The Promise | Tyrone P Jones | No Other Gospel | Full Service

Good morning, good morning church. My name is Karina, I am your host today and I just wanna welcome you to Church for the City. I see some of you already making your way to stand. Let's go ahead and stand to our feet just as we prepare for worship in the word. If you're here for the very first time, I wanna point your attention to what we call a tap disc. That tap disc is our way of getting to know you and your family. We'd love to know if it's your first time today or if you haven't gotten connected. Make sure you tap that disc before you make your way out of the service today. If you don't wanna tap the disc, you can always stop by the connect table on your way out of the service or if you're watching online, you can click that link sent in by your host. I'm gonna read a scripture today that I feel like is just so timely for our church. It's in Acts 2 and it starts in verse 46. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they receive their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Just like the early church, we are experiencing so much growth.

We are making room for more. I know that you feel it in this service. So as people are making their way in, let's all be part of the guest services team today. You can scoot in. Look, I like the edges too, okay? I'm an edge person when I sit in a row, but if you see someone looking for a chair, we just wanna ask if you have something available that you go ahead and let them know. Can we do that this morning, church? Can we make room for more? All right, let's pray before we get to worship. Lord, we thank you that we are experiencing growth, God. We thank you for the opportunity to make room for more, that as we make room for more, that that empty seat next to us is a person who has the opportunity to experience your reality and your presence. We ask that you just clear our minds for worship, Lord, that you prepare our hearts and that we're able to hear clearly from you this morning. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. All right, let's worship. Come on, just lift up your thanksgiving, your praise today in this moment, despite what you're facing today. Let's lift our eyes to Christ. Christ is my firm foundation. The rock on which I stand with everything around me shaking.

I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down. He's faithful through generations. So why would He fail now? He won't. Oh, no, He won't. Yeah, He won't. He won't. He's never let me down. He's faithful in every season. So why would He fail now? He won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. ♪ He's my firm foundation ♪ ♪ The rock on which I stand ♪ ♪ When everything around me's shaking ♪ ♪ Oh, I've never been more glad ♪ ♪ That I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ He's never let me down ♪ ♪ He's been faithful through generations ♪ ♪ So why would He fail now ♪ ♪ He won't fail himself today ♪ ♪ He won't fail himself today ♪ ♪ He won't fail ♪

♪ He won't fail ♪ ♪ He won't, no, no, no ♪ ♪ He won't ♪ ♪ He won't fail ♪ ♪ He won't fail ♪ Come on, just lift up your hands all over this place today and surrender, position yourself to receive. We trust in you, Lord. Let's hold the rock. ♪ Yes, I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ As I'm standing strong on you ♪ ♪ Yes, I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ As my house was built on you ♪ ♪ I've never been more glad ♪ ♪ That I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ He's never let me down ♪ ♪ He's faithful through generations ♪ ♪ So why would he fail now? ♪ ♪ Why would he fail now? ♪ ♪ He won't, he won't, he won't, he won't fail ♪ ♪ He won't fail, he won't, he won't fail, he won't fall ♪ ♪ He won't fail, he won't fall, he won't fail ♪ He remains on the throne. ♪ He won't fail, he won't fail, won't fail, won't fail, won't fail, won't fail, won't fail, won't fail ♪ Rest in the promises of the Lord. Amen, amen church. Come on, let's continue to celebrate as we watch someone go public with their faith this morning. I didn't always know God. My name is Abby. I didn't always know Jesus.

And I used to have a different understanding of my life and God. I didn't know the love of God until I joined Twain's group and started wanting to learn more about Him. In group, I realized that I have not always been faithful to God, but He has always been faithful to me and brought me through the trails in my life. I decided to give my life to Jesus. follow him and follow him at summer jam i knew it was time to to be baptized and grow in my faith i am so thankful that jesus christ is my savior and that i am the child of god today i'm going live with my today i'm going public with my faith abby jesus says every disciple should be baptized in the name of the father son and holy spirit and because of your confession of faith today i baptize you in the name of the lord jesus christ for the remission of your sins and according to scripture you shall receive the gift of the holy spirit thank you jesus for the work that you are doing church can we enter his gates for thanksgiving this morning for all the things that he's done for us holy spirit come so now that i'm yours and you secret give me jesus this world you more than silver that i've tasted is you Oh Jesus I don't need anything i don't need anything else you are my one You are my

one I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else you are my one You are my one I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one and only Bless your heart, bless your heart You are my one and only Jesus, bring me to you You can not hold this world Give me Jesus, give me Jesus You can not hold this world I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one and only I don't want anyone else I don't need anything else You are my one and only You are my one Lord, here's my heart again I come just as I am All that I have, I give to you I don't have much to bring Faith like a mustard seed

