Let me read a text in 2nd Corinthians
chapter 1, verse 20, 2nd Corinthians 1.20. 2nd Corinthians 1.20, Paul said,
For all the promises of God, all the promises of God in him,
in Christ, are yes and in him, Amen, which is, so
be it, unto the glory of God by us." Now, the old black preacher,
upon being asked the secret of his preaching, replied, Well,
I tells them what I'm going to tell them, and then I tells And
then I tell them what I done told them. And that's what I'm
going to do tonight. That's my outline. I'm going
to tell you what I'm going to tell you, and then I'm going
to tell you. Then I plan to tell you what
I done told you. Now here's what I'm going to
tell you. I'm going to tell you something tonight about the promises
of God. The Bible has a lot to say about
the promises of God. I don't know whether you've noted
it or not, but Mike was singing hymns tonight having to do with
the promises of God. I heard it several times while
you were singing the promises. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King through eternal ages, let his praises ring. First of
all, I want you to turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. Now, Peter has something
to say about these promises of God. 2 Peter 1, verse 4, he says,
first of all, that they're given to us. 2 Peter 1, verse 4, whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. They come
from God. Every good gift and perfect gift
comes from God and is the free gift of God. The very first thing
I learned about the promises of God is they're freely given. They are the promises of God.
And he says that they're given unto us. And the next thing I
learned about them is the value of them. They're beyond understanding
because he calls them precious. And God doesn't use that word
carelessly. He uses it in association with
and identification with the greatest things. He talks about we're
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. These great and precious
promises are in good company, right along with the blood of
Christ. He said his word is precious, and he says that Christ is precious
unto you that believe he is precious. And then he said, precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. That's precious. So along with the precious blood,
along with the precious sun, along with the precious faith,
precious faith are the precious promises. Now read on. Whereby
are given to us exceeding great and precious promises. that by
these, by these promises, through these promises, you might be
partakers of the divine nature. Oh, I tell you, by these promises,
by the promise of God, you're a partaker of the divine nature. Now, it's the first thing I find
about the promises of God. He gave them, they're great,
exceeding great and precious promises, and through these promises,
I am a partaker of God's own nature. All right, turn to 2
Peter 3. Now here's something else that
I learned about these promises of God. Now watch this. It says
in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. The Lord is not slack. In other
words, he's saying here, the Lord doesn't make promises carelessly
and flippantly and idly. He's going to fulfill every one
of them. Every promise, prophecy that
Almighty God has made and given to us in Christ, He's going to
keep. He's not slack concerning these
promises. The Lord does not treat them
indifferently. He fully intends to accomplish
them. He's not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness, but he's patient and long-suffering
to usward. In dealing with his people, in
fulfilling his purposes, in fulfilling his promises, the Lord is very
patient and very long-suffering. How long was it from the time
that the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus, was born? to his mother
and father. And he said God separated him
from his mother's womb. He was a recipient of the promise
of God from his mother's womb. He was a participator in the
promise of God from his mother's womb. But do you know he walked
in rebellion? He walked in blasphemy? What
he said, He walked injurious, persecuting them for forty-some-odd
years. That's patience, you see. That's
the Lord's long-suffering. We're not that patient. We'll
cut Him off when He's about twelve, or twenty-one. We'll cut Him
off. But the Lord is not slack concerning
His promises, as some men count slackness. But He's long-suffering
to us, How long do you put up with you? You see, what's time
to God? Just prior to that, Peter said,
look at verse 8, Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing.
One day is with the Lord as a thousand years. Oh, yes. God is so minute
and particular in every detail, in every snowflake, in every
grain of dust, in every hair of your head. That one twenty-four
hour period is to God a thousand years. Everything is attended
to with such particular sovereign care. Every breath, every step. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. We rush through a day or rush
through an hour, God never rushes. Now you think about a thousand
years, that's a millennium. A thousand years, that's ten
hundred, ten centuries. That's a hundred decades. And
that's a 24-hour period with God. But a thousand years is
a day with God. And he's not slack concerning
his promises. What God promised, he will fulfill. As some men count slack. He's
long-suffering. He's patient. He's not willing,
God's not willing, that one promise should perish, that one promise
should fail. That one sheep should be lost. That one servant should not come
home. That one of his elect should
not be saved. That one of his brethren should
not be brought to the king. Watch it. But that all should
come to repentance. Every single one of them. That's
what that verse is saying. Did you know that? I don't know
why in the world folks have trouble with that verse of Scripture.
