Thank you all so much for this
weekend. I know it's a lot of work that
goes into a meeting and I appreciate it very much. And ladies, the
food you prepared and thank you very much for that and thankful
for your pastor. I've enjoyed getting to know
him and look forward to getting to know him more and visiting
with him more. I always enjoy it when he gives
me a call and we get to talk. Turn with me to Galatians 4. I want to just take one verse here as Paul
is given this allegory. He says in verse 28, Galatians
4.28, Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. Salvation is by God's promise. It's by God's promise. God's covenant is His promise. It's His Word. We're saved by
promise. Every sinner that's born again
of the Spirit of God is a child of promise. We brethren, as Isaac
was, are the children of promise. You remember back, I don't know,
I lose track of time, but either in the late 90's or early 2000's
when it came big in religion, when they were calling themselves
promise keepers. There's only one promise keeper,
and that's God. And we're saved by the promise
of God. By His divine power, through
the knowledge of Him, He's given to His people, freely given to
us, exceeding great and precious promises. I want to look at these
promises of God and see how it is that we're children of promise. First of all, the promises of
God are exceeding great and precious because He's the author. He's
the author. Look over with me at Hebrews
chapter 6. We'll try to look at a few Scriptures today. Hebrews
6 and verse 13. It says, when God made promise
to Abraham, God came to Abraham and made a promise to him. He
said, in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed. Now
look what he says, when God made promise to Abraham, because he
could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. Saying, surely,
blessing, I will bless thee. And multiplying, I will multiply
thee. And so after Abraham had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. God promised, and God gave him
what He promised. He says, "...for men verily swear
by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end
of all strife." When you enter in a covenant, you make an oath,
and you swear, and it's the end of all strife. It's confirmed.
Well, he says, we're in God willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of promise. That's what we are, the heirs
of promise. He showed to us the immutability,
the unchangeableness of his counsel. He confirmed it by an oath. so that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong
consolation who fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us which we have as an anchor of the soul sure and steadfast
which enters the veil wherein the forerunner is for us entered
Jesus Our great high priest after the order of Melchizedek. God's
counsel, His promise is God's decree. It's what God determined
to be done. And whatever God purposed, that's
what God does. Everything that's coming to pass
in this world, God already purposed it from eternity. It wouldn't
come to pass if God hadn't purposed it. Everything is fulfilling
God's purpose, and His decree to save His people is immutable. It cannot be changed. It's unchangeable
because God who decreed it is unchangeable. God is sovereign,
His wisdom is unsearchable, and His decree is unchangeable. Just
like God did. When He says something, that's
what He shall do. That's exactly what He shall
do. And He not only decreed this, and not only made it known to
Abraham, He confirmed it by an oath. He swore by Himself. He could
swear by no... He bound Himself by an oath.
The heirs of promise, we have the immutability of His counsel. The immutability of His promise.
And it's confirmed by an oath. He said in Titus 1-2, it's the
hope of eternal life which God, they cannot lie, promised before
the world began. This is God who cannot lie. We're
talking about a promise God made. Now that's what salvation is.
Salvation from A to Z is by God's promise. It's by God's promise. And it's sure because God cannot
lie. God cannot lie. When you read
the words of this book, every promise God makes, He's making
to His people. You that have been born of God,
making the promise to you, and they're sure promises. They cannot
be altered. They cannot be changed. Every
word is sure. Now here's the second thing I
want to show you back in Galatians chapter 3. God's promise is sure because
every promise is in Christ Jesus. Every promise is in His Son.
Look at verse 16. He says, Now to Abraham and his
seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. You see,
the promise was made to Christ. And He's the promised seed. and
all his elect were in him, and every promise that he made to
his son, he made to his people in his son. And he says here,
this I say then, this covenant that was confirmed before of
God in Christ, when he promised Abraham That was 430 years before
the law came. And he says now, the law which
was 430 years after cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of no effect. For if the inheritance is of
the law, it's no more promise. When we talk about the promise,
we're talking about that which is totally opposite and foreign
to works. It's not by our work, it's by
God's promise. He says, but God gave it to Abraham
by promise. Well, what serves the law? It was added because of transgressions
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. That
seed's Christ. Now look at verse 22. The Scripture
hath concluded all under sin that the promise, by faith of
Jesus Christ, by His doing, His dying, by His work, this promise
might be given to them that believe. So you see, before this world
was made, before God did anything, He chose His Son. He chose His
Son. And he put the whole work in
the hand of his son. And he promised his son that
he would give him all preeminence. That he would have a people that
would give him all the glory and all the honor and all the
praise. It pleased God that in him all
fullness dwell. It pleased God that his son have
all the preeminence. This is why it's so blasphemous
to speak of men contributing to this work because God chose
to give the glory to His Son. He made this promise to His Son. And Christ promised to glorify
the Father. He promised to come forth and
do all the work and give God the Father all the glory. This
is what the whole of this promise is about, giving God all the
glory. That's what our salvation is
about. It's about God getting glory to His name. That's what
it's about. And so Christ came forth. This
is what He promised to do. He promised to be made of a woman.
