Sermon #1550 Miscellaneous
Sermons
Title: Three Great Promises
Text: Obadiah
1:17
Subject: Sure
Salvation for God’s Elect
Date: Sunday Morning—
Tape # X-89b
Introduction:
(Oba
1:17) "But upon
Our
text begins with the word “But,” showing that what we now have before us
is in direct contrast to what precedes it. The first sixteen verses of
Obadiah’s prophecy are sting words of wrath and judgment for the Edomites,
judgment they had fully earned, judgment to be measured out by God exactly
according to the merits of the sons of Esau. But, verses 17-21 speak of grace,
deliverance by grace, and the possession of possessions bestowed upon the house
of Jacob by an act of boundless, undeserved mercy, love, and grace.
What
a contrast this is! When God comes forth to judge the wicked, he comes to save
his elect. When Pharaoh is overthrown in the
Psalmist
said, “I will sing of mercy and judgment” because the two go hand in
hand. The scepter of mercy is displayed, side-by-side with the sword of
judgment throughout the Word of God. Indeed, the scepter of mercy is extended
only upon the grounds of justice satisfied. It is always set before us in just
this light in the Book of God.
·
The sword of justice fell upon Adam, then mercy (Gen. 3).
·
The sword fell upon Noah’s generation, then mercy (Gen. 6-9).
·
The sword fell in
·
The sword fell upon the Son of God, then mercy upon chosen sinners
(Rom.
·
The sword shall fall upon the earth in that last great day, then mercy
upon the redeemed of the Lord!
To
the ungodly, the day of the Lord will be darkness, and not light. When Christ
comes again, there will be everlasting curse and damnation on his left hand,
but everlasting bliss and salvation on his right. Hell is as deep as heaven is
high. God, “who delighteth in mercy,” also hates iniquity, and
will soon purge his creation of all evil and all workers of iniquity. There is
a day coming when “they shall be as though they had not been” (vv.
15-16).
(Oba 1:15-16) "For the day
of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be
done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. {16} For as
ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink
continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall
be as though they had not been."
(Oba
1:17-18) "But (Blessed
contrast!) upon mount
Here
are three great promises of God, promises of grace (Obad.
1. “Upon mount
2. “And there shall be
holiness.”
3. “The house of Jacob shall
possess their possessions.”
I.
Here’s the first promise. What a promise it is! ― “Upon
mount
This
is not merely a promise of typical, physical deliverance for
(Rom
11:26-27) "And so all
Christ
is the Deliverer that both came to
In
fact, if you will look at the alternate translation of these words in the
margin of you Bible, you will see that they might be translated ― “Upon
mount shall be they that escape.” They that escape the curse of the law,
the wrath and justice of God, and everlasting damnation in hell by fleeing to
Christ for refuge dwell in
The
promise given in the opening words of our text refers to this great gospel day
in which we now live and reaches to eternity. ― “Upon mount
(Joel
2:32) "And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in
mount
A.
The deliverance I proclaim to you this day in
(2
Cor 1:9-10) "But we had the
sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in
God which raiseth the dead: {10} Who delivered us from so great a death,
and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;"
1. We have been saved.
“Upon
mount Zion shall be deliverance,”
and we have found it so. In Christ Jesus we have been saved. We have escaped
the wrath of God. Glory be to God! We have been saved!
· Eternally Saved (Rom.
(Rom
8:29-30) "For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. {30} Moreover whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified:
and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
(2
Tim 1:9-10) "Who hath saved us, and
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, {10} But is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel:"
· Saved at
(Rom
(Gal
3:13) "Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree:"
(Heb
9:12) "Neither by the blood of
goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."
·
Experimentally Saved (Eph. 2:1-9)
(Eph
2:1-9) "And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: {2} Wherein in time
past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience: {3} Among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. {4} But
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, {5} Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye
are saved;) {6} And hath raised us up
together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus: {7} That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. {8} For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: {9} Not of works, lest any man
should boast."
2. We are being saved.
Look
at the text again. We are being saved daily. The text says, “Upon
·
“Upon
·
“Upon
·
“Upon
·
“Upon
·
“Upon
·
“Upon mount
·
“Upon
3. We shall be saved.
We
shall be saved today, tomorrow, and forever. And, blessed be his name, we shall
soon be saved altogether! ― “It is high time to awake out of sleep,
for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom.
·
Freedom is nearer.
