People of Promise - Tim Conway

Ephesians 3.

I want to read verses 4, 5, and 6.

Ephesians 3:4

"When you read this (this epistle),

you (Ephesians) can perceive

my (that's the Apostle Paul)...

you can perceive my insight

into the mystery of Christ,

which was not made known

to the sons of men in other generations

as it has now been revealed

to His holy apostles and prophets

by the Spirit.

This mystery is that the Gentiles

are fellow heirs,

members of the same body,

and partakers of the promise

in Christ Jesus through the gospel."

Here's what's happening.

In verse 6,

Paul is considering this miracle

that the Gentiles have
not been left outside.

Out in the darkness

just basically to rot in their sins.

(Incomplete thought)

I've asked people before.

Number the Gentiles
from the Old Testament.

Perhaps all of Nineveh repented,

and they were saved.

Perhaps they repented and
just weren't destroyed.

I'm not sure.

But minus Nineveh,

you start numbering them.

You're not going to get
to the second hand.

You can number them on one hand.

This is really incredible.

Almost unbelievable.

What's happening is

Gentiles like these Ephesians and like us

being swept into the kingdom.

Suddenly, those who had sat in darkness,

we're getting opportunity
to see the great light.

We don't recognize this
so much 2,000 years later

because the gospel now

has been going among the Gentiles

longer than the era from Moses to Christ.

So, it's not so startling to us.

But Gentiles are being transported

out of the kingdom of darkness

into the kingdom of God's dear Son.

And what's happening here

is it's the mystery.

It was hidden for generations.

It's like the sun dawning on a new day.

The light is coming up. What?

That Gentiles are included.

It's broken upon the horizon.

Verse 6 shows this inclusion.

Now you don't see this in the English.

But there's three words in the Greek here

that all start with the same prefix -su.

"Su."

The mystery is that the Gentiles

are "synklēronoma,"

"syssōma,"

"symmetocha."

"Su" basically corresponds
to our English prefix "-sym."

Symbolic.

Symbol.

Symphony.

Symmetry.

It's a prefix that means "together with."

You see, each one of these words,

we're together with the believing Jew

in this reality.

Believing Gentiles are heirs

together with believing Jews.

Believing Gentiles are members

together with believing Jews

in the body of Christ.

Believing Gentiles are together

with believing Jews in the promise

that's in Jesus Christ.

That's what's happening here.

What I want to do is draw your attention

particularly to the last of the three.

Three assertions.

the last of the three.

We are partakers -

now if we want to be accurate

to the Greek word here,

you want to put "together" in there.

The ESV doesn't have that.

The King James doesn't have that.

But listen to how the
New American Standard

captures this.

The New English translation captures this

by using the word "fellow partakers."

The Holman Christan uses "partners."

You see, that captures the idea

of being together with the Jews in this.

But the idea here is that we're together

with the believing Jews in this promise

in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Now, your Bible might say "His promise."

It's interesting. In the Greek,

you have the article "the" promise.

If you've got the King James,

the Greek text it comes from says,

"of Him."

But no matter what text
your Bible comes from,

in the original, it says,

"the promise."

Singular.

There is an article "the" promise.

I find that really interesting.

Paul doesn't even tell us what "the" -

what is this "the" promise?

And he doesn't even tell us what it is.

It's like there's one promise
above every promise

that stands out as "the" promise.

That, to me, jumps out.

Not promises plural;

"the" promise.

What is it?

I mean, what is it?

What is it that Paul wouldn't even need

to define it for us?

Well, he uses this same kind of language

over in Galatians.

He uses it in various places,

but there's no place where you get

such a treatment of the word

as you do in Galatians 3.

So it's the book right before Ephesians,

turn back to the book just before this one

and go to chapter 3.

I want us to get a feel for "promise."

What is the promise?

I'm going to show it you right off.

Even though the term promise

does not show up in Galatians 3:8,

that's where the promise is.

And now, you'll see afterwards

how he begins to call it

by the term "promise."

The promise is here:

"The Scripture foreseeing that God

would justify the Gentiles by faith

preached the gospel beforehand

to Abraham saying..."

Here's the promise.

In the ESV, it's in quotation marks

because it's a quote.

This is God's promise to Abraham.