His children are flesh and blood. He's got to be made flesh and
blood. so that he can have a body to do the will of God as the
head of his people, as a man representing his people to God.
And so he was made of a woman like his brethren without sin. There's only two people that
started out in his life without sin, Adam and Christ. They're
the two heads. And we all fell in Adam and everybody
that God chose in Christ are made righteous by His obedience.
Christ was made of a woman. He came and He put Himself under
the law. You think about this. The law
is not made for a righteous man. And He's righteous. The law had
no claim on Him whatsoever. The law could say nothing to
our Redeemer. He's righteous. And Paul told
the Galatians, he said, if you're circumcised, you're indebted
to do the whole law. And on the eighth day, our Lord
Jesus Christ was circumcised. He made himself willingly a debtor
to do the whole law for his people. That's what he promised the Father
he would do. And then this righteous, holy, spotless, sinless, perfect
man presented himself to God and was willingly made sin for. He willingly gave himself to
the Father to have all the sins of his people laid on Him. Why? Well, the number one reason is
so that he could manifest the righteousness of God. So he could
declare how righteous God is. How that God will by no means
clear the guilty. Justice has got to be honored.
And he's glorifying God in his justice, his august justice,
his holy justice. He said, in Isaiah 42, He said,
He will magnify the law and make it honorable. And so Christ declared
God just. And at the same time, He declared
God's the justifier. He brought all the glory to God.
In Christ Jesus, when Christ laid down His life, He made His
people the righteousness of God in Him. Do you know what that
means, brethren? The law can say nothing else
to His people. Nothing negative to His people.
The law actually says of His people, we're righteous. We're
righteous. And Christ said it's finished.
He did this work for the Father. He glorified the Father in saving
His people. And so all these promises of
God, they're sure in Christ. It says all the promises of God
in Him. That's where they all are. They're
in Christ. And they're yay in Him and they're amen in Him. That's His name, amen. And they're
under the glory of God. We're giving God the glory for
this. Aren't you thankful He didn't leave anything in our
hands? He didn't leave any work in our hands. We can't keep the
promise of God. He kept the promise. He made
the promise. He made the promise in His Son.
And He sent forth the promise keeper who kept the promise.
He didn't leave one thing in our hands. Now, why did Christ
redeem His people? Why did He redeem His people?
Look back there in Galatians 3 and look at verse 13. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree, that, here's why, that the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise. That's why He did it. What's
the promise he promised to give the Holy Spirit? And he promised
that he would do this through faith. It's through the faith
of Christ. It's through his faithfulness. Peter stood on the day of Pentecost
and he said, he has shed forth this which you now see in here.
And it's by his spirit that he gives us faith to lay hold of
the promise, the one who fulfilled it, Christ Jesus. Now, if any
of these works had been of the law, think about this. You and
I, I take it everybody here is a gentile, you and I would have
never been saved if it was by the works of the law because
God never gave us the old covenant law. He never did. We would have never been saved
because we didn't have the law. But you see, the promise is through
Christ's work. Abraham didn't have the law either. It was 430 years later, but by
giving it to Abraham by promise, Christ came, He took the law
out of the way. He fulfilled it. He honored it
to show us the righteousness of God. So that now, this promise,
this same promise God made to Abraham is given to us through
Christ, through His doing. And He pours the Spirit out and
gives you faith to lay hold of Him and trust Him and rest in
Him. And that's why He did it this
way. Listen to Romans 4.16. He said, it is of faith that
it might be by grace. It's a faith that it might be
by grace. To the end, the promise might
be sure to all the seed, to all God's elect. Not to that only
which is of the law, not to only those elect Jews who were under
the law, but also to those of us who are of the faith of Abraham. Abraham was a Gentile. And all
his elect Jew and Gentile are children of Abraham like we saw
last night. Not by law but by the doing of Christ. So all these
promises are sure, brother, because of Christ and what he did for
his people. Now thirdly, the reason God's
elect are born of God, now get what I'm saying, the reason we're
born of God is because by that grace we are children of promise. What did we do? We came into
this world, conceived in sin, came forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies, walked in rebellion, hating God. That's
what our nature is, is enmity against God. We hated God. We didn't want to hear about
God. We didn't want God to have the glory. We didn't want anything
to do with God. And that's where we're to stay.
But God chose His people by promise, Christ redeemed us, and therefore
we must be born again. Because we're children of promise.
