Occasionally, following a message,
someone will come up to the pastor and they'll say, boy, you sure got on my toes
tonight. One man recently said to me,
when I come back tonight, this was on Sunday morning, he said,
I'm going to wear my safety shoes. I realize this is just small
talk. I realize that it is, but I realize
also that it reveals something. It reveals a tradition. It reveals a method. Now, our
preaching must be given to rebuke and reproof and warning. Our Lord said, warn them for
me. People are to be warned. Unbelievers
are to be warned of the wrath to come. Believers are to be
warned to continue in the faith. But I judge by those comments
that there are two dangers that we need to avoid. Now everyone
here who preaches, I want you to listen to me a moment, and
then everyone who is a hearer of a preacher, I want you to
listen in a moment. I say to the preachers, that
ours is a ministry not of condemnation but of reconciliation. I don't know why or where but
somehow we got the idea that a preacher is supposed to get
in the pulpit and foam at the mouth and stomp his feet and
hit his fist on the desk and bawl people out. You know, that
really, that is a, that is a an idea that people have of preaching.
I have people always saying this about my television ministry.
They say you're a good teacher, but you ain't much of a preacher.
Well, they mean by that that I don't rant and rave and stomp
and fume and fuss and condemn everything and everybody from Maine to California. Most preachers, when they preach,
sound like they're mad at somebody. I hear young preachers many times
preach, and I go away saying, that's an angry young man. Well,
he's a preacher. He's expected to be angry. He's
supposed to be mad at the government, and he's supposed to be mad at
sinners, and he's supposed to be mad at the deacons, and he's
supposed to be mad at church members, and he's supposed to
be mad at everybody but himself. Now this is true. Now you know
what I'm talking about. Most preachers sound like they're
mad at everybody. They're angry young men. They
stomp and fume and fuss and quarrel and condemn and rebuke and reprove
and holler and scream and consequently that's led to the second danger.
And I say this to the hero. We must approach the Word of
God not dodging out of fear But we're to approach the Word of
God in hope. It's filled with promises for
the child of God. I think we learned something
here raising our children. You who haven't raised yours
yet, it's not too late. But you know a child that's constantly
badgered and rebuked and kicked around and scolded and is constantly
put down Nothing he does is right like one little boy. I used to
know named Curtis I Won't call his last name, but his mother
said he thinks his middle name is don't Curtis don't Because
all day long it was Curtis don't Curtis don't Curtis But if you
if you're not careful, you'll work that child You'll destroy
his initiative He'll know nothing of love. He'll know nothing of
grace. He'll know nothing of a father's affection. All he
can remember is his daddy's scolding. All he can remember is his daddy's
razor strap. All he can remember is somebody
putting him down. And I don't know but what we
have drifted into this sort of a thing in preaching. When a
fella gets up to preach, he's just expected to condemn everything
and everybody. He's expected to stomp around
and fume and fuss, and if he doesn't, we don't think he's
doing much preaching. But you know, somebody said some
years ago, and it blessed me a great deal, I know that God,
in the path of a believer, in the walk of faith, God has hedged
us about on one side with warnings, lest we presume. We must bring
forth the warnings. Keep yourself in the love of
God. Draw near to God, He'll draw near to you. And John warning
about departing from the faith and all of these things, we're
to warn. But I believe that God's promises
far outweigh His warnings. I believe there's a whole lot
more love than condemnation for the believer in God's Word. I
believe there's a whole lot more promises. And the promises of
God are our meat and drink, not His warnings, not His chastening,
not His rebuke. The Lord God, I don't know where
we get this idea, but the Lord God is not sitting up there in
glory waiting on us to fall so He can knock the daylights out
of us. I just don't believe that. I just don't believe that God
is angry with His people. I believe He's in love with them.
