Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Pleasing God Pt.7

Hallelujah! Amen. Let's turn to Hebrews 11 and continue along the subject of "Pleasing God." We're really seeing what the Lord is expecting of us to enter into that rest, to be able to build a relationship with Father that causes us to cease from our own labors, to have absolute confidence in His love for us and the very being of God's goodness that intends to do us good all the days of our life. It brings such a peace and such a rest in each one of us when we know the intentions that Father has for us of good and not evil, praise God.

When you read Hebrews 11:6 the next time, "...without faith it is impossible to please him [God]..." let your thoughts go that way. Without my trust, I can't please Him. Without God's heart being affected by knowing how trustworthy I see Him, I can't do anything that pleases Him. I can perform great feats of demonstration of power, I can give my body to be burned, and I can give all that I have to the poor, but it's nothing without what? Love. You see, if we don't respond to Father in love, it's nothing to Him. It's not the works; it's the relationship. And that's what He's doing in our lives through many of the trials that we are experiencing. He wants to bring us into a greater relationship with Him. We're going to talk about that a little bit more this evening as we look some more into Sarah's life and that statement in Hebrews 11, verse 11 that we read this morning, "Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised." The judging of God faithful, reliable, trustworthy. We talked a little bit about God's relationship with us and how we are to respond to Him and how we respond to His Word. We shared this morning that God is the source of all of the words. The Word of God is alive, powerful, and sharper that any two-edged sword. But it originated in the Person of our loving heavenly Father. The Word spoken is no greater than the One who's declared it. So, it's important for us. How many of you know that as you read a certain letter, you can sit down and you can read a letter and then hand it to the one to whom it was addressed--and there are some great letters. This probably won't be a good example, but there's a great collection of letters that were written during the Civil War from men back to their wives that are just phenomenal. If you ever get a chance to hear or read any of those--the ability of those men to correspond! Correspondence in that day--we know that the mail took forever. They didn't have e-mail, and telephones; yet, the ability to express themselves in that hour was phenomenal. They took time; they were very guarded with their words because they knew that they weren't going to get another opportunity to speak to that person for months or maybe a year. So every word carried weight. God's Word eternally to us was written that way. Every word carries weight. It's a statement to us for a lifetime. But you and I can read that letter, and as much as we would appreciate it, the wife to whom it was written would not only grab the meaning of every word, and be able to dissect it and tell you what the Hebrew says and what the Greek says, but would also be able to read between every line the love of her husband. Amen? We would be impressed with the words and she would be impressed with the love, the heart. And that's how intimate we need to become with our Father.

So when you read this love letter, when you read His words to us, don't just study the legality; don't just study the Greek and the Hebrew. But listen to the heartbeat of God and realize that His intentions for you and I are good and not evil, praise God. We're going to talk a little bit about that as we go back into Genesis. Turn back to Genesis with me and let's look at the story as the narrative comes to us and see if the Lord can affect our hearts with His Word.

A friend of mine was in service this morning. I hadn't seen him for a while. He went through a tough time a few years ago when his son-in-law betrayed him, actually took the church away from him and had he and his wife put out. Janet and I were able to help them through that period and just encourage them in the Word. I'd known him for years; I knew him before I came to Virginia. An interesting fellow. As we were out at lunch just the other day, I got to hear a little more of his life story and shared with him some of the things that God had been doing in our lives recently. He looked at me and said, "You need to write a book, man!" The things that God has done in our lives as He called us, separated us, all that transpired, and some of the testimony that you know. How we ended up here. He said, "You need to write that down. This is stuff you take for granted, but this is God's hand." As we were walking down the hall this morning--it is interesting, here's a man that this year has been preaching the gospel for sixty years. Things have changed in our generation.

He was telling me a little bit about his--and it reminded me of our, Janet's and my honeymoon. They got married and their wedding night was spent in a parsonage. The parsonage is where the pastors live; usually the little house would be on the property where the church was. Their honeymoon night was spent in the parsonage of a church where he was holding revival meetings. They finished up the eight or nine days there and drove all night to start the next meeting. In those days, there was "church" every night; there were revival meetings going on somewhere just about every night. He said the first year of their marriage he preached 300 out of 365 days. He was just excited about what God was doing in their lives. What a way for young people to start out. Amen? Just pouring out your life.