"In you shall all the nations be blessed."

And now, down in verses 17, 19, and 22,

Paul calls it "the promise."

You can see it.

Look down in verse 17.

This is what I mean:

The law which came 430 years afterward

does not annul a covenant

previously ratified by God

so as to make the promise void."

Now, what's going on here?

What Paul is saying is this:

The promise was given to Abraham;

430 later, the law is given to Moses.

Now, here's what the Jew thought.

The Jew thought if we
keep the commandments -

well, they kind of thought if
you knew the commandments -

if you knew the commandments

and you made an effort at keeping them,

that's how you ended up in glory.

And he says no. No, that's not true.

It was always by promise.

Not by law. It was always by promise.

And God didn't come along 430 years later

and give a way to heaven

that contradicted the way that was given

to Abraham.

That's basically what he's saying.

But notice how he calls it "the promise."

But it's not as though Paul's so rigid,

because if you look back in verse 16,

notice what it says.

"Now the promises..."

See, there is it plural.

In other words, what it seems

that Paul can do

is he can talk about one promise,

or he can talk about
a plurality of promises.

But they kind of boil down to one.

One promise as much as anything else.

And notice this, this word

comes up again in verse 19.

In verse 19, "Why then the law?"

Well, if the law wasn't given for us

to have a code by which we could keep

and get to heaven,

if that's not why it was given,

if the only way to heaven is by promise,

by the promise that was given to Abraham,

well, why did God give the law at all?

And he says, "it was added
because of transgressions."

And you find this in
various of Paul's writings.

But he said basically the commandment came

to increase the trespass.

What it does is it shows us

how sinful we are.

In fact, what it does is it shows us

we need another way to
God than by that way.

The promise. It shows
up again in verse 22.

"Is the law then contrary

to the promises of God?"

Excuse me, I was in verse 21.

Verse 22: "But the Scripture

imprisoned everything under sin

so that the promise by faith

in Jesus Christ..."

See, that's what we need to get.

The promise.

It's by faith in Jesus Christ.

And if you drop down to verse 29,

"If you're Christ's,

then you're Abraham's offspring,

heirs according to..."

Now, the article's missing
here, but "promise."

See, heirs according to promise.

And now I want to go back to verse 8 again

because I don't want you
to miss the first part.

"When God said to Abraham..."

You see, when you go back there

into the Old Testament, you're reading.

You're reading in Genesis 12,

Genesis 15,

Genesis 17 -

it seems like it's repeated over and over.

When God promises him,

"I'm going to make you a blessing

to all the nations,"

what you want to recognize is this:

"This is the Scripture foreseeing

that God would justify the Gentiles

by faith."

The promise: In you shall
all the nations be blessed.

But how are the nations
going to be blessed?

You see, how's the United States
of America going to be blessed?

By this.

By the Gentiles justified by faith.

That's what that promise means.

And listen, what he says in here

is that the promise was given

to Abraham and his offspring.

But if you notice verse 16,

he says, "'not to offsprings' (plural)

referring to many, but referring to one.

'"And to your offspring,' who is Christ."

You see, the truth here is

that the promise was given to Abraham

and to Christ.

Christ is the recipient of this promise.

We become partakers of it.

We become partakers with the Jews.

And the promise is this:

That if we cling to Christ in faith,

we'll be justified.

There's the promise.

You see, the promise is the blessing

of all the nations.

The promise is this:

That there is a way to heaven.

There is a way to be justified

by faith in Jesus Christ.

That's the blessing.

Justification by faith
is the most glorious

promise that can be imagined.

I mean, this is it.

This is it. Why?

Because what God has done

is He has found a way for us

to be righteous without law-keeping.

And that's huge!

Because you see, if you keep the law,

if you've kept it, you're just.

You don't need any way to be justified.

You are just.

But if you've once broken His law -

you see what God has done is

He's given a promise to those
who need another way.

(Incomplete thought)

See, the problem is, once you've broken it

you can't heal that breach.

There's nothing you can do

once you're a law breaker

to change that reality,

except by the promise. That's it.

See, there's no way.

People who say, well,
I'm a pretty good person.

No, no, no.

You can take that
"pretty good" off the front.

Because if by "pretty good," you mean

that you sin sometimes,

you're a law breaker.