We're talking about the promises of God. We're talking about the
promises freely given, those great and precious promises,
that Almighty God is going to accomplish. And He's not slack.
He's not a one-of-a-kind drop. You know, we go down the road
with a whole wagonload of cotton and a few drops of cotton, a
few bowls of cotton fall off the truck, and we don't stop
and pick them up. God never lets them fall off. You're hauling
10,000 bricks, and one of them fails, you say, well, it's just
another brick, but not just another son. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, every one of them. And that's what he's saying
right here. The Lord, he's not slack concerning
his promises. Some men count carelessness,
indifference, and slackness, but he's long-suffering. God's
He's patient. I'm saying this, if you're His,
He'll bring you. He'll bring you. He'll bring
you to Himself, He'll bring you to His way, He'll fulfill every
promise. Not a one of them shall perish.
All shall come to repentance. Then Paul said this, turn to
Galatians 3 about these promises of God. In Galatians 3, he says
these promises were made to someone. Now, you usually make a promise
to someone, don't you? Young people stand before me
and I say, Do you promise to love, honor, cherish, sustain,
protect, poverty, wealth, sickness, health, till death do you part? And they say, I do. A lot of
times they don't mean it. They make promises they don't
keep. I think God's going to call them to account for it,
too. Be careful when you vow a vow
before God. That's what the Word says. But
our Lord keeps His promises, and He makes them to somebody.
You made a promise to that girl, she made a promise to you. And
God makes a promise to somebody. Well, to whom does He promise
these things? Galatians 3, 16. Now, to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. To Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. Whoa! He saith not unto seeds,
as of many. but as of one, and to thy seed,
which is Christ." Bob, there's where it is right there. You
camp right there. Every promise God made, he made
to Christ, and to those in Christ. Now, I want to show you that.
Look at verse 26. Verse 26. For you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ, that is, by the Holy Spirit, have put
on Christ, and in Christ there's neither Jew nor Greek, no nationality,
born nor free, that is, highborn and lowborn, there's neither
male nor female. You're all one in Christ, and
if you be Christ, Then are ye Abraham's seed, and ye heirs
of the promise, according to the promise." See, the promise
was made to Christ, to Abraham's seed, singular, Christ. And that
promise is yours in Christ. He's the heir of every promise. We're the joint heirs in Christ. Ephesians 3, 6 says something
similar to that, something about us Gentiles. That's what we are,
we're Gentiles. But Ephesians 3, verse 6 says
this. It says in Ephesians 3, 6, that
the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. With whom? With Christ. With the Jew, and of the same
body, and partakers of his promise in Christ, by the gospel. That's not too hard, is it? They're
clear to me. Oh, oh, these promises freely
given, great and precious, exceeding great and precious, and they're
made, those promises are made to Christ, and to all who are
in Christ. And God's not slack concerning
them, eh? They'll be fulfilled, every one
of them. He's not willing that any, not
any, Well, surely there's somebody to drop along the way. Oh, no,
no, not one brick, not one gem, not one stone, not one sun, not
one sheep, not one! Not a hook nor hair, Moses said. Don't leave behind. We're all
going out of Egypt in everything that pertains to it. And then
you know, over here in Romans 4, old Abraham, Abraham believed
that what God what God promised, he was not only willing but able
to perform. Now, here's where I have a friend
out in Oregon, and he's always talking about where the rubber
meets the road. Now, I don't know where that is, but it must
mean business. It must mean the bottom line.
It must be where the rubber hits the road, the nitty-gritty or
something. And here it is. You see, Abraham
believed that God not only made the promise, And God was not
only willing to fulfill the promise, but He was quite able to do it.
Quite able. I heard a man on television just
two hours ago. I turned on my TV and listened
to this preacher. And Doris was eating a bowl of—she's always
eating something. She was eating a bowl of cereal or something.
But she was sitting over there eating while I was watching television.
