It says here in Acts 13.14, just
as a little review from last week, Paul and Barnabas had departed
from Perga, and they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the
reading of the law and the prophets, the scriptures that we call the
Old Testament scriptures, After the reading of the Scriptures,
the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and
brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people,
say, Aum. Then Paul stood up, beckoning
with his hand, and said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God,
give audience." Can you imagine if you came to the house of the
Lord to worship, only to hear the preacher tell you that God's
favor towards you is based on something God foresaw in you.
What if it was declared to you that you became a child of God
by your obedience to the law given at Mount Sinai? What if
you were taught that it's your devotion to the church, the sacrifices
you make, your self-denial, your attendance, your coming to an
altar, your observance of days? What if you were taught that
by confessing your sins to the priest, that made you accepted
of God? Or that you're more accepted
if you pray morning, noon, and night? Or what if you were told
that washing the outside of your body from worldly defilement
would make you more accepted of God? or that when Christ comes, He's
going to establish a kingdom here on earth? Going to liberate
you from the restraints of earthly kings and sinful men so that
you can have your way and do all that you have always longed
to do here on this earth? What if you were told that for
others to convert and become children of God, it wasn't enough
that they simply believe on God, but they have to be under the
yoke of the law of Moses to be true children of Israel. What
if you were told that because of your race, that's what made
you a child of God? Because your fathers believed,
and their fathers before them believed, and because you were
born of a certain race of people, a certain nationality, that that
made you a child of God. Those were the things that the
folks in this synagogue had been taught. And those were the things that
both Jew and Gentile trusted in. And sadly, that same thing
is taught today in most churches that call themselves Christian
churches. And because of this, They had missed Christ. He had
come and they missed Him because they were trusting in these things
and looking for an earthly kingdom. There will be some who will miss
Him the second time for those same reasons. There are only two things that
keep sinners from Christ. There's only two things that
keep us from Christ. One is our sin and the other
is our righteousnesses. And that's it. Repentance is turning from our
sin and our righteousnesses and trusting Christ who forgives
sin and makes us righteous. Is that not right? Paul knew
this because he once sat right where they sat. And he thought
just like they thought. So what's Paul going to stand
up and say to these folks? As we go through this sermon,
I want you to see that the theme that Paul is declaring here is
God forgives the sin of His people in Christ Jesus, His Son. And
He justifies sinners who could never be justified. They could
never be made holy and without blame by anything in them. He
does this in His Son. And He does it according to promise,
according to His eternal covenant, His everlasting covenant made
between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Paul is stating this in every point he brings out here. And
towards the end of the sermon, he states it clearly. It's what
he's leading up to say. He says it in every word he says,
but he's leading up to it. Look with me at Acts 13, 32.
He says finally, and he comes towards the end, he says, we
declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was
made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same. unto us their
children." And that he raised up Jesus again. And here's the
second part of that. He says, because of what he accomplished,
no amount of sin in you can hinder God from forgiving you of your
sin because of what Christ accomplished. He put away the sin of His people. He makes you the righteousness
of God in Him. He justifies you from all things
from which the law of Moses could never justify you, which we could
never do ourselves. He makes us something we could
never make ourselves. Look there at verse 38. Be it
known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by Him,
all that believe are justified. By Him, all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. And if you keep this theme in
mind, God saves according to His promise and it can't be frustrated. and He forgives the sin of His
people because Christ put it away, and He makes them righteous
in Christ, because Christ is our righteousness. Keep this
theme in mind as you look at each one of these points that
Paul brings out here, and you'll see that's what he's declaring
all the way through this message. The title of the message tonight
is, God's Promise is Never Frustrated. God's Promise is Never Frustrated.
17, we saw last time, Paul began
by saying, the God of this people of Israel chose our fathers.
