WEBVTT 00:00:01.674 --> 00:00:05.201 Ephesians 3. 00:00:05.201 --> 00:00:13.041 I want to read verses 4, 5, and 6. 00:00:13.041 --> 00:00:19.528 Ephesians 3:4 00:00:19.528 --> 00:00:25.772 "When you read this (this epistle), 00:00:25.772 --> 00:00:29.250 you (Ephesians) can perceive 00:00:29.250 --> 00:00:34.423 my (that's the Apostle Paul)... 00:00:34.423 --> 00:00:36.467 you can perceive my insight 00:00:36.467 --> 00:00:40.957 into the mystery of Christ, 00:00:40.957 --> 00:00:42.448 which was not made known 00:00:42.448 --> 00:00:44.594 to the sons of men in other generations 00:00:44.594 --> 00:00:47.069 as it has now been revealed 00:00:47.069 --> 00:00:49.919 to His holy apostles and prophets 00:00:49.919 --> 00:00:52.467 by the Spirit. 00:00:52.467 --> 00:00:57.061 This mystery is that the Gentiles 00:00:57.061 --> 00:00:59.188 are fellow heirs, 00:00:59.188 --> 00:01:00.740 members of the same body, 00:01:00.740 --> 00:01:02.938 and partakers of the promise 00:01:02.938 --> 00:01:07.587 in Christ Jesus through the gospel." NOTE Paragraph 00:01:07.587 --> 00:01:09.254 Here's what's happening. 00:01:09.254 --> 00:01:10.602 In verse 6, 00:01:10.602 --> 00:01:14.148 Paul is considering this miracle 00:01:14.148 --> 00:01:18.885 that the Gentiles have not been left outside. 00:01:18.885 --> 00:01:20.419 Out in the darkness 00:01:20.419 --> 00:01:24.964 just basically to rot in their sins. 00:01:24.964 --> 00:01:29.393 (Incomplete thought) 00:01:29.393 --> 00:01:30.953 I've asked people before. 00:01:30.953 --> 00:01:36.736 Number the Gentiles from the Old Testament. 00:01:36.736 --> 00:01:40.300 Perhaps all of Nineveh repented, 00:01:40.300 --> 00:01:41.469 and they were saved. 00:01:41.469 --> 00:01:44.449 Perhaps they repented and just weren't destroyed. 00:01:44.449 --> 00:01:45.572 I'm not sure. 00:01:45.572 --> 00:01:47.336 But minus Nineveh, 00:01:47.336 --> 00:01:49.792 you start numbering them. 00:01:49.792 --> 00:01:52.707 You're not going to get to the second hand. 00:01:52.707 --> 00:01:57.112 You can number them on one hand. 00:01:57.112 --> 00:02:01.061 This is really incredible. 00:02:01.061 --> 00:02:05.860 Almost unbelievable. 00:02:05.860 --> 00:02:08.471 What's happening is 00:02:08.471 --> 00:02:11.916 Gentiles like these Ephesians and like us 00:02:11.916 --> 00:02:14.983 being swept into the kingdom. 00:02:14.983 --> 00:02:18.638 Suddenly, those who had sat in darkness, 00:02:18.638 --> 00:02:21.257 we're getting opportunity to see the great light. 00:02:21.257 --> 00:02:24.551 We don't recognize this so much 2,000 years later 00:02:24.551 --> 00:02:27.693 because the gospel now 00:02:27.693 --> 00:02:30.361 has been going among the Gentiles 00:02:30.361 --> 00:02:35.483 longer than the era from Moses to Christ. 00:02:35.483 --> 00:02:39.165 So, it's not so startling to us. 00:02:39.165 --> 00:02:41.611 But Gentiles are being transported 00:02:41.611 --> 00:02:43.428 out of the kingdom of darkness 00:02:43.428 --> 00:02:45.755 into the kingdom of God's dear Son. 00:02:45.755 --> 00:02:47.416 And what's happening here 00:02:47.416 --> 00:02:48.961 is it's the mystery. 00:02:48.961 --> 00:02:50.938 It was hidden for generations. 00:02:50.938 --> 00:02:53.822 It's like the sun dawning on a new day. 00:02:53.822 --> 00:02:55.711 The light is coming up. What? 00:02:55.711 --> 00:02:59.697 That Gentiles are included. 00:02:59.697 --> 00:03:02.309 It's broken upon the horizon. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:02.309 --> 00:03:08.872 Verse 6 shows this inclusion. 00:03:08.872 --> 00:03:12.237 Now you don't see this in the English. 00:03:12.237 --> 00:03:16.374 But there's three words in the Greek here 00:03:16.374 --> 00:03:21.877 that all start with the same prefix -su. 00:03:21.877 --> 00:03:23.557 "Su." 00:03:23.557 --> 00:03:25.992 The mystery is that the Gentiles 00:03:25.992 --> 00:03:29.953 are "synklēronoma," 00:03:29.953 --> 00:03:32.682 "syssōma," 00:03:32.682 --> 00:03:35.987 "symmetocha." 00:03:35.987 --> 00:03:46.020 "Su" basically corresponds to our English prefix "-sym." 00:03:46.020 --> 00:03:47.758 Symbolic. 00:03:47.758 --> 00:03:50.022 Symbol. 00:03:50.022 --> 00:03:51.875 Symphony. 00:03:51.875 --> 00:03:53.544 Symmetry. 00:03:53.544 --> 00:03:58.630 It's a prefix that means "together with." 00:03:58.630 --> 00:04:00.942 You see, each one of these words, 00:04:00.942 --> 00:04:03.125 we're together with the believing Jew 00:04:03.125 --> 00:04:04.629 in this reality. 00:04:04.629 --> 00:04:07.430 Believing Gentiles are heirs 00:04:07.430 --> 00:04:09.349 together with believing Jews. 00:04:09.349 --> 00:04:12.196 Believing Gentiles are members 00:04:12.196 --> 00:04:14.113 together with believing Jews 00:04:14.113 --> 00:04:16.220 in the body of Christ. 00:04:16.220 --> 00:04:19.001 Believing Gentiles are together 00:04:19.001 --> 00:04:22.623 with believing Jews in the promise 00:04:22.623 --> 00:04:24.773 that's in Jesus Christ. 00:04:24.773 --> 00:04:26.479 That's what's happening here. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:26.479 --> 00:04:28.423 What I want to do is draw your attention 00:04:28.423 --> 00:04:34.105 particularly to the last of the three. 00:04:34.105 --> 00:04:37.128 Three assertions. 00:04:37.128 --> 00:04:39.737 the last of the three. 00:04:39.737 --> 00:04:43.381 We are partakers - 00:04:43.381 --> 00:04:45.001 now if we want to be accurate 00:04:45.001 --> 00:04:46.489 to the Greek word here, 00:04:46.489 --> 00:04:48.821 you want to put "together" in there. 00:04:48.821 --> 00:04:50.404 The ESV doesn't have that. 00:04:50.404 --> 00:04:52.219 The King James doesn't have that. 00:04:52.219 --> 00:04:56.289 But listen to how the New American Standard 00:04:56.289 --> 00:04:57.548 captures this. 00:04:57.548 --> 00:05:01.002 The New English translation captures this 00:05:01.002 --> 00:05:04.677 by using the word "fellow partakers." 00:05:04.677 --> 00:05:07.122 The Holman Christan uses "partners." 00:05:07.122 --> 00:05:08.968 You see, that captures the idea 00:05:08.968 --> 00:05:11.459 of being together with the Jews in this. 00:05:11.459 --> 00:05:15.032 But the idea here is that we're together 00:05:15.032 --> 00:05:18.118 with the believing Jews in this promise 00:05:18.118 --> 00:05:20.528 in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 00:05:20.528 --> 00:05:24.484 Now, your Bible might say "His promise." 00:05:24.484 --> 00:05:26.094 It's interesting. In the Greek, 00:05:26.094 --> 00:05:30.537 you have the article "the" promise. 00:05:30.537 --> 00:05:32.030 If you've got the King James, 00:05:32.030 --> 00:05:35.111 the Greek text it comes from says, 00:05:35.111 --> 00:05:39.161 "of Him." 00:05:39.161 --> 00:05:44.391 But no matter what text your Bible comes from, 00:05:44.391 --> 00:05:46.875 in the original, it says, 00:05:46.875 --> 00:05:49.736 "the promise." 00:05:49.736 --> 00:05:51.086 Singular. 00:05:51.086 --> 00:05:54.432 There is an article "the" promise. 00:05:54.432 --> 00:05:57.651 I find that really interesting. 00:05:57.651 --> 00:06:01.305 Paul doesn't even tell us what "the" - 00:06:01.305 --> 00:06:04.966 what is this "the" promise? 00:06:04.966 --> 00:06:07.779 And he doesn't even tell us what it is. 00:06:07.779 --> 00:06:10.214 It's like there's one promise above every promise 00:06:10.214 --> 00:06:13.989 that stands out as "the" promise. 00:06:13.989 --> 00:06:16.473 That, to me, jumps out. 00:06:16.473 --> 00:06:19.293 Not promises plural; 00:06:19.293 --> 00:06:22.343 "the" promise. 00:06:22.343 --> 00:06:24.351 What is it? 00:06:24.351 --> 00:06:27.711 I mean, what is it? 00:06:27.711 --> 00:06:29.666 What is it that Paul wouldn't even need 00:06:29.666 --> 00:06:32.762 to define it for us? 00:06:32.762 --> 00:06:37.537 Well, he uses this same kind of language 00:06:37.537 --> 00:06:39.189 over in Galatians. 00:06:39.189 --> 00:06:41.221 He uses it in various places, 00:06:41.221 --> 00:06:43.246 but there's no place where you get 00:06:43.246 --> 00:06:45.539 such a treatment of the word 00:06:45.539 --> 00:06:48.273 as you do in Galatians 3. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:48.273 --> 00:06:51.063 So it's the book right before Ephesians, 00:06:51.063 --> 00:06:56.965 turn back to the book just before this one 00:06:56.965 --> 00:07:04.825 and go to chapter 3. 00:07:04.825 --> 00:07:13.497 I want us to get a feel for "promise." 00:07:13.497 --> 00:07:17.122 What is the promise? 00:07:17.122 --> 00:07:20.356 I'm going to show it you right off. 00:07:20.356 --> 00:07:22.245 Even though the term promise 00:07:22.245 --> 00:07:26.264 does not show up in Galatians 3:8, 00:07:26.264 --> 00:07:28.757 that's where the promise is. 00:07:28.757 --> 00:07:31.802 And now, you'll see afterwards 00:07:31.802 --> 00:07:35.021 how he begins to call it 00:07:35.021 --> 00:07:39.744 by the term "promise." 00:07:39.744 --> 00:07:41.534 The promise is here: 00:07:41.534 --> 00:07:43.875 "The Scripture foreseeing that God 00:07:43.875 --> 00:07:46.008 would justify the Gentiles by faith 00:07:46.008 --> 00:07:48.341 preached the gospel beforehand 00:07:48.341 --> 00:07:51.249 to Abraham saying..." 00:07:51.249 --> 00:07:52.768 Here's the promise. 00:07:52.768 --> 00:07:56.287 In the ESV, it's in quotation marks 00:07:56.287 --> 00:07:58.768 because it's a quote. 00:07:58.768 --> 00:08:00.885 This is God's promise to Abraham. 00:08:00.885 --> 00:08:07.813 "In you shall all the nations be blessed." 