And she nearly dropped it. When he said that, I looked at
her and she said, I thought that's what he said. But he said, now
watch this, and I'm not running down, I'm just saying this is
what's being preached. He said the devil cannot stop
the kingdom of God. The devil has no power over the
kingdom of God. The devil cannot resist the kingdom
of God. He cannot stop the kingdom of
God, except where you don't believe. Well, he's stopping it there,
isn't he? I don't believe the devil can stop the kingdom of
God anywhere, whether you believe or don't believe. Paul said this. Paul said, shall their unbelief
make void the promise of God? Well, that's ridiculous. Shall
the unbelief of Israel make void the purpose of God? And that's what Abraham is saying.
He believed God was able to do what he said, even against all
hope, human hope. Listen to him, in verse 20 of
Romans 4. He staggered not at the promise
of God. It was a, and I'll tell you,
here was Abraham, almost a hundred years old, a sailor of ninety,
never had any children. And God said, we're going to
have a son. A sailor's going to give birth to a son, sired
by Abraham. That's pretty hard to believe. against all hope. But he didn't
stagger Abraham. To unbelief, he was strong in
faith, giving God the glory, and being fully persuaded that
what God had promised, God could perform. That's what I believe. That's what I believe. I don't,
no, Satan can't stop the kingdom of God anyway. What God's promised,
he'll fulfill. And you know what it says in
that next verse? That faith was imputed to him for righteousness,
acceptance with God. Now, that wasn't written for
his sake alone, that faith was imputed to him, but for us also,
to whom it shall be imputed, if you can believe. I believe. Lord, help my unbelief, but I
believe. I believe God. And that's what this is. That
faith in God who promised was counted to him for righteousness. Now here's the next thing. What
are these promises? What are these promises? These
precious promises, these exceeding great and wonderful promises,
these promises that are given us of God. These promises that
not one shall fall to the ground. He's not slack concerning His
promises, not willing that one should perish. This promise made
to Christ. and to us in Christ, and to all
who are in Christ, Jew and Gentile." What are these promises, all
right? Turn to Titus 1, verse 1 through 3. Now, brethren, this
is staggering, but this is God's promise. Do you know what He's
promised? Titus 1, verse 1, Paul, a servant
of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith
of God's elect, that's how I got there, and the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness, in hope of eternal
life, eternal life with God that cannot lie, promised before this
world began." Now, the Russians can call religion the opium of
the people. The psychologists can call it
sentimentality and emotionalism or whatever they want to But Almighty God said this, before
the world began, that I'm going to give some folks eternal life.
The life of God, divine life which Adam lost in the garden,
that life which was lost by sin, that life that went out, God's
going to turn back home. That life which was buried, God's
going to raise. that communion and fellowship
with the living God, that life that can never die, that life
of God, that holy life, perfect life, divine life, sinless life,
life of God, born anew in the center by the power of God through
the righteousness of Christ, is going to live always and always. And that eternal life, that's
what God promised, eternal life. That's what He promised. And
he hath in due times, verse 3, manifested through his word,
manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God our Savior." This eternal life, God's
promised eternal life. You say, what if, when you're
rich, you're to fly into St. Kitts, what if the plane goes
down? Well, if it goes down, I'm still living. Not living
here anymore, but I'm living with the Lord. I believe that.
Eternal life. If somebody in this congregation
goes home tonight and God, if the message comes, the masters
come and call it for thee. But we'll miss you, but I know
if you believe Christ, you've got eternal life. We may embalm
your body and put it in a box and put it in the ground and
weep over it and cover it over and plant some flowers and go
out there to visit, but you're not there. I believe that. Eternal life. If a man dies,
shall he live again? Yes, I don't have any doubt about
it. He shall live again. Turn to 1 John 2, 25. 1 John
2, 25. Listen to this. 1 John 2, 25. Watch this right
here. Let us read verse 24 and 25. 1 John 2, 24. Let that therefore
abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard
from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue
in the Son and in the Father, and this is the promise that
He has promised us, eternal life." Charlie, you believe that? I
believe that. Eternal life. God promised it. Now what I say about His promises?
They'll never fail. He's not only willing, he's able
to perform. He's able to give us eternal
life. Eternal life. All right, here's
something else. Turn to 2 Corinthians 6. What else does his promise include? It includes sonship. Now, you
see, the promise was made to his son, and we're sons in Christ. The heir is his son, the first
begotten. the only begotten, the firstborn
of every creature, he's the heir. And if we can, by his promise,
by his word, become sons, adopted, that's where we're adopted sons.