All that I have, I give to you I put all my hope and trust In your promise Oh, I'm reaching for the hem of your garment Oh, I'm desperate for you Oh Jesus, I won't live without you And I want your presence I'm after your heart, where you are I am running, I'm after your heart Just one touch of your glory I have looked in all your ways I will seek you on my days For you alone will satisfy me Lord of my soul What else will I long for When you alone will satisfy I put all my hope and trust In your promise Oh, I'm reaching for the hem of your garment Oh, I'm desperate for you Oh Jesus, I won't live without You. I want Your presence, I'm after Your heart. Where You are, I am running. I'm after Your heart, just one touch of Your glory. Oh, I'm running after You. We're running after You. Oh, I'm running after You. Come down, fall down. I want to see You, Jesus. Consider me and feel me. Oh, I want to touch You, Jesus. Come down, fall down. Oh, I want to see You, Jesus. Consider me and feel me. Oh, I want to touch You, Jesus. Come down, fall down. Oh, I want to see You, Jesus. Consider me and feel me. Oh, I want to touch You, Jesus. Come down, fall down. Oh, I want to see You, Jesus.

Consider me and feel me. Oh, I want to touch You, Jesus. Oh, I'm desperate for You. Jesus, I won't live without You. I want Your presence, I'm after Your heart. Where You are, I am running. I'm after Your heart, just one touch of Your glory. Come down, fall down. I want to see You, Jesus. Consider me and feel me. Oh, I want to touch You, Jesus. Come down, fall down. Oh, I want to see You, Jesus. Consider me and feel me. Oh, I want to touch You, Jesus. Oh, I want to touch You, Jesus. I want to touch You, Jesus. We want to touch You. We want to see You. I want to touch You, Jesus. God, we lift up the name of Jesus victorious. God, we thank You, Lord. We thank You for Your presence. God, we behold You, God. We behold You and Your majesty today. Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, may we just have such an awareness of Your presence today. Thank You, Lord. Thank You for being near to us. Thank You for allowing us and giving us the opportunity to draw near to You. And we thank You for the blood of Jesus. We thank You that You have pierced the veil, that we can come before You boldly and freely. God, we just submit ourselves to You, God. We are desperate for You, God. We are desperate for Your presence. May we continue to be desperate for You, Lord. And to continue to pursue Your presence with everything that we have, with everything that we are. Holy Spirit, rest upon this place. May we just abide in Your grace today. May we remain in You today. May we remain in You today. It's in Jesus' name. And the church said, Amen. Amen. Well, church, before we prepare for the message, we're going to take this time to meet people around you. We call it Minute to Mingle. Feel free to meet someone you've never met before. Tell them that you're thankful they're here in the house today. You

Right, well, welcome to Church for the City where we'll teach the Word of God. We'll encounter the presence of the Lord as we just did there. It was a wonderful time in worship. Can you say amen to that? Yes, and we'll spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So thank you for joining in with us to be part of that. We want to help people that are far from God find life in Christ. Let's give a shout out to the online campus, the prison campus, those that are joining us in the jail. Just a few quick things. The men's breakfast is October 11th. You'll get more information on that, but you can register now for that. Financial Peace is a great class that helps you think through what God says about finances and how you'd apply that in every day of your life. That starts next Sunday in the DC building in the 830 service. So you could go there at 830 and still be here at 10 a.m. And also this Wednesday is our first Wednesday, and we're very excited to gather together for worship prayer. Actually, my pastor, Dave Patterson, will be here on Wednesday night. Great preacher. It's going to be a great time of, again, worship, prayer. He'll deliver a great message. It's going to be a Holy Spirit encounter. So come on out like you did. You were strong in support last first Wednesday in September. Looking forward to a strong showing this Wednesday, and you will not be disappointed. I do want to thank you for your generosity. Every time you come into the building, there's an opportunity to give. And thank you for your faithfulness. But trust me, it's having an impact in so, so, so many places. All right, let's stand. Take off your caps. If you have on a cap, we're going to pray, and I'm going to dive right into the Word today. Father, I want to thank you for our time together, our time in the house. Appreciate the presence of you and just you being an amazing God. I pray, Lord God, that you will help us as we deliver what you have given us, and I pray that it has an impact upon those who are hearing and listening. Come Holy Spirit, be with me. Your anointing may I decrease that you might increase, but come Holy Spirit and open up the minds and the hearts of those that are listening. Lord, we pray for every church in our county. We want every church to grow, to be healthy, to be a safe place. We pray particularly for Freedom Baptist and Freedom Christian Academy, Lord, for your help, for wisdom with the deacons, the pastor, Lord, the whole process of what they're going through. I just pray for wisdom. I pray for grace. I pray for reconciliation. I pray for healing. I pray for this church and this school, Lord God, to be sustained by your goodness through all of this. May all parties walk in humility that you, Lord, might be glorified. Father,

