Once again, Promises, Part 2. And this helps me as much as
I hope it helps you. The first lesson, we looked at
the introduction. We defined what the promises
were and who they were for. And then last week, we looked
at how they were received. The pledges of God for good. to those of His sheep. And they
are to be received like anything that God gives His people, they're
received as a gift by the grace of God. Tonight, we're going
to look at the promises, the reality or the truth of the promises. The reality of the promise or
the truth of the promise. Let's turn to Titus chapter 1.
Titus chapter 1. Titus 1, verses 1 and 2, Paul,
a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to
the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth
which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God,
that cannot lie, promised before the world began. This is a truth,
a reality. God that cannot lie promised
before the world began. Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6 and verses 12 through the end
of the chapter. Hebrews chapter 6 And verse 12,
that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. For 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 he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. For men barely swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whether
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. The promises the reality or the
truth of them, is what we're going to look at tonight. And
in these passages, we see that God, these two verses, that God
is independent and solitary in character, and He didn't have
to make a binding promise. He didn't have to make binding
promises to His elect. But He did, thus showing His
amazing care and compassion to those who trust in Him. God,
as it were, He bound Himself up by these pledges to His people. And though we know God is ever
free and sovereign, But these great and precious promises,
as Peter calls them in another place, he did so for us. We're worms of the dust. But
he spoke, and when he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself.
This adds to the impact that God cannot lie, and that these
promises that he gave his people, which Abraham lived by them,
were real and truthful. What grace we see in His actions
towards the sons and daughters of Adam's race. And also, just
like our Sovereign, these promises are a reality and a truth to
be laid hold upon. And not just to be read in a
nice little lullaby or something. These promises are for our comfort. We need to lay hold of them.
We'll look at several other passages, but before we do that, going
back to Hebrews 6, if you're still there, God plainly declares
in verse 18, He plainly declares these promises are, one, all
confirmed in Christ. And secondly, they're all established
upon divine truthfulness. So they're a foundation, they're
a rock-solid foundation. And in our passage in Titus,
he plainly doubles down as he says, these promises are founded
upon the God who cannot lie. Therefore, we as His children
can build our confidences for all time and eternity on what
this book says to us. These words are written, so to
speak, in black and white. When we say that, it's like,
it's right there. When we're telling somebody,
we use that phrase, well, it's in black and white. It means
it's obvious to the believer. The promises, the pledges of
God to His people for good, received by the grace of God, are intended
for us to lay hold on. It's in black and white. It's
in black and white. He says in the Bible, the book is written
about Him. But if the Scriptures are written
about Him, They're also written about as promises. Our problem,
our problem will always be, and is right now, O ye of little
faith. That's our problem. God says
it, and we look for something else, something tangible. But
we will look at a few other places. Our problem, as I said, is O
ye of little faith. Yet, the printed word in black
and white, turn with me to Numbers chapter 23, and this is just
one of these passages. Numbers chapter 23. Numbers 23. This is what the
printed Word declares. Numbers 23 and verse 19. God
is not a man that he should lie. neither the Son of Man, that
he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not
do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good?" Now if you're a believer, that's all
you need. When you're reading the scriptures,
and you're thinking of something, the Lord brings that in your
mind, whether it's family, friends, children, parents, the Lord says
something to you in the Word regarding them, lay hold of it. Because God said it, hath he
not spoken, and shall he not make it good? And we know that
all things work together for good, we know that Well, we'll
look at another passage a little later on here. No, we'll turn
here now. Let's look at another passage of Scripture. David's
last words, 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel 23. We've looked at this time and time
again. This is further confirmation of the promises of what God has
written for His people. 2 Samuel 23. And verse 5, David is speaking
here, Although my house be not so with God, yet He hath made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. For what He has told me, this
is all my salvation and all my desire, although He make it not
to grow. This last word, this is the Word of God. Obviously
God spoke to David, In covenant mercy, in covenant grace, and
David laid hold on that concerning himself. It's absolutely sure. And we are, as David, we're believers. It's sure. It's absolutely sure
because God cannot lie. And what He has spoken, He will
do. Now, we admire honesty in men and women. Shall we not more
do so and more expect to have it from our God who does not
change. We get a little offended when
somebody tells us something whom we highly esteem, and then they
back out of their word, or they just don't do what they said
they were going to do. But we do admire that, and it's even
more so in today's society. Man's word, when it's honored,
we admire that. God changes not. God changes not. A little history
lesson here. History tells a story, a true
story, about a man named Gephardt Blucher. He was a general or
a field marshal of the Prussian army or of a Prussian army and
he was sent a letter to assist the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo. You remember what happened at
Waterloo. He was sent a message to help the Ducal Wellington,
a Britain general or a Britain in command, And as he was traveling
to Waterloo, his troops, after they faltered on the way, apparently
the way was difficult, mountainous or whatever it was, but they
faltered and they turned to Blucher and they said, it cannot be done. It cannot be done. And Blucher
responded, it must be done. I have promised to be there. Promised, I tell you. Would you
have me to break my word? Well, they made it. and Napoleon
was defeated. But we highly esteem men's words. To not believe God and His promises
shows a horrible sign of unbelief. It's a horrible thing. Let us
pray that we would be as those Prussians. That we would go forward
fully persuaded that what God has promised, we shall believe. Let us not wobble at this point.