Even though Abraham was an idolater and would have never chosen the
true and living God, it didn't hinder God's promise and purpose
of grace toward him. Because God chose Abraham in
Christ before he founded the world. And Christ would purge
him of his sin and make him righteous. So Abraham's unbelief and idolatry
didn't hinder God in calling him out. Ishmael would be born
of the wisdom and will of Abraham and Sarah. But it wouldn't frustrate
God's promise and purpose of grace because God chose Isaac
before he made the world. Chose him in Christ. He would
be the child born and the son given, typifying Christ Jesus
who would be the child born and the son given. And in Isaac shall
thy seed be called, he told Abraham. Esau and Jacob were twins. Isaac
loved Esau more than he loved Jacob. Jacob was a supplanter,
a trickster. That didn't hinder God's promise
of saving Jacob in Christ because He chose him in Christ before
the world began. He'd save him. What's this promise and purpose
of grace? What is that? What's this promise
and purpose of grace? God's promise was first made
to His Son. It was a promise that God would
give to Him a multitude of children, more in number than the stars
of heaven. It was a promise that all the
nations of the earth would be blessed because of His Son, because
He had chosen a people and given them to His Son. It was a promise
that though His people had fallen into bondage, God the Son said,
promised to redeem them, to buy them, purchase them with His
own blood, redeem them out with His mighty hand. The Son of God
would take the likeness of sinful flesh, made of a woman, made
under the law, and He'd be both the Son of God and the seed of
Abraham. The God-man. And so God made this same promise,
this same covenant to Abraham. And He said, the Israel of God,
He said, Abraham, in thy seed, all the nations of the earth
will be blessed. Now Abraham, look on past all of your natural
descendants. Look on past all of the children
that's going to be born. in your genealogy. Look past
all of them now, Abraham, and look down to Bethlehem. And see
the seed of woman. That's the seed I'm talking about,
Abraham. In thy seed, all the nations of the earth will be
blessed. Because I've promised that seed. I've promised my son.
this covenant, and now I'm making this covenant with you, Abraham."
That's what happens when God writes His law on a believer's
heart. He writes the everlasting covenant
made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit on the heart. And He makes us willing to trust
Him for all things. Didn't Paul say, he said to Abraham, in thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed." And he said, not of many, but one
to thy seed. He said, to Abraham and to his
seed were the promises made. To Abraham, the same promise
was made to him that God the Father made with God the Son,
and that God the Son made with God the Father. That's why it's
ordered and sure in all things. That's why it's yay and amen.
That's why we know it's going to come to pass and his promise
won't be frustrated. So Paul begins here and he says,
They didn't choose God, God chose them. And then he says, and he
exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land
of Egypt, though the people were strangers to Pharaoh. Though
Pharaoh didn't know them, though he'd do everything in his power
to destroy them, so that Christ the seed wouldn't be born. And
though they didn't know Him, that didn't hinder God's purpose
and promise to bring them out. He multiplied them. He birthed
them into His nation. That's how a child of God is
made a true child of God. It's because God births them,
multiplies them into His nation. They don't do it themselves.
And He said, and with a high arm brought He them out of it.
No, Pharaoh did everything in his power to hinder their deliverance
out of his hand. It didn't stop, frustrate God's
promise and His purpose of grace. He brought them out with a high
arm. He brought them out through the blood of a lamb. He brought
them out in the lamb He provided. He poured
out His justice on every firstborn in Egypt. But He provided Israel
a lamb. And He saved them in a lamb and
He brought them out. And He said, with a high arm,
the preeminent arm, Christ the Lord, the arm of His power and
might, He brought them out because they were in bondage. That didn't
hinder His purpose and His promise. And now if that's not enough
to prove that God's faithful to bring forth the seed, Christ
Jesus, and that in His Son whom He promised, Abraham, and that
through Christ Jesus the Lord, He delivered His people from
their sin and their self-righteousness, Paul says, consider this, verse
18, about the time of 40 years suffered He their manners in
the wilderness. The Jews idolized their fathers. They thought they were children
of God by blood kinship because they were children of their fathers. And so Paul begins here by declaring
that those fathers who were truly saved were saved from their sin. He said they were sinners. It
was due to the long-suffering of our God that He saves His
people. Not because of anything in them,
not because of anything in your fathers. It was because Christ
had to be born that He didn't destroy them. It was because
in Christ their surety, those true sons of Abraham, that spiritual
Israel, that remnant among them, wouldn't be destroyed with the
rest of them. No matter if they were murmuring or not. Because
in their surety, they were holy without blame before Him in love.