I pray for every military service man and woman that's around this world protecting us. Keep them safe. In a world of hostility, protect them. Lord, on the streets, those that are first responders, Lord, I pray that you keep them free from harm as they do their very best, Lord God, to protect us, to protect our streets, Lord, to remove crime from the streets, Lord, that we can all be safe and just enjoy one another, and above all, enjoy this great land that we live in. Father, we do thank you and we love you. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. All right. Take out your Bible. We're going to Galatians chapter 3, verse 15 through 22. Galatians 3, verse 15 through 22. Here's the reading of the Word. Galatians 3, 15 through 22. To give a human example, brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one who knows that our ads to it once has been ratified. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ. This is what I mean. The law which came 430 years afterwards does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made. and it was put into place through angels by an intermediary. Not an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so the promise by faith in Christ Jesus might be given to those who believe. Can you say amen to the reading of the Word? Okay, you may be seated. Now without doubt, this section of Scripture is one of the most difficult sections of Scripture. There's two verses here, 19 and 20, that absolutely many commentaries will almost say that they're two of the most difficult passages in all of the Bible. And if you read 300 commentaries, they're going to give you 300 different answers of what it means. My hope though today is I want to do a teaching and I want to...first of all, I do want you to understand what these passages mean, Galatians 3, 15 through 22. But I also want you to...and of course, I want someone who doesn't know Jesus, who's far from God to come to have life in Christ. But I want you to understand what the Abrahamic covenant is,

the Abrahamic covenant. Now this is what we teach in the Bible college, so today I'm going to give you a Bible college class for free. So, yeah. But this is what we teach in the Bible college so that you understand why we stand on the promise of eternal life and salvation in Jesus. Now, Abraham, first he comes...we're introduced to him as Abram. We see him in Chapter 11 of Genesis. That's the first appearance of Abraham. And from that point on, he's just as prominent in the Scripture as an Old Testament character as Moses would be or as King David would be. Alongside those two, he's probably the most prominent Old Testament characters in Scripture. But what God promised Abraham is the most pertinent promises to our relationship with the Lord. What he promised Abraham, God's original promise to Abraham, is the foundation of our relationship, well, his relationship with his people, but our relationship with him unto and through eternity. Again, it's called the Abrahamic covenant. Now, we're going to be looking at Chapter 12 of Genesis, Chapter 15, Chapter 17, and Chapter 22. I do have a whole lot more material than I can deliver, so I'm going to try to pace myself to give you what I can without rushing too much. But just kind of hang with me and we'll land in a good place. But this covenant begins in Genesis Chapter 12. Here's where the Lord speaks to Abraham for the first time according to what we see in the Scripture. Genesis 12, 1 through 5. Abram was living somewhere else. He was not living in what we know is the land of Israel. He was not living in that area. He was living somewhere else, more in the Iraq area. Genesis 12, 1 through 5, and the Lord had said to Abram, leave your native country, your relatives and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you. So, Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarah, his nephew, Lot, and all of his wealth,

his livestock, and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran and headed for the land of Canaan. Now, I want you to understand, Abram was not raised knowing the one God that we know. Abram was raised in a family that worshiped many gods, not, again, of the same faith as us. He was wealthy, however. His family was wealthy. His father, Terah, was wealthy. Here, for the first time, Abraham hears God and knows that there's a God, there's a supreme being. We talked somewhere down in this series about revelation, how when you know it's God, you know it's God. And even though Abram did not have a relationship with the one God, Jehovah God, he... knew it was him that was talking to him. And God makes a bold request to him. He says, I know you're doing good with your family. I know you're doing well where you are, but I want you to leave your family. You can take all your wealth that belong to you. Don't take anybody else. He took a lot. That's a different message. We'll deal with that in another time. Some of y'all take relationships you ain't supposed to be hanging on to. Boom, drop the mic. I'll walk away from that one. But wasn't supposed to take him, but he did. And, but he left his family and he just went where the Lord told him. He goes to this place he had never been, this land of Canaan. There, God makes a covenant promise with him.

