Turn to Genesis chapter 28. Genesis chapter 28. Again, the promises of God. Part
6. Tonight we're going to look at
taking possession of these promises by grace through faith. Taking
possession. Taking possession of the promises.
Genesis chapter 28. Verse 13, the Lord is speaking
to Jacob. Genesis chapter 28 and verse
13, and it says, And behold, the Lord stood above it, and
said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac,
the land wherein thou liest. To thee will I give it, and to
thy seed. This is God speaking specifically
to Jacob. And actually, further down in
this chapter is where we looked at where Jacob took a stone he
had for his pillow and he put it as an altar unto God and called
it the house of God. So this is the first part of
that. We didn't look at that Sunday, but this is the main
text that we're going to look at. God promising. He's the God
of Abraham, of father, and Isaac. And the land where you're laying
down, where you're laying down right now, I will give it to
thee and to thy seed. So Jacob is promised the land
where he was resting. And look with me at verse 15,
the Lord further speaks, and he says, behold, I, God, I am
with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest,
and will bring thee again into this land, For I will not leave
thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." That's
a key verse I think too. God confirming what he said in
verse 13. I am with thee and will keep
thee and I'm going to bring you back again. I will not leave
you until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. God's confirming His promise
by His sovereign, undisputable faithfulness. Now, this promise
we know in Genesis is specifically to one of His dear elect children,
yet I tell you and I confirm it myself, this word is to all
the elect. It does and it can apply to everyone
of the elect, not only to Jacob, and we'll see that a little later.
And I'll show you two scriptures specifically referring to this
section right here in Genesis. But just believe me when I say
that this promise was specifically given at this time historically
to Jacob, yet it applies to every believer in Christ. However,
here's our problem. Here's our problem. We are afraid
to lay hold of God's promises to us specifically because we
think it'll be presumptuous. That's our problem. Well, this
is not necessarily for me. Remember, all the promises of
God are yes and amen in Christ. And if we're in Christ, we can
lay hold of any of these promises even if they were given in historical
context to our brethren. But our problem is we think it
presumption. Yet, if we have God-given faith,
we shall have God-given promises. We just simply grasp them and
take possession of them. We have the promises. We have
the faith. He's given us the faith. He gives
us grace. Let me give you an example. Let
me give you this example by Mr. Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress.
Christian and hopeful were on their way to the Celestial City.
They kind of got tired, wore out, and they didn't know where
they were specifically at. And they fell asleep. They laid down and they fell
asleep. Now there was not far from the
place where they fell asleep a fort or a castle known as Doubting
Castle. And he who kept the castle was
known as Giant Despair. Doubting and Despair. That's
us, okay? And it was on his grounds that
they now slept. Hence, as he got up at dawn,
the Giant, and did walk up and down his fields, he caught Christian
and hopeful in sound sleep on his grounds. And they told him
that they were poor wits and that they had lost their way.
Then said the giant, you have this night come where you should
not. You did tramp in and lie on my ground so that you must
go with me. So he made them go before him
and he was rough with them. Doubt is always rough on us.
Despair is always rough on us. He was rough on them. He threw
them in for four days. In a dungeon, there was no bread
to eat, not a drop of drink, no light, and he didn't even
talk to them and ask how they were doing. He just left them
there. So, this is where they're at, and they're there for days. The giant had a wife, her name
was Diffidence, and his wife said, after four days, you told
them that they're not going to get out of this place. They're
not going to get out of doubt. They're not going to get out
of despair. I'm going to keep them there. And he would beat
them daily. And he said, what you need to
do is you need to take your own life. And Christian was very
close to doing that, and Hopeful encouraged them how they had
gotten this far and the Lord had taken care of them. So he
was encouraged, but he was in a miserable state, which that's
what we are when we're in doubt and despair takes us. So the
wife tells the giant to go in and take them out of the dungeon
and go to a place where everybody, he could show them bones and
dead people, That's what became of them. They didn't get out
of the place. So the next day, he said, you wits, as you are,
once and they trod on my ground, as you have done, and what I
thought fit to tore them into bits, and so in the space of
10 days, I will do to you, go yet down to the den once more.
