The title of our message today
is The Promises of God. The Promises of God. Now, it
would be very helpful if you would take your Bibles and open
them to the book of II Corinthians. I'm going to be speaking from
chapter 1. Chapter 1 of II Corinthians, verses 17 through 22. I think
it'd be especially meaningful and a blessing
to you if you would take your Bible and follow as I preach
from this passage of Scripture. It's a very interesting Scripture,
very enlightening, the promises of God. Now the Apostle Paul
had visited and preached in the city of Corinth, great and mighty,
well-known, famous city of Corinth. But the religious leaders rejected
his message. They hated his message of grace
and salvation in Christ. And the local authorities also
threatened to kill him. And Paul was greatly troubled.
And I think about to leave the city. But the Lord spoke to him
during the night in a vision. And this is what the Lord said
to him. He said, now, Paul, Do not be afraid. Do not leave the
city. No one will harm you, but you
stay there and preach the gospel. And I'll be with you, for I have
much people in this city." Did you hear that? The Lord said,
you just stay right where you are. Nobody's going to harm you
or hurt you. I'll be with you. And you preach,
because I have much people in this city. You see, the Lord
knoweth them that are his. And so Paul stayed in Corinth
and preached to them for almost two years. And God raised up
a great church, the church at Corinth. You have in your Bible
there the first epistle to the Corinthians and the second epistle
to the Corinthians. It was a great and strong church
there in Corinth. Paul preached to them almost
two years, I think about a year and a half. And when he left,
he promised, he promised them that he would come back and preach
to them again. Well, Paul didn't get back. He had to cancel the visit. Now,
he had told them, I'll be back. I'll be back. I'll come back
and preach to you. But he couldn't come back. He
had to cancel the visit. And when he canceled his visit,
his second visit to them, many of them were offended, deeply
offended. And some of his enemies, some
people that didn't like him, even in the church and out of
the church, some of his enemies said, now, Paul promised to come
back here. And he didn't keep his word.
He didn't keep his word. He said yes, and he meant no.
So his word's not good. You can't believe him. You can't
trust him. This is what they said. Neither
is his gospel So don't pay attention to it Now that's when he wrote
my text today. Are you with me understand where
we are? That's when he wrote this second epistle and this
particular portion of it in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17
that's where we're gonna start verse 17 and this is what he
said There in verse 17 you have it He said, I have not used lightness. I haven't been flippant and frivolous
and lightness. I haven't used lightness or deceit
when I counsel my visit with you. When I say yes, I mean yes. And when I say no, I mean no. But remember, I'm only a man.
While I'm an apostle and while I am an ambassador of Christ
and while I am a preacher of the And I'm a truthful man, a
man of honesty and integrity. When I say yes, I mean yes. When
I say no, I mean no. But I'm only a man, and I have
no power over circumstances. And I have no power over God's
providence. And sometimes when I make a promise,
and I mean to keep it, and I say yes, yes, I will come. And then I have to say no, I
can't come. I can't come. Because I have no control over
events and over trials and over circumstances that God is pleased
to bring into my life. You see that? That's what he's
saying there. But then in verse 18, now look
at this. But, he said, but, you know some
of these people said, Paul you can't believe it. He said yes
and he meant no. You can't believe it. So he can't
believe his gospel. Now listen to it. But he says
in verse 18, as God is true, our gospel is not yes and no.
Our gospel is not uncertain. Our gospel is sure. I may say
yes and afterwards have to say no. But our gospel is not yes
and no. Our gospel is yes. Yes. So be it. Amen. Our gospel is
certain. Our gospel is as firm and as
sure as the throne of God. Our gospel is true. My friends,
don't ever be guilty. Now listen to me. You listen
very carefully to me right here. Don't ever be guilty of judging
God's gospel by God's vessel that preaches the gospel. Don't
ever do that. You see, Paul himself said, we
have this treasure. This gospel is a treasure. It's a gem. It's a treasure.
