2 Corinthians 1, and let's read
verse 20 again. It says, for all the promises
of God in Him, in Christ, are yea, and in Him, amen, unto the
glory of God by us. All the promises of God in Him. Our yea and in him, amen. Unto the glory of God by us.
The longer I go in preaching, the more I realize that Christ
is all. And I very much mean that statement.
I know that, I realize that Christ is all, but I am realizing that
more and more. I really am realizing that more
and more. Antichrist is works. You know, Antichrist is, everybody's
waiting on the Antichrist. Antichrist is already in the
world. Man's works, Antichrist, pro-man, that's already in the
world. The glorification of man's flesh,
man's will, man's desire, man's ability. And it seems to me that
the longer that I go in preaching the glorification of Christ. And that's what we preach. We
preach the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've titled
this message unto the glory of God. That's what it says near
the end of verse 20 unto the glory of God. And it seems to
me that the longer I go in preaching the glorification of Christ,
the more resistance I get. Uh, the more opposition that
I get from those who want to glorify man in some way, shape,
or form. It's like, it's just coming out
more and more and more. And I am seeing more and more
how. A little bit of leaven will leaven
the whole lump. I know these things, but I'm
starting to see them more and more. This anti-stealing the
glory from Christ, it is so subtle. It can be so
subtle, it creeps in so subtly and even the smallest amount
can ruin everything. Just throw a little bit of man
into the mix, throw a little bit of man's thoughts and man's
imagination and man's anything and we'll ruin it. We will ruin
it. Our salvation is Christ alone. God's word has declared that
it is Christ alone. And the apostle Paul said in
Galatians 2 verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God. I
love that, that line and that verse. He said, I do not frustrate
the grace of God, the gift of God, the freely bestowed favor
and the mercy of God. I don't frustrate that. He said,
for if righteousness comes by the law, if righteousness, if worthiness,
if acceptance comes by man's doing of his part to fulfill
the demands of God's law, if that's how righteousness comes,
then he said, Christ died in vain. If man has any part in it, then
why did God the Father kill his only begotten son? God has said what God has said,
and no matter how much the flesh of man wants to change that declaration,
he just can't. He just can't. God has declared
in this word that Christ is all. And I'm telling you, the longer
we believe this, the longer we preach this, the longer that
is the declaration of this place, more and more opposition to that
is going to come out of the woodwork. Well, but what about this? Yeah,
but what about that? Our God has declared that Christ
is all. And as I was preaching to the
brethren in Malawi last Thursday morning. And. The Lord really did bless our
time together. I was going to tell you this
before the message, because this is going to go on sermon audio, but if
anybody wants to show up on a Thursday morning at 830. You come on,
it'll be a real blessing to you. But as I was. In that service
with the brethren last Thursday morning, this fact of Christ
being all and in all really hit home to me. In the middle of the message,
it just really hit home to me. And I want to bring the message
to you right now that I brought to them. I did that before and
I want to do it again. Because it really did my heart
good to be reminded of the fact that no matter what man says
in his short time on this earth, man's time is so short. And man
has all these thoughts and all these opinions on God's word.
It really hit me that no matter what man says, God's word is
going to hold true for all eternity. No matter what. No matter what,
all of the promises of God are yay and amen. All of them. Right here in 2
Corinthians 1, the apostle Paul is telling them, and as I read
this to you, I understand that this chapter is a little hard
to follow. The wording of it is a little difficult to follow.
But what Paul is saying here is, when I came to you, I declared
God's word, period. And that word was matter of fact. That's what he's saying. Verse 18. But as God is true,
our word toward you was not yea and nay. And that is the definition
of false religion. Yea and nay. Yes and no. Well,
yes and no. He said in verse 18, as God is
true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even
by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him
was yea." In Christ, it was yea. For all the promises of God in
him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us. All of God's promises are true
and faithful. Everything that he has said in
this book. If he makes a promise, he'll keep that promise. They
are all yea and amen. God cannot lie. God cannot lie. Everything that he said is a
true promise, and every true promise will come to pass. Not
one yay will be nay. Every word of promise in this
book will be amen. Starting with every word of warning,
every word of judgment, and every word of condemnation. Men and
women want to ignore that today. But God told Adam, this is how
the whole thing started. God told Adam in the day that
you eat of this fruit and sin against me, you are going to
surely die. And Adam did. He did. He died. In that moment, Adam
died spiritually. And then that led to him dying
physically. But God's promise held true.
