If you will take your Bibles
and turn me to Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. This morning we'll be looking
again at verse 28 and verse 29. Verse 28 and 29. The scripture
says, 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." Now, the title of the message this morning
is, The Promises of God. The Promises of God. Now, last week we saw in verse
28, the state of the brethren. The state of the brethren. What
is the condition of the brethren? And we saw the past state, the
present state, and the future state of the brethren in this
verse of Scripture. We saw that as Isaac was, as
Isaac was the son of promise, even so were we the sons of promise. who have believed on Christ.
We know this, that Isaac was always the son of promise. There
was never a time that Isaac wasn't the son of promise. And so, when
time came for God to promise him to Sarah and Abraham, it
was already determined that Isaac be the chosen son. He was to
be the one God would bring forth Christ from His seed. And so we too who are believers
in Christ were chosen by the sovereign election of God. That
was our state. We were always chosen of God
to be the sons of promise. And not only were we chosen,
we are even now the sons of promise. Everyone that God loved in election,
in time He did procure their salvation by Christ, and in time
He will call them. It is a present state in time
of the brethren. We are now the sons of promise. But every son of promise must
experience the salvation of God. Every son of promise will and
must come to faith in Christ. Just as Isaac experienced the
deliverance from that death when his father had taken him in obedience
to kill him. before God as a sacrifice, and
that ram was caught in the thicket, Isaac experienced substitution. Did he not? He experienced it. He knew the substitutionary work
of Christ that was to come. He saw it. He experienced it.
And so does every child of promise in the present experience this
by faith and regeneration of the Holy Spirit. We come by faith to see that
Christ has already accomplished our salvation. He has already
bore the guilt of our sins in His own body on the tree. So that ever, even before we
believed on God, we were redeemed. Is that not something? Even before
we came, while we were yet sinners, the scripture tells us. Jesus
Christ offered Himself. God sent His Son to procure our
salvation. Even while we were yet sinners,
when He was risen and accepted, so were we. So were we. But now, brethren, in the present
world, we have experienced the grace of God. How? We are made
partakers of the divine nature. That's what Peter says. We have
been partakers, made partakers It's altogether different, a
different thing from being a Calvinist and actually experiencing grace. There's a lot of people who are
academic Calvinists who have never experienced grace in the
inner man. They've never been made partakers
of a divine nature by the Holy Spirit. And we that have, John
says, as he is. How is he? How is Christ today? He's alive. As he is, so are
we in this present world. We're alive. As he is righteous,
so are we in this present world righteous. Even as God himself
by the imputation and impartation of righteousness. That's our
present state. And therefore, we who believe
might have confidence. Do you need confidence? Because
I do. Do you need assurance? I do. Every single day, I need
assurance. I need hope. And the hope is
found only in Christ. It's only found in His Grace,
it is only found in His mercy to us, and never found in our
love, or our faith, or our works. It's never any assurance in that. It's what God has made us to
be. That's my assurance, is that
God hath made me to be a partaker of that divine nature. And I
have. I know it. By faith, I see it. You can't see it by looking at
me. I can't see it by looking in the mirror, but I see it by
faith just as clearly as I see you. I see it by faith. And we are now as Isaac was,
and as Isaac is. How is Isaac? How is he doing
today? Oh, he's well. He's doing just
fine. He's in heaven. He's in heaven. As Isaac is, so shall we be. God shall never fail to bring
us to Himself. I like this. When Jesus in Matthew
chapter 12 said this, He said that God is not the God of the
dead, but of the living. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. Well, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
are dead. Their bodies are dead. But they're
not dead. They're alive. their life. And so God, who is their Savior,
has taken them from death to be in His presence. Even so will
He take us from death to be in His presence. And how do we know this? Because
He hath made us meet, qualified to be partakers. of the inheritance. You see, I'm not naturally qualified. I'm not naturally qualified and
neither are you. But God has made, it is a supernatural
work, God has made us qualified by Jesus Christ. Now this morning,
I want us to take comfort in these things that we are, that
God has promised us, has made us, that God is now and presently
has made us and shall make us. And this assurance only comes
from the promises of God. Now, brothers and sisters, they
came from a long way, they call me. the other day and said that
they were going to be here. They promised. They said, I want
to be there. Oh, I'm sorry. Last year, you promised. Last
year, they promised. Well, we're going to be there.
