What God Promised He Is Able to Perform

We're turning in our Bibles for
the message today to the book of Romans, the fourth chapter,
verses 20 through 22. I'm speaking on this subject,
Romans 4, verse 20. I'm speaking on this subject,
what God promised God is able to perform. What God promised
God is able to perform. Now in Romans 4.20 the scripture
says, Abraham staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief,
but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully
persuaded that what God had promised, God was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed
unto him for righteousness. Now catch this. And it was not
written for his sake alone that it was imputed unto him for righteousness,
but for us also if we believe on him who raised up Jesus Christ
from the dead. Abraham believed, and it was
imputed to him for righteousness, and we can have that same righteousness
if we believe. Now, the story behind this text
is found in the book of Genesis. I wish you, when you listen to
this program, would keep a pencil and paper handy, because I want
you to search the Scriptures to see if these things be so.
Your salvation is important, your relationship with God, and
I want you to read the Word of God and see what the Lord says.
I just want to help you to understand what the Scripture teaches about
eternal life, about faith in Christ, about salvation. Genesis 18, that's where I want
you to read later after the broadcast is over, but in Genesis chapter
18, the scripture tells us that Abraham was sitting in the tent
door in the heat of the day. Now, Abraham was well up in years,
he was a hundred years old, and Sarah, his wife, was in her early
nineties. And the scripture says he was
sitting there in the tent door in the heat of the day, and the
Lord appeared to him in human form. Now, Abraham knew it was
the Lord, because God had spoken to him before. And so the Lord
appeared to him, and Abraham said, Lord, if you will, let
me get water and wash your feet, and tarry with me a little while.
And let favor fix some bread and some butter and some milk,
and let me go get a calf. and have it dressed and the meat
fixed for you, and abide with me." And the Lord said to him,
let it be as you said. So Sabra got some, she made some
cake, some bread, and got some butter and milk, and the young
man killed a calf, and they cooked the meat and brought it, and
after they had eaten, and the Lord had fellowship with his
friend Abraham, the Lord said to him, I will return to thee
according to the time of life. and Saber thy wife shall have
a son." Now, Saber was listening back in the tent, and when she
heard that, she laughed. And the Lord said, why did Saber
laugh? She was ninety years old. Why
did Saber laugh? Is anything too hard for God?
But Abraham didn't laugh. The scripture says, Abraham staggered
not at the promise of God. God promised this old man, one
hundred years that he would have a son by his wife who was ninety
years of age, past the age of bearing children. But Abraham
staggered not at the promise of God. Abraham had learned to
believe God. And he believed that God was
able to perform all that he promised, and it was imputed to him for
righteousness. He believed God. And because
he believed God, he was called a friend of God. Because he believed
God, it was reckoned to him, charged to his account for righteousness,
and his faith brought him the blessings of God. Now this is
the keynote. Abraham believed God. Abraham
had learned to believe God. He believed God when he didn't
know where. God came to him. You know, Abraham was found. God found him down in a place
where they worshiped idols. His family, his father and his
father's people, did not worship God. They didn't know God. They
worshiped idols. And God found him down there.
He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God called him
out. He said, Abraham. His name was Abram then. God
changed it to Abraham later. But he said, Abram, get thee
out of thy father's house, and out of thy land. Wait in thy
kindred, and go to a land I will show thee. And God didn't tell
him where that land was. He just told him to leave. And
Abraham believed God. And he left his home, and he
left his kindred, and he left his And he started towards this
land. He didn't know where, but he
believed God. And then here, God came to him and said, Abraham,
you're going to have a son. He'd never had a son. Saber had
never had a child. But he said, Saber's going to
bear a son that shall be your heir, and in him shall all the
nations be blessed. And Abraham believed God. He
didn't know how, but he believed God. And then when that boy was
about 12, 14, 16 years of age, God came to Abraham one day and
said, Abraham, take that son, your only son, whom you love,
and take him up to Mount Moriah, three days' journey, and sacrifice
him upon an altar unto me. And Abraham started out. He believed
God. He didn't know why, but he believed
God. He didn't know why God commanded
him to do that. He didn't know why God would
give him a son and turn around and take him away, but he just
trusted God. He believed God. Without faith,
my friend, it's impossible to please God. It doesn't say without
faith it's hard to please God. It says it's impossible to please
God. We need to examine this man's
faith. He's called the father of the
faithful. We need to examine his faith. If we would be the
friend of God, if we would have the righteousness of God, if
we would receive the benefits of faith, we're going to have
to learn something about faith. And I don't know any better place
to learn something about faith than studying Abraham's faith.