Because Abraham heard God, believed what God said, and trusted God, and went to a place he had never been, based on hearing from a God he had never met, the Lord made a covenant promise with him. There's four elements to this promise that the Lord made to Abraham. The first one is the land. He says, this land that I'm taking you to, that he's going to, he said, that land is gonna belong to you and your descendants forever. Now, I could do a whole geopolitical issue with Israel, and you, if you, there's a message I've done on Israel about that land being theirs, but that promise of that land, even, initially came to Abraham. He says, this land is gonna be yours and to your descendants forever. That's the first promise. It's in Genesis 12, repeated again in Genesis 15, and repeated again in Genesis 17. But then here's the second promise he makes him. Not only am I gonna give you the land, but you're gonna have descendants, and you're gonna have a lot of descendants who are birthed based on the promise that I'm giving you. There's gonna be a lot of descendants, a lot of people who have the same faith you are now having in me.

Now, the issue with this is that Abraham is 75 years old, Sarah's 66, Sarah is barren, they have no children, but yet God says, I'm gonna give you countless offspring. Now, of course, you gotta think about this. Abram just met this God, just met him, and Abram knows, God, listen, I'm 75. Ain't no function at the junction right now, it ain't happening, and I just met you, and you're telling me I'm gonna have a lot of kids. I'm gonna have multitude of children. Man, your credibility. I mean, come on, I followed you to this land. How do I know I can believe you? So the Lord speaks to him in Genesis 15. He tells him, listen, you're gonna have children. This is verses one through seven. I'm the Lord who made this promise to you. I'm the one that's given you this possessions. Abram said, maybe it's my servant. That's who's gonna have the children. He said, no, no, no, it's gonna be you. As a matter of fact, in verse number five, he says, I want you to walk out your tent. I want you to look up into the sky. You're gonna see stars, multiple stars that you cannot count. That's how many offspring you're going to have. That's my promise to you. Now, how does God even begin to assure Abraham that he's gonna keep his promises?

He does what, again, is called a covenant, an Abrahamic, what we call Abrahamic covenant, and this is what the Lord tells Abraham to do, and this is in Genesis 15, eight through 21, because he wanted to assure him that I keep my word. So he says, listen, I want you to go get certain animals. He told him what to get, a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, turtle, dove, and young pigeon. I want you to split those animals and lay them side by side, and he says, I'm gonna make a covenant with you with those animals. Now, that was not uncommon in that culture for them to make a covenant in that way, when they wanted to make an agreement. Abraham does that, and then the Lord does something spectacular. He puts Abraham to sleep. While Abraham is asleep, the Lord walks through those animals himself. When Abraham wakes up, what he sees is this smoking firepot and this flaming torch that's going through those animals. Now, what was God doing? In that day, when people wanted to make a covenant, covenants was made with blood. They would take animals, they would cut those animals, they would let the blood mingle, and they would walk down through the animals together. saying if we don't keep our part of the covenant with one another as we walk through this blood together of these two animals, may one of us who doesn't keep the covenant become like the other,

like the animals, the dead animals. May we become dead and split apart. May we be completely cut off. That's what Abraham knew. That's the way covenants was done. And the two of them walked through there together. But I just told you an interesting fact. The Lord put Abram to sleep. Why did he put Abram to sleep? Because the covenant that God makes with us is not based on us. It's God that's making the covenant and God is affirming that I'm going to keep the covenant. So, he wasn't requiring Abraham to walk through there as if Abraham had a part. There was no part for Abraham to keep this covenant except to believe the promise that God was making. So, he puts Abram to sleep so that Abram don't think, okay, I got to do something so I make this covenant with God. He said, no, no, no. You're asleep. When Abram wakes up, there's the Lord himself walking through the two animals with the smoking pot so that Abraham sees God is making a covenant with me. And when God made that covenant, God was making this statement. I will die to make sure that I keep my promise. And if you know anything about the Bible, he did just that by sending his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross that he will fulfill the promise that he made to Abraham. Are y'all following me so far? Now, stay with me. So, that's the Abrahamic covenant. Now, the other element of that covenant is relationship. Because remember, God promised Abraham that you're going to have descendants and I will be a God and father to those descendants. You're going to have multitude. It's in Genesis chapter 17 that the Lord comes to him and says, when Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am El Shaddai, God Almighty. Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you by which I guarantee to give you countless descendants. Making that promise, he made a covenant. At this, Abram fell down on his face to the ground and God said to him, this is my covenant with you. I will make you a father of multitude of nations. What's more? I'm changing your name. It would no longer be Abraham. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations and kings will be among them. I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant he's making with Abraham's descendants, those who have the faith of Abraham, those who believe in the God Jehovah. I will always be your God and the father of your descendants after you, and I will give the entire land of Canaan where you now live as a foreigner to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.