And as a law breaker,

you're under a curse,
and that curse says

you need to keep everything written

in the Book of the Law
or you're going to go to hell.

You're cursed. You're under
the wrath of God.

There is no hope.

You have to keep everything.

Everything. Every iota.
Every jot and tittle.

You cannot vary.

You can't be at variance from God's law

in the least bit.

Why? Because to sin is to fall short

of the glory of God.

It is a reproach.

It is an attack on His glory.

And what God has said,

"I give promise, Abraham,

that a blessing is going to come."

Oh, if Abraham could have

laid his teeth into the fullness of it.

It wasn't totally revealed.

It was in darkness at the time.

It was not revealed in other generations

as it's now been revealed.

Which is what?

We Gentiles - there's a way to heaven.

There's a way to have our sins dealt with

that does not require
me to keep God's law.

And that is the promise.

Justification. What is that?

Justification is an act -

a gracious act of God,

where He counts you righteous.

Not because you are righteous.

Not because you've done good.

Not because you've kept the law.

But He counts you as such

based on the merits of Jesus Christ.

By His obedience,

by His perfections,

by His obedience all the way to the cross,

by His death,

by His righteousness.

He fulfilled all righteousness.

And it's by this,

oh, do you hear those words?

David spoke them and
they're repeated by Paul

in the 4th chapter of Romans.

Blessed. Blessed is that man

against whom God does not count his sin.

If you're good, you have no need of this.

Look, if you came in here today

and aside from all of this,

you could say, "I'm a pretty good person."

Then, you don't need this.

You see, Jesus said,

those who are well,
they don't need a doctor.

This isn't for you.

God hasn't designed
a way to justify people

who have kept the law;

who are good people.

That's not what this is for.

This is for people who need another way.

This is for people who,

you know what?

In the eyes of good people;

in the eyes of religious people,

they're hopeless.

There's no way.

You see, this is for people

like the thief on the cross

who have done nothing but live a life

of wretchedness and debauchery

and sin and thievery,

and they've got nothing.

And they don't have time left

to even try to repair their bad record.

Which is basically what most
of the false religions teach:

do enough good and you can undo the bad.

But you see, no matter
how much good you do

after you've broken
the law, you're unjust.

Justification is God, by His grace,

devising a way

that bad people can be declared righteous.

That's the reality.

That's the promise.

What greater promise could
you be a partaker of than that one?

That's it.

Now listen.

My whole point in this message is this:

We are people of promise.

And the truth is,

that is "the" promise.

It really is a synonym for the gospel.

The good news.

What is the good news?

Well, the good news is

that there's a way to be
righteous in the sight of God

aside from my own law keeping.

And Jesus has fulfilled that.

It's the gospel.

That's what the promise is all about.

But I want you to just remember

we are a people of promise.

Because you see, if you're a
partaker of that promise,

it's the key that unlocks
all the promises of God.

That's exactly what Paul says.

He says in 2 Corinthians 1:20,

listen to this,

"For all the promises of God

find their yes in Him."

I like the KJV:

"For all the promises of God
in Him are yea (or yes)

and in Him amen to the glory of God."

Do you comprehend this?

Listen.

(Incomplete thought)

See, this is the key.

You can take this key,

and you can read anywhere in your Bible,

and you can find a promise of good.

You can go back to Joshua,

and you can find the
Lord saying to Joshua,

"I'll never leave you or forsake you."

Stick that key in there.

The author of Hebrews shows us that

in Hebrews 13 right?

Hasn't the Lord said He'll never
leave you or forsake you?

And that's exactly the promise

that the author of Hebrews
is trying to encourage

those people with -

those New Testament believers.

Why? How can that be?

That is a promise given to Joshua.

You go back there and read it.

It doesn't say that it was
given to all of God's people.

It says it was given to Joshua.

But see, there's the key.

In Him, all the promises of God.

All of them!

Get that.

All of them!

In Him. In Christ are yes.

They're an affirmation. Amen.

You know what amen means?

Truth. Verity. Certainty.

That's the key.

If you once are a
partaker of "the promise,"

there is not a promise for good

anywhere in this book -

what you need to do is recognize;

you need to put the right glasses on.

And you look. They're the Christ glasses.

