In his second epistle to the
Corinthians, Paul writes to comfort them in their tribulation. He writes out of experience as
one with the other apostles who knew what it was to go through
much tribulation, who knew what it was to suffer greatly for
the cause of Jesus Christ and his Gospel. He knew that the
journey he took through this world, the pilgrimage he walked
in, and the journey that his brethren, these believers in
Corinth, took through this world, would not be easy and was not
easy there is great suffering in this world there is great
suffering because of the effects of sin in this world Sin has
scarred this world. It's a world full of evil, a
world full of illness, a world full of despair, a world full
of distress, a world full of disaster and tragedy. These things
come upon all men but the believer knows much tribulation also. because the believer loves God
and loves Jesus Christ and his gospel and he journeys through
a world which hates God and hates Jesus Christ and his gospel. and the believer and those who
walk by faith and who testify of Christ and his salvation will
know the opposition and the hatred of all men whether that hatred
is manifested boldly and outwardly or whether it is manifested simply
by bypassing them, ignoring them, treating them as though they
are nothing, as though they don't exist, as though they're irrelevant,
in the same way. that the wicked treat God and
Jesus Christ himself in the same way that you and I by nature
have treated God and Jesus Christ himself. Our heart, our hearts
response unto Christ is to treat him like he's not there, like
he's irrelevant, like he's less than nothing. Our hearts seek
after the pleasures and the riches and the indulgences which we
can find in this world. Our hearts seek after indulging
ourselves and furthering our own ambitions and bolstering
our own pride. We live and act as though there
is no God because we want to be God. We want to be on the
throne. We want to be on the throne of
our own lives and make our own decisions and bring about our
own purposes. We will not bow the knee to our
maker, our creator and our sustainer. We will not worship Almighty
God. our hearts are set against him
and our hearts lead us in a pathway that lives and acts as though
there is no God the fool have said in his heart there is no
God he shuts his eyes to God he shuts his ears to God and
he lives and acts like there is no God and just like we've
done this and to Almighty God and to His Gospel. So if we're
brought to know Him by the grace and mercy of God, if the Gospel
comes our way and delivers us from such folly, delivers us
from such blindness and darkness, if we're brought to know Him,
then we will find the world around us treat us in the same way that
we treated Him. They continue to live as though
there is no God. They continue to trample Christ
underfoot and they will trample us underfoot. And the believers
at Corinth knew what it was to stand up amongst a heathen people,
a wicked generation, and to testify of their Saviour Jesus Christ
and His love and mercy for them, and to be ridiculed and scorned
and cast out because of it. These people lived in a day,
as their believers in Rome did, as many did throughout the known
world in that age, where to speak of Christ and His Gospel could
mean persecution even unto death. Believers in Rome were cast to
the lions. Believers were crucified as Christ
was crucified. Believers were stoned to death. Many knew opposition and persecution
with such ferocity that their lives could be taken away from
them. So when Paul speaks of comforting them, of comforting
believers in tribulation. He's not merely speaking of gentle
ups and downs in life. He's not merely speaking of the
mild frustrations of life which can affect us so much in Western
society where we get frustrated simply because the traffic's
slow. simply because of the congestion, simply because we're rushing
around trying to do this, that and the other, simply because
the shops haven't got our favourite food on the shelf this week,
or all these different things that bother us. He was dealing
with greater realities. The tribulation and the sufferings
that these people knew were such that they could face death for
speaking of Christ. Yet he writes this epistle to
such a people, to comfort them with that which brings real comfort,
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God under salvation. The very message that took them
from the grave, from the brink of hell, and delivered them from
