
says here, then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. Here's
a guy that knew something about God. He says he's the God of
glory. He's the God of glory. He is
a great God. He's a mighty God. He does what
he said he will do. And so as a result of that, if
God is pleased, he will come in person. That's what was the
difference between all the nonsense I have ever heard than when I
heard the gospel, the God of glory was praised and honored
in the salvation of his people, and he appeared. He spoke. It wasn't just a preacher that
spoke, he spoke. What do we have here? Then the
Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, who is this
that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Dirt up now
thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee and answer thou
me. Where was thou when I laid the
foundations of the world? Now God's saying here, I build
everything. I created the heavens and the
earth, and where were you? You were not there to counsel
me. Now he's here to counsel you. As it goes on, and then
in the book of Job chapter 40, if you turn there with me, Job
chapter 40, this is the promiser that can keep his promise. This
is the God that sent somebody who knew something about the
God that promises, and then the God that promises appeared unto
Job, and here in the book of Job chapter 40, We find these
words, Job chapter 40 verse 4. This is the result if you ever
get to see the promiser. This is the result. This is what
we're going to think. We quit thinking about our righteousness
and our good deeds. We quit thinking about all the
good works that we perform. We quit thinking about all the
churches we've joined and all the times we've read through
the Bible and all the lessons we've learned and all the lessons
we've taught and everything that goes on because this is the result
of hearing the Lord. Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? My
mouth is shut. I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Now this is the result of hearing
the promiser. I am vile. I am vile. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Job chapter 42. Job chapter 42, as we find the
promisor moving on. Chapter 42, verse one, then Job
answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do every. The word thing has been supplied
by our translators. I know that thou canst do everything. What does that mean? It wasn't
my will that needed permission. I can do everything, and that
no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Here
I beseech thee, and I will speak, I will demand of thee, and declare
thou unto me. And then in verse five, I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth
thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. And we drop down to the bottom
of this chapter and we find out that in God's good grace, he
restored double what he had before he went through all of this,
we call it a tragedy. He gave him double. He had twice
as many camels, twice as many sheep, twice as many oxen, twice
as many donkeys. And then he had three more sons
and seven daughters or seven sons and three daughters. He
gave him everything back double. You know, my friends, we're gonna
find out because of the grace of God that we are much better
off now in salvation than we would have ever been if Adam
had never sinned. We get to visit God every moment
of every day. We get to know what grace is.
We get to know the forgiveness of the promisor. We get to hear
his promises, yay and amen. They're ever about us. So the
double. In the book of Romans chapter
four, would you join me there? Romans chapter four. As we think about this great
promiser, the God of heaven, the God of glory, Romans chapter
four, and there in verse 17, Romans chapter four, verse 17. Now this is about Abraham again.
We've made a circuit. We started with him in the book
of Acts chapter seven. We wanted to notice a little
bit about the God of glory, the God that appeared in him, the
God that promised him. And then we read here, as it
is written, I have made thee a father of many nations. This
is God speaking as the Apostle Paul quotes the Old Testament.
Before him whom he believed, even God who quickened the dead
and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who's
this? The Almighty God, the God that
can promise and have it fulfilled. Who against hope, believed in
hope. How old is Abraham? His wife is a hundred years old,
or 90 years old, excuse me. He's a hundred years old. Now
they've already gone the way of the world. They've already
said, you know, we need an heir. And so I can't do it. So you
take Hagar. And they raised up a son. And
my goodness, was he a terror. He is illustrated as still being
a terror. He still has problems with believers. And he will attack them from
all sides. Goes on to tell us here about
Abraham, who against hope believed in hope that he might become
the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so
shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith,
but considered not his own body now dead when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of his Sarah's womb,
he staggered not at what? At the promise of God. through unbelief, but was strong
in faith, giving God, giving glory to God. Now, friends, if
you go to the book of Genesis and read this, you'll say, this
guy's a different Abraham, because we have these warts all over
him. Book of Genesis talks about all kinds of warts on Abraham
and on Sarah. My goodness, there isn't anybody
that God ever saved in the Old Testament or the New Testament
that's not full of warts. But in Christ Jesus, not one
wart remains. Not one. We look at Abraham here
and he says, oh my goodness, this is a different Abraham.
And amen. This is an Abraham that saw the
God of glory. This is an Abraham that God revealed
himself unto him and said, I promise. And Abraham knew this God and
said, I'll claim that promise. Goes on to say, being fully persuaded,
verse 21, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able to perform and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Oh my goodness, what a blessing
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you'll turn with me to the
book of Titus chapter one. Titus chapter one. In Titus chapter
one, verse one. We have two more readings and
then, as Brother Mike said, we'll unhook. and get ready for the
next time. Titus chapter one, verse one,
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according
to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth,
which is after godliness. Now I've had a number of people
tell me that, you know, talking about the elect, that's what
you do over coffee. That's not what Paul did. He
preached it every time he had an opportunity, because it was
the word of God. God has a people. He chose a
people. And if he hadn't done that before
the foundation of the world, he would have no people in heaven
with him, because nobody would have ever turned aside to this
God. Now, we turn aside to all kinds
of religion, but we'd never turn aside to that God. All right,
goes on to tell us, in hope of eternal life, which God had promised
before the world began. in hope. God's people, the elect,
have hope of eternal life. Why? Because it was promised. The promisor, God, everlasting
promisor, promised eternal life before the world began, but hath
in due times manifest his word through preaching, which is committed
unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior. And then he
says to Titus, My own son after the common faith, grace, mercy,
and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Savior. That common faith. You know,
there are not multiple ways people are saved. It doesn't depend
upon the church you go to. It depends on the Christ that
reveals himself. That's the difference. All right,
finally, if you'd look with me to the book of 2 Timothy. 2nd
Timothy chapter 1, 2nd Timothy chapter 1. Here we have the Apostle
Paul claiming this very promise that God gave to Abraham. The promisor promised and the
promisor, this promisor, when he makes a promise, it will be
fulfilled. You know that's One thing we
can take to the bank over there in the book of Genesis, God told
Adam, the day you eat, you shall surely die and I promise. What
happened when he ate? He died. God's promise was fulfilled. He does not go back on his promise.
He didn't come down, oh my goodness, oh my goodness. Oh, I'll just
take care of this. We'll scratch it off the books.
He promised that he'd die, and he died. But he also promised
how he would raise him from the dead, through Christ Jesus the
Lord. All right, the Apostle Paul says
here, in second Timothy chapter one verse 12, for which cause
I also suffer these things, nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. Now notice this,
for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded. Now, what does
that mean? I claim his promise. The promisor
has promised and this promise is so good that every Christian,
every believer in Christ Jesus can claim it because God has
promised it. I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. The psalmist said, if God should
mark iniquity, who shall stand? And the apostle Paul says, I'm
persuaded he's able to, whatever I've committed unto him, he'll
take care of it. You know what he did? He took
it to the cross. He took it to the cross. And there he took
care of every claim against us. So the Apostle Paul, like the
church, said, I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. When I stand before
him, God's not going to say, well, Paul, you've done a pretty
good job, but there was a couple of days there you had a problem.
And we're going to have to hold that against you. No. He's going
to say, peace be unto you. Welcome, thou good and faithful
servant. Why? Because you're my servant. I made you what you are. You
are the fulfillment of the promises the promisor made from eternity
past. He promised Abraham, he promised
the church, he's promised everyone that he saves. I will take care
of every issue. And the people say yea and amen. Brother Mike, if you'll come.