regard to the inheritance, he
gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set
his foot on it. Yet he promised, God promised
that he would give it to him for a possession and to his seed
after him, when as yet he had no child. God's promise is the one reason
why any sinner is saved. That's it. If I'm saved, it's because God
promised I would be saved before time began. And this is a promise
he actually made to his son. If you bear complete responsibility
for him, I'm giving him to you. You bear complete responsibility
for his salvation, and I promise he's yours eternally. And that's
what the Lord Jesus Christ did when he came to this earth. Now,
let's look at what God said to Abraham. Turn to Genesis chapter
12. Now the Lord had said, verse
one, unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred
and from thy father's house into a land that I'll 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'll bless
them that bless thee and curse him that curses thee and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed. 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 and southward
and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest
to thee, to thee will I give it. And to thy seed forever and
I'll make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man
number the dust of the earth, Then shall thy seed also be numbered. Look in chapter 15. After these things, the word
of the Lord, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, came unto Abram
in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram. You know, how many times
does the Lord begin with this statement, fear not? Fear not. That's said over and
over again. If you fear God, you have no
reason to fear. Fear not. "'I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward.' And Abram said, "'And Lord God, what wilt thou
give me, seeing I go childless, "'and the steward of my house
is this Eliezer of Damascus?' And Abram said, "'Behold, to
me thou hast given no seed, "'and no 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 bow shall be thine heir.' And he brought
him forth abroad and said, look now toward heaven and tell the
stars if they'll be able to number them. And he said unto him, so
shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord and
he candidate to him for righteousness. Look in verse 18 of this same
chapter. In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram.
A promise saying unto thy seed, have I given this land from the
river of Egypt into the great river Euphrates. Look in chapter
17. Verse five, neither shall thy name
anymore be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham for
a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make
thee exceeding fruitful, 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, and their generations,
for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee, and I'll give unto thee, and to thy seed after
thee, the land whereon thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan,
for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. Look
in chapter 18, verse 17. This was when the Lord was getting
ready to destroy Sodom. And he said in verse 17, And
the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do,
seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation,
and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For
I know him. that he will command his children
and his household after him. And they shall keep the way of
the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon
Abraham, that which he hath spoken of." I love that passage of scripture
because obviously he's not just talking about the Jews because
they were disobedient. He's talking about the true spiritual
seed of Abraham. every believer, all of God's
elect. You remember when he saved Zacchaeus?
And he said, this day is salvation coming to this house in as much
as he also is a son of Abraham. If you're a believer, you are
a son of Abraham, a child of the promise. Now the promise
of children and a land for them to dwell in is the gospel. This is given simply to illustrate
the gospel. In thee shall all nations of
the earth be blessed, because in thee is Christ. And all nations
of the earth, he's gonna have a people out of every kindred,
tribe, tongue, and nation. In thee shall all nations of
the earth be blessed. This is God's promise. Now, his
promise is a promise of God. Unilateral promise. Somebody
says, well, what in the world does that mean? That means his promise
is not dependent upon me or you to do something to make it come
to pass. Aren't you thankful for that? If he promised it, it's done. And there's nothing you need
to do to make it work. Now salvation by God's promise
and salvation by grace are the precise same thing. You know, we're getting ready
to take the Lord's table tonight. And he says, this is the new
testament in my blood. And it's also called the blood
of the everlasting covenant. The blood of the promise is what
that is. The blood of the promise that this is why God's promise
is going to take place. And he can save people like me
and you because of the blood of his dear son. Everything is
in the covenant. Now, when we're considering God's
promise, we have to think, first of all, of his faithfulness.
Hebrews 10.23, he is faithful that promised. Deuteronomy 7.9, know therefore
that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God. Faithfulness
is essential to his being. For him to be unfaithful would
be for him to act contrary to his nature. He is the faithful
God I love that scripture, if we
believe not. You ever there? If we believe
not, he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. Now far above all finite comprehension
is his unchanging faithfulness. He is the faithful God and he
always does exactly, precisely what he says. He is utterly faithful. Let me read a scripture. You
don't need to turn there, but let me read it to you. Lamentations
chapter three. Verse 21, this I call to my mind,
therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed, because his compassions fail not. Great is thy faithfulness. I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Now this promise, he gave it
to Abraham by promise. Let me read this scripture to
you. In Titus chapter one, Paul, a servant of God and apostle
of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, the
faith that all of God's elect possess, the acknowledging of
the truth, which is after godliness in hope of eternal life, which
God that cannot lie promised. before the world began. Now remember, everything God
does was done before the world began. And that's why this promise
is so sure. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1
20 in Christ, all the promises of God are yea and amen. They're all sure, and they're
all so be it. Galatians 3.18, if the inheritance
be of the law, it's no more promise, but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. Now this promise made to Abraham
is the promise concerning the one God made with Christ. And
David spoke of it. You remember in 2 Samuel 23,
verse five, these are his dying words. He says, although my house
be not so with God. His house was a mess, although
this house be not so with God. Yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, an everlasting promise, ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. I love what's
said of Abraham. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. Now, what I would like to do
is give seven promises made to all the children of Abraham.
