Thank you, dear brother. Appreciate
you. Well, it's just been wonderful
to be with you folks. And on behalf of my wife, also,
we want to thank you for your love, your hospitality, the good
room that you reserved for us. And I hope Judy doesn't get too
spoiled with something like that. We've enjoyed our time here and
not sure if we'll ever be able to be back, but boy, it's been
a blessing that I want to take back to David Edmundson's church
and our little family there and share the love that just flows
in your midst and we are thankful. If Donnie Bell finds out that
we got lost, And he has a way with words,
doesn't he? Remind him he gave me the directions
from the motel. It embarrassed me a little, but
I'm with brothers and sisters in the Lord, and I don't think
you'll hold that against me. We almost got here on time anyway.
But pray for us, because we still have to go home. Well, I hope
we make it back. I want you to turn with me, if
you will, to Isaiah chapter 49. Some many, many years ago, when
I was a baby in Christ, I heard a man preaching And he said,
if I wrote a zero on this wall over here and kept writing them
all around the walls up to that zero, it wouldn't even be a number. But if I put the number one in
front of that first zero, there probably wouldn't be even a name
to describe that number. And he said, that's what sin
does. It just takes one sin. And he had a good way of getting
people lost. I thought that was a good illustration.
One sin isn't all that we commit against our God. We just heard
in the men's meeting, we are estranged from our mother's
womb going astray. Speaking lies. We're sinners. But that man didn't preach the
gospel. He didn't say one thing about
Jesus Christ as far as His deity is concerned. He didn't say anything
about coming to this sin-cursed earth to do His Father's will.
He didn't mention anything about how Christ our Savior took care
of our sin debt, purging our sins from God's sight forever
by His redeeming blood. But He did say this. Won't you
make a decision for Jesus? What Jesus? This Bible, from
cover to cover, is a hymn book. It's all about Him. All about
our Lord Jesus. Right from the start, when Adam sinned and fell, everything
throughout the Scriptures points to God's saving grace for a particular
people who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. So it doesn't matter where we go, Christ is the message and it's
the responsibility of God's preachers to get our hearers on that path
that leads to Him as quick as we possibly can and continue
to preach about Him. Who He is, what He has done,
where He is now, what He's doing now. These wonderful truths concerning
Christ thrill the hearts of God's children every time we hear them.
Someone mentioned just a few moments ago the term, the simplicity
of the gospel. I can't preach any other thing
than the simplicity of the gospel. I have a shallow mind. I can't
get over anybody's head with enticing words of man's wisdom.
So what I want to do this evening is talk to you about Children of promise. That's my
subject. Children of promise. And here
in Isaiah chapter 49, we read in verses 15 and 16,
God speaking through His prophet, Can a woman forget her sucking
child? that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb, yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands, thy walls are constantly before me." Now,
it pleased our Lord to Move Isaiah to write these words
concerning Christ and the nail prints in his hands, I believe
is what that's referring to when he says, Behold, I have graven
thee upon the palms of my hands. So please the Lord to use a love
that parents have for their children to illustrate the love that he
has for us. I cannot begin to tell you how
much I love my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren. And when
I hear about a mother or a father murdering those children that
belong to them, it grieves me beyond words. Don't you feel
that way? How could a woman kill her own
babies? Or a man kill his own children? How could they do that? That's
not even in our vocabulary. Or our... I forgot the words. Something that they use. DNA.
There it is. It's not even in our DNA. Folks,
God's love for us is illustrated in a way that we should just
take to heart. Perfect love casts out fear.
And that's the love God has for His children. We read that in
1 John. Jesus Christ tells us in His
Word that We should not fear coming judgment. As Jesus Christ is right now,
so are we. Is He the Son of God? We're God's
children. Does He love the Son of God, our Father? Yes. And
He loves us with the same perfect eternal love that He has for
His Son. And you go on and on and on, the wonderful things
about Christ. And God tells us in His Word that we, as His children,
belong to Him in the same way that Jesus Christ belongs to
Him. Not as deity, but as His children. Turn to Titus chapter
1, if you will, please. the book of Titus, chapter 1. And like I said, I've titled
this message, Children of Promise. And the Apostle John was so overwhelmed
with the thought of God's love for him and for his children,
he said, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. What an endearing term. God calls
us His children. We call Him Father. Father. He's our Father. And that's the
way our Lord taught us to pray. Our Father, which art in heaven. That's something that we should
give more thought to than what we do. Speaking for myself. We're
God's promised children and that's a glorious subject that all who
have experienced the miracle of the new birth rejoice in.