Here's a man excited about the Spirit of God to this day. He's in Texas, and that's not always good for you. He has recently been in contact with Osteen down there and some of the different ministries that are down in that area. It was interesting that he was in church this morning. As we were walking down the hallway and he was saying, "My brother, my brother, dear God the teaching of the Word!" He said that the last time he was here. He said, "My God we need to hear that message! The sovereignty of God, we've gotten away from the sovereignty of God. We've focused on man." He began to share my message back. I was enjoying it, praise God. I was just hoping he wasn't going to take an offering. Just excited after sixty years of preaching, to see his Father exalted and he was just sharing "You don't hear it any more. God's not being exalted; man is."

We can't lose our focus if we're going to move in true biblical faith. We can't think that faith is that force that's primarily for the ease of life in this short period that the Scripture calls a "vapor," as it pertains to each one of us, but to understand that faith is the working of God's power for His purpose and His glory alone. We find that very clearly here in this narrative about Sarah's life.

Let's pick it up down here in Genesis, chapter 17. We just finished up with the birth of Ishmael in Chapter 16. Abraham at this point is now 86 years old and we find a quite a period between the 16th verse of the 16th Chapter and verse 1 of the 17th Chapter; where we find Abraham now at 99 years of age. Thirteen years have transpired; Ishmael has become a teenager. Ishmael, the natural blessing, which is going to become the curse. Beloved, the things that we receive in our own strength that we attribute to God can become the greatest curse in your life because it causes you to lose sight of who God is and how He works. We attribute to God our own strength and our own works. We need to return to the absolute pure, supernatural visitation of God.

So the Scripture says, "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." What a visitation, praise God! So, here's El Shaddai that appears before Abraham and declares the covenant and reestablishes it. "And I will make my covenant [he says in verse 2] between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. [Verse 5] Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee [or more literally, the exalted father]. And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an [say it with me, verse 7] everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee"

So, we realize then, that God is sharing with Abraham that there are going to be natural blessings; and God is going to bless those that bless him, curse those that curse him. Every place he puts his feet is going to prosper, but it's not about the natural temporal prosperity; it's about this eternal covenant. Because there's a promise that hasn't yet been fully manifested. Even in the life of Jesus, it hasn't been fully manifested. Even in your regeneration, it hasn't been fully manifested because you and I haven't been glorified yet. The last redeemed have not been glorified yet and until man has been glorified and God has been fully exalted, faith is going to continue to operate in this kingdom of light. That force will continually be there; that expression of the purpose of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Faith is the spoken will of God being re-spoken by you and me; responded to by you and me; relied upon by you and me.

As we look at this we see in the life of Abraham where God is spelling this out for him. He's saying, "Look don't get caught up in any more Ishmael attempts. I'm telling you, it's going beyond all of the natural that you can see and the scope of this thing is beyond your lifetime."

One of the things that we've tried to do--I was sharing this with my friend the other day as we were talking--and it was a blessing to him. One of the things that has been real to me and that we've tried to do in these last years is to minister beyond ourselves to realize that whatever it is that God is doing in my life--I'm talking about sharing with you my own personal life right now--whatever it is that God is doing in my life, if Jesus tarries, is going to go far beyond my lifetime. So the investments have to be ongoing. I can't just invest for the next thirty years, should Jesus tarry.

That's part of what he was doing here. He's been my insurance agent since 1970 and he found some companies that would extend my life insurance for another twenty-some years and lock a rate in for me. I thought I was through with life insurance. I've got life assurance, eternal life assurance, amen? But I'm having to now, in the natural, look a little further down the road than I thought I would be at this juncture. I've also realized in the spirit realm the need to look and invest not only in my children but in my children's children.

Isn't that why Abraham was called, because God knew he would be faithful to teach his children and his children's children these covenants? What you're going through may be for your grandkids: the trials you're experiencing, the revelations you're receiving. The full manifestation of the promises of God and the visitation of God may not be experienced in your life, but what if it's our kids or our grandkids? Then, it's well worth the investment for a godly seed to be raised up. Amen? Dear Lord, if you don't receive it that's not defeat! Die in faith; praise God that we can leave a generation expecting to partake of the promises of God.