It's a diamond. It's the riches of grace. We
have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the power might
be not of us, but of God, that your face should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And the riches
of His grace is brought to you in a clay pot, in an earthen
vessel, in a pitiful mound of flesh. And the vessel is uncertain. but the gospel is certain. Do
you understand that? Don't ever be guilty of judging
the Lord's gospel by the vessel, because the vessel is weak, but
the gospel is power, the power of God. The vessel is earthen,
of the earth, earthy. The gospel is from above, the
Lord from heaven. Our confidence, you see, is not
in men, but in Christ. That's the reason Paul wrote
in Philippians 3, he said, now, we are the circumcision, we are
true Israel, who worship God in the spirit, not in form and
ceremony and ritualism, but in spirit. And we rejoice in Jesus
Christ, and we have no confidence in the flesh, none whatsoever,
in ours or yours or anyone else's, it's still flesh. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Now look at verse 19. Now he
says in verse 17, I told you yes, and I had to tell you no.
I had to, because I'm only a man, and I have no control over circumstances. I have no control over God's
providence. And things happen that hinder
me from doing what I fully intended to do. But now don't judge my
gospel by my weakness. and by my flesh, and by my inability,
my gospel is sure and strong, and yes, yes, yes, yes, and amen."
Verse 19, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was preached
among you by me and Silas and Timothy, He's not yes and no. He's not yes and no. He's not
uncertain. He's not doubtful. But our gospel
in Christ is always, yes, yes, yes. We're changeable. He's unchangeable. What does
the Scripture say? Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He said in Malachi 3, I am the
Lord. I change not. I change not. The gifts and calling of God
are without change. We're changeable. He's unchangeable. He's unchangeable. Now listen,
I'm going to give you some areas in which our Lord Jesus, in every
area, He's unchangeable, but I want you to think about these.
He's unchangeable in His deity. He's God. He's God. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory. the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, unchangeable, immutable,
infinite, unchangeable in His deity, unchangeable in His person. He's the God-man. Yes, eternal
God and man. If you read that scripture in
I Timothy 2, verse 5, I want you to listen to it. There's
one God. We know that. One God. And there's
one mediator between God and men. That's the man, Christ Jesus. God-man. The man. The whole Pilate
said, The man. There's a man in glory. It's
the Son of God. It's the God-man. It's the Lord
from heaven. And He's unchangeable in His
deity and unchangeable in His person. He's the man, Jesus Christ. And let me tell you, if there's
one man in glory, There can be another and another and another
and another because of Him. And then He's unchangeable in
His purpose. Unchangeable in His purpose. Have I not spoken?
Shall I not do it? Whom He foreknew, He predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son. And whom He predestinated,
He called. And whom He called, He justified. And whom He justified, He glorified. What shall we say to these things?
Why, we say, if God befall us, who can be against us? Who can
separate us from the love of God? Who can condemn us? Who
can lay anything to our charge if God befall us? Unchangeable
in His purpose, unchangeable in His promises, and unchangeable
in His power, He's able to save to the uttermost them that come
to God by Him. So we're calling, we preachers,
ambassadors of Christ, call upon you to trust, not in us, trust
Him. To believe, not in us, in Him. To rest, not in us, but Him. To hear, not our words, but His
Word. Don't judge the Gospel by the
vessel in which God is pleased to send it to you. I had a dear
friend, a dear, dear friend, I knew for many, many years,
one of the finest Preachers I've ever heard preach. A brilliant
man, a scholar, pastor of a large church, preached the gospel of
the grace of God, preached it so ably, so powerfully. I never heard a man preach the
gospel of Christ more clearly and plainly than this man. I
knew him for 20, 25 years. Walked with him, preached with
him, fellowshiped with him, loved him. He had a lot of trials and
troubles and heart surgery. and all of these other things,
and became so depressed, and so troubled, and so down. When he preached his last message
on a Wednesday night, he said to a friend of mine, I'm so low,
I'm so blue, I don't know what I'm going to do. The next Saturday
morning, he sat down and prepared his messages for Sunday, and
then picked up a pistol and blew his brains out. And his congregation
was devastated. His people were literally devastated. But as I spoke to many of them
after this happened and told them, it's not the vessel, it's
the Lord Jesus Christ that saved them. You see, my friends, swift
to its close ebbs out life's little day. Earth's joys grow
dim and its glory fades away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O thou who changest not, abide
with me. So when Paul told these people,
I'm coming back, but he couldn't. And many of them were offended.