00:08:07.813 --> 00:08:13.281 And now, down in verses 17, 19, and 22, 00:08:13.281 --> 00:08:17.288 Paul calls it "the promise." 00:08:17.288 --> 00:08:19.282 You can see it. 00:08:19.282 --> 00:08:27.378 Look down in verse 17. 00:08:27.378 --> 00:08:29.177 This is what I mean: 00:08:29.177 --> 00:08:33.422 The law which came 430 years afterward 00:08:33.422 --> 00:08:35.503 does not annul a covenant 00:08:35.503 --> 00:08:37.451 previously ratified by God 00:08:37.451 --> 00:08:42.887 so as to make the promise void." NOTE Paragraph 00:08:42.887 --> 00:08:46.024 Now, what's going on here? 00:08:46.024 --> 00:08:49.284 What Paul is saying is this: 00:08:49.284 --> 00:08:51.399 The promise was given to Abraham; 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:56.811 430 later, the law is given to Moses. 00:08:56.811 --> 00:08:59.561 Now, here's what the Jew thought. 00:08:59.561 --> 00:09:02.441 The Jew thought if we keep the commandments - 00:09:02.441 --> 00:09:08.114 well, they kind of thought if you knew the commandments - 00:09:08.114 --> 00:09:09.770 if you knew the commandments 00:09:09.770 --> 00:09:11.866 and you made an effort at keeping them, 00:09:11.866 --> 00:09:15.123 that's how you ended up in glory. 00:09:15.123 --> 00:09:17.806 And he says no. No, that's not true. 00:09:17.806 --> 00:09:20.647 It was always by promise. 00:09:20.647 --> 00:09:22.983 Not by law. It was always by promise. 00:09:22.983 --> 00:09:26.772 And God didn't come along 430 years later 00:09:26.772 --> 00:09:29.079 and give a way to heaven 00:09:29.079 --> 00:09:32.498 that contradicted the way that was given 00:09:32.498 --> 00:09:33.719 to Abraham. 00:09:33.719 --> 00:09:35.453 That's basically what he's saying. 00:09:35.453 --> 00:09:41.343 But notice how he calls it "the promise." 00:09:41.343 --> 00:09:44.833 But it's not as though Paul's so rigid, 00:09:44.833 --> 00:09:48.127 because if you look back in verse 16, 00:09:48.127 --> 00:09:49.798 notice what it says. 00:09:49.798 --> 00:09:51.760 "Now the promises..." 00:09:51.760 --> 00:09:53.876 See, there is it plural. 00:09:53.876 --> 00:09:55.703 In other words, what it seems 00:09:55.703 --> 00:09:57.338 that Paul can do 00:09:57.338 --> 00:09:59.969 is he can talk about one promise, 00:09:59.969 --> 00:10:05.279 or he can talk about a plurality of promises. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:08.563 But they kind of boil down to one. 00:10:08.563 --> 00:10:12.099 One promise as much as anything else. 00:10:12.099 --> 00:10:14.152 And notice this, this word 00:10:14.152 --> 00:10:17.429 comes up again in verse 19. 00:10:17.429 --> 00:10:21.354 In verse 19, "Why then the law?" 00:10:21.354 --> 00:10:24.279 Well, if the law wasn't given for us 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:26.470 to have a code by which we could keep 00:10:26.470 --> 00:10:27.947 and get to heaven, 00:10:27.947 --> 00:10:29.628 if that's not why it was given, 00:10:29.628 --> 00:10:31.626 if the only way to heaven is by promise, 00:10:31.626 --> 00:10:34.190 by the promise that was given to Abraham, 00:10:34.190 --> 00:10:36.702 well, why did God give the law at all? 00:10:36.702 --> 00:10:40.298 And he says, "it was added because of transgressions." 00:10:40.298 --> 00:10:42.714 And you find this in various of Paul's writings. 00:10:42.714 --> 00:10:44.862 But he said basically the commandment came 00:10:44.862 --> 00:10:47.049 to increase the trespass. 00:10:47.049 --> 00:10:48.760 What it does is it shows us 00:10:48.760 --> 00:10:50.202 how sinful we are. 00:10:50.202 --> 00:10:52.243 In fact, what it does is it shows us 00:10:52.243 --> 00:10:56.919 we need another way to God than by that way. 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:02.359 The promise. It shows up again in verse 22. 00:11:02.359 --> 00:11:04.287 "Is the law then contrary 00:11:04.287 --> 00:11:08.844 to the promises of God?" 00:11:08.844 --> 00:11:11.123 Excuse me, I was in verse 21. 00:11:11.123 --> 00:11:14.153 Verse 22: "But the Scripture 00:11:14.153 --> 00:11:16.438 imprisoned everything under sin 00:11:16.438 --> 00:11:20.518 so that the promise by faith 00:11:20.518 --> 00:11:23.237 in Jesus Christ..." 00:11:23.237 --> 00:11:25.077 See, that's what we need to get. 00:11:25.077 --> 00:11:26.982 The promise. 00:11:26.982 --> 00:11:30.370 It's by faith in Jesus Christ. 00:11:30.370 --> 00:11:33.082 And if you drop down to verse 29, 00:11:33.082 --> 00:11:36.795 "If you're Christ's, 00:11:36.795 --> 00:11:38.600 then you're Abraham's offspring, 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:39.987 heirs according to..." 00:11:39.987 --> 00:11:43.386 Now, the article's missing here, but "promise." 00:11:43.386 --> 00:11:45.716 See, heirs according to promise. 00:11:45.716 --> 00:11:48.369 And now I want to go back to verse 8 again 00:11:48.369 --> 00:11:51.366 because I don't want you to miss the first part. 00:11:51.366 --> 00:11:54.481 "When God said to Abraham..." 00:11:54.481 --> 00:11:56.184 You see, when you go back there 00:11:56.184 --> 00:11:58.124 into the Old Testament, you're reading. 00:11:58.124 --> 00:12:00.067 You're reading in Genesis 12, 00:12:00.067 --> 00:12:01.453 Genesis 15, 00:12:01.453 --> 00:12:02.849 Genesis 17 - 00:12:02.849 --> 00:12:05.117 it seems like it's repeated over and over. 00:12:05.117 --> 00:12:07.292 When God promises him, 00:12:07.292 --> 00:12:09.168 "I'm going to make you a blessing 00:12:09.168 --> 00:12:12.180 to all the nations," 00:12:12.180 --> 00:12:17.544 what you want to recognize is this: 00:12:17.544 --> 00:12:22.232 "This is the Scripture foreseeing 00:12:22.232 --> 00:12:26.670 that God would justify the Gentiles 00:12:26.670 --> 00:12:29.925 by faith." 00:12:29.925 --> 00:12:33.402 The promise: In you shall all the nations be blessed. 00:12:33.402 --> 00:12:36.651 But how are the nations going to be blessed? 00:12:36.651 --> 00:12:42.316 You see, how's the United States of America going to be blessed? 00:12:42.316 --> 00:12:44.087 By this. 00:12:44.087 --> 00:12:49.852 By the Gentiles justified by faith. 00:12:49.852 --> 00:12:52.735 That's what that promise means. 00:12:52.735 --> 00:12:56.087 And listen, what he says in here 00:12:56.087 --> 00:13:00.198 is that the promise was given 00:13:00.198 --> 00:13:07.278 to Abraham and his offspring. 00:13:07.278 --> 00:13:09.161 But if you notice verse 16, 00:13:09.161 --> 00:13:12.319 he says, "'not to offsprings' (plural) 00:13:12.319 --> 00:13:14.228 referring to many, but referring to one. 00:13:14.228 --> 00:13:18.591 '"And to your offspring,' who is Christ." 00:13:18.591 --> 00:13:20.573 You see, the truth here is 00:13:20.573 --> 00:13:24.025 that the promise was given to Abraham 00:13:24.025 --> 00:13:27.462 and to Christ. 00:13:27.462 --> 00:13:30.225 Christ is the recipient of this promise. 00:13:30.225 --> 00:13:32.117 We become partakers of it. 00:13:32.117 --> 00:13:34.743 We become partakers with the Jews. 00:13:34.743 --> 00:13:37.173 And the promise is this: 00:13:37.173 --> 00:13:40.651 That if we cling to Christ in faith, 00:13:40.651 --> 00:13:41.975 we'll be justified. 00:13:41.975 --> 00:13:43.507 There's the promise. 00:13:43.507 --> 00:13:45.647 You see, the promise is the blessing 00:13:45.647 --> 00:13:47.177 of all the nations. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:47.177 --> 00:13:49.746 The promise is this: 00:13:49.746 --> 00:13:52.613 That there is a way to heaven. 00:13:52.613 --> 00:13:54.977 There is a way to be justified 00:13:54.977 --> 00:13:58.128 by faith in Jesus Christ. 00:13:58.128 --> 00:13:59.431 That's the blessing. 00:13:59.431 --> 00:14:03.606 Justification by faith is the most glorious 00:14:03.606 --> 00:14:05.915 promise that can be imagined. 00:14:05.915 --> 00:14:07.537 I mean, this is it. 00:14:07.537 --> 00:14:08.612 This is it. Why? 00:14:08.612 --> 00:14:10.811 Because what God has done 00:14:10.811 --> 00:14:14.245 is He has found a way for us 00:14:14.245 --> 00:14:17.405 to be righteous without law-keeping. 00:14:17.405 --> 00:14:18.728 And that's huge! 00:14:18.728 --> 00:14:21.470 Because you see, if you keep the law, 00:14:21.470 --> 00:14:24.155 if you've kept it, you're just. 00:14:24.155 --> 00:14:28.121 You don't need any way to be justified. 00:14:28.121 --> 00:14:31.318 You are just. 00:14:31.318 --> 00:14:33.523 But if you've once broken His law - 00:14:33.523 --> 00:14:35.623 you see what God has done is 00:14:35.623 --> 00:14:39.784 He's given a promise to those who need another way. 00:14:39.784 --> 00:14:43.465 (Incomplete thought) 00:14:43.465 --> 00:14:46.541 See, the problem is, once you've broken it 00:14:46.541 --> 00:14:48.755 you can't heal that breach. 00:14:48.755 --> 00:14:51.288 There's nothing you can do 00:14:51.288 --> 00:14:54.701 once you're a law breaker 00:14:54.701 --> 00:14:57.193 to change that reality, 00:14:57.193 --> 00:15:02.393 except by the promise. That's it. 00:15:02.393 --> 00:15:03.747 See, there's no way. 00:15:03.747 --> 00:15:07.482 People who say, well, I'm a pretty good person. 00:15:07.482 --> 00:15:08.660 No, no, no. 00:15:08.660 --> 00:15:10.879 You can take that "pretty good" off the front. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:12.657 Because if by "pretty good," you mean 00:15:12.657 --> 00:15:13.824 that you sin sometimes, 00:15:13.824 --> 00:15:14.931 you're a law breaker. 