Now, remember, the children of Abraham are not the physical
Jews. They're the spiritual Jews, the
true circumcision. And here are seven promises that
God makes to every child of Abraham. The first promise is the promise
of justification. The promise of justification. Your sin problem has been dealt with. And you don't have any sin before
God. And it has absolutely nothing
to do with your works. It's because He justified you. And here's your standing before
God. I remember reading over and over again this passage of
scripture. I've used it so many times. I'm
just as amazed and thrilled by it as I've ever been. We have
that publican in the temple. God be merciful to me, the sinner. When John was reading that passage
of scripture, I noticed that if we judge ourselves, that's
what this fellow was doing. If we judge ourselves, we wouldn't
be judged. Now there's one person it's okay
for you to judge yourself. This man judged himself, and
he judged himself accurately. God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's what he really believed
about himself. You know what the Lord said about him? I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other. That means there's no sin to
be laid to your charge. There's nothing to condemn you
for. You know, I can't stand to hear preachers talk about
believers getting higher rewards in heaven. because of their acts
of personal obedience and I'm going to get a higher place than
you. That's a denial of what justification is in the first
place. If I'm justified, that means I can't get any better.
I can't get any more accepted. I can't get any more saved. I
can't get any more perfect before God's law. You're looking at
a man without sin. That's a promise to every single
believer. You see, not only are your sins
forgiven and remembered no more, they're not there. That's what
justification means. I never sinned. Now, the sin problem has been
dealt with with every believer. They've been justified by God.
This is what he promised. Isaiah 45, 22 says in the Lord
shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory.
And obviously he's not talking about every physical Jew. The
seed of Israel is every believer. All the seed of Israel should
be justified. So listen to me real carefully.
If you're a child of Abraham, somebody who looks to Christ
only, you stand before God justified. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Being justified by his grace,
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. He's made us
accepted in the beloved. Now that's the first promise.
Your sin's been dealt with. You felt your sin today. I felt
my sin today. I've grieved over my sin today.
I don't have any sin. I don't have any sin. If I'm
justified, I have no sin. Now what a promise that is. The
promise of justification. Here's the second promise. the
promise of sonship. What could be a greater blessing
than being an actual son of God? Turn to 1 John chapter three. Verse one, What manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. A son of God. Therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. They didn't recognize
him, they're not gonna recognize us, so don't worry about that.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Now your children are
an extension of yourself, aren't they? You think of how you feel
about your children. They're an extension of yourself. Now we have all the privileges
of sonship and his children are an extension of himself. And
that's what that scripture says. If we believe not, he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. If you're a believer, you're
so united to him as his son, for him to deny you would be
for him to deny himself. We're an extension of himself. If I'm his son, I have the family
name, Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness, that name's
written on my forehead. I'm somebody who Christ would
call, he's my brother, Both he that sanctifyeth and they who
are sanctified are all of the one for the which cause he is
not ashamed to call them brethren. I have constant and continual
access to God. Ephesians 3.12 says, in whom
we have boldness and access, I'm always welcome. I'm always
welcome. We have boldness and access with
confidence by the faith of Him. Now, we make a mistake. when we sin and we think, well,
I can't come right now. I need to. Can't come now. No, that's the
time to come. Right then, in whom we have boldness,
even with my sin. I have boldness because it's
in him, boldness and access with confidence. I'm always welcome
into his presence because I'm a child and he loves me. I have his fatherly pity. He knows our frame. He remembers
that we're does as a father pity of his children. So the Lord
pitieth them that fear him. I have his fatherly protection.
If God be for us, who can be against this? I have his fatherly
provision. He's Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
will provide. And that's not just talking about
material provisions, although that's included. But what that's
especially talking about is that all that God requires of me,
he provides for me. Every aspect of salvation comes
from his provision. Whatever it is he requires, he
provides. the Lord will provide. And I have his fatherly education. They shall all be taught of God.
You know the reason you believe you're a sinner? You've been
taught of God. You know the reason you believe that Christ is all
in salvation? You've been taught of God. No man taught you that.
God taught you that. We have the fatherly discipline.
Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. and scourges every son that he
receives. And we have the inheritance that
all his children have joint heirs with Christ. Now, what a promise
that is. Sonship. We have the promise of justification.