Galatians 4 back there in verse 23, he says, he talks about Hagar and Sarah. And you know
the story here, Abraham, and what he's doing here is the children
of the Jews, the natural children of Abraham, were boasting, we're
the children of Abraham. So the Holy Spirit gives Paul
this word to remind them, Abraham had two sons, you know. You the
children of Abraham? Well, he had two sons. He had
a lot more, but these two right here is where you're either going
to be found as one of these two. God had promised Abraham a son. He promised him a son. And Abraham
and Sarah waited 10 years. Now that's commendable. They
waited 10 years. That's faith. But God didn't
give the promise. He didn't give the son. And so
Sarah has a handmaid, an Egyptian, Hagar. And Sarah says, we got
to help God out here. We got to do something to bring
this promise to pass. Maybe he meant you're going to
have this promise seed through Hagar. So Abraham married Hagar. Isn't it amazing how God overrules
the sin of His people to glorify His name? This was sin. He took a second wife. But Sarah
didn't quit being the wife. The Lord just said he made the
promise to Abraham and when the law entered in 430 years later,
he didn't change that covenant promise. Sarah was still Abraham's
wife even though Hagar entered in. Hagar is a picture of that
old covenant. But God said, this is a sign of promise, but Abraham
has Ishmael through Hagar. And he says there in verse 23,
he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. That was
all the wisdom and will and works of Abraham. And so that was a
child of flesh. Now that's what a great many
people are in religion today. They're children of flesh. Listen,
I wouldn't hurt anybody's feelings for anything but if we trust
in ourselves we need our feelings hurt. If you're trying to come
to God, if you think you were born of your will or born of
your works or born of your wisdom or whatever it is you think it's
of you, that's not how God's children are born. That's being
born of the flesh. That's as natural as your first
birth. Now brethren, listen to me. The
way we're born again is of God. He says here, but the one born
of the free woman was by promise. We're born of the free woman.
We're born of the everlasting covenant promise of God. God
promised this and God did it. God did it. And so he says in
verse 28, we brethren as Isaac were children of promise. Children
of promise. only those born of the Spirit
of God. Only those who brought to see that they have nothing
in them that could commend them to God. That this all had to
be of God's promise. So that you cast all your care
on Christ. Proof of life. I'm talking about
spiritual life. Proof of being a child of the
promises. You give all the glory to God.
This is all of His promise. It's all in Christ and Christ
is all you hope. Now if that's where you are,
if that's what God's done for you, you're a child of promise.
You're a child of promise. Sinner believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. I don't have a problem telling
sinners to do that because God told, he told Ezekiel, tell these
dry bones to live. And he's going to send the spirit
forth and give life as you declare, live! He'll send forth and give
life. He'll give the faith to believe.
Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And here's what
faith is right here. He was fully persuaded that what
God promised, God was able to perform. That's faith, being
fully persuaded that what God promised, God's able to perform. And it says, and therefore it
was imputed to him for righteousness. Through faith, God imputed the
righteousness of Christ to Abraham. He was righteous in Christ. Christ
was his surety, and God robed him in the righteousness of Christ.
But it wasn't just written for Abraham. He says, and it shall
be imputed to you if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So
I'm saying, sinner, believe on Christ. If you can, that's proof
you're a child of God. If you can, it's because the
Spirit of God birthed you again according to God's promise. Now,
for you that believe in Isaiah 43, I want to show you a few
of these promises we have, and I'll be very brief here, wrap
this up, but I want you to see this. Isaiah 43. Verse 1, he says, now, thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob. That's what we are in our flesh.
We're just tricky, supplanting, wicked Jacobs. He that formed
thee, O Israel, that's what we are because of God's grace as
children of promise. He says to us, fear not. Fear
not. Here's a promise. I have redeemed
thee. That's God's promise. I've done
it. I redeemed you. I purchased you. I bought you.
I freed you. You're redeemed. You're mine.
Look, I've called thee by thy name. I've called thee by thy
name. Look down at verse 7. Even everyone
that's called by my name. He called you by your name and
he made your name to be his name. You know, Israel is Christ's
name first and foremost. He's the one that had power as
a prince, had power with God and has prevailed. And he's given
us his name. I've called you by thy name.
And he says here, thou art mine. All these are problems. I redeemed
you. I called you. I called you from
eternity. I called you effectually. I called
you and gave you my name. You're mine. You're mine. Believe it. You belong to God.
Look, when you pass through the waters, I will be with thee. That's a promise of God. You're
going to pass through the waters. But He said, I will be with thee.