And He'd bring them to behold Him and to know Him and to be
placed at His feet and settled upon Him. And so Paul begins
saying something about their fathers. You know, you have somebody who
you look up to or you idolize. I'll give you an example. I have
a friend, Gabe Stoniker. And Gabe loved the Beatles. He's a fan of the Beatles. And
you ever had somebody that you're a fan of and then when you really
get to meet them, you wish you hadn't met them? Well, he was
a fan of the Beatles, and he got the opportunity to meet one
of them one time and met him. And he was just awful to him. Just treated him just awful.
And Gabe said, I wish I hadn't ever met him. Sometimes we have
to have our idols taken from us, and we have to be made to
see that we shouldn't put too much trust in men. And Paul starts
here saying, your fathers were sinners. They were sinners. And
by declaring what they were, he shows how gracious God is
and how long-suffering God is towards those he's put in Christ.
And how the whole world murmuring against him and trying to frustrate
his purpose won't stop his purpose and his promise to save his people.
Let's look here a little bit. Remember now, look over at Exodus
14 with me. This was a people who had felt
the will of the Pharisees on their own backs. They had worked
with their own hands making bricks, building Pharaoh's cities. And
each one had gone home from working these long hours to a little
fish and a few little vegetables. Slept a few hours and got up
and went back to it the next day. That same hard bondage that
Pharaoh had made their life bitter with. And they had beheld the
fury of God's wrath and the plagues that He had poured out on Egypt.
They had beheld His power to bring them out in the night He
passed through Egypt and slew all the firstborn and passed
over them because He had provided them a lamb and saw the blood.
And yet as soon as they grew fearful and uncomfortable, listen,
Exodus 14.11, they hadn't even crossed the Red Sea yet. And
they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt,
hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore
hast thou dealt with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? If not
this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us
along that we may serve the Egyptians. For it had been better up for
us to serve the Egyptians than we should die in the wilderness.
Look over to Exodus 16 verse 1. And God delivered them. God sent
them through the Red Sea. Brought them through and delivered
them. Well, they wouldn't murmur again,
would they? Exodus 16, verse 1, And they
took their journey from Elam, and all the congregation of the
children of Israel came into the wilderness of sin, which
is between Elam and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second
month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. They hadn't
been out long, had they? And the whole congregation of
the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness. And the children of Israel said
unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord
in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when
we did eat bread to the full. For you've brought us forth into
this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then
said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I'll rain down from heaven for
you. And the people shall go out and
gather a certain rate every day that I may prove them whether
they will walk in My law or not." And he told them. He said, Christ
said, I'm the bread. I'm the bread from heaven. And
he told them, go out and gather. And they went out and gathered.
And whenever men had gathered a tenth, Every man was full. Every man had plenty. And he
said, don't leave it till tomorrow. And some of them didn't eat at
all. They left it till tomorrow. And
he said, on the sixth day, gather enough for the seventh day and
don't go out on the seventh day. Rest, because my bread is sufficient
I'm giving you. I'll give you enough on the sixth
day. You don't have to work anymore. You can just rest because of
this bread. And they went out on the seventh
day. He said, we'll go out and go beyond this prayer. We'll
go out and gather more than what we've been provided in this prayer.
Isn't that what we do when we say Christ is not enough? Let's
go out. We can have more by our obedience. And that's disobedience. That's
going beyond what God said. He said, I'm going to see if
they'll obey my law or not. And they wouldn't. They wouldn't.
They wanted more than He said they could have. Then look over
at Exodus 17. And all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after
their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord,
and pitched in Riphodim. And there was no water for the
people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses and
said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them,
Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
And the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured
against Moses and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought
us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle
with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord. Aren't you glad
we have a mediator? Aren't you glad we have somebody
to intercede on our behalf? Moses cried unto the Lord, saying,
What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone
me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and
take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thou rod wherewith
thou smotest the river, and take in thine hand, and go. Behold,
I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou
shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it that
the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel. Aren't you glad that he provided
that rock? Even though they murmured against
him. Even though they rebelled against him. He gave them bread
from heaven. Christ said, I'm that bread.