I believe he loves them. He's tender. He's plenteous in
redemption. He delights to show mercy. He's
a patient and kind and long-suffering and merciful to the undeserving. And I want to emphasize tonight
in my message, and I want to have a ministry of reconciliation. I want to have a ministry of
comfort. You know, he said to Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye
my people. Comfort ye my people. The promises
of God are meat and drink. Look at the text here. In 2 Peter
1, verse 4, it says, whereby are given unto us, are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises. Now, just a little
bit, let me call your attention to this. Look at the company
in which these precious promises are included. Back here in 1
Peter, would you go back there a minute? It calls them precious. Somebody says precious is that
which is highly esteemed, that which is dear to us, that which
is of great value, something that's precious. Precious Promises esteem great in value Hail dear. All right. Look at 2nd Peter
1 1 It talks about our faith being precious the faith of God's
elect is precious in 1st 2nd Peter 1 1 Simon Peter a servant
apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious
faith and Now let me just quote these and you won't go back to
them, but in Psalm 116 verse 15 it says, Precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of his saints. And we're on precious
things here, the precious blood, precious faith, he is precious,
the death of the believer is precious, and then in Psalm 133
it talks about the unity of believers, what we were talking about in
the study a moment ago. It's precious. when brethren dwell
together in unity at Psalm 133 verse 1 and 2. It's like the
precious ointment that flowed down Abram's beard. Now come
back to the text in 2 Peter 1 forward. He's talking about God has given
to us precious promises. The precious promises. The promises
of men are not always precious. I hate to do this, but I have
to. I have to be on my case here. I have to be on my side. I hate
to do this to me and to you. But our promises are not always
precious. They're subject to too many changes.
He stood there right in front of me, and I said, do you promise
to love, honor, cherish, and protect? And he said, I do. And
he didn't do it. He didn't do it. He left her. But he promised. But he didn't
keep his promise. So his promise wasn't precious.
And I think of that every time I marry a couple. I say, stand
there. I promise, I promise. You're lying. God knows you're
lying. It's awful, isn't it? Somebody
else says, I promise to be your friend forever. You didn't do
it, did you? First time you had a chance,
you shot me dead. Oh, our promises. Oh, they're
not precious. We're living in a day when they
don't amount to nothing almost. I hate to say that, but that's
so. They don't amount to anything. I promised to pay the sum of
so and so, and he didn't do it. He didn't do it. Another one
said, I promised to come and see you, and he didn't come.
You see, our promises are not precious because our promises
fail. They're dependent upon our wills,
and our wills change. They're dependent upon our natures,
and our natures change. They're dependent upon our abilities,
and our ability changes. They're dependent upon our health,
and our health changes. They're dependent upon our love,
and unfortunately that changes. So they're not precious, but
when I come to His promises, they're precious, Bob. They're
precious because they cannot fail. They cannot fail. His promises are precious. You
know, this hymn writer put it this way, change and decay in
all around I see, O thou that changes not, abide with me. Our God says, come unto me, I
will give you rest. Now if a man says that to me, it doesn't mean a whole lot because
he may not keep that promise. What kind of God is our God?
He's an unchanging God. He said, you come, I'll give
you rest. And that's exactly what He's going to do. He says,
you come and drink, you'll never thirst. He says, I'll never leave
you, I'll never forsake you. He said, my sheep shall never
perish. His promises, this is what makes
them precious. They cannot fail. And here's
why they cannot fail. They're founded on four foundations.
I want to give you this. His promises are sure. That's
the reason they're precious. They are precious. They're as
precious as His blood. They're as precious as He is
because they're His promises. They're as precious as that precious
faith that He's given to us. They're as precious as the death
of His saints. They're as precious as the love
and unity of believers. They're precious for four reasons.
Let me give you these four and you can jot them down and write
under them. His promises cannot fail because of His justice,
because of his love, because of his truth, and because of
his power. Those are the four pillars on
which he builds his promises. Now first of all, and I may shock
you a little bit here, but now you listen to me. I told a man
in the study, I'm not interested in being popular, I'm interested
in being saved. I'm interested in knowing God.
But first of all, God's justice and God's righteousness will
not suffer him or his promises to fail. They will not suffer
him to alter his purpose or his promises. Now, I do not mean
to put our Lord's sacrifice, his personal work, on a commercial
basis. I don't want to do that at all.
