Our blessed Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, accomplished for his people extraordinary things
during his life upon this earth. And in his death, achieved a
redemption, an atonement, a reconciliation, between God and sinners that
perhaps throughout the endless ages of eternity will be more
than we can fully grasp. His story is without equal in
the history of this world. No priest No prophet, no religious
teacher, no imam, no preacher, no pope ever did what the Lord
Jesus Christ did. The eternal God became a man. He joined himself to our flesh. He became our representative
as a man, and he offered himself as a sacrifice for our sin, dying
as our substitute. In his death, he satisfied every
demand of a righteous, holy God. against a sinful, rebellious
people. And rising again, he broke the
fearful power of death. Do you know that you don't have
to be afraid of death if you are the Lord's people? You don't
have to be afraid of it anymore because it's a defeated enemy. The Bible calls it the last enemy,
but it's been defeated because the Lord Jesus Christ has proved
that he is more powerful than death. Our representative, our
friend, our brother broke the bands of death. It couldn't hold
him and it cannot hold his people. He became the king of his kingdom. He established his rule over
all things. He bound us to God eternally,
and he is our father. Do you remember that the Lord
Jesus Christ said to Mary in that garden when he rose from
the dead? He said, Mary, don't touch me. Touch me not. For I am not yet
ascended to my father. But go to my brethren and say
unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father. my God and your
God. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren. The second verse comes from the
book of Hebrews chapter two. But the point I'm making here
is that the Lord Jesus Christ and the things that he accomplished
here upon this earth has forged a new relationship between us,
his people, and God, such that we call God our father. He is our God, but now he is
our Father. We are his children. We are heirs
together with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our brother. There is a relationship has been
made evident, obvious, experiential because of what the Lord Jesus
Christ has accomplished. What a privilege it is for us
this morning to call God our Father. Lots of people can quote
a prayer which says our Father which art in heaven, but we come
together to worship calling God our Father. It's a privilege. Christ is our elder brother,
it's a privilege. and the elect body of Christ. The church spread throughout
this world are our brothers and sisters. We're not a mighty throng
here this morning in the physical confines of this little building,
but we are a mighty throng upon the face of this globe because
we are joined, we are united with the people of God wherever
they may be this day. I've been speaking over the past
few weeks to a number of gentlemen, particularly. Don Fortner sends
his regards to you this morning. I spoke to Al Angelic the other
day and I said to him, I'm going up to Wolverhampton, make sure
and tell the friends there that we are praying for them. I spoke
to Harry Kazi, I spoke to John Graham. These men send their
regards to you. Their congregations are thinking
of you. I have a personal intimacy with
a little congregation in Great Falls, Montana. They're asking
for you. The Lord's people around this
world are praying for you. Do you know that before we met
here this morning, there was a church nine hours ago in Nowra,
New South Wales, was praying for this service while you were sleeping? Because the people of God care
for one another. The people of God have an affection. One hurts, we all hurt. One rejoices, we all rejoice. That's the nature of having one
father. That's the nature of having Christ
as a brother. That's the relationship that
we have in the family of God. One body, one family, united. And these unions, these relationships
are exclusive to us, and they are precious to us. They have
been won for us by our Savior. So let us cherish them. Let us
appreciate them. Dare I say, let us exploit them. What I mean, we are encouraged
to go boldly before God in our prayers. Our prayers for ourselves,
our prayers for one another. We take our hopes and our fears,
we take our petitions, we take his promises, and we come boldly
because the Lord God has enjoined us to do so. Come boldly, says
the writer to the Hebrews, unto the throne of grace that we may
obtain mercy and find grace in the time of need. And we've got
needs, right? We're a needy people, right?