darkness and brought them into light, is the same message which
would lift them up when they fell, which would lift their
hearts up when they fell into despair, which would cause them
to be bold and stand by faith when all around they were surrounded
by those who hated them and despised them and did what they could
to silence them. It put boldness within their
heart, it put faith in their hearts, it caused them to stand
fast. because they were lifted up by
that Gospel to see their Saviour. And they saw a Saviour who died
for them, a Saviour who suffered even unto death for them, a Saviour
whose love for them was exhibited, was displayed by offering up
His own life. He gave Himself for them. And when they saw His love and
His shed blood offered for them, they were lifted up and could
stand fast even unto death. Even though men may slay them,
they knew that this was no more than they had done to their Saviour. This was no more than He had
suffered. And if their lives were taken
away, they knew they would go to be with Him. And they knew
this because God had promised it to them. He'd promised them
a saviour. He'd promised them salvation. And those promises had come to
pass. And Paul writes here of those
promises, and reminds them of those promises, and reminds them
that their God, when he promises, brings about the promise. There's
no uncertainty with their God. there's no uncertainty with him
he's not one thing one day and another thing another day he's
not with them one day and departed another day though it may feel
like it at times though when trouble comes their way they
may fear that God has left them or they may fear that God is
angry with them and he has brought this trouble upon them because
of something they have done they may fear that they have been
left alone and isolated Paul reminds them that it's not as
it may seem. They may be brought through the
fires, they may be tried and tested, but God is with them
every day, every step of the way. His promises are sure and
certain. He says, all the promises of
God in him are yea, and in him Amen. and to the glory of God
by us all the promises of God in Christ are yea and amen and
to the glory of God by us when therefore when I therefore was
thus minded did I use likeness or the things that I purpose
do I purpose according to the flesh that with me there should
be yea yea and nay nay But as God is true, our word toward
you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. For all the
promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him are men, and to the
glory of God by us. he reminds them that their God
is not changeable he's not yes one day and no another day he's
not yes and maybe He's yay and amen. His promises stand sure. And what He has promised unto
them, to save them, to deliver them from evil, and to bring
them into eternal life and glory and an everlasting inheritance,
those promises stand sure. Once they are Christ, they're
Christ forever. They're in His hands, they cannot
be plucked out. Man cannot harm them. And you,
my friend, believer, if you're in Christ, if you know His salvation,
you are safe, no matter what the circumstances around you
may seem like, no matter how the storms may buffet you, no
matter what ups and downs may come your way, no matter what
concerns you may have or fears you may have in this world, you're
safe in the hands of Jesus Christ. You're safe in the Father's hands. You're safe. you're washed in
his blood he's promised to save you he's promised to bring you
into an inheritance and that promise stands sure and certain
he's made the promise and he will fulfill the promise in Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 16 we read of this promise that now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made God made promises unto his
people. He made promises to Abraham and
he promised Abraham that his seed Jesus Christ would be born
and through him Abraham would be the father of a great nation. and the numbers of that nation
could not be counted they would be like the stars in the sky
and the sand on the seashore he'd be the father of a great
nation but his seed was one Jesus Christ and the offspring the
multitude that would follow were born of Christ, born of God,
a multitude chosen in Christ by the Father, chosen before
the creation of this world. The names of every one that Christ
would deliver from their sins were known unto God, chosen by
God the Father, laid upon the heart of Jesus Christ. Christ,
when he came into this world of darkness, came for everyone. who was named upon his heart.
