Now, I have hope, a confident expectation with
regard to the future. I have a hope that God is actually
pleased with me through the Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious
hope that is, and that hope comes from His Word. I wouldn't dare
hope that unless I saw that it's what His Word gave me to hope
in. I'd be... I wouldn't want to
just come up with something on my own. I would want to know
that that's what the Scriptures actually teaches. Now, look here
in Joshua chapter 21. Joshua is giving a summary of
what had taken place during this time. verse 43 and the Lord gave unto Israel
all the land which he swear to give unto their fathers and they
possessed it and dwelt therein and the Lord gave them rest round
about according to all that he swear unto their fathers and
there stood not a man of all their enemies before them the
Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand there failed
not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the
house of Israel all came to pass. Now what is it that he swore
to their fathers? Twice we read that all that he
swore to their fathers he gave them. What is it he swear to
their fathers? Now, we're going to have to go
back to Abraham to find that out. Turn with me for a moment
to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. What man is mentioned more than
any other man in the Bible? Abraham. Actually, by far. Abraham is mentioned more than
anybody else. He's called the father of the
faithful. He's called the friend of God, and believers are described
as children of Abraham. If I'm a believer, if you're
a believer, we're children of Abraham. When God would describe
what faith is, He uses Abraham to illustrate it. It was Abraham
who staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God." Abraham illustrates
what it is to believe God. God said, you're going to have
a seed. You're going to have descendants.
Abraham was married to a woman that was buried. He was an old
man. But when God said that, he believed
God even though he had no evidence that it would take place, none
at all. All he had was the naked Word
of God. Abraham, the father of the faithful. And then when James is going
to illustrate the works of faith, who does he use to illustrate?
He uses Abraham. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works, he said? When he offered up his only son
upon the altar, you see how that Works wrought with his faith,
and by his works his faith was made complete. It proved the
reality of his faith. Abraham. Now, Abraham began as
a heathen idolater, and God called him. I mean, he was just living
his life. I don't know what all was involved
in that. He was in Ur of the Chaldees,
and he was not a believer, nor did he have any desire to be
a believer. But God called him out of that. Would you turn with
me to Genesis chapter 11 for a moment? We're going to get
back to Genesis 12 in a bit. Verse 27. Now, these are the
generations of Terah. Terah beget Abram, Nahor, and
Haran, and Haran begot Lot. And Haran died before his father
Terah in the land of the Nativity and Ur of the Chaldees, and Abram
and Nahor took them wives. The name of Abraham's wife was
Sarah, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of
Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But
Sarah was barren. And Teran took Abram his son,
and Lot the son of Haran's the son's son, and Sarah his daughter-in-law,
his son's Abram's wife. And they went forth from Ur of
the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan. And they came into
Haran and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were 205
years, and Terah died in Haran." Now, at this time, Abraham had
never heard from the living God. Look in Joshua chapter 24. Joshua chapter 24, verse 2. And Joshua said unto
all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers
dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah
the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor, and they served
other gods. Now do you see that? Abraham
was an idolater. serving other gods. And then God says, I took your
father Abraham from the other side of the flood and led him
throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave
him Isaac. Now, Abraham was saved the same
way you and I are saved. The Lord took him. He was an
idolater, and the Lord took him. Turn with me to Isaiah 51. This
speaks of this even more strongly, Isaiah chapter 51. Verse 1. Hearken to me, ye that follow
after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look unto the
rock whence you were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence you
were digged. Look unto Abraham your father,
and unto Sarah that bare you. For I called him alone, and blessed
him, and increased him. Now, Abraham was an idolater. living on the other side of the
flood and then the Lord appears to him. Go back to Genesis chapter
12. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country.
Now how this transpired I don't know. Did he hear an audible
voice? I reckon he did. This is before
the scriptures. He heard the voice of God, the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I know whose voice it was, but
he heard the voice of God. He was doing whatever it was
he was doing, and all of a sudden, God invaded his life. He heard
the voice of God. Now, the Lord had said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy country. and from thy kindred, and from
thy Father's house unto a land that I will show thee, and I
will make of thee a great nation. And I will bless thee, and make
thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless
them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee. And in
thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Now, Abraham
is in an instance an example of the sovereign grace of God.