So here we are being called of God just like Abraham was. He says, "Don't go back, man, don't go back into your own strength. I don't want any more Ishmael's, my covenant is with you, and my covenant is with your seed forever. I'm going to give you this land and I'm going to give you a heritage that you don't understand yet." Then, He gives him the covenant of circumcision and he goes down into verse 15, "And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her..." And so we find now this faithful woman being declared to be the Princess, the mother of many nations. "And kings shall come from her." Now Abraham, the Scripture says, is 100 years old, Sarah is 90, and Abraham responds the way that most of us would in this situation, "...Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed..." (verse 17).

Now, a lot of people tell us that this was a reverential laughing if you read the commentators. The commentators will tell you that this laugh was a reverential laugh. I don't read that in the context and in the new covenant rendition of what took place here. Abraham's strong faith, his full persuasion came following this visitation of God and what God is going to explain to him here in the next few verses. You see, a lot of times beloved, when God visits us the promise overwhelms us. "How in the world is God going to do this?" We need to respond to the same question that Sarah does here in just a moment, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" That's what it is all about tonight, beloved. Are we going to count God faithful to fulfill His good will toward us, His promises that are sure to a thousand generations, as we read this morning?

Abraham falls on his face and he laughs and said in his heart--you see, a lot of the faith people try to say, "Well, you know, he just had a doubtful thought but it wasn't really from his heart. Because, you see, if you doubt in your heart..." It doesn't matter whether you doubt in your head or in your heart. One doubt is not going to destroy you; one doubt is not going to change the eternal sovereign purposes of God. Your doubt, your failure, does not affect the plan of God. You can deny Him; He cannot deny Himself. We need to understand that, beloved. When you fail, He will seek you, praise God. When your doubts arise and begin to dominate the circumstances, and you begin to sink and cry out "Lord, help!" He won't say, "Sorry, sucker, you doubted in your heart." He'll reach out and take your hand, praise God, and walk you back. We need to realize the goodness of our God.

It's important to see, then, verse 17 says that "...Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old bear?" So here's what we're having: God makes the promise, Abraham laughs, has these internal thoughts, and then responds to God and says, "...O that Ishmael might live before thee!" When you're looking at Abraham here, do you get a little hope for yourself? Sometimes we take these great men of God and we forget that they are flesh just like you and I. We somehow gloss over their failures. Their failures are just as carnal, fleshly, as yours. They're a people, the Scripture says, that are subject to like passions just like you and I have. But this great cloud of witnesses is who we look at and say, "You know what? They've gone before us, they've inherited promises, and they died in faith." Because of their faithfulness, I can also say "I'm not being tempted with anything but such as is common to man, and with every temptation I see God bringing them to the way of escape, praise God. Because faithful is He who promised who will do it."

So Abraham says, "...O that Ishmael might live before thee!" [And God said, "No!" I injected that here, but that's what He said, verse 19]...Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and you shall call his name [What?] Isaac..." What did we say that name meant this morning? Laughter. Dad laughed, mom laughed; God wasn't laughing. But His promises were sure and He said, "You're going to call his name Isaac." "...As for Ishmael, I have heard thee..." Because he's from you, I will multiply him exceedingly; I'll bless him, but he's not the promise. Look at verse 21, and here's where this was established finally in the heart of Abraham. Where he began to believe God and be fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able to perform. "But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, [See, he took it beyond his momentary circumstances and he's speaking into the next generation. He is now declaring the promise already done. He has declared Himself "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" before they were even born. Do you understand that what God is doing in your life now are things that are even affecting your unborn children should Jesus tarry? We're not subject to fate; there's a plan. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. We're a people that are called, the Scripture says, to delight in His way. And He says it is going to be a covenant with Isaac.] Which Sarah shall bear unto thee [Now we're getting specific. Here's where faith comes. I told you that he staggered not at the promise of God, look at this] at this set time in the next year." Now we have something to hang our hat on. The general promise has now become a rhema, a specific word.