Every one promised under Abraham, he came, he came to deliver them
from their sins. He came to take all their sins
upon himself, to bear the sins of all his elect, all the chosen,
all this great multitude, all this offspring, all the seed
in Jesus Christ. God promised to save his people
from their sins. And Christ came as promised. He was born as promised. He lived as promised. He died as promised. He bore the sins of all his people
as promised. He took the judgment of God against
them as promised. He was offered up as a sacrifice
as promised. He took away their sins forevermore. God has made promises unto a
people, unto man. Promises which he keeps. Promises which he has kept and
which he will keep. Promises which are sure and certain
Promises which are yea and amen in Jesus Christ. Promises. God in the beginning of time,
when man fell and rebelled against his maker in the garden, when
man multiplied upon the face of the earth and the wickedness
of man was seen by the Creator, God spake unto his servant Noah
and said, build an ark for the saving of thy house, for I will
send judgment upon this earth. He promised to send judgment
upon a wicked earth. He promised to send rains for
40 days and 40 nights and to destroy this world, to destroy
every wicked man, woman and child upon this world except for the
people who he put in that ark whom he promised to save. except for those who were figuratively
taken and placed in the Ark Christ Jesus to be delivered from the
wrath to come. God sent his Gospel in a picture
at the beginning of time. And that message stands throughout
all time and speaks to us today. God promised to judge this world
and the promise came true. The rains came, the storms came,
the world was flooded in its entirety. But Noah and his house
were delivered from the judgment. and when the rains abated and
the waters receded and the dove flew out and came back with that
leaf, that branch when Noah and his house departed from the ark
God set a rainbow in the sky and promised never to judge this
world in that manner again He promised peace in a new world
to come. He showed forth in those events
that he would judge the wicked and his promise stood sure. He
would deliver his people in their ark, Christ Jesus, and his promise
stood sure. The judgment would not touch
that people and his promise stood sure. and they would be brought
into an everlasting inheritance where there would be peace forevermore
and no more judgment and His promise stood sure. God's promises are not like men's
promises. Men make promises and break them. The best of men make promises
which are broken. you may make a promise to someone
and have every intention of fulfilling that promise and do all you can
to fulfill that promise but we are not all powerful And events
occur that prevent us from keeping our promise. We may promise to
meet someone at a certain time and a certain hour, and then
we're prevented from getting to them on that day. If our car
breaks down, or if the traffic prevents us, or if we're overcome
with illness, things come along outside of our control, and even
when we want to fulfill our promise, we can't. men break promises
because they change their mind and can't be trusted but even
when they want to fulfill a promise they're not in control but God
when he promises is the all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of heaven
and earth. When He promises, He brings all
events in time and history about, to bring about the fulfilment
of His promise. When He promised that it would
rain in Noah's day, He had the power to bring that to pass. And when He promised a Saviour,
a seed, Jesus Christ, He moved all history and every generation
to bring that to pass. Everybody that was born generation
after generation after generation was born such that his son should
be born of the seed of David exactly as he promised and should
be born at the right time at the right place in the right
circumstance. He was born of Mary, of the lineage
of Joseph. He was born in Bethlehem, Bethlehem
of Judah. He was born as promised by the
prophet Isaiah and all the other prophets at the time and the
hour that they said he would be born in the place he would
be born. God ordered all things such that
his son would come when he said he'd come. and no event of man
could prevent it not even the empire of Rome which ruled over
Judea at that hour not even the might of Rome could prevent the
promise of God being fulfilled because Rome itself was in God's
hands every nation Every power in this world, whether it's the
forces of nature, or the multitudes of empires, or the powerful men
that are raised up, every event, every nation, every force, every
power is in God's hands. And Satan himself, the accuser
of the brethren, our adversary, our foe, who will do everything
he can to prevent God's promises come in the past. He did everything
he could to harm God's people in the garden. He's done everything
he could since to bring harm and destruction and havoc in
this world. But he's merely a puppet in God's
hands and everything he does to harm the purpose of God does
the very opposite. He moved wicked men to take the
Son of God, to take Jesus Christ and to crucify Him. And yet,
as he bruised Christ's heel, Christ's heel crushed his head. And Christ in his death destroyed
death. He conquered death. And though
Satan did all he could to destroy the Son of God, the Son of God
conquered him, death, and hell, and rose victorious over the
grave and over all his enemies. God promised a saviour. God promised salvation. God promised an everlasting inheritance
