We're going to be looking in
the book of Hebrews chapter 8 if you would like to turn there
this morning. Hebrews chapter 8. As I was bringing a message
to that group, as I mentioned. We. I knew that it would be like
a campfire setting. It wouldn't be a pulpit, so to speak. So we were
sitting there. It reminded me of whenever I
used to come up and we would meet on Saturday nights or Friday
nights before we would have services in the living room of Rob's house.
And when we first came up, we were in Linda's basement. And
so that brought back some good memories. I like that. But the
Lord actually, in studying for us this morning, some of the
things that I Saul to deliver to them. I'll also be delivering
that as well this morning to us. So We're looking in Hebrews
chapter 8 and We're looking at one verse this hour and it's
the sixth verse and And I want you to notice the last two words
as we read through this, but now hath he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Better promises, that's what
I've titled the message, better promises. Everything that we
believe hinges hangs on, depends on the word of God, the written
word of God, the spoken word of God, and the living word of
God. And it's all the same. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ, but that's how you could sum it up. You
have the spoken word of God. When he speaks, you have the
written word of God. That's what's before us right now. And you
have the living word. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. All three of these, are given freely by the Lord's
grace only to his people, only to his people. Now you and I
may see these, see the Bible in front of us. We may know that
some of the words that's spoken in it, but unless the Lord gives
his spirit, Lest the Lord sends his spirit and power, lest he
speaks through the word, you and I won't know the Lord Jesus
Christ. We won't know what the meaning
of these words are. They will just be words, like
another book, any other book. We have to have the Lord to enlighten
us, to show us the truth, or we'll never have it, we'll never
see it. I forgot to turn my phone off.
I knew as soon as I came in my mind, I said, if I don't turn
that phone off, it's going to go off. So I had to do that real quick.
Sorry about that. Now this better promises that's mentioned here,
everything was established upon these promises. Everything about
our Lord. hinged upon these promises. And
these promises are not contingent upon you and I. They're not promises
that are based upon your performance. They're not promises based upon
your merits. They're not promises based upon
your efforts. They're not promises based upon
your choice. They're not promises based upon your life. They're
promises based solely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father
and the Spirit. It's their promises, what they're
going to do. what they're going to do. Not
our works, but completely and utterly based on the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his work. These promises
are not reliant upon man in any way. Aren't you thankful for
that? Promises of God are not dependent
upon you and I. God says, I will, if you will,
I'll meet you halfway. That's not good news. How about
the Lord says, okay, I've done 99% of the work for your salvation.
I need you to do 1%. Is that good news? No, that's
not good news. Good news is I will save you
and you shall be saved. That's good news. That's good
news. This is completely dependent,
not upon us, but upon the power, ability, and purpose of the sovereign
creator of everything. It's dependent upon him, isn't
it? It's completely dependent upon him. This is the promise
to write within, upon the heart of flesh, not outwardly on the
stones, as he did before the law, that was on stone, right?
Well, you can't soften stone. You can't bend stone. You and I are told that we have
a heart of stone by our nature, don't we? So this, here's the
promise, is that he's gonna take out that heart of stone and put
in a heart of flesh, one that can be broken, one that can be
bent to his will, to his purpose, one that seeks after him. This
is the promise of God saying, I will and you shall, that God
will succeed, that God has succeeded, that God will always succeed.
This was all according to his own will and purpose. Every promise
that he made, it was not because of you and I determining something.
It wasn't because of you and I deserving something. It wasn't
because of you and I, we certainly needed something, but that's
not why he did it. He did it according to the good
pleasure of his will, his own will and purpose. This is why
he did it freely by grace, by grace. One question I have for us this
morning is, do you believe yourself or do you believe God? That might
seem like a easy question to answer at first, but most people
would say they believe God when they really don't believe God.
See, if I'm looking at what I do, I don't believe God. I'm not
looking to Him. If I'm looking at my life circumstances,
if I'm looking at my lifestyle, if I'm looking at my choices,
if I'm looking at what I'm doing, I'm not looking to Christ, I'm
looking to myself. We know that they that are in
the flesh cannot please God, and yet we still look at ourself,
don't we? We still are examining ourself, we're still seeking
in and of ourselves something that we'll never find, that can
only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Either we're saved believing
him or we're lost because he's not revealed himself. This morning, I have a very simple
question to ask yourself. Have you believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ? I hope I have. I believe I have. Lord, I believe, help thou my
unbelief. Isn't that the prayer? I believe, help thou my unbelief.
