Genesis chapter 13, verse 14,
let's read this together. And the Lord said to Abram, after
the lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes and look
from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward
and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will
I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the
dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of
the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk
through the land in the length of it and the breadth of it.
for I will give it unto thee." Then Abram removed his tent and
came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and
built there an altar unto the Lord." So after God said, look
everywhere, all around you, 360 degrees, And he did. And then Abram came
and he dwelt in that plain. Part of that area, God said,
was his. He was going to give it to him.
And he set up his tent there. And he worshipped God there at
the altar that he built. Now, this is a very short text
of scripture, and I was actually considering including it in the
next chapter, but I knew that that would spill over too much.
So, I just wanted to bring a little message here about our life as
believers, as Abraham's life was as a believer. Now, back
in Genesis chapter 12, when God told Abram to leave his house,
He said in Genesis 12, 1, to go to a place that I will show
thee. So get thee out of thy country
and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land
that I will show thee. And then when Abram came to Canaan,
in the same chapter, chapter 12, when he came there the first
time with Lot, God appeared to him and said in verse 7, he told
Abraham, unto thy seed will I give this land and there he builded
an altar to the Lord who appeared to him. But in Genesis chapter
13 where we just read after Lot was separated from Abram, after
Abram had given Lot his own, his choice, take your choice
Lot, and while Abram then dwelt in Canaan the Lord appeared to
Abraham after that Lot was separated and he said these words, lift
up now thine eyes and look From the place where thou art, northward
and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land which
thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the
dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of
the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk
through the land, in the length of it and in the breadth of it,
for I will give it to thee." That's what we just read, and
I just wanted you to hear it again. God told Abram to lift
up his eyes and to look north and south and east and west and
promised to give him all that he saw. Give it to him and to
his seed forever. And then the Lord told him after
he promised to give him all that land, rise up and walk through
the land. And so that's when Abram moved
to the plain of Mamre in Hebron and pitched his tent. What do
we learn from all of this? What do we learn from this? Well,
first of all, God promised to give Abram and his seed all the
land that he could see. As far as he could see, north,
south, east and west. Second, God promised this would
be Abraham's everlasting possession. He said, I'm going to give it
to thy seed and to thee forever, in verse 15. And then, fourth,
God promised Abram that his seed would be as numerous as the dust
of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the
earth, then his seed should be numbered. And then, the next
thing that God promised him, the fourth thing, was that God
told him to rise up and walk throughout this land. Now, the
New Testament reveals the interpretation, how we're supposed to understand
these words that God gave to Abraham. In Romans chapter 4,
if you want to look there, it just happens, and this was not
a plan on my part, but it just so happens that our studies in
the Bible study in Romans 4 overlap with Genesis at this point. But
in Romans chapter 4, if you want to turn to that scripture, in
verse 13, this is what God said about the promises that He made
to Abraham. He said, for the promise that
he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to
his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of
faith." So here it's a big word, world. There it seemed in most
People nowadays, most evangelicals will interpret it this way, that
God gave to Abraham and to that nation of Israel the land described
by the borders of that nation of Israel in the Old Testament.
And so Abraham was given a promise that according to scripture in
the New Testament was the entire world. The land that God promised
was not limited to the land now described by the borders of Israel.
Nor was it the land of the borders of Canaan that was then in the
world. But God promised to Abram the
whole world. And He promised it to Abram and
to his seed. Remember what it says in Matthew
chapter 5 and verse 5. It says, the meek shall inherit
the earth, the entire world. So it's much bigger than just
that little land strip. And if the meek inherit the earth
and Abraham didn't inherit as much as they do, then we know
that there's a disconnection because God says the believers
are the seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. believers
in Galatians 3.29 receive the promises given to Abraham. And
if they receive the earth, then we know that it includes the
whole world, as it says in Romans 4.13. Abraham never received the fulfillment
of the promise of the land of Canaan as being his in his own
lifetime. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. I'll
just show you how God helps us in this. In Hebrews 11 and verse
8, it says, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out
into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,
obeyed. And he went out not knowing whether
he went. So he left purely on the basis
of God's word to him. That he would show him a land,
give it to his seed. Eventually, in chapter 13, he
says, I'm going to give it to you and to your seed as an everlasting
possession. But it says in verse 9, By faith
he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of
the same promise. It sometimes escapes our awareness
that Abraham lived old enough, 175, so that Isaac, who was his
son at 100, and married at 60, and had two children, Esau and
Jacob, they were in the same tent with Abraham at some point.