I love thinking about this. Here he is, an idolater, and
God calls him out, and he blesses him. Now, the Lord told him,
you're going to have to leave your father's land. And this
is what the Lord does when he saves somebody. You're going
to have to lose all association with your father and go into
a land that I'm going to tell you. Now, what that represents
is when God saves somebody, they find out they have to drop all
association with their father's house, Adam. My salvation has
nothing to do with my works, nothing to do with the flesh.
I realize that. I drop all that association and I go to a land
that He shows me. The land represents salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that's in Him, a place
to be and a place to dwell. God promised Abraham this land. Now, this covenant that He made
with Abraham is timeless and everlasting. I want us to look
at several passages of Scripture regarding that. Look in verse
7 of chapter 12. And the LORD appeared unto Abram,
and said unto thy seed, Will I give this land? And there builded
he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. Look in chapter
13, verse 14. And the LORD said unto Abram,
after the lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes,
and look from the place where thou art, northward, southward,
eastward, and westward. Now before I go on reading, that
promise joshua talked about is the fulfillment of what he's
saying right here this is when it becomes fulfilled that's why
i'm reading all these verse 15 for all the land which thou seest
to thee will i give it and to thy seed forever and i will make
thy seed as the dust of the earth so that if a man can number the
dust of the earth then shall thy seed also be numbered arise
and walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth
of it for i will give it unto thee Look in chapter 15. After these things, verse 1,
the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear
not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Oh, the Lord says that to you.
If you're a believer, the Lord says to you, I am thy shield.
I am thy exceeding great reward. And what a great reward he is.
And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go
childless, and the steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus? And Abram said, behold, to me
thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine
heir. 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 thy heir and he brought him forth
abroad and said look now toward heaven Tell the stars if I'll
be able to number them and he said unto him so shall thy seed
Be he didn't say it will be if you do your part. He said so
shall thy seed be Look in verse 18 in this same chapter In the same day the Lord made
a covenant with Abram saying unto thy seed have I given this
land from the river of it from the river of Egypt under the
great river the river Euphrates look in chapter 17 and when Abram was 90 years old
and nine the Lord appeared to Abram and and said unto him I
am almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect and I will
make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly
this is before Isaac was born and Abram fell on his face and
God talked with him I love that when the Lord was speaking to
him what did Abraham do he hit the dirt he fell on his face
and God talked with him saying as for me behold my covenant
With thee thou shall be a father of many nations Neither shall
thy name anymore be called Abram for thy name shall be Abraham
for a father of many nations have I made thee and I will make
thee exceeding fruitful and I will make nations of thee and kings
shall come out of thee and I will establish my covenant between
me and thee and Thy seed after thee that's talking about every
believer that's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and in
their generation for an everlasting covenant. Everlasting. It never had a beginning. It
never had an ending. everlasting covenant to be a
God unto thee and to thy seed after thee and I will give unto
thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger
all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I
will be their God and God said to Abraham thou shalt keep my
covenant therefore thou and thy seed after thee in the generations
now the covenant that's being spoken of here the they call
it the Abrahamic Abrahamic, I don't know how you say it. The covenant
made with Abraham is nothing less than the gospel. That's
what it is. It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We see the whole gospel in this covenant. It's the same
covenant that David was speaking of in 2 Samuel 23, verse 5, when
he said, Although my house be not so with God, yet hath the
Lord made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure. And this is all my salvation,
this covenant that the Lord made, ordered in all things and sure.
This is all my salvation and it's all my desire. It's all
I desire, simply to be found in Christ in this covenant, though
he makes it not to grow. Now, this is the promise the
Lord makes to Abraham, the one he swore to the fathers. Now,
go back to Genesis 12 for a moment. Now in this covenant, there are
seven unconditional promises, and this covenant that he made
with Abraham He made with me just as much as he did with Abraham.
Every believer, this special covenant is made. And there's
seven unconditional promises, seven being the number of perfection.