I believe your promises. I know I can't keep any promises
unto you. I know that you either died for
me or you didn't, and there's nothing I can do to change that.
The hardest thing that we will ever do, and it's an impossible
thing, not even just hard, is to be honest with ourself. I've said this before and it's
true. There's not one honest person that's in hell right now. It takes the Lord making someone
honest to see themselves as the chief center needing a savior
and then giving them that savior. That's all. That's what happens
to honest people. He gives a new heart. He gives faith to believe
we become completely honest. We see ourself as nothing but
a wretched, vile sinner in me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. No good thing. Hardest thing
we'll ever do is be honest with ourself because nobody wants
to be wrong. I can prove that to you. Have you ever had an
argument with your spouse over something silly because you thought
you were right? Didn't need to be blown out of proportion, did
it? But yeah, it did, because why? You wanted to be right and
they wanted to be right. It's pride, isn't it? It's pride.
I see some of you looking at each other. You know what I'm
talking about. You know it's true. And sometimes it's the silliest
things. It's like, no, no, no, I did
this. No, you didn't. You did this. No, yes, I did.
I did this. And it's back and forth. It's the same way we are. It's our nature. It's our nature
to be prideful and to be right. No one wants to be wrong. You
know why? Because it humbles the flesh
to be wrong. The Lord's people approach him
saying, Lord, I'm wrong. I am false. I am full of sin. You are full of truth and grace.
You're not wrong, I'm wrong. I am siding with you against
myself. You're right, I'm wrong. Scripture says, let God be true
and every man a liar. You calling me a liar? No, the
scripture did, called me one too. The only place you can go
is the Lord's house with the Lord's people and look at somebody
and say you're a liar and they say truth. You're absolutely
right. Everywhere else you're liable to, it could cause some
serious problems. It would cause some serious problems.
No, Lord, he's telling us we're liars. We're thieves. We want
to rob God of his glory. We're sinners. Oh, we need his
promises. We need, we need a savior. And
this is what the writer here is talking about, that this covenant
was established upon better promises. The promise was not, if you will,
I'll meet you halfway. It's I will and you shall. That's
the promise. That's the promise. Rather than
looking at various promises throughout the scripture, I found 2 Timothy
chapter one, verse nine and 10. And we've looked at that before
a couple of times, but I want to turn there if you'd like to be
turning there. Rather than looking at various promises, I found
the sum of the promises right here in these two verses. I mean,
it's the whole sum of all the promises of what the Lord's done
in salvation for his people. 2 Timothy 1. Now notice the, in verse nine,
notice the last word in verse eight, God, that's who he's talking
about. God who hath saved us. Everything
pertaining to life, pertaining to salvation, pertaining to Our
hope starts with God. It doesn't start with you and
I. Men say, well, it all started, I heard a man say this one time.
He said, well, God said it, and I believe it, and that settles
it. That's what he said. That's not true. That's not true. God said it, that settles it.
Whether you believe it or not, or I believe it or not, that
doesn't change anything. We can believe the lie. That doesn't
make it the truth. And we can believe the truth,
and it doesn't change the truth. The truth just is. The truth
just is. Now let's read this together.
There's seven things here. 2 Timothy 1.9, God who hath saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
hath, past tense, abolished death, and hath, past tense, brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. Seven things. This is what God has done for
his people. This is why God has done it for
his people. This is when. God did it for
his people, and this is how God did it for his people. All right
here, this is all the promises of the Lord. This is what he's
saying, I've done for you. First thing is he saved us. He said, God who hath saved them.
Second thing he did is he called us. Third thing he tells us is
it's not according to your works. Fourth thing is he tells us what
it is according to, it's according to his own purpose. Fifth thing
is it's given freely by his grace. Then he tells us when it was
done. Number six is before the world began. And number seven,
it's now manifest because of the finished work of Christ.
I said this just a moment ago, but something that's so important
and I don't ever want us to overlook is this. Whether we believe the
truth or not, it doesn't change the truth. Whether we believe
the truth or not, when you come to the Lord, If he gives you
the heart of faith to come to him, you want the truth. You know why? Because the truth
is the only thing that can set you free. We've seen that in
the scripture. You shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free. And if the spirit had made you free, you're free
indeed. We come to Christ wanting the truth, the truth about who
he is, the truth about who we are, what we are. We see ourself
as sinners. That's the truth. We need a savior. That's the truth. But there's
so many that dance around the issues and they don't ever preach
the gospel or the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ and they
believe they have the truth. Now what they believe in doesn't
determine whether it's the truth or not. We have the truth right
before us, plain and simple. This right here that I just mentioned,
these two verses, this is the truth. God did all the saving,
all the calling. He's gonna do all the keeping.