But he sojourned in that land as a stranger, not as a possessor
of the land, but as a stranger in it. with Isaac and Jacob,
who were the heirs with him of the same promise." The same promise.
And here it says about that promise, promise possession, verse 10,
"...for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God, not man. Through faith also Sarah
herself received strength to conceive seed, which was Isaac,
and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because
Here's how she lived and this is how she was delivered of a
child when she was so old. Because she judged Him faithful
who had promised. That's what faith is. Considering
God who promised to be faithful to keep His promise. Such a simple
definition and so clear. Verse 12, Therefore sprang there
even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars
of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore
innumerable. Verse 13, These all Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, these all died in faith, not having received
the promises, not in this life, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they
came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now, they seek, they desire a better country that is unheavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city.
What city? The heavenly Jerusalem. Mount
Zion. That's the city we've come to.
To an innumerable company of angels. To the spirits of just
men made perfect. To Christ, the mediator of the
new covenant. That's what Abraham looked for.
So in Genesis chapter 13, when God promised this to Abraham,
He was speaking of the world. He was speaking of a heavenly
city. The city of Jerusalem. That city where God Himself dwells
in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, with His people, and
we see His face. We have eternal life knowing
God in Christ. But in Abraham's lifetime, And
after his lifetime, Abraham's children, the nation of Israel,
received the promise of the physical land of Canaan. Because God included
that in the promise. But in Joshua 21, and we've read
this before, so I'm not going to turn you there right now,
but in Joshua 21, verse 43, actually let me turn you there. There's
no sense in skipping over this. Joshua 21, verse 43. Listen to what God said here
about this physical land of Canaan in the days of the nation of
Israel. Abraham's children received that
promise fulfilled then. It says in Joshua 21, 43, And
the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware 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 sware unto their fathers, which would have been Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. And there stood not a man of all their enemies
before them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their
hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord
had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass." And then,
also, if we turn over to Joshua 23, verse 14, I want you to see that the land
God promised and gave to the nation of Israel was a promise
conditioned on their obedience. And they didn't obey. And their
disobedience was the cause of them being cast out of that land.
He says in Joshua 23.14, Joshua is talking. He's going to die. He's 110 years
old, or however old. I think he was 110 when he died.
He says, "...I'm going the way of all the earth, and you know
in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one good
thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your
God spake concerning you. All are come to pass unto you,
and not one thing has failed thereof." Now, this is a perfect
text to prove that the promises made to the physical nation of
Israel were all fulfilled in the days of Joshua. But notice
in verse 15, Joshua continues, he says, Therefore it shall come
to pass that as all good things are come upon you, which the
Lord your God promised you, so shall the Lord bring upon you
all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good
land, which the Lord your God has given you. when you have
transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded
you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves
to them, then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against
you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land which
the Lord hath given you." So here it's clear, the land of
Canaan, that the nation of Israel dwelt in was given them in fulfillment
of the promise in the days of Joshua. And Joshua said, based
on what Moses said at Sinai, that they would be cast out of
that land for their disobedience and their idolatry, which they
were. Now, the point here is that God
gave promise to Abraham in two ways. The physical seed and the
spiritual seed. And Abraham lived by faith in
hope of the fulfillment of God's promise of grace. Not the physical
promise. He didn't live by faith in hope
of himself receiving the physical promise. He lived by faith in
hope that through his physical seed Christ would be born, to
whom God would give all the promises, and his spiritual seed would
receive the eternal glories of heaven and the new earth. And
so he lived by faith in God's word in hope of that fulfillment. And that's what the significance
of these words here in Genesis chapter 13 are meant for us to
understand. They convey to us not only the
physical, but the spiritual promises God made to Abraham. And so Abraham lived by faith,
and he lived by faith in hope. He lived in hope of the fulfillment
of the promise. Look at Romans chapter 4 once
again. I want to see how the words are
used there, because this phrase, and I've taken it directly from
Scripture, by faith, in hope, is used in Scripture to teach
us how we live. In Romans chapter 4, it says, in verse 16, he says,
the promise, is not given to us by the law, but by faith.