Unconditional means it's not like he makes them, but if I
don't do my part, it gets messed up. No, he says, I will and you
shall. That's the unconditional promises
of the Lord God. Now, look what he says. We see
all seven of them in these first three verses of Genesis chapter
12. Now, the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country
and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land
that I will show thee." First, he gave him a land. He gave him
a place to live. He gave him a place to be. That
land is the salvation that's in Christ. Of him are you in
Christ Jesus. That's a land I dwell in. the
Lord Jesus Christ. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. That's the land I dwell in. Right
now, I'm walking around free in the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is the place I live. Don't you live in Lexington?
Yeah, I'm here, but that's not my home. My home is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and I feel so comfortable in Him. As a matter of fact,
that's the only place I feel comfortable. Simply being in him and nowhere
else what a blessing to be in him now the next thing he says
in verse 2 He says I'll make of thee a great nation Now that's
talking about his seed How often do we read of the seed of Abraham
now the seed of Abraham? He said I'll make of thee a great
nation that that's referring first of all to the Lord Jesus
Christ and He is the seed of Abraham. He's the seed of God. And that's talking about all
of God's people. We are the seed of Abraham. Every
believer is the seed of Abraham, truly Abraham's children. So we have a place to be in,
Christ, and we have something in us, the seed, Christ Jesus,
the Lord. He dwells in the heart of every
believer. So we have a land. And we have
an inheritance. We have a seed. Now look what
he says next in verse 2. He said, and I will bless thee. Not I will if, but I will. All of God's blessings every
believer possesses. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. Now listen to me.
If you're in Christ, You can't be any more blessed than you
are right now, whether you see it or not. That's the truth.
You are blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have all of God's
favor. You have all of God's mercy. You have all of God's
grace. All that God has to give, you have. He has blessed. Now, look what it says next.
He says in verse 2, I'll make thy name great. This is the fourth blessing.
We have a land. We have a seed. We have a blessing
and we have a great name. And indeed, we're talking about
Abraham right now, thousands of years after this took place.
But let me show you what this really means. I'll make thy name
great. Turn to Genesis chapter 5. This is the first time I've
ever seen this that I remember. Genesis chapter 5. And this is the book of the generations
of Adam. In the day that God created man,
in the likeness of God made he him. Male and female created
he them and blessed them and called their name, what? Adam. Not Adam and Eve. Adam. What's my name? What is the great name I have?
This is the name wherewith he shall be called Jehovah Sikinu,
the Lord our righteousness, this is the name wherewith she shall
be called. Jehovah Sikinu, the Lord our
righteousness. That's my name. Jehovah Sikinu.
What's your name? Jehovah Sikinu. This is the name
wherewith. That's a great name, isn't it?
That's a whole lot better name than Todd Divert. That's the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the name every believer
possesses. Isn't it great to have that name?
Here's my identity. You know, what do you got to
feel good about? Christ. I'm in Him. I'm proud
of myself in Christ. Now, I'm not proud of myself
in myself, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, what identity, what significance
I have simply being in Him. I don't need anything else. You
know, somebody says, isn't there anything more than that? What
could be better than that? Being in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a great name we have. And, okay, back to Genesis 12. He says, I'll make thy name great.
And here's the fifth blessing of this covenant. Thou shalt
be a blessing. Thou shalt be a blessing. And
you know, I look at the Lord's people and
I, you are a blessing to me. You're a blessing. I'm a blessing
to you. We're a blessing. What a privilege
to be with the Lord's people. It's a glorious thing. Thou shalt
be a blessing. And look what he says next in
verse 3. Verse 3, he says, I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse him that curseth thee. You know what? If you bless me,
the Lord's going to bless you. You see, inasmuch as you've done
unto the least of these my brethren, you've done it to me. And if
you're my enemy, You're the Lord's enemy. If you curse me, he's
going to curse you. You know, I think of my daughter.
Somebody that's the enemy of my daughter is my enemy. And
somebody that's the enemy of any of the Lord's people, the
Lord is in league against them. Now, this is the blessing of
the gospel. And look what he says at last. He says, In thee
shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And Paul tells
us in Galatians chapter 3 that that's the gospel. In thee, in
thy seed, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come through thee.