for his people a kingdom to come and that promise is sure and
certain it is yea and amen in Jesus Christ the promise of a
seed came to pass. The promise of a people in that
seed came to pass. The promise of an inheritance
and a kingdom comes to pass. The promise of a saviour and
the promise of salvation was made, made to a people and is
fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It is yea and amen. Not one promise
of God ever has failed or ever will fail. God has made promises
through Christ to his people as he made them to you. What do you know of these promises? Do you know the Saviour who was
born in Bethlehem? Have you beheld him? Have you
heard his voice? Have you heard his voice calling
unto you through the ages of time in the gospel, saying, I
am the Son of God? Has he spoken to you? I am the promised Saviour, the
promised Messiah, the promised Son. Have you heard his voice? The promises were made to Abraham
and his seed. The promises were not made to
all men. The promise of a Saviour, the
promise of salvation, and the promise of eternal life and inheritance
to come, an everlasting kingdom, were not made and are not made
to all men. In Noah's day, Noah and his household,
eight people, were promised deliverance from the storm. And God saved
them. But everyone else was destroyed. has God promised to you. The promises are not for all,
therefore Abraham and his seed, Jesus Christ, and for all chosen
by God the Father in Christ, for those in Christ and none
other. 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. There's
only one way to God and one way to salvation. There's only one
religion, if you wish to call it that, which leads to salvation,
and that is Jesus Christ and his gospel. There's one seed,
not seeds as of many. The promises are not made to
Muhammad. They're not made to Buddha. They're
not made through this religion and that religion. There are
not many ways to God. There's one way. There's one
seed and one promise fulfilled through Him. To thy seed, which
is Christ. and to all his people, the Israelites
of God, the Israel of God chosen in him. In Romans 9 we read of
those who are the Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption,
and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and
the service of God, and the promises. God has promised to bless his
people, not simply the physical nation of Israel as at that time,
but the spiritual Israelites chosen in Christ unto salvation. He's promised to adopt them as
his own he's promised the glory of salvation he's given them
the covenants of promise he's given them the law and the service
of God he's made all his promises unto them not to every nation
not to every people not to every religion but to the Israel of
God to those who are in Christ chosen by God under salvation
and to Peter we read of these promises whereby are given unto
us exceeding great and precious promises Peter could speak of
these promises as having been given to us to those who know
Christ, to those who believe on Christ, to those unto whom
God has come through Christ and spoken through the gospel and
confirmed his promise. These promises are unto us, they're
not for all men. They're not to be just claimed
externally, they're not to be read upon the pages of scripture
and to be taken as though they might apply unto us if we've
not heard Him. God must come as he came unto
Noah as he came unto Abraham and he must speak unto us and
speak unto our souls and to say unto us you're mine I have chosen
you in my son Jesus Christ and I have promised to save you I've
promised to bless you Either you've heard Him in the Gospel
and heard His promise and know He's your God and Saviour, or
you're an imposter that would seek to come into the sheepfold,
climbing over the fence another way, rather than coming through
the gate, the door, which is Jesus Christ Himself. Paul writes
in 2 Corinthians 7, It's the children of God who are the children
of promise. In Hebrews we read that you be
not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises. Do you have the faith of Jesus
Christ by which he has made known his promise unto you? It's those who live and walk
by faith who are the inheritors of this promise. As we see at
the end of our chapter when Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians
here says in verse 24 of chapter 1, not for that we have dominion
over your faith but are helpers of your joy for by faith ye stand. You've come to hear of these
things. You've come to believe in these
things. You've come to know the reality
of the promise which is Ye and Amen in Jesus Christ because
God has come unto you in the Gospel and given unto you faith. And by that faith you've laid
hold upon Christ. You've heard Him, you've seen
Him, you believe Him. It's by faith that ye stand,
by faith that ye walk, by faith that you're saved. as of those
of whom we read in Hebrews 11, all those who are mentioned,
who live by faith, who believed and trusted in God by faith,
all those patriarchs of old who died in faith, not having received
the promises, 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. There were those who lived before
the coming of Christ, who never saw Christ's day. They weren't
there when he lived and walked on this earth, and they don't
live in our day when we can look back on him and read of his coming,
but they knew he'd come. They believed he'd come, they
heard God's word and God's promise. They heard the promise but they
never received the fulfilment because they waited. They waited
for the coming of Christ. They saw these promises are far
off. They were persuaded of them.