Now, God just gave himself an excedrin headache because he told this promise to Abraham when he was 75. Here it is 99, 20, 24 years later, there still ain't no babies, and y'all ain't got, you know why? Ain't no more. It ain't happening. 99, she 91. But then God comes back again and says, I'm making a promise to you, man. You gonna have a child at your age and Sarah at her age. So chapter 17, he reaffirms, this is part of the covenant. You're gonna have a child. Chapter 18, he comes to Abraham again, and he says, one year after this, I'm gonna come back in one year, and you're gonna have a son. Sarah's in the tent, and she laughs. I don't know if she's laughing at herself or laughing at poor Abraham, but anyway, she knew that ain't gonna work. So she laughs. God says, why is she laughing? And Sarah made up some kind of story. He says, in one year, when I come back here, you're gonna have a son. Sure enough, one year, they have a son by the name of Isaac, and the son was to be named, he laughs, because God wanted to laugh at them for not believing him. I love it. So right away, he's proven that he's a promise-keeping God. You still with me? Then here's the fourth part of that covenant. That's blessing and redemption. And here's where God promised that not only would Abraham be blessed, but all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him, through his seed. Through his seed, of course, now we got Isaac. Now... At this time in Genesis chapter 22, when God reaffirms this covenant again, Isaac is anywhere between 14 and 17 years old. And the Lord has gave him the land, he's got a descendant, he's promised them when that seed comes, you're going to see that there's going to be multitude who's going to believe in me through that seed. And now he's telling them that you're going to be blessed in relationship with me forever. Now, God has already proven himself. He's already proven that he can keep his promise when Isaac was born. So now he wants to see, do you really trust me? Do you believe that I am a God that keeps my promise? Because if you do, you only got the one child. That is the child of promise. And through him, the rest of these promises will take place throughout your lineage. But this is what I want you to do. I want you to take that son that I've given you and I want you to go sacrifice him up on the mountain. Do you truly trust my promises? But God, why would I do that? This is the son that you said would be the promise and you

fulfilled it. Why would you kill it all now? No, no, this ain't about me. I've made a promise and so far, I've kept mine. Let's see if you truly obey me. So Abraham wakes up, Genesis chapter 22, Abraham knows he's got to take his son up on the mountain to sacrifice him and Abraham was smart enough not to tell Sarah where they were going. Abraham gets up, me and Isaac are going to go do some stuff today. What are you going to do? We're going to go to Walmart, we're going to go to Home Depot, but we'll be back, you know, we'll do this. Okay, great. Y'all go out and have a great day. So shoon off, out the tent they go, they get to the mountain. Isaac is carrying the fire and the wood and all the elements and they get to the mountain and he tells his servant, Abraham does, me and the boy are going to go up on the mountain and worship. You wait for us because we will be back. He says that knowing God told him to sacrifice him, knowing God tells him to sacrifice him. He turns to Isaac and says, up the mountain we go. Now, here's what we know that Abraham had believed because he did fully trust God. Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed if he had to go through with killing Isaac, he believed that God will raise him up before they had to leave that mountain. He had that much faith. Now, Isaac is just being brought in on the story. It's one thing for Abraham to believe what God's going to do, but he's the one getting ready to get sacrificed. He's going up the hill, he's carrying the wood, they got the fire. He said, Daddy, I see the wood, I see the fire, but we ain't taking no sacrifice. He says to Isaac, the Lord will provide himself a sacrifice. So they get to the top of the mountain and there's a little twist in the story because Abraham said, the Lord will provide himself a sacrifice. Next thing Isaac knows, Daddy is taking him down in the headlock and flipping him up on the altar. Isaac is on that altar seeing his father strap him down and I want you to catch this. Not only did Abraham believe that God was going to raise Isaac up, Isaac had to look in his father's eyes and says, I don't know what's going on here, but I know my daddy. And if my daddy got a faith in God that I need to take a hold of, I'm going to lay right down here in faith, believing that my God,