But I'm simply saying that what God purposed and decreed to be
done through the sacrifice of his Son will be done. It will
be done. He shall not fail. I want to
show you several verses of Scripture. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 14. Now I can say I don't want to
put the personal work of Christ on a commercial basis. I don't
want to become a fatalist. I don't want to become a hard
shell. I do not want to become anti-missionary and don't intend
to. I want a warm heart and a broken
spirit and a missionary spirit and a zeal for the lost and a
concern to pray. But I'm simply saying that because
of God's justice and His righteousness, His promises cannot fail. He
will do what He determined to do. In Ecclesiastes 3, verse
14, it says this, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever. What God does. Nothing can be
put to it. nor anything taken from it, and
God doeth it, that men should fear before him. Let me show
you another and turn to the book of Philippians. In Philippians
chapter 1 verse 6, Philippians 1-6 it says this, Philippians
1-6 declares, I'm confident Paul has talked about being thankful
for these Philippians and praying for them and grateful for their
fellowship from the first day until now. Verse 6, being confident
of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He's going to
do what he set out to do. Let's turn to Romans 8. Let's
look at this. God purposed to save a people.
He'll save them. He sent his Son into the world
to redeem his elect, he'll redeem them. He gave his Spirit to call
us, we'll come. Our Lord said, all that my Father
giveth me will come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in
no wise cast out. His promises cannot fail because
of his justice, because of his righteousness. Listen to this,
verse 29, Romans 8, whom he did foreknow, that's foreordained,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. This is all in
past tense. And whom he called, them he also
justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now,
what shall we say to these things? Well, here's what we say. If
God be for us, who can be against us? It's God's farming and divine
election. If God's for me in the eternal
covenant, if God's for me in the gift of his son, in the righteousness
and obedience of his son, in the resurrection of his son,
in the exaltation of his son, if God's for me, then who can
be against me? Who in heaven, earth, or hell?
And he says in the next verse, if he spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies? Who
is he that condemns it? It's Christ that died? Yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
maketh intercession for us. I'm not preaching eternal justification
to the exclusion of faith. I'm not preaching eternal justification
to the exclusion of witnessing and preaching and getting the
gospel to the laws. But there's no way that God can
fail yet. There's no way that God can fail.
If He redeemed us, we're redeemed. If He justified us, we're justified. Turn to John chapter 10 for just
a moment. And all of God's work is in unity,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What the Father purposed, the
Son purchased, and the Spirit will apply. And there can't be
any division. There can't be the Father choosing
some, and the Son dying for a different group, and the Holy Spirit applying
it to somebody else. In John chapter 10, verse 22,
listen to this. John 10, 22. It was at Jerusalem,
the Feast of the Dedication. It was winter. And Jesus walked
in the temple and Solomon's porch, and then the Jews, these are
the religious fellows, you know, they came round about him, and
they said to him, how long are you going to keep us in doubt?
If you be the Christ, if you be the Messiah, if you are the
Redeemer, if you're that prophet, you tell us plainly. Jesus answered
them, I told you, I told you, and you didn't believe me. The
works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of who
I am, witness of me. But you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. I know them, and they'll follow
me, and I'll give them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them me, He is greater than all, and no man can pluck them
out of my Father's hand. I am my Father alone." I want
to ask you a question or two. We talk about this thing of justification,
and I know this. I know that what God decreed
must be accomplished and will be accomplished. It will be fulfilled. Nobody's saved without faith.
Any man, except you repent, Christ said, you'll perish. Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He that
heareth and believeth on me hath everlasting life. He that believeth
not on the Son shall not see life. If we continue in the faith,
that's what scripture says, right? It says if we continue in the
faith. We are the household of Christ if we hold fast our profession. But I want to ask some questions.
The first one is this. How long has Jesus Christ been
a surety? The Bible calls him a surety
of an everlasting covenant. Now here's the idea of a surety.
Somebody used it the other night in the service. You go down to
the bank and you acquire a loan. And you sign your name. I'll
pay this loan. It's a big one and it's heavy.