He died. In Genesis six, the Lord looked
down on all men that they were only evil continually. They're
still in that boat. We are all still in that boat
in the flesh. Every person in this room is
only evil continually. Noah was only evil continually,
but. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That's what made him to differ. But the Lord said there in Genesis
six, I'm going to destroy man from the face of the earth with
a flood. And he did. He did. He fulfilled his promise. That's the point. He fulfilled
his promise. The Lord told Abraham, he said, your seed, you're the
children of Jacob, Israel. He said, your children are going
to be in bondage for 400 years. And they were to Egypt. Just like the Lord said, our
Lord said that he hates sin and he will punish all sin. And if we want to know if that
will hold true, all we have to do is look at the cross of Calvary. Just look at what God the Father
did to his own son when Christ the Son bore the sin of his people. So every promise of God will
hold true. Every promise will stand true.
And what I want us to do now is just look at a few of his
promises and see and let's establish the fact that they are not yea
and nay. They are yea and amen. What he has said, we can count
on it. We can count on it. No matter
what man says about it, no matter what opposition comes, whatever
he has said, we can count on it. Now, there are promises on
every page of this book. Everything that he said is a
promise. Everything. And we're going to spend our
lifetime looking at promise after promise. That's what the rest
of our days here will be. We'll be looking at promise after
promise after promise. Tonight, we're going to look
at three, three of his promises. And let's see if the Lord will
convince us of just how yay and amen they are. Here's the first
one. Turn with me over to first Timothy
chapter one. I wish that the world could hear
this and understand this. 1 Timothy 1 verse 15, it says, this is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief." That is a promise from
God to us. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. This is the truth and worthy
to be believed. that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. I'll tell you who
will be able to cling to that promise. A sinner will. A sinner will. A true sinner will. If you know
that you are a sinner, number one, that's a rare thing. That's a serious statement. A
sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
The Holy Ghost has revealed to a man or a woman, a boy or a
girl, that he or she is a sinner. Really a sinner. But if you know
that you are a sinner, then that is the most beautiful thing your
ears will ever hear. I know that I'm a sinner. If anybody was to ever call me
out publicly and flat say, there you go, you're a sinner. The
only thing I could respond to that would be, I know. That's the only thing I could
say. You're not worthy of the calling God has given you. I
know. I'm a sinner. I don't excuse
it. But because I know that I am,
every time my heart truly hears 1 Timothy 1.15, I think, thank
God, that's the greatest news I've ever heard in my life. Look with me at Luke chapter
five. Luke 5 verse 27, it says, and
after these things, he went forth and saw a publican named Levi
sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said unto him, follow
me. And he left all, rose up and followed him. And Levi made
him a great feast in his own house. And there was a great
company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But
the scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying,
Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus
answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. I wish that I was righteous in
my flesh like Christ is. I truly do. I wish that I was. I put this article in the bulletin
today by Brother Bruce Crabtree. I don't know if you had a chance
to read this or not, but he said, I left the pulpit one night and
a fellow asked me, do you believe the law to be a believer's rule
of life? Think about that statement. Who doesn't believe that? Do
you believe that this is our guide on how we ought to live?