The child has been named; not just "I'm going to bless you and give you a child." The child now has a name and the child has a date to appear. Now, we're not always going to get specific revelation like that from God as we're walking in faith, but, what does happen many times in our lives is we begin to experience peace in our hearts. We know what God has spoken; we know that the course we are on is that proper course because of the peace of God, and that God is finishing the purpose for which we've been called and ordained.

So, He goes on and He says it's going to be at this time next year. Now, the account in Romans and Hebrews tells us that Abraham was fully persuaded, that there was not any doubt there. Yet, we've shared with you before, that's a statement based upon the finished work. Because as you begin to read the story, you'll see that there are still those periods that you and I are going to have to deal with as we're walking in this natural course. I'm saying this to encourage you; the fact that you may have questions, the fact that doubts may enter your mind doesn't mean that God is not going to still fulfill the promise. You haven't negated His goodness to you just because of your own weaknesses. And because we don't understand the goodness of God, we think it's on a merit system; we think that somehow it is performance oriented and it is not, beloved. When God has promised it, it's a sure thing. Amen? To those that love Him and keep His commandments.

As you read the narrative, we find this finalized here as God has declared it. Then, of course, we have the visitation of the angels; we have the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are a few things that take place here and we're keeping Abraham busy while Isaac was in the oven. As you read on, turn a few chapters here and look back at Chapter 21 with me now. So we've gotten through Sodom and Gomorrah. We've had the fiasco there; we have the visitation, the sin of Lot and his daughters; the birth of the nations of Moab and Ammon.

Then, the Scripture says at this particular time, and this is a pretty interesting part of this thing, in Chapter 20, following Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham begins to descend into the southern regions and when he does, we see him doing something that He had already done. This seems to be something, a problem with Abraham. This is twice now; in Egypt, and now the Scripture says in verse 2 of Chapter 20: "And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister; and Abimelech, king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah."

Sarah had to be a fox at 90, man! I mean, what is this? We find this happening back here, when she was still young and looking good at 75, but she's 90 now and he's afraid. Abraham's afraid that because she's so good looking, man, they're going to kill him so that they can take her to be a wife. Ladies, I don't know exactly what's being said here but I'd take hold of this thing if I were you. Abraham's strength, his eyes did not dim and his strength was not abated. We as men say, "Praise God! I want to be strong." You know, there's one thing about--have you ever noticed old men get little skinny, rickety legs? Do something about that! Start now. But this was supernatural, the visitation to Abraham, it wasn't just a natural workout regimen that he had; God visited him, God made him strong. His eyes didn't dim; his strength was not abated. Ladies believe for this, praise God! Enough said about the 90-year-old fox.

So here we are and he said, "Say that you're my sister." So she did again, and so God came--and this is important to this whole scenario, look at it. "But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife." Now look at verse 4. This isn't an every day occurrence. Why did God appear to Abimelech in such a supernatural visitation? Wouldn't you like to have God show up and talk to you? Wouldn't it be important, don't you think that if God is going to show up and talk to people, He should talk to His covenant people and not heathen? What's this all about? God has to protect Sarah so that when the child is born there is no entertainment whatsoever of natural occurrence. It is impossible for any man to take her at this point.

I want to tell you something, when God has made a promise to you, it's impossible for anybody to come and take that promise from you. It doesn't matter what it is. This was a king whose authority was thwarted because God had made a promise. I don't care who it is. I don't care if it's a government; I don't care if it's something real powerful like the IRS. The principle I want you to draw on, beloved, God has spoken and at all cost He is protecting His covenant.

Abraham, again, because of natural fear, put the promise in jeopardy and God said, "I will not allow it to be jeopardized. There will be no question as to the fact that the child that is found in this woman is going to be supernatural. It is going to be Abraham's supernaturally, by faith, by My Spirit, and there will be no doubt in either of their minds when this takes place." We need to grab hold of that, beloved, and realize that God wants to move in our lives that way. He's not going to share His glory with doctors; He's not going to share His glory with financial investors and counselors. There's a place for those in our lives, but beloved, we cannot settle for less than life in the supernatural and a life that pleases God. Without faith it is impossible to please Him.