And you read any promise -

every single promise for good

in this Bible is given

with reference to Christ.

Now, you don't see it

in most of the places where
those promises are given.

But right there in 2 Corinthians 1:20,

Paul shows us the reality.

We are a people of promise.

Do you recognize as you're scouring

the promises of the Old Testament,

you see some obscure promise

given in Micah or something.

If you have been justified by faith

and you're a partaker of that promise,

that's yours.

You can appropriate it to yourself.

And we need to know that

and we need to live that way.

And we need to live in light

of that reality.

We are people of promise.

Faith is not some ambiguous thing

that just sort of swirls around out there;

this nebulous, obscure, ambiguous thing.

Our faith has promise for its substance.

Faith is not just this ambiguous thing.

Oh, I have it.

It is that which grabs
hold of God's promises

and climbs on top of it.

You know what it means
to climb on a promise?

It means you put all your weight on it.

That's how God's people live.

That's what it means to
live from faith to faith.

That's what it means

to fight the good fight of faith.

It means that you are living on promise.

It doesn't necessarily mean

that you think about every promise

at any given moment.

You follow what I mean?

We come under temptations.

We come under attacks.

We walk through this life -

to be a child of promise

doesn't mean that you're living on

every promise of God
at every single moment.

You can't even think about
every single promise of God

at every single moment.

But what it means is

that in whatever situation you're in,

you're living on what God has said.

"Man does not live by bread alone."

He's living on what God has said.

Abraham. Think about Abraham.

Abraham is the father of faith.

Abraham is the one to whom

the promise was given.

Think about him.

Abraham said,

"Behold, You have given me no offspring."

You see, this is the issue.

Genesis 15.

Do you know what happened
back in Genesis 12?

God told Abraham that he was going to be

this father of many nations.

By the time you get to chapter 15,

he's looking and he's saying

Eliezer - a foreigner - he's my heir.

I'm old.

Sarah's barren.

You see where the temptation was?

And what God says to him is this:

"The Word of the Lord came to him,

'this man (Eliezer)

shall not be your heir.

Your very own son shall be your heir.'

And He brought him outside and said,

'Look toward heaven

and number the stars,

if you're able to number them.'

Then He said to him,

'So shall your offspring be.'

And he believed the Lord,

and He counted it to
him as righteousness."

What I want you to see is right there.

He believed the Lord.

What did he believe?

What the Lord just said.

It doesn't say that he believed

every promise that God had given.

Look, I'm not saying that he would have

denied some of the promises.

You follow what I'm saying?

He was clinging to the one promise

that flew in the face of him being

a father of all nations

when his wife was barren,

he's old,

Eliezer is head of his household and heir,

and it looks like this can't happen.

He seized hold on this promise.

It doesn't say he was going
through the file cabinet

and looking at every single
one of God's promises.

It was that promise,

because that promise dealt

with the very thing that
would challenge his faith;

challenged what he believed.

And what I'm striving at
is this very thing,

that look, as we go through our lives,

the issue is we have all these promises.

But you know what? It's not enough to say,

"Well, I believe them."

That's not it.

Beloved, I am very convinced

that the reason that God has designed

the devil the way he is -

I'm not saying God's the author of sin -

but there's no question,

the devil and who he is

is right on script.

This is God's design.

The devil is fashioned

to put fire to your faith.

And when he comes calling,

do you know what's essential?

Not that right at that moment,

you're able to recall every single promise

that God has ever given in His Word.

Do you know what you need right then?

You need that one promise

that will cause you to stand

in the day of evil.

Just this week,

I received a phone call from a man.

A professing Christian for a long time.

Even in the ministry.

Living in all manner of immorality.

Do you know what happened?

A friend of his turned on

Paul Washer's message -

I think it was the same one
that was preached here:

Examine Yourself.

Maybe the very same message.

This man was laid bare.

And he recognized,

I don't measure up.

And you know what he fears now?

Is being in the ministry,

having so much light,

having this false profession for so long,

living in this immorality -

you know what he's afraid of now?

That he's Esau.

He's afraid he's committed
the unpardonable sin.

He's afraid he's gone too far

and there's no way back.

Now, I'll tell you this.

I'll tell you what I told him.

I can't tell you that there is a way back.