We just can't wait to get there. We want to get there. And last
year, they didn't make it. So I sat back there on the bench
waiting. What Moose used to call the fool's
bench. Why? Not because they didn't want
to, because they were hindered. They couldn't. They didn't have
the ability to get here. They would have. They had all
the intentions and purposes of being here. They promised, but
they could not deliver because they were hindered. And our promises
are like that. Every one of us have made promises
and we are sincere. But really, do we lack the ability
to fulfill any promise without God allowing us or giving us
the strength? To do it? No. No. That's why we say, if the Lord
willing. If the Lord willing, we'll do
this or that. Because we don't know. We can't
make those kinds of promises. The only one that can make a
promise, and it's sure, is God. God made promises. Promises. To who? The sons of promise. To the sons
of promise. Just as God promised that in
Isaac shall thy seed be called, it happened. Isaac was born,
Isaac grew up, Isaac begat Jacob, who was God's loved child, and
from whose seed Christ would come. And nothing could hinder
that promise. Therefore, when Abraham heard
the news, he believed God. The Scripture says he believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And this is
not written just for him, but it's written for us as well.
We who believe God have the imputed righteousness of Christ to our
charge. It is ours. His righteousness
is given to us. Now, when I was saved, there's
one thing I didn't feel is righteous. I didn't feel it. Matter of fact,
I felt the opposite way. I felt more guilt for sin after
God had imputed righteousness than before. And my only comfort, my only
peace was not in my feelings. I couldn't find any comfort in
feelings. Do you find comfort in feelings? I love them. They're wonderful. God gives
us these feelings of joy at times and we feel as though we could
touch heaven itself. But those are so few and far
between. Don't rest in them. Don't trust
in them. There's no hope in them. Don't trust in your faith. Our
faith is so weak and so fragile that it just takes one rocking
of the boat and there goes our faith. Right out from underneath
us. Don't trust in your faith. It's
not our faith. It is the promise of God. It is Christ who is the object
of our faith that we lay down on and rest on and fall down
on when the things of life move us and shake us. We do fall. Fall on the rock. Fall on the
foundation. There's rest. There's comfort. There's assurance in Him. And
how do we know then that Christ is this foundation but by the
gospel? We would not know this had God
not given us His gospel, His promise, His promise. And as Abraham believed God,
the scripture says he staggered not at the promise of God. Abraham, go offer that son I
promised you, you go offer him now and you kill him for me.
And Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled that ass and
went on up And what did he tell those young men? He said, me
and the lad will return. He didn't stagger. He believed
God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. Even after he would
cut his throat and burn his body, he believed God would raise him
from the dead. Why? He had a promise. He had
a promise. Don't ever rely on something
that God has not promised you. Tomorrow. We all got plans for tomorrow.
We all got things that we want to do. Don't trust in that. Don't
find comfort in that. There's no promise of tomorrow. God didn't promise you that.
God didn't promise us new cars and new homes, and God didn't
promise us the things of this world. He didn't promise us comforts.
He didn't promise us health. He didn't promise us wealth and
prosperity in this life. He did not promise those things.
If He gives them, great! And if He doesn't, great! Because
God is a giver. I'll tell you, you can't out-give
God. You just can't do it. He has given us more things than
we possibly could imagine if we were to count them all. But whatever God has promised,
you can count on that. Whatever God has promised in
His Word, you can bank on it. You can rest your soul in it
and never be moved. Never be moved. Stagger not at the promises of
God. This is why God is so merciful
to us, to give us his word, to give us his own heart in his
promises. God is gracious to us to give
these promises to us, and he doesn't begrudgingly give. Who
here has begrudgingly gave something? Yeah, we begrudgingly give. You
know, I love my son, but sometimes I even begrudgingly give to my
own son. But God never begrudgingly gives
these promises, and here they are. Go to Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. Look at
verse 3. Here's the manner of God's promises. Here's how God gives these promises. Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse
3. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with lovingkindnesses
I have drawn thee. Here's God's promise. I have
loved you. I have loved you. You can count
on God's love. You can count on it. I'll tell
you what, sometimes we can't count on the very dearest of
friends and their love. We can't. We try to, but we've
all been betrayed by someone we love. God will never betray
this love. Why? It is not something that
God begins to do. His love is not something He
begins. Our love always begins somewhere,
and it's always based on something. I'll tell you, when I saw my
wife, she was beautiful. She was beautiful, and that moved
me to ask her out. But then I loved her. You see,
God's not that way. God loves first. Without a cause,
without a reason, God loved me. There was no cause in me for
God to love me. There was a great cause for Him
to hate me. I've said this before, and I think it's the greatest
thing, when lost men are so determined and in hatred to God, despise
the scripture that says, for Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated, it is because they think somehow Esau deserved God's
love. Well, that's not fair for him
to love Jacob and hate Esau. No, what was fair was for him
to hate both of them. That was fair. The fact that God loved Jacob
is the amazing part. That God could love any man is
an amazing thing. But His love is not something
that is like our love because it is eternal and it's as big
as God Himself. That's how much God loves us.