00:15:14.931 --> 00:15:16.157 And as a law breaker, 00:15:16.157 --> 00:15:18.180 you're under a curse, and that curse says 00:15:18.180 --> 00:15:19.950 you need to keep everything written 00:15:19.950 --> 00:15:22.431 in the Book of the Law or you're going to go to hell. 00:15:22.431 --> 00:15:24.577 You're cursed. You're under the wrath of God. 00:15:24.577 --> 00:15:25.562 There is no hope. 00:15:25.562 --> 00:15:27.277 You have to keep everything. 00:15:27.277 --> 00:15:30.148 Everything. Every iota. Every jot and tittle. 00:15:30.148 --> 00:15:31.813 You cannot vary. 00:15:31.813 --> 00:15:34.041 You can't be at variance from God's law 00:15:34.041 --> 00:15:34.957 in the least bit. 00:15:34.957 --> 00:15:37.166 Why? Because to sin is to fall short 00:15:37.166 --> 00:15:38.801 of the glory of God. 00:15:38.801 --> 00:15:40.029 It is a reproach. 00:15:40.029 --> 00:15:42.215 It is an attack on His glory. 00:15:42.215 --> 00:15:44.294 And what God has said, 00:15:44.294 --> 00:15:46.280 "I give promise, Abraham, 00:15:46.280 --> 00:15:48.082 that a blessing is going to come." 00:15:48.082 --> 00:15:50.217 Oh, if Abraham could have 00:15:50.217 --> 00:15:52.860 laid his teeth into the fullness of it. 00:15:52.860 --> 00:15:54.617 It wasn't totally revealed. 00:15:54.617 --> 00:15:56.373 It was in darkness at the time. 00:15:56.373 --> 00:15:58.913 It was not revealed in other generations 00:15:58.913 --> 00:16:00.708 as it's now been revealed. 00:16:00.708 --> 00:16:01.902 Which is what? 00:16:01.902 --> 00:16:06.585 We Gentiles - there's a way to heaven. 00:16:06.585 --> 00:16:09.039 There's a way to have our sins dealt with 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:14.846 that does not require me to keep God's law. 00:16:14.846 --> 00:16:17.136 And that is the promise. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:17.136 --> 00:16:19.909 Justification. What is that? 00:16:19.909 --> 00:16:23.239 Justification is an act - 00:16:23.239 --> 00:16:25.576 a gracious act of God, 00:16:25.576 --> 00:16:27.922 where He counts you righteous. 00:16:27.922 --> 00:16:30.250 Not because you are righteous. 00:16:30.250 --> 00:16:31.980 Not because you've done good. 00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:33.987 Not because you've kept the law. 00:16:33.987 --> 00:16:36.830 But He counts you as such 00:16:36.830 --> 00:16:40.668 based on the merits of Jesus Christ. 00:16:40.668 --> 00:16:42.965 By His obedience, 00:16:42.965 --> 00:16:45.120 by His perfections, 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:47.718 by His obedience all the way to the cross, 00:16:47.718 --> 00:16:49.132 by His death, 00:16:49.132 --> 00:16:51.552 by His righteousness. 00:16:51.552 --> 00:16:53.713 He fulfilled all righteousness. 00:16:53.713 --> 00:16:55.798 And it's by this, 00:16:55.798 --> 00:16:57.988 oh, do you hear those words? 00:16:57.988 --> 00:17:00.141 David spoke them and they're repeated by Paul 00:17:00.141 --> 00:17:02.180 in the 4th chapter of Romans. 00:17:02.180 --> 00:17:05.991 Blessed. Blessed is that man 00:17:05.991 --> 00:17:11.158 against whom God does not count his sin. 00:17:11.158 --> 00:17:14.563 If you're good, you have no need of this. 00:17:14.563 --> 00:17:16.988 Look, if you came in here today 00:17:16.988 --> 00:17:18.388 and aside from all of this, 00:17:18.388 --> 00:17:20.399 you could say, "I'm a pretty good person." 00:17:20.399 --> 00:17:21.732 Then, you don't need this. 00:17:21.732 --> 00:17:23.160 You see, Jesus said, 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:25.450 those who are well, they don't need a doctor. 00:17:25.450 --> 00:17:26.526 This isn't for you. 00:17:26.526 --> 00:17:31.860 God hasn't designed a way to justify people 00:17:31.860 --> 00:17:32.915 who have kept the law; 00:17:32.915 --> 00:17:34.030 who are good people. 00:17:34.030 --> 00:17:35.615 That's not what this is for. 00:17:35.615 --> 00:17:38.206 This is for people who need another way. 00:17:38.206 --> 00:17:39.611 This is for people who, 00:17:39.611 --> 00:17:40.502 you know what? 00:17:40.502 --> 00:17:42.111 In the eyes of good people; 00:17:42.111 --> 00:17:44.555 in the eyes of religious people, 00:17:44.555 --> 00:17:46.536 they're hopeless. 00:17:46.536 --> 00:17:48.004 There's no way. 00:17:48.004 --> 00:17:50.169 You see, this is for people 00:17:50.169 --> 00:17:51.788 like the thief on the cross 00:17:51.788 --> 00:17:53.779 who have done nothing but live a life 00:17:53.779 --> 00:17:55.665 of wretchedness and debauchery 00:17:55.665 --> 00:17:58.116 and sin and thievery, 00:17:58.116 --> 00:17:59.824 and they've got nothing. 00:17:59.824 --> 00:18:01.638 And they don't have time left 00:18:01.638 --> 00:18:04.663 to even try to repair their bad record. 00:18:04.663 --> 00:18:07.752 Which is basically what most of the false religions teach: 00:18:07.752 --> 00:18:12.040 do enough good and you can undo the bad. 00:18:12.040 --> 00:18:14.448 But you see, no matter how much good you do 00:18:14.448 --> 00:18:17.974 after you've broken the law, you're unjust. 00:18:17.974 --> 00:18:24.524 Justification is God, by His grace, 00:18:24.524 --> 00:18:27.077 devising a way 00:18:27.077 --> 00:18:33.030 that bad people can be declared righteous. 00:18:33.030 --> 00:18:35.243 That's the reality. 00:18:35.243 --> 00:18:37.393 That's the promise. 00:18:37.393 --> 00:18:42.539 What greater promise could you be a partaker of than that one? 00:18:42.539 --> 00:18:43.577 That's it. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:43.577 --> 00:18:44.944 Now listen. 00:18:44.944 --> 00:18:48.142 My whole point in this message is this: 00:18:48.142 --> 00:18:50.825 We are people of promise. 00:18:50.825 --> 00:18:53.214 And the truth is, 00:18:53.214 --> 00:18:58.226 that is "the" promise. 00:18:58.226 --> 00:19:01.325 It really is a synonym for the gospel. 00:19:01.325 --> 00:19:02.521 The good news. 00:19:02.521 --> 00:19:03.803 What is the good news? 00:19:03.803 --> 00:19:05.416 Well, the good news is 00:19:05.416 --> 00:19:08.108 that there's a way to be righteous in the sight of God 00:19:08.108 --> 00:19:09.843 aside from my own law keeping. 00:19:09.843 --> 00:19:11.939 And Jesus has fulfilled that. 00:19:11.939 --> 00:19:12.886 It's the gospel. 00:19:12.886 --> 00:19:15.198 That's what the promise is all about. 00:19:15.198 --> 00:19:16.805 But I want you to just remember 00:19:16.805 --> 00:19:18.399 we are a people of promise. 00:19:18.399 --> 00:19:22.358 Because you see, if you're a partaker of that promise, 00:19:22.358 --> 00:19:29.957 it's the key that unlocks all the promises of God. 00:19:29.957 --> 00:19:31.509 That's exactly what Paul says. 00:19:31.509 --> 00:19:33.635 He says in 2 Corinthians 1:20, 00:19:33.635 --> 00:19:34.900 listen to this, 00:19:34.900 --> 00:19:38.291 "For all the promises of God 00:19:38.291 --> 00:19:43.409 find their yes in Him." 00:19:43.409 --> 00:19:46.434 I like the KJV: 00:19:46.434 --> 00:19:50.783 "For all the promises of God in Him are yea (or yes) 00:19:50.783 --> 00:19:54.730 and in Him amen to the glory of God." 00:19:54.730 --> 00:19:57.649 Do you comprehend this? 00:19:57.649 --> 00:20:00.484 Listen. 00:20:00.484 --> 00:20:03.624 (Incomplete thought) 00:20:03.624 --> 00:20:06.277 See, this is the key. 00:20:06.277 --> 00:20:08.828 You can take this key, 00:20:08.828 --> 00:20:11.001 and you can read anywhere in your Bible, 00:20:11.001 --> 00:20:12.768 and you can find a promise of good. 00:20:12.768 --> 00:20:17.170 You can go back to Joshua, 00:20:17.170 --> 00:20:20.551 and you can find the Lord saying to Joshua, 00:20:20.551 --> 00:20:22.735 "I'll never leave you or forsake you." 00:20:22.735 --> 00:20:24.436 Stick that key in there. 00:20:24.436 --> 00:20:26.276 The author of Hebrews shows us that 00:20:26.276 --> 00:20:28.072 in Hebrews 13 right? 00:20:28.072 --> 00:20:31.046 Hasn't the Lord said He'll never leave you or forsake you? 00:20:31.046 --> 00:20:33.124 And that's exactly the promise 00:20:33.124 --> 00:20:36.424 that the author of Hebrews is trying to encourage 00:20:36.424 --> 00:20:38.033 those people with - 00:20:38.033 --> 00:20:40.365 those New Testament believers. 00:20:40.365 --> 00:20:42.233 Why? How can that be? 00:20:42.233 --> 00:20:44.083 That is a promise given to Joshua. 00:20:44.083 --> 00:20:45.695 You go back there and read it. 00:20:45.695 --> 00:20:48.387 It doesn't say that it was given to all of God's people. 00:20:48.387 --> 00:20:51.610 It says it was given to Joshua. 00:20:51.610 --> 00:20:58.908 But see, there's the key. 00:20:58.908 --> 00:21:03.296 In Him, all the promises of God. 00:21:03.296 --> 00:21:04.879 All of them! 00:21:04.879 --> 00:21:06.505 Get that. 00:21:06.505 --> 00:21:09.726 All of them! 00:21:09.726 --> 00:21:15.264 In Him. In Christ are yes. 00:21:15.264 --> 00:21:17.109 They're an affirmation. Amen. 00:21:17.109 --> 00:21:18.580 You know what amen means? 00:21:18.580 --> 00:21:22.852 Truth. Verity. Certainty. 00:21:22.852 --> 00:21:24.374 That's the key. 00:21:24.374 --> 00:21:28.259 If you once are a partaker of "the promise," 00:21:28.259 --> 00:21:30.094 there is not a promise for good 00:21:30.094 --> 00:21:31.388 anywhere in this book - 00:21:31.388 --> 00:21:33.485 what you need to do is recognize; 00:21:33.485 --> 00:21:38.826 you need to put the right glasses on. 00:21:38.826 --> 00:21:42.277 And you look. They're the Christ glasses. 