I would like, first of all, to
pay a tribute to some people. First of all, this dear pastor,
my dear friend for so many years. This congregation, this pastor
and this congregation has been a blessing to God's preachers. all over the world. And this
congregation and this pastor has been a blessing to the servants of God,
missionaries around the world, and the Lord's people. And Doris
and I, we're about to leave here for a while, going over to Virginia. and may not be back for a little
while, but we want to thank you and thank God for all that you
are, all that you've been, and all that you do in His blessed
name. Turn with me to the book of 1
Thessalonians and let me read a scripture here. This is my tribute, this is Paul's
tribute to the people of Thessalonica. He said in 1 Thessalonians chapter
1 verse 2, We give thanks to God always for you all, making
mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing three
things. Your work of faith. Your work
of faith. Your labor of love. Your patience of hope. In our Lord Jesus Christ, in
the sight of God and our Father, and knowing brethren, your election
of God. That's the reason for all of
it. He loved us, chose us, put his grace upon us, and we give
him the praise. But we do thank God for you. Now, I want you to turn with
me to the book of Romans. This is my subject this morning. This is my subject. Promise is
fulfilled. Promises fulfilled. Romans chapter
four, listen to this. Romans the fourth chapter, beginning
with verse 20. Romans four, 20. Speaking of Abraham, verse 20,
Romans four. And he staggered not at the promise
of God. That's my subject this morning,
promises of God. And Abraham didn't stagger at
the promises of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving
glory to God and being fully persuaded that what God had promised,
God was able to perform. And therefore, it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Now I'm going to make five statements.
Old Brother Mews used to say, now don't move a hand or a hair
and listen to me. I'm going to make five statements
regarding the promises of God. Number one, the Word of our Lord
tells us, you and me, people of God, that every sin, every
sin of your past, your present, your future, is totally forgiven. Every sin. Blotted out. To be remembered no more. I'm
talking about every secret sin, every open sin, every mark against
you on the books of God is forgiven and forgotten. That's a promise,
promise of God. Because he said, listen, this
is my covenant. This is my covenant, saith the
Lord. I'll put my law in their hearts
and in their minds. I will write my laws and their
sins and their iniquities. I remember, I remember no more. They're forgotten. They're forgiven.
because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all
sin. That's a promise. Secondly, the Word of God tells
us that the eternal God, our holy, righteous, eternal God
of heaven and earth, Through Jesus Christ is totally reconciled
to every one of you in Christ. Reconciled with friends. When
God spoke to Abraham, he said, he's my friend. Isn't that wonderful? There's no wrath. There's no
enmity. There's not even a frown in your
direction. on the part of your God, because
you've been accepted in the Beloved. You can't get any closer than
that. God Almighty said, Abraham is my friend, and so are you. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
we have it, we're not gonna have it, we have it. Romans 8, 1 says,
there is therefore now no judgment, no condemnation to them who are
in Christ Jesus. There's nothing between my soul
and my Savior, so that his blessed face may be seen. There's nothing
preventing the least of his mercy because Jesus Christ is mine
and there's nothing between. That's the promise of God. Thirdly,
the word of our Lord tells us that we have, not gonna have,
we have now. Every believer, everyone who
loves Christ, believes Christ, looks to Christ, we have a new
heart. We have a new nature, a nature
which does actually love God. A heart that actually does love
God and a heart that's inclined to God and inclined to the people
of God. We have a new heart which loves
the word of God. We have a new heart that loves
the things of God. and finds no greater delight
than what they're doing, what we're doing right now, meeting
with the people of God, worshiping God. I was glad when they said
to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. I delight to do thy will, O God. Thy law is within my heart because
we have a new heart. Turn with me to Ephesians. Just
a moment, Ephesians chapter 4. Listen to this. Ephesians chapter
4, verse 22. Verse 21. If so be that you have
heard Him, and you've been taught by Him, by whom? By Christ. We learn of Christ, we're taught
by Christ. as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning
the former conversation, that old man, which is corrupt, according
to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in your spirit, in the
spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man. Where'd he come from? Which after
God is created in righteousness and truth New heart and a new
nature. Now here's the fourth, the fourth
promise. God's word declares that all
things, all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are called according to his purpose. All things, every
success and every failure, every joy and every sorrow, every good
day and every difficult day is ordained, purposed, ordered by
my Heavenly Father for His glory and for your good. You believe
that? You have to if you believe this.
