>> Today, we are blessed with a wonderful gift from God, the Bible.

This book is God's living word.

In its pages, we are told...

It is in this book of books that we find the answers to all of men's questions and need.

This morning, your area churches of Christ welcome you to a program committed to that perfect law of liberty.

[ Hymn music ]  As we present "The Living Word".

[ Hymn music continues ]  Now, here is your host, Ray Sullins.

>> "'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord."

Certainly, this is a text from the scriptures.

And we'll look at that in just a moment, but thank you for joining us this morning for "The Living Word" program.

It is always a privilege to have you with us for this time of offering to God, and we welcome you to this service before the very throne of our Creator.

As most of you know, this morning, it will be our privilege to glorify our God through songs of praise, as well as the study of His perfect Word, the Bible.

So, may we each do our part this time to make all that we do acceptable in His sight.

And as we begin our offering to God, as always, we would like to bow before His throne in prayer.

Bow with me, please.

Our God and Father in Heaven, we are thankful for this, another day of life, and the privilege that we have to be called Your children.

Father, we also are thankful for all the physical blessings.

And Father, we know that you give us all those blessings.

And thankful for all the spiritual blessings, again, Father, all that we need in this life, that we might not only know how to live spiritually in this world to have someday the hope of heaven, but also how to live physically and to have what we need and to do what You've asked of us as the faithful.

And Father, help us this day in spirit and truth to give you our very best and to always offer those sacrifices before your throne that are according to your perfect will.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

It is now time to join in our first song of the day.

So won't you lift up your voices to God as we sing together the song, "Blessed Redeemer"?

When was the last time someone did something that upset you?

Was it today, yesterday, last week, or maybe last month?

The fact is, we all get mad at people almost every day for things that they've done against us or maybe for things that they've said to us which hurt our feelings.

What was it that he or she did to make you mad?

Did they say something about you, or were they talking to someone else about you?

Maybe they said something that you didn't like.

And sometimes we even get mad at others for things which they don't even realize that they have done to upset us.

We or they're maybe involved in joking and teasing, and something is said, and we are hurt.

And they don't even realize that it offended us.

Let's first be careful about judging the motives of all those around us in the same way that we don't want our motives to be misjudged.

In John Chapter 7 and verse 24, Jesus said, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

We must look beyond the face value of a person or even a situation and make sure that we're always making proper judgment.

But what do we usually do?

We make a quick judgment without even taking the time to think through what has been said or what has been done.

And then we make ourselves judge, jury, and even prosecutor within a matter of seconds in relationship to how we will react.

And then what type of judgment is this?

Would you say righteous or unrighteous, wise or unwise?

Well, the facts are all of us like to jump to conclusions on matters.

And we generally choose to get angry or mad or frustrated and to really not even worry about the consequences of what we then respond with at a later time.

During these situations, isn't it our first reaction to do eye for eye or to give a tooth for a tooth?

We seem determined to get even and, by any means, do what it takes to show others who we are.

However, is this really what God wants?

Look at what Jesus taught in Luke Chapter 6 and verse 29.

There he said, "To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also.

And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either."

Jesus said we need to learn to be better than those around us, to return good for evil, as Christ himself would do the same.

Another thing to keep in mind concerning getting even is that God will take care of the vengeance.

Just as we read at the beginning of the program, "'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord."

That verse is found in Romans Chapter 12 and verse 19.

Therefore, we must act as Christ would act, overlooking evil in order to do good, thus letting our enemies know that we are like Christ and not like the world or even them.

God will truly take care of us if we will obey him and do those things which are according to his will.

How much easier it is for us to have -- to not have to, rather, worry about those around us and the things that they do and say, but to understand that we can put our hopes and trust and care in God and His promises that ultimately, we might behave ourselves and not become like our enemies.

Our topic of study today will, again, focus on our series entitled, The Better Things from the Book of Hebrews.

Our specific study of the morning will deal with the better promise.

So stay with us, and in just a few minutes, we will return and be led in this discussion of the morning.

As far as our guest speaker today, we're happy to have Brother Brent Green with us.

Brother Brent is one of the ministers for the Kansas Expressway Church of Christ.

He's also a full-time instructor at the Bible Institute of Missouri.

And we thank him for being with us and look forward to him guiding our thoughts.

And after our next song together, he will lead us in those thoughts from God's Word.

But as far as our second song of the morning, the name of the hymn -- "Unto Thee, O Lord".

>> What a joy, as always, it is to be able to open God's Word and study it.

Thank you for joining us this morning for that endeavor.

As you think about the Bible, we have a lot of encouragements and things that are given to us to remind us of exactly what God has promised us.