Being His children. Of His own will begat He us with
the word of truth that we should be called in the first fruits
of His creatures. That's God telling us. It's His will that
begat us. The word begat means Someone
who begat someone. I begat six children. They're
mine. Three sons and three daughters. And when we read the word begat,
and there's a lot of them in God's holy word, it points to
the man who begat the children. These Armenian free willers,
they begat themselves. I wonder if they realize how
ridiculous that sounds. But we're God's promised children,
and under the preaching of His glorious gospel, God performs a miracle that only
He can perform. He sends the Spirit of His Son
into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. I don't know if you've
ever given much thought to that verse, But the way it's written,
it points to the fact that it's the Spirit of Christ in us that
cries, Abba, Father. The flesh had nothing to do with
that. That's God's doings. And this subject of His promised
children is so wonderful I've just been burning within me wanting
to share this with you. Look at the first three verses
of the book of Titus. Paul introduces himself as a
servant of God in the first verse and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
That's an honor that just thrills God's children. Just being a
servant. Just being a servant of the Most High God. And he
put that before he before he introduced himself as our Lord's
Apostle. And he said in that first verse,
it's according to the faith of God's elect. According to the
faith of God's elect. And God is the one who gives
us that faith. Faith is God's gift to the sinner,
not the sinner's gift to God. For by grace are we saved through
faith, and that not of ourselves, it's a gift of God. Then he says,
And the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness.
God, under the preaching of his gospel, reveals the truth to
us. And when he reveals the truth
to us, we won't, by God's grace and his Spirit working in us,
we will not settle for anything but the truth. Then he says in
verse 2, In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised
before the world began. Now Paul's writing under divine
inspiration, and he's writing about the hope of eternal life,
and he mentions a promise that was given before the world began. Who did He make that promise
to? Who made the promise? I wasn't
there. You weren't there. This is before
the world began. God the Father promised a people
to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, conditional upon what the Lord
would do for His people when He came to this earth. I mentioned
that in my message this morning. And so there was a promise made,
a promise by God Himself, our God who cannot lie. And our Father
made that promise to His Son. And we read in verse 3, But hath
in due times manifested His word through preaching, which is committed
unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior. So it is under
the preaching of His gospel that God does this, reveal Himself,
and His promises to us, creating in us a brand new creation. That new creation gives Him all
the praise and all the glory for His unspeakable gift, eternal
life through Christ our Savior. We must hear the gospel. I want to share something with
you that I wasn't even thinking about in my notes when I put
this together. But years ago, before I met Pastor
Henry Mahan, I was under the ministry of two men. And when
Brother Henry started coming and preaching at our conferences,
I invited these other preachers, along with Brother Henry. And
after a couple of conferences, My first two pastors found fault
with Brother Henry Mahan because they said he was teaching gospel
regeneration. I don't know if you're familiar
with that term or not. Well, that just caused me to
dive right into the Word of God, because I know what they were
talking about. Brother Henry insisted that the Gospel must
be preached, and it's the Gospel and the Gospel preachers that
are instruments in God's hands to call His children out of darkness. And my first pastor asked me
this question. when I kind of balked at what
he was trying to do, turn people away from Brother Henry, he said,
who believes, the old man or the new? I don't even know what he meant
by that, except I agree that the new man is the one who believes,
the old man doesn't. But that new man is created in
the hearts of God's children unto the preaching of the gospel. So in my studies I found that
the Word of God teaches that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, sends
His Spirit. Paul asked these questions to
the churches in the Galatia area. This only would I learn of you.