So, here we are, called to finish this course. God supernaturally intervened and delivered Sarah from Abimelech's house. Chapter 21 picks up and it says, "And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken." As we look back--go back to where we were. We want to see the promises of God in its absolute fullness. "...O that Ishmael might live before thee!" [No, Sarah, your wife!] And God said, Sarah thy wife..." (Genesis 17:18, 19). Abraham's first thought was Eliezer, his servant. Now he has Ishmael, a child of his own natural strength. We realize, then, that God had preserved them for this particular moment, to where there could be no doubt whatsoever that it was the hand of God. At the time appointed, at the moment that God had spoken it, we find it manifesting. His Words are sure to a thousand generations. She conceived, the child was born, the covenant of circumcision that which was symbolic of us being a separate people, the cutting of the foreskin was a type of the flesh being cut out to where we walk in the Spirit so that we would not fulfill the lust of the flesh. These are a people that do not identify with the natural, but the supernatural. "And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him" (Genesis 21:5).

So, here we are the faithfulness of God. Sarah says as the angel, as the Lord, had visited them, "How could this be? Shall I have pleasure, my husband now being an hundred years old? When he was a young kid at 86, I knew that he could have kids, but Abraham is now dead in his body. I've been dead but now Abraham is dead. Shall I now have pleasure; shall I hold a child in my arms, my husband now being old?" (Genesis 18:12). Now that's bad when your 90-year-old wife is calling you old.

We read the narrative, how Sarah laughed in her own heart. And the Lord speaks to Abraham and He says, "Why did Sarah laugh?" Sarah denied it and He said, "No, you laughed." Not a rebuke. God knows our frame. But He says, "I'm going to work in you to will and to do My pleasure."

As we finish up with the segment for tonight, turn back with me if you would. There's just one passage that I want you to look at as we're talking about the faithfulness of God that Sarah counted Him faithful that had promised. When we look at that aspect as we close this evening, we find the apostle speaking about the faithfulness of God. He's revealing to us that there's going to be times of trials because of our identification with Jesus. He says if you're going to experience persecution, let it be for your righteousness, let it be because you're standing on the Word of God and not because you're moving in the flesh. The fact is, if you identify with My kingdom, you will suffer persecution. "...All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Now, in the midst of this adversity, we have to count Him faithful; we have to realize that these things that we are experiencing are allowed to come from the Lord. He's allowing these to come into our lives because we're identifying with Him, we're suffering with Him. We should count it joy. Too often we count it drudgery, and all we want is out. We would rather enjoy the pleasures for a season than to suffer as Moses is revealed doing in the 11th Chapter of Hebrews.

So the apostle says it this way in verse 19, "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God [Look, if you're suffering according to the will of God, would you ever be able to say by this statement then that it's God's will for you to suffer? Yeah, if we're suffering according to the will of God] commit the keeping of their souls [your emotions, your intellect, and your will] to him in well doing, as unto a [say it] faithful Creator" (1 Peter 4:19). Peter is saying, "Man, when the pressure comes, and the trials of life, and when you're being purged and made as fine gold, and you're identifying with me, it's costing you persecution and trials, commit your souls unto Him as a faithful Creator, the one that has created you for this very moment in life. This moment was known of God before you were ever created. He created you for it that He might be glorified in it, is what the apostle is saying.

It causes us to totally trust and rely upon God. We're going to finish with Hebrews 6 tonight; turn over to the 6th Chapter of Hebrews. As we wind this thing down, looking at counting Him faithful who had promised, and the committing of our souls, in the midst of suffering, to the faithful Creator. What causes this assurance in your life, in my life? The 6th Chapter of Hebrews makes it very clear. This passage is one that some people struggle with in trying to understand it and yet it is pretty simple if you'll allow it to speak in its context. He's talking about those who fall away, who defect. He says in verse 6, "If they fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." It's virtually impossible to restore those who have tasted the good things of God and apostatized. So he's talking about falling away. Then, he's going to change the topic now to faithfulness. He has talked about the unfaithful and now he's going to talk about the faithful. He says, you need to realize that, verse 10, "...God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name...[Your natural ministry to the saints, the washing of the saints feet, the caring for the widows and the orphans. The seeking of the kingdom first. He said,] and we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. [If you endure to the end, you're going to be saved.] That ye be not be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself."