He believed God. Now, if you go back to verse
17, there in Romans 4, let's see something about Abraham's
faith. First of all, in verse 17, it says this. He believed
God, who calls those things which are not as though they were. That was Abraham's God. Abraham's
God, in other words, Abraham's God, his promises were as sure
as the fulfillment of the promises. Isaiah wrote, God declares 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 good pleasure. Abraham's God, a promise was
as good as a fulfillment. He knew that God Almighty called
those things which are not as though they were. Abraham knew
that a son was as good as he is because he had the promise
of God. And the promise was as good as the fulfillment. The
promise, somebody said, was as good as the product, because
God said, now I can't promise that way. I may promise you I'll
be with you on this telecast next Sunday, and I may be in
my grave. I can't fulfill those kind of
promises. But what God promises, God's able to perform. And Abraham
knew that. And then look at verse 18. Here's
another definition of his faith. Against hope, he believed in
hope. He walked not by sight, he walked
by faith. Natural flesh said, what can't
be done? That's the reason Saber lied.
She didn't have Abraham's faith, she lied. She said, shall I know
pleasure again, my husband being old and old as I am? Impossible. But now wait a minute. Nothing
is impossible with God. Is anything too hard for God?
That's what he has to say. That which is impossible with
man is possible with God. If God promises a thing, it's
good as done. Faith begins, now you remember
this, you keep, write this down in your heart, faith begins where
human strength ends. Where human ability leaves off,
that's where faith takes up. You don't have any faith as long
as you're resting in what you understand and resting in what
you feel and resting in what you see, that's not faith. Faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence. of things
not seen, the evidence of things not seen, the assurance of things
not seen, the proof of things not seen. Why is it evidenced?
Why is it proved? God said it. It's as good as
done. Who, against hope, against human
hope, human ability, human strength, he believed in hope. Then look
at verse 19. He considered not his body now
dead. It was dead, humanly But it was
not dead as far as God's concerned. Nature's laws, my friend, are
still God's laws. Don't ever forget that. The sun
stands still at his command. It won't do anything at your
command, but it'll stand still at his command. The waters of
the sea dry up at his command. The rock brings forth water at
his command. The skies rain down bread at
his command. Nature's laws are God's laws.
And Abraham knew that. He didn't consider his body dead.
Humanly speaking, it was. But God promised something else.
And verse 20 says, he staggered not at the promises of God. It
didn't seem like too much to him for God to do. I read a story
one time that blessed me. I haven't gotten over it yet.
I read it several months ago. In 1871, a black boy left the South after
the Civil War and headed for Philadelphia. He was 20 years
old. He'd never seen the inside of a school room. He couldn't
read or write. He got a job in Philadelphia
as a mortar carrier for a brick mason, stone mason. And he began
to work. And the Lord saved him. God revealed
Christ to his heart. And he got interested in reading
the Bible and in studying books. So he started the night school.
He'd work during the day And he'd go to night school to try
to get an education. And he united with a church there,
pretty good-sized black church in Philadelphia. And later on,
he became their custodian. He became the janitor of the
church. He was the janitor for several years. And then one day,
that church called that boy, that man. He was almost 50 years
of age, but they called him as their pastor. And for 32 years,
Charles A. Kendall, Tenley pastored the
largest black church in the world. For 32 years, he preached to
10,000 people every large day. Is anything too hard for God?
And this same man, C.A. Tenley, wrote two of the greatest
hymns that have ever been written. He wrote, Nothing Between My
Soul and My Savior, So That His Blessed Face May Be Seen, Nothing
Preventing the least of his favor, keep the way clear, let nothing
between." That man wrote that hymn, William. And he wrote this
one, if the world from you withholds of its silver and its gold, and
you have to get along with meager fare, just remember in God's
word how he feeds a little bird, take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. When you're Youthful days are
gone, and old age is stealing on, and your body bends beneath
the weight of care. He'll never leave you then. He'll
go with you to the end, take your burden to the Lord, and
leave it there. Twenty years old he couldn't
read. Twenty years old he couldn't write his name. When he was sixty
years old he was pastoring the biggest church in the world,
and writing hymns that would be sung long after he was dead. Abraham had that kind of faith.
He staggered not at the promises of God. There's nothing that
God cannot do. Our Lord is able to do all things. And then verse 21, it says, And
Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was
able to perform. Now that's faith. That's faith.