Received you the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith? And having begun a good work
in you? Will you be made perfect by your
works." See, this is God's Word. We read over in Romans chapter
10, where, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Well, how shall I call upon Him in whom they have not
believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? And that was enough for me. So, God used the truth
of His children being regenerated under the preaching of His gospel
to cause me to align myself with other preachers. That's when
I became acquainted with Don Fortner, David Pledger, Donny
Bell, and just a host of others. And I am so thankful that the
Lord did that. Now I share that with you because
of what we read in verse 3, God hath in due time manifested his
word through preaching, which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God our Savior. So, free will religionists
rob God of His glory by reducing the miracle of the new birth
to an act performed by man, a decision for Jesus. Now, if you will,
look at Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3, verses 5 through
7. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, But according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being
justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. Brethren, we're children of promise. were heirs of promise. We belong
to God by virtue of a divine promise, by a divine payment,
a divine power, for a divine purpose, to give Him all the
praise and all the glory. Now turn back to Galatians chapter
4, the fourth chapter of Galatians. God has forgiven us for Christ's
sake. We read that in the scripture,
we know that's true. The works of sinful men have
absolutely nothing to do with our salvation. There's only two
religions in this world, and they came into this world through
Cain and Abel. Now it's obvious that God, Cain
saw this, obvious that God accepted Abel's offering. Fire came down
from heaven, I believe, and consumed his sacrifice. But Cain was wroth,
because God did not accept his sacrifice. And he murdered his
brother, because his brother's works were good, and his works
were evil. We read that in 1 John. And since
that time, there's only been two religions in this world,
grace and works. And I don't care what you call
it. I don't care what they name their religion. There's only
two in this world, and it's grace and works. And we know it's all
of grace. If God has sent the Spirit of
His Son into our hearts, we know that salvation is all of grace. And we are thankful. that God
has shown His mercy for the glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
our Lord. And we know, and we just read
it, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost. So we know it's all of grace. Now, it has been the same throughout
the history of man, and it continues to this day. Ungodly, unregenerate
men and women won a little bit of the glory to themselves. And
they robbed God of His glory by insisting that they have done
something to add to what Christ has done to earn their salvation.
I had a lady and her husband seated right at our dining room
table. And she asked me, What did you
do when God saved you? I said, I didn't do anything.
His grace, through the merits of Christ my Savior, was what
God used to enlighten my mind. She said, yeah, yeah, yeah, I
know, but what did you do? You did something. I said, no
ma'am, I did nothing. I was dead in trespasses and
sins. See, they try to coerce you to say something that will
point to the works of the flesh, and they don't want to give God
the glory. Well, God will not share his glory with another.
And we read in Galatians 4 here something that's called an allegory. It's an actual historical event
that took place to bring out a spiritual meaning. Matter of
fact, there are many allegories throughout the Old Testament,
and they should bless us. I believe they do. But look at
Galatians 4, starting at verse 21. We read, Tell me, ye that
desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is
written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid,
the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai,
which generated bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and Asherah to Jerusalem, which now is, and
is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written,
Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not, break forth, and cry thou
that travailest not. For the desolate hath many more
children than she which hath a husband. Now we, now we, brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the
Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not
children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Now, we know the
story. We know the event that took place. We know how God promised
Abraham a son. and how God himself fulfilled
that promise. It appears that maybe, and I
don't know this to be true, but maybe Sarah thought she could help
out what God had promised and she gave Abraham a woman by the
name of Halar, which was Sarah's handmaiden, Anyway, Hagar became
Abraham's wife. And she did give Abraham a son. But that was not the child of
promise. This was according to God's predetermined
will to illustrate to us the power of becoming His child,
the miracle of the new birth. God waited until Sarah was 90
years old. Abraham was 100 years old. He
was still able to impregnate a woman, but it was impossible,
humanly speaking, for Sarah to have a child. She had ceased
to be after the manner of women. But when it was God's appointed
time to fulfill His promise, By his power, he enabled Sarah
to conceive, and he gave Abraham and Sarah the promised son. What did Isaac contribute to
his birth? Nothing. The promise was made
by God. He used instruments. He used
Abraham. He used Sarah. But it was still
the power of God. Isaac did not contribute anything
to his physical birth or to his spiritual birth. And he, as God's
promised child, inherited all of Abraham's fortunes, all of
his estate. God took care of Hagar and Ishmael. Ishmael became a mighty nation. God's providence took care of
all of their physical needs, but they were cast out. They
were not heirs with Isaac. And that was God's doings. And
that applies to us as His blood-bought children. It's according to a
covenant that God made before this world was created between
Himself and His Son and God the Holy Spirit. And we just come
into a living union with God as His children because God the
Father promised us to God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
comes in His sovereign power, giving us life, raising us from
a state of spiritual death, bringing us into a living union with the
true and living God, and we receive a full inheritance. We're heirs
and joint heirs with Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior. I don't know what's waiting for
us when we get to glory. I know some things, but I don't
know everything. But I know this. Peter, writing
under divine inspiration, said that there's an inheritance reserved
in heaven for all of us. I was preaching this at a little
church in Arkansas years ago, and a lady sitting in the front
row, when I said, that inheritance is reserved for God's children,
and God's going to make sure, He's the one who made the reservations,
He's going to make sure that all of His children are there,
and this lady gasped. And it blessed her so much, she
never heard that. Well, it should bless us. If
we're heirs and joint heirs with Christ, we're kept by the power
of God through salvation, unto salvation, by His power, unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. It's ours.