Now, you see the covenant was sure in God alone. The covenant was sure whether Abraham was able to fulfill his part or not. The fact is Abraham did, but that's not what made it sure. What made it sure was that God promised. Now, I'm trying to take you back to look from the eternal perspective and we can't always do that. We look back historically and we say, "Well, what if Abraham hadn't believed?" He did. "Yeah, but what if he hadn't?" He did. "Yeah, but what if he hadn't?" The promise was sure because God swore by Himself. In other words, it was guaranteed that Abraham was going to make it because God was going to make him make it. "Well what about free will?" God gave him free will to do His will. Amen? That's why He chose him. "Oh, you mean He didn't make him believe?" Yeah, He made him believe, but He knew He could make him believe. Foreknowledge. You want me to confuse you any more? What we're looking at here is the fact that He swore by Himself "Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, [I want you to catch verse 15: "after he had patiently endured," what happened?] he obtained the promise"

You see, the faithfulness of God. The way that we know that we've embraced the faithfulness of God is by the endurance, the patience that God is working in our lives. I'm no longer anxious about this thing. What if it doesn't happen tomorrow? Faithful is He who promised who will do it, amen? I'm patiently enduring. That word "patient" means "consistently." I'm not being tossed to and fro now; I'm not double-minded. I'm not staggering at the promise of God through unbelief. Double-mindedness, looking for other ways out. Oh, there may be times that I'm experiencing anxiety. There may be times that I'm experiencing grief, but I know that He is faithful who promised who will do it! If He doesn't do it in my lifetime, He'll do it in my children's life, and if not in theirs, in their children's. Because He is faithful; He swore by Himself. "For men verily swear by the greater: [verse 16] and an oath for confirmation is to them an end to all strife [or confusion. Now,] Wherein God, [was] willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise [Notice the plurality, if you would.] the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath" The promise was to generations, not just individuals. Made to individuals, but affecting generations.

Then, a powerful truth in verse 18: "That by two immutable things, [Now, we know what the word "immutable" means, and God said there were two immutable things that made this covenant sure. This oath was guaranteed that it would be accomplished, that by two immutable things this was established. Here are the two immutable things] in which it was impossible for God to lie..." Now do your math. By two immutable things, impossible for God to lie. You see, the covenant was cut between God and God. It was fulfilled in Jesus the Seed. Not seeds as of many, seed as of one. This covenant was sure in Jesus Christ. He was going to invade the earth. God saw to it that it came through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. God allowed carnal people involved; He allowed prostitutes to be a part, but in two immutable things God can't lie.

So for you and me now to look to the faithfulness of God, it's all summed up in the person of Jesus. You want to know how faithful God is? When you were a sinner, He died for you. You didn't seek Him, He sought you. Do you think He's going to forsake you now after what He's invested in your redemption? Have you ever--and I think we have--have you ever just wondered, "God, don't You care?" Isn't your heart always convicted, isn't your heart always smitten when a thought like that crosses your mind and you think of the unspeakable gift of Jesus being made sin with your sin that you might be made righteous with His righteousness? When you become so caught up with the cares of this world and the temporal circumstances that you lose sight of the eternal benefits of our sonship, doesn't it cause you to be grieved? He is a faithful God, keeping covenant to a thousand generations. Though we deny Him, He cannot deny Himself. "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, [say it with me] even Jesus..."

Lord, we thank You for Jesus tonight, and we thank You that we see Your faithfulness in the unspeakable gift. Whenever we have trouble with the faithfulness of God, we see the free gift, Jesus, ever living to make intercession for us, having been made sin with our sin that we might be made righteous with His righteousness. We laugh and You say "Laugh on, but you will have a son at this time next year." We become fearful and we try to preserve our own lives and in the process put the very covenant of God in jeopardy by sending our wife into the hands of Abimelech. In the midst of our fears, doubts, and carnality, You inject Your will and say, "You're as a dead man if you try to oppose My promises." In our failures, You intervene because You ever live to make intercession for us. So, we rest in Your faithfulness. In the great judgment of sin all around us as Sodom smolders, a child grows, an heir of God, as dad learns one of the greatest lessons that he will ever teach his son not yet born: the Judge of all the earth does right; you can trust Him to be just. It's through your trials that your children can embrace the faithfulness of God. Let's become a part of the great cloud of witnesses. Let's die in faith, because faithful is He who promised who will do it. Let's stand before the Lord.