Do you think that the law is a believer's rule of life? Bruce
said he seemed surprised when I told him I did not. His very next question was, how
do you know how to live? I told him immediately that I
lived just as the Apostle Paul. The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God. This was the rule of life for
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Abel, and all others who have nothing
but Jesus Christ to live upon. Someone would say, you mean you
live as you want to? Now listen to his response. This
is why I'm reading it to you. He said, Oh, I wish I could. I would be filled with the spirit. I would never sin again. All
my motives would be pure. I would be delivered from the
body of this death. Oh, I wish I could live just
like I want to. The closest thing I have found
to living like I would like to is living by faith upon Jesus
Christ, the dear and blessed Son of God. To that I say amen. Amen. I wish that I was righteous
in my flesh like Christ is, but me wishing that won't change
the fact that I'm not. I'm just not. Can a leopard change
its spots? We get so discouraged and we
get so down and frustrated because we just can't not be sinners. I can't change the fact that
in my wretched flesh, I'm nothing but a sinner in my flesh, in
my flesh. I'm not talking about in Christ,
but in my flesh, I'll never be righteous. But thank God, this
is what he said. I did not come to save the righteous. When he said that, you know,
he, he wasn't using trickery, meaning I came to save the righteous. And he said, I didn't come to
save the righteous. He wasn't saying he wasn't, his yea was not nay. Does that make sense? He said, I didn't come to save
the righteous, I came to save sinners, I came to save you,
sinners like you. That's glorious news to me, that's
what I am, I'm a sinner. You may hear men lie on God by
saying that his promise is yea and nay. Men say that all the
time they stand up in pulpits and they tell people that Christ
came to save sinners. But they say, if you want to
be saved, you'd better not be a sinner. Does that register? Is that not amazing? If I could accomplish that. I
would no longer fit the description of who Christ came to save. You
know what? Men will stand up in pulpits
and they'll say, he didn't come to call the righteous, but they
say, if you're going to be saved, you better make yourself in your
flesh to be righteous. God's promise on this is yay
and amen. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. And Paul said, I'm so glad he
did because I'm the chief. So that's our first promise.
I'll be quick, okay? That's the first promise. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Here's the second
promise. Go to John 19. John 19 verse 30 says, when Jesus
therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners and it is finished. That is a promise from God that
is yes and yes. Period. That is not yes and no. That is yay and amen. Christ
Jesus came into this world to save sinners and it is finished. The message of lies, the message
of error, you'll know that you're hearing the message of error
and, and, um, The yay and nay, the yes and no message of lies
when you hear a man stand up in a pulpit and say, Christ saved
you. But now you're going to have
to save yourself. I mean, it's just said all over
the place. They'll say Christ died to put
away your sin. But now you're going to have
to put away your sin, too. Well, wait a minute. Did Christ
save me? Did Christ save me? They'll say
yes and no. He did, but the work is not finished
yet. If that's the case, he didn't
save me. If it's a no, it's a no. Thank God that's not the case.
Did Christ save his people from their sin? Here's the answer.
Yay and amen. Period. He took all of their sin away
from them. Everything, see that's the thing
about it. That's what I just love. I get so down. Why am I? Why am I thus? Why am I still
the way that I am? It's because I'm a sinner from
the day I was born into this world until the day I leave this
world. And Christ took all of my sin from the day I was born
into this world until the day that I leave this world. He's
already taken the sin I haven't even committed yet. He took all of that sin from
all of his people. He laid it on himself. He bore
the judgment of God for it. That's what he did. He bore the
judgment of God for it. He poured out his blood in the
payment of it, and in doing that, he satisfied everything that
had to be satisfied. So much so, God raised him from
the dead. And with Him being raised sinless
unto eternal life, His people are raised sinless with Him unto
eternal life. It's finished. John 17 verse
1 says, These words spake Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy
Son also may glorify Thee. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. He said, I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. If we want to cling to a promise
from God that is yea and amen, we can cling to this. Christ
Jesus came into this world to save sinners and it is finished. He did it. He's done. Now let's look at one more promise
before we close the message. Turn over to John six. John 6, verse 37. It says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. If we truly do see ourselves
to be sinners, then we can rest in the assurance and the promise
of the Word of God if we come to Christ for mercy. And that's
what men and women do once God reveals their sin to them. And
they don't just know that they are sinners like they know that
they are human. It's not just a head knowledge.
They feel it. They are disgusted by it. The
guilt, the shame, everything that goes with truly knowing
sin. Once that happens, God's people
seek mercy and forgiveness in the blood of Christ. And if we
come to Christ for that mercy and that grace to help in time
of need, honestly, sincerely. Acknowledging to him what we
are, then he said. He will in no wise cast us. He said in Matthew 11 verse 28,
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. That's his promise to us. And
it's yea and amen. It's yea and amen. Well, now,
aren't you going to turn it on man and tell man to do his part?
Nope. No, I'm not. Our Lord said in Matthew five,
it's a sin against God to go back on your promise. Even just
one promise. That's why Christ said, I'll
never do it. I'll never do it. I'll never fail God or the law
or any of my people in keeping one of my promises. And based
on his own word, he said, here are my promises. I came to save
sinners. It is finished. And now you can come to me and
rest. You can come to him and rest. This is his true promise to us
and we can believe it. We can believe it. We can rest
in it. It's finished. Amen.