The truth is there is a line in Scripture

that when men cross it,

there's no way back.

There is a Hebrews 6 reality.

There is a place men come to

that there is no more repentance.

He told me that his friends and counselors

had sent him to the Word of God.

That's good.

To look at passages that
dealt with the cross.

I told him that's good.

But you see, what he could tell me:

"Well, I believe He went to the cross.

I believe He died.

I believe everything I'm reading.

I just don't know if it's for me."

I told him exactly,

that is exactly the issue.

I said what you need to do

is you need to find that one verse

that he can sink his faith into;

that he can say, "that's for me."

You see, that's where faith is.

Saving faith isn't saying,

"I believe Jesus was a
true, historical figure."

It's not saying, "I believe
Jesus went to the cross."

It's got to be personalized.

There's got to be
something you can hang on

that you know is for you.

Because you know what the
devil's going to do to him?

The devil's already doing it to him.

He's going to whisper into his ear:

"Oh, after what you've done,

there's no hope for you.

You are Esau."

He just keeps hearing that in his ear

over and over and over.

You know how you answer that?

You answer that with a kind of promise

that resists the devil.

That the devil simply cannot answer.

What do you tell him?

I told him you may have crossed that line,

but I know this.

That if he can find any
promise in this book

that he can lay his faith onto,

he will not be disappointed.

He will not be confounded.

He will not be cast away.

Because that's what saving faith is.

And you know as I was thinking after
I got off the phone with him,

I started thinking about

what sort of verses are they

that a man in that condition might find?

I mean, if he was going through Scripture,

what might be one verse?

I'll tell you one that jumped out at me.

And sometimes they can be obscure verses,

and sometimes you may think

that they're not even dealing

with the very thing that you take it

in faith to mean.

But if you take it in faith to mean it;

if you take it in faith

that you're trusting the
God behind these things -

I mean we could just look at that.

The broadness of some of God's promises.

I mean, you know what?

You think about how in Isaiah 53,

how by His stripes, we're healed.

Does it blow anybody away

that Matthew basically in Matthew 9 says

He's healing the people,
thus fulfilling that?

You're like, wait a second.

I thought that was spiritual
healing back there,

and Jesus is physically healing.

We might just talk about the broadness

of some of God's promises.

But I got to thinking about this,

Jesus Himself says,

if somebody strikes you on one cheek,

turn to him the other also.

If a man could just find hope there.

I've struck Him in the
cheek by my actions,

but He is such a God who sends His Son

who is the radiance of the glory of God,

and He is the kind that teaches us

that if we're struck, turn the other also.

I mean, if He's teaching that to us,

is He not also a God who takes many blows,

many dishonorings,
and yet is still willing

to turn the other cheek?

Or, how about this?

In Joel 2, God says,

"Yet even now..."

Those three words could be something

that somebody's faith could cling to.

"Yet even now..."

Wait. What's that?

"Yet even now, declares the Lord,

return to Me with all your heart."

You know when you say that -

"yet even now,"

it's after people have done a lot of bad.

"Yet even now..." after all you've done,

"if anyone will turn to
Me with all their heart,

with fasting, with weeping, with mourning,

rend your hearts and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God,

for He is gracious and merciful..."

How about these three words?

"...Slow to anger."

If a man's faith can get into that

God is slow to anger.

I can put my weight on that promise,

because I've provoked Him for a long time,

but He's slow to anger.

Oh, certainly the God of Scripture

in all of His infinite mercies;

certainly I could not
wear out His kindness

just in these years I've done this.

Certainly God is greater than that.

Those words, "yet even now."

Or how about this?

"God's kindness is meant
to lead to repentance."

Because one of the things I told him;

I told him one of the things

that tells me God is not done with you

is He led you to that Paul Washer sermon.

And He convicted you.

And you came clean.

He confessed.

He confessed to his wife.

He confessed to his church.

That is a kindness.

And what would you say?

God's kindnesses are not meant

to lead him to repentance?

You see, that isn't the indication

in my estimation of somebody

that God is done with.

Or how about this?

To Sardis.

Oh, when I preached about
those seven churches

in Asia Minor,

Sardis jumped out at me.

"You have a name

that you are alive,

but you are dead."

This is a church.

You talk about people exposed to light?

But you're dead.