As Gary plays for us and the brethren come, we're going to take a few moments and just recognize that faithfulness of God, the free gift, the unspeakable gift of the blood of Jesus. The faithful God. Tonight as we take these emblems in our hands and in remembrance of Him recognize sin's power broken, the body healed, it's a celebration of our personal sonship, but it's also a testimony of the universal redemption of the kingdom of darkness being defeated, of the purpose of God being established. We're celebrating tonight the faithfulness of God. What we hold in our hands, if you realize--take a moment and realize what's been invested and then understand, faithful is He who will do it, praise God. As the brethren serve and we sing this chorus together, hold the emblems, we'll all partake together in just a moment as we celebrate the victory that's been won. Let's sing this together and rejoice in His goodness. Thank You, Jesus. "Oh, Lord, You have been good..." We thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Father. My God. Oh, we bless You, Jesus. Father, we receive. Hallelujah Jesus! We thank You, Jesus.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Just celebrate His goodness tonight; just rejoice in the faithfulness of your God. Make Him big tonight in your praise. Hallelujah! Oh, Father, You're our joy. We're so thankful, Father, for the unspeakable gift. Glory to You, Jesus. We look at the communion, we see over the years how it's been abused historically in the church and the perversions that have come, of course, through Catholicism, of transubstantiation, where they teach that this becomes the literal body and blood of the Lord. The Bible says He died once for us. Amen? He doesn't have to die for you every time you're in need. He died once for all. Sin has been destroyed, praise God! The victory has already been won. As we partake of these tonight, we're just rejoicing in remembrance of God's faithfulness to every promise that's been effected to us through the blood of Jesus Christ. We celebrate that victory, thankful for the finished work. As we partake tonight, just celebrate that victory that's been won in your life, that sin's power has been defeated.

You may have been experiencing some victories by your flesh recently. God hasn't cast you off, praise God, and faithful is He who called you. The Bible says repent, praise God, and He's faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all of your unrighteousness. His promises are sure, His blood is effectual, He will cleanse you from all of your unrighteousness, praise God. So, drink in remembrance of that tonight and celebrate the death of sin in your life. His body that's been broken for us, praise God, so that we could be strong in ours. That by His stripes we are healed. Those that are battling those symptoms here just believe that tonight. As we partake of these emblems, I believe that as I partake tonight the symptoms that are trying to attack my body are going to be gone in the name of Jesus. Do you believe that tonight for yourself? The faithfulness of God.

The Scripture says, then, in remembrance of Him, let us eat, praise God. Let's partake of the bread together. First John says if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with Him and His blood cleanses us from all sin. He is the faithful God to those that love Him and keep His commandments. Are you walking in the light of that covenant tonight? Can you say, "I love Him"? Can you say, "My intent and my habitual pattern are to keep the commandments of God"? Then, you have the guarantee that He's faithful to you, praise God. In remembrance of that, let's partake of His blood together.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The faithful God to those that love Him and keep His commandments. Faithful is He who called you who will do it, praise God! Oh, hallelujah! He is faithful and just to forgive you of all of your sins. Faithful, hallelujah! Just in His forgiveness. Sin will no longer have dominion over you, because your God is faithful, hallelujah! Oh, it's our delight, it's our boast, Lord, and it is our hope. Can you receive it done as we call things that are not as though they were because God is faithful? I don't have to see it; God spoke it. It's sure. Sure to a thousand generations. Listen, available to every covenant person in every generation but sure to a thousand, it will never die in any generation. It will always live on because there is a people that will do the will of God. There is a people who will hear and obey. The covenant is sure to win, praise God, in every situation!

Have you laughed at God lately? Then I want to ask you the question that is asked to every one of us that ever laughs at God: Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Let's declare His faithfulness. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Thank You for the faith to believe, Father. Thank You for the grace to stand. Thank You for the anchor of our souls, Jesus. Hallelujah!

Before you go, turn to someone next to you and say, "Faithful is He who promised." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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