In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Let's go back now to, this is
the promise blessing, let's go back to Joshua, the text I read,
Joshua 21. Now, 430 years after this promise
was made to Abraham's descendants, the book of Joshua is about them
possessing the promised land. That's what the book of Joshua
is all about. And Joshua is giving his summary
of what the Lord does and he has done, and he says, you possessed
it. Now look in Joshua 21, beginning once again in verse 43. And the Lord gave unto Israel
all the land, which he swore to give unto their fathers, and
they possessed it and dwelt therein. The Lord gave this land. Now,
all I have is what the Lord has freely given me. I haven't earned
it, but because he is gracious, he gave it to me. Romans chapter
8 verse 32 says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely? Oh, I
love that word freely. Give us all things. Everything
that God has to give, he's given and he's done so freely. Didn't
have to find a reason in me to do it. He does it because it's
his will and because it's his purpose. He gave Israel all the
land, and it was everything that He had promised to give them.
You know, all of God's salvation is according to His eternal promise.
If He gives you something, it's because He determined before
to give it to you. That's the unconditional promise
of God. He said, I'm going to give it
to them. He made this determination before time began, and everything
He determines to do, He does. Everything I get, He determined
to give me. Turn to Romans chapter 4 for
a moment. Hold your finger there, Romans chapter 4. verse 13. For the promise that he should be heir of the
world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law. You'll
be heir of the world if you do this, but through the righteousness
of faith. For if they which are of the
law be heirs, faith is made void and meaningless and the promise
made of none effect because the law works wrath. For where there's
no law is, there's no transgression. Therefore, it's a faith that
it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure. to all the seed, not to that
only which is of the law, but to that also which is the faith
of Abraham, which is the father of us all." Now, he gave all
that he had promised, and we have all that he promised. You
know, those seven blessings, I've got them. He gave all, he
swear, I'm in Christ. I'm in the Lord. I have Christ
in me. I have the seed of God in me. Every believer does. I have a
place to dwell. I have the security of everything
that he promised. I have God's blessing. He hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places
in Christ. All God's blessing that he has to give, every believer
possesses. I tell you what, I want his blessing,
don't you? Whatever he gives as a blessing, that's what I
want. And I've got it in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this
great name, Jehovah's Akenu, the Lord our
righteousness. We are a blessing to others.
And he will bless those who bless us inasmuch as you've done to
the least of these, my brethren, you've done unto me, and he will
curse those who curse us inasmuch as you did it not to the least
of these, my brethren, you did it not unto me. Now, what does
it say they did in Joshua chapter 21, verse 43? And the Lord gave
unto Israel all the land which he swore to give unto their fathers,
and they possessed it and dwelt therein. Now, how can I know
if God's given me something? I possess it. If I don't possess
it, He didn't give it to me. Now, this is the scripture I
thought of when I was thinking of this thing of possessing something.
Revelation 19, 8 talks about the fine linen, clean and white. This is the righteousness of
the saints. It's their personal righteousness. Now, you know that that's talking
about Christ's righteousness being imputed to them and it
becomes theirs, but he doesn't say this is Christ's righteousness
imputed to them. It says this is the righteousness
of the saints. This is the righteousness of
Todd Nybert. I possess it. It is mine. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ is mine. We have this by possession, and
we dwell therein. Verse 44, look what it says next. And the Lord gave them rest round
about according to all that he sware unto their fathers. And
there stood not a man of all their enemies before them, and
the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. The
Lord gave them rest." The rest that's in Christ. Nothing to do. It's already been
done. When he said it is finished,
there's nothing to do but rest. I'm not going to give you a thing
to do. rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave them rest. And it says, not one of their
enemies stood before them. Now, I've got a lot of enemies. The first thing that comes to
my mind is my sins and my sin. My sin is my enemy. The first thing that It's my
worst enemy. You know who my worst enemy is?
Myself. Do you believe that about yourself?