Now you may not be able to pay it. There's a good possibility
you won't. But a friend who can, who has
the power and ability and the collateral and the bank knows
it, Just take one of these boys here, 18 years of age, goes down
to the bank to borrow some money. I believe John gave this. His
daddy had to sign under it. His daddy could do it and the
bank knew he could do it. All right, when did the daddy
assume responsibility of that boy's note? Right then. Right
then. It was his note. It was daddy's
note. It was daddy's, right then when he put his name. All right,
when Jesus Christ, the Bible says he's the surety of an everlasting
covenant. He signed a note, he signed a
contract, he signed a covenant, whatever it is. I don't believe
he signed it with his hand, but he got into an agreement with
the Father. In that very hour, when he became my surety, he
assumed the responsibility of my redemption. That's right,
in a sense. He assumed the responsibility
of my redemption right then. And what Christ assumed is as
good as done. what Christ took upon himself
to accomplish. God said, I've purposed it, shall
I not do it? I've spoken, shall it not be
done? I declare the end from the beginning. All right, for
whom was he sure of it? Well, right then were the people
chosen in Christ and loved in Christ and accepted in Christ,
right then. They still have to be brought
to knowledge of Christ and to the gospel, but when he became
our surety and assumed the responsibility of my note, it fell on him because
he knew then I couldn't keep it. He knew then I wasn't going
to pay that note. He knew then I didn't have the
righteousness God required. He knew then I didn't have the
perfection God required. He assumed my responsibility
right there. Let me ask you another question. How long has Christ
been the Lamb slain? The Lamb of God slain. Well,
the Scripture says before the foundation of the world. Well,
if he was a lamb slain before the foundation of the world,
slain for whom? For what? A sin offering. Whose
sins? My sins. My sins and your sins. You see, here we think of things,
we think of things in time. What happened yesterday, we know
about. What happened today, so far we know about. But as far
as we know, we don't know anything about here. Because we live in
time, days and hours and minutes. There's no time with God. He
said, I am. Everything's an eternal present.
And what God knows, He always knows. What God does, He always
does. I can't understand that. I just
know it's so. I'm not trying to explain it. I'm proclaiming
it. I'm saying that what God has decreed, He's always decreed.
There are no surprises. There are no surprises. God never
learns anything. He knows all things. He never
forgets anything. He knows all things. I know somebody
will bring up the scripture, your sins will I remember no
more. That's because of the efficacy and power of Christ's blood.
And it may be this, it may be that blood has always been so
efficacious and powerful that in Christ I never had any sin.
You think about that a moment. that they were put away when
he assumed my responsibility. That his promise to pay is eternally. And then let me ask this question.
How long has Christ been a high priest? The Bible says he's a
high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, having
neither beginning nor end of days, having neither mother or
father. In other words, he's always been a high priest. Before
Aaron ever stood there in the Holy of Holies, our Lord stood
in the presence of his Father. High priest. Well, a high priest,
a mediator, is not the mediator of one, he's the mediator of
two. Now, God is, and God has been, and is eternal, and Christ
is the mediator before God, but somebody down here is the one
for whom he's mediating. Well, who is it? It's his people. It's his people. How long has
there been a covenant of grace? So what I'm saying here is when
we get back here to these precious promises, and somebody says,
well, folks will take that and go into hardshellism, they'll
go into antinomianism, they'll go into fatalism. Well, folks
have been hanging themselves with ropes, but let's not outlaw
ropes, because they're awfully important. And folks have been
taking razor blades and cutting their wrists, but I sure need
my razor. You see, and folks have taken butcher knives and
put them in other people's hearts, but you ladies need your butcher
knives to cut up your hams and your roasts. You can't do away
with truth because some fool uses it to abuse it. And I'm
saying that Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. God decreed it, God purposed it, but He had to come,
Charlie, and die. He assumed our responsibility
and He fulfilled it. He assumed our debt and He paid
it. He assumed our guilt and He died under it. He assumed
all of our shame and filth and He bore it. And He bore it in
agony. And in the same way, though God
elected me and chose me in Christ and gave me to Christ and Christ
became my surety. Our Lord has no unwilling bride.