He says in verse 16, therefore it is, the promise is, of faith,
that it might be by grace we receive the promise by faith. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Do we have the fulfillment of the promise? Has God already
given us eternal life? Has he already given us the world
and all things? Yes, he has. But have we actually
experienced the gift? Do we have it in our possession
now? Do we live in the fulfillment
of it in our own possession? No, we live now by faith. So he says here, it's of faith. We received it, not for what
we did, but we received it because God promised and God has given
us faith in order that we might possess it now. by faith, not
physically, not in actuality in our experience. But anyway,
it's through faith that it might be by grace to the end, the promise
might be sure to all the seed. Not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. All who believe are the children
of Abraham. But look at verse 17. As it is
written, this is what God said in In Genesis chapter 12, and
then in Genesis chapter 17 again, "...I have made thee a father
of many nations before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth
the dead..." Remember, Abraham's body was dead. which foreshadowed
the deadness of our souls, and our death in sin, his body was
dead, he quickeneth the dead, and God calls those things which
be not as though they were. This is the whole point. That
we live on the basis of God's Word. God calls what is, not
as though it already is. It is because God said it is,
even though we don't see the fulfillment of it. Verse 18.
This is the verse I want to get to. Who, Abraham, who against
hope, against all outward observation, that God's word would actually
be fulfilled against all outward evidence. Against hope, he believed
in hope. In other words, he believed God's
word in expectation, a certain expectation of the fulfillment
of that word. That's the way he lived. That
he might become the father of many nations according to that
which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And so he says in verse
19, and being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body,
now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God. and being fully persuaded that
what He had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore,
it was imputed to Him for righteousness. Now, back in Genesis chapter
13, what do we see from this? Well, we see that the promise
has to do with spiritual things. It has to do with a heavenly
kingdom, a heavenly eternal inheritance. And it says that we live now
Abraham believed, that's living by faith, in hope. He believed
God's word, expecting what God had said would be, was actually
the way things are. And that's the way we live. So
he lived by faith in hope of the fulfillment of God's promise
of grace. That promise was given to him
and is given to all who believe Christ. It's clear from the New
Testament, I want you to notice this, it's clear from the New
Testament that all things are given to the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that clear? Hebrews 1-2
He is the heir of all things. John 3-35 The Father loveth the
Son, and hath given all things into His hand. In John 13 it
says, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into
His hand, and that He was come from God, and was going back
to God, He rises up from supper, laid aside His garments, and
took a towel, and washed the disciples' feet. That's the God,
the Son of God, who knew all things were His. He laid aside
His garments to wash His disciples' feet. All things are His. And
John 16, 15, the same thing is said. The Father has given all
things to Him, and therefore He gives the Spirit to His people.
Everything is the Son's. So when God told Abraham in Genesis
13, 14 through 18, that he was to get up and go look north,
south, east and west, this is the Lord Jesus Christ's inheritance
given to Abraham. Who gave it to Abraham? Well,
whose was it? Well, it was God the Father's,
but He gave it to His Son. So who gave it to Abraham? Well,
the Lord Jesus Christ gave it to him by promise. It was His
to give, His to have, His to do with as He pleases. All things
were made by Him, the Lord Jesus, and for Him. And he made them
in order to give them to his people, the church. Ephesians
1, 22 and 23. So everything that is Christ
is given to his people by the Lord Jesus Christ. And now that's
something that is just under his not understood fully, and
it's underappreciated by us. It is all Christ, and He gives
all that is His to His people, according to the will of God.