You know, I don't have any reason to come and tell you about your
needs. I've come to tell you about the answer to those needs,
because we all know our needs. But we're comforted in knowing
that we can go boldly to the throne of grace, and we can find
mercy there, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and
I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Recently, I've been
working through the book of Galatians and I've been rejoicing in the
blessed truths that are to be discovered there in that little
letter from the hand, the pen of the apostle Paul. And the
truth of grace, the fact that the believer in Christ has an
absolute debt to grace and complete freedom from the law. And the book of Galatians could
not be clearer in declaring that fact. I believe that many of
the Lord's people sadly never come to experience the joy of
their liberty in Christ. And it's a sad state of affairs. But I came upon a little verse
in the book of Galatians that I want to draw your attention
to this morning. And it's found in chapter four,
verse 28. I'll just read it to you. You
don't need to turn to it because it's very straightforward, beautiful
little verse that I want to share with you. It says this, Paul
speaking, he says, Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children
of promise. Couldn't be simpler, really,
could it? The apostle says, now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children
of promise. You know, that little phrase,
the children of promise, is only mentioned once in Scripture,
and that's it. And yet it is something in its
theme, in its meaning, which pervades the whole of Scripture. And this morning I want to just
draw your attention, very simply, and I trust not to weary you,
I want to draw your attention to that little phrase, the children
of promise. And I want to ask some questions.
I want to say, what is a child of promise? In what sense are
we children of promise? And what spiritual comfort and
encouragement can we draw from that knowledge? A child of promise was a child
whose birth was divinely foretold. and whose life attested God's
plan of salvation. Now, I'm not saying that there
aren't others that might come within this category in scripture
this morning. Let me give you an example. I'm
not going to talk about Samuel. Now, we could say that Samuel
was a good example of this child of promise because Eli, That
old priest, he spoke to Hannah, there's a lovely name, and he
told her that a child would be born this time next year. So
in a real sense, Samuel was a child of promise. But there are examples
in Scripture, and Isaac's one of them, and we've read the other
two. John the Baptist in Luke chapter
one, and the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke chapter one, where angels
were sent with an explicit promise that this child would be born. And there's a fourth one that
is also before us this morning, and that is to be found in Judges,
and that is the story of Samson, because Samson was a child of
promise too. In an amazing revelation, God
himself came and spoke to Samson's parents, Manoah and his wife,
and told them that this child would be born. So these four
are the four before us this morning. Isaac who's named in our verse
as a child of promise, Samson who also is a child of promise,
John the Baptist and of course the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
just think briefly about Isaac because the story of Abraham
and Sarah, the narrative, the account that we have is a wonderful,
a wonderful narrative, a wonderful story. And yet it is also very
commonplace. Here was a man and a woman who
loved one another, but there was no baby. they were not able
to have a child. And it appears very evident from
the reading of the history of Abraham and Sarah that they longed
to have a child. There was no heir, and it was
a trial to them in their marriage. It tested their relationship. It was a source of worry, and
it was a source of temptation. Just want to turn with you to
Genesis chapter 15. Just let's look there. Genesis
chapter 15, verse 1. So here is God's promise given
to Abraham. It says here, after these things,
the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying,
Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.
And Abraham said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go
childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? Another way of Abraham saying
that was, Lord, what could you give me? What is bigger in my
life than the fact that I don't have a child? That was the biggest
thing he wanted. This was a prayer by Abraham. What could you give me? What
do I need? The only thing I need, God, is
this heir, is this child. And Abram said, Behold, to me
thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine
heir. And behold, the word of the Lord
came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that
shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad
and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be
able to number them. He said unto him, so shall thy
seed be. And he believed in the Lord,
and he counted it to him for righteousness. So we see that
a promise was given Abraham. God's promise was given and God's
promise was believed. But if we were to read more widely
in this narrative, we would discover something very interesting. It
took 20 years for that promise to be fulfilled. 20 years, Abraham
and Sarah waited for that child yet. 20 years during which their
bodies grew older, their physical ability to reproduce long gone. 20 years during which That temptation
grew even stronger to such an extent that Sarah said, here's
someone else, go in and lie with her. Here's Hagar, my servant,
go lie with her and let us produce that heir that God has promised
by this means. God withheld the fulfillment
of the promise, though the promise was given for those 20 years. Now if we just turn over in Genesis
to chapter 17, we now see something else of
this promise. Look at 17 verse 15. God said unto Abraham, As for
Sarah thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah
shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give
thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her, and she
shall be a mother of nations, kings of people shall be of her. Then Abram fell upon his face
and laughed and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him
that is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah that is ninety
years old bear? We could read in chapter 18 again
another statement of that promise, but let us for the sake of time
just skip forward to chapter 21. There we read in verse 1, The Lord visited Sarah as he
had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare
Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had
spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of
his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. The promise had been given. The
promise had been believed. There were hard times during
that period before which the promise was fulfilled, but it
was fulfilled. And Isaac was that child of promise. Well, was there another one?