But an adopted son is as much an heir as a son from the loins. And he says here in 2 Corinthians
6, 18, he says, I'll be a father unto you. You be my sons and
my daughters, saith the Lord God Almighty." Now, verse 1 of
chapter 7, "...having therefore these promises." Dearly beloved,
what promises? I'm your father, and you're my
sons and daughters. Let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
the Spirit of the Lord. But what I'm pointing out is
this, with sons of God. That's His promise. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. It does not appear what we shall
be, but we know when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.
But if a son, then an heir. Turn to Romans 8, let me show
you that. Romans chapter 8. We're more than just professing
Christians, we're more than just Baptists, we're more than just
children of God. He says, I'll be a father to
you. God's not the father of all men. creator of all men,
but they're not all sons of God. He said, you have your father
the devil. Children of wrath are not children of God. Look
at Romans 8, verse 16. The Spirit himself bears witness
with our spirit that we're children of God. And if we're children,
then we're heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. If so be it that we suffer with
him, that we may be glorified together." What's his promise?
Eternal life, sonship. And having sonship, heirship. We have an inheritance eternal,
undefiled, that faded not away, reserved by the promise of God
for you, who are kept by faith. Kept by the power of God through
faith. All right? Look down here at Romans 1. What
does this promise include? It includes His gospel, the good
news, the visit of His own Son to this earth to be our Redeemer.
Watch Romans 1, 1. Paul, a bondslave of Jesus Christ,
called Him an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Now what's
this gospel of God concerning? Verse 3, it's concerning His
Son. Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David,
according to the flesh, declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead,
by whom we have received grace. But look at verse 2, which he
promised, which he promised by his prophets in the Holy Scripture.
Christ coming, why'd he come? God promised he would. The king
was made flesh. How come? God promised it. That's
what I've been saying. All right, 2 Peter 3, what does
this promise include? 2 Peter 3, verse 13 and 14. Look over here, 2 Peter 3, 13
and 14. Nevertheless, we, 2 Peter 3, 13, nevertheless we, according to his promise, Look for a new heaven and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Hmm? That's what he's promised. All right, now that's what I'm
going to tell you. Now turn back to the text, 2 Corinthians 1,
verse 20. Now the old preacher said, I
tell them what I'm going to tell them, not the promises of God. Now I'm going to tell you where
it is, where the promises of God are. Look at 2 Corinthians
1, 20. This is the most important part of the message, for all
the promises of God, every one of them, all of them, in Him,
in Him. Now, one of our men came out
the door this morning. I don't think he's here tonight.
He came out the door this morning, and he said that he talked to
a dear lady sometime ago, and she said, now, I'm a Jew. And I do not believe in Jesus
Christ. I do not believe he's the Messiah.
I do not believe he's the Savior. But," she said, "'I'll be in
heaven.'" That's according to her theology,
not according to God's. That's according to her thoughts.
Because he says here, all the promises of God are in him. That's
what it says. Nothing God has for this universe,
nothing God has for believers, nothing God has for Zion or the
church, it's not in Christ. I'm being no more narrow than
the Word of God. Christ said, no man cometh to
the Father but by me. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into his hands. So that's what it says
here, all these promises of God are in him. He only existed when
the promises were made. Because Titus said, in hope of
eternal life, which God promised before the world began. When
God purposed and promised, there was only Christ. That's right. That's exactly right. Through
the blood of the everlasting covenant. There was only Christ. You see, this is the thing. The
average person thinking about election thinks that God Almighty picked out individuals in a sequence. But God picked us out in Christ. You see, we're chosen in Christ.
He's the firstborn of every Christian. He's the elect. We were chosen
in Him. We're blessed in Him, we're redeemed
in Him, we're righteous in Him. That's what I was trying to preach
this morning. Everything we are and have and ever hope to be
is because of and through and in and from Him. God looks on you in Christ, loves
you in Christ, blesses you in Christ. Outside of Christ there's
wrath. Now that's so, we may not like
it, but he that believeth not on the Son, wrath of God abideth
on him. We're not on probation. The trial's
all over. We're on death row. And we're
not in Christ. That's just... See, all the promises,
he says, they're all in him. Not only, not only, what's this? Not only were they made to him,
not only was he the only one in existence when they were made,
But he himself, and only Christ himself, can fulfill the conditions
of the promises. This condition is on God's promises.