And he showed them the place where all the bones were. He
said, these are people, wits just like you. They never got
out. Now the night was come, and when Mrs. Diffidence, the
giant's wife, and her spouse, the giant, got to bed, they once
more spoke of the men to themselves. And with this, the giant thought
it strange that he could not, by his blows or words, bring
them to an end, to kill themselves. And with that, his wife said,
I fear that they live in hopes that some will come and set them
free, or that they have things to pick locks with, because they're
locked in a dungeon. and by the means of which they
hoped to escape. And dost thou say so, my dear?
said the giant. I will hence search them in the
morning. So they went to sleep. Well, in the depth of the night,
Christian and hopeful strove hard to pray, and it held up
till just before the break of day. Not now, not long e'er,
it was day. Good Christian As one half-wild
break out in this hot speech, he said to himself and to Hopeful,
what a fool I've been, I am, thus to lie in a foul den. When I may as well walk in the
free air, I have a key in my breast known as promise. That will, I feel. Sure, pick
each lock in doubting castle." Then Hopeful said, that is good
news, my friend. Pluck it out of thy breast and
try. Then Christian took it out of
his breast, and he did try at the cell door, whose bolt, as
he did turn, the key gave back, and the door flew back with ease.
And Christian and Hopeful both came out. Then they went to the
front door of the castle that leads to the yard of the fort.
And with this key did they open the door in like way. Then he
went to the brass gate, for that must be open as well. But that
lock he had hard work to move, yet the key did pick it. Then
they thrust wide the gate to make their escape with speed. But the gate, as it went back,
did creak, that it woke Giant Despair, who, as he rose in haste
to go in search of the men, found his limbs to fail, for his fits
took him once more, that he could by no means get to their track.
Then they went on and came to the King's High Road once more,
and so were safe from that they were out of His grounds." They
had the key the whole time. They had the key. My point is
they had the key the whole time. And we, by grace, through faith,
have the promises. This is scriptural. This is not my speculation. Here we see in these two pilgrims,
much like ourselves, the problem or failure lives in want of faith,
not in access of it. And I asked myself this as I
was writing these notes, wherever, whenever did our Lord rebuke
anybody for too much faith? Never, never, never. Mr. Spurgeon says, it would be
hard to believe God too much. It is more common to believe
him too little. And that's our problem. Turn
with me to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9 in verse 27
through 29. Matthew chapter 9 verse 27, After
when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying,
saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was
come into the house, the blind men came to him. And Jesus said
unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this. And they said
unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying,
According to your faith, be it unto you. Now we know faith is
a gift of God. It's a grace. It's not something
that we earn. Do you believe that I am able
to make you whole, well? This was comfort to these two
people. These that were blind. These two blind men. And it's
an exhortation to us. We, by the grace of God, have
been given grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe
that he's covered our sins, that he's hit them as far as east
as from the west, he's cast them behind his back. We believe him. And so therefore, in every situation,
in every day, specifically, or generally, either or, we believe
what the Lord says to us in this book. And he touched our eyes,
he said, according to your faith, according to your faith. In another
place, turn to Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9 verses 14 through 24. Mark chapter 9 verses 14 through
24 and when Christ came to his disciples he saw a great multitude
about them and the scribes questioning them and straightway all the
people excuse me when they beheld him were greatly amazed and running
to him saluted him and he asked the scribes what question ye
with them and one of the multitude answered and said master I have
brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb spirit And wheresoever
he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth and gnashes with
his teeth, and pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out, and they could not. And Jesus
answered him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I
be with you? How long shall I suffer you?
Bring him to me. And they brought him unto him,
and when Christ saw him, straightway the Spirit tear him, and he fell
on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, how
long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, of a child.
Oftentimes it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters
to destroy him. But if thou can do anything, have compassion
on us, help us. And Jesus said unto them, if
thou can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
And straightway the father of the child cried out with tears,
Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. And he
cast the demon out of him. Which we can further read, the
spirit cried and rent him sword. And he came out of him and he
was one as one dead in so much that many said he's dead. But
Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. and his disciples didn't know
why they couldn't do it. He said, well, this was one of these things
that comes, he says, by nothing but prayer and fasting. But my
point is, Jesus said in verse 23, if you
can believe all things are possible to him that believe it, you can
take a hold of this promise. If you believe that I can do
this, it's not tit-for-tat, it's not you believe that I'll do
this, God, Christ gives this man faith to believe. This man
believes, but he's like us. Lord, I believe, but help my
unbelief. And that's how, that'd be a good
prayer for us. We know it is all of grace, that
it might be all of God. And yet there it stands, there
it stands. If you can believe, all things
are possible to him that believes. Take possession of the promise. We'll get a little bit more specific
as we go along this evening. So grace given faith, faith lays
hold of the specific promises and God is glorified in our weakness
yet in His strength. So I tell myself this and I tell
you, everyone who can hear, let us quit doubting. Let us quit
being afraid. Let us quit thinking of excuses. Let us quit yielding to presumption. Let us quit yielding to second-guessing. Believe. Believe unto salvation
and or unto growth in grace. It's the same thing. It never
changes. Do you believe this? Yes, we believe it. Obviously,
it's all of God's grace. mention his name in reverence.