00:21:42.277 --> 00:21:44.685 And you read any promise - 00:21:44.685 --> 00:21:47.055 every single promise for good 00:21:47.055 --> 00:21:50.725 in this Bible is given 00:21:50.725 --> 00:21:53.828 with reference to Christ. 00:21:53.828 --> 00:21:56.240 Now, you don't see it 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:02.247 in most of the places where those promises are given. 00:22:02.247 --> 00:22:06.576 But right there in 2 Corinthians 1:20, 00:22:06.576 --> 00:22:08.969 Paul shows us the reality. 00:22:08.969 --> 00:22:11.112 We are a people of promise. NOTE Paragraph 00:22:11.112 --> 00:22:14.683 Do you recognize as you're scouring 00:22:14.683 --> 00:22:17.566 the promises of the Old Testament, 00:22:17.566 --> 00:22:20.030 you see some obscure promise 00:22:20.030 --> 00:22:24.971 given in Micah or something. 00:22:24.971 --> 00:22:29.283 If you have been justified by faith 00:22:29.283 --> 00:22:31.994 and you're a partaker of that promise, 00:22:31.994 --> 00:22:34.214 that's yours. 00:22:34.214 --> 00:22:38.360 You can appropriate it to yourself. 00:22:38.360 --> 00:22:40.402 And we need to know that 00:22:40.402 --> 00:22:42.229 and we need to live that way. 00:22:42.229 --> 00:22:43.875 And we need to live in light 00:22:43.875 --> 00:22:45.729 of that reality. 00:22:45.729 --> 00:22:50.189 We are people of promise. 00:22:50.189 --> 00:22:52.998 Faith is not some ambiguous thing 00:22:52.998 --> 00:22:56.504 that just sort of swirls around out there; 00:22:56.504 --> 00:23:00.440 this nebulous, obscure, ambiguous thing. 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:09.645 Our faith has promise for its substance. 00:23:09.645 --> 00:23:16.757 Faith is not just this ambiguous thing. 00:23:16.757 --> 00:23:20.873 Oh, I have it. 00:23:20.873 --> 00:23:27.442 It is that which grabs hold of God's promises 00:23:27.442 --> 00:23:29.916 and climbs on top of it. 00:23:29.916 --> 00:23:32.248 You know what it means to climb on a promise? 00:23:32.248 --> 00:23:35.220 It means you put all your weight on it. 00:23:35.220 --> 00:23:36.931 That's how God's people live. 00:23:36.931 --> 00:23:39.388 That's what it means to live from faith to faith. 00:23:39.388 --> 00:23:40.444 That's what it means 00:23:40.444 --> 00:23:42.247 to fight the good fight of faith. 00:23:42.247 --> 00:23:47.711 It means that you are living on promise. 00:23:47.711 --> 00:23:50.352 It doesn't necessarily mean 00:23:50.352 --> 00:23:53.650 that you think about every promise 00:23:53.650 --> 00:23:56.111 at any given moment. 00:23:56.111 --> 00:24:00.192 You follow what I mean? 00:24:00.192 --> 00:24:01.690 We come under temptations. 00:24:01.690 --> 00:24:04.078 We come under attacks. 00:24:04.078 --> 00:24:07.655 We walk through this life - 00:24:07.655 --> 00:24:10.191 to be a child of promise 00:24:10.191 --> 00:24:12.049 doesn't mean that you're living on 00:24:12.049 --> 00:24:14.823 every promise of God at every single moment. 00:24:14.823 --> 00:24:18.544 You can't even think about every single promise of God 00:24:18.544 --> 00:24:20.929 at every single moment. 00:24:20.929 --> 00:24:23.889 But what it means is 00:24:23.889 --> 00:24:27.488 that in whatever situation you're in, 00:24:27.488 --> 00:24:30.518 you're living on what God has said. 00:24:30.518 --> 00:24:33.337 "Man does not live by bread alone." 00:24:33.337 --> 00:24:38.096 He's living on what God has said. NOTE Paragraph 00:24:38.096 --> 00:24:40.475 Abraham. Think about Abraham. 00:24:40.475 --> 00:24:42.275 Abraham is the father of faith. 00:24:42.275 --> 00:24:43.574 Abraham is the one to whom 00:24:43.574 --> 00:24:46.083 the promise was given. 00:24:46.083 --> 00:24:47.279 Think about him. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:49.970 Abraham said, 00:24:49.970 --> 00:24:52.823 "Behold, You have given me no offspring." 00:24:52.823 --> 00:24:55.102 You see, this is the issue. 00:24:55.102 --> 00:24:56.844 Genesis 15. 00:24:56.844 --> 00:24:59.233 Do you know what happened back in Genesis 12? 00:24:59.233 --> 00:25:03.918 God told Abraham that he was going to be 00:25:03.918 --> 00:25:07.979 this father of many nations. 00:25:07.979 --> 00:25:09.671 By the time you get to chapter 15, 00:25:09.671 --> 00:25:11.069 he's looking and he's saying 00:25:11.069 --> 00:25:19.680 Eliezer - a foreigner - he's my heir. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:21.588 I'm old. 00:25:21.588 --> 00:25:25.279 Sarah's barren. 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:27.745 You see where the temptation was? 00:25:27.745 --> 00:25:32.656 And what God says to him is this: 00:25:32.656 --> 00:25:34.482 "The Word of the Lord came to him, 00:25:34.482 --> 00:25:39.807 'this man (Eliezer) 00:25:39.807 --> 00:25:42.516 shall not be your heir. 00:25:42.516 --> 00:25:45.027 Your very own son shall be your heir.' 00:25:45.027 --> 00:25:46.808 And He brought him outside and said, 00:25:46.808 --> 00:25:48.704 'Look toward heaven 00:25:48.704 --> 00:25:50.564 and number the stars, 00:25:50.564 --> 00:25:52.863 if you're able to number them.' 00:25:52.863 --> 00:25:54.425 Then He said to him, 00:25:54.425 --> 00:25:56.541 'So shall your offspring be.' 00:25:56.541 --> 00:25:58.151 And he believed the Lord, 00:25:58.151 --> 00:26:00.683 and He counted it to him as righteousness." 00:26:00.683 --> 00:26:03.553 What I want you to see is right there. 00:26:03.553 --> 00:26:05.983 He believed the Lord. 00:26:05.983 --> 00:26:07.577 What did he believe? 00:26:07.577 --> 00:26:10.240 What the Lord just said. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:12.059 It doesn't say that he believed 00:26:12.059 --> 00:26:14.003 every promise that God had given. 00:26:14.003 --> 00:26:16.062 Look, I'm not saying that he would have 00:26:16.062 --> 00:26:18.417 denied some of the promises. 00:26:18.417 --> 00:26:20.066 You follow what I'm saying? 00:26:20.066 --> 00:26:24.758 He was clinging to the one promise 00:26:24.758 --> 00:26:28.485 that flew in the face of him being 00:26:28.485 --> 00:26:30.250 a father of all nations 00:26:30.250 --> 00:26:31.590 when his wife was barren, 00:26:31.590 --> 00:26:32.967 he's old, 00:26:32.967 --> 00:26:38.681 Eliezer is head of his household and heir, 00:26:38.681 --> 00:26:41.694 and it looks like this can't happen. 00:26:41.694 --> 00:26:46.404 He seized hold on this promise. 00:26:46.404 --> 00:26:49.127 It doesn't say he was going through the file cabinet 00:26:49.127 --> 00:26:51.591 and looking at every single one of God's promises. 00:26:51.591 --> 00:26:53.088 It was that promise, 00:26:53.088 --> 00:26:54.898 because that promise dealt 00:26:54.898 --> 00:26:59.353 with the very thing that would challenge his faith; 00:26:59.353 --> 00:27:03.151 challenged what he believed. NOTE Paragraph 00:27:03.151 --> 00:27:08.319 And what I'm striving at is this very thing, 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:14.133 that look, as we go through our lives, 00:27:14.133 --> 00:27:19.037 the issue is we have all these promises. 00:27:19.037 --> 00:27:21.552 But you know what? It's not enough to say, 00:27:21.552 --> 00:27:24.565 "Well, I believe them." 00:27:24.565 --> 00:27:28.465 That's not it. 00:27:28.465 --> 00:27:38.028 Beloved, I am very convinced 00:27:38.028 --> 00:27:41.445 that the reason that God has designed 00:27:41.445 --> 00:27:43.283 the devil the way he is - 00:27:43.283 --> 00:27:45.630 I'm not saying God's the author of sin - 00:27:45.630 --> 00:27:46.981 but there's no question, 00:27:46.981 --> 00:27:48.469 the devil and who he is 00:27:48.469 --> 00:27:52.397 is right on script. 00:27:52.397 --> 00:27:57.458 This is God's design. 00:27:57.458 --> 00:27:59.610 The devil is fashioned 00:27:59.610 --> 00:28:03.748 to put fire to your faith. 00:28:03.748 --> 00:28:07.432 And when he comes calling, 00:28:07.432 --> 00:28:10.918 do you know what's essential? 00:28:10.918 --> 00:28:12.443 Not that right at that moment, 00:28:12.443 --> 00:28:14.682 you're able to recall every single promise 00:28:14.682 --> 00:28:17.473 that God has ever given in His Word. 00:28:17.473 --> 00:28:19.972 Do you know what you need right then? 00:28:19.972 --> 00:28:23.680 You need that one promise 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:25.365 that will cause you to stand 00:28:25.365 --> 00:28:29.621 in the day of evil. NOTE Paragraph 00:28:29.621 --> 00:28:33.615 Just this week, 00:28:33.615 --> 00:28:37.948 I received a phone call from a man. 00:28:37.948 --> 00:28:43.105 A professing Christian for a long time. 00:28:43.105 --> 00:28:50.969 Even in the ministry. 00:28:50.969 --> 00:28:56.185 Living in all manner of immorality. 00:28:56.185 --> 00:28:59.620 Do you know what happened? 00:28:59.620 --> 00:29:03.871 A friend of his turned on 00:29:03.871 --> 00:29:06.424 Paul Washer's message - 00:29:06.424 --> 00:29:08.917 I think it was the same one that was preached here: 00:29:08.917 --> 00:29:10.238 Examine Yourself. 00:29:10.238 --> 00:29:14.081 Maybe the very same message. 