What did He say? No hope?

You've crossed the line?

He doesn't.

He says, "Wake up."

See, if our faith can just
grab words like that:

"Wake up."

Of course, there's these words:

John 6:37

Our Lord says, "Whoever comes to Me,

I will never cast out."

Whoever.

It doesn't matter what
you say you've done.

If you go to Christ,
He won't cast you out.

Period.

It's amazing when I come across people

who are struggling with
the unpardonable sin

and I bring up this text,

immediately, "yeah, but..."

Look, if you want to find every reason

not to believe a text,

that's classic unbeliever.

And you will perish.

See, the only hope is that our faith

can find a place to stay.

Bunyan.

In fact, as I was talking to this guy,

Bunyan and his "Grace Abounding"

came to my mind.

If anybody's ever read that -

"Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners,"

basically what it is is a testimony

of Bunyan the first few years

of his Christian life,

at least, maybe a testimony

of how God saved him.

Bunyan suffered hellish struggles.

You know what he did?

He would be under some kind of oppression.

It sometimes would go on for years.

And he would constantly be in this book

searching for a promise

to answer that thing

that laid hold on him.

Which was undoubtedly insinuations

and accusations of the devil.

Listen, at one point, it was like

the devil came to him and said,

"only the elect can be saved."

Some of you have probably been there.

"How do you know you're one of the elect?"

"You're almost certainly
not one of the elect."

Do you know what it was that his faith

laid hold on?

He got to thinking about the lives

of the people of God in Scripture.

And he came back to this:

Was there ever anybody in Scripture

who trusted in God and yet in the end

were confounded?

And he found not one.

Now, that's not a specific verse,

but you know what he did?

He's wondering about being elect

and how's he going to answer Satan?

He went back to Genesis 1:1

and he began reading
through the whole Bible,

and everytime somebody came up,

he looked: was there ever anybody

who put their trust in the Lord

who was thrown off at the end?

You see his conclusion?

Election isn't really the issue.

Yes, there are elect people,
but how do you know them?

Anybody that clings to the Lord

is never confounded.

You know what he was
gripped by at another time?

He's walking along and
it's like these thoughts -

sometimes you see in Pilgrim's Progress -

you remember Pilgrim?

He's walking through the
valley of the shadow of death,

and these little hellish
imps are coming up

and whispering in his ear.

Look, this is a reflection
of his own life.

Maybe some of you know -

we know this as Christians.

The devil comes up and suggests things.

Whispers things. Whispers doubts.

Suddenly, we're gripped by it.

The devil came to him one day

and said, "What if the day of grace

should be past and gone?"

What if there's no hope?

Your opportunity came and went.

The day of grace.

Bunyan found his faith cleave to this:

Luke 14:22 - you may know
that portion of Scripture.

You don't have to turn there.

But it's where the great feast is.

And you remember, those who were invited

were told to come in

and they all began to make excuse.

You remember that.

This text: "The servant said,

'Sir, what you have
commanded has been done

and still there is room.'"

Those words right there:

"still there is room."

His faith was able to hold on.

The devil's saying the day
may be past for you,

and those words came
with power to his own soul.

"But still there is room."

God is wanting to fill His house.

The day can't be past when
there's still empty seats.

(Incomplete thought)

Before I tell you more about Bunyan,

as far as his experiences.

Let me tell you about Bunyan

in another one of the illustrations

that he wrote.

I think this is classic.

There is a man in the
Interpreter's house -

I told you about the muck raker before

when his wife was there,

but here's this man in an iron cage.

You know what the man in the iron cage is?

Somebody who has truly sinned beyond hope.

And we could get all into that account,

but you know what?

That man in that iron cage said two things

that I think are very insightful.

He said this:

"I've crucified Christ to myself afresh.

I've despised His person.

I've despised His righteousness.

I've counted His blood an unholy thing.

I have done despite
to the Spirit of grace.

Therefore, I have shut myself out

of all the promises."

I've shut myself out.

Now how did he know that?

Because he comes along and says this:

"God's Word gives me no hope

of encouragement to believe."

Oh, that's key. That's key.

I am certain that is when
God is done with somebody.

When they go through the Scripture,

and they can't find a promise

for their faith to land on.