Before we talk about the promises of God, I want you to think first about the promises of this world.

Many times, advertisers are promising something better.

The new phone will have better reception or have greater coverage.

The new car will have better gas mileage, or the new detergent will clean your clothes that much better.

Just fill in the blank.

There's always something new being advertised as a better option.

Even more than that, so just beyond the advertisements of this world, Satan himself is also making promises of so-called better things, things that he'd like for you to consider, but really, they're just lies.

He says things like, well, sin will be good for you.

It's really not going to hurt anybody.

Just go ahead and engage in that activity.

He says, well, it really won't be any big deal whatsoever.

Well, as you consider the promises of advertisers and, even more so, the false promises of Satan, there are better promises that we can read about, and we can talk about from God's Word.

Hebrews Chapter 8 and verse 6.

Here, the Word of God says, "But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises."

We want to talk about, from God's Word, those better promises that God has given to us.

Not promises like advertisers or the false promises of Satan, but real promises that will not fail, promises of God Himself.

Before we look specifically at these better promises, I want you to think about, first, God's promises there in the Old Testament.

Certainly, God made them.

You can look at chapters like Deuteronomy Chapter 28, and you have a whole list of promises.

That if God's people were faithful, He would bless them physically.

That great land of promise of old that would overflow with blessings, a land flowing with milk and honey, would be theirs, truly, if they would be faithful to God.

He promised to lengthen their days and increase their numbers.

He promised to give them greater seed time and harvest.

He promised to bless his people nationally, promised them peace and prosperity.

He promised them abundance as his people, if they would be faithful to him.

God made promises even to the patriarchs before the Israelites came upon the sea.

They're going back to even Genesis Chapter 17.

God first promised Abraham that his descendants would be numerous.

They would be like stars in the heavens.

They would be like sand upon the seashore.

That was God's promise there to Abraham.

There, He also promised to be his God, that He would be with him, as he said there, continuing in Genesis 17, in verse 7.

God promised Abraham an everlasting possession.

He promised him the land of Canaan that would be his descendants that would come after him.

Those are the very Israelites we just mentioned there as the promise continued down the line in Deuteronomy Chapter 28.

God also promised that He would bless this nation through the seed of Abraham.

God, again, made all of these promises to those of old.

And God kept those promises.

Truly, God blessed Abraham and his descendants that followed.

And He gave them the land of Canaan just as He had promised.

God truly made Israel a great nation.

As they came from that line of Abraham, they became numerous as the sand in the sea and as the stars in the heavens.

God, again, kept His promise.

And ultimately, God blessed all the nations of the Earth through Jesus Christ, a very descendant of Abraham.

You can read, truly, there in Matthew 1 and other places where Jesus came through the line of Abraham.

God fulfilled every one of his promises to those of old, to Abraham, to his descendants, to the nation of Israel.

And yet, they did not receive the better promises.

There's your Bibles, might still be open to Hebrews.

Look with me over a few chapters later to Hebrews Chapter 11.

And we can read here of the promises made of old.

But yet, the fact that these did not partake of yet in their day, the better promises.

Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 8.

It says, "By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.

And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith, he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

For he walked for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged him faithful who had promised."

There, continuing in verse 12, "Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore."

The writer here of Hebrews is recalling the fact that these died having not received the promises, that is, the better promises we read about in the New Testament.

Yes, Abraham and his descendants dwelt in that land of promise, Israel.

They still waited, though, there in verse 10, for a different city, a heavenly city.

There in verse 11, Sarah conceived, and she brought forth that very son of promise, Isaac.

And yet Abraham's descendants, just as they were numerous as the sand of the sea, as the stars in the sky, still did not receive those heavenly promises.

They were looking, though, for something beyond the promises of this Earth.

And continuing to read there in verse 13 and following, you can see exactly that they were looking for something better.

Verse 13 of Hebrews 11 says, "These all died in faith."

That would be Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

But now, they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them."

Yes, God fulfilled his physical promises to Abraham and his descendants, but all of these patriarchs were looking for something far better.

They were looking for something beyond just the promises of this life.

They were looking for a heavenly homeland.

They were looking for an inheritance not of the physical things of this world.

They sought a country, a city prepared by God Himself, as we read there in verse 16.

God had prepared better promises that only these would partake of, but that we, today, would also one day partake of as well.

In the same chapter, down in verse 39, it says this, "And all of these," including these patriarchs, but all the heroes of faith here in Hebrews 11, "all of these having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us."

That these of old, along with those of new, would receive together those better promises that God had in mind.