Yes, there was. Samson was a child of promise. The history of Minoa and his
wife is found in Judges chapter 13. Briefly turn with me please
to Judges chapter 13. Joshua, Judges, Ruth. Judges chapter 15. I'm sorry, it's chapter 13. And the children of Israel, right
at the very beginning of the chapter, and the children of
Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord
delivered them into the hand of the Philistines 40 years. And there was a certain man of
Zorah of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his
wife was Baran and Bernot. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto the woman and said unto her, Behold now thou that art
barren, and bearest not, but thou shalt conceive and bear
a son. Now therefore beware, I pray
thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any
unclean thing, for lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and
no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite
unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel
out of the hand of the Philistines. Samson was a Nazirite. We find
about the vow of the Nazirites in Numbers chapter six. It means
that they were separated to the Lord. They took a vow to dedicate
their lives to the Lord, and Samson was to be a Nazirite from
his birth. And so the Lord was purposefully
establishing this child as being peculiarly significant in the
history of Israel. So the Lord came himself because
we discover a little later in this narrative that that angel
of the Lord was the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The account of
this promise is particularly interesting from this point of
view because Manoah asks the Lord's name. He asks the name
of this angel that had appeared before him and his wife. The
angel returns a little bit later and speaks to Manoah as well. Manoah says, what is your name? What is thy name? So when thy
sayings come to pass, we may do thee honor. And what happened
then? was unique in the history of
this world. Judges chapter 13, verse 18 and
19 says this. The angel of the Lord said unto
him, why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? Now, that little phrase there,
we might interpret that as saying, why are you asking my name? Don't you know it's a secret?
But that's not the right interpretation. The interpretation is this. Why
askest thou after my name, seeing it is secret? My name is secret. My name is, we can use another
phrase in there, my name is too much for you to understand. My
name is incomprehensible to man. My name is wonderful. And that was one of the very
titles that later Isaiah would give in his prophecy concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. When this angel said to Manoah
and his wife, my name is secret, he was saying, my name is wonderful. My name is the eternal God. My name is the son of God. I
am that incomprehensible one that human flesh never can understand,
never could, for no one could look upon the face of God and
live. Manoah knew that. That was the trauma that beset
him at the end of this narrative. If you read it at your leisure
at home, he said to his wife, surely we'll die, we've seen
the face of God. And then he remarked, but perhaps
not, for the Lord received an offering at our hand. This angel of the Lord was seen
to be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And so
this child of promise was revealed by this manifestation, just as
it was with Abraham, so also with Manoah and his wife, a manifestation
of God himself, the wonderful one. And Manoah was in no doubt
that he had seen God. And was the child of promise
born? Yes, he was. Samson was born. The Lord Jesus' words came true. And Samson was a type of the
Savior. Because just as Zacharias would
later pray, as we read in Luke chapter one, that this was to
be the fulfillment of the deliverance of Israel, so we see that Samson
began the deliverance of Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.
That's a type, a metaphor, a picture It's likening something that
physically actually happened, factually happened in the history
of the Old Testament Jews, which has a spiritual dimension in
our New Testament age. Because that deliverance is the
deliverance that the Lord Jesus Christ has secured for us out
of the hands of our Philistine enemies, out of the fleshiness
that besets us as that Philistine force that still prevails in
the hearts and lives of all men and women today. The promise was given. The promise
was believed. and the promise was fulfilled.