Romans chapter 8, 16, and 17 says that we are heirs of God
as His children, and joint heirs with Christ. The Son is the heir
of His Father, is He not? And if Christ is the Son of God,
and we're made the sons of God by adoption and redemption, and
by the new birth, then we are also sons of God. That makes
us joint heirs with Christ. What is given to Christ? All
things. What is given to the believer? All things. And so
we see this in scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Look at that for a
moment. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 21
there was argument in the church of Corinth about who was greater,
Paul or Apollos or one of these other ministers of God's word,
Peter and so on. And so there was a division.
They were, you know, the how we do, my dad's bigger than your
dad, my dad can whip your dad, those kind of arguments. These
guys were doing it with the preachers. They said, well, I believe when
I heard Apollos. Well, I believe when I heard Paul. So there was
a division among them who was the greater. And Paul says this,
let no man glory, verse 21, 1 Corinthians 3, 21, let no man glory in men,
for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or
the world, all these things. The apostles, The preachers,
all the ministers of Christ, were given to the church. They're
all yours. All their gifts are yours. The
gospel that they preach is yours. He says, not only the preachers,
but the world is yours. Now, this is an amazing thing.
The world is ours. According to what God said to
Abraham, He promised him all things. Get up, go look. North,
west, north, south, west. Everything is yours. All things.
Christ is yours. His ministers are yours. The
world belongs to the saints. It was created. Remember in the
beginning God put all things under His feet. Under Christ,
the man. Hebrews chapter 2. And having
put them under the Lord Jesus Christ, He put them under the
feet of His saints. The world is ours. God created
the world for His people. By creating it for His Son, Christ
created the world to have a people for Himself. He upholds the world
now, in all of the events of the world, for His people. That's
why God says in Romans 8.28, all things work together for
the good of them that are called of Jesus Christ. Those that are
loved of God and so on. All things. It's upheld for them. It's upheld for their salvation.
Colossians 1.17 says all things consist by the Lord Jesus. And
when the Lord has called his last sheep, the world will end.
The world is Christ's, both as the Son of God and our Mediator.
It's all His. The world is crucified to the
saints, and they are crucified to it. And yet the world to come
is given to them. But here he says also, not only
the world, but life is ours. The life that Christ lived on
the earth was the life we lived before God. Life is ours. Life in Christ is ours. Our own
life now is ours. And how do we live this life?
Paul says, I live by the faith of the Son of God. I am crucified
with Christ, but I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. So life is ours. His life In this earth, His obedience
is ours. His righteousness is ours. His
life in heaven as our intercessor is ours. An advocate. His life
in us. Eternal life is ours. To know
God. It's all ours. Our lives are
given to us to live by faith on Christ now. To the glory of
God. And that's our desire, isn't
it? Life is ours. Death is ours. He says here in
1 Corinthians 3, not only these ministers, but life and death. Life. What do you mean death
is ours? Well, when we die, our body is
released from the sin that's part of us. The body is dead
because of sin. So when we die, we're released
from sin. Death is ours. It's our victory.
And the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is ours. Because He made
propitiation for our sins to God. So death is ours. And it
says, things present. Things present are ours. We're
conquerors, more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. All
things work together for our good. Things to come are ours. Our hope. Which is the future. Everything God has promised is
ours. The judgment day itself will be ours. Because we will
be declared justified by God for Christ's sake. It's all ours
because of Christ. And he says here, and you are
Christ's. And that's the ground and foundation
of it all, isn't it? And that's why the Lord says
in 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your cares upon Him. For he to
whom you belong careth for you." We are Christ, he says here.