Understanding what God had promised of old, understanding what now He's promised to those of new, that together, we, with those of old, those all who are of faith, would receive the better promises.

Let's think about these better promises that God has made for us here in the New Testament.

Under this new covenant, these spiritual blessings are principal, unlike those physical promises of old that did not attain to the better promises that even those of old were looking forward to.

We, today, are partakers of better things, not simply earthly things, not promises of secular good, but promises that truly are spiritual blessings that will be to come.

There, again, in the book of Hebrews, if we look back just a few chapters to Hebrews Chapter 9, verse 15, we can find these words.

It says, "For this reason, He," that being Jesus, "is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."

That promise, that better promise, is an eternal one.

Eternal blessings forever in that heavenly home, that's the ultimate promise, that new and better promise that has been given to us here in this New Testament.

Jesus is the mediator of that new covenant.

He has made available the better promises that are available through what He made available through the shedding of His blood, and that being principally this eternal inheritance.

Think back with me to another place where we have this availability of this better promise, again, connected to the very blood of Jesus.

Going back to Ephesians Chapter 2.

Ephesians Chapter 2, as we might think about the words that we find here concerning this connection to the promise and the fact that now all, both Jew and Gentile alike, can partake of this better promise through Jesus.

We read these words in Ephesians 2, beginning in verse 11.

It says "Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in flesh" -- or, "made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you, who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

Before Jesus came, the Gentiles were aliens from the nation of Israel.

They didn't have the same promise given to those of old.

through Jesus Christ and his shed blood, those who once were far off have been brought near.

The Gentiles, just like the Jews in Jesus Christ, can be partakers of this better promise of Jesus.

Now, all men have better promises.

The better promises are available to all here under the New Testament, the promises that include eternal salvation through Jesus Christ.

There in Acts Chapter 2, verses 38 and 39, that as they asked the question, "What shall we do to be saved?"

The answer was there given, "Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ."

And that blessing that would come of eternal salvation was there, stated as being available to all mankind.

The spiritual blessing of not just eternal salvation, but being a part of a spiritual family, the house of God.

First Timothy Chapter 3, verse 15, "Being sons of the very king himself."

Colossians Chapter 1 and verse 13 talks about the fact that those who obey the gospel are conveyed into something.

And what is that?

Colossians 1:13 says, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love."

Those who become Christians are no longer part of darkness.

No, they're partakers of the better promises.

They are conveyed into Jesus' kingdom to be His sons.

And ultimately, that promise of heaven is available today.

We can see that there in the writings of Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy Chapter 4.

A great reminder of God's better promise to those who are His.

Second Timothy Chapter 4, verse 7, Paul says, "I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith.

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing."

The promise of that crown that will be given on that day of judgment to all those who have died in faith, a promise of God, a better promise available to all here in this New Testament age.

God has made promises.

He made them to those of old, and He kept them.

But to all today, He has made his promises.

And what we know of God is that his promises cannot fail because God cannot lie.

Hebrews Chapter 6, verses 17 and 18 teaches that.

We also learn in the same book we've been studying principally from today -- Hebrews Chapter 10, verse 23, that God is faithful.

God has made to us today, and to all mankind, better promises.

Those promises of eternal life, of course, are conditional.

But if you will obey God's commandments to be saved, and if you'll continue to obey God's commandments to stay saved, you can know that God truly will keep up His end.

He will truly keep His promises that He has made.

Then, in Revelation 2:10, we learn that if we are faithful unto death, we will have that eternal life.

Trust in the promises of God.

Understand what He has promised today, and be one who always lives to make sure that you never lose that great promise reward of heaven.

Be faithful to death and understand that God will always keep His promises.

>> Let me thank you again for choosing to be with us today for "The Living Word" program.

I often trust that, together, we have all benefited from our service to the Lord.

And let me invite you back every Lord's Day morning at 7:30 as we give this time to our Creator.

But for now, let me ask you if you have any questions or comments about today's lesson.

Maybe you'd like a free transcript or free CD or DVD of the program, or possibly, we could assist you with free Bible materials or free Bible correspondence courses.

No matter what your need is, please feel free to contact us at the following address...

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Thanks be to God for the better promise which He has given us and made available through His Son, Jesus Christ.

How blessed we are to have such a loving and caring Savior who has done so much for each and every one of us.

The question is, are we living in such a way as to respond faithfully to the wondrous promises of God?

>> Our prayer is to help the world know more about God through this television program.

"The Living Word" has been brought to you under the oversight of the elders of Kansas Expressway Church of Christ in Springfield, Missouri, with the assistance of the following area churches of Christ.

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