Was there any more? Well, yes, we read about John
the Baptist, didn't we? We read about John the Baptist
in Luke chapter one, and for 500 years, God had been silent. Not a prophet, not a judge, not
a word. And then a man called Zacharias,
in the course of his priestly duties, was in the temple And
there he was met by the angel Gabriel. And he announced to
Zacharias and Elizabeth that there would be a coming child
who would be John. John, we call him John the Baptist,
and John was a child of promise because God here himself, in
the person of this angel, Gabriel, conveyed and communicated that
this child would be born. He was named by the angel. And one notable point about this
promise, I think, that ought to be considered is that there
is a promise, as it were, within this promise. It's always nice.
Remember the little Russian dolls that the children used to play
with? You opened the one and there was another in there. Well,
God's promises are like that. You open one promise, and lo
and behold, there's another promise in there. You open that promise,
and wow, what do you discover? But there's another promise in
there. Well, that's true here in this
occasion. In Luke chapter 1, verse 16,
we're told that the angel said to Zacharias these words. Many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God. So what was the angel doing
there? He was there to tell Zacharias
that there was a child of promise, that John would be born. But
what did he do while he was speaking? It's almost as if he couldn't
withhold himself. Such was the magnitude, such
was the greatness of this event that was about to take place
that he goes on to say another promise. This child that is going
to be born, he will turn many of the children of Israel to
the Lord their God. So much for man's free will then.
I love these verses. This is where we see the truth
of sovereign grace. just cast, almost like just spread
liberally across the whole of Scripture. And I wonder, how
is it that men who study the Word of God never come to an
understanding of sovereign grace? Where's free will? if an angel
can say to a man that there is going to be a child born and
that that child will turn many, many to the Lord their God. Hopefully. Maybe. If we're fortunate. Is that the sort of language
that Gabriel used? No! This was God at work. God knew exactly who would be
turned to the Lord, their God. He knew exactly those amongst
the children of Israel. And we can extend that. We can say that through the ministry
of John the Baptist, that preparatory ministry of the Lord, and then
the coming of the Lord himself, all of that spiritual Israel,
have been turned to the Lord their God." There's no accident
in this, no perhaps, no perchance. God knew exactly that this was
to be the outworking of his sovereign purpose. Zacharias and Elizabeth were
old. Did not the history of Abraham
and Sarah come to mind when Zacharias heard this prophecy? Could he
not have applied that Well, it seems clear from Gabriel's words
that Zacharias doubted. The angel of the Lord stands
before the man, conveys this message to him, and Zacharias
was distrustful. We're told that Zacharias was
a righteous man. We're told that he was a faithful
man. We're told that he was a believing man. And yet, when this promise
was given to him, He didn't believe it. He was distrustful. Let us
not be surprised when men and women, even amongst the family
of God, Betray their native enmity against God in their lack of
faith. Oh God, give me more faith. Give me faith to believe your
promises. Give me faith to understand what
it is to be a child of promise. Show me these things. The Lord,
by Gabriel, struck Zacharias dumb. Is there a lesson in that
for you and a lesson in that for me? Yes. God will be heard
even if he has to shut us up from talking. How often does our talking get
in the road of our believing? How often does our activity get
in the way of our quiet resting and trust in him? I saw somewhere written up, if
you prayed about this problem as much as you talked about it, let us trust the Lord. When John was born, it was said
of him, what manner of child shall this be? And the hand of
the Lord was with him. He was a child of promise, promise
given. A promise believed and a promise
fulfilled. And then there was the Lord Jesus
Christ. Of course, the Lord Jesus Christ
was the fulfillment of all the types. All the types and the
promises of the Old Testament were focused upon his coming. And in Luke chapter one again,
we read it, we read there of the Lord's promise being given to Mary. Isaac was a type, Samson was
a type, and there were so many other Old Testament pictures
of the long-promised Messiah. And yet Mary, Mary had her own
intimate, personal promise given to her and how beautiful it was
to see this angel Gabriel in all of his splendour coming and
presenting himself to this, no more than a girl, no more than
a young woman. in a backward town, in a rural
setting, so little to understand or grasp of the vastness of the
world or the machinations of politics or power or strength. This wasn't in the civilized
centers of power like Rome or Athens or Jerusalem. This was
in Nazareth, this little girl. Gabriel came and spoke to her. Luke chapter 1 verse 31 says
this, Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a
son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be
called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be
no end. I think Roman Catholics have
stolen Mary's testimony from us. I think we don't think of
Mary as often and as highly as we should because we are frightened
that we might be accused of giving her too much prominence. But it's right that all ages
call her blessed, for she was blessed indeed. And this is a
lovely narrative that is set before us here. And Mary didn't
doubt. She wasn't doubting, not like
Zacharias. But she asked a question. She
said to Gabriel, you know, how is this possible when I know
not a man? How can I give birth when I don't
have a husband? What a glorious response the
angel Gabriel gave to her. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee. and the power of the highest
shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Listen, for with God nothing
shall be impossible. And let me give you an opinion. I think if anybody should know,
Gabriel should know. With God, nothing shall be impossible. Gabriel himself told Mary that
this child would be born. This child, Jesus, was a child
of promise. And all of these scriptural examples
of this lovely phrase, children of promise, are given to us But
remember what Paul said in Galatians. Remember all that way back? We
seem to have come a long way since we first mentioned Galatians. Remember what he said? Brethren,
we are children of promise, like Isaac was, like Samson was, like
John the Baptist was, like the Lord Jesus Christ was. You and
I, you and me, we are children of promise. It speaks of God's covenant.