The sin issue has been taken care of. It's gone. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God justified it. Who is he to condemn? It's Christ
that died. No other reason is needed. We have sonship. I'm his son. He's my father. The Lord said,
I go to my father and your father. I go to my God and your God.
I'm a true son. This is what every believer has.
And thirdly, we have the promise of sanctification. Not only Have I never sinned
in my standing before the law of God is perfect because I'm
justified? I have the nature of a son. Holiness. Real holiness given in the new
birth. That holiness without which no
man shall see the Lord. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 says,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy. How holy do you feel? I know the answer to that question.
But if he chose you to be holy, you know what? I don't care the
way that you feel holy or not, you're holy. You're holy. If you've been born of God, you
have a holy nature. You're partakers of the divine
nature. Now, I realize that a natural
man really has no concept of holiness, or as far as that goes,
he doesn't have any concept of sin. He doesn't understand what
sin is. It's all behavioral. He doesn't understand what it
is to have a sinful nature that makes everything he does sin.
And he doesn't have any understanding of holiness because the fellows
that think they're holy, he don't even like being around them.
You feel uncomfortable around them, you just want to get away
from them. But true holiness would never make someone uncomfortable
and feel threatened and judged. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one holy man, and sinners felt comfortable around Him. Now,
you really are holy if you are a true Jew. God chose you to
be holy. Christ made you holy by His death
on the cross by one offering He hath perfected forever, them
that are sanctified, them that are holy. You've been given a
holy nature when you were born again. We're bound to thank God
always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has,
from the beginning, chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now, you have a holy nature. And you know why you cry, O wretched
man that I am? There's only one reason. If that's
your cry, there's only one reason. You have a holy nature. You know
when Paul cried, O wretched man that I am, do you know that someone
in Rome, this is documented, if there was someone who murdered
somebody, they would have a dead body chained to them. Can you imagine how gruesome
that was? And most people think that that's
what Paul was alluding to when he said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Now, this
holiness that you have, you're aware of it in seeing sin, seeing
Christ as all in salvation. But one of these days, you're
going to have a body without sin, serving God forever in the
beauty of holiness. And that groan you have right
now is the groan of the new nature. The time is coming when you will
groan no more. promise of holiness. Now the
fourth promise that I want to give you that every one of the
children of Abraham have. They have the promise of justification.
They have the promise of sonship. They have the promise of holiness.
When God says, be ye holy, for I am holy, the only way you can
be holy is if you are holy. You don't do something to become
holy. Holiness is the nature that every believer possesses. But here's the fourth promise. Preservation. You are gonna persevere all the
way to the end. And this is necessary for salvation.
The Lord said, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples,
indeed. Now, how likely are you to persevere
if you're not preserved and kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation? Now, you know as well as I do
that if God doesn't keep you, you'll fall away, for sure. But listen to these promises.
He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it. He will complete it into the
day of Jesus Christ. I love that promise in 1 Thessalonians
5 verse 24. Faithful is he that calleth you. Once again, the faithfulness
of God. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. He will preserve you. He will
keep you all the way to the end. Listen to this promise from Jeremiah
32. I will not turn away from them to do them good, but will
put my fear in their hearts so that they shall not turn away
from me. It's God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do his good pleasure. The Lord said, I give
my sheep eternal life, not temporary life, but eternal life, and they
shall never perish. Now, what does it take for somebody
like me to persevere? What to take? Let me give you
four things. First, God's got to choose me
to this. I must be elected. No election,
no salvation. Second, I need the great priestly
work of Christ in my behalf. I need Him to put away my sins.
I need Him to represent me before the Father. If any man sin, we
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I
need the great high priestly work of Christ as my intercessor
to keep me from falling. I need God the Holy Spirit to
give me a holy nature, a new nature that won't fall away.
I need the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit and forth.
I need to be willing. I don't want to fall away. Psalm
110.3, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Listen
to me. Listen to me. I don't care what you try to
buy me. You don't have enough. You don't have enough. You give
me the whole world? No. I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. You see, God makes his people
willing. Will thou be made whole? Yes,
I will. That's the way I want it to be. And the fifth promise is the
promise of all physical needs. The Lord knows what we need and
he provides it. You know, I was sitting in my
backyard, and we have these really pretty cardinals that live there,
and they fly back and forth. They're there all the time. I
wonder, sometimes I wonder if they, we see them every day.