They embraced them, they put their hope and their trust in
them. They knew it was the coming of
the Sacrifice, the Saviour, the Messiah that God had promised,
which would deliver them from their sins and give them everlasting
life. and they journeyed through this
world confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth passing through this world looking through time to the fulfillment
of those promises and though they may have died in this world
though their mortal time frame may come to an end before Christ
came they knew that when he came that when he died that when he
rose again that they would rise up from the grave with him and
that all that God had promised concerning him would be true. O the faith of those who subdued
kingdoms, who wrought righteousness, who obtained promises, who stopped
the mouths of lions, who believed God, who trusted in God, who
followed God, and who rested in those everlasting promises
of God, which are yea, and in Christ, Amen. God made them promises,
and they received the promise. because they believed him who
had spoken unto them in particular. There are many today in religion
who speak of the promises and who speak of things of which
they have no part. who take the bare letter of Scripture
and read of the death of Jesus Christ and read of the Gospel
and the Kingdom of God, and without any experience, without any true
revelation of the Gospel, without ever truly hearing the voice
of the Son of God unto their souls, they presumptuously claim
these things for themselves. They make a decision to believe
on Jesus. They live by their own works
in the hope that God will bless them because of their zeal. And
they look to these promises and they apply them to themselves
without ever hearing God's voice. Without ever being able to say
truly that I never chose him, he chose me. that I never sought
him but he sought me and found me and delivered me from my sin. that I cared not for God, but
He cared for me, and though I hated Him, He loved me. And He sent
His Son into the world for me, and His Son suffered and died
for me, and He sent His Gospel forth by His preachers, and He
sent the Spirit forth, and He found me where I was. I'd run
astray, I'd run afar off, and yet He found me. and he spake
unto my soul and he spake these promises and he said this is
my son of whom I promised and I promised I'd send him to deliver
you from your sins the believer knows what it is
to be sought of God and found of God he knows what it is to
have God's promises made known unto him and to be a partaker
of them but how many there are who with the bare letter of scripture
and no experience of the reality of God's grace make claims upon
that which is not theirs they speak of claiming the promises
brother of going to these promises and saying well it says that
there so I'm going to trust in that I'm going to rest in that
even though they don't know the God that promised even though
they've no reality no experience of the reality of being forgiven
by the blood of Jesus Christ it's all presumption on their
part there's no experience presumption won't save you your decision
won't save you your works won't save you your free will won't
save you the grace of God must save you and if you know the
grace of God you'll know what it is to be lost in your sins,
sinking at sea, falling in the depths, out of your depth, without
a hope, unable to swim to shore, unable to swim to safety, unable
to save yourself. But God, in the Gospel, came
unto you, comes unto you in the person of Jesus Christ and makes
his promise known unto you. He comes though you're afar off. He hasn't abandoned you. He hasn't
left you to yourself. He never gave up on you. Oh you
might have wanted to be left. You might have wanted to be left
in your sin and have no knowledge of God. You might have wanted
to run away from God. You might have wanted to run
away from the meeting and run away from the gospel and go as
far off from God as you could get and be left alone. But there
you were sinking at sea and God in mercy sent the gospel your
way. God wouldn't leave you to yourself. He sent preachers your way, who
wouldn't leave you alone. He sent the Gospel away, and
though you rejected it and despised it, He wouldn't leave you alone. Because He came to where you
were, in the darkness, in the seas, in the tempest, drowning
and lost, and He came and plucked you out. because he has promised
to save his people from their sins. The people of God know what it
is to be sought and found. The false in religion think they
are found, think they stand, think they're alright because
they've picked up a Bible and found the record of promises
and said they're mine. They come and say, I'm an Israelite,
I'm a Christian, I'm in the kingdom because I've chosen, I've worked,
I've lived a life pleasing unto God. I've chosen to go this way
when others didn't. They've claimed the promises.