00:29:14.081 --> 00:29:20.485 This man was laid bare. 00:29:20.485 --> 00:29:22.843 And he recognized, 00:29:22.843 --> 00:29:25.059 I don't measure up. 00:29:25.059 --> 00:29:27.864 And you know what he fears now? 00:29:27.864 --> 00:29:29.282 Is being in the ministry, 00:29:29.282 --> 00:29:30.471 having so much light, 00:29:30.471 --> 00:29:32.646 having this false profession for so long, 00:29:32.646 --> 00:29:36.065 living in this immorality - 00:29:36.065 --> 00:29:38.414 you know what he's afraid of now? 00:29:38.414 --> 00:29:41.247 That he's Esau. 00:29:41.247 --> 00:29:43.545 He's afraid he's committed the unpardonable sin. 00:29:43.545 --> 00:29:45.037 He's afraid he's gone too far 00:29:45.037 --> 00:29:47.408 and there's no way back. 00:29:47.408 --> 00:29:48.753 Now, I'll tell you this. 00:29:48.753 --> 00:29:50.560 I'll tell you what I told him. 00:29:50.560 --> 00:29:56.622 I can't tell you that there is a way back. 00:29:56.622 --> 00:29:58.841 The truth is there is a line in Scripture 00:29:58.841 --> 00:30:00.021 that when men cross it, 00:30:00.021 --> 00:30:02.257 there's no way back. 00:30:02.257 --> 00:30:06.521 There is a Hebrews 6 reality. 00:30:06.521 --> 00:30:07.970 There is a place men come to 00:30:07.970 --> 00:30:11.509 that there is no more repentance. 00:30:11.509 --> 00:30:15.637 He told me that his friends and counselors 00:30:15.637 --> 00:30:18.500 had sent him to the Word of God. 00:30:18.500 --> 00:30:21.062 That's good. 00:30:21.062 --> 00:30:26.182 To look at passages that dealt with the cross. 00:30:26.182 --> 00:30:30.271 I told him that's good. 00:30:30.271 --> 00:30:33.229 But you see, what he could tell me: 00:30:33.229 --> 00:30:35.995 "Well, I believe He went to the cross. 00:30:35.995 --> 00:30:37.092 I believe He died. 00:30:37.092 --> 00:30:39.817 I believe everything I'm reading. 00:30:39.817 --> 00:30:42.616 I just don't know if it's for me." 00:30:42.616 --> 00:30:43.887 I told him exactly, 00:30:43.887 --> 00:30:47.584 that is exactly the issue. 00:30:47.584 --> 00:30:50.199 I said what you need to do 00:30:50.199 --> 00:30:55.436 is you need to find that one verse 00:30:55.436 --> 00:31:00.850 that he can sink his faith into; 00:31:00.850 --> 00:31:03.095 that he can say, "that's for me." 00:31:03.095 --> 00:31:05.152 You see, that's where faith is. 00:31:05.152 --> 00:31:07.048 Saving faith isn't saying, 00:31:07.048 --> 00:31:10.026 "I believe Jesus was a true, historical figure." 00:31:10.026 --> 00:31:14.256 It's not saying, "I believe Jesus went to the cross." 00:31:14.256 --> 00:31:15.673 It's got to be personalized. 00:31:15.673 --> 00:31:17.869 There's got to be something you can hang on 00:31:17.869 --> 00:31:19.150 that you know is for you. 00:31:19.150 --> 00:31:21.718 Because you know what the devil's going to do to him? 00:31:21.718 --> 00:31:23.538 The devil's already doing it to him. 00:31:23.538 --> 00:31:25.695 He's going to whisper into his ear: 00:31:25.695 --> 00:31:27.553 "Oh, after what you've done, 00:31:27.553 --> 00:31:28.750 there's no hope for you. 00:31:28.750 --> 00:31:29.806 You are Esau." 00:31:29.806 --> 00:31:31.635 He just keeps hearing that in his ear 00:31:31.635 --> 00:31:33.019 over and over and over. 00:31:33.019 --> 00:31:34.500 You know how you answer that? 00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:39.611 You answer that with a kind of promise 00:31:39.611 --> 00:31:41.794 that resists the devil. 00:31:41.794 --> 00:31:46.531 That the devil simply cannot answer. 00:31:46.531 --> 00:31:48.989 What do you tell him? 00:31:48.989 --> 00:31:53.030 I told him you may have crossed that line, 00:31:53.030 --> 00:31:54.467 but I know this. 00:31:54.467 --> 00:31:56.964 That if he can find any promise in this book 00:31:56.964 --> 00:32:01.666 that he can lay his faith onto, 00:32:01.666 --> 00:32:03.565 he will not be disappointed. 00:32:03.565 --> 00:32:04.936 He will not be confounded. 00:32:04.936 --> 00:32:06.415 He will not be cast away. 00:32:06.415 --> 00:32:09.569 Because that's what saving faith is. NOTE Paragraph 00:32:09.569 --> 00:32:12.873 And you know as I was thinking after I got off the phone with him, 00:32:12.873 --> 00:32:14.324 I started thinking about 00:32:14.324 --> 00:32:17.578 what sort of verses are they 00:32:17.578 --> 00:32:20.523 that a man in that condition might find? 00:32:20.523 --> 00:32:22.524 I mean, if he was going through Scripture, 00:32:22.524 --> 00:32:24.715 what might be one verse? 00:32:24.715 --> 00:32:28.902 I'll tell you one that jumped out at me. 00:32:28.902 --> 00:32:31.621 And sometimes they can be obscure verses, 00:32:31.621 --> 00:32:33.988 and sometimes you may think 00:32:33.988 --> 00:32:35.553 that they're not even dealing 00:32:35.553 --> 00:32:38.669 with the very thing that you take it 00:32:38.669 --> 00:32:40.804 in faith to mean. 00:32:40.804 --> 00:32:44.985 But if you take it in faith to mean it; 00:32:44.985 --> 00:32:46.600 if you take it in faith 00:32:46.600 --> 00:32:52.555 that you're trusting the God behind these things - 00:32:52.555 --> 00:32:54.386 I mean we could just look at that. 00:32:54.386 --> 00:32:57.943 The broadness of some of God's promises. 00:32:57.943 --> 00:32:59.954 I mean, you know what? 00:32:59.954 --> 00:33:04.914 You think about how in Isaiah 53, 00:33:04.914 --> 00:33:09.350 how by His stripes, we're healed. 00:33:09.350 --> 00:33:11.031 Does it blow anybody away 00:33:11.031 --> 00:33:14.373 that Matthew basically in Matthew 9 says 00:33:14.373 --> 00:33:17.151 He's healing the people, thus fulfilling that? 00:33:17.151 --> 00:33:19.246 You're like, wait a second. 00:33:19.246 --> 00:33:22.851 I thought that was spiritual healing back there, 00:33:22.851 --> 00:33:25.023 and Jesus is physically healing. 00:33:25.023 --> 00:33:27.053 We might just talk about the broadness 00:33:27.053 --> 00:33:31.781 of some of God's promises. NOTE Paragraph 00:33:31.781 --> 00:33:34.768 But I got to thinking about this, 00:33:34.768 --> 00:33:37.985 Jesus Himself says, 00:33:37.985 --> 00:33:42.475 if somebody strikes you on one cheek, 00:33:42.475 --> 00:33:46.793 turn to him the other also. 00:33:46.793 --> 00:33:53.734 If a man could just find hope there. 00:33:53.734 --> 00:34:00.327 I've struck Him in the cheek by my actions, 00:34:00.327 --> 00:34:03.657 but He is such a God who sends His Son 00:34:03.657 --> 00:34:06.332 who is the radiance of the glory of God, 00:34:06.332 --> 00:34:08.758 and He is the kind that teaches us 00:34:08.758 --> 00:34:11.930 that if we're struck, turn the other also. 00:34:11.930 --> 00:34:13.976 I mean, if He's teaching that to us, 00:34:13.976 --> 00:34:22.282 is He not also a God who takes many blows, 00:34:22.282 --> 00:34:26.131 many dishonorings, and yet is still willing 00:34:26.131 --> 00:34:30.545 to turn the other cheek? NOTE Paragraph 00:34:30.545 --> 00:34:32.880 Or, how about this? 00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:37.893 In Joel 2, God says, 00:34:37.893 --> 00:34:39.724 "Yet even now..." 00:34:39.724 --> 00:34:42.222 Those three words could be something 00:34:42.222 --> 00:34:43.983 that somebody's faith could cling to. 00:34:43.983 --> 00:34:45.664 "Yet even now..." 00:34:45.664 --> 00:34:47.867 Wait. What's that? 00:34:47.867 --> 00:34:50.132 "Yet even now, declares the Lord, 00:34:50.132 --> 00:34:53.126 return to Me with all your heart." 00:34:53.126 --> 00:34:54.845 You know when you say that - 00:34:54.845 --> 00:34:55.933 "yet even now," 00:34:55.933 --> 00:34:58.561 it's after people have done a lot of bad. 00:34:58.561 --> 00:35:01.502 "Yet even now..." after all you've done, 00:35:01.502 --> 00:35:05.149 "if anyone will turn to Me with all their heart, 00:35:05.149 --> 00:35:07.544 with fasting, with weeping, with mourning, 00:35:07.544 --> 00:35:09.677 rend your hearts and not your garments. 00:35:09.677 --> 00:35:11.115 Return to the Lord your God, 00:35:11.115 --> 00:35:12.986 for He is gracious and merciful..." 00:35:12.986 --> 00:35:14.963 How about these three words? 00:35:14.963 --> 00:35:17.172 "...Slow to anger." 00:35:17.172 --> 00:35:19.508 If a man's faith can get into that 00:35:19.508 --> 00:35:21.667 God is slow to anger. 00:35:21.667 --> 00:35:23.776 I can put my weight on that promise, 00:35:23.776 --> 00:35:26.384 because I've provoked Him for a long time, 00:35:26.384 --> 00:35:29.169 but He's slow to anger. 00:35:29.169 --> 00:35:31.649 Oh, certainly the God of Scripture 00:35:31.649 --> 00:35:34.182 in all of His infinite mercies; 00:35:34.182 --> 00:35:38.362 certainly I could not wear out His kindness 00:35:38.362 --> 00:35:40.628 just in these years I've done this. 00:35:40.628 --> 00:35:43.221 Certainly God is greater than that. 00:35:43.221 --> 00:35:46.750 Those words, "yet even now." NOTE Paragraph 00:35:46.750 --> 00:35:47.901 Or how about this? 00:35:47.901 --> 00:35:51.562 "God's kindness is meant to lead to repentance." 00:35:51.562 --> 00:35:54.647 Because one of the things I told him; 00:35:54.647 --> 00:35:56.765 I told him one of the things 00:35:56.765 --> 00:36:00.961 that tells me God is not done with you 00:36:00.961 --> 00:36:05.263 is He led you to that Paul Washer sermon. 00:36:05.263 --> 00:36:08.323 And He convicted you. 00:36:08.323 --> 00:36:14.204 And you came clean. 00:36:14.204 --> 00:36:15.892 He confessed. 00:36:15.892 --> 00:36:17.094 He confessed to his wife. 00:36:17.094 --> 00:36:20.000 He confessed to his church. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:22.563 That is a kindness. 00:36:22.563 --> 00:36:24.442 And what would you say? 00:36:24.442 --> 00:36:26.405 God's kindnesses are not meant 00:36:26.405 --> 00:36:29.740 to lead him to repentance? 