God himself has promised that we will be born. Did you know
that? God promised that you would be
born. Now, he might not have promised it to your mom and dad,
but he promised that you would be born. God the Father promised
the Lord Jesus Christ that you would be born. naturally, physically. And he promised that you would
be born again, spiritually, in your soul. You are a child of
promise. And the promises of God are yea
and amen. Leviticus 26 verse 12 says, and ye shall be my people. And I will be a father unto you,
says Paul in 2 Corinthians, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. Right. Now, I'm going to press
your patience here for a moment or two, because I've got four
things that I'm going to quickly refer to in the context of the
comforts and encouragements that we can get from this little phrase
that we are the children of promise. Four things that I want to say
to you, and I'm aware of the time and I'm moving on. First
of all, to be a child of promise proves God's sovereign regenerating
power. It proves it. Any that deny sovereign
grace, any that deny the sovereign grace of God in the salvation
of an elect people, a predestinated people, anyone who says that
they believe in free will, are running against the testimony
of Scripture and the promise of the children of God. Now, we're not going out too
physical here, but who can make a baby? Now, some people would say, well,
anybody can make a baby. Well, Jacob and Rachel's experience
in Genesis chapter 30 tells us that it is God who opens and
closes the womb. And the psalmist says, low children
are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is
his reward. So if God ordains every natural
birth, why imagine that we will our own salvation, our second
birth? Do you remember the story about
the man that was let down through the roof into the room where
the Lord Jesus Christ was preaching? And the Lord looked at him there
as he lay on his bed, and he said, son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees
and these religious people that were all around about, they said,
Well, who can say thy sins be forgiven thee? Only God can do
something like that. And the Lord Jesus Christ knew
what was in their hearts and he said to them, do you think
it's easier for me to say to this person, rise, take up your
bed and walk or your sins are forgiven? What's the hardest
thing to do there? But just to let you know that
I've got power to say to this man, your sins are forgiven.
Man, rise, take up your bed and walk. And he rose, took up his
bed and walked. The Lord has power over the spiritual
and it's demonstrated in the fact that he has power over the
natural, power over the physical. It is God who gives children.
In every family, every child that's ever been born, God was
in control of that. He ordained all these things.
and he ordains everything to do with spiritual life as well. What was it that the angel said?
With God, nothing shall be impossible. The second thing is this, not
only does it show us the sovereign regenerating power of God, it
also shows us that the children of promise display God's covenant
purpose. Have you ever wondered why you're
alive? I have. Not why you're alive, but
why I'm alive. You wonder why you've been given
this existence, wonder what it's all about, wonder who am I and
what is all this about? This world thing, this fact that
I live here in this town, that I live in this time. Like, why
was I not born a hundred years ago? Or a thousand years ago? What would have happened if I'd
been born in the time of the Vikings? Do you ever think like
that? Or is it just me? Why were we born? Why is it that
it's me that's alive and not somebody else? What if I'd been born on a different
day? What if I'd been a little bit
premature or a little bit late in arriving? What if I had a
different birthday? Would I be a different person?