They found fault and they criticized. They said, you can't believe
him. He lied to us. You can't trust him. Don't believe
his gospel. He said, whoa now, hold it. When I say yes, I mean
yes. And when I say no, I mean no.
But I'm a man. And I have no control over these
trials and these things that happen, the providence of God.
But I'll tell you who doesn't change. I'll tell you who never
changes in his deity, in his person, in his promises, in his
power, in his work, in anything. And that's Christ the Lord. You
trust Him. Now, I want you to look carefully
at verse 20. This verse, I said to someone one time, if you can
learn the meaning of this verse of Scripture, If you can lay
hold of it, if you can get a good knowledge of this verse of Scripture
right here, it's meaning you have a good knowledge of the
gospel and the redemptive glory of God. Now, here it is. There
ought to be a verse 20, 2 Corinthians 1. There ought to be a Selah
here, S-E-L-A-H. You know what the word Selah
means? You see it in the book of Psalms. It's in there 70 some
odd times, S-E-L-A-H, be a statement. The Lord God reigneth in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the men, and so
forth. Selah. That's a musical term. And it
means pause, right there. Pause, right there. Think about
that. Study that. Say it again. That's what the word Selah means.
Now here, there ought to be a Selah here. Listen. Paul says this.
Fire. Fire. All the promises of God. in Christ are yes. All the promises of God in Christ
are yes and amen to the glory of God, to the glory of God. We point you to Him. We say look
to Christ, believe on Christ, come to Christ, rest in Christ
Don't you trust this flesh? Don't you look to this flesh?
Don't you put your hope and confidence in this flesh? You look to Him,
not in yours or anybody else's. You look to Him. A man of failure,
he never fails. He never changes because... Now
what's this? Let me break this down. All the
promises of God. Whose promises? Whose promises? The only one who can make a promise
and keep it. The only one who can make a promise
and beyond a shadow of a doubt, absolutely, without reservation,
keep it. You see, that's the basis of
Abraham's faith. He believed that God was able
to do all that he promised. All the promises of... Whose
promises? The promises of God. What are
these promises of God? Well, the promise of forgiveness.
The promise of forgiveness. You know, David wrote, Lord,
if Thou shouldst mark an iniquity, who would stand? But this forgiveness
would be. He's promised forgiveness. He's
not going to back up on it. He's promised it. He's promised
eternal life. The Scripture says, lay hold
on eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised, promised
before the world began. He promised it. He promised His
presence. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. Lo, I'm with you always, even
to the end of the world. That's a promise. All the promises of God. The
only one who can make a promise and keep it. Watch it now. All
of them are in Christ. In whom? In Christ. They're all
in Christ Jesus, His Son. He put them there. He vested
everything in Christ. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into His hands." All things are in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. All the promises of God
are in Christ. According as He chose us in Christ. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated us to the adoption of sons according
to the good pleasure of His will, who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will, that you should be to the praise
of His glory, who made us accepted in the beloved. His blessings
are in Christ. When were the promises of God
made? Now, think a minute. You listen. You listen. I used to have a teacher. It's
been a long time ago in the second grade. I still remember her.
She made an impression on me. She tried to teach me something.
And before she'd tell us something really important, she'd say,
now, young people, put your thinking caps on a minute. Put your thinking
caps on. I'm saying, you listen. When
were the promises of God made? Well, before the world began.