You are Christ and Christ is God. If we're Christ, then He
has an interest in us. He orders all things and works
all things and will bring us to glory because we are His inheritance. There's no way it can possibly
fail. His death delivered us from death. His life makes us
stand before God in the perfect righteousness of His obedience.
Everything is ours. And so, back in Genesis chapter
13. It's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? That God has given us all these
things in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the worst things in our
lives Even the worst things in our lives are Christ's, and they're
ours because they're His. Our sins became His. And His death became our death. His resurrection is our resurrection. His life in glory is our life
before God. His entrance into the holiest
of holies is our entrance. It's our access. Everything is
ours. Our shame and our reproaches
became His. And so that everything that's
his became ours. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places were given to us. And so we see this here even
in Genesis chapter 13. This is why Abraham lived in
hope. Not looking for a possession
in this life. The land of Canaan. He had tents,
he had servants, he had animals, he had gold and silver. What
more are you going to get? Another piece of that same land?
Maybe some peace from the Amorites and these other enemies, the
Canaanites? Perhaps. But really, he was looking for
that eternal rest. And that's the way he lived his
life. So now, understanding what God meant here, I want you to
see what God says in Genesis 13, verse 14. He says, This is
what the Lord said after Lot was separated from Him. He says,
look, lift up your eyes and look. Lift up now thine eyes and look
from the place where thou art. We're to look as believers. What
does that mean? See what God has given us in
Christ. See what Christ has obtained
for us by His life and death. Look at it. Look at Him. What
is our possession? Isn't the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
our reward? He is our inheritance. I am His
and He is mine. Song of Solomon 2.16. So we're
to look. We're to lift up our eyes and
look. When God made these promises
to Abraham, he was supposed to look with his physical eyes.
But really, it was with eyes of faith. We live by faith, not
because of what we see, but because we live on God's Word, looking
for things that we don't see with our physical eyes. And so,
we're to lift up our eyes and look, see what God has given
us, what Christ has accomplished. And secondly, We're also to know
that this is ours by God's promise because of God's grace through
the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember the
day of the year of Jubilee? Everything was returned back
to the original owner. Our Jubilee is Christ's redeeming
blood. He released us from the curse
of God's law, from sin, from the world, from death. All was
accomplished in His redeeming work on the cross. And therefore
everything is given back to His people that was given them in
Christ Jesus, which they lost when they fell in Adam. Or at
least it looked like they lost it, but it was theirs always
because it was theirs in Christ. And so God says, know that this
promise that God has made, given all things to Christ and Christ
giving them to us, it's ours. And so now, how do we live? Well,
look at Galatians chapter 5. I want you to see this. Before you go to Galatians, though,
stop by at Romans chapter 8. Look at Romans chapter 8. See
what it says there. He says in verse 24, Romans chapter
8. Notice, we're talking about faith,
we're talking about hope. Faith is believing God's word.
Hope is looking for the fulfillment of what God has promised in His
word. For we are saved by hope. The
word by really should be in hope. We're saved in hope. But hope
that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. You see what God
is saying here? God has given us things by His
promise. His promises to the Lord Jesus
Christ. All the promises of God are given
to Christ. Given to Him in trust for His
people. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9, what does
it say? It says that, "...he has saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his right, his own purpose of grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Let
me make sure I get that right. I probably didn't get it right.
2 Timothy 1 verse 9, he says, who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. So what was given to us was given
us in Christ, but what do we have now? How do we live now? What do we see about ourselves
now? Well, we don't see these things, do we? Do I see? My body
is declining. It's getting weaker day by day.
Life is getting shorter. Death is getting nearer. Sin
is always present. And as long as I have breath
in this body, there's going to be a warfare of sin in this body. Sin is always with me. The body
is dead because of sin. I still have this nature that
is desiring to sin all the time. There's a constant warfare. Taking
my eyes off of Christ. Filling my heart with pride.
All these things. But we're saved in hope. We're
looking for the fulfillment of the promise God has made in His
Word to us. Revealed in His Word that He
made to us in Christ before the world began. So we live that
way. We're saved in hope. We're saved as we look to the
fulfillment of the promise, which we have now by faith. in trusting
God's word to be true. We're convinced of it, like Abraham.