But you can't claim that which isn't yours. God either makes
the promise to you as he made it to Abraham and his seed, it's not yours. You can't claim
that which isn't yours it's theft, it's robbery, it's fraud, your
claim is worthless. like someone may make a claim
on an inheritance who has no part in it someone may die and
they leave a will and they leave all their riches and estate unto
those named in the will and the family of those named in the
will and that family have a claim on that inheritance but others
have no claim well so it is with the gospel and with the covenant
of God and with the testament of God the new testament God
has written a testament and he's written a will and he said when
my son dies I will leave this inheritance, this everlasting
life, this everlasting kingdom, unto the people chosen and written
down in this will, in this testament. unto a written down elected chosen
people they are named they're named in his covenant they're
named in his testament and all the blessings and promises of
God are for them and no one else so if you come along as an outsider
an infidel, an imposter and try to take the inheritance when
you have no part or lot in the matter, no naming in that will,
then you are a robber, a thief, fraudulent, you have no claim,
no claim, no claim on the promises. Claim or no claim. These promises are made to certain
people and they belong to them and them only. You can try to
claim the promises but that claim is worthless if your name is
not written in the Testament. If your name is not written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. This is for the Israel of God.
The chosen of God in Jesus Christ. But are you in that book? Is your name in that book? Is your name one of those for
whom he suffered and died? You see, Paul wasn't looking
when he went preaching the gospel for all men to be saved. And
I'm not looking to see all men saved. They won't be. The promises aren't for all.
Therefore, elect. Are they for you? If you're in
Christ, chosen in Him, they're yours. And if not, you're under
condemnation. The wrath of God burns from heaven
above against your sin, your rebellion, your iniquity, and
it will burn forevermore, world without end. and no decision
of yours, no free will of yours, no works of yours will make any
difference. Where you head in eternity is
not in your hands or in your will, it's in God's. He's the one that makes the promise. He's the one that fulfills the
promise. He's the one that grants the
promise. as he promised to deliver you
from your sins. These promises that he made unto
Abraham and his seed were fulfilled. Everyone, everyone Romans 15
verse 8 we read, Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of
the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises
made unto the fathers. He came confirming all that was
promised unto Abraham and the patriarchs. He came as the promised
Saviour, exactly as promised. He came. All the promises of
God are yea and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. He came as promised. Hebrews
8 tells us, But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by
how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises. There were promises in the law
and in the old covenant, conditional promises. If you live according
to the law, you will not die. If you keep the law perfectly
in this world, you will continue to live. But if you break it
in any way and in any sense, you will die. And there's not
one man under that covenant, not one man in this world that's
ever been under that law of God who's ever kept it. And anyone
that thinks that they ever can or ever tries to will find that
it is a killing letter. It slays them. Everything it
demands we fail to do. Love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, thy soul and thy mind. Not one of us have even begun
to. Love thy neighbour with all thy
heart. Not one of us have ever started
to. We hate God and we hate our neighbour. the law comes down in condemnation
of us. It was a conditional covenant,
a conditional promise and we broke every condition. But Jesus
Christ came as a minister the mediator of a better covenant
the new covenant the new testament which was established on better
promises everything he has promised in this covenant has been brought
to pass i will deliver my people from their sins he shall save
his people from their sins thou shalt call his name jesus for
he shall save His people from their sins. He fulfilled every
promise. The author of the Hebrews takes
us back to Abraham under whom the promises were made. Abraham
unto whom God gave a son Isaac as promised. And unto whom God
then said, take Isaac thy promised son and offer him up as a sacrifice
and Abraham believed God and though you can imagine what he
must have thought he'd waited years for the birth of Isaac
He knew that the promises would come through him, that the seed