Oh yeah, yes sir. God's promises are based on his
holiness. Everything that God does has
to be in agreement with his character. God can no more do wrong than
we can do right. God does everything according
to His nature. God can't lie. We can't tell
the truth. Not the whole truth, nothing
but the truth. We'll take a good shot at it once in a while, but
we don't quite get that. I mean the truth. God cannot,
He cannot lie because He's holy. We cannot do good because we're
sinful. And Almighty God, those promises
had to be fulfilled, every condition of the promises. And therefore,
look at this verse again, for all the promises of God, all
of them of God, are in Him, and all of them are yes. Yes. God's going to save every creature?
Yes. We have a perfect righteousness in Christ? Yes. Will God raise
every believer? Yes. Will everybody be in glory? Yes. Will we live eternally? Yes. All the promises are yes.
Yes. Yes, there's no no. Yes. Yes. God will forgive all my
sins? Yes. Even my worst sins? Yes. But now wait a minute, you
don't know about this one. Yes. There's no no in Christ. It's yes. It's yes. And not only that, but amen.
So be it. Why be it? God said it, so be
it. Got no objection? Isn't that
glorious? The promises of God in Christ.
And why did He do all this? Verse 20, the last line, unto
the glory of God. That's why He saved you and me,
and that's why He saved any sinner. He said, to the praise of His
glory. He says that in Ephesians 1, 6, 12, and 14. In Ephesians
2, He said that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding
riches of His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. He chose
us to the praise of His glory. Christ died for us to the praise
of His glory. The Holy Spirit revealed Christ
to the praise of His glory. Yes. In Christ, out of Christ,
no. You mean if I don't believe in
Christ, I can't go to heaven? No. God won't accept any man, male,
any person, male, female, Jew, Gentile, anyone, no. In Christ,
yes. You can't ask the question, in
Christ, if not, yes, so be it. Without Christ, no. No. All right, what did I tell
you? Here's what I told you. I told
you about these great, exceeding, precious promises of God. I told
you that God's not slack concerning them. He will fulfill every one
of them. I told you this. Those promises
of eternal life, sonship, inheritance, a new heaven and a new earth.
And I told you they're all in Christ. That's what I told you. And here's what I said. In the
words of a hymn writer, Jesus, Lord Jesus, engrave it, engrave
it, old Job said, engrave it with a pin of iron and a point
of a diamond in the rock forever. Engrave it on my heart. that
thou the one thing needful art. I could from all things parted
be, but never, never, never, Lord, from thee. Needful art
thou to make me live. Needful art thou, all grace to
give. Needful to guide me when I stray. Needful to save me every day. Needful is thy precious blood.
Needful is thy correcting rod, Needful is thy patient care,
Needful is thy inaccessory prayer, Needful thy presence, Lord, True
peace and comfort to afford, Needful thy promise to impart,
Fresh life and faith to my heart, Needful art thou to be my stay,
Through all of life's dark and stormy way, No less in death
thou wilt needful be, when I yield up my soul to thee. Then shall
my soul with joy supreme dwell on that delightful theme. Glory
and praise be ever his, the one thing needful Jesus is." All the promises of God are in
him, and they are yes. Amen to the glory of God. Our Father, thank you for the
promise. We rejoice that we're able to rejoice in Christ. We rejoice that we're able to
rejoice only in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in this
flesh. Now bless the Word, make it profitable. In these immediate days ahead,
we pray for ourselves and our friends and our preacher We pray,
O Lord, for those journeying tonight, pray for the families
of this congregation, beloved, beloved family. Thank you for
them. Thank you for them for their
faithfulness and their support, their love for thee in the gospel,
their labor of love and works of faith. Thank you for everyone,
every home represented. Bless our friends who are sick.
May all God minister to them for your glory. and for our good
in a special way. Bless us as we part tonight until
we meet again. John's preaching Wednesday, Lord
anoint him. Maurice on the Lord's Day, Bob
in Lexington, others who travel to other places, David in Floyd. Thank you for these faithful
brethren, these who teach here. Lord, every time we open our
mouths To represent thee, help us. Help us. Help us to understand
something of the burden of the word of the Lord. Anoint it with
your spirit. Those who sing, thank you for
those who care for the things here every day. Grateful for
them. Thank you for them. Bless them
in a special way. For Christ's sake, amen.