00:36:29.740 --> 00:36:32.423 You see, that isn't the indication 00:36:32.423 --> 00:36:33.995 in my estimation of somebody 00:36:33.995 --> 00:36:36.659 that God is done with. NOTE Paragraph 00:36:36.659 --> 00:36:39.411 Or how about this? 00:36:39.411 --> 00:36:40.840 To Sardis. 00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:43.565 Oh, when I preached about those seven churches 00:36:43.565 --> 00:36:44.666 in Asia Minor, 00:36:44.666 --> 00:36:47.645 Sardis jumped out at me. 00:36:47.645 --> 00:36:51.042 "You have a name 00:36:51.042 --> 00:36:53.375 that you are alive, 00:36:53.375 --> 00:36:56.682 but you are dead." 00:36:56.682 --> 00:36:59.554 This is a church. 00:36:59.554 --> 00:37:03.066 You talk about people exposed to light? 00:37:03.066 --> 00:37:04.731 But you're dead. 00:37:04.731 --> 00:37:06.267 What did He say? No hope? 00:37:06.267 --> 00:37:07.923 You've crossed the line? 00:37:07.923 --> 00:37:09.249 He doesn't. 00:37:09.249 --> 00:37:12.910 He says, "Wake up." 00:37:12.910 --> 00:37:15.297 See, if our faith can just grab words like that: 00:37:15.297 --> 00:37:19.285 "Wake up." NOTE Paragraph 00:37:19.285 --> 00:37:21.261 Of course, there's these words: 00:37:21.261 --> 00:37:23.247 John 6:37 00:37:23.247 --> 00:37:26.551 Our Lord says, "Whoever comes to Me, 00:37:26.551 --> 00:37:29.028 I will never cast out." 00:37:29.028 --> 00:37:30.272 Whoever. 00:37:30.272 --> 00:37:32.433 It doesn't matter what you say you've done. 00:37:32.433 --> 00:37:35.583 If you go to Christ, He won't cast you out. 00:37:35.583 --> 00:37:37.816 Period. 00:37:37.816 --> 00:37:39.979 It's amazing when I come across people 00:37:39.979 --> 00:37:42.132 who are struggling with the unpardonable sin 00:37:42.132 --> 00:37:44.041 and I bring up this text, 00:37:44.041 --> 00:37:48.313 immediately, "yeah, but..." 00:37:48.313 --> 00:37:50.663 Look, if you want to find every reason 00:37:50.663 --> 00:37:53.017 not to believe a text, 00:37:53.017 --> 00:37:55.447 that's classic unbeliever. 00:37:55.447 --> 00:37:57.315 And you will perish. 00:37:57.315 --> 00:38:00.933 See, the only hope is that our faith 00:38:00.933 --> 00:38:05.171 can find a place to stay. NOTE Paragraph 00:38:05.171 --> 00:38:07.265 Bunyan. 00:38:07.265 --> 00:38:09.533 In fact, as I was talking to this guy, 00:38:09.533 --> 00:38:11.668 Bunyan and his "Grace Abounding" 00:38:11.668 --> 00:38:12.766 came to my mind. 00:38:12.766 --> 00:38:14.185 If anybody's ever read that - 00:38:14.185 --> 00:38:16.250 "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners," 00:38:16.250 --> 00:38:18.005 basically what it is is a testimony 00:38:18.005 --> 00:38:20.463 of Bunyan the first few years 00:38:20.463 --> 00:38:22.850 of his Christian life, 00:38:22.850 --> 00:38:24.513 at least, maybe a testimony 00:38:24.513 --> 00:38:26.685 of how God saved him. 00:38:26.685 --> 00:38:30.956 Bunyan suffered hellish struggles. 00:38:30.956 --> 00:38:32.568 You know what he did? 00:38:32.568 --> 00:38:40.328 He would be under some kind of oppression. 00:38:40.328 --> 00:38:44.032 It sometimes would go on for years. 00:38:44.032 --> 00:38:46.010 And he would constantly be in this book 00:38:46.010 --> 00:38:47.674 searching for a promise 00:38:47.674 --> 00:38:50.332 to answer that thing 00:38:50.332 --> 00:38:53.660 that laid hold on him. 00:38:53.660 --> 00:38:56.571 Which was undoubtedly insinuations 00:38:56.571 --> 00:38:59.284 and accusations of the devil. 00:38:59.284 --> 00:39:03.306 Listen, at one point, it was like 00:39:03.306 --> 00:39:07.640 the devil came to him and said, 00:39:07.640 --> 00:39:10.798 "only the elect can be saved." 00:39:10.798 --> 00:39:14.481 Some of you have probably been there. 00:39:14.481 --> 00:39:17.139 "How do you know you're one of the elect?" 00:39:17.139 --> 00:39:24.609 "You're almost certainly not one of the elect." 00:39:24.609 --> 00:39:27.789 Do you know what it was that his faith 00:39:27.789 --> 00:39:31.240 laid hold on? 00:39:31.240 --> 00:39:36.994 He got to thinking about the lives 00:39:36.994 --> 00:39:41.762 of the people of God in Scripture. 00:39:41.762 --> 00:39:44.729 And he came back to this: 00:39:44.729 --> 00:39:47.832 Was there ever anybody in Scripture 00:39:47.832 --> 00:39:50.296 who trusted in God and yet in the end 00:39:50.296 --> 00:39:53.884 were confounded? 00:39:53.884 --> 00:39:56.495 And he found not one. 00:39:56.495 --> 00:40:00.184 Now, that's not a specific verse, 00:40:00.184 --> 00:40:03.520 but you know what he did? 00:40:03.520 --> 00:40:06.745 He's wondering about being elect 00:40:06.745 --> 00:40:10.284 and how's he going to answer Satan? 00:40:10.284 --> 00:40:13.542 He went back to Genesis 1:1 00:40:13.542 --> 00:40:15.867 and he began reading through the whole Bible, 00:40:15.867 --> 00:40:18.294 and everytime somebody came up, 00:40:18.294 --> 00:40:20.751 he looked: was there ever anybody 00:40:20.751 --> 00:40:22.762 who put their trust in the Lord 00:40:22.762 --> 00:40:24.410 who was thrown off at the end? 00:40:24.410 --> 00:40:27.238 You see his conclusion? 00:40:27.238 --> 00:40:29.155 Election isn't really the issue. 00:40:29.155 --> 00:40:31.913 Yes, there are elect people, but how do you know them? 00:40:31.913 --> 00:40:34.429 Anybody that clings to the Lord 00:40:34.429 --> 00:40:37.148 is never confounded. NOTE Paragraph 00:40:37.148 --> 00:40:39.545 You know what he was gripped by at another time? 00:40:39.545 --> 00:40:41.969 He's walking along and it's like these thoughts - 00:40:41.969 --> 00:40:43.975 sometimes you see in Pilgrim's Progress - 00:40:43.975 --> 00:40:45.037 you remember Pilgrim? 00:40:45.037 --> 00:40:47.718 He's walking through the valley of the shadow of death, 00:40:47.718 --> 00:40:49.777 and these little hellish imps are coming up 00:40:49.777 --> 00:40:51.147 and whispering in his ear. 00:40:51.147 --> 00:40:53.833 Look, this is a reflection of his own life. 00:40:53.833 --> 00:40:55.529 Maybe some of you know - 00:40:55.529 --> 00:40:57.751 we know this as Christians. 00:40:57.751 --> 00:41:00.248 The devil comes up and suggests things. 00:41:00.248 --> 00:41:02.994 Whispers things. Whispers doubts. 00:41:02.994 --> 00:41:06.097 Suddenly, we're gripped by it. 00:41:06.097 --> 00:41:07.494 The devil came to him one day 00:41:07.494 --> 00:41:09.871 and said, "What if the day of grace 00:41:09.871 --> 00:41:11.662 should be past and gone?" 00:41:11.662 --> 00:41:13.185 What if there's no hope? 00:41:13.185 --> 00:41:14.954 Your opportunity came and went. 00:41:14.954 --> 00:41:19.553 The day of grace. 00:41:19.553 --> 00:41:23.958 Bunyan found his faith cleave to this: 00:41:23.958 --> 00:41:27.090 Luke 14:22 - you may know that portion of Scripture. 00:41:27.090 --> 00:41:28.565 You don't have to turn there. 00:41:28.565 --> 00:41:30.455 But it's where the great feast is. 00:41:30.455 --> 00:41:32.550 And you remember, those who were invited 00:41:32.550 --> 00:41:33.521 were told to come in 00:41:33.521 --> 00:41:35.276 and they all began to make excuse. 00:41:35.276 --> 00:41:36.605 You remember that. 00:41:36.605 --> 00:41:40.127 This text: "The servant said, 00:41:40.127 --> 00:41:43.853 'Sir, what you have commanded has been done 00:41:43.853 --> 00:41:46.214 and still there is room.'" 00:41:46.214 --> 00:41:48.074 Those words right there: 00:41:48.074 --> 00:41:50.360 "still there is room." 00:41:50.360 --> 00:41:53.199 His faith was able to hold on. 00:41:53.199 --> 00:41:56.842 The devil's saying the day may be past for you, 00:41:56.842 --> 00:42:00.070 and those words came with power to his own soul. 00:42:00.070 --> 00:42:02.714 "But still there is room." 00:42:02.714 --> 00:42:04.367 God is wanting to fill His house. 00:42:04.367 --> 00:42:09.465 The day can't be past when there's still empty seats. NOTE Paragraph 00:42:09.465 --> 00:42:13.524 (Incomplete thought) 00:42:13.524 --> 00:42:16.250 Before I tell you more about Bunyan, 00:42:16.250 --> 00:42:17.806 as far as his experiences. 00:42:17.806 --> 00:42:20.773 Let me tell you about Bunyan 00:42:20.773 --> 00:42:22.576 in another one of the illustrations 00:42:22.576 --> 00:42:24.572 that he wrote. 00:42:24.572 --> 00:42:27.173 I think this is classic. 00:42:27.173 --> 00:42:30.375 There is a man in the Interpreter's house - 00:42:30.375 --> 00:42:32.348 I told you about the muck raker before 00:42:32.348 --> 00:42:34.174 when his wife was there, 00:42:34.174 --> 00:42:37.682 but here's this man in an iron cage. 00:42:37.682 --> 00:42:40.043 You know what the man in the iron cage is? 00:42:40.043 --> 00:42:46.746 Somebody who has truly sinned beyond hope. 00:42:46.746 --> 00:42:48.785 And we could get all into that account, 00:42:48.785 --> 00:42:49.709 but you know what? 00:42:49.709 --> 00:42:52.193 That man in that iron cage said two things 00:42:52.193 --> 00:42:56.363 that I think are very insightful. 00:42:56.363 --> 00:42:58.522 He said this: 00:42:58.522 --> 00:43:01.595 "I've crucified Christ to myself afresh. 00:43:01.595 --> 00:43:03.612 I've despised His person. 00:43:03.612 --> 00:43:05.607 I've despised His righteousness. 00:43:05.607 --> 00:43:08.171 I've counted His blood an unholy thing. 00:43:08.171 --> 00:43:11.810 I have done despite to the Spirit of grace. 00:43:11.810 --> 00:43:15.917 Therefore, I have shut myself out 00:43:15.917 --> 00:43:19.437 of all the promises." 00:43:19.437 --> 00:43:22.622 I've shut myself out. 00:43:22.622 --> 00:43:25.512 Now how did he know that? 00:43:25.512 --> 00:43:29.419 Because he comes along and says this: 00:43:29.419 --> 00:43:33.191 "God's Word gives me no hope 00:43:33.191 --> 00:43:36.147 of encouragement to believe." 