my dad has a hold of this relationship with the God that we serve. And sure enough, as Abraham gets ready to take down that knife, the Lord said, hey, I see, I get it, I get it, you have proven that you have faith in me alone. Do not touch Isaac, there's a ram in the bush, you go ahead and kill that ram, there's a sacrifice that I'm providing for you, which is the picture of Christ being the sacrifice provided for us. Are you all with me so far? So, the Abrahamic covenant, Abraham had to believe God's promise that he would give him land, that he would give him offspring, that he would give him a blessing, and that he would give him a lasting relationship, and he believed it. That's why even before the cross of Jesus, Genesis 15, 6 tells us this, Abraham believed the Lord and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Notice again, Abraham is not counted righteous because he's done anything except put his faith in God and believe in him. Believe God's word, trust the promise that God has made. Romans 4, 20 and 24 puts it this way, Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger. And in this, he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. I wish I can camp right there. I just read a survey where only 70% of evangelical confessing Christians believes that God keeps his promises. Only 70%. Abraham grew more and more in faith. Think about it. So much so that if he was to bring that knife down, he believed God said,

you coming off this mountain with the boy. And we struggle sometimes on some of the smallest things. Just trust me with 10% of your income. Oh, that's too much. Just trust me to get you through this job situation. I have been, but it ain't working out. Just trust me to bring healing to this marriage. I've waited too long. I've been through this mess too much. The man was about to kill his son because he believed God. And we struggle on the smallest stuff and say, I believe God with everything he says. Mm-hmm, here, rat lickin' ice. Here we go. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham's faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. Catch this. It was recorded for our benefit. Assuming, assuring us that God will count us righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. So what we see with the Abrahamic covenant is the difference of a covenant made by God and a contract. As you well know, all of us, lot of us deal with contracts on a regular basis.

And sometimes they turn out to be fraudulent. Sometimes people back out of them. Sometimes people find loopholes. But the covenant God made with us, it cannot be annulled. It cannot be abrogated. It cannot be repealed. It cannot be amended. It cannot be adjusted by conditions. Nowhere in the scripture will you see God made a promise to his people and then say, okay, nope, I'm taking that promise back. The conditions ain't right. No, no, no. God keeps his promises. He's not like humans. God never fails in keeping his promises. It's impossible for God to fail. Humans, we don't keep covenants. We don't keep promises. But God is greater than humans. He's greater. God keeps 100% of his promises. Listen to these verses. God is not a man that he should lie. That's Numbers 23, 19. Second Corinthians 1, 20. For all the promises of God, find their yes in him. How about 1 Kings 8, 56? Not one word has failed of all of his good promises. Not one word.

God made a covenant with Abraham. It's a promise that is to run through the lineage of those who have faith in God. Galatians 3, 15, our text. That's the point Paul is making here. In the people understanding the differences between the law of God and the promises of God. And I'm not gonna rehearse it because all of this stuff about the law, I spent a lot of time with it last week. It's stuff that you heard and you may be tired of applying it. But what I want you to understand with this is the manner on how we read the Bible. We begin with Abraham. We begin with that Abrahamic covenant and it just sets the agenda for everything else because it's based on God's promise. So number one, God's promise is permanent. I won't read the verses in Genesis, I mean, sorry, in Galatians 15 through 18 again, but that's what Paul is saying to the people. You're still struggling about keeping the law, but remember, God made a promise that is permanent. This promise to Abraham supersedes the law, supersedes the law. God made a promise and he will fulfill it through Christ. He's gonna fulfill it through everyone who believes in him. The law is only temporary, but the promise of God is permanent.

And when God made this covenant with Abraham, it cannot be annulled by the law or our failure to keep the law. Inheritance that we receive from God is by promise, not by law keeping. God's promises are unchanging. His character is unchanging. And our salvation is rooted in God's promise, not in human performance. Can y'all say amen? Amen. Paul wants to reiterate then, so then what is the purpose of the law? Then why was it given? And we said it last week, again, won't spend a whole lot of time on it, but it lets us know our transgressions. It lets us know that we fail to keep God's word. It reveals sin in us, the sin that's restrained in us. But the idea is to prepare us for Christ. The scripture is real clear to us in Romans 3.20. There is no knowledge of sin without the law. Romans 4 tells us that without the law, there's no transgression. We won't even know that we failed God if we didn't have a law that was given to us that we're to keep. Romans 7.7 says that we wouldn't even know that we've sinned unless there was a law. So we have the law of God and we got our life.