This is his work. This is the work of salvation
done freely by grace. Now whether I believe that or
not doesn't make it so or doesn't make it false. God said it, that
made it so. That's his word. It's the infallible
word. It can't be changed or altered.
My hope is that we believe the truth. That's what we need. Lord,
make me believe the truth. And there is what the Lord does
for his people is he enables his people to believe the truth. Otherwise we won't believe the
truth. You know what the Lord said to the Pharisees? He said, because I tell you the
truth, you believe me not. The reason you don't believe
is because I'm telling you the truth. That's what the Lord said.
That seems interesting, doesn't it? That seems almost backwards.
Well, you're telling them the truth, why don't they believe?
Well, it's because he is telling them the truth. If he told them
the lie, and he couldn't have, he was God, they would have believed
him. People want to hear what they
want to hear. They want to be affirmed with
what they believe. They don't want to be told the truth because
the truth abases us. completely, and it reveals that
God has all the power in salvation, every bit of it. He saved us. He called us, not according to
our works, not according to our works. He told the Pharisees, he said,
you're not my sheep. That's why you can't hear my
voice. You're not my sheep. He said, you're of your father,
the devil. And his work shall do. He was a liar from the beginning. What is he saying? He said, you're
a liar. You're a bunch of liars. Did they say, truth, Lord, we're
liars? They said, no, let's get some stones and stone him. They
hated him for the truth. They said, well, we're of our
father Abraham. He said, if you were Abraham's seed, you would
believe on me, because Abraham saw my day and was glad. He said,
you're of your father, the devil. And at the end of it, What did
he tell them? He said, before Abraham was,
I am. And they took up stones to stone
him, didn't they? Either we are a sheep or a goat.
And Christ said, all that the Father giveth me, every sheep
shall come to me. I won't lose one. Why? Because
he's already saved them. He's already saved them. He already
has them. He's already purchased them. They already belong to
him. That's what he says at the very first part. God, who hath
saved us. We didn't save ourself. This
is a promise. God saved us. God saved his people
from their sin. Whenever the angel of the Lord
appeared unto Joseph and said, call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. That's a promise. An angel is
just a messenger. An angel is just a minister,
just to declare what the Lord's given him. That angel just repeated
what God told him to say. Angel said, call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. That's a promise.
Did he? Yes. Yes, he saved us. We didn't save ourself. No, God
isn't looking to us to do something, to make his blood effectual,
to make it work. It accomplished its purpose.
Every drop that was shed was shed for purpose, the purpose
of redemption of the Lord's people. And it successfully redeemed. In time, in time, all this was
past tense. I just mentioned that while we
were reading it, but in time, The Lord just lets us know about
it, doesn't he? He lets us in on it by calling
us. He calls his people out of darkness
into his light. So which came first, the saving
or the calling? And that's where men get so bent out of shape
because they believe they have to be called and they make a
choice to be saved. But that's not how this verse
reads, is it? No, they're saved first. The calling is evidence
of salvation. Salvation's not the evidence
of the calling. They got it backwards. The Lord
calls those whom he saved. The Lord calls those whom he
loves. He saved us, then he calls us. At his appointed time, and
I mentioned this to that other group, appointed, it's all his
time. Every tick of the clock is his time. Everything's appointed. Everything's appointed by him.
Now the third thing he tells us, look at verse nine again,
who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works. What's a work? What is a work? As simple as form, anything that
you do physically is a work. I mean, even we're going to disperse
the elements in a little bit. It takes physical work in order
to disperse the elements. You drove here in your car. That
would be considered work. Some of you work with your hands.
We know what work is. The reason I'm making this a
point is because by nature, we want to work. even when it comes
to spiritual things. But the Lord's saying here, it's
not according to your works. It's not according to what you've
done, or what you haven't done, or what you're doing, or what
you are going to do. That's not relevant. It doesn't
matter. No, it's his finished work. God saved us, and he called us
not according to our works. That's a promise. It's not according
to your works. Boy, I can rest knowing That
it's not my works that saved me. It's not my works that keeps
me. It's not my works that called me. God does that for his people. God does that for his people.