We're God's promised children. Turn with me, if you will, over
to, let me think where it is. Romans chapter 4, please. Romans
chapter 4. Let me show you something concerning
this promise that God made to Abraham. And it just thrills
me when I consider that we have been made the same promise. In
chapter 4, Starting at verse 20, we read that Abraham staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. Now I know he hearkened unto
Sarah, and he took Hagar for his wife, but I believe from
this passage of scripture right here, that Abraham never lost
faith in what God had promised him. Verse 21 says that Abraham
being fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able
also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now look at verse 23 through
the end of this chapter. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead. In that last verse, we believe
that Jesus Christ was delivered for our offenses, my sins, my
iniquities. They were all laid on my substitute. And all of the sins of God's
chosen people, who are children of promise, they were laid on
our substitute as well. Jesus Christ was delivered for
our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. We read that in the Scriptures.
Look down here at verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time, verse 6 of chapter 5, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. That's my name, ungodly. That's
me. And He died for me. Then we read, for scarcely for
a righteous man will one die, yet for adventure for a good
man some would even dare die. But God commended His love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if,
when we were enemies, don't miss this, we were reconciled to God
by the death of His Son, Much more being reconciled, we shall
be saved by his life. So he was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. While we were yet without strength,
while we were ungodly, Christ died for us. And his death reconciled
us to God. We just read that. When did that
take place? Over 2,000 years ago. That's
when Christ reconciled us to God. Who did he make to payment
to for our sins? His Father. We sinned against
God our Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. But our
Lord Jesus, when He sealed our pardon with His blood, He made
that payment. He paid the ransom in full to
His Father. And our Father, His Father, accepted
that sacrifice. And when He accepted that, we
were made acceptable in Him. God accepted us back yonder when
Christ suffered and bled and died for us. We just didn't know
anything about it until we came under the preaching of His glorious
gospel. Now, I was alive when we declared
war on Japan after they bombed Pearl Harbor. I don't remember
it very well. I was only two months old when
that happened. I said that just to say this. After Japan surrendered,
20 years later, there were Japanese soldiers still in the jungle,
did not know the war was over. Don't you know they were happy
to hear that they could go home without any fear? Well, that's
the way it was with us. We come unto the preaching of
the gospel, and we find out that our warfare is accomplished.
God has already won the battle for us through Christ our Savior.
Matter of fact, it's Christ our Savior who won the battle. And
when we heard the good news, we knew that we were going home
without fear. The war was over. And our Lord
tells us through his prophet Isaiah, Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people. Tell her her war is accomplished. Tell her that her iniquity is
pardoned. Tell his church, God's preachers
are to tell God's church that we have received double for all
our sins. What does that mean? We have
received double. I personally believe this, that
it not only assures us that all of our sins have been pardoned
by God, it tells us that we're God's promised children. Not
only has He forgiven us, we've received double for that. We
have received the spirit of adoption. We belong to Jesus Christ. We're
His blood-bought children. We have this wonderful promise
that Jesus Christ by Himself took care of our sin debt, but
He also received us into a living union with Himself. as his children. Can I give you another passage
of scripture? Would you turn to Hebrews chapter 6 and I'll
try to bring this to a close. The 6th chapter of Hebrews. Now I mentioned this morning
a passage of scripture that tells us that we love God because He
first loved us. Brethren, God loves His promised
children with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness, He draws us unto Himself. There never was a time when God did not love us. He
has always loved His chosen people. I know We were running from Him,
hating Him, would not have Him to reign over us. We loved what
we were doing. We didn't want to be confused
with the facts. God loved us when we were sinning
against Him. That overwhelms me. And this love that God has for
us should overwhelm us. It's a love that's shed abroad
in our hearts by the power of God the Holy Spirit. And that's
when we start loving Him. And it's all according to what
God Himself has predetermined before this world was ever created.