How do I know that I've sinned, that I've done wrong, that I've rebelled against God, that I've taken the wrong step, wrong action, wrong attitude, wrong behavior? Because the law tells me this is how I'm to live holy unto the Lord. But it was temporary to get us to the seed, the Messiah, the Christ. The law is not against the promise of God at all. It actually comes alongside. Not until the law bruises me and smittens me do I realize I need to be bound, healed from my wounds by Christ. Only after the law beats me down, it's only after the law has arrested me and imprisoned me that I realize I need to be free and that comes through Jesus. After the law has condemned me, do I realize I need justification? That comes through Christ. After the law has driven me into despair, do I realize then that I need to believe in Jesus to have life? Until the law threatens me with hell and death, am I humbled enough to come to Christ and call him my Savior? The law works alongside the promise. The law is temporary, the promise is permanent. In the law, the law tells us that I will do, I will do, I will do if I wanna walk with God.

But God's promise says, God says, I will do, I will do, I will do so you can walk with me. The law says, I gotta do this, I got this duty, I got this work, I got this responsibility. But God's promise says, it's my plan, it's my grace, it's my initiation. The law tells me I gotta obey. The promise of God says, you just gotta believe. That's the difference between the law and promise and the promise is permanent. It's a blessed assurance. These last two verses, 21 and 22, he says, is there a conflict then between God's law and God's promises? Absolutely not. If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. But the scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin so we receive God's promise of freedom only by believing in Christ Jesus. The law could never give us life, it can only expose us to death. But the promise of God is fulfilled in Christ Jesus by faith. So now I wanna conclude this with a slight illustration and I think the team will be coming here in just a moment. Because this is what God did with promise. He first gave the promise, the covenant with Abraham. Again, we read about it in Genesis 12, 15, 17, that was in around 2100 BC.

He said, I'm gonna give you the land, I'm gonna give you the offspring, I'm gonna give you the blessing, I'm gonna give you the relationship with me. That was the Abrahamic covenant. He comes along and he reaffirms that covenant with David about 1,000 years later. He builds on the Abrahamic covenant, he rebuilds on it. And he says, listen, the promised seed comes through Abraham, which is Isaac. But from that seed, it goes all the way down to David. Who will be a king? In the manner of the king who will rule forever. That seed also will come through David. Abraham's offspring. Down to David, he says it's through him and this promise that I'm gonna keep my word. And then another, oh, I don't know, another 500 years later, the people of Israel are just completely acting up. God had every reason to pull his promise back, but he said, no, no, I'm reaffirming my promise to Abraham. I'm reaffirming my covenant. And so he used the prophet Jeremiah, he used the prophet Ezekiel to say, listen, you're failing, of course, under the law. But I've made a promise. promise that you will be my people. Therefore, I'm making you this promise. You look at the law and you fail, but this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to send my spirit to be in you. My spirit is going to teach you my ways.

It's going to teach you my laws. It's going to teach you my statutes. My spirit is going to dwell within you so that this relationship that I promised Abraham will continue even onto you, and you will be my children, and I will be your God. And then he sends his son, Jesus Christ, which is the absolute epitome of the promise on location of the Messiah coming. Not only for them to have a land to dwell in, but an eternal land to dwell in. Not only just to be a blessing to some people, but to all people that believe in Jesus, that have that truth, that have that promise. Jesus himself said when he sat with the disciples, you've heard the covenant of Abraham, you know the promise that God made. I'm telling you right now that this covenant is now being fulfilled in my blood. I am the king that was born to carry out this promise. But it doesn't end there. That promise carries all the way down to us. The promise that God gave Abraham that was reaffirmed with David, that was assured with the prophets, that was made real with Jesus, comes all the way down to us. Because the Lord keeps this promise and tells us, indeed, you will also inherit the land. The same land that I promised Abraham, you will inherit. Because in Revelation, it tells us that we get a new heaven and we get a new earth, which is the ultimate promised land. That there are offspring, there's countless of people who believe in God that are standing there worshiping the Lamb. And there's an eternal blessing that we get. Because of the promise of Abraham, we stand in the place before the Lord's throne where there is no more death, no more crime, no more sorrow, no more drugs, no more death, no more disease. We're forever blessed. And in Revelation 21.5, he says, they will be my people and God himself will be their God. Now, this is what's called in the scripture, it's called the thread of promise or the promise thread. And I want you to see this this way. Andy, if you'll hold on to that. Andy right now is representing Abraham. God makes the promise to Abraham. He cuts covenant with Abraham, says, I'm promising you. I'm going to give you the land. You're going to have multitude of descendants. I'm going to bless you and