Anything that you do as any part of your salvation, the smallest
thing, it doesn't matter what it is, something you're holding
on to that you look at and say, well, I don't do that anymore.
I don't do this anymore. I've prayed this prayer. I've
done this or I've done that's a work. And if the Lord allows
us to, we'll make faith a work. Men talk about exercising your
faith. They're making faith a work. Faith rests. Faith doesn't work.
Faith looks to Christ saying, exercise your faith. That's literally,
by definition, an oxymoron. It doesn't make sense. Faith
rests in Christ alone. Doesn't work at all. Believes
in his finished work. You remember Cain and Abel. Why
did the Lord say unto Cain, And the cane and his sacrifice, he
had no respect. Why? Because he brought the works
of his hands. Because he brought the works
of his hands. Now, I have a garden, and I like my garden. I'm protective
of my garden. We've had critters trying to
get in there and eat some of the stuff already, and I'm figuring
out what I can do to protect my garden. I worked hard on my
garden, and I wanted the vegetables. What's my point? I'm giving it
my best effort. I'm giving best effort, and the
Lord's going to have to give the increase, but I like my garden.
Cain liked his garden. He enjoyed gardening. He enjoyed
the fruits of his labor. He enjoyed eating it, and he
thought, look at what I have done. And there is a sense of
gratification when you have a fruit that comes off the vine or vegetables
that come off the vine, some kind of a But the Lord's the
one that made that grow. I didn't make that grow. I can
prune, I can till, I can water, but the Lord gives the increase.
And yet us as men and ladies, we were like, my garden, look
what I grew. Is that right? Is that right?
And so it is with Cain when he approached the Lord, he's like,
Lord, look what I did. The Lord's the one that gave the sunshine
for the corn to grow. Whatever it was, the Lord did it. No,
you didn't. You might've, taking care of
the garden, but I give the increase. And he said, I have no respect
to what you've done, your works. I have no respect. And brethren,
never think for a moment that Cain brought the second hand
fruit or vegetables from his garden. He brought the best of
the best of the best unto the Lord. And the Lord said, no,
you're not good enough and your sacrifice is not good enough
because it came from your hands. What about Abel? And the Lord
was pleased with Abel. Why? Abel didn't offer anything
up unto the Lord. That was something he produced.
He brought a lamb. And it's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If we're gonna approach God,
if we're gonna worship God, there's only one way and that's through
and by the lamb. The blood of the lamb. And God said unto Abel,
he was pleased with Abel. and Abel's sacrifice. And just
like all men, whenever they hear that salvation's all of God,
that God saved us, then he calls us, and it's not according to
our works, they say, away with this man. And Cain killed his
brother Abel over it. Nothing's changed. Nothing's
changed. When Christ was on the earth,
they hated him because he said, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. That was the truth. That's good
news to a sinner, but not to a self-righteous Pharisee. It's
not because they want some part. They want to bring some fruit.
They want some glory. And most of the time, men and
women don't realize that's really what they're doing is seeking
after self-glory. You and I would have been in
the same state had it not been for the Lord coming to us and
calling us out of darkness into light. We would have wallowed
in our own self-righteousness just as we were before the Lord
called us. You have works and you have grace.
And if it be works, it cannot be grace. And if it be grace,
it can no longer be works. Scripture says not by works of
righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy. According
to his mercy, he did what? He saved us. He saved his people. Well, that brings us to our fourth
point. This was all according to his own purpose. Now you and
I can try to purpose, You and I can try to purpose, but it
may not come to pass. When you get in the car, your purpose
is to go to your destination. There may be obstacles in your
way. There may be accidents in your way. Maybe a lot of things
can happen. We purpose a lot of things, don't
we? Or we think we do. But every time we purpose something,
it can possibly not happen. There's a possibility. It may
be a really good percentage chance that we could achieve our goal. But there's still a possibility
always of failure, no matter what we've purposed. If I have
a doctor's appointment, I purpose to go to that doctor's appointment.