He gave them the rock. Paul said, that rock is Christ.
Moses took a rod and he beat that rock. God said, for the
transgression of My people was He smitten. And with His stripes,
they're healed. And from Christ, our rock, comes
the water of life. Because with His stripes, we're
healed. Aren't you glad that His purpose
can't be frustrated? His promise can't be frustrated? Even though we're just like these
people? Just like these fathers who murmured
against God in the wilderness. In Exodus 32, look there with
me. He went up into the mountain. God called Moses up into the
mountain to give him the law. And Moses went up to the mountain. And if you read all the law that
was given to Moses. I was looking at this today.
And you look at how many pages and pages and pages you read
of God giving the law to Moses to that one man. And I think there's a good example,
there's a good illustration to us of Christ our Lord whose law
was on the inward part, whose delight it was to do the law
of God. I think, how in the world did Moses come down from that
mount with all that law, with all, everything God gave him,
and rehearse it to the people? It was a lot more than just ten
commandments. It was everything from how the
tabernacle should be built. It was everything. Everything
was given to one man, Moses. But it says here, when the people
saw, Exodus 32.1, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come
down out of the mountain, the people gathered themselves together
unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall
go before us. For as for this Moses, the man
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know
what's become of him." Moses didn't bring them up out of Egypt.
Moses told them that over and over. I didn't bring you out
of Egypt. God did this. The Lord God did this. His song
to them when they came out of the Red Sea was all glory and
praise to God who delivered them. And yet, just a little while,
he's in the mountain. The lady's coming down and they
said, This man that brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what
became of him. Make us gods to go before us.
We've got to see something. We've got to see a God that we
can follow. And Aaron said unto them, Break
off the golden earrings. Aaron, Aaron said, Okay, I'll
do it. Take your earrings. Take your
golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your
sons and your daughters. Bring them to me. And all the
people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and
brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their
hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a
molten calf." A calf. And this is what he said to them.
These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before
it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast
unto the Lord. He used the Lord's name. They were coming to this feast
in the name of the Lord. But they were coming to a calf.
They were coming to a God they made. To one that they had formed
by their own strength. By their own will. By their own
imagination. out of their own heart. And they rose up early on the
morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.
You know when the Lord said, I'm tired of burnt offerings
and you observe this solemn feast and you pray continually without
ceasing? And He said, I'm sick of it.
Because when they came into His temple, and all the years, and
all the sacrifice, and the offerings, and the burnt offerings, and
all the things that they brought, and all their observances of days,
and months, and years, all of it was the same as this right
here. Yeah, they came to His temple,
just like folks go into a church building. Yeah, they came crying,
Lord, Lord, just like folks go in our day crying, Lord, Lord,
just like the Jews and the Gentiles that come to this synagogue in
which Paul is standing up preaching before. But in the heart, in
the heart, because they drew near with their lips, but their
heart was far from Him, they might as well be worshipping
a calf. Might as well be bowing down to a gold calf. Because
the imagination of the thoughts of the hearts are only evil continually,
God said. That's the hearts of this, of
me and you, my nature. That's, that's why we have to
be made anew in Christ Jesus. That's why we have to be given
a new heart and a new nature to follow Christ, to know Him.
That's why, listen, listen to me now, listen, listen, listen,
listen. Sometimes we hear this message and we hear when you
hear it declared We can't be justified by the law of Moses
and you think okay. I got that I know I can't be
justified by the law of Moses I know I can't be made righteous
by the law of Moses I know I can't be sanctified by the law of Moses.
Do you know that? And so we say now now tell me
something else but brethren I The message is this, we can't do
anything. We'll turn from the Law of Moses
to other ordinances that God gave in His Word, to other things
God said in His Word, and that will become our new Law of Moses.
And we'll think, well, I don't miss a church service. Well,
I observe. I observe a day. I always set
aside a day to worship the Lord. You should. You should come to
His house and worship Him. But that's not where our righteousness
is. Well, I pray without ceasing. I pray morning, noon, and night.