I'm fully persuaded. Now, think about this. When we
think about these things that are too wonderful, too glorious
to even imagine, and we realize our unworthiness, we're naturally
inclined to doubt the certainty of them. I know that God is going
to save somebody, but I don't think He's going to save me because
I'm such a sinner. I don't seem to have an interest
in Christ like I ought to. I don't weep for my sins. My
heart is not intense on Christ as it ought to be. All these
things. We look at ourselves and we begin to doubt, don't
we? But we're saved in hope. And hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for it? We don't
have, in our experience, what God has said we have in Christ.
We only have it now by faith, but we look for it and we're
expecting it. 1 Peter 3.15 says, Always be
ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within you. What
is the reason of our hope? What is that hope? What is that? What's that reason of our hope?
It's what God has said in His Word. Isn't the reason for our
hope what God has said? And what is it that God has said? Well, primarily He has said this,
that God receives us in Christ, for Christ's sake, as Christ
Himself. That's the summary of it. God
has received Christ the Lord as all that He requires from
us, as His people. He placed us in Christ. He made
Christ our surety. He looked only to His Son for
all that He requires from us. This is our hope. So that when
he says in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4, He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. That's the purpose
for God having chosen us in Christ. It's not me. It's what He finds
in His Son. And so in Colossians 1.22, he
says this. Listen to these words in Colossians
1.22. This is our hope. This is what
God has said. This is the reason for our hope.
God's word. His promise. This is what Christ
has accomplished. He says in Colossians 1.21, he
says, You that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, that's me, yet now hath he reconciled
You didn't contribute to this. God took care of the offense
your sin caused. How? In the body of His flesh,
Christ. Through death, to present you,
because of what Christ did, to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. If you continue in the faith,
it's not a statement of if, that you might not. It's a statement
of the evidence of what Christ has done in His people. Our hope
is that we will stand before God justified on the ground of
Christ's obedience. Received, though we're sinners,
because His blood made full atonement for our sins. Our hope is that
we're going to stand in judgment, in Christ, accepted as Christ
Himself. Does God receive His Son? Did
the Lord Jesus Christ offer His blood? Did He obey God in life? And did he die in death in obedience
to God? And was he received again from
the dead in acceptance of all that he did? Yes! I'm fully persuaded
of that. And did the Lord Jesus Christ
come to save sinners? Did he die for the ungodly? For
sinners who have no strength? Nothing to bring to God? Yes!
This is the promise of the scripture. And so I say as a sinner, I'm
trusting entirely what God received from Christ. That's all my hope.
1 Timothy 1.1 says Jesus Christ is our hope. All of my hope is in what God
thinks of His Son. And that's the way we come. Hebrews
10.19 says we're to come boldly to the throne of grace by the
blood of Jesus. There's no other way you can
come boldly. If you come boldly in presumption,
or boldly because of ignorance, boldly because you're thinking
about what you're going to do someday, or what you've done,
there's no ground for boldness. You're going to come like a fool.
But if you come before the throne of God and you see that all of
your hope is in what God thinks of Christ, then you will be bold. Because Christ, you have every
reason for boldness. God has accepted Him. So we live
now by faith in what God has said concerning Christ, but in
hope, even though we're sinners. And the other part of our hope
is that all things are now working together to accomplish God's
purpose, which He made in Christ, to bring us to Himself, to present
us to Himself, holy and without fault, before Him in love. That's
the whole of our hope, and the reason for it is God's Word.
God's Word said it, not me. God Himself said, Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. God, the Lord Jesus Christ, said,
look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. What
am I going to do then as a sinner? Well, if I don't care, if I'm
indifferent, I'm not going to do anything. If I'm not a real
sinner, I'm going to act like it's no big deal. Or maybe I'll
think, well, I've got to make up something on my part in order
to make it work. That's not being a real sinner.