He has no unwilling people. And I will be brought to hear
the gospel, to love the gospel, to believe the gospel, to lay
hold upon Christ, to trust Him, and to walk with Him in faith
and in repentance. But I'm talking about his promises,
and I'm talking about the certainty of them and the preciousness
of them. And I say the one foundation, first of all, on which his promise
is laid is his justice and his righteousness and his purpose
in Christ. It cannot fail. And that promise
will be kept. It will be kept. All right. Secondly,
if you're still with me, we'll go to the second one. Brother
Barnard said one time, somebody, when he's right in the middle
of his sermon, he said, that's deep. He said, no, it's just
so. It's not deep about it, it's just so. Can you give God too
much glory? I don't believe we'll ever be
charged with that. Can you shut man up to his mercy too much?
I don't think so. Alright, here's the second. His
promises are built on his love, and it cannot fail. His promises
are built on his love. You know, I heard a And I don't
always disagree with Mr. Spurgeon. I'm not saying I'm
disagreeing with him now. I'm not saying that at all. But
somebody asked him one time, they said, if God would give
you anything you wanted, anything you wanted, what would you want? And Mr. Spurgeon said, and now
this is good, he said, I'd want absolute holiness. I'd want to
be without sin. In a sense, I agree with that,
and I suppose if you have that, you'd have this other. But I
wonder if the answer ought not be. I wonder if the answer ought
not be. They came to our Lord, and they said, what's the greatest
commandment? He said, to love God with all
your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.
On these two hang all the law and the prophets. I wonder if
our answer ought not be love. Didn't the Apostle Paul write
now about his faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is
love? Did not our Lord said, by this shall all men know you,
my disciples, not by your morality, but by your love? I wish I knew
something, I wish we knew something of the love of God. I don't mean
the doctrine of it, I don't mean the fact of it, I don't mean
the existence of it, I mean the experience of it. I wish we knew something of the
depths of His love, the riches of His love, the freeness of
His love. Turn to 1 Corinthians 13, a minute. 1 Corinthians 13. I know with us love is a doctrine,
but I wish it could become an experience. God Almighty will
keep His promise because He loves. Because He loves. Now, he'll
keep his promise, first of all, because of his justice and his
righteousness established in Christ. How shall he not with
him freely give us all this? But God loves. God is love. And here in 1 Corinthians 13,
this is the definition of that love. In verse 4, love suffereth
long. It's kind. envieth not, vaunteth
not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,
and never fails. Let's look at God's love a minute.
Let me just bring out some things about it. First of all, His love
is infinite. His love is infinite. In other
words, His capacity to love, now I want you to think with
me a moment, His capacity to love is drawn from His nature. His nature's love, it's pure
love. It's everlasting, it's infinite. God's capacity to love is because
of His nature. All right, is the same thing
not true of us? We love as we are able to love
spiritually. Think about the man. The man
who is, the more he knows of Christ, the more he is united
with Christ, the more of Christ he has, the better he can love.
What I'm saying is this, the measure of your spirituality,
is your love. That's the measure of your spirituality. God loves perfectly and infinitely
because God is perfect infinite love. and we're able to love. You can measure your spirituality
by your ability to love God and love others. You can measure
your spirituality. We measure spirituality by a
lot of things. We measure spirituality by a
lot of rules and regulations and intellectual knowledge of
doctrine and intellectual knowledge of orthodoxy and this sort of
thing. But I believe a man's spirituality,
God can love infinitely because God is infinite love. His nature
is. And the more a man knows about
God, the more he can love. And the less he loves is a revelation
of the fact he doesn't know God. Now you think about that, that's
so. Secondly, his love is free. It's not only infinite, but his
love is free. There are no strains attached.
No strains attached to his love. It's free. We love him because
he first loved us. Christ didn't come to get God
in the notion of loving us. God loved us and sent Christ.
It's free. There's no strings attached.
The Scripture says turn to Ephesians 2. Let me show you this. Now,
we attach strings to our love. Christ said you love them that
love you. But he says sinners do the same. Unbelieving people. Rebels do the same. You give
to people from whom you hope to receive something in return.
He said that's nothing. That's not love. That's not giving.
You bless those that bless you. That's not love. Any ungrateful
rebel can do that. But I say unto you, love your
enemies. Bless them that curse you. And this is free. See, no
strings attached. We attach strings to our love.