That's the faith that saves. He believed God, a God so loved
the world, that whosoever believeth on him, he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever what believeth, not worketh, not striveth, not
runneth, believeth. Now that's why Abraham was called
a friend of God. That's why Abraham received his
righteousness. That's how he received the benefits
and blessings of God. He believed God. It says he was
fully persuaded. Now, I doubt myself a lot of
times, and I know you doubt yourself. Anybody with any intelligence
at all knows his infirmities and imperfections and doubts
himself, but not God. And Abraham knew his weaknesses
and infirmities and imperfections. It doesn't say he was fully persuaded
that he could do all things. He said he was fully persuaded
that God could do all things. There's a difference. I can do
nothing without him. Without him, I can do nothing.
When I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. Abraham was fully persuaded,
fully convinced, fully satisfied that what God had promised. Now
here's the key. You need to get acquainted with
that Bible and see what God promised. You see what I'm saying? See
what God promised. Because what he promised, he's
able to perform. That's faith. That was Paul's
faith. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I have believed. I know him, the living God, the
only God, the true God, the God of creation, the God of grace,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Calvary's
cross, the God of reconciliation, the God of the spirit of truth.
I know him. Not just any God, or some God,
or a God, it's the God. Christ said this is eternal life,
that they might know thee, the true and living God. I know we
want to be charitable, and people are led to believe, well, just
so a man's got a God, and just so he's sincere, and just so
he, it doesn't matter whether he worships Buddha, or whether
he worships Confucius, or whether he worships Allah, or whether
he worships the God of the creation, it does matter, my friend. It
does matter. There's one God. Scripture says
one God, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. There's one God
and one mediator between God and man. Our Lord Jesus said,
this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true
God. It's not enough to have a God.
We've got to know the living God. Paul said, I know whom I
have believed. And he's a person, he's not a
statue. I know whom I have believed. He didn't say, I know what I
believe, or I know when I believe, or I know how much I believe.
I know him. I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded, fully persuaded, fully convinced. I'm confident
in my soul that he's able. He's able. That's what Abraham,
he staggered not at the promises of God. That was the gist of
his faith. That was the foundation of his
faith. He believed, not that he was
able, but that God was able. God was able. He believed that
God was able to perform all that he said. Now I want to look up
about three scriptures here, and I want you to listen to them
carefully. What God has promised. And what he's promised, he's
able to do. Now here's the first one. Turn to Hebrews 7, verse
25. And there in Hebrews 7, verse
25, Paul said, wherefore, he is able. He's able. Notice it never says, I'm able.
Y'all pray that I'll hold out. It's, God is able. It's not my
strength, it's his. It's not my grace, it's his.
It's not my love, it's his. He is able to save to thee them
that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them, wherefore he is able to save." Now, friends, there's
nothing wrong with the word save. I know folks make fun of it.
I know they make fun of it on television programs, and they
make fun of it in cartoons, and they make fun of it in magazines,
to be saved, S-A-V-E-D. But our Lord Jesus Christ used
the word. He said, is come to seek and
to save that which was lost. To save means to rescue, to rescue
from sin, to rescue from being lost, to rescue from destruction,
to rescue from death, to rescue from the charges of the law,
to rescue from the clutches of the justice of God, to redeem,
to forgive, to pardon. It's a scriptural word. And he's
able to save, he's able to rescue, he's able to justify me before
the law. The law has pronounced me guilty.
Guilty. I can't change God's law. But
our Lord can satisfy God's law. He came to clear me before the
throne, the immaculate throne of God, the justice of God says
guilty. But our Lord Jesus Christ has
cleared me before the throne because he took my place. He
took my guilt. He was numbered with the transgressors.
And by his stripes I'm healed. He's able to make me a new creature.
Now, I can reform outwardly, but God will have to sanctify
me inwardly. I can reform outwardly, but God
will have to make me a new creature inwardly. I can walk a certain
line, but he can give me the will to walk that line. I can
live a certain kind of life, but he can give me a love for
that kind of life. The Lord, by his Spirit, by his
regenerating Spirit, by the new birth, he makes us new creatures,
he gives us a new nature. When we meet the Lord, not because
of a profession or a decision, but because of a supernatural
work within, a regenerating new birth, we then hate what we once
loved, and we love what we once hated. And he's able to put the
fruits of the Spirit within me. He's able to do that. I can't
do that for you, and you can't do it for me. We can pray for
our children, we can witness to our children, we can talk
to our friends, but only God can regenerate them. Love and
joy and peace and meekness and faith and gentleness and kindness
are the fruits of the Spirit, the Spirit of God. They're not
products of the flesh, and they cannot be produced from a natural
person's heart. They're the gift of God, the
fruit of the Spirit. He's able to save to the uttermost. to the uttermost extent of sin.