You should pray morning, noon, and night. But our praying is
not what makes God hear us. Our beseeching Him is not what
makes God hear us. It's Christ in whom God hears
us and for whose sake He hears His brethren. It's not Christian services,
Christian traditions, Christian ceremonies that are popular in
Western churches today, that's been passed down through the
ages and said, For the Camelites, you've got to be baptized. It's
a molten calf. Baptism washes away your sins.
For some, they believe you can baptize your children and that
will put you right into the covenant of God's grace. Paul thought
that. He said, I didn't know anything
about it. I couldn't remember it happening. But my mother and
father circumcised me the eighth day. And I, if any man thinks
he has whereof to boast, me more, I more. I trusted that. You see,
we can take these things even though it's not per se the law
of Moses. It's the strength of our own
will. It's the strength of our own flesh. It's our own doing.
We have to be saved not only from our sin, but from our righteousnesses,
from our self-righteousnesses. And our self-righteousnesses
are our chief sin. And he says here, they brought
these burnt offerings, these peace offerings, and the people
sat down to eat and to drink in a solemn feast, a solemn service. Oh, what a good service we had
today. Boy, I tell you what, we had
a lot come out today, didn't we? They put on a play this morning
for us. and acted out the birth of Christ,
acted out the crucifixion, and boy, it was a good show. That's what they did. They sat
down to eat and drink, rose up to play. And the Lord said unto
Moses, Go get thee down, for thy people which thou broughtest
out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They've
turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They've
made them a molten calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed
thereunto and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Look over with me
at Numbers 21. Verse 4, And they journeyed from
Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom.
And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the
way. And the people spake against God and against Moses. Wherefore
have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread, neither is there any water. Our soul
loatheth this light bread. We're sick of this bread from
heaven. When Paul told the Hebrews, when
he said, when it ought to be time enough that you've heard
this gospel preached, that you ought to be teaching other people,
you have need to be taught again. Repentance. You need to be taught
what dead works are, he said, to turn from them. You need to
be taught about baptism and what's typified in baptism, that Christ
died with the sin of His people on Him and was buried and rose
again. The ABCs. You have need to be taught what
the laying on of hands means. When the high priest laid his
hand on the lamb and the imputation of sin to that lamb and the innocence
of that lamb to the people. You have need to be taught of
those. And then he said, let's move on. He wasn't saying, let's
move away from Christ. He wasn't saying, let's move
away from the bread from heaven. He wasn't saying, I load this
light bread, let's move on to something else. He's saying,
you can't see Christ and learn more of Christ for looking at
your own flesh and at your own sacrifices and your own self-denial
and your own self-sanctification. You cannot move on in Christ
because of those things. And he says here, these people
said, we're tired of this light bread. Is that what happens? Is that what happens? We get
tired of Christ, the bread from heaven? And we consider it a
light thing to murmur against God and want to move on from
Him back to this flesh? That's what they wanted. They
wanted something that they could put in their mouth themselves
that they could eat and they could drink. And they were tired
of that bread. And it says here that the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people. And they bit the people. And
much people of Israel died. Sometimes, do you think that
these the plagues that come upon us, the sin that comes upon us.
What do you think it's from? It's when we turn away from Christ
to ourselves. Whether it's the sin of immorality
or the sin of self-righteousness. And God sent serpents among them
on purpose because you know what He did by sending this in their
midst? They went to Moses. And look
what they said. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people, and much people died.
And therefore the people came to Moses and said, We've sinned, for we've spoken against the
Lord. It's Christ we spoke against. And against thee. Pray unto the
Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for
the people. And it says that And the Lord
said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole. And it shall come to pass, that
every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole. And it
came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld
himself, and how well he had fought with that serpent, when
he looked to the work of his hands and said, now you fight
against that serpent and you can make yourself accepted with
God. You can free yourself from sin. You can sanctify yourself
if you'll just look to yourself. Nope. You look to that serpent
on that pole. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. He was made that cursed thing
that was biting us. He was made that cursed thing
that was inflicting death into us and caused us to die. He was
made that cursed thing and lifted up, exalted on the cursed tree. And God poured out His wrath
on him and put away the sin of his people. And now, do you want
to be freed from that sin? Do you want to be sanctified?