As long as you do this, I love you. You get out of line, I don't
love you anymore. Never did start with. Isn't that
right? Any love that has a string on
it is not free. It's not free. You're buying
it. And when you buy something, it's not love. Somebody ask me
right now, do you believe in free love? That's all it kinda
is. That's a pun, but it's so anyway.
Any love's got a string on it, it's not love. Anything's got
a condition on it, it's not love. Love is free, God freely. Look
at Ephesians 2. It says, listen, it describes
us in Ephesians 2, it says all how we were, verse 3, among whom
we had our conversation times past in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind were by
nature children of wrath even as us. But God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, no strings attached. This is why I'm saying, oh, that
we knew something, John, of the love of God. And I tell you this,
we'd better quit looking at it and saying, well, I just can't
aspire to that, I can't hang on to that, I'll never give that.
I just tell you, we'd better quit excusing our sins and start
doing something about it. We'd better find out something
about it. His love is infinite, it's free.
No strings attached. And then it's unchanging. It's
unchanging. It says, having loved his own,
he loved them to the end, even the death of the cross. You say,
well, I've been hurt too many times. Now, wait a minute. Paul
W. gave me a, remember that sweet
shrub bush you gave me I planted in the backyard? A sweet shrub
is a strange shrub. It's got a little bloom on it,
about like your thumb. And it's dark red. I know you've
seen it. It's kind of purplish red or burgundy. And you go out
there and you pull that little old bloom off that sweet shrub
and smell of it. It smells pretty good. But squeeze
it. Squeeze it. And it smells better. And squeeze it again. And it
smells even better. And the more you squeeze it,
the better it smells. And that's love. That's love. The more it's tried and tested,
the better it smells. The more fragrance comes from
it. O love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless, how strong,
measureless, how strong! It shall forevermore endure the
saints and angels sung. The love of God is greater far
than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the reach of time
and deeper than hell. Could we with ink the ocean fill
and were the skies of parchment made? And every stalk on earth
a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
God above would drain that ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky." You see what I'm
saying? I wish that we could get hold of something about this
love. We've got the doctrine, we've
got the intellect, we've got the profession, we've got the
ritualism, we've got the tradition, we've got the custom, we've got
everything but the hide. You call me Lord with your lips,
with your hearts. And God doesn't look on the outward
countenance. He looks on the heart. He says,
keep your heart out of the inner issues of life. My son, give
me your heart. God looks not on the outward
countenance, but on the heart. He says, you justify yourself,
but that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to
God, because God looks on the heart. The sacrifices of God
are a broken heart. Ritualism is damnable. Heart relationship with God is
commendable. Just so. His promises never fail because
he loves. Because he loves. And ours will
quit failing if we learn something about love. We learn something
about love. A man can't go to hell in love
with Christ, but a man can go to hell in love with doctrine.
A man can't perish in love with God's people, but he can perish
in love with himself and his theology. And I fear, fear, fear
about this thing. The third thing, his truth. Turn
to Titus 2. God's promises, this is why they're
precious. Titus chapter, this is why they're
precious. And what I'm trying to do, I'm preaching to myself,
I'm not just preaching to you. I'm trying to find some place
for us to put our feet. Some reason for confidence, some
reason for assurance. In Titus chapter 1 verse 2. in
hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before
the world began." God cannot lie. That's the reason God's
promises won't change. That's the reason of depression.
He can't lie. God cannot lie. Let me just quote these in Malachi
3.6. He said, I am the Lord, therefore
I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. He
says in Romans 11.29, the gifts of God are without change. Turn
to Isaiah 46. Look at this one. Isaiah 46. And Gerald, this will answer
that thing we were talking about in there. You may lose in here
salvation or something. It's according to who saved you.
It's according to who purposed your redemption. It's according
to who purchased your redemption. It's according to who applied
your redemption. It's in God. He can't change. In Isaiah 46,
listen to this, verse 9 through 11. Remember the former things
of old. I'm God. There's none else. I'm God. There's
none like me. I declare the end from the beginning.
And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying
my counsel shall stand, I'll do all my pleasure. I call a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel
from a far country. Yeah, I've spoken it, I'll bring
it to pass, I've purposed it, I'll do it. I'll tell you this, I've learned,
turn to 2 Timothy a moment, I've learned this, that we talk about
believing things, we talk about all the time, I sure believe
the Bible. Well, any man who believes the Bible is saved.