Would my life have been totally altered? What if I'd been born
in a different country? And instead of having all the
benefits of the National Health Service, I was born in a little
village in the middle of some backwoods in a remote part of
the world. What would have happened then?
What would my life have been like then? Or to different parents? Maybe parents had a lot more
money than my parents had. or could give me a lot better
education than I ever got. What would have happened to my
life then? And all these variables, and you think, what about all
of these things? Are we just the product of some
randomness, some meaningless chance? What if my name had been
Robert instead of Matthew? Or John instead of Peter? Would
my life have been different? Do you know that the names of
the children of promise were written in eternity in the Lamb's
Book of Life? Their names were written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. Peter Many was written down,
is written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now you can say
that it's not a real book, you can say that it's a picture,
it's a metaphor, but what it tells me is this, that this man
had to be born on that day and that place to those parents,
and his life had to be exactly as it was. Because that message
of the gospel had to go to him that day. He had to receive it.
He had to believe it. Because he's a child of promise. And every promise pertaining
to that individual had to be put in place. This is a big God
that we've got. Everything works together for
the good of the people of God. Your name, if you're a child
of God, was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Just think about
that for a moment. That means that God knew your
parents and your grandparents. and your great-grandparents and
your great-great-grandparents, how far do you want to go back?
All the way to Adam, every single liaison, every single joining,
every single mixing of all that gene pool that there is out there
was ordained to the production of you, child of promise, like
Isaac. like Samson, like John the Baptist,
like Jesus Christ himself, you are a child of promise. We brethren,
like Isaac, are children of promise. These named individuals, these
chosen people, these loved people, these set apart people, these
redeemed, converted people, because the Father promised them to his
Son. in the eternal covenant of grace. The elect of God are children
of promise. Isaiah 43, verse one says, but
now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he
that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee.
I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Three, the children of promise
are evidence of God's faithfulness. We show God's regenerating power,
we show that God has a covenant purpose, and we show that it
is evidence of God's unchangeableness and faithfulness. God, his promises
are always fulfilled. Abraham waited 20 years for that
child to be born. But the love of the Father, the
cleansing blood of the Son, the effectual quickening call of
the Holy Spirit is all focused upon the delivery of that promise. God is faithful. The whole triune
God, the God who created all things, is engaged in working
towards the fulfillment of this promise. Don't, you know, we
rightly think of ourselves as being small and significant,
often inadequate individuals. And we're lost in the morass
of this world. We're completely inconsequential
as far as this world is concerned. But you know, if you're a child
of promise, this whole world is actually all geared up and
designed for you. Everything. The Godhead himself
is engaged in the delivery of the promise that has been made
concerning you. Great is thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions
they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever
will be. Fourthly, the children of promise
are heirs of the blessings. Our God has not chosen simply
to have some individuals He has not simply chosen to call
out a people to himself without telling us what is involved in
that promise. He has promised us untold blessings,
amazing blessings, incomprehensible blessings, because they come
from the Wonderful One. He has promised glory to each
one of us. Every one of the children of
promise are promised eternal glory. We are heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ. That means that if it's His,
it's ours. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9 says, I
have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. Children of promise, what a wonderful,
wonderful position to be in. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
we are favored beyond telling. Our father is the sovereign God. Our brother is the King of kings. Every promised blessing is ours. And we are a mighty nation, his
people, and he calls us by our name. Every grace and every glory
is ours. Paul says in Romans chapter eight,
he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? You're familiar with these verses.
You know these verses. I've told you nothing you haven't
heard before. But let us be comforted in these
truths. Let us rejoice in these promises. Let us be encouraged as we go
out tomorrow to face this world, to face this week, to face the
challenges that must be brought against us, that these things
are true. These are the very promises of
God, and we are the children of promise. Great God and Heavenly Father,
We thank thee for covenant mercy, for blood atonement, for quickening,
converting grace. We thank thee for all thy boundless
promises and for calling us thy children and heirs. We thank
thee for Christ and his saving death and resurrection. Amen.