You come to them as a believer,

and you tell them, look,

Jesus says whoever comes to Me,

I will never cast out.

Your faith seizes it.

You're trusting that.

And you bring it to them.

But it just goes right past them.

Why?

Oftentimes, whether they've actually

committed the unpardonable sin or not,

look, if their faith can't find anything

in Scripture to latch onto,

there's no hope.

You need to remember,

it's not that our faith
latches onto a promise,

so much as it latches onto the One

who gave the promise.

And if we're not able to do that,

that's what an unbeliever is.

You see, when you cross the line;

when you sin so as to provoke,

enrage the Spirit,

the evidence is when that Spirit no longer

gives you any hope in anything

that God has said.

We come back to Bunyan.

You know what, he's reading
through Scripture one time,

and he saw that Jesus specifically called

certain people to follow Him.

But it's like the devil rushed right in

and said, "Oh, but He
didn't call everybody."

He said he was especially struck

by how Jesus is said to have chosen

certain individuals that
He called apostles.

And what he was struck with

was fearing that he was not called.

Oh, how he longed to be John and James

and Peter - even the rich, young ruler,

to actually hear the words
from Jesus' mouth Himself:

"Follow Me."

Now listen, you have to understand,

he was often months and years

plagued by these thoughts.

It gave him no rest.

He'd lay there in bed at night

and he'd be thinking
through all these things,

scouring Scripture looking for something.

Do you know what he found?

He found a text in Isaiah 45:5.

"I will gird you though
you have not known Me."

And it brought hope and light to his soul.

You say I don't see it. It doesn't matter.

He did.

And his faith laid hold on it.

And you know what?

A text he never saw, you might see.

You know another one?

He was listening to a sermon

on the Song of Solomon 4:1.

"Behold, you are fair..."

This is Christ speaking to His people.

"Behold, you are fair, My love."

Behold, you are fair...

Those two words: "My love."

It chased the clouds away.

Two words!

You see, there's promise
in those two words.

My love.

And if they come home to your soul,

to where your faith can lay hold on them,

you can resist the devil

in the fiercest battle,

by just two words,

if your faith is able to cling to them.

You know, the devil came to him one day

and said, "Oh, you may have found Christ.

But you know what?

If you live any length of time,

ah, you see how many people fall away.

You're going to fall away.

You won't hold fast."

Now this is a text that
we might anticipate:

He found Romans 8:38-39:

"I am sure that
neither death, nor life

nor angels, nor rulers,
nor things present,

nor things to
come, nor power,

nor height, depth, anything else
in all creation will be able to

separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And he said if that's true,
long life can't separate me.

And another time, it was
his extreme sinfulness.

He just felt like I'm too wicked

to be a Christian.

This time it was Colossians 1:20 -

"making peace by the blood of His cross."

It came to him with sweetness and power.

And another time, he's being tempted

to exchange Christ for the world.

It's like these thoughts just keep

bombarding him, bombarding him:

"Just give up Christ."

"Sell Christ and you can have this,

you can have this."

He was just being tormented.

And of all things, a text in Leviticus.

Leviticus 25:23 -

Now look, you will never
go to Leviticus 25:23,

unless you first recognize
2 Corinthians 1:20.

And that if you're justified by faith,

it's the key to every
single promise of God.

And you know what he saw?

This text: "The land shall
not be sold permanently,

for the land is Mine."

You know what he recognized?

God saved me.

The inheritance He gives is permanent.

It's not just that's reason to think

I shouldn't exchange Christ for the world.

It was reason for him to think:

I can't exchange Christ for the world.

If God once bestows inheritance on me,

He's not going to take it away.

His confidence was in God.

He's going to cause me to stand.

I won't give it away.

Sometimes the thoughts come into our mind,

and then it's almost like
the devil can do this:

he puts the suggestion in your mind

and now that you've actually thought it,

you feel guilty yourself
and he condemns you

for having thought it.

Other times, he thought he committed

the unpardonable sin.

This was Psalm 68:18

that he found deliverance.

"Thou hast received gifts for men..."

You know this is what Paul quotes

in Ephesians 4 that we're
going to eventually get to,

but it's Jesus giving gifts to men.

He found this: "Thou hast received

gifts for men, yea,
for the rebellious also."