We believe that he's given us grace. It's the same thing. He
never stops giving grace to believe unto salvation or unto growth
in grace, or in this instance, to take possession of his promises. I tell you to mark it down as
always true. What's the scripture say? They
could not enter in because of unbelief. unbelief is a great
stumbling block, doubting castle, giant despair. These are things
which we struggle with, but we are never censored. We are never
censored for true faith in our blessed Lord. He never censors
true faith. Back to our text in Genesis chapter
28. Jacob, one of God's children,
one of the elect, one of the remnant, one of God's chosen,
as it were, laid his whole body and soul upon the ground. We
could read a little bit past that where Jacob verse 18, and
Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he put
for his pillow and he set it up for a pillar and poured oil
on it. He called the name of the place the house of God. But
the point is he slept. And that's my point. His whole
body was laying on that ground where he was going to possess.
So it is with us who believe, who have trusted Christ only
for our righteousness before God, who have fled to Him for
refuge, for eternal life, we like Jacob are to rest completely
upon God's Word on the ground, on God's Word and sleep peacefully
and with tremendous comfort of heart and soul. to all who pray
believingly, they shall receive." He says it in James, not a double-minded
man, unstable in all his ways, but we ask, believing, according
to his will, and he hears us. We won't take time, but if you
look at Hebrews 11, you and I will see that it is by faith that
we receive the promises, not by feeling, as I said last week,
or sight or sense. any amount of faith, whether
it's weak, young, or old, or strong, it lays hold of His promises
and we are benefited much by receiving them. These promises,
this Word, is or has been purchased by full blood shedding or letting
and is therefore, and I say this accurately, it is our right,
it is our common right, to all who have trusted the Son of God
that He gave Himself for." It is our right to lay hold, to
lay possession of these promises. Now, concerning Genesis 28 and
what's going on here with Jacob, turn with me to Psalm 66. Why do I say it's for all believers?
Well, we'll see right here. Psalm 66. In verse 66, verse 6, He turned
the sea into dry land. They went through the flood on
foot. This is speaking of Moses, the promises that they were given,
the Israelites and Moses. God turned the sea into dry land. He went through the flood on
foot. Moses did. There did we rejoice in Him. That's odd. What is this? We. We. We had the victory when they
walked through the Red Sea. Psalm 66 verse 6. He's saying
what God did, He turned it into dry land and they went through
the flood on foot. There did we, we, all believers
are included in every victory that has ever been to any believer. Hosea chapter 12. I believe this is speaking about
this reference in Jacob. Hosea chapter 12, in verse 3 and 4, He took His
brother by the heel, that's Jacob, and the womb, and by His strength
He had power with God. Yea, He had power over the angel
and prevailed. That's speaking of Jacob and
he's wrestling. He wept and made supplication unto Him. He found
Him in Bethel, which is the house of God, and there He spake with
There it is, us. That's plural. And you look at
any commentator, because I didn't want to go out on a limb on this,
but we were in the loins of Jacob when this was going on. Just
like we were in the loins of Abraham. So in Abraham's promises,
it's promised all the seed. We're in Abraham. We're in Christ.
He was in Christ. This specifically refers to the
situation in Genesis 28. He found him in Bethel and there
he spake with us. We were, though not born yet,
we were in the loins of Jacob when this was going on. So yes,
every believer, the whole of Scriptures, this is how the whole
Scriptures run. And we know that all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is suitable for, etc., etc.,
etc., that the man of God or the woman of God, it's all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. For every believer in every situation,
every situation. I liken it to this. I like this
illustration. I know you've experienced it.