Look at verse 5. Fear not, for I am with thee. I not only will be with thee,
I am with thee. Our Lord told His apostles, He
said, you're going to all depart and forsake me. And there's not
going to be anybody with me as far as men go. But he said, but
I'm not alone. The Father is with me. And our
Lord has promised, I am with thee. I will be with thee. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. That's his promise. That's his
promise. Sometimes. He might, to teach
you that, you know what he's going to have to do, we're so
distracted and we got so much company and so much going on
in this world, to teach us that, he's going to get us along. And
he'll bring you to feel like you don't have anybody with you. And that's when he'll teach you,
I'm with you. I'm with you. That's a promise. He says here,
when you pass through the waters and through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When you walk through the fire,
thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon you.
That's God's promise. These trials are not doing anything,
but they're for our good. That's all. They're not hurting
us. Now they hurt, but you know what they hurt? They hurt our
flesh. but they're to purge the dross. And you know, when the
devil sifts, he's trying to sift out everything good. When God
sifts, he's just sifting out the bad. They're far good. They don't harm us. They're far
good. And he says, I'm the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. He said, I'm yours. I'm yours. He's the Lord of hosts. He's
the Lord of hosts, thy God, thy covenant God. He can work everything
in this world together for you. And He's the Holy One, so everything
He does is right. He said, I gave Egypt for your
ransom, Ethiopia and sea before you. Now look at this next thing.
You're precious in my sight. You're precious in my sight.
Robed in Christ, in our Redeemer, you're precious in my sight,
God said. He said, you've been honorable,
not in ourselves, but in Christ we have. You've been honorable. He said, I've loved thee everlastingly,
unchangeably. Therefore, I will give men for
thee and people for thy life. That's what He's promised us,
brethren. I'll give men for thee, I'll
give people for thy life. Fear not. I'll bring thy seed
from the east and gather them from the west. I'll say to the
north, give up. To the south, keep not back.
Bring my sons for my daughters from the ends of the earth."
Brother John, my grandfather pastored a church of about 20
people for 35 years. And it takes God's grace to do
that. But here's the confidence you
have. He said, I'll bring my children. I'll bring them. You
just preach and leave the results to Him. He said, I'll bring them.
I'll bring them. That's His promise. That's His
promise. He said, here's why. I've created
Him for my glory. I've formed Him. I've made Him. These are all promises of our
God. If you be Christ, you're Abraham's seed and heirs according
to promise. According to promise. Christ
won't lose one, brethren. That's why we're here right now. The fact that we're here right
now as the church of God means He still has some elect and He's
calling them out. You know, when Israel got tired
of waiting because Moses was in the mount, they said, up,
make us an idol to go before us. And that's what's going on
with the world today. The world, they see he's not
returned and they, up, make us gods. We don't know what's become
of him. But this is what He promises us. The Lord's not slack concerning
His promise. As some men count slackness.
He's long-suffering. He's suffering long toward His
people. Because He's not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repent. And that means they're going
to. That means they're going to. You account that the long-suffering
of God is salvation. He will save all His people.
And we, brethren, according to His promise are waiting for a
new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." We're
not trying to save this earth. We're not trying to save... Listen,
he said as long as the earth is held in store, there's going
to be a season to plant and a season to harvest because he said, I'm
using that to illustrate my everlasting covenant. There's your guarantee
that nothing's going to happen to the climate as long as God's
got a people. He's using it to illustrate his
covenant grace. He won't let anything happen
to Him. He won't let anything happen to us because that's His
promise, brethren. That's His promise. And we're
looking for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. And one of these days, we're
going to be brought into that promise. We're going to be brought
into it. And here's what we're going to
say. Go to 1 Kings 8, and I'll end with this. 1 Kings 8. When
He brings you there, This is what was said when they came into
the promised land. Now all those were temporal promises,
but this is what's going to be said when we enter into glory.
1 Kings 8 verse 56, Blessed be
the Lord that hath given rest unto His people, Israel, according
to all that He promised, there hath not failed one word of all
His good promise which He promised by the hand, and you can put,
of Christ His servant. When we enter into glory, that's
going to be our saying. That's going to be what we're
going to say. There has not failed one promise that God promised
us. And I guarantee you this, there
are promises right now that He's fulfilling for us that you and
I don't have the discernment to even see. We get all fretful
and disappointed because something we wanted didn't come to pass.
And we're going to find out one day that was God making good
on His promise, saving you from you and from whatever else. It's all good. And we're going
to say in that day everything He promised, He brought it to
pass just like He said. This is the promise that He has
promised us, brethren. Eternal life. Eternal life. And that life is in His Son.
You have the Son, you have eternal life. You have it in your possession
right now. Don't let go of Him. And you
have eternal life. And He won't let you. He promised. He won't let you. Thank you all
so much. I hope the Word's been a blessing. I hope God will continue to bless
it. And I pray that He'll be with you and continue to bless
you here. And thank you so much. Thank you, Brother John.