And he thought if Christ gives gifts

and even gives them to the rebellious,

he started thinking,

well, that's what he was
condemning himself for.

After knowing Christ, having
committed some rebellion,

and here's somebody
having committed rebellion

and Christ is giving gifts to them.

And so if that's the case...

He started thinking at first,

I've committed the unpardonable sin.

Well, there's David.

Yeah, but my sin that I
committed isn't like David's.

And then he thought about Peter.

And he thought yeah, Peter's closest.

And then he felt like, yeah,
but there's exceptions.

Mine's not exactly like that.

Then he felt all condemned and he said

my sin is more like Judas'.

But in the end, with all the struggles

it was this.

One little text about Jesus giving gifts

to the rebellious also.

And see, when he would grab hold on these,

then the devil's ability would weaken

and you resist the devil

and he flees away.

My whole point of saying all
these things to you is this:

My brothers and sisters,

we are people of promise.

When Bunyan portrayed this,

Apollyon fighting Christian.

You'll remember in the battle,

the sword flew out of Pilgrim's hand.

That means he lost touch

with the promises for a moment.

And when that happened,

Apollyon said, "I'm sure of you now."

And you know how Pilgrim won the day?

His fingers got hold of the sword.

And he quotes Micah 7:8,

"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy.

When I fall, I shall arise;

when I sit in darkness,

the Lord shall be a light unto me."

What Bunyan is doing is
portraying the reality of this fight.

You've got to find the promise.

Whatever your struggle,

what sins you struggle with,

what trials you go through,

what thoughts haunt your mind

in your brain,

what attacks the devil may throw at you,

what slurs, what accusations,

this is where we must come to.

We must be a people of promise.

We must be thinking about promise.

Look, men of old like Bunyan;

men made of the same stuff we're made of,

they were finding promises in Micah.

They were finding promises in Colossians,

in Leviticus, in Psalms, Isaiah.

They were finding promises -

sometimes obscure promises

to sink their faith into.

But you'll never do that, like I said,

you'll never do that

unless you believe that every promise

is yours in Christ.

Read this book as for yourself -

even the Old Testament.

It's for you.

Don't write that off as:

well, that's for the Jews,

or it sounds like He's speaking
to Israel all the time.

How can I lay claim to this?

That's what the
dispensationalists will do to you.

They'll see to disarm you.
Don't let them do that.

Don't let them steal away your promises.

Because you need those promises.

You need them to survive.

You need them to fight.

We are people of promise.

We are partakers of the promise.

Remember that.

We are people of the promise.

We have promises.

And God's given us a bunch of them.

They're His promises.

They're not just worldly promises,

vague promises.

They're God-given promises

that He's given to us to fight

the good fight of faith with.

To seize hold of. To put our weight on.

Like I said before, climb on these.

Even if it comes down to two words:

My love.

Or three words: There's still room.

I mean, whatever it is, look.

Look. Search. Know.

Read your Scriptures.

Be here.

Arm yourselves.

People of promise.

Arm yourselves.

We have a promise Giver.

You don't need every single promise

every single day.

You can't even think of all of them.

But it may be just two words.

It may be three words

that will carry you victoriously in battle

against an archangel.

Isn't that amazing?

That's what you've been given.

That is the offensive weapon

that we're going to come to

in Ephesians 6.

The sword of the Spirit.

You can defeat powers

and principalities of wickedness,

sometimes through two or three words.

If your faith will see in those words

a promise of the living God

and hold fast.

You'll resist the devil and he'll flee.

May God help us, brethren.

Father, we pray,

give us these words.

Give us these promises.

Help us to find them.

Help my brothers and
sisters to find the ones

that they need now to deal with

what they're dealing with in their lives,

even on the best days,

the glorious days,

the sun-shining days,

we still need to live on promise.

Lord, give us minds and hearts

that work right.

Sound minds

where Scripture is real;

where it flows.

Help us to fight

just like our Savior fought.

When the devil brought his accusations

and his temptations,

our Master answered perfectly

with Scripture.

All three responses from Deuteronomy.

Help us to handle Scripture like that.

To know how to answer.

Lord, arm us. Equip us.

Help us to be like Bunyan,

and even more, help us to be like Christ.

We pray for His help and in His name,

Amen.