We ask God to enable us, to strengthen us, and to guide us to ride the
high horse of trust. God has said it, that does it. Let's look at another example
or another statement in Word, John chapter 6. John chapter 6 and verse 47,
Christ makes a statement, truly, truly, or verily, verily, I say
unto you that he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. To have eternal life, we must
believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, not other men, not ourselves,
not mom or not dad, but on the anointed of God. So trust Christ. Deny ourselves. Lay hold of Him
and His work. Look and live is another phrase.
Cease from our own works and trust His work. And obviously
we can't do that unless grace precedes all of that. But He
simply said, here's a promise. He that believeth on Me hath
everlasting life. Now for me just to open the book
and then read that, it's the Scriptures, but we, you know,
He said He had a whole bunch of things He was talking about
before this. the privacy of man, the sovereignty of God, who Christ
was, you know, where he's at now, all these things that we
have been taught and the gospel teaches us to know ourselves,
to not trust ourselves or man or any of our lineage or the
flesh, but we trust Christ and Christ alone. We cease from our
old works. But the promise is still, he
that believeth on me hath everlasting life. That's the promise. If He allows you to lay hold
of that, you have eternal life. Let's look at Galatians chapter
4. Galatians chapter 4 and verses
28 through 31. Galatians 4 verse 28 through
31. as Isaac was, are the children
of promise." You see, this is just, it's just all interconnected. But as then, he that was born
after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. Nevertheless, what sayeth the
Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the
bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So
then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but
of the free, our children of promise. So I just simply say,
let us act as the heir would act. Let us act as the son or
the daughter of the Most High God, which believers do. Just
lay hold of the promise. That's what a believer is trusting
in, the promises of God. The children of the bondwoman
will never trust God's promises, because they can't. To a natural man, it's foolishness. It's foolishness to God. But
to the heir of promise, the promise makes so much sense. We live
upon it. We're not the children. This
is a declaration. We're not the children of the
bondman but of the free. How's that done? Who makes us to differ?
God's grace. How do you receive the promise?
It's a gift. You can't earn it. You can't
work for it. God simply gives it. Shows us that we're not worthy. There's nothing we can do in
and of ourselves. We lay hold of the promise because
we're children of the heir. So trusting simply and solely
upon Christ, and therefore His promises are not feelings, they're
not dreams, and they're not fanciful revelations, but sure, steadfast
realities to all who call upon Him in truth. It's a reality. That's why When I read some stuff,
I'll read some stuff online or whatever, and people just totally
ignore it. They say this is just a fable
book. I've got nothing for them then.
I've got nothing for them. Because to us, this book is the
truth. And it reveals Christ and Him
crucified. There was a saying apparently,
if Alexander gave like a king, shall not Jehovah give like a
God? He does. I know we've looked at this,
let me read it. John 3, verse 15, Whosoever believes
on Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. It's a promise. Whosoever believes in Him, Christ,
shall not perish, but have eternal life. So in closing, yes, the reality is this. God means what He says, and God
never speaks and then doesn't do it. If you have a word of
promise in here, it's real, it's not fake, and God does not change. He will not back off. Let me close. As we seek His
face and we worship Him, let me read this from Mr. Spurgeon. God's promises were
never meant to be thrown aside as waste paper. He intended that
they should be used. God's gold is not miser's money,
but it is meant to be traded with. Nothing pleases our Lord
better than to see His promises put in circulation. He loves
to see His children bring them up to Him and say, Lord, do as
You have said. We glorify God when we plead
His promises. Do you think that God will be
the poor for giving you the riches that He has promised? Do you
dream that He will be any the less holy for giving holiness
to you? Do you imagine He will be any
the less pure for washing you from your sins? He has said,
come now, let us reason together, say to the Lord, though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they
be red like crimson. they shall be as wool. Faith
lays hold upon the promises of pardon, and it does not delay
saying, this is a precious promise. I wonder if it be true. But it
goes straight to the throne with it, and pleads, Lord, here is
a promise, do as you have said. Our Lord replies, Be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. When a Christian grafts a promise,
If he does not take it to God, he dishonors God. But when he
hastens to the throne of grace and cries, Lord, I have nothing
to recommend me but this, thou hast said it. Then his desire
shall be granted. Our heavenly banker delights
to cash his own notes. Never let the promise rust. Draw
the sword of promise out of its scabbard and use it with holy
violence. Think not that God will be troubled
by your importunity reminding Him of His promises. He loves
to hear the loud outcries of needy souls. It is His delight
to bestow favors. He is more ready to hear than
we are to ask. The sun is not weary of shining,
nor the fountain of flowing. It is God's nature to keep His
promises. Therefore, go at once to the
throne of grace and plead, do as thou hast said." And that's
out of 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse 25. It's like It's like your parents have millions
of dollars, and you're living at home like paupers. No. I'm a son. I'm an heir. I need help, and I need to go
to that bank, and I need to withdraw some. And the thing is, we can
go boldly to that throne of grace. And He supplies our need. All
of our needs are always met in Christ Jesus. And the promises
are all wrapped up together with Him.