And I was looking at those cardinals, I thought, my father's feeding
them. Everything they have, my father. gives to them, and my Father's
going to take care of me, and He's going to take care of all
of His people. And then there's the promise
of victory in death. Now, He's justified me. He's
taken care of my sins. He's made me a son. He's sanctified
me. He's given me the nature of a
son. He's preserved me. I'm going
to persevere all the way to the end. That's a promise. He's promised
all my physical needs. You know, it's so dishonoring
to the Lord when we worry about stuff, when he's promised he's
going to provide. But I've got the promise of victory
in death. Now, you and I will face death. It's coming. We're going to die. Now, what is it that scares you
about death? There's only one thing that frightens you about
death, sin. Take away the sin, there's nothing
to fear. As a matter of fact, the last
day of your life will be the best day of your life. Now, in
1 Corinthians 15, Paul said, well, let's turn there, 1 Corinthians
15. I misquoted. Verse 51, behold, I show you
a mystery. We shall all sleep, but we shall
all be changed in a moment. in the twinkling of an eye at
the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and 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 the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. The death of every believer is
a victory. How so? O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? And then he makes this statement.
The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the
law. What's the cause of death? Sin. It's the sting of death. And
what lets us know about sin and how we can't do anything about
it is the law. Put no other gods before me.
That's all we've ever done. No idolatry. We've all been idol
makers. Don't take my name in vain. Anytime
we use his name, there's not been proper reverence for his
holy name. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. I never rest. I never have perfect
rest. Honor thy father and mother in
all authority. Give proper attitude toward all
authority, including your parents. You ever done that? Thou shalt not murder. I've murdered
people every single day, and you have too, in your heart.
To get angry without a cause is to murder them. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Every one of us have committed
sexual sin in our hearts all the time, and adultery with the
Lord, which is even worse. Thou shalt not steal. We always give glory to ourselves.
We always rob somebody of something. Thou shalt not lie. When have
you ever told the truth? Even if you said something true,
you said it in such a way as to make yourself look better
and make somebody else look worse, even when you're telling the
truth. You know, I can't even quote the scriptures without
sinning somehow, trying to make myself look better. Thou shalt
not covet. All I got to say is don't covet
anything and we'll begin to start coveting. The strength of sin
is the law. The sting of sin is death. Remove the sting. And what about
death now? You see, Christ took the sting
when he took my sin. He took the sting and oh how
he was stung. Every commandment of God, when
my sin became his sin, he was guilty of. But he took away the
sting and now there's no sting for me. If there's a wasp coming at you,
somebody was talking about wasp this afternoon. Okay. Scared to death of wasp. It was
going to sting me. I didn't want to go out on the
porch. What if the stinger's taken away? If the stinger's
taken away, you have nothing to fear. And that is true of
every believer. The sting is gone. And I stand perfectly accepted
before God. Nothing to worry about. And the
law demands the salvation of every believer. And finally, the promise. Now this is for all of God's
people. The promise of eternity, beholding his glory. We see through a glass darkly
now, don't we? Dimly, in an enigma. We see through a glass darkly.
I see something of his beauty. I see something of the perfection
of his righteousness and the greatness of his grace. I see
dimly. But I love what David said, as
for me, I'll behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I wake
in thy likeness. And not before then. As long
as I still sin, I can't really have the peace and the joy that
we'll have then. But I think of what our Lord
said regarding all his people. I will. Only the Lord can speak
that way to the Father. Can you imagine saying to God,
I will that you do this? You can't do that, can you? He
can. Father, he speaks as equal to the Father. Father, I will. Something about him saying I
will. Remember when that leper came up to him and said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. He looked at him and said,
I will. Oh, if I say I will, it means
nothing. If he says I will, it's done. Father, I will that they whom
you have given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory. And you know what? to every believer
that is heaven, being enabled to behold his glory. Now, we're getting ready to take
the Lord's table. And you noticed in that reading that John read
in John chapter or first Corinthians chapter 11. This cup is the New
Testament in my blood. Now what we're doing, the Lord
said this, do in remembrance of me. We are remembering that
all of our salvation is found in the promise of God, the blood
of the everlasting covenant, the broken body and shed blood
of our Lord. Now, I used to almost dread the Lord's
table. because of where it says, he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation
to himself. And when I would read that, I'd
think, I don't want to take the Lord's table. And I was showing
how blind I was in thinking something like that, like I could, is there
a time when you're worthy to take it? Well, I haven't seen
all that much today. I think I'm ready. I've been,
but no, no, not at all. Remember, we're supposed to judge
ourselves. And what do you do when you judge yourself? Guilty
as charged. And the only person who is to
take the Lord's table is a sinner who looks to Christ only as everything
in their salvation. The table is for you. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you've
given us these physical emblems, broken bread and wine that represent
your broken body, broken under wrath. thy wrath for thy people,
the shed blood of thy son, the blood of the promise. And Lord,
truly, this is all of our salvation and all of our desire. And we
ask that you would give us grace to truly do this in remembrance
of thy dear son, confessing he is all in our salvation, showing
forth his death, the power of his death, the glory of his death,
the completeness and sufficiency of his death until he come. And Lord, we're awaiting your
return. Bless our time together for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.