And God wants us to realize it's by His doing so that we will
have strong consolation. And here in Hebrews chapter 6, We read, starting in verse 17,
wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise,
that's us, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by
an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Now,
folks, this is God's Word. The Word airs a promise. And
God cannot lie. He cannot break His oath. And He uses the truths of His
gospel to bring strong consolation to those who have fled to Christ
for refuge. We're drawn by the sovereign,
irresistible, drawing power of God Almighty, but we don't come
to Him against our will. Our free will had nothing to
do with it. God makes us willing in the day of His power He takes each of His chosen blood-bought
children, brings us under His gospel, and reveals His glorious
truths to us, that we're children of promise. And He cannot lie. He cannot break His oath. And we read In verses 19 to the
end of this chapter, speaking of the hope that we've laid hold
on by faith, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil,
where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, man and
high priest, wherever, after the order of Melchizedek. So
we have a hope. We have a living hope. a hope
that is based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ, and by
faith we've laid hold upon Him. And the Bible says right here
in verse 19, this hope is like an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, which entereth into that within the veil. That's
Christ. He's our hope. And He's already entered into
the veil. He has entered into heaven itself,
there to appear in the presence of God for us. And this faith
that we have is like an anchor of the soul. I know a little
bit about anchors. I was in the Navy for four years,
aboard three different ships. And we anchored a lot. We did pull into a lot of ports
where we tied up at the docks, but we anchored a lot. I was
in what they called a gator navy, amphibious assault ships. We took Marines on board. We had Mike boats, and we played
war games. And we would anchor, put those
Marines in the Mike boats, and they would head for the beaches
just playing games, but preparing them for an actual war if it
broke out. preparing us. And the way we would anchor the
ship, I say we, I was a member of the ship, I had nothing to
do with it. Anyway, the captain or the one who was in charge
of the quarter deck or on the bridge, they would drop the anchor
from the front of the ship till it hit bottom. Then they would
start backing the ship up, letting out cable that's attached to
the anchor. It would start backing up until
that anchor gripped something solid. Then it would let out
more cable, back up a little bit further, and drop the anchor
in the back of the ship until it reached the bottom, and then
start easing forward until it grabbed something solid. Then
the ship was anchored. It would move a little bit. High winds. There's a vessel. Waves hitting it. But what it
was attached to was solid. Brethren, Jesus Christ is our
rock. We're anchored to Him. I'm a weak vessel. Things happen
that cause me to move and shake a little bit. We're all human.
But the rock doesn't shake. And our faith is like an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast. We read over in Romans chapter
5 that we live because He lives. Because I live, our Lord said,
ye shall live also. Before we can be lost from the
protecting hand of God, or be taken away from Him, somebody
is going to have to take Jesus Christ off of His sovereign throne
of glory. As they say in the vernacular,
that ain't gonna happen. He's God. All power in heaven
and earth has been given to the God-man. And we're kept by that
power through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
time. So we just bow down to our Heavenly Father. In the name
of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Thanking Him that
He included us in a covenant of grace, back before a star
twinkled in the sky, to be children of promise. You can take that
to the bank if you want to use that term. We're children of
promise. God loves us as much as He loves
Himself. And He will never leave us, nor
forsake us. Amen. Thank you, and God bless
you folks. Thank you for your faithfulness
in keeping the Gospel just blossoming throughout this area. You know,
that's so important. We must keep the Gospel, not
only for the salvation of our Lord's lost sheep, but for our
own good, our own need. I need to hear the Gospel over
and over and over again. To reassure me that Jesus paid
it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as stone.
Thank you, brother. God bless you. Let's stand together. Number
125 was one stanza that was just quoted to us. Number 125. Let's
sing that together. I hear the Savior