Known unto God are all His works from the beginning. Now listen,
when they were made, only Christ existed. God hadn't made anything
else before the foundation of the world, before the morning
stars sang together, before the creatures shouted for joy. Christ
said, Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was. So when He made these promises,
He made them in the only one who stood, His Son. That's right. Covenant promises. That's the
reason they're in Christ. That's where they belong. Christ's
the only one who can fulfill them. The only one who can fill
the storehouses. That's right. And these promises,
listen, the promises of God, all the promises of God in Christ
are yes. Yes, and amen, so be it. His promises, like the author,
are unchanging. His promises, like His covenant,
unchanging. His promises, like His Savior,
unchanging. His promises, like His gospel,
unchanging. All the promises of God in Christ
are yes. Yes. Will God forgive sins in
Christ? Yes. Will God pardon a sinner
like me in Christ? Yes. Will God give eternal life
to a person like me who doesn't deserve it? Yes. Will God accept
me? Yes. Will God take me to glory
in Christ? Yes. There are no no's in Him. All the promises of God in Christ
are yes. Amen. So be it. Numbers 23 says, God's not a
man that he should lie. All men are liars. That's right. Oh, preacher, come on. That's
what the Bible says. All men are liars. But God's not a man
that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.
Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath God spoken, shall
he not make it good? God promised. He promised eternal
life before the world began. And there wasn't but one before
the world began. That was before the angels and
before the seraphims and before the heavenly host, Christ. And
He promised them in Christ. You see, salvation is not of
the preacher or the penitent. It's of the Lord. Salvation is
not of the church nor the synod nor the board. It's of the Lord.
Salvation is not of our will or our works. It's of the Lord. It's not of Him that willeth
or of Him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy. And it
sure, sure is His throne. Now, let me give you some things
in closing. Verse 21. That's verse 20. You get a hold
of that verse right there. You camp there. After I leave
this half-hour program, you sit there, sit on that verse, verse
20. All the promises of God in Christ are yes, amen, to the
glory of God, to the praise of His glory. Now, verse 21. Four
things God's done for us who believe. Number one, He's established
us in Christ. That's what it says. God has
established us in Christ. There's no stability in this
flesh. It's changing. You see, Adam fell. He was created
perfect and he fell. There's no stability in the flesh.
There's no stability in high office. My friend who killed
himself was in a high office. Judas was in a high office too.
There's no stability there no matter who it is. There's no
stability in the ministry. Demas left us, Paul said. There's no stability in baptism.
Simon Magus did that. with the stability in Christ.
God has established us in Christ, in His love, in His blood, in
His righteousness, in His body. Now, secondly, verse 21 still,
God has anointed us. That's what it says. See it there?
God has anointed us, established us in Christ, anointed us. You
know, when you think of anointing, what do you think of two things?
The king was anointed. David was anointed king by Samuel,
king over Israel, anointed. God said, Samuel, rise, anoint
him. Aaron, the priest, was anointed. You and I, God has anointed us
with the oil of gladness by His Spirit. We're kings and priests
unto God. Royal priesthood, a holy nation. That's right, royal priest, that
kingly priest. Verse 22, God has sealed us. Sealed us. We're preserved. Now, people argue all the time
about security of the believer. But two words are important in
this matter of security. One is preservation and one's
perseverance. Preservation, we're kept by the
power of God. Perseverance, through faith.
God says, I'll never leave them. That's preservation. They'll
never leave me." That's perseverance. See that? He has sealed us. And then last, verse 22, God
has given us the earnest of His Spirit. You know what earnest
is? A token. You ever pay earnest money on
a piece of property? You put the money down, it's
yours. He can't sell it to anybody else but you when you bring the
rest of the money. He's given us an earnest. And
that earnest and that token is His Spirit. And He's not an outward
property, He's an inward property. The Holy Spirit's not a profession,
He's an experience. All the promises of God in Christ
are yea and amen.