would come through Isaac's line, and here God asked him to offer
him up. But Abraham knew that God was
right, and Abraham knew that even if he offered up Isaac,
that God could bring Isaac to life again. So he did, as God
promised, but God stopped him at the end and found a sacrifice. and offered that. When he was
tried he offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises
offered up his only begotten son. He was a picture of the
Father. He was a picture of God Almighty. who took his promised son Jesus
Christ. The generations came, the generations
went from the birth of Isaac through the generations all the
way through until Christ was born, the seed of promise, the
promised son was finally born and God took his own son and
offered him up. in order to fulfil the promise
through him under his people that he would wash them clean
of their sins. Not only was he the promised
son, but he was the promised priest and the promised sacrifice. He bore the sins of his people. He took them away that they should
live forevermore. These are promises of God. These promises in the New Testament
are unconditional. God has promised to offer up
his son, God has promised to bless his people, God has promised
to save his people and they're not based upon our response in
any way. In spite of our unbelief, He
saves us. In spite of our hatred, He saves
us. In spite of our doubts and fears,
He saves us. In spite of the fact that we
weren't willing, He saves us. and makes us willing in the day
of His power. Though we said no, He said yes. Though we turned away, He brought
us under Him. Though we were afar off, He led
us back into the fold. Though we were lost, He found
us. They're not conditioned upon
what we do or what we say, we think or we will. Because if
they were we'd be lost because our works have led us into sin. Our works are as filthy rags,
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Our decision is a decision
to turn away and flee from God. Our will is set in another direction. There's not one that willeth,
there's not one that runneth, there's not one that sought after
God. You haven't and I haven't. But
if God saves me, if God saves you, if God saves any sinner,
He does it in spite of our rebellion, in spite of our sin, in spite
of the deadness of our own hearts. It's not conditioned upon us. These promises of God are unconditional. He's promised to bless His people
and He has blessed them. He hasn't promised to bless them
if they will. Or bless them if they do. Or
bless them if they ask. Or bless them if they seek Him
in prayer. Or bless them if they're more
fervent. Or bless them if they're more
full of zeal. He's not promised if. But He
has promised. Unconditionally. These promises
are not yay and nay. They're not I will do this if
you do that. And because we won't, they become
nay. But they are yea, and in Him
are men. And they are promises, as with
Abraham and Isaac, that cost God. They are promises which
for Him to fulfil, for Him to bless His people, for Him to
save His people, it cost Him. They're based on the offering
up of His Son. They're based on God taking His
only begotten Son and slaying them in the place of His people. This is what brought these promises
to pass. This is what saves us. The offering
up. of the Son of God. It cost him. It cost the Father. It cost the Son. It cost the
Holy Ghost. He made a promise to send his
son. He made a promise to save his
people through his son. He made a promise to give them
everlasting life and a kingdom to come and that promise cost
him. It cost him everything. God had
to give his own son as an offering for sin. Christ had to lay down
his own life as an offering for sin. The Spirit had to behold
the Father offering up the Son. It cost the Godhead to make this
promise. What a promise this is. What
promises these are of salvation. what promises of grace and mercy
I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy I will save my people
from their sins even though it meant that Jesus who loved his
people had to give himself for them he loved them though they
hated him He died for those who were dead in sins, that the dead
might live forevermore in Him. But it cost Him. It cost Him. Does it not move you that God
in love was willing to pay such a price to deliver the souls
of sinners like you from destruction? Would you rather, with the foolish,
run off into the depths of a swirling ocean, drown in the depths, left
to yourself, afar off from God? Or would you rather know these
promises, made known unto you, fulfilled for you in Jesus Christ,
Would you rather know everlasting and eternal life in Christ? Have you heard him? Have you
heard his gospel? Have you heard the promises of
God in Christ? Yea and Amen. Has he given you
ears to hear? Has he led you to his Son? That
Son that offered up everything that sinners like you and I should
live forevermore.