you're going to have relationship with me. You and your descendants will have relationship with me. I'm going to be their God, they will be my people. He reaffirms that promise when he gets to David. And he tells David, as I promised Abraham, that covenant still stands. I'm making a covenant with you. That promise filters right down through you, and you will be the king that sits up on the throne, and from you will be the king that sits forever. Then he brings that promise right on down to the prophet Isaiah and Ezekiel. And he says, even though the people are running amok, I made a promise to Abraham. I reaffirmed that promise with David. And I want you to tell them, promise them that God is going to give us his spirit. And even though we're acting wrong now, when the spirit of God comes in us, we'll know how to live in obedience unto him. Then there's 400 years of darkness because God shut up heaven because of the people's disobedience. But then he brings Jesus. And in Jesus, he declares, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. It's through him that the promise of fulfillment is coming. Through Jesus, that I promised with Abraham, all the way through the line, I'm still keeping my promise because here's Jesus. And then he brings that promise right on down to us. And right on down to us, we get to stand in eternity with no more sickness, no more death, no more curse. We get to stand in eternity because of the promise that started here, all the way down to here. Now, I want you to know this. I was not there, neither were you, when God made a promise to Abraham. You weren't there, but the promise was made. We weren't there when God made the promise to David, but the promise was affirmed. We weren't there when God made the promise to Ezekiel and Jeremiah, but he reassured it. We weren't even there when Jesus came on the scene, but we got to see the fulfillment of it when Jesus died on the cross and rose again. I wasn't there when none of those happened, but I get to stand here and worship the Lord. in the land of a new heaven and a new earth. But it don't stop there. Listen, Abraham was not a perfect man.

As a matter of fact, God made a promise to Abraham, and Abraham lied about his wife and set her up to be abused, but God kept his promise. David wasn't the most righteous man on the earth. He killed people, he murdered people, he committed adultery and ruined his family, but God made a promise and he kept his promise. We get to the prophets. Those folks was running amok, disobeying everything, and God said to them, they ain't doing nothing I told them to do, but I'm telling you, I'm keeping my promise. And then we get to Jesus, and even though they could see Jesus with their own eyes, they still crucified him, they still killed him, but God kept his promise. And then I get to stand here, and I gotta tell you something. I ain't no better than Abraham, but God kept his promise. I ain't no better than David, but God kept his promise. I ain't no better than the children of Israel, but God kept his promise. And if I was here when Jesus came, I probably would have killed him too, but God kept his promise, and I can stand right here, right here in this place, and worship the almighty God,

not because I kept the law, not because I did it right, but because I believe a promise, and the Lord has counted me righteous, just like he has counted you righteous. If you just believe the promise. One last verse, you can stay standing, prayer team come. One last verse, listen to this. It's in Romans 10, nine and 10. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God has raised Christ from the dead, you can be saved. That's a promise. And he has shown us for 4,000 years, he keeps his promise. Just believe him. It's not about your performance, it's about your belief in the God that's a promise keeper. Father, I wanna thank you for this opportunity to share your word. I appreciate Lord God, your presence, your revelation, your drawing of us, and you being a promise keeping God. Lord, if there's anybody in this house who has not accepted you as Lord and Savior, let today be the day that they trust you to keep your promise and confess with their mouth as they believe in their heart that you've raised them from the dead.

And Lord, let today be the day that we be saved. And Father, may we live in the blessing of relationship that we have with you, because you are a promise keeping God. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen, amen. Altars are open if you need prayer. If you wanna be saved, come on. Today is the day. Just tell one of these folks you want Jesus in your life and whatever you need, they're here for you. God bless you. Yes, as Pastor mentioned, we have a team up here who wants to pray with you and celebrate if you gave your life to Jesus today. If you wanna walk through your next steps, need some help navigating that, we'd love for you to tap that disc we mentioned at the beginning of service. Or again, you can stop by the connect table on your way out of service. You wanna get baptized, you wanna join a life group, hop on a serve team. Your next step is to either stop by the connect table or tap that disc in front of you. And as a reminder, Gripped by Hope, Pastor's Book, if you haven't had a chance to pick it up, you can do so in the lobby or you can order it. For now, let's go ahead and just worship together for one more song and then we'll see you at First Wednesday.

♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts ♪ ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ♪ Amen, we love you so much church, we'll see you this Wednesday.