That's my worst enemy. My sin. But listen to this. My sin. My sin. I don't have
any sin. That enemy's been defeated. It's
been put away. The sins that I'm going to commit
tomorrow have already been put away. That enemy has been vanquished. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole, has been
nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul,
my sin. has been defeated. My enemies are the Lord's enemies. You know, he counts my enemies
his enemies, and I count his enemies my enemies. Did not David
say, Do not I hate them that hate thee? I hate them with a
perfect hatred. I count them my enemies. Now, somebody that hates the
Lord They're my enemy. But you know what? The Lord's
going to defeat all of his enemies. The devil is my enemy. He's the enemy of my soul. Peter,
Satan hath desired to have thee that he may sift you as wheat.
You remember when the devil brought up Job to, actually the Lord
brought up Job to the devil, but the devil is my enemy. There's
a very real being called Satan, the accuser of the brethren,
who accuses them before God night and day. The devil is my enemy,
but he's God's devil on God's chain, and he is defeated, and
he cannot touch me. Death is my enemy, and death
has been destroyed. Turn with me for a moment to
Isaiah 54. You know, the Scripture says
the righteous are as bold as a lion. Think of a lion walking
through the forest. Who's he afraid of? Nobody, because
nobody can do anything to him. Now, that's the way the believer
is to be. We, our enemies, are vanquished
and defeated. Now, because of our unbelief,
we get these fears and doubts and so on, but we shouldn't.
Look at Isaiah 54, verse 17. No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness, their personal righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord. Now, that's my security. All
my enemies have been defeated. If God be for us, who can be
against us? I like God for us. I also like
to think about God for me. I like to think of it in the
generic sense, but I like to think of it in the personal sense.
If God be for me, and He's for me. He was for me when He foreknew
me. He's for me in predestination,
predestinating me to be conformed to the image of His Son. He's
for me in justification, justifying me. He's for me in calling, calling
me. He's for me in glorification,
glorifying me. I already have all these things.
If God be for me, who can be against me? Not one of their
enemies stood before them. Now back to Joshua. Verse 45, "...there failed not ought of
any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of
Israel, all came to pass." That's what I entitled this message. came to pass. Now, all of our
hope is found in His Word, the great things that He has spoken. The word spoken is often translated
promised. Not one of the great things that
he had promised failed. All came to pass." Now, you think
of his promises. First, you think of his truthfulness
and veracity. If he promises something, it
must be. As a matter of fact, it's so
certain that it's already taken place before it happened. That's
how certain his promise is. This is God's promise. All that
he promises, it all comes without any question, without any reference. Here, this promise. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. It's come to pass. Listen to
this promise. It is finished. That's a promise. That means
there's nothing for me to do. It is finished. Receive that. It's finished. Nothing to worry about. Listen
to this promise, being justified freely by His grace. through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. It's come to pass. Listen to
this promise, for by grace are you saved. Free unmerited favor
through faith, and that, that faith, it's not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Listen to this promise, now unto him that's able to keep you from
falling. Two or three weeks ago, I was getting ready to preach,
sitting right there in that chair, and I became overcome with fear
at the thought of falling and bringing reproach on the name
of Christ and just ruining everything. The Lord doesn't keep me. That's
what's going to happen. You can write that down. And I just thought
of myself, my weakness, and this Scripture came was so sweet to
me. Now unto Him that's able to keep
you from falling and to present you faultless before His presence
with exceeding joy. What a promise. Turn with me for a moment to
Colossians chapter 1. All these blessed promises. I read this verse of Scripture
a lot, but, you know, I don't apologize. Glorious Scripture.
Matter of fact, if I read this Scripture twice every sermon,
it wouldn't be enough. Verse 20. Listen to this promise. And having made peace It's already
been made through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile
all things to Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you holy. And that's literally having presented
you holy and unblameable. and unreprovable in his sight. Look in chapter 2, verse 9. For
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete. Right now, not you will be once
you get into heaven. Right now, you are complete in
him. All of his promises, not one
of them failed to come to pass. We have, present tense, right
now, all of this. Aren't you thankful for His Word
and the precious promises of His Word? I know what it makes me want
to do. Makes me want to give myself completely to Him, to
be His Let's pray.