·
Perfection is nearer.
·
Heaven is nearer.
·
Resurrection glory is nearer.
·
A new heavens and a new earth are nearer.
·
Christ is nearer!
B. This deliverance, this
salvation, is the salvation of a remnant.
One of the more scholarly commentators translates our
text, ― “Upon mount Zion will be that which has been saved.” And the
parallel passage in Joel
1. A remnant is that which is left. Those who are saved by Christ are the despised, rejected, useless leftovers of Adam’s race.
(1
Cor
2. A remnant, compared to the rest, is little; and those who are saved, at any time in history, are comparatively few.
I
make no guess as to what the number of God’s chosen will be in the end. Those
who are saved shall be a great multitude that no man can number. But at
present, taking the most charitable view of things possible, the saved in this
world are few. The world lieth in the wicked one, but those who are in Christ
Jesus are a small remnant. That cheering word from his gracious lips, “Fear
not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,”
is still applicable to his church.
The
fact that we are few in this world is no cause for despair. If God has saved
us, though we be but few, he will accomplish his
purposes by us. He saves neither by many nor by few. His own right arm gets him
the victory. Let us, therefore, go forth in the same spirit as the apostles of
Christ in the beginning did, with the Spirit of God resting upon us, and few as we are, we shall yet subdue the nations to
Christ.
3. That remnant saved by Christ
is a remnant chosen by grace.
In
C. H. Spurgeon once said, “If you believe that God has chosen you, nothing should
daunt you. More courage comes into the heart through a grip of the doctrine of
election than by any other truth. Let a man believe that God has ordained him
to this or that, and he goes forward with irresistible resolve. The man
impressed with his election crashes through every difficulty, as though he wore
a bolt of iron, shot from some tremendous cannon by a master marksman. Who
shall hinder my accomplishing that to which God has appointed me? I shall
fulfill my destiny: who shall hinder me?”
It
is written, “The election hath obtained it” (Rom. 11:7); and so it shall
ever be. Deliverance remains with the people whom the Lord has chosen.
4. Be sure you do not miss
this. ― This remnant,
chosen, redeemed, and saved by grace, is set for the deliverance of others.
God’s
purpose of grace with any man does not end with that man. God saves one to make
him an instrument of good to others. His promise to Abraham and his seed is “thou
shalt be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2). Look at verse 21.
(Oba
1:21) "And saviours shall come up
on
Without
question, there is but One Savior of sinners; and that Savior is Christ. Yet,
he graciously uses saved sinners as instruments in his hands to proclaim
deliverance for the salvation of others. In that sense, the word “saviours”
is used here to refer to gospel preachers and to the saints of God in each
succeeding generation by whom the light of the gospel is carried through this
world.
When
God chooses a company of men to eternal life, it is that they may be the salt
of the earth and the light of the world. Jehovah chose
Has
the Lord saved you? Has he taken you out from among the fallen mass of mankind?
Has he chosen you by his discriminating grace? Then, you are not your own, you
are his forever. You are not to live for yourself, but for his glory and to
make known his salvation to the ends of the earth. We are God’s witnesses, his
missionaries, the heralds of his grace in this world. Let your souls be big
with this high enterprise and noble purpose. Say to yourselves, “It shall be
true, ‘the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions,’ for we know
of a truth that there is deliverance upon
“Upon
mount
II.
Here is the second ― “And there shall be holiness.”
It
is through holiness that deliverance is established in
A. Our Deliverer is himself the
Holy One, Christ Jesus, the holy Lamb of God.
B. Our great Savior obtained
deliverance for us upon the grounds of absolute holiness, righteousness,
justice and truth.
C. God’s great object in
deliverance is to make us holy and without blame before him (Eph. 1:3-4).
D.
The
sentence might be read, “Upon mount
Every
true gospel church, large or small, is “a habitation of God through the
Spirit.” If you think that a church is merely a community of people who
meet together for religious purposes, you miss the mark. The
·
The people of God are a holy people. ― “With His spotless
garments on, As holy as the Holy One!” ― “For
as he is so are we in this world!”
·
The gospel of God is holy doctrine.
·
The ordinances of God are holy ordinances (Believer’s Baptism ―
The Supper).
“Upon
mount
III.
“And the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions."
This
was not written for Jacob’s sake alone, “but for us also, to whom it shall
be given, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who
was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification”
(Rom. 4:24-25). What are these possessions?