Do you want to be justified? Do you want to be made righteous?
Do you want to be made holy, complete, accepted of God? Do
you want to be holy and without blame before God? Look to that. Look to Christ. Look to Him. That's who that serpent is. the thing that was killing them
so that they might look to Him and live. And then we come over
to Numbers 14. Look at Numbers 14. Remember this. They spied out
Canaan and they refused to believe the Lord. And the Lord said this
to them. Numbers 14, 11. And the Lord
said unto Moses, How long Will this people provoke me? How long
will it be ere they believe me? For all the signs which I've
showed among them, I will smite them with the pestilence and
disinherit them. It will make of thee a greater
nation and a mightier than they. And Moses said unto the Lord,
Then the Egyptians shall hear it, for thou broughtest up this
people in thy might from among them. And they will tell it to
the inhabitants of this land, for they have heard that the
Lord art among this people, that thou, Lord, art seen face to
face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest
before them by daytime in a pillar of a cloud and in a pillar of
fire by night. Now, if thou shalt kill all this
people as one man, Then the nations which have heard the fame of
thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring
this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore
he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now I beseech thee, let the
power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
The Lord is longsuffering." What did Paul tell the Gentiles and
the Jews when he stood up? The God of this people, that's
who I want to talk to you about. He chose our fathers. He birthed
them into His nation. He redeemed them out of Egypt
by the blood of a lamb. And He suffered long with them
in the wilderness, even because of their murmuring. They didn't
do anything themselves, Paul said. And Moses says here, you
long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression,
and by no means cleared the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto
the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people
from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned
according to thy word, but as truly as I live, all the earth
shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have
seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt and in all
the wilderness have tempted me now these ten times and have
not hearkened to my voice. Surely they shall not see the
land which I swear unto their fathers, neither shall any of
them that provoke me see it, but my servant Caleb, the faithful
dog, he's going to see it. The faithful dog is going, I'm
going to take him in. Because he had another spirit
with him and has followed me fully, him will I bring into
the land where unto he went, and his seed shall possess it.
God said, I'm going to pardon him because because there's a
holy seed in their midst. There's a remnant in their midst.
And I'm going to pardon the rest of them. I'm going to pass over
the rest of them and not give them the judgment they deserve
because of that remnant, because of that holy seed. That holy
seed is Christ and it's men like Caleb that He put in Christ.
Christ's got to be born. He's got to come forth and redeem
His Calebs. and His Joshua's, and His Isaiah's,
and His Ezekiel's. He's got to come forth, redeem
His Paul's and His Barnabas's. And the Lord said, and as I speak,
my glory is going to be full in this earth. I'm going to pardon
the people in my Son. I'm going to pass over their
transgression. I'm not going to clear the guilty. I'm going to pour out my wrath
on my Son, and I'm going to purge them in Him. And ask for this
people that will not trust me, that murmur against me and reject
me and will not look after all that I've shown them. This thing
hadn't been done in a corner. God has lifted His Son up and
He's exalted. What did Moses pray? What was
his prayer? They know about this in Egypt.
They know this. They know who you are, Lord.
They know what you've done. They don't believe you and they don't
trust you, but they know. These people knew who he was
too. They had seen it, but they didn't believe him. And he said,
Caleb believes me. Caleb trusts me. I'm going to
bring him out. I'm going to bring him into this
land. As for the rest of them, they'll
perish. They'll perish. I'm going to bring him into this
land. And in declaring their sinfulness, the sinfulness of
their fathers, Paul declares the grace of God, doesn't he?
Paul sets their fathers before them as a people so full of iniquity
that it was only because of God's promise to His Son, His promise
to Abraham, His promise to those true sons of Abraham, to whom
the Lord would save according to everlasting covenant of grace,
and for the sake of that remnant who would be born of their children. Because Christ must be born of
the stock of Abraham. The Lord was long suffering and
He didn't destroy them all. Didn't destroy them all. Saved
them. What was the difference between
Caleb and the rest of them? What was the difference between
Caleb and the ones that fell? It was the difference God made.