I know I've experienced it. We went to the art museum in
St. Louis or maybe your aunt or uncle
or somebody had a painting of a person and it looked like
the eyes were following you everywhere. But it's a painting. They're
fixed. But you walk this way, and it's like, ah, it's following
me. And then somebody says, no, they're following me. He said,
no, it looks like he's looking at me. That's what I'm trying to say.
The eyes, they follow you. They follow me. It seems to individually
follow each person. And that's the way the promises
are. That's the case of every elect sheep. Every situation,
in God's Word, is for all his people. And you say, well, the
Lord gave me that promise specifically. Well, you're not going to exhaust
it. It could be for someone else
as well. Spurgeon said this, this perhaps, this unifying concept
of the Scriptures for all believers, for all, any situation, this
is perhaps one of the Bible's greatest charms and largest blessings
that to each one of a thousand generational believers, this
book is for you. That's why when we see, and Spurgeon
said, and Pink agreed, it's one of the greatest reasons why I
believe in the inspirations of the Bible, the inspiration of
the Scriptures. It's without error. Because we know it to
be true. He speaks to us in Genesis, all the way to Revelations. And
what He's promised to Jacob, we were in His loins, He's promised
to us. And to Abraham, and to Isaac and to Paul. As a matter
of fact, Paul, I think, quotes Joshua. He says, you know, in
Hebrews, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Well, why did
he bring? Because it was Old Testament, but it was for all
believers. And in Lamentations chapter 3,
I love that morning by morning new mercies I see. Why can't
we say morning by morning new promises I see to us? We can. And like the old wells, when
Abraham, they stopped and dug a well. He dug a well for his
family. Well, after generations, his
family died. That well is still there for Isaac. And then Isaac
used it. And then Jacob used it. You see
what I'm saying? It doesn't matter where the believer
turns. This is a book of promises. It's
a promise about redemption in Christ. It's a promise about
full and free salvation and particular redemption and electing love
and predestinating grace. And yet after that, what are
we going to do? Well, we were drawn by the Spirit
and we're going to walk by the Spirit. He's going to show us
things which are freely given us. And it's all the Scriptures. It's the Word of God and it includes
the promises. So, may we not fear that we'll
be presumptuous or superstitious or credulous, but believe and
be at peace. Believe and be at peace. Another
example. We used to drive, when my stepfather
went down there in Shell Nod by Table Rock Lake, we would
go down occasionally to Eureka Springs. And there's an artesian
well that's on a side street. It's not on a main street. It's
on a side street. A lot of people miss it. But it's ever flowing,
ever flowing, ever flowing. It's on a side street. It's not
well traveled. But to those who know where it is, it has always
been supplying true sustenance for years. Go down there. You
can drink it. Take a drink for yourself. Appropriate
a specific word in this book for yourself. Trust God to make
it good, to make His word good to you. And I'll tell you right
now, it's a good time. Anytime. Illnesses, fears, viruses,
yes I'll say it, viruses, weaknesses, troubles, any need, anytime,
if you pray believing, He will answer. That's not my words,
that's His words. That's His words. Back to our
text in Genesis 28. Once again, the whole of Scriptures
is a pillow, nay, it's a couch for each child of God to rest
upon and make use of. And I'm asking you and I'm asking
myself, we need to fall asleep upon these exceeding great and
precious promises. Now, I'm not saying that you
need a promise If you're a believer, but I am saying this, if God has saved you and you
want peace, you want more peace, and people talk about assurance
and run all over the place for it, like Tim said, the more you
seek it, the more you won't have it. But when you just believe
God, then you're talking about something else. You're not talking
about assurance. You're not talking about this or that. I'm saying,
if you don't have a promise, it doesn't mean you're not a
believer. Because if you know He saved you by His grace, I'm
just saying, while we walk in this world, you'll have a lot
of peace. You'll have a lot of peace. And
this trouble is not going away any time soon. I'm not talking
about what's going on now. I'm talking about every step
of a believer, the wind of the world is against us. So how do
you deal with it? Well, one way, just keep coming
and means of grace and praying and fellowshipping and singing
of hymns, all these things are absolutely. But I'm saying, if
God gives you a specific promise about something, you will have
peace. Now, Linda, if you want to leave,
you can. I'm going to give two examples,
personal. Okay, because I think everybody understands what I'm
saying, but I'm going to tell you, And that's why I tell you, you know,
what Spurgeon says, if you get a promise, write it, circle it,
and date it in your Bible. Now, this first one, I didn't
do that because I was too scared. Well, matter of fact, I wasn't
even married yet. I was living with my aunt. And I got a phone
call of a very threatening nature. He was going to get the tar beat
out of me. And I put up a good fight, but this person could
do it, no questions. So after he chewed me out, said
what he was going to do, He's going to come down to this area,
and with me, and bad, hung up the phone, I went back to the
bedroom where I was staying, and just opened up the Bible.
