-
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.