A man who is not saved doesn't believe the Bible. Now when you
start believing it, you're saved, because you only believe what
you experience. There's no way that you really believe anything
if you don't experience it. If we're standing right here
right now under this roof and you see Ed Stevens come up and
whisper something in my ear and I say, Ed's a contractor and
he built this building, knows all about it, and he says that
that roof is going to fall, it's giving way. Now what's everybody
believes it's going to do? Start leaving. The fellow sits
down here and says, well, I got a lot of confidence in the way
of him, and I believe him, you know, but I'm going to sit here. No,
you don't believe him too well. You act on your... You can't
separate faith and conduct. You can't separate belief and
obedience. If a man believes the Bible, he'll flee to Christ.
If a man believes the Bible, he'll lay hold on Christ. If
a man believes the Bible, he'll pray. If he believes the Bible,
he'll cry for mercy. If he believes the Bible, he'll
sue for peace. If he believes the Bible, he'll lay hold on
Christ. You only believe what you experience. All right, look
at 2 Timothy. And this is what I want us to do. I want us to
begin not just believing Scripture, but experiencing it, consequently
believing it, entering into it. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 8 and 9,
a friend of mine who's been in the ministry seven or eight years
said he was up on the hill on his farm one day reading the
Bible. He was what we call an Arminian, Pentecostal, free will,
do-it-yourself salvation, you know, sort of thing. And he said
it was like, he was reading this passage right here in 2 Timothy
1, it was like a bolt of lightning, it was like a revelation of light,
it was like God Almighty speaking directly to him when he read
this verse, never seen it before. Yes, he had seen it, he had read
it, but he had never experienced it. He said he read in 2 Timothy
1.8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the gospel
of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of 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 Jesus Christ before this world began." He experienced
it, you see? And he went forth preaching it.
Somebody asked me one time, they said, and they've asked me this
a lot of times, but just recently, they said, our pastor says he
believes grace, but he doesn't preach it. Do you think he really
believes it? I do not. I do not believe he
believes it. This man, when he read this,
I have reason to believe he believes it because now he's preaching
it. Don't tell me you believe anything
and you don't preach it. You don't believe it at all.
You may give mental assent. You may look upon it as being
a doctrine among doctrines. You may look upon it as being
an established theological pattern or something, but you don't believe
it. No, sir. God's truth. All right, last
of all, and I close with this. Romans 4. God's promises. His promises are all in Christ.
That's where they all are. Everything's in Christ. And His
justice and righteousness. won't permit him to change. His love, he loves with an unchangeable,
everlasting love. It's not going to change. Not
going to change. And then his truth, and then
last, his power. In Romans 4, verse 20, this is
Abraham, illustration of Abraham. It says, Abraham staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God
had promised, he was able also to perform. Now this is where
our promises fail sometimes, not only our lack of love and
so forth, but sometimes our inability. We just couldn't fulfill. We'd
like to, but we just weren't able. But our God is able. He's able. Read on. And therefore
it was imputed to Abraham for righteousness. Now it was written,
not written for his sake alone that this was imputed to him,
but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe that
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. He's able.
His power enables him to keep his promises. All authority is
given unto me in heaven and earth. That's what Christ said. I have
all power over all flesh. He will do what he purposed what
he promised because he has a power to perform it. This is my hope. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. He's able to keep us from falling
and present us faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. He's able to raise our vile bodies
and make them like his own. God moves in a mysterious way. his wonders to perform. He plants
his footsteps on the sea and rides upon the storm. His purposes
will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter
taste, but sweet will be the flower. So ye fearful saints,
fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are full of grace, and they will break with blessings on your
head. He cannot fail. I don't care
how dark it is right now, how rocky the road, how disappointing
the way, how frail your feet, he cannot fail. His promises
are sure. They are sure. Our Father, give
us assurance and confidence, not in ourselves. This flesh
is as frail as it's ever been. The grass withereth and the flower
fadeth, and that's our flesh and our glory. But you cannot
fail.