I can do everything in my power to get there. The Lord may not
permit me to get there. You understand what I'm saying? When God purposes
something, nothing can stop it. He has a 100% success rate, 100%. He's never failed, he cannot
fail. He said, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. The Lord cannot be stopped. He cannot be hindered. He cannot
change. He'd done the saving, the calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose. Who's gonna stop Him? Scripture
says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Aren't you glad that God doesn't change? He's not like you and
I. We get blown around with emotion all the time, don't we? One day
we'll be happy. Next day, a few minutes later, we can be sad
or upset, be panicky, anxious, worried. Then we can be content. We can be frustrated. Not God. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Aren't you glad that Whenever
you do something that he don't throw a temper tantrum like you
and I do sometimes. He don't, he's seated. Nothing
stirs him. He's not offended or should I
say he's not moved by us in a sense of we control his emotion, no. No, he's seated on the throne
as the sovereign king of kings and Lord of lords. This is why
he chose according to his purpose to save his people He cannot
lie, he cannot change, he cannot be stopped. He actually said,
I am the Lord, I change not. What did Nebuchadnezzar find
out after he was down for seven years? He said, none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? What are you doing?
Can't even say it to him. He purposed and does according
to his will in heaven and in earth and in hell. And according
to his purpose, he saved his people from their sin. These
are all promises. These are all past tense. They've
been kept, but there's a promises. You remember when the Lord came
to Nicodemus, the Lord gave Nicodemus a few words to His mind did a
backflip. He had no idea what the Lord
was saying. We can't understand spiritual things. The Lord has
to reveal it. But Nicodemus came to the Lord by night, a rich
young girl, and he said, Lord, we know that you're from above. A man can't do the things that
you do except to be from above. You know what the Lord said?
You must be born again. You must be born again. Got right
to the point. Nicodemus said, how can a man
enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born? And
the Lord said, marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born
again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which
is born of the spirit is the spirit. Marvel not. The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst not tell from whence
it come or whether it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the spirit. What is the Lord saying? He's the one that does
the birthing. It's according to his purpose. The spirit must
birth us into the family of God. The spirit blows where it wants
to. This is the purpose of the Lord.
Men say, well, what about, he says there in John 3, 16, for
God so loved the world, and I'm thankful he did, because that
included you and I. That included you and I. I was
talking to the ones that painted the building, and I said, because
he used the word world right there, and he used the word whosoever
right there, guess what, we qualify. You're Canadian, I'm American,
and we qualify. Whosoever and the world, we qualify. He's telling
Nicodemus it's not just for the Jew, it's every nation, tribe,
kindred, tongue is gonna be represented there. My people will be from
everywhere. It's not based upon a bloodline.
It's not based upon your skin color. It's not based upon your
lifestyle or your actions or your anything. Your morals, none
of that matters. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
God's gonna call whom he saved according to his purpose. According
to his purpose. And look at verse nine again,
it's all by grace. It's all about grace. According
to his own purpose and grace, what a word grace is. What a
debtor we are to grace. Lord's mercies are renewed every
morning. Lord gives us grace for this
hour, just to be able to sit in here. He gives us grace when
we drive down the road. He gives us grace when we lay
our pillow, our head on our pillow at night. How many times did
you worry about your heart stopping last night on your pillow? The
Lord gave grace for your heart just to keep beating, didn't
it? And if he didn't, that'd been okay. We'd awaken his likeness.
I wouldn't have minded that, but you understand what I'm saying?
We don't worry about some things like that. It's grace. And we
don't even think to thank him for it. The food that we have
and the, but he saved us by this same grace. That's how he saved
us. Either you're saved and I'm saved
by grace alone or nobody can be saved. That's it. That's it,
only God saves by grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith. He gives grace, and he gives
faith, and you're saved. Faith is not the cause of salvation,
faith is the evidence of salvation. For by grace are you saved through
faith, in that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And if it be by grace, it's no
more of works. Otherwise grace is no more grace.
But if it be works and it's no more grace, otherwise work is
no more work. Can't be both. The Lord's made it so clear.
Can't be works and grace mixed together. Can't be 99% grace
and 1% work or you've tainted the whole matter and it's a work. God makes us realize that we're
a sinner and we can't approach God. It's not because of what
we do, it's because of what we are. We'll need grace. We'll
beg for grace. Lord, give us your grace, your
saving grace. If the Lord shows us that we're
a sinner needing a savior, we have no hope in and of ourself,
we'll be begging. We'll love the Lord's election.