It was the difference the Lord made. Do you think Caleb was
without sin in himself? Was he any different than the
rest of them in himself? But in Christ, in his surety,
Caleb was holy and without blame before God. And by God's grace
and the Spirit of grace working in his heart, Caleb believed
him. Caleb trusted him. And God said, this one right
here is as faithful as my own son. And he said, I'm bringing him
out. And he brought him out in leading them into that land with
Joshua, their Savior. And everything He did, the bread
from heaven He gave them, typified Christ. The smitten rock typified
Christ. The shoes He put on their feet. Our feet are shod with the preparation
of the Gospel. Who is the Gospel? How are your
feet shod? What keeps you walking in this
world of sin? What keeps you walking? What
kept Caleb walking? Christ. And he's the one that
everything that God did to him in his long suffering towards
his people, he did it because of Christ and because of those
he put in Christ. And so Paul's telling them here.
He said, I'm convinced God's sovereign and He saves by sovereign
grace. I'm convinced that God will have
His Son glorified. I'm convinced that He'll call
out those He's put in Christ. And none can stay His hand or
say unto Him, what you doing? And for that reason, Paul was
able to stand in the synagogue. He was able to go from place
to place, and though he was opposed, though people murmured against
him, though people murmured against his God, though people rejected
him, he was able to be long-suffering because he looked to Christ,
he trusted Christ, and he preached Christ because he knew Christ
had reconciled the people unto God by his death and by his life
that people would live. and they would be brought to
spiritual life through that Gospel he preached. And so Paul just
did what he was sent to do, and he said, it wasn't by your father's
choice. It's not by your choice. It wasn't
by blood, by the will of man, or by the will of the flesh,
but of God that His true children are made His Israel. And he says
now, do you see what your fathers were? And do you see the longsuffering
of God? And he says here to them, He
says here to them, look at Acts 13 there. And when He had destroyed
7 nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them
by lot. He made good on His promise.
He brought the children that He was talking about when He
talked to Abraham, He brought them into that land. And Joshua
said this, Joshua said there hasn't been one promise. Look
at Joshua 21.43. Look there with me, Joshua 21.43. God's promise is never frustrated.
Now listen to what Joshua said when he brought them in. They
divided their land to him a lot. Joshua 21, 43. And the Lord gave
unto Israel all the land which he swore to give unto their fathers,
and they possessed it and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them
rest round about according to all that he swore unto their
fathers. And there stood not a man of
all their enemies before them. And the Lord delivered all their
enemies into their hand. There fell not out of any good
thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel. All
came to pass. Did God make good on that temporal
promise that He said He would promise to Abraham? All came
to pass. So what does that tell me and
you, brethren, spiritually? every promise He made to His
Son, and every promise He made when He wrote His law in your
heart and formed Christ in you, all shall come to pass. Every bit of it shall come to
pass. That's why we end here, Acts 13, 33. It's what Paul said
to them. God hath fulfilled the same unto
us, their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again. Verse 38, Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Are you trusting yourself? Are
you trusting your flesh? Are you looking to yourself?
Are you murmuring against God? There's forgiveness in this man,
Paul said. God promised salvation in him.
God promised him a people. And God has fulfilled that promise
in raising him up. Now, are you going to come to
him? Paul said. Are you going to be
like your fathers in the wilderness or are you going to come to Him?"
Paul said. There's forgiveness with this one. And by Him, all
that believe are justified from all things from which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses. God's purpose and promise,
they're never frustrated. His promise is never frustrated. I want to go through this message. and look at this one thing through
it about God's promise in every point that Paul makes. Because
that's the ultimate point he makes in it. If you're going
to be saved, it's going to be by promise. By God's promise
to His Son and by the promise He's going to make in the hearts
of His people. If you're going to be forgiven, it's going to
be in His Son. If you're going to be justified, it's going to
be in His Son. You're going to be sanctified. It's going to
be because He's made us holy and without blame before Him.
You're going to be glorified. It's going to be because He's
going to raise His people just like God raised Him. Set them
in His right hand. And not one of His promises are
going to fail. Not one.