The steps of a good man a believer, a righteous man, are ordered
by the Lord. His steps are ordered by the
Lord. God upholds him, and though he
falls, he shall not be cast away. The Lord upholdeth him with his
own hand. That's what it says. That's a
promise. All things work together for
good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow." That's what the preacher
talked about this morning. He did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren, whom He did predestinate, He called, whom He called, He
justified, whom He justified, guaranteed, He glorified. All things in your life, all
things in the life of those you love, and all things in the life
of your dear children work together for God's glory and your good. That's God's promise. Fifthly, what does it mean to you to know
this, this promise of God? Know it assuredly, confidently. Know it as I know it, 82 years
old. I know this, that growing old
and dying would be the best thing in the world could happen to
me. The very best thing. Grow old and die. is the best
and most wonderful thing that could happen to me." That's what
the prophets wrote. That's what the apostles preached.
That's what Christ preached. Abraham looked for a city whose
builder and maker is God. He looked for a city. David said,
as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, and I'll
be satisfied When? I'll be satisfied when? I'll
be totally, completely satisfied when? I'll know all things when? When I wake with His likeness. By the time I'm looking forward
to it. Just looking forward to that day. Think of it. Think
of it. Paul said, for me to live, for
me to live, is Christ and for me to die is gain. I wrote Brother
Fortner. Brother Fortner is a heap younger
than I am. I love him so much and I wrote
him when he was so sick. He's better now, I'm so thankful,
but I wrote him a letter and I quoted this verse of Paul.
For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And I'm in a
straight betwixt the two. having a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. And I said, Brother Don,
I long for that for me and for you, but for you a little later.
A little later. It's better for you to remain.
Let me go on. You stay right here and keep
putting our books out. I knew he'd appreciate that because
he loves this truth. He loves us true. Now these promises
are true. They're precious promises, wonderful
promises, sure, certain promises. Promises of God. But what's the
proof of it? What's the proof of these promises? Well, I want you to turn in your
Bibles to Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah chapter 61. Here's the
proof of these promises. And you know what I want you
to do? I want you to hold this in your
hand. This Bible right here. And this is when our Lord Jesus
Christ came to Nazareth. And they'd heard about him and
the works he'd performed and wonderful words he'd said, and
all the people were packed in the synagogue to hear him. And
he stood up to read. And they delivered to him this
scripture right here. 2,000 years ago, my Lord stood
before a congregation like this. of Jewish people and read from
Isaiah 61 and he gave us the proof of all these promises right
here. And I want you to look at it
just like he held it in his hand 2,000 years ago. Listen, he said
this, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. The Spirit of
the Lord God is upon me because Because the Lord hath anointed
me, number one, to preach glad tidings, good news, good things
to the meek. That's what he's given me to
do. To preach good tidings to the meek. The proof of the promise. Now, who are the meek? Well,
the meek are the poor, the poor in spirit, The meek are those
who are sensible of their guilt, sensible of their iniquities
and their sins. Like Isaiah, he said, woe is
me. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
dwell among a people of unclean lips. Like the Apostle Paul who
said, Jesus Christ is coming to the world to save sinners
of whom I'm the chief. Who are the meek? The son of
man's come to seek and to save the lost. The meek are those
who stand before God naked. Before Him with whom we have
to do. We all stand there as sinners
naked in the sight of God. Paul wrote this, neither is there
any creature that is not manifest in God's sight. For all things
are naked and open before Him with whom we have to do. The
Lord Jesus said, the Spirit of God is upon me because he's anointed
me first to preach this good news, the gospel to sinners,
to the meek. Just as I am, without one plea,
but that his blood was shed for me. Just as I am poor, wretched,
blind, yet all I need in thee to find. Just as I am, and waiting
not, to rid my soul of one dark blight, to thee whose blood can