00:43:36.147 --> 00:43:39.498 Oh, that's key. That's key. 00:43:39.498 --> 00:43:44.562 I am certain that is when God is done with somebody. 00:43:44.562 --> 00:43:47.102 When they go through the Scripture, 00:43:47.102 --> 00:43:52.285 and they can't find a promise 00:43:52.285 --> 00:43:57.050 for their faith to land on. 00:43:57.050 --> 00:43:58.912 You come to them as a believer, 00:43:58.912 --> 00:44:01.628 and you tell them, look, 00:44:01.628 --> 00:44:05.719 Jesus says whoever comes to Me, 00:44:05.719 --> 00:44:10.374 I will never cast out. 00:44:10.374 --> 00:44:13.626 Your faith seizes it. 00:44:13.626 --> 00:44:15.618 You're trusting that. 00:44:15.618 --> 00:44:19.064 And you bring it to them. 00:44:19.064 --> 00:44:21.087 But it just goes right past them. 00:44:21.087 --> 00:44:22.724 Why? 00:44:22.724 --> 00:44:26.358 Oftentimes, whether they've actually 00:44:26.358 --> 00:44:29.438 committed the unpardonable sin or not, 00:44:29.438 --> 00:44:31.547 look, if their faith can't find anything 00:44:31.547 --> 00:44:34.720 in Scripture to latch onto, 00:44:34.720 --> 00:44:37.901 there's no hope. 00:44:37.901 --> 00:44:40.399 You need to remember, 00:44:40.399 --> 00:44:44.674 it's not that our faith latches onto a promise, 00:44:44.674 --> 00:44:48.014 so much as it latches onto the One 00:44:48.014 --> 00:44:51.292 who gave the promise. 00:44:51.292 --> 00:44:52.995 And if we're not able to do that, 00:44:52.995 --> 00:44:56.154 that's what an unbeliever is. 00:44:56.154 --> 00:44:58.481 You see, when you cross the line; 00:44:58.481 --> 00:45:02.665 when you sin so as to provoke, 00:45:02.665 --> 00:45:07.654 enrage the Spirit, 00:45:07.654 --> 00:45:11.176 the evidence is when that Spirit no longer 00:45:11.176 --> 00:45:14.310 gives you any hope in anything 00:45:14.310 --> 00:45:18.074 that God has said. NOTE Paragraph 00:45:18.074 --> 00:45:19.381 We come back to Bunyan. 00:45:19.381 --> 00:45:22.177 You know what, he's reading through Scripture one time, 00:45:22.177 --> 00:45:26.096 and he saw that Jesus specifically called 00:45:26.096 --> 00:45:28.610 certain people to follow Him. 00:45:28.610 --> 00:45:31.733 But it's like the devil rushed right in 00:45:31.733 --> 00:45:34.478 and said, "Oh, but He didn't call everybody." 00:45:34.478 --> 00:45:36.048 He said he was especially struck 00:45:36.048 --> 00:45:39.085 by how Jesus is said to have chosen 00:45:39.085 --> 00:45:43.829 certain individuals that He called apostles. 00:45:43.829 --> 00:45:45.251 And what he was struck with 00:45:45.251 --> 00:45:48.290 was fearing that he was not called. 00:45:48.290 --> 00:45:51.530 Oh, how he longed to be John and James 00:45:51.530 --> 00:45:54.356 and Peter - even the rich, young ruler, 00:45:54.356 --> 00:45:57.656 to actually hear the words from Jesus' mouth Himself: 00:45:57.656 --> 00:46:01.365 "Follow Me." 00:46:01.365 --> 00:46:03.374 Now listen, you have to understand, 00:46:03.374 --> 00:46:05.787 he was often months and years 00:46:05.787 --> 00:46:07.837 plagued by these thoughts. 00:46:07.837 --> 00:46:09.098 It gave him no rest. 00:46:09.098 --> 00:46:10.544 He'd lay there in bed at night 00:46:10.544 --> 00:46:12.879 and he'd be thinking through all these things, 00:46:12.879 --> 00:46:15.118 scouring Scripture looking for something. 00:46:15.118 --> 00:46:17.721 Do you know what he found? 00:46:17.721 --> 00:46:20.772 He found a text in Isaiah 45:5. 00:46:20.772 --> 00:46:27.902 "I will gird you though you have not known Me." 00:46:27.902 --> 00:46:30.948 And it brought hope and light to his soul. 00:46:30.948 --> 00:46:34.106 You say I don't see it. It doesn't matter. 00:46:34.106 --> 00:46:36.336 He did. 00:46:36.336 --> 00:46:37.848 And his faith laid hold on it. 00:46:37.848 --> 00:46:38.846 And you know what? 00:46:38.846 --> 00:46:42.980 A text he never saw, you might see. 00:46:42.980 --> 00:46:44.570 You know another one? 00:46:44.570 --> 00:46:46.101 He was listening to a sermon 00:46:46.101 --> 00:46:48.117 on the Song of Solomon 4:1. 00:46:48.117 --> 00:46:49.953 "Behold, you are fair..." 00:46:49.953 --> 00:46:53.324 This is Christ speaking to His people. 00:46:53.324 --> 00:46:56.368 "Behold, you are fair, My love." 00:46:56.368 --> 00:46:58.657 Behold, you are fair... 00:46:58.657 --> 00:47:05.436 Those two words: "My love." 00:47:05.436 --> 00:47:08.620 It chased the clouds away. 00:47:08.620 --> 00:47:11.513 Two words! 00:47:11.513 --> 00:47:14.494 You see, there's promise in those two words. 00:47:14.494 --> 00:47:15.880 My love. 00:47:15.880 --> 00:47:18.932 And if they come home to your soul, 00:47:18.932 --> 00:47:20.973 to where your faith can lay hold on them, 00:47:20.973 --> 00:47:23.445 you can resist the devil 00:47:23.445 --> 00:47:26.565 in the fiercest battle, 00:47:26.565 --> 00:47:28.845 by just two words, 00:47:28.845 --> 00:47:34.230 if your faith is able to cling to them. 00:47:34.230 --> 00:47:36.644 You know, the devil came to him one day 00:47:36.644 --> 00:47:41.308 and said, "Oh, you may have found Christ. 00:47:41.308 --> 00:47:42.676 But you know what? 00:47:42.676 --> 00:47:45.104 If you live any length of time, 00:47:45.104 --> 00:47:47.279 ah, you see how many people fall away. 00:47:47.279 --> 00:47:49.390 You're going to fall away. 00:47:49.390 --> 00:47:53.083 You won't hold fast." 00:47:53.083 --> 00:47:55.520 Now this is a text that we might anticipate: 00:47:55.520 --> 00:47:56.944 He found Romans 8:38-39: 00:47:56.944 --> 00:47:58.950 "I am sure that neither death, nor life 00:47:58.950 --> 00:48:01.240 nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, 00:48:01.240 --> 00:48:02.763 nor things to come, nor power, 00:48:02.763 --> 00:48:05.821 nor height, depth, anything else in all creation will be able to 00:48:05.821 --> 00:48:08.639 separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." 00:48:08.639 --> 00:48:15.248 And he said if that's true, long life can't separate me. NOTE Paragraph 00:48:15.248 --> 00:48:18.585 And another time, it was his extreme sinfulness. 00:48:18.585 --> 00:48:20.882 He just felt like I'm too wicked 00:48:20.882 --> 00:48:23.292 to be a Christian. 00:48:23.292 --> 00:48:25.251 This time it was Colossians 1:20 - 00:48:25.251 --> 00:48:27.634 "making peace by the blood of His cross." 00:48:27.634 --> 00:48:32.512 It came to him with sweetness and power. NOTE Paragraph 00:48:32.512 --> 00:48:36.344 And another time, he's being tempted 00:48:36.344 --> 00:48:40.212 to exchange Christ for the world. 00:48:40.212 --> 00:48:41.870 It's like these thoughts just keep 00:48:41.870 --> 00:48:44.058 bombarding him, bombarding him: 00:48:44.058 --> 00:48:45.540 "Just give up Christ." 00:48:45.540 --> 00:48:47.266 "Sell Christ and you can have this, 00:48:47.266 --> 00:48:48.510 you can have this." 00:48:48.510 --> 00:48:50.952 He was just being tormented. 00:48:50.952 --> 00:48:55.173 And of all things, a text in Leviticus. 00:48:55.173 --> 00:48:57.462 Leviticus 25:23 - 00:48:57.462 --> 00:49:03.343 Now look, you will never go to Leviticus 25:23, 00:49:03.343 --> 00:49:07.050 unless you first recognize 2 Corinthians 1:20. 00:49:07.050 --> 00:49:09.440 And that if you're justified by faith, 00:49:09.440 --> 00:49:15.999 it's the key to every single promise of God. 00:49:15.999 --> 00:49:17.535 And you know what he saw? 00:49:17.535 --> 00:49:20.941 This text: "The land shall not be sold permanently, 00:49:20.941 --> 00:49:24.991 for the land is Mine." 00:49:24.991 --> 00:49:26.991 You know what he recognized? 00:49:26.991 --> 00:49:29.513 God saved me. 00:49:29.513 --> 00:49:36.169 The inheritance He gives is permanent. 00:49:36.169 --> 00:49:39.542 It's not just that's reason to think 00:49:39.542 --> 00:49:42.359 I shouldn't exchange Christ for the world. 00:49:42.359 --> 00:49:44.152 It was reason for him to think: 00:49:44.152 --> 00:49:48.558 I can't exchange Christ for the world. 00:49:48.558 --> 00:49:52.295 If God once bestows inheritance on me, 00:49:52.295 --> 00:49:54.796 He's not going to take it away. 00:49:54.796 --> 00:49:56.546 His confidence was in God. 00:49:56.546 --> 00:49:58.363 He's going to cause me to stand. 00:49:58.363 --> 00:50:00.437 I won't give it away. 00:50:00.437 --> 00:50:02.698 Sometimes the thoughts come into our mind, 00:50:02.698 --> 00:50:05.095 and then it's almost like the devil can do this: 00:50:05.095 --> 00:50:07.275 he puts the suggestion in your mind 00:50:07.275 --> 00:50:09.323 and now that you've actually thought it, 00:50:09.323 --> 00:50:11.775 you feel guilty yourself and he condemns you 00:50:11.775 --> 00:50:15.664 for having thought it. NOTE Paragraph 00:50:15.664 --> 00:50:17.468 Other times, he thought he committed 00:50:17.468 --> 00:50:21.212 the unpardonable sin. 00:50:21.212 --> 00:50:24.469 This was Psalm 68:18 00:50:24.469 --> 00:50:25.925 that he found deliverance. 