Twenty-some-odd years ago, a man came in my study and sat down
and said he wanted to talk to me, a man in his thirties. We
sat there and talked a while, and he said, Preacher, do you
believe that God will forgive sin? I said, Yes, sir. He said,
Do you believe God will forgive any sin? I said, Yes, sir. All
sin? Yes, sir. He said, would God
forgive a man who killed his wife and baby? I said, yes, sir. If that man repents and believes
the gospel and has faith in Christ, the blood of Christ, it cleanses
us from all sin. He's able to say to the uttermost,
somebody said to the gutter most, he said, I just got out of jail.
I murdered my wife and her unborn child. I shot him with a shotgun
in a rage of temper. And I'm, I'm living in hell and
I want to know God. Our Lord's able. You stagger
at the promise of God. I don't. I believe that. I believe
he's able to say to the uttermost extent of time. I don't care
how old you are. I baptized a man a few weeks
ago, 88 years of age, who came to know Christ. He's able to
say to the uttermost extent of Satan's power. Satan's powerful,
but not as strong as our Lord. Our Lord said, Satan hath desired
you, that he might sift you as wheat." You know, we're taught
to pray, and the Lord's, when the Lord taught the disciples
how to pray, he said, pray, deliver us from evil. You said that so
much. You know what you're saying? Deliver us from evil. That's
deliver us from the evil one. That's right, that's what he
said. Deliver us from the evil one. Satan is a roaring lion.
going about to see whom he may devour. He's the adversary. He's the accuser of the brethren.
Did you know that? And we can only be delivered
from his clutches and from his power by the power that is greater
than his. And that's not you. That's Christ. And he's able to save to the
uttermost extent of Satan's power. He's able to save. I believe
that. He's able to save to the uttermost. Now here, watch this. Here's
the key. them that come to God by him."
That's the way men are saved. They come to God by Christ. That's
how they're redeemed. And then the second scripture
I want you to look at is found in Jude, verse 24. There's just
one chapter in this book, and it's verse 24. We believe God's
able to keep us from falling. Now it says in Jude 24, "...now
unto him who is able to keep you from falling." and to present
you faultless before his presence, the presence of his glory, with
exceeding joy. Unto him, the only wise God,
our Savior, be glory." Now, there are warnings throughout the Bible,
there are warnings about departing from the faith. There are warnings
throughout this Bible about departing from God. Listen to some of them.
Take heed, brethren, lest they be found in you an evil heart
of unbelief. Brethren, If any man draw back,
my soul has no pleasure in him. He that endures to the end, the
same shall be saved. Christ is the son over his house,
whose house we are if we continue in the faith. But our strength
is not in ourselves. Our strength is not even in our
faith. But our strength is in Him. He is able to keep you from
falling. He is. What he has begun, we
are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. What God has begun,
he'll complete in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. He can
keep me in the face of apostasy. Christ said, I'm going to give
you the spirit of truth. He'll take the things of mine and show
them to you. These things that I'm preaching from the word of
God, those people who have the spirit of truth, the spirit of
God's bearing witness with your heart right now that what I'm
saying is so, because the spirit of truth in your heart. and he'll
not lead you into error. God's able to keep you in the
spirit of apostasy, and he's able to keep you in the face
of opposition. David said, though my mother
and father forsake me, God will take me up. He's a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother. In the face of trial, Job lost
everything he had. He was stripped of his family,
of his wealth, of his possessions, of his home, of his friends,
of his children, of everything, of his health. And he sat there,
sick, broken, and he said, well, the Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all of this, he didn't charge God with foolishness. God's able
to keep us in the day of prosperity and the day of poverty. He is
able to keep you from falling. Precious Lord, take my hand.
Lead me on and help me stand. I've got no confidence in myself,
but I've got total confidence in thee. I'm tired, I'm weak,
I'm worn. Through the storm, through the
night, lead me on to the light. Take my precious Lord and lead
me on. And when the way groweth drear,
precious Lord, linger near, when my life is almost gone, hear
my cry, hear my call, hold my hand, lest I fall. It's not a
remote, it's not a remote possibility at all, lest I fall. Take my
hand. And then last of all, he's able
to raise my body. It says in Philippians 3.21,
he's able to fashion our bodies like unto his glorious body.
Won't that be a death? You don't think about death.
I do. You're fooling off, too. I'm
going to die. And this body's going back to the dust from whence
it came. And somebody's going to have to bring it out of the
grave. And the only one who can is my living Lord. My living
Lord. But he's able. I stagger not
at that promise. He's able to fashion my body
like unto his. He's able. Abraham believed that.
To you. Listen next week at this same
time. Henry Mahan bidding you a pleasant

What God Promised He Is Able to Perform

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What God Promised He Is Able to Perform

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