A.
They are Jacob’s possessions. ― That means that
they are totally undeserved possessions. ― Possessions of grace!
B.
They are eternal, covenant possessions (Eph 1:3-14).
(Eph
1:3-14) "Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: {4} According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love:
{5} Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, {6} To
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in
the beloved. {7} In whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the
riches of his grace; {8} Wherein he hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence; {9} Having made known unto us the mystery of
his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
{10} That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even
in him: {11} In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will: {12} That we should be to the praise
of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. {13} In whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in
whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy
Spirit of promise, {14} Which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his
glory."
C.
They are blood bought possessions (Heb.
D.
They are possessions to be possessed, possessed by Jacob! These possessions are
ours. Let us therefore possess them.
1. We are to possess them by
faith in Christ.
Faith
in Christ does not provide, supply, or even secure the possessions. But faith
in Christ takes hold on and possesses the possessions (
(Rom
5:9-11) "Much more then, being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. {10} For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his
life. {11} And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the
atonement."
This
promise of God tells me that every prodigal son may, upon his return to the
Father’s house, may rightfully possess and enjoy all that he has grasped by
faith in Christ.
Christ
is ours. But who among us knows all that is ours in Christ? He is a Treasure
Chest. All that is in the Chest is ours. Let us, day by day, open the Chest,
take the treasures in hand, and possess our possessions. Like Abraham, lift up
your eyes to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and to the west, and
behold the goodly land which the Lord our God has given us.
We
see the blessings of the covenant. Let us possess them. Let us drink deep from
the Fountain of grace to the present and everlasting salvation of our souls. It
is written, “All things are yours, for ye are Christ’s.” Oh, sons of
Jacob, let us, for the honor of our God and the unabated satisfaction of our
souls, possess our possessions! A man may have great possessions, and yet be
practically poor, because he lives miserly. Is it not so with us?
·
Am I washed in the blood of the Lamb? Let me possess the cleansing of
that blood and walk in it.
·
Have we now “received the atonement?” Let us then possess that
peace with God which follows complete justification
·
Is “the peace of God which passeth all understanding” ours? Then
let us possess it.
·
Is the throne of grace ours? Is the mercy-seat ours? Then let us come
boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and grace in time of need.
All
things are ours, and yet we live as if nothing were ours. Like a horse shut out
of the pastures, we nibble round the hedges. Better far for us to be like
sheep, which enter in and lie down in green pastures. Oh, for grace to
appropriate by enjoyment those treasures of the covenant, which make the soul
to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory! May God grant us grace to
quit merely looking in at the windows of the banqueting hall of his boundless
grace, and to enter into the banquet, to sit at the King’s table and possess
our possessions.
Why
should we hunger and thirst, when Christ has given us his flesh to be meat
indeed, and his blood to be drink indeed? Why should we hang our harps upon the
willows and refuse to sing, when the Lord God says, “I have loved thee with
an everlasting love?” Why are we so weak, when we know that Christ is our
Strength? Why are we so downcast, if Christ is our Song? Why are we so
dejected, though we are assured that all providence is ours? How can I be so
empty, and yet declare with dogmatism that all the fulness of Christ is mine?
Blessed is he who, having
believed in the Lord Jesus, is able to sing,
“Now I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I bid farewell to every fear,
And wipe my weeping eyes.”
I
have not come to the end of my text yet. Let me show you another meaning upon
these words, and apply them to souls as touching things to come.
2. We have possessions that we
have not yet seen, and cannot as yet possess; but “the house of Jacob shall
possess their possessions!”
I have a heritage of joy
Which now I cannot see;
The hand that bled to make it mine
Is keeping it for me.
All the glory that our Lord Jesus Christ has earned by his
obedience as our Substitute shall be possessed by us when we are with him in
glory in eternity, when we are made perfect in him (John 17:5, 22-24).
(John
17:5) "And now, O Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the
world was."
(John
17:22-24) "And the glory which thou
gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: {23} I
in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved
me. {24} Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with
me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for
thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."
The
whole world belongs to Christ. That means that the whole world belongs to us,
even our enemies. And when all the kingdom of creation is made to be the
footstool of our Savior, when all creation is manifestly possessed by him, then
“the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.”
(Oba
1:18-21) "And the house of Jacob
shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for
stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be
any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it. {19}
And they of the south shall possess the
mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall
possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of