00:50:25.925 --> 00:50:27.902 "Thou hast received gifts for men..." 00:50:27.902 --> 00:50:29.645 You know this is what Paul quotes 00:50:29.645 --> 00:50:32.356 in Ephesians 4 that we're going to eventually get to, 00:50:32.356 --> 00:50:34.649 but it's Jesus giving gifts to men. 00:50:34.649 --> 00:50:36.874 He found this: "Thou hast received 00:50:36.874 --> 00:50:42.253 gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also." 00:50:42.253 --> 00:50:45.114 And he thought if Christ gives gifts 00:50:45.114 --> 00:50:47.321 and even gives them to the rebellious, 00:50:47.321 --> 00:50:48.590 he started thinking, 00:50:48.590 --> 00:50:50.976 well, that's what he was condemning himself for. 00:50:50.976 --> 00:50:53.741 After knowing Christ, having committed some rebellion, 00:50:53.741 --> 00:50:56.314 and here's somebody having committed rebellion 00:50:56.314 --> 00:50:58.377 and Christ is giving gifts to them. 00:50:58.377 --> 00:51:00.797 And so if that's the case... 00:51:00.797 --> 00:51:03.116 He started thinking at first, 00:51:03.116 --> 00:51:05.072 I've committed the unpardonable sin. 00:51:05.072 --> 00:51:07.117 Well, there's David. 00:51:07.117 --> 00:51:10.196 Yeah, but my sin that I committed isn't like David's. 00:51:10.196 --> 00:51:12.045 And then he thought about Peter. 00:51:12.045 --> 00:51:14.177 And he thought yeah, Peter's closest. 00:51:14.177 --> 00:51:16.761 And then he felt like, yeah, but there's exceptions. 00:51:16.761 --> 00:51:18.200 Mine's not exactly like that. 00:51:18.200 --> 00:51:20.083 Then he felt all condemned and he said 00:51:20.083 --> 00:51:22.837 my sin is more like Judas'. 00:51:22.837 --> 00:51:27.069 But in the end, with all the struggles 00:51:27.069 --> 00:51:30.022 it was this. 00:51:30.022 --> 00:51:34.291 One little text about Jesus giving gifts 00:51:34.291 --> 00:51:36.463 to the rebellious also. 00:51:36.463 --> 00:51:39.349 And see, when he would grab hold on these, 00:51:39.349 --> 00:51:42.567 then the devil's ability would weaken 00:51:42.567 --> 00:51:45.729 and you resist the devil 00:51:45.729 --> 00:51:47.905 and he flees away. NOTE Paragraph 00:51:47.905 --> 00:51:54.649 My whole point of saying all these things to you is this: 00:51:54.649 --> 00:51:56.110 My brothers and sisters, 00:51:56.110 --> 00:52:02.328 we are people of promise. 00:52:02.328 --> 00:52:05.336 When Bunyan portrayed this, 00:52:05.336 --> 00:52:09.804 Apollyon fighting Christian. 00:52:09.804 --> 00:52:11.932 You'll remember in the battle, 00:52:11.932 --> 00:52:16.976 the sword flew out of Pilgrim's hand. 00:52:16.976 --> 00:52:21.616 That means he lost touch 00:52:21.616 --> 00:52:24.167 with the promises for a moment. 00:52:24.167 --> 00:52:25.583 And when that happened, 00:52:25.583 --> 00:52:29.874 Apollyon said, "I'm sure of you now." 00:52:29.874 --> 00:52:34.731 And you know how Pilgrim won the day? 00:52:34.731 --> 00:52:38.994 His fingers got hold of the sword. 00:52:38.994 --> 00:52:41.031 And he quotes Micah 7:8, 00:52:41.031 --> 00:52:43.374 "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy. 00:52:43.374 --> 00:52:45.132 When I fall, I shall arise; 00:52:45.132 --> 00:52:46.601 when I sit in darkness, 00:52:46.601 --> 00:52:49.316 the Lord shall be a light unto me." 00:52:49.316 --> 00:52:52.577 What Bunyan is doing is portraying the reality of this fight. 00:52:52.577 --> 00:52:55.630 You've got to find the promise. 00:52:55.630 --> 00:52:57.293 Whatever your struggle, 00:52:57.293 --> 00:52:59.004 what sins you struggle with, 00:52:59.004 --> 00:53:00.955 what trials you go through, 00:53:00.955 --> 00:53:03.090 what thoughts haunt your mind 00:53:03.090 --> 00:53:04.504 in your brain, 00:53:04.504 --> 00:53:07.425 what attacks the devil may throw at you, 00:53:07.425 --> 00:53:10.291 what slurs, what accusations, 00:53:10.291 --> 00:53:12.194 this is where we must come to. 00:53:12.194 --> 00:53:14.091 We must be a people of promise. 00:53:14.091 --> 00:53:17.706 We must be thinking about promise. 00:53:17.706 --> 00:53:22.871 Look, men of old like Bunyan; 00:53:22.871 --> 00:53:26.325 men made of the same stuff we're made of, 00:53:26.325 --> 00:53:29.609 they were finding promises in Micah. 00:53:29.609 --> 00:53:32.497 They were finding promises in Colossians, 00:53:32.497 --> 00:53:35.686 in Leviticus, in Psalms, Isaiah. 00:53:35.686 --> 00:53:37.375 They were finding promises - 00:53:37.375 --> 00:53:41.099 sometimes obscure promises 00:53:41.099 --> 00:53:43.930 to sink their faith into. 00:53:43.930 --> 00:53:45.761 But you'll never do that, like I said, 00:53:45.761 --> 00:53:47.257 you'll never do that 00:53:47.257 --> 00:53:49.598 unless you believe that every promise 00:53:49.598 --> 00:53:52.887 is yours in Christ. 00:53:52.887 --> 00:53:55.793 Read this book as for yourself - 00:53:55.793 --> 00:53:57.652 even the Old Testament. 00:53:57.652 --> 00:53:59.478 It's for you. 00:53:59.478 --> 00:54:01.691 Don't write that off as: 00:54:01.691 --> 00:54:03.045 well, that's for the Jews, 00:54:03.045 --> 00:54:05.731 or it sounds like He's speaking to Israel all the time. 00:54:05.731 --> 00:54:07.159 How can I lay claim to this? 00:54:07.159 --> 00:54:09.970 That's what the dispensationalists will do to you. 00:54:09.970 --> 00:54:12.504 They'll see to disarm you. Don't let them do that. 00:54:12.504 --> 00:54:15.489 Don't let them steal away your promises. 00:54:15.489 --> 00:54:17.880 Because you need those promises. 00:54:17.880 --> 00:54:19.743 You need them to survive. 00:54:19.743 --> 00:54:21.648 You need them to fight. 00:54:21.648 --> 00:54:23.311 We are people of promise. 00:54:23.311 --> 00:54:26.145 We are partakers of the promise. 00:54:26.145 --> 00:54:27.124 Remember that. 00:54:27.124 --> 00:54:29.935 We are people of the promise. 00:54:29.935 --> 00:54:31.552 We have promises. 00:54:31.552 --> 00:54:33.369 And God's given us a bunch of them. 00:54:33.369 --> 00:54:34.891 They're His promises. 00:54:34.891 --> 00:54:36.709 They're not just worldly promises, 00:54:36.709 --> 00:54:37.913 vague promises. 00:54:37.913 --> 00:54:40.308 They're God-given promises 00:54:40.308 --> 00:54:42.269 that He's given to us to fight 00:54:42.269 --> 00:54:44.773 the good fight of faith with. 00:54:44.773 --> 00:54:47.040 To seize hold of. To put our weight on. 00:54:47.040 --> 00:54:49.413 Like I said before, climb on these. 00:54:49.413 --> 00:54:51.773 Even if it comes down to two words: 00:54:51.773 --> 00:54:53.728 My love. 00:54:53.728 --> 00:54:59.259 Or three words: There's still room. 00:54:59.259 --> 00:55:03.020 I mean, whatever it is, look. 00:55:03.020 --> 00:55:06.808 Look. Search. Know. 00:55:06.808 --> 00:55:08.287 Read your Scriptures. 00:55:08.287 --> 00:55:09.862 Be here. 00:55:09.862 --> 00:55:11.524 Arm yourselves. 00:55:11.524 --> 00:55:12.940 People of promise. 00:55:12.940 --> 00:55:15.345 Arm yourselves. 00:55:15.345 --> 00:55:18.345 We have a promise Giver. 00:55:18.345 --> 00:55:21.438 You don't need every single promise 00:55:21.438 --> 00:55:23.442 every single day. 00:55:23.442 --> 00:55:26.773 You can't even think of all of them. 00:55:26.773 --> 00:55:28.502 But it may be just two words. 00:55:28.502 --> 00:55:29.910 It may be three words 00:55:29.910 --> 00:55:33.519 that will carry you victoriously in battle 00:55:33.519 --> 00:55:36.928 against an archangel. 00:55:36.928 --> 00:55:38.214 Isn't that amazing? 00:55:38.214 --> 00:55:39.749 That's what you've been given. 00:55:39.749 --> 00:55:42.203 That is the offensive weapon 00:55:42.203 --> 00:55:43.691 that we're going to come to 00:55:43.691 --> 00:55:45.027 in Ephesians 6. 00:55:45.027 --> 00:55:47.158 The sword of the Spirit. 00:55:47.158 --> 00:55:51.391 You can defeat powers 00:55:51.391 --> 00:55:56.967 and principalities of wickedness, 00:55:56.967 --> 00:56:01.776 sometimes through two or three words. 00:56:01.776 --> 00:56:05.225 If your faith will see in those words 00:56:05.225 --> 00:56:08.459 a promise of the living God 00:56:08.459 --> 00:56:10.610 and hold fast. 00:56:10.610 --> 00:56:14.353 You'll resist the devil and he'll flee. 00:56:14.353 --> 00:56:17.524 May God help us, brethren. NOTE Paragraph 00:56:17.524 --> 00:56:19.506 Father, we pray, 00:56:19.506 --> 00:56:23.480 give us these words. 00:56:23.480 --> 00:56:25.647 Give us these promises. 00:56:25.647 --> 00:56:27.029 Help us to find them. 00:56:27.029 --> 00:56:29.240 Help my brothers and sisters to find the ones 00:56:29.240 --> 00:56:30.973 that they need now to deal with 00:56:30.973 --> 00:56:32.928 what they're dealing with in their lives, 00:56:32.928 --> 00:56:34.208 even on the best days, 00:56:34.208 --> 00:56:35.697 the glorious days, 00:56:35.697 --> 00:56:39.941 the sun-shining days, 00:56:39.941 --> 00:56:45.337 we still need to live on promise. 00:56:45.337 --> 00:56:57.543 Lord, give us minds and hearts 00:56:57.543 --> 00:56:59.645 that work right. 00:56:59.645 --> 00:57:02.019 Sound minds 00:57:02.019 --> 00:57:03.503 where Scripture is real; 00:57:03.503 --> 00:57:04.795 where it flows. 00:57:04.795 --> 00:57:07.340 Help us to fight 00:57:07.340 --> 00:57:09.598 just like our Savior fought. 00:57:09.598 --> 00:57:11.578 When the devil brought his accusations 00:57:11.578 --> 00:57:12.779 and his temptations, 00:57:12.779 --> 00:57:15.912 our Master answered perfectly 00:57:15.912 --> 00:57:18.570 with Scripture. 00:57:18.570 --> 00:57:23.972 All three responses from Deuteronomy. 00:57:23.972 --> 00:57:27.665 Help us to handle Scripture like that. 00:57:27.665 --> 00:57:31.158 To know how to answer. 00:57:31.158 --> 00:57:35.598 Lord, arm us. Equip us. 00:57:35.598 --> 00:57:37.193 Help us to be like Bunyan, 00:57:37.193 --> 00:57:42.840 and even more, help us to be like Christ. 00:57:42.840 --> 00:57:46.449 We pray for His help and in His name, 00:57:46.449 --> 00:57:47.193 Amen.