cleanse each spot. Lamb of God, I come. I come. And I tell you this, one will
not be found until he's lost. One will not be clothed until
he's naked. One will not be filled until
he's hungry and empty. And one will not be raised in
the likeness of Christ till he dies. That's the promise. And the fulfillment of it is
in our Lord Jesus Christ who said, I came to preach this gospel
to the meek. All I hear is, look at this verse
again, Isaiah 61. Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel
to the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
broken hearted. The broken hearted. Who are the
broken hearted? Well, David said this, the Lord
is nigh unto them of a broken heart. And he saves such as be
of a contrite spirit. He said again, the sacrifices
of God are broken heart. A broken and contrite spirit,
oh God, that will not despise. But what is a broken heart? I
know what to do with a broken arm. Fix, use the other one. I know what to do with a broken
leg. Get me some crutches. But what's
to be done with a broken heart? Transplant. Got to be replaced. That old stony, wicked heart
has got to be taken out and put a new heart within. A broken heart must be replaced. A broken heart needs a new heart. Ezekiel said this, listen. Thus
saith the Lord, I will gather you from the people and from
the countries where you've been scattered and I'll give you a
new heart and I'll put a new spirit in you and I'll take the
stony heart out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of
flesh that you may walk in my statues and be my people and
I'll be your God. That's the fulfillment of the
promise. He sent me to preach good news. to sinners, and he
sent me to replace the broken, sinful, hard, wicked heart and
give me a new one. What's the third one? And he
says here in Isaiah 61, and he sent me to proclaim liberty to
the captives. You know, one day our Lord was
preaching to these people And some of them, he said, some of
them believed on him. Some of them believed words that
he said, and so on. When some of them believed him,
he said to them, you know the truth, and the truth will make
you free. Our Lord's preaching to these
people, some of them believe. And he said, now you know the
truth, and it'll make you free. He'll set the captive free. And
one of those Pharisees spoke up and said, he said, we be Abraham's
seed. We've never been in bondage to
anybody. How'd our Lord reply to that? Here's what he said. He said,
our Lord replied, he said, whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin. You ever committed a sin? I mean,
just then. Have you ever committed a sin?
He said, whosoever committed sin is a servant. He's in bondage. He's a slave of sin. And we're
held captive by Satan. We're held captive by Satan,
by his will. But if the Son shall set you
free, you'll be free of death. Free from the law. Free from
the law. Oh, happy condition. Christ has
died and there's remission. Cursed by the law, bruised by
the fowl, he hath redeemed us once for all. He sent me to proclaim
liberty, freedom for all the captives and the opening of prison
for them that are bound, bound by the law and bound by Satan
and held captive by his will. That's a promise. He'll set you
free. What's the next line? This is
a master speaking 2,000 years ago to those people. Same thing
I'm trying to talk about. And he sent me, verse 2, listen. He sent me to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord. Proclaim acceptable year of the
Lord our God. What is acceptable year of the
Lord our God? Now is the day of salvation,
now is accepted time, accepted time. Well, back in the Old Testament,
there was a year of jubilee. Every 50 years, every 50 years,
you'd have 50 years, and on the 50th year, on the day of atonement, the atonement was made, and the
year of jubilee was proclaimed. And what happened? Every slave was set free. This
is all of Israel. All the people of God. Every
slave was set free. Free now. Free. Secondly, all
property and land that had been redeemed, restored, or stolen,
or bought, was given back to the owner. Isn't that something? Back home again. All debts were
forgiven. Anybody in debt, write it off. That's the year of jubilee. And
then there was a year of rest and peace. And that was a picture
of what Christ has done for us. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, now
is the accepted time. Today is the salvation in Christ. Every slave is free. Enslaved by sin? No. Enslaved
by the law? No. Set free. Free, free. All debts have been paid. All
debts are paid. We owe nothing. We were plunged into deep, deep
debt when Adam sinned, but we're free. Our inheritance is restored. And we enter into His rest. The rest of Christ Jesus. Enter
into His rest. And then what's the fifth one?