We see that we can't save ourself, we'll love election. That's the
only way that anybody can be saved is God chose to save them,
all by grace. If it doesn't save me by grace,
I cannot and will not be saved. You remember in Romans chapter
nine, the Lord says, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. But
he says before they were even born, having not committed any
sin whatsoever, that the purpose of election might stand. Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Why did he say that? Because
the only way that Jacob would be saved is by God electing Jacob. Jacob and Esau were brothers.
They had the same blood. Jacob was the trickster, the
supplanter. He wasn't any better than Esau as far as morals go
and lifestyle and whatever else. He was a sinner. But God said,
I'm going to save you and you're going to be saved. That's what
grace does. It comes and arrests the sinner
and shows you Jesus Christ as your only hope of salvation.
Nothing in me, not in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Either we're saved by grace or
we're not saved at all. I love this next one. The sixth
thing he says here is it was before the world began. Before. How sure is your salvation? Well,
before the world began. You like that? I love that. How
sure is the salvation of God's people before the world was even
formed? They were seen in Christ, perfectly
righteous. And then in time, the Lord Jesus
Christ came and accomplished that which he promised to do.
That's good news to a sinner. That means I can't miss, I can't
get out of Christ. I can't get in Christ. He's the
one that did it. I can't mess it up. I can't mess it up. It
was before the foundation of the world. He's called the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. He is eternal. He's given eternal
life to His people. Then in time, He indeed did save
His people from their sin. He came to fulfill that which
was already imparted to His elect. By taking their sins away, He
made them the very righteousness of God in Him. Now lastly is
the seventh thing, verse 10. But now is made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. God
chooses to reveal how Christ saved his people from their sin
by abolishing death. You and I could not contend with
death, hell, or the grave. We can't contend with Satan,
but our surety did. Our surety put an end to it.
He has the keys of death, hell, and the grave. He owns them.
And they have nothing to say against the elect of God, the
child of God, because Christ Jesus conquered them on the cross
of Calvary. When he shed his blood, offering
himself up unto the Father, he conquered death, hell, and the
grave for you and I. He abolished. I like that word
abolished. He abolished death. He abolished
death. He brings this light to light.
He brings this light and life. through the gospel, through his
gospel, how God saves sinners by grace. He brings life and
immortality to light through this gospel. He gives life and
light at the same time, doesn't he? Whereas I don't know, calling
him a sinner, I don't, whether he's a sinner or no, this one
thing I know, I was blind and now I see. That's the confession,
is it? I don't know anything other than
this. I was blind. And now I see, I was a sinner
needing a savior, and I see the savior. I've got to have him. I've got to have him. Who is it that made us need Christ?
It's him, isn't it? It's the Lord. It's the Lord
that made us need him. This is how God saves sinners,
all by grace. This is how he calls them all
by his grace, not according to our works, but he gives life
at his word. Immortality, immortality, we're
in Christ, we're immortal, eternal life by the light of Jesus Christ.
God saved us, God called us, not according to our works, according
to his own purpose and grace, given to his people in Christ
Jesus before the world began. And now he brings it to light
through the gospel. He just lets us know about it.
This is all the promises that he's done. This is all the promises
that he's kept. He's fulfilled every bit of it.
Every bit of it. This is what he did, this is
why he did it, this is when he did it, and this is how he did
it. Now in closing, let's go back to our text, Hebrews chapter
eight, verse six. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant which was established upon better promises. This is
the covenant that God made with God. This is the covenant that
God made with God for the salvation of his people. And it was established
upon the promises that God made to God. I will elect them. And the son said, I will redeem
them. And the spirit said, I will regenerate them. This is the
covenant God made with God. It's called the covenant of grace.
and it's established by these precious promises. Every aspect
is completely dependent upon his performance. I'm not sure
if performance is the best word, but every aspect is completely
dependent upon what he accomplished on the cross of Calvary. And
he accomplished it, every bit of it, every bit of it. When
he said it is finished, that's the greatest promise. We're talking
about Better promises. You want to know the best promise
you ever hear? It is finished. That's it. It is finished. That's the best promise. That's
a promise to God. That's a promise to you and I
that are the Lord's people. It is finished. Salvation secured. Accomplished. Tell her her warfare
is over. Her warfare is over. The victory
has been won and she's been given double for her sin. That's the
promise. That's the better promises. Now you and I, by grace, we've
been redeemed. We've been redeemed. And it all
started with a promise. Better promise than if you will, I will.
No, the promise is I will save you and you shall be saved. Amen.
Let's pray. Father, bless us to our understanding
according to your purpose. In Christ's name, amen.