And started reading. Not looking for anything. Came
across a verse in Isaiah, something like, nobody's going to lay a
finger on you. Nobody's going to harm you. And
I hadn't read the book yet, according to promise, but I looked at that
and it was just so uncanny. And again, not feeling, not sensibility,
not presumption. I looked at that and I just said,
well, that's weird. This is protecting me from any
threat. That's exactly what it was doing. So I just said in
my ignorance, well, I'm going to take that. And I closed the
book, started doing something else, doing something for my
aunt. About an hour later, I got a phone call. It's the same guy
who threatened me. apologized and said he would
not do it. Oh, that's a coincidence. Say
what you want to. I had peace. I closed the book.
When I looked at that and I appropriated it and I took possession of that,
as odd as it may seem, I wasn't worried. I was sweating bullets.
Not after I read that. Second illustration. I found
this in Proverbs. I won't tell you where it's at.
down at Donny Bell's conference, wondering whether I was called
to preach. Didn't know anything. We had people in, you all know,
we had people in to see if they could be our pastor and that
wasn't working out. Well, another man was preaching and it was
like he was preaching just to me. There's over a hundred people
there. Got in the car, went home. Struggled,
struggled, struggled. Just reading. Not looking. And in Proverbs, I looked at
it last night. That's why now I date them. You
go back. And it applies to Christ. It
applies to Solomon. But it applies specifically to
me. And I said, oh boy. Looks like I'm called to preach."
And then I went and talked to Lucille and she said, I knew
it all along. But what I'm saying is, that's what I mean by being
specific. You got issues right now, you're
having trouble at work, you're having trouble with a neighbor,
you're having trouble with the fear of man, the fear of economy,
whatever it may be, There is in this book for his people a
very specific and when you read it, you'll know it. You take it, you take that and
you appropriate it. And I say that song again, you
are immortal until mortals are immortal until our work is done.
So if the Lord decides to take you home, your work is done.
My work is done. Now I have others. But Melinda
has put the foot down and these are way too personal and too
specific to name and perform. But they are in this book. They
are in this book. And as I said, if you don't get
a promise, does that mean God does not care for you? No, I'm
just saying this is a tool, a great tool that He uses to calm His
people and to make them like in the dungeon, They just walked
out. They unlocked them and they walked
out. So, lastly, turn with me to Matthew 11. Very general, very
general promise. Matthew chapter 11. And verse 28, we'll close. Very general,
and yet it can be very specific. Come unto me, verse 28, Matthew
11, verse 28, Christ says, come unto me, all you that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Well, that's dealing
with salvation. Yes and no. No, it's not necessarily. Come unto me. Well, I have come
unto you and you've redeemed me and you've given me peace
that passes all understanding, but I'm struggling with, I'm
laboring and I'm heavy laden about this situation, about my
grandchildren, about my children. Whether they'll come to know
you, or whatever. I mean, you put it in here. Be
it according to your faith. And what does he say? I will
give you rest. Simply, I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lonely
of heart. And you shall find rest unto your souls. Rest, rest,
peace. That's what I'm getting at. For
his yoke is easy and his burden light. Let me read to you what
one man said about this. Jesus makes a simple request
to the laboring and weary laden ones. He interposes no hard conditions. He speaks nothing of works to
be done first and deservingness of his gifts to be established.
He only asks us to come with all our sins just as we are and
to submit ourselves like children to His teaching. And then, there's
rest. And there's peace. And there's
comfort. So, back to the title of this,
The Promises of God, Taking Possession. It's like, well, why is this
guy, why has he got so much comfort in this situation? Well, maybe
he was specifically praying about a situation. And again, our God
is, He's large. He answers prayer. We limit Him. Whatever feelings or whatever
we have, we limit God. We can't, but we do. You know
what I'm saying. Our sin. Anything. Ask according to His
will, and He hears us. Bruce, would you close us?