Sent me to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day
of vengeance of our God. Vengeance of our God. You know,
he didn't say he sent me to explain it. I can't explain the vengeance
of God. I do know this. I do know God
who said, vengeance belonging to me. I will recompense saith
the Lord. I will. And our Lord didn't come
to explain to you and me the vengeance of God. He came to
proclaim. The vengeance of God. And what
is the vengeance of God? Well, turn to John chapter 3.
John chapter 3. You know, our God will punish
sin. Our God must punish sin. Shall
not the judge of the earth do right? Yes, he will. Yes, he
will. There's a whole lot said in the
Bible about hell, about everlasting judgment, everlasting condemnation. But I'm not trying to explain
those things. He didn't send me to explain it. The Lord said
He sent me to proclaim it. I'm going to proclaim it too.
But here it is. Watch. John 3.36. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. That's His promise. And he that
believeth not the Son of God shall not see life. But the wrath
of God will abide on him. That's and or. If you believe
Christ, you have everlasting life. You shall not come into
condemnation. But not to believe Christ is
to incur the judgment and wrath of a holy God. That's it. And
he said, I will recompense saith the Lord. I'll leave that in
the hands of the Lord, who doeth all things well. But oh, the
precious promises. All right, here's the last one.
Our Lord said, The Spirit of God's on me, because He's appointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor, sent me to heal up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to those who are captives of
sin, the opening of prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
that glorious, wonderful day of acceptance, jubilee, the year
of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, and to comfort all
that mourn. to comfort all that mourn. Blessed
are they that mourn, mourn over sin, mourn over a lot of things,
but they're going to be comforted. Well, how is He going to comfort
us? How are these promises fulfilled? You know, when our Lord spoke
in Nazareth, you know, He read them the scripture, and then
He said, this day All this is fulfilled in your ears. It's
fulfilled. And here's the fulfillment, listen.
Verse three, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that
mourn in Zion, in the church, in true Israel, to give them
beauty for ashes. That's a powerful statement.
He's going to give us beauty for ashes. What does this word ashes mean
in the scriptures? Well, ashes mean the fire's gone
out. If you go to the hearth or to
the stove and there's nothing there but ashes, there's no warmth,
there's no life, there's no light. The fire's out. And that's the
shape we're in by nature. The fire's gone out. And ashes
secondly means sorrow for sin. I repent, he said, in sackcloth
and ashes. I fall down in ashes and I repent,
I repent. And then ashes thirdly mean the
fire's gone out, we're overtaken with our, overwhelmed with our
sins, repent before God and we must die. Dust to dust, ashes
to ashes. How's that going to be given
beauty? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Listen to this, verse 53. Verse 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible. We shall
be changed. This corruption must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass to say, death is swatted up in
victory. Oh, death, where is thy strain?
Oh, grave, where is thy victory? He's going to give us beauty.
Beauty for these ashes. And then, what's that? Isaiah
61 again. It's going to give us those who
mourn in Zion. Chapter 61 again. Listen to this. You give us beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for our mourning. David wrote, that I preparest
a table before me in the presence of my enemies, that I anointest
my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in
the house of the Lord forever. Beautiful ashes, a joyful morning,
and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Now
watch this. Our Lord said that they might
be called, these people, for whom the Lord has sent me to
preach the gospel, to heal their broken heart, to set them free,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, that they may be
called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Trees
of Righteousness. All trees are planted by somebody. But these people are called the
planting of the Lord. They're the planting of the Lord.
And every tree that my Heavenly Father has not planted should
be rooted up. But these people are called the
trees of the Lord because they're planted by God. And because they're
planted by the rivers of living water. And they bring forth fruit
in their season. And they'll never wither. They'll
never die. And whatsoever they do will prosper. That's a promise. Our Lord said
so right here. He came to do all those things. Why? The last four words, the
first five words, that He might be glorified. You stand here and preach, and
I stand here and preach, and try to save these things, but
that He might be glorified. Not me, and not you, and not
mom or daddy, that He might be glorified. All that Christ did,
the promises fulfilled. Fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Let's bow for prayer.