A real sinner can do nothing to save himself and requires
God's mercy in Christ entirely. And so we live in hope of that.
We live in hope when we're fully persuaded that what God thinks
of Christ is fully satisfying to God for me. That's the way
we can be bold, isn't it? That's the way Abraham could
be so strong in faith. His faith was entirely dependent
on what God was able to do, on God's faithfulness that God had
promised, not anything that he did himself. And so that's what
he said. Lift up your eyes and look. And
walk. Look at what God has done in
Christ. What he's promised us in Christ. And take hold of it.
Lay hold on eternal life. Take, drink, come, look. That's what this is all about.
It's us partaking of Christ. as needy sinners." A beggar doesn't
come begging with something to trade. He says, I need everything. And it's that attitude that gives
glory to God on the basis. David said this in 2 Samuel chapter
7. After God told him all that he
was going to do for David, David said, I found it in my heart
to pray this prayer because of what you said to your servant.
Lord, do as you have said. That's the attitude of the believer.
Lord, do what you have said. Do all that's in your heart,
Lord. And then I will be saved. And I want to bring this to a
close with a psalm. Look at Psalm chapter 42. Psalm chapter 42. If you're thirsty,
then come to Christ and drink. If you're hungry, come to Him
for bread. Come to Him for... delight yourself
in fatness. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 42. As the heart, that's a deer.
H-A-R-T in scripture is another word for deer. As the deer panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. So often I would think, I don't
quite understand how could anyone really pant and thirst for God. As we begin to get a glimpse
of who God is by seeing the salvation He has accomplished in Christ
for His people and how the Lord Jesus did that. gave himself,
his face to those who pluck off the hair, and his back to the
smiters, and his face to spitting and shame. How he did all that,
and how he humbled himself and washed his disciples' feet, laid
aside his garments, made himself of no reputation. When we see
that humility of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love that drove
him to humble himself in order to have a people, Don't you want
to see, don't you want to know and come and commune with that
God? That's what the heart, the deer
is doing here. As the deer running from the
dogs and the lions has an insatiable thirst for water. and finds great
refreshment in the cool streams. Every soul, hounded by Satan
and himself and his sin and the world, longs to see and come
and take and drink deeply from Christ, the fountain of living
waters. Christ crucified in loving humility to save me, a sinner,
a rebel against God, a despiser of His grace, as we sang earlier,
to have me for Himself and give Himself to me in the Gospel,
who gave Himself for me on the cross, who intercedes now for
me. Oh, as the deer longs for the
water, so my soul thirsts for God in Christ. My soul thirsts
for God. Verse 2. For the living God,
when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been
my meat, day and night, while they continually say to me, where
is thy God? When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me. For I had gone with a multitude.
I went with them to the house of God, with a voice of joy and
praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of
His countenance. You know it says in 1 John chapter
3, when we see Him, We shall be like him, for we shall see
him as he is. In Psalm 17, verse 15, he says,
I will be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. Rise up, Abraham. Walk through the land. Look north
and south, east and west. Everything is yours in Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that
you would create in us this thirst. to know the Lord Jesus Christ
and be found in Him not having our own righteousness and this
thirst to know you in Christ Jesus our Lord, to know you in
your condescending love of humility that we see in our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you gave your Son for us, your enemies, to reconcile
us to yourself by the death of your Son, and delivered him up
for us all, and with him shall most certainly give us all things."
Lord, these things are too wonderful for us to grasp, but we pray,
Lord, that we would see that all of our standing, the fulfillment
of your promises, and our hope for eternal life is all in the
Lord Jesus Christ, his accomplishments and what you think of him. Help
us never to depart from Him. Let us be satisfied with Him
as You are. And help us to glory in Him,
to give Him honor in all of our life as You do. To trust Him
with our eternal souls as You did. And Lord, we pray that we
would find, we would worship Him as You've given us this highest
privilege to see our Savior and to see Yourself in Him. In Jesus'
name we pray, amen.