God loves His children, the sons of promise, so much that He cannot
love us any more, and He will not love us any less. See, I
don't understand that. I can't get around that, because
what do you mean you can't love something more? I can always
try to love something more. I'm sure I don't have enough
love for God. I'm sure of that. I'm sure that
I don't love you enough. And I'm sure sometimes there
may be times you'll love me less. But God is never one to love
less or love more. He loves you the same constantly
forever and eternity. There is no change in His love.
He is the omnipotent, omniscient, unchangeable God. And He does
not change. And His love does not change. Romans 921 says, hath not the
potter power over the clay to make of the same lump? You see, there's no difference
in the lump. The difference is God's love. The difference is
God's love. We were taken from the same lump,
and yet God. has made Christ to be wisdom,
righteousness, and sanctification for us out of His own love. Out of His own love. It was in love that Christ came. And the Scripture says, having
loved His own, He loved them even to the end. Even to when
He had to bear the guilt of our sin, when He was under the most
the most horrible wrath and guilt of God, He still loved us. You come up and kick me in the
leg, I'm going to love you less. Immediately. Now, I may come
to my senses later, but right then, you're not going to be
my favorite person. Christ suffered the guilt of
our sin and He still loved us and gave Himself for us. That's a love you can rest in.
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us. I like this. It's interesting.
That word, bestow, it means to give. But it's always in connection,
the gift is always measured in the greatness of the giver. That's
what that word is. So if I give you a gift and we're
not friends, that gift, thank you very much. You know, but
if you get a gift from somebody who's near to you, you know,
I've kept little things that aren't worth anything. You couldn't
sell them for anything, and yet I wouldn't sell them for anything
because of who they came from. That gift was great to me because
of the giver. But imagine the giver and the
gift. How great was the giver? And
how great was the gift? That's how great God's love is
for us. If you find that out, you'll find out how much God
loves you. If you can't see that, You'll
never see God's love for you. Next, the promise of forgiveness.
Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
17. The scripture says. and their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission
of these is, there's no more offering for sin. This is a great
passage. This is the covenant of God's
grace. He says, I will remember their sins and iniquities no
more. Now, that promise is not that
you would not remember your sins
and iniquities no more. We don't have that promise, do
we? Matter of fact, we can't forget our sins. But my hope is not based in my
ability to forget my sins. Our hope is based on the promise
of God that says, I will forgive their sins. And where there is already a
sacrifice that has been made for sin, there is no more sacrifice
for sin. This is amazing because there
is no more to do. There is no more sacrifice that
we can make to God to be accepted. Where there is remission of sin,
where there is pardon, where there is forgiveness, where there
is justice satisfied, there is no more sacrifice for sin. No more. No more. The law only genders to bondage. Stop trying to obey the law.
There's no hope in it. Lean on the promise of God. I
will forgive. And where God has made the sacrifice
of sin, He will never demand twice payment for that sin. Isn't that something? Never. He can't do that and be God.
He can't do that and be just. The third promise is that we'll
have persecution. Look quickly. I knew I wouldn't get through
this. Look back in your text. Galatians
chapter 4 and look at verse 29. And as then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now." Friends, we have this promise, the world
will hate us. That's a promise. That's a promise. And you can take it to the bank.
If this world hear our gospel, they will hate us because it
exposes their false gospel. If you hear a man claiming to
be saved by his will or by his determination, and you immediately
break fellowship with that man, he's going to be mad at you. Why? Because now he sees there's
a line. He sees there's a dividing line
of this gospel. He now sees that where He is,
if what you say is true, then what He says is a lie. It is
a dividing line. Christ said, I came not to bring
peace, but a sword. And the sword is the gospel. It divides. It divides the sheep
from the goats. It divides the lost from the
saved. It divides grace and works. Religion divides. Jesus said, they hated Me. And
why did they hate Him? He said, because I exposed their
sins. If I had not come, they would
have not known their sin. But because I've come, their
sin is exposed. And when you witness of Christ,
their sins are exposed. And they will hate you for it.
They'll hate you for it. What are we to do when we're
confronted with these who are of Ishmael, bondage, law? What did God command Abraham
do to his own son? Now, don't pass this by because
Abraham did love his son Ishmael. He did. What did God tell him
to do? Cast him out. Does that sound harsh? You bet
it does. But you know why? Because Ishmael
would always persecute Isaac. If we declared unity with them,
they would do nothing but try to get us under their bondage.
That's it. They would try to cast out the
liberty of the gospel we preach, and they would try to make us
embrace the gospel that they preach. So what are we to do? Have no
fellowship with them. You can talk to them. Witness
to them. But don't by any means call them
brethren. Don't by any means give them
hope of their gospel. Their God is not our God. Their
Christ is not our Christ. Their gospel is not our gospel. And when you know that, when
you see that, take heart, be prepared because they will persecute
you. They'll hate you. I pray that God would bless this
to the hearts of his people. that